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Text File | 1993-09-12 | 29.1 KB | 658 lines

First and Foremost! If you are reading this document you are probably a user of MegaD and curious what the new features are. If so and you are a registered user you have a MegaD2.pf file that contains your preferences for MegaD 2.0. YES, MegaD 3.0 will read, use and save those preferences. Be sure to copy your MegaD2.pf file to the same drawer that you placed MegaD 3.0 before running MegaD 3.0. Once you save this file with MegaD 3.0, MegaD 2.0 will not be able to use it anymore. MegaD Changes I have been trying to keep all of the changes listed in this file. I know that I have missed a few. All of the document have been updated to the current version. MegaD changes from 3.0 to 3.1 ============================= This is a maintenance upgrade for MegaD. I have also added a few enhancements. First the enhancements: o Added ARexx commands F7, F8, F9 and F10 so the windows can be toggled front to back from ARexx. o Added ASL requestor to both 'Find' and 'Search Text' requestor so that a file can be specified to be saved in other than the current 'Dest'ination directory. o 'Two Window' mode will now work on the Workbench screen. Depth arangment can only be done with the F10 key when in this mode on the Workbench. o Added NewLookMenu tag for 3.0 menus. o Added Workbench Tool Type "MDICONS" to point to correct directory location for 'def_' icons images. o Created MDPalette program to create a small file defining the palette colors that MegaD will read when opening custom screens. For MegaD to read the file it must be named "MegaD.plt" and it must be located in the same directory as the executable MegaD. MegaD will read this file every time the MegaD screen is opened. o Support for 1 bit plane / two color screen and windows. o Two Window Utility left directory window scroll gadget has been moved to the left side of the window for a more symmetrical look and feel. o When an ARexx program is doubled clicked, MegaD can do one of two things with it, Launch or View it. You may set MegaD to handle this in one of three ways when you double click an ARexx program. 1. Give you the choice, Launch or View it. 2. Always View it. 3. Always Launch it. This setting can only be set from ARexx using the SetFlag command. The above three settings can be set as followed: "SetFlag 123 0" /* Launch or View it */ "SetFlag 123 1" /* Always View it */ "SetFlag 123 2" /* Always Launch it */ o Warning of the attempt to load a HEX file with "View Text" can now be turned off. This setting can only be set from ARexx using the SetFlag command. The setting can be set as followed: "SetFlag 124 0" /* Warn before loading a HEX file */ "SetFlag 124 1" /* No Warning before loading a HEX file */ o Support cursor keys as described in the "Amiga User Interface Style Guide" SHIFT arrows no longer scrolls directory list line by line. ALT CURSOR, moves one line SHIFT CURSOR, moves one window width in direction. CONTROL CURSOR, move start or end of list or text. Now the bug squashes: o All characters are visible in View Text windows now. o Corrected calculation error while testing to see if selected files would fit on 'Dest'ination volume. This would happen when a file with a greater size than 37,376 bytes was to be copied. o Fixed Enforcer hit when closing a "Gadget Set" window being defined from "Set Keypads" o Fixed crash cause by freeing more memory than needed when freeing a PowerPacked text file. o Fixed crash when writing internal and external Dictionary lines. o Fixed font problem with 'Define Gadget Set' window. o Fixed problem of Main Control window not reopening in the same place it was when a .pf file was saved. This would only occur if you were loading a .pf file from the Open... command. o Fixed problem with Panic Window Scrolling and the 'Courier 13' font. o Fixed problem with the def_ icons found in the icons drawer, MegaD will now use the images of those icons if the user changes them. o Fixed View Text problem, it would not load a text file with only one line of text in it. o MegaD will now CD to 'Dest'ination directory during the launching of an ARexx script that has the 'Reload Current directory' selected for the Program Control. o Removed the test for physical existence of an executable file before launch of a Program Control. This would prevent the use of 'Resident' programs such as NewCLI within Program Controls. MegaD changes from 2.0 to 3.0 MegaD Meets ARexx This is the biggest change from MegaD 2.0. It is also one of the best changes, in my book. MegaD now fully supports ARexx, at my last count, there was 123 different commands. Every function in MegaD is available through the ARexx port. Being the extensive nature of this port there is a separate document file titled