Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries mech file viewer

by Dino Morelli (Banichi on Kali and in MercNet) dmorelli@ct1.nai.net
If you haven't already been, check out Dino's home site

About the program

VariantView is a Win95 multiple-document mech file viewer. For the data viewing, it does very much what MEKINFO.EXE does already. But it allows you to view multiple mek files at a time in separate windows, drag-and- drop mek files to the program, and view all mek files in a given directory in a tree view.

Usage notes

• Drag a mek file either onto the title bar of the program or in an open area of the main window to open a new mech window for that variant.
• You can drag more than one file onto the program and it will open a window for each one.
• Drag a mek file onto an existing mech window to replace the contents of that window, but leave the window where it is.
• Right-click on the tree view to change what directory it currently shows. The program will remember the last place you were looking.
• Has a list of the last 4 mek files you viewed in the File menu.

Things I'd like to add

• Better handling of exactly where the windows are placed initially.
• I'm thinking about maybe a split window so that you can get a tree for two different locations at the same time.
• Printing and print preview.
• Edit the variant name.

Revision History

v1.0

-Tree change directory dialog is now initialized to the current mech directory each time it opens.

-Double-click on a chassis (folder) item in the tree was attempting to open a mek file. Now it expands that branch.

-Variant name is now displayed in the title bar of mech windows in addition to the filename.

-Now verifies that the incoming file is a .mek file.

-Changed my net name from "[LC]Banichi" to "Banichi on the net" in the About... dialog.

-Added VariantView home page address to About... dialog.

v0.3a

-Added mech chassis/variant tree view. The tree shows the mechs in a directory organized into chassis folders with variants. Mechs can be double-clicked to open them, and right-clicking on the tree window allows the directory to be changed.

-App now uses correct registry key for storage.

v0.2a

-Files dropped onto an existing window replace that window's contents. Files dropped in an open area of the window still open a new window, as before.

-Added scrollbars to the mech viewer windows.

-Fixed problem with mech data display.

v0.1a

-Initial release.