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-
-
- PowerSnap 1.1 User Manual
-
- Aug 19, 1991
-
-
-
- 1mPreface0m
- 1m=======0m
-
- The programs and files in this distribution are freely distributable,
- but are also Copyright (c) Nico François. They may be freely distributed as
- long as no more than a nominal fee is charged to cover time and copying costs.
- No commercial usage is permitted without written permission from the
- author. Everything in this distribution must be kept together, in original
- unmodified form.
- The above is generally known as freeware.
-
- If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find
- any bugs, please let me know.
-
- Write to the following address:
-
- Nico François
- Corbielaan 13
- B-3060 Bertem
- BELGIUM
-
-
- 1mContents0m
- 1m========0m
-
- 1. An introduction
-
- 2. Installation
-
- 3. CLI usage
-
- 4. Workbench usage
-
- 5. Features
-
-
- 1m1. An introduction0m
- 1m==================0m
-
- Snap, snap, snap, snap, eggs and snap :-) Ahem...
-
- PowerSnap is a utility that allows you to use the mouse to mark
- characters anywhere on the screen and paste them somewhere else, like in the
- CLI or in a string gadget. PowerSnap will check what font is used in the
- window you snap from and will look for the position of the characters
- automatically. It recognizes all non proportional fonts of up to 24 pixels
- wide and of any height so this should cover most fonts used. Snapping and
- pasting text is done using the mouse, making PowerSnap fast and easy to use.
- To try PowerSnap out, double-click its icon to install the handler, move
- the mouse over a character on the screen, press the left ALT key and while
- keeping this pressed press the left mouse button. After a short delay
- (depends on how big the font is) PowerSnap will either flash the screen,
- indicating it hasn't found a character at this position (it is possible
- PowerSnap didn't look for the correct font), or the character you are pointing
- at will be selected. Move the mouse while keeping the left ALT key and the
- mouse button down to select more characters. Once you are satisfied with what
- you have selected release the left ALT key. You can now insert the text you
- have just snapped by pressing either left ALT + V or left ALT + right mouse
- button.
- Both the left ALT and the 'V' keys mentioned in this short explanation
- are user-definable (see below). Also, don't start snapping on a space because
- PowerSnap will almost certainly get the character positions wrong. You CAN
- start snapping on a space if you have already snapped in the window.
-
-
- 1m2. Installation0m
- 1m===============0m
-
- To install PowerSnap automatically run the installation script. Install
- manually by copying 'PowerSnap' and 'PowerSnap.info' to your C: directory and
- 'powersnap-handler' to your L: directory. 'powersnap-handler' does not have
- to be in L: but it is best if you put it there, PowerSnap will also find it
- if it is in the current directory.
- If you want PowerSnap to be part of your initial startup (so you always
- have the comfort of snapping anything anywhere :-) you should put a simple
- line saying 'PowerSnap' before the 'EndCLI >NIL:' in your startup-sequence.
- If you wish to specify options include these on the same line, like e.g.
- 'PowerSnap COLOR 2'. To disable the copyright message redirect output to NIL:
- like in 'PowerSnap >NIL:'.
- Workbench 2.0 users have the following extra possibility: drag the
- PowerSnap icon into the WbStartup drawer of your boot disk/partition. And
- that's all there is to it. Specify options in the icon's tooltypes. If you
- do it this way you don't have to change your startup-sequence.
-
-
- 1m3. CLI usage0m
- 1m============0m
-
- Enter 'PowerSnap ?' for a CLI usage template:
-
- 1mPowerSnap 1.10;32m © Nico François0m
- Usage: PowerSnap [QUAL qual] [SLQUAL qual] [PASTEKEY char] [PRIORITY n]
- [COLOR 1-3] [PAQUAL qual] [PREPEND str] [APPEND str]
- [SNAPCHARS] [SNAPFRAME] [[NO]JOIN] [[NO]XEROX]
- or PowerSnap LIST
- or PowerSnap QUIT
-
- Explanation of the options:
-
- QUAL qual : Set snap qualifier (qual, default: LALT).
- This is the qualifier that must be down when you press
- the left mouse button to start snapping. This is also the
- qualifier for inserting the snapped text. There are two
- ways to insert snapped text: using the pastekey or using
- the right mouse button.
- SLQUAL qual : Set single line qualifier (qual, default: LALT+LSHIFT).
