MyMandel Files

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    APPLICATION : mymandel Project Overview
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MyMandel is Yet Another Mandelbrot Set Viewer written in Visual Studio Express 2010.

My original goal was to provide an example to students of C++ into which they
can use the COMPLEX number class (simple_complex.h) they must write during the semester
when the learn operator overloading.
The task turned out harder than I thought earlier. Because I had to use Visual Studio 
Express 2010, which comes without MFC support  for the course I was forced
to use the managed C++ extensions with Windows Forms.

During the development of this program I learned the hard way that Visual Studio's .NET 
manged C++ is not standard compliant C++ at all. Although some of its features are convenient
(from which 'properties' are my favorite) but a I've got the impression that this proprietary 
C++ dialect is not Microsoft's  favorite language for .NET development. The documentation is 
unsatisfactory and sometimes misleading to say the least.

As I struggled (and still struggling) to understand how things must be done in Microsoft's .NET 
manged C++ I decided to share the code with everybody. 

To run the program you need an x86 system running windowss with at least .NET 4.0 installed.

Program features:
  1. Resizeable and zoomable display.
  2. There are 4 user selectable colors corresponding to the different iteration counts
     of the points on the visible part of the Mandelbrot set, each with its own button.
     There are 100 different colors available for the full iteration count range. 
	 There is 1 button for setting the colors for points of the Mandelbrot set and 3
	 buttons for the full color range, which divide it into two part each containing a 
	 color gradient between its limiting colors. The topmost button selects the color
	 for the actual maximum iteration count on the image excluding the iteration count
	 for the points of the Mandelbrot set. The button at the bottom sets the color for
	 the actual minimum iteration count. The middle button determines both the middle color
	 and the position of the division between the two color regions. This button can be
	 moved with the mouse up and down when the right mouse button pressed on it.
  3. Max 20 zoom levels kept in memory for fast forward and backward history display.
  4. Images may be saved in formats GIF, JPG (quality 60) and BMP. The image parameters
     are also saved in a text file with the same base name as that of the image.
  5. Saved data can be loaded again from the text file. This resets the zoom level back to 1 and
     recalculates the picture.
  6. Built in Help.
  7. Compile time selectable bilingual controls English  (default) and Hungarian extensible 
     to any language. To get the Hungarian version define the _HUN_ preprocessor symbol.
  8. May use the COMPLEX class from simple_complex.h or the complex<> template from the STL
  
To do:
   Set the application icon.
   Implement error checking for processing the parameter file .

Now the Copyright stuff:

This code is in the public domain. I don't accept any responsibility for its usage and you may modify it
any ways you find fit. I'd appreciate if you mentioned my name when you do use my code though and I'd be
grateful if you send me a mail when you do it..

Dr. András Sólyom
Budapest, Hungary
02.22.2012