MDARexx.Guide that contains all of the information needed to use the MegaD ARexx port. You will also find useful ARexx scripts with this version. MDPrefs The main program, MegaD, and the functions to set your personal preferences have been separated into different programs. This was done to help reduce the size of the main program. These functions are now handled by MDPrefs. MDPrefs can be run on its own with or without MegaD or it can be started from within MegaD. The two program communicate with each other to help you set MegaD to your own preferences. The settings performed in the preference windows have been moved around a little bit. Some were moved to their own windows and other were moved in with other like settings. You'll find things just a little more organized than the last time around. This is a quick map of the new arrangement. All Items new to this version are marked: (NEW 3.0) MDPrefs Windows Colors, Directory File Selected Unselected Text Background Title Information Border 1 Border 2 1.3 / 2.0 Color switch Gadget back Gadget Text Defaults Auto resize windows Auto update windows Confirm quit Iconify at start Keep active window to front Last active window is destination Place tool icon & menu on Workbench Messages off Panic button window Return keypad to unshifted (NEW 3.0) Save defaults at closing Save window positions Simple refresh windows Warn before copy Warn before delete Warn before move Warn if deleting protected file Warn if replacing larger file Warn if replacing newer file Warn if replacing file F10 Closes control window Display Date Format 1000 separator Use Today / Yesterday 12 Hour Clock Decimal is Comma Directory listing order Set Keypads Built In's Menu Sets AutoBoots User Gadgets ARexx (NEW 3.0) Dev. Gadgets (NEW 3.0) Gadget Sets (NEW 3.0) Hot Key (NEW 3.0) Menus & Devices Menus Sets Device Gadgets Device Gadgets Titles (NEW 3.0) (45 possible device gadgets (NEW 3.0)) Miscellaneous Copy/Format Program Control View Text Program Control Source icon for directories Dictionary filename Create master Dictionary Set Print (NEW 3.0) MDSpool Program Control (NEW 3.0) ARexx port name (NEW 3.0) Add Job (NEW 3.0) Add Job then delete file (NEW 3.0) Stop All Jobs (NEW 3.0) Stop Current Job (NEW 3.0) Quit Spooler (NEW 3.0) Set to MDSpool (NEW 3.0) Set to internal spool (NEW 3.0) Set Screen Screen Type Now that you have seen where every thing has been moved to, lets talk about the new features that are set from preferences. Return keypad to unshifted This is a new flag that can be set in the Defaults window. If you check this item, MegaD will always return the Keypad Gadgets to the unshifted state. ARexx This is a new type of Program Control accessed through the Set Keypad window. MegaD now supports ARexx, Along with this support comes the ability to launch ARexx programs. ARexx is a subject better covered by other manuals, you will find a document title MDARexx.doc that will describe all of the ARexx commands that you can use through the MEGAD ARexx port. Every function of MegaD can be accessed through the ARexx port. You will also find a number of useful ARexx scripts that you can call from within MegaD. Dev. Gadgets Device Gadget can now be attached to Keypad Gadgets and Gadget created in the new Gadget Sets facility. There are now 45 possible Device gadgets. You gain access to the Device Gadgets by using the Set Keypad window, much like you did when you attached Built in commands and User Gadgets to your keypad. Gadget Sets This is another exciting addition to MegaD for this version. With the new Gadget Sets facility you can create a wide variety of gadget configurations. You may create simple windows that open with just a few gadgets and is set up for a very specific task or you could create full screen layouts of strategically place Gadgets Sets and Snapshot windows so that you can have a directory utility of your own design. Creating a Gadget Set Gadget Sets are created and designed from the Set Keypads window of Set Preferences. You must first cycle the Source area to "Gadget Sets". Once this is done you may select the "Add" gadget. A new window will open. Define Gadget Set Window You will find 5 string gadgets in this window to let you define the size of the window and how many gadgets you wish to have in this window. Gadget Set windows are font sensitive, so the number and size of your gadgets are effected by this. There is also a gadget under the Window Type gadget that will open a window that you can physically size and move to define the correct size of the window. Gadget Set Title This is a string gadget for you to enter the title of the Gadget Set. Like all other titles of object in MegaD, it should be unique. MegaD will test this title and tell you if it finds other objects with the same name. MegaD will not let you