- When this qualifier is down and you insert snapped text
- everything will be put on one single line. All whitespace
- (spaces and newlines) between words will be changed to a
- single space. Very useful for inserting a lot of filenames
- from a directory for example.
- PASTEKEY c : Set pastekey (character, default: V).
- This key is used to insert the snapped text. Insertion
- will follow when it is pressed with on of the three
- possible qualifiers down (QUAL, SLQUAL, PAQUAL).
- PRIORITY n : Set priority of inputhandler (dec, default: 55).
- Priority of input handler (should always be > 50).
- SNAPCHARS : Start with character snap (default).
- SNAPFRAME : Start with frame snap.
- PowerSnap has two snap modes: character and frame. The
- easiest to explain is frame snap, you just draw a rectangle
- and everything inside it will be snapped. Character snap
- will interpret the screen as lines of text (like an editor)
- and will snap accordingly.
- [NO]JOIN : Join mode on/off (default: on).
- Tells PowerSnap if it's ok to join two lines to a single
- long line when the first line has a non blank character
- as its last character. This only works when you are using
- character or word snap. Default is JOIN.
- [NO]XEROX : Xerox insert mode on/off (default: off).
- When xerox mode is on snapped text will be inserted
- immediately when you stop snapping. Default is NOXEROX.
- COLOR 1-3 : Set color of select box (1-3, default: 1).
- This sets the color of the complemented characters.
- Try all three and see what you like best.
- PAQUAL qual : Set pre-/append qualifier (qual, default: LALT+CONTROL).
- When using this qualifier to insert snapped text a string
- will be prepended to each line and one will be appended.
- PREPEND str : Set prepend string (default: "> ").
- Use this to set the string that will be prepended when you
- paste with the PAQUAL down. This string can be up to 15
- characters long. To enter a '"' in the string escape it
- with a '*'. E.g. 'PowerSnap PREPEND " *" "'.
- APPEND str : Set append string (default: empty).
- Use this to set the string that will be appended when you
- paste with the PAQUAL down. Can be up to 15 characters.
-
- Following qualifiers are recognized:
-
- LSHIFT Left shift key
- RSHIFT Right shift key
- CONTROL Control key
- LALT Left alt key
- RALT Right alt key
- LCOMMAND Left Amiga key
- RCOMMAND Right Amiga key
- MIDBUTTON Middle mouse button (if you have one :-)
-
- Or any combination of these (separate the qualifiers by a non-alpha
- character like a '+', '-' or '|'), e.g. 'LALT+LSHIFT' or 'LALT-LSHIFT'.
-
- You may run PowerSnap again once it has been installed to change the
- settings. Enter 'PowerSnap LIST' for a list of current settings.
- 'PowerSnap QUIT' will remove the handler from memory.
-
- Examples:
-
- o PowerSnap PREPEND "Type " APPEND " OPT N"
-
- When you paste some text 'Type ' will be inserted before each line
- and ' OPT N' after. If you e.g. snap 'PowerSnap.c' and press
- LALT-CTRL-V the following will be inserted: 'Type PowerSnap.c OPT N'
-
- o PowerSnap QUAL LSHIFT+RSHIFT+CONTROL
-
- This sets the snap qualifier to both shift keys plus the control
- key. This is a rather silly example because unless your name is
- Zaphod Beeblebrox or you are very good at doing things with your
- feet it is quite impossible to snap anything with this qualifier :^)
-
- o PowerSnap PASTEKEY i
-
- Sets the insert key to 'I' instead of 'V'. So pressing LALT-I
- will feed the text in the clipboard to the keyboard.
-
- NOTE: - You can toggle between character/frame snap once you have started
- snapping. Just keep the left mouse pressed down while you click the
- right one. Be careful, if you don't keep the left button pressed
- you will insert the text you have marked.
- - PowerSnap has the ability to do word oriented snapping. To activate
- this double-click the left mouse button when you start snapping. Note
- that word snapping forces character snapping and frame snapping is no
- longer possible.
- - Press the left mouse button while PowerSnap is inserting to abort.
-
-
- 1m4. Workbench usage0m
- 1m==================0m
-
- PowerSnap recognizes the following tooltypes (see CLI options for a more
- complete explanation):
-
- QUAL=qual : Set snap qualifier (qual, default: LALT).
- SLQUAL=qual : Set single line qualifier (qual, default: LALT+LSHIFT).
- PASTEKEY=c : Set pastekey (character, default: V).
- PRIORITY=n : Set priority of inputhandler (dec, default: 55).
- SNAPCHARS : Start with character snap (default).
- SNAPFRAME : Start with frame snap.
- COLOR=1-3 : Set color of select box (1-3, default: 1).
- JOIN : Join mode on (default).
- NOJOIN : Join mode off.
- XEROX : Xerox insert mode on.
- NOXEROX : Xerox insert mode off (default).
- PAQUAL=qual : Set pre-/append qualifier (qual, default: LALT+CONTROL).
- PREPEND=str : Set prepend string (default: "> ").
- APPEND=str : Set append string (default: empty).
- Do NOT put quotes around the pre-/append string.
- QUIET : Don't open window informing PowerSnap has been installed
- or removed. Useful for people who wish to put PowerSnap
- in their WbStartup drawer (Workbench 2.0 only).
-
- Select PowerSnap's icon and choose 'Information' from the 'Icons' menu
- (Workbench 2.0) or 'Info' from the 'Workbench' menu (Workbench 1.3). You can
- now edit PowerSnap's tooltypes, check your manual for more information.
- Run PowerSnap twice to remove it from memory.
-
- NOTE: - Workbench 1.2/1.3 users MUST always include an '=' in a tooltype.
- So instead of entering "XEROX" to switch on xerox insert mode, you
- must insert "XEROX=". Workbench 2.0 no longer has this limitation.
-
-
- 1m5. Features0m
- 1m===========0m
-
- o Fully supports the clipboard.device. You can use snapped text in all
- other programs that supports the clipboard.device.
-
- o Snaps all printable characters, from ' ' (32) to 'ÿ' (255).
-
- o Supports all keymaps.
-
- o Uses a relatively small handler that is about 7.4K long. PowerSnap
- uses less than 12K of memory once it is installed (excluding memory
- used by the clipboard.device).
-
- o Recognizes all non-proportional fonts to up to 24 pixels wide and of
- any height. Also recognizes scaled fonts (Workbench 2.0).
-
- o Recognizes plain, underlined, bold, inverse, bold underlined, inverse
- underlined, inverse bold and inverse bold underlined characters :-)
-
- o Works with fonts with kerning data (like the courier.font supplied
- with Workbench 2.0).
-
- o Will remember character positions in up to 8 windows. Once you have
- snapped in a window the initial character position will be found
- immediately and you may also start snapping on spaces.
-
- o Joins long lines.
-
- o Pre-/appends strings and has a neat single-line insert mode :-)
-
- o Supports a middle mouse button if one exists. Using the middle button
- as qualifier gives the possibility to snap/paste without touching the
- keyboard!
-
- o Inputhandler is written in assembly for lowest possible overhead.
-
- o AmigaDOS Release 2 compatible (Kickstart & Workbench 2.0).
-
-
- As always, enjoy !
-
-
- PROGRAM HISTORY:
-
- ******************************************************************************
- VERSION 1.0
-
- First release.
-
- ******************************************************************************
- VERSION 1.1
-
- Fixed bug in reading from clipboard. Strange things could happen if the
- clipboard did not contain text. Unknown clips are properly ignored now.
- Incompatibility with 'ConClip' (Workbench 2.0, V37) resolved.
- Default COLOR changed to 1.
- Version string embedded for Workbench 2.0 'Version' command.
- To put the record straight: PowerSnap is not a modified version of
- Snap (by Mikael Karlsson). It is a completely different program
- that does most of the things Snap does. A lot of the features and
- ideas in PowerSnap were influenced by (read stolen from :-) Snap
- though. I just thought I'd mention this because some German magazine
- almost convicted me for plagiarism, oh boy :^D
- The Amiga would hang if you tried to snap something just when a window
- was about to close. Now all the Intuition functions that open, close
- or modify windows are patched so they will wait until snapping has
- finished. If you are running Kickstart 2.0, the new Intuition
- functions are also patched. This should fix all deadlocks.
- New tooltype 'QUIET' added for startup from Workbench without window.
- Tested with Enforcer and Mungwall debugging tools.
-
- ******************************************************************************
-
- PowerSnap 1.1 written by Nico François (Yes, Nico is my first name :-)
- thanks to Jorrit Tyberghein, Ives Aerts & Philip Marivoet for
- beta testing.
-
- (c) 1991 Nico François
-
- //
- Thanks to \X/ Amiga for being the best computer ever !
-
-