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_________________ · H D - C L I C K · _________________ V e r s i o n 3 . 0 Q U I C K - T U T O R I A L Welcome to the QuickTutorial of HDClick, the easy to use program-selector and Harddisk-menu. This Quick Tutorial shows how you can quickly get t to work HDClick the way you want. After this Tutorial you will already be able to start your favourite programs with HDClick. A) Quick Tutorial for HDClick in WBStartup (Standard) B) Quick Tutorial for HDClick as a startup-sequence-Selector Of course you can use both A) and B). You could use HDClick to select a startup-seuence first (B), and then when you choose the "normal" startup-sequence that opens your Workbench, HDClick will be run again in WBStartup, with a different configuration than before (A). A) Quick Tutorial for HDClick in WBStartup (Standard) ===================================================== 1. Installation ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The installation is very easy: Just double-click on the install-icon. If you follow the instructions of the install-program, this tutorial will work ok. Because HDClick was installed in the WBStartup-drawer it will be run after each reset. If you don't want that you'll have to reinstall it in an other drawer. You can't just copy HDClick from WBStartup into another directory, there are several files to be moved and changed. 2. Start HDClick ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ After the installation, open the drawer "WBstartup" on your (boot)-Harddisk. If everything worked fine you will find an icon with the name "HDClick". Double-click on this icon and HDClick starts. If you get an error-message now, or the icon is not in WBStartup, re- install HDClick and look that you follow the instructions of the install-program. INFORMATION: Should you ever press the right instead of the left mouse- button during this tutorial, HDClick's screen will disappear and iconify. You can reopen the screen by pressing the "HELP"-key on your keyboard. 3. The Basics ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ After starting HDClick you will se a screen with four rows full of gadgets. With these gadgets you will be able to easily start your programs instead of start them by clicking yourself through several drawers on your Workbench. (The programs will still be at the place you have installed them). At the top you can see the four titles of the rows. Let's start a program: - Click on the Gadget with the title "Calculator". It's in the row with the title "Tools". HDClick starts the program "Sys:Tools/Calculator" (if you have it on your Harddisk). For that you can immediately see the Calculator, HDClick's screen disappears into the background. You can (but don't have to) quit Calculator now. To get HDClick back to the front you can click the Screen-Gadget at the top right corner (perhaps several times). Let's start another program: - Click on the gadget with the title "Shell". It's in the row with the title "Projects". HDClick now starts a shell-process (if all the necessary files are on your HD). As you can see the row-title has nothing to do with the drawer a program is in (don't get confused by the example with Calculator which accidently is in a drawer called "Tools"). Again HDclick's screen disappears, but this time HDClick is iconified and the screen is closed. You can now see a small window with the title "HDClick" on your Workbench. To get back to HDClick you must activate the small window with your left mousebutton and then press the right mousebutton. - Now after the Screen is open again, press the RIGHT mousebutton. As you can see, HDClick is iconified again, a window is opened on your Workbench. This function makes it possible for you to "get HDClick out of sight" very fast. To get back to the HDClick-Screen you use the "Hotkey" this time. You don't need to activate the small window. Just press the HELP-key on your keyboard. As you can see HDClick's screen opens again. This hotkey is always active and always gets HDClick to the front, no matter in which status it's in at that moment. Of course you can specify your own hotkey. 4. Go to other Menus ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ HDClick can have several program-compilations. Such a "program-compilation" is called "Menu". To go to another menu, any gadget can be defined to do that. Such a "menu"-gadget is e.g. the gadget "Games". Let's go to another menu: - Click on the gadget with the title "Games". It's in the column with the title "Misc & Menus". HDClick loads the menu "Games" and all the gadgets get a new function, as defined in that menu. Also, the graphics and colors will change. You could now start some games that you have not configured in your mainmenu, perhaps because there wasn't enough space for them, or perhaps you just want everything to look a bit "ordered". Unlike the drawers on your workbench it doesn't matter whether those games you start with HDClick really are located in the same drawer called "Games". The Games you specify in this menu can be located on several different drawers and disks. Now let's go to the menu "Graphics" - Click on the gadget with the title "Graphics". Now you can see another menu with more programs. Because HDClick doesn't have a drawer-structure like your Worbench, you can go from one menu unti every other menu. Go back into the mainmenu. - Click in the gadget with the title "Main". You should now find yourself back in the mainmenu. 5. How to create your own menu ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Until now you have just looked at my prepared example-menus. I guess that now you want to compile your own favourite selection of programs as fast as possible, which is of course the main purpose of HDClick. It's easy ! - Click on the gadget "EDIT". It's on the bottom right. HDClick now opens the "EDIT"-Window. In here you'll find everything you need to configure HDClick's functions. The four listgadgets show the gadget-entries of the current menu. (You can get to the gadgets at the bottom by using the scroller). - Click on the textgadget with the contents "Programs", it's located in the middle on the top. Type in another title for this Column, e.g. "Favourites". Press RETURN. - Click on the gadget on top of the secont listgadget. It says "ProPage4.1". We now want to "fill" this entire column with your own programs. The easiest way to do this is by using the "EasyEdit" function. - Click on the "EasyEdit"-Gadget. It's about in the center of the EDIT-Window. HDClick puts the Workbench to the front and opens a window with a box in it. Now pull some ore more Icons of programs that you have on your harddisk into this box. It's done like this: 1. Open any drawer on your workbench that contains a program you would like to start with HDClick, e.g. the drawer "Utilities". 2. Pull the icon of a program into the HDClick-Box. You do it like this: Click with the left mouse button on the icon once and HOLD IT DOWN. Let's take the program "Clock". 3. Still with the leftbutton held down you "pull"/move the pointer /the icon to the box on the HDClick-Window. When there, you release the mousebutton. HDClick now has "knows" of that program and will add it into the list. As you can see, "Clock" still is in the Utilities-drawer, because HDClick didn't copy it to another place, but only "knows" it's filename. - Do the same with several programs of your choice. Pull them on the box in the HDClick window as you did with Clock. Do this with about 5 - 10 programs. - Click on the CLOSE-Gadget of the HDClick-Window (top right). The window closes and the HDClick-screen with the EDIT-window opens. As you can see the programs that you pulled into the box now appear in the listgadget in the row you have previously named "Favourites". To make your changes effective you have to save them to disk. - Click on "Save". The EDIT-Window is closed. - Click on the gadget with the title "Clock". If everything was made right, the program "Clock" will be started and HDClick's screen flips to the back. You have now successfully compiled your first own gadgets. If you want to enter more programs to start with HDClick you can proceed in the same way you just did, or differently (more infos in HDClick's Docs). But look that if you use EasyEdit you must pay attention to not deleting previously configured gadgets with new program-entries. 6. Gadget-configurations ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ A gadget-entry has several informations. One of them is the filename of the program "attached" to it, and the other is the gadgettitle. The filename is the path plus name of the program that is to be started. The Gadgettitle is meant only as a description and can be chosen freely. If you want to give the program "Clock" a different title, e.g. "BigBen", you must change the gadgettitle and not the filename. Before changing anything of a gadget you have to go to the edit-window and then select the gadget to be changed in one of the listgadgets: - To change anything you must go to the EDIT-window: Click on the EDIT-gadget. - Click on the gadget-entry to be changed in one of the listgadgets, e.g. "Clock". To change a gadgettitle: - Click on the stringgadget that says "Gadget-Title". In there it now says "Clock". Replace the text "Clock" with the text "BigBen" and press RETURN. You have now changed the title. To change the startmode: If don't want HDClick to just flip its screen to the back but close the screen completely (saves memory) after starting "Clock", you'll have to change the startmode. - Clock on the radiobutton-gadget that says "Run". All changes have to be saved if you want them to be effective next time you start HDClick. 7. Change the Screenmode ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ - To change the screenmode you have to go to the EDIT-function. Click on the EDIT-Gadget. - Now Clock on the gadget "Preferences". Another window opens. Here you can change several things, e.g. the colors and screenmode. - Click on "WBClone" or on "Custom" depending on what is active. "WBClone" makes HDClick use the same screenmode your workbench has got. With "Custom" you can select a different screenmode. - Click on SELECT. - Choose a usefule mode (do not use LoRes, Hires NoLace or any screen that is too small). - Click on OK. - Click on OK. The screen will close and reopen in the new mode. If there were errors: Select another screenmode next time... - If you like the screenmode, click on save. If not, click on "Preferences" again. B) Quick Tutorial for HDClick as a startup-sequence-Selector ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ To use HDClick to select between several startup-sequences you need more knowledge of the AMIGA. I have kept it short here. First, you should work through Tutorial A anyway so you get to know HDClick a bit. If you want to start HDClick in WBStartup as well as a startup- sequence selector you should perhaps use different configfiles. One for WBStartup, another as a startup-sequence-selector config where you only can start startup-sequences/batchfiles. Also useful are entries like "Start Shapeshifter" or other memory-hungry programs so that they get more memory when no Workbench is opened. With the mode "Launch" HDClick will be removed from memory, too, to save even more memory. HDClick has to be started as one of the first commands in your startup-sequence. How you do that you can also read in "Tips&Tricks" in HDClick's docs. No details here, you'll have to do something like that: - Make a backup of your s:startup-sequence. - Enter the following into your startup-sequence. Perhaps best AFTER the commands you have to run anyway, like SetPatch. Let's suppose you have installed HDClick in dh0:HDC. dh0:HDC/HDClick c=dh0:HDC/HDCConfig p=dh0:HDC/HDCPrefs h=F10 endcli You can delete the rest of you startup-sequence. Now start HDClick per Icon or shell and enter the backup-copy of your startup-sequence in a gadget: Click on EDIT, then on e.g. the first entry in the first listgadget. In "Filename" you enter the filename of this backup-copy of your startup-sequence. As title you enter e.g. "Standard". Select the modes "Launch" and "Batch". Now click on "Save" and this should work. At next reboot, HDClick should be started automatically, and when you click on the gadget "Standard" your old startup-sequence will be executed. This probably gets you to Workbench, and if you have installed HDClick in the WBStartup-drawer, too, it will be started again. More infos about HDClick's shell usage see docs. ------------------------------------------------------------------- That has been the Quick Tutorial (wow !). You have now learned the basics of HDClick and can already successfully use it. All other configuration-possibilities are "luxury" and not really necessary. If you want to compile your perfect menu you need a bit more time than this. Graphics, other fonts etc. make it look nicer. You can get more infos in HDClick's docs or with the HELP-function in the EDIT-window. The docs contains more examples for easy usage. This Quick Tutorial is © by Claude Müller. If you got to know and like HDClick especially because of this QuickTutorial please let me know !