create an object with the same name. Inner Window Width This is what you would like to set the inner window width to. The inner window width is the size of the window without the window border calculated into it. The reason we use the inner width and height of the window is due to the fact that this is where we will be placing the gadgets. They would look unsightly if there were place over the window boarders. You will notice to the right of the gadgets a minimum and maximum value that show the range that can be enter into the gadget. Inner Window Height This is to set the height of the Gadget Set window. The higher you set this value to the more gadgets you will be able to place in a column. Once again you will see minimums and maximum values displayed to the right of the gadget. Gadgets Across Gadgets are created in the Gadgets Set window in a grid fashion. You are allowed to set the number of gadgets across with this gadget. Gadgets can be so small that they will only display one character or they can be as wide as the screen. You should notice that at the bottom of the display area is a value title "Gadget Char. " This displays how many characters the gadgets will display at the current settings. This is there to help you judge if you are creating your gadgets wide enough to display the information you would like to see displayed. The maximum value is effected directly by the setting of the "Inner Window Width." Gadgets Down This will let you set the number of gadget the window will have down the window. The maximum value is effected by "Inner Window Height." To figure out how many gadget your window will have once it is opened is a simple multiplication problem. Gadget Across * Gadget Down = Number Gadgets Window Type This is a cycle gadget that lets you cycle to one of three settings. Under Mouse The Gadget set window will always open under the mouse pointer. Fixed The Gadget Set window will always open at the last place it was closed. Rigid The Gadget Set window will be an immobile backdrop window that cannot be moved. This window will not have any window boarders. This type of window is very effective when designing a full screen of Gadget Sets and snapshot windows. Close once used This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will close the Gadget Set window once it has been used. Keep to front This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will try to keep the gadget set window to the front of other windows while it is open. Open at startup This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will open the window when the program is started or if a new preference file is loaded with this type of Gadget Set found. If one of these are set with this checked, MegaD will not open the "Main Control Window", if you need this window opened you may use the F8, F9, or F10 key to open it once the program and/or the preference file has loaded. Rigid and Open at startup By setting one or a few Gadgets Sets with Rigid windows and Open at Startup, you can end up with some very impressive screens. You'll be surprised as to what a few vertical and/or horizontal bars of gadgets and a few snapshot directory windows can do to create a productive environment to use you directory utility from. Sizing Window This is a small gadget below the Window Type gadget. When selecting this gadget you will be given a window that can be moved, sized and then closed. This will fill in the information for the size of the window. It will also define the location of the screen it is to open to if you create a 'Rigid' or 'Fixed' window. Opening the new Gadget Set window After setting all of the values to where you want them, select the "Use" Gadget. The "Define Gadget Set" window will close and your new Gadget Set window will open. All of the gadgets in this Gadget Set window will be blank. This window is interactive with the Keypad Source gadgets. You can copy objects to it in the same manner you have been copying objects to the keypad. Select the gadget in the Gadget Set window you wish to copy to, then select the object from the source area of the Keypad window. The Object will be copied as soon as two gadget are selected. Quick color copy There is new feature to help you set the destination gadget colors. I found that setting the colors of the Keypad Gadgets and the Gadget Set gadgets was a very tedious job. A new feature has been added in this version to help speed up the setting of the gadget colors. Select one of the destination gadgets that has the color set to the color you wish to copy. Select the gadget once more to unselect it. MegaD will now remember the text and background colors of that gadget. Hold a Shift key down and select the other destination gadgets that you wish to copy the colors to. You may copy the colors to as many