This blog post is to demonstrate the simplicity when working with LEADTOOLS NuGet packages to convert a hosted file from the web to a PNG. LEAD introduced NuGet packages at the release of Version 20 and never looked back. The following example is a spin-off of a prior blog that exemplified how to incorporate LEADTOOLS using .NET Core without NuGet packages.

This past weekend, I was very fortunate compared to so many people that recently faced and are still having to deal with Hurricane Florence. At home, the power is out, but there is no major damage. I am fortunate. Since there is nothing I can do at the moment about the power and everyone around me is safe, I decided to forget my first-world problems, go to the office, which does have power, and write a small and simple app that solves some common first-world problems. I am hoping that you will find this tool useful, too!

Tonal range is an important attribute of an image, especially photographs, when trying to improve OCR results. Tonal range is the range of tones between the lightest and darkest areas of an image and is also known as contrast. An image with a wide range has both very dark (black) and very light (white) elements. An image with a narrow range is more limited in its tonal scope, which is usually in the mid-ranges (varying shades of grays).

LEAD Technologies has joined the TWAIN Working Group as an Associate Member. For many years, LEAD has included imaging toolkits that follow the TWAIN standards and this membership helps ensure an even higher level of support and a commitment to future development. More specifically, LEAD's membership in the TWAIN Working Group paves the way for early development access to the new TWAIN Direct standard, enabling imaging workflow applications for the desktop, mobile, or in the cloud.

To learn more, read the full press release.

There are still over two million desktop application developers—i.e., currently writing or maintaining Windows desktop apps, whether written in C++ or .NET. Regardless of your targeted platform and environment, be it Winforms and C#, or WPF or UWP, Visual Studio is the IDE of choice. VS Code is gaining popularity, and our devs use it for some projects, but VS is the bread and butter around here.

One the thing that makes VS2017 such an amazing IDE is its extensibility, allowing a vast ecosystem of add-ins to flourish. You can find them in the Visual Studio Marketplace, or by searching from inside VS: Just go to Tools -> Extensions and Updates... and select the "Online" option: