Computerworld 1996 March

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Computerworld 1996 March / Computerworld_1996-03_cd.bin / idg_cd3 / ikony / programy / ilib_11 / iconlib.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-02-13 | 20.9 KB | 527 lines

The Icon Librarian Version 1.0 April 8, 1993 _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Copyright (c) 1993 by Keith Ledbetter 4240 Ketcham Drive Chesterfield, VA 23832 (804) 674-0780 (6:00pm - 10:00pm Eastern Time) Tech Support BBS: Blue Ridge Express 804-790-1675 30 Phone Lines (2400 bd) Sub-board KEITHL ("J KEITHL") Email Addresses: GEnie : ORION.MICRO Compuserve : 72240,1221 America Online: kledbetter Program and Documentation are Copyright (c) 1993 by Keith Ledbetter. All rights reserved. Portions (c) Borland International. The Icon Librarian was written with Borland C++ Professional. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at PO. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. Definition of Shareware Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Disclaimer - Agreement Users of The Icon Librarian must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "The Icon Librarian is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of The Icon Librarian." The Icon Librarian is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using The Icon Librarian and continue to use it after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $15 to Keith Ledbetter. The $15 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of The Icon Librarian must register and pay for their copies of the program within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Keith Ledbetter. You are encouraged to pass a copy of The Icon Librarian along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the Icon Librarian system. About the Program If you are a regular Windows user, then you have no doubt had to struggle to keep up with the multitude of icons available today. The Icon Librarian (Librarian) makes manipulation of these icons easy; you can categorize, delete, and choose icons from up to 100 user-defined categories (with up to 1,000 icons each) with intuitive drag-and-drop operations. The Librarian keeps its icons in space-efficient library files, so you'll save valuable disk space, too. Icons can be imported into your libraries from ICO, EXE, DLL, Norton Library, and PC Tools .ICL files. Developers will also find the Librarian very useful. It will allow you to keep your development icons in well-defined categories (buttons, hardware, etc.) without wasting disk space by having multitudes of small .ICO files on your hard drive. The Librarian works by keeping a master directory on your hard drive named \ICONLIB\. All of your library files (.TIL extension) will be stored here. In addition, a directory named \ICONLIB\IN_USE\ will also be created to hold any icons that you use with the "quick extract" features (more about this later). Installing the Librarian To install the Icon Librarian, copy the ICONLIB.EXE and ICONLIB.HLP files to the directory of your choice. Then, install the ICONLIB.EXE file into the program manager just as you would any other Windows program. Next, double-click on The Icon Librarian icon to load the program. The first time you execute the Icon Librarian, you will be presented with an "installation" screen. All you need to do here is to tell the Librarian which drive you'd like it to create the \ICONLIB\ directory structure on. Once you choose the drive letter and press the "Ok" button, the Librarian will do two things: 1. It will create the \ICONLIB\ and \ICONLIB\IN_USE\ directory structure on the drive you selected. 2. It will modify your WIN.INI file to add [The Icon Librarian] section to the system. At this point, you will be presented with the Librarian's main screen. The screen will look bare at this point because you don't have any library files created yet. As an example, we'll create a library (i.e.: a "category") that consists of all of the icons from your \Windows\ subdirectory. Do these steps: 1. From the menu, choose "File/New Library" to create a new library file. You will be presented with a dialog box that allows you to (a) give this library a name, and (b) give its folder a color. Key in "Windows Icons" in the name field and pick a color of your choice. You can ignore the "filename" field; if you don't key a filename in, the Librarian will create one for you. 2. Double-click the left mouse button on the new "Windows Icons" folder that appeared in your main window. This will "open" that library. 3. In the icon window, choose "File/Import icons" from the menu bar. You will be presented with a file open box; navigate to your \Windows\ directory and select all of the available files by clicking on the "Select All" button. 4. You have just created your first icon library! 5. Repeat these steps to create libraries out of all of your existing icons. The "Preferences" Menu ---------------------- Before we go any further, let's cover the "Preferences" menu. The preferences are divided into two categories: Library preferences and Icon preferences. Specify Icon Editor This option allows you to specify the icon editor that you want to use to edit icons. The only requirement is that the editor you choose must support filenames passed to it on the command line. Library / Confirm Deletes If this option is checked, the Librarian will prompt you for verification when you attempt to delete a library. Since deleting a library also deletes all icons in that library, it is highly recommended that you keep this option turned on. Library / Open Window upon Creation If this option is checked, the Librarian will automatically open up any new library that you create. Library / Color of New Folders This setting allows you to specify the default color to be used for libraries in the "File/New Folder" dialog box. Icons / Confirm Deletes If this option is checked, the Librarian will prompt you for verification when you attempt to delete an icon. Icons / Display While Importing If this option is checked, icons will be displayed in the library window as soon as they are imported. If you are importing large amounts of icons at one time, turning this option off will speed up the import process. Icons / Icon Spacing This option allows you to control the "white space" between each icon in the library window. Moving Icons ------------ To start categorizing your Icons, you'll want to use the Librarian "move" function. All you need to do to move an icon to another library is to grab (click and hold the left mouse button) and then drag the icon to the new library. This can be accomplished in the following ways: 1. drop the icon in another open library window. 2. drop the icon on a closed library's "folder" in the main window. 3. drop the icon on an open library's minimized icon. Note: You can rearrange icons in a window by dropping them in another position within that window. Note: To make a copy of an icon, simply hold down the control key while dropping the icon. Note: To move multiple icons, hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on each icon to "mark" them. Using the Toolbar ----------------- You use the Toolbar functions by dragging and then dropping an icon on any of the Toolbar icons. These tools perform the following functions: The Text Clipboard Tool ----------------------- Dropping an icon on the text clipboard will cause two things to happen. 1. The icon will be saved as a .ICO file with a unique name in your \ICONLIB\IN_USE subdirectory. 2. The NAME of that icon file will be copied to the Windows clipboard. You're probably saying to yourself "OK, so what does this buy me?". If you think about it, how does Windows normally ask you for an Icon? That's right -- by the FILENAME. That's where the Librarian really shines. Any time you are asked for an Icon name (for example, in the "Change icon" dialog box in the Program Manager), you can simply open up the Librarian, find the icon you want, and the drag it to the "Text Clipboard" icon. This will cause the icon to be "extracted" and then copy the FILENAME of the icon to the Windows Clipboard. Then you just return to your text input box, press SHIFT-INSERT, and the full filename of the icon will be pasted into the text box. Let's take a normal example -- changing the icon of a Program Manager item. Here's the steps you'd take: 1. Start the Icon Librarian, and then "minimize" it to an Icon. 2. Single click on the item you want to change the icon for in the Program Manager. 3. Choose "File / Properties" from the Program Manager menu bar. 4. Click on the "Change Icon" button. (Notice here that the icon's filename is already highlighted). 5. Double-click on the Icon Librarian icon to bring it back to life. 6. Find the Icon you want to select, and then drag and drop it on the "Text Clipboard" icon. The Librarian will beep once to let you know the name has been copied into the clipboard. 7. Minimize the Icon Librarian again; this will return you to the Program Manager "change icon" dialog box. 8. Press SHIFT-INSERT to paste the icon's name into the dialog box. 9. Press OK twice -- all done! The Image Clipboard Tool ------------------------ Dropping an icon on the Image Clipboard will copy the image of that icon to the Windows clipboard. This is useful if you want to get the icon into an image editor such as Window's Paint program. The Icon Editor Tool -------------------- Dropping an icon here will cause the following actions to happen: 1. The icon will be extracted to a unique name in your \ICONLIB\IN_USE\ directory. 2. The icon editor that you have specified will be called so you can edit the icon. 3. After you exit your icon editor, The Icon Librarian will reload the icon from the file created in step 1. 4. The file created in step 1 will be deleted. Note: The Icon Librarian will be TOTALLY disabled until you exit your icon editor! The Diskette Tool ----------------- Dropping an icon on this tool allows you to extract the icon from the Librarian file and save it to disk as a standard icon (.ICO) file. You will be prompted for the name to save the file under. The Trashcan Tool ----------------- Surprise! Dropping an icon here will delete that icon from the library. The Information Tool -------------------- Dropping an icon here will give you information about both the icon you dropped and the library in which that icon resides. Tips: Moving Your LIBRARIAN to a Different Hard Drive ----------------------------------------------------- If you ever need to move your \ICONLIB\ directory to another hard drive, there's only a little work involved. In this example, we'll assume that you're moving it from drive C: to drive E:. You would perform these steps: 1. Exit Windows. 2. XCOPY c:\IconLib\*.* e:\IconLib\*.* /s /e 3. Delete the c:\IconLib directory. 4. Edit the WIN.INI file in your \WINDOWS\ directory. 5. In the [The Icon Librarian] section, change Path=C:\IconLib to Path=E:\IconLib Tips: Exchanging Libraries With Other People -------------------------------------------- If you download or in some other way receive some .TIL files that you want to install with your own libraries, here are the steps you will need to take: 1. Copy the .TIL file(s) that you have received into your \ICONLIB\ directory. 2. Write down the filenames of the libraries. 3. Start up The Icon Librarian, and choose the "File / New Folder" option. 4. In the "filename" field, key in the name of the file that you wrote down in step 2 above. Don't key in the extension; it will always be .TIL. In other words, if the file is named CARTOONS.TIL, then key in "Cartoons" in the filename field. 5. Double click on the new library's folder, and the icons will appear. In Conclusion ------------- I hope that you will enjoy using The Icon Librarian, and that it will help make your job of icon collection much easier. As always, I would appreciate hearing your comments about the program or suggestions for new ideas that you may have. You can contact me in any of the ways documented on the title page of this document. And, thanks again for supporting my Shareware products! Keith Ledbetter