destination gadget as you wish. The color will remain the same until you select a new color. Once you are done, you may close the Gadget Set window with the Close gadget or by pressing the Esc key while it is the active window. If you have selected Rigid, or Fixed windows, remember to place the Gadget Set window where you would like to see it reopen before closing it. By selecting "Use" from the Set Keypad window while other Gadget Set windows are open, MegaD will close the windows and remember their locations for you. Getting access to Gadget Sets To use the Gadget Set, you need to have some type of access to it. Gadget Sets that have the "Open at startup" attribute checked will automatically open for you. Other need some type of trigger to open them. You can place a Gadget Set object onto your keypad or you can give Gadget Sets a "Hot Key" so that they can be called with a key press. Hot Keys At the right hand bottom of the Set Keypads window you will find a gadget titled "Hot Key." You may give any object a "Hot Key" by using this gadget. You must first select the object you wish to give the "Hot Key" to then select the "Hot Key" gadget, a window will open. Hot Key Window This window will open with the title, "Define Hot Key for [object selected]. The title of the object you selected will be place in the window title to help you remember what you were setting the "Hot Key" for. Hot Key Qualifiers You may use qualifiers with your "Hot Key." The possible qualifiers are: Left Shift Right Shift Caps Lock Control Left Alt Right Alt Left Amiga Right Amiga Numeric Keypad Middle Mouse Button Right Mouse Button Left Mouse Button You may select the qualifiers with your mouse by checking the corresponding check box. Or better yet, just hold the qualifiers down and press the regular key you wish to use. As the key is pressed, MegaD will also keep track of the qualifiers that was used during the key press. As soon as you press a regular key, That key will be displayed in the Hot Key character box. To use this Hot Key definition select the "Use" Gadget. Or you can "Cancel" adding the Hot Key. Delete Hot Key An object that has been defined to have a Hot Key can have that Hot Key remove in one of two ways. The first way is to select the object that has the Hot Key you wish to have removed, you select this object within the Set Keypad window, select the "Hot Key" gadget and finally select the "Delete" gadget in the "Hot Key" window. The "Hot Key" definition will be removed. The second way is to define the same key press and qualifiers for a new object and then select the "Use" gadget from the "Hot Key" window. You will be greeted with a requestor asking: Replace Hot Key defined for <Object Name> Answer yes to this requestor and the Hot Key definition will delete from the old object and then created for the new object. Hot Keys are not global Unlike the Hot Keys you define for a commodity that take high priority over the system input channels and steal the input from the active program or window, Hot Keys in MegaD are only good if one of the MegaD windows are active and accepting the input. Key press that are define as menu short cuts, such as "Left Amiga O" for Open will take priority over the same Hot Key defined for MegaD. Menus & Devices window In the Set Menus & Devices window you will see a couple of changes done to the layout. This used to be the first window that would open when you selected "Set Preferences." The upper section is to define Menu Sets, and the lower section is to define Device Gadgets. You will find the lower section revamped. Device Gadget You may now define 45 deferent device paths and titles that share the original 9 Device gadgets. You access the added device gadgets by scrolling the list with the proportional gadget place to the left of all of the device string gadgets. Each Device gadget has both a Device definition and a Title definition. Device string gadget The device string gadget is for you to enter the path for the directory to load once you've selected the corresponding "Device Gadget" in the Main Control Window. This can be a simple assign name such as "S:" or a long path such as "Work:jrcomm/transfers". Title string gadget To the right of each Device string gadget you will see a string gadget for entering the title. You may want the title to be just the same as the path that will load such as "S:" or if you enter a long path such as "Work:jrcomm/transfers" you may want to change the title to something that will fit in the limited display area of the gadget. For this case you could enter "Downloads" into the Title string gadget. Set Print MegaD has a very nice print spooler. It will let you print all day long and not freeze the program while it is sending information to the printer. I has one drawback, it will not let you view the list of jobs waiting to be printed and it will not let you pick specific jobs from the job list to be removed. For those of you who feel that you need better control over the jobs waiting to go to the printer, MDSpool has been written and ARexx support has been added to MegaD to control it. This is the purpose of the new Set Print preference settings. MDSpool is a stand alone program with a full ARexx port. Very little effort is required for you to set MegaD from the internal spooler to the new external spooler that has a full graphic interface. At the bottom of the Set Print window you will see two gadgets. The first gadget Is "Set to MDSpool" which will set all of the settings to the correct ARexx commands to communicate with MDSpool. The second gadget "Set to internal spool" will return MegaD to using the simple internal spool program. For more information on MDSpool, read the supplied documentation for it. You will find that MDSpool has enough features to make it a worthwhile addition to your software collection by itself. Multiple Running MegaD's You may now have multiple MegaD's running at one time now. This is not advisable, but it is allowed. Each time a new image of MegaD is run a new Public Screen will be opened with the public screen with an added number behind it. So "MEGAD" public screen name will become "MEGAD.1", MEGAD.2" and so on. The same holds true for the MegaD ARexx port. Which follows the exact same convictions. "MEGAD" ARexx port name will become "MEGAD.1", MEGAD.2" and so on for each new occurrence.. Warn before launch A new check item has been made available to all program controls such as AutoBoot, and User Gadgets. It is the "Warn before launch" attribute. By checking this item, MegaD will open a requestor that reads Launch Program Control <Program Control Title> You may answer yes or no to this requestor. By answering No to the requestor, MegaD will skip the launching of that Program Control. This is especially handy for potentially dangerous ARexx scripts or other destructive types of Program Controls. ARexx Double Click Double Click ARexx files will now open Program control window to launch ARexx script. For this to work the filename must end with .arexx or .rexx and the first non space characters of the file must be "/*" New 'More...' gadget in the Program Controls window to access the next two sets of items. New Checks for Program Controls Query for 'Flags to add' Query for 'Text to append' New Strings for Program Controls Con: window string that can be created with the use of the close window icon gadget to the right of the string. This should only be the Con:10/10/600/100 part of the console open string. Stack size string, Any value less than 4000 will default to 4000. ASL requestor to set Program Control Path Added ASL requestor to set Program Path and Filename string gadget of Control Window. You will find a small folder icon to the right of the string gadget. Added Auto Scroll feature to Text Windows. Selecting the text window with the Left mouse button, the text window will start to scroll up or down at different speeds depending on the current position of the mouse pointer. One more select or activating another window will end the scroll. This enables the user to set the scroll of the window slow enough that the text file can be read line after line. Text Window word wrap has been added. In the MegaD Preferences, Miscellaneous window the setting View Text word wrap can be found. 0 = Default to window width 20 - 999 = User defined (A high value pretty much disables word wrap :-) Text Window tab width has been added. In the MegaD Preferences, Miscellaneous window the setting View Text tab width can be found. Any value from 1 to 20 is accepted here. New Sort feature. Sort on Extension. NOTE: If you had check in the menus Output, W/Tree lines the check will be place on the new sort Extension menu. Be sure to take a quick look at the Menu Sort on after starting this version, if two check are found Select your standard default and save the preference file. Recursive Search Text Search Text is now recursive trough selected directories. This will let you select any directory and MegaD will test each file in all subdirectories to see if it is a true text file, if so it will search the file for the search string. Very disk intensive but very useful. Added Continue feature that will allow you to open a text window that has the requested string and continue on with the search for more file with the same string in it. AmigaGuide Help Full implementation of AmigaGuide for on-line help by pressing the 'Help' key. And selecting the object within MegaD that you need help for. A second press of the 'Help' key will open the MegaD.Guide file to the contents of the file. John L. Jones PO Box 292 Midvale, Utah 84047 USA