More System Extensions

Mark Wherry looks at another two utilities to ease your Atari computing...

There's a small, but dedicated, band of Atari programmers who, instead giving up and switching platforms, continue to deliver new system enhancements. They're often inspired by utilities on other platforms, but they do help keep us all closer to the cutting edge.

The MagiC circle

Modern operating systems on other platforms are increasingly dependent on multitasking features to enable programs to interact with each other and it's no different on the Atari platform. A multi-tasking OS is becoming increasingly essential. My preference for MagiC should be obvious from my previous contributions but it clearly does enjoy more support than any of its competitors.

The list of documents past

Wouldn't it be nice if your computer maintained a easily accessible list of all the documents you had recently used? That's the aim of Thomas Much's latest protocol called the Document HiSTory (DHST) protocol. It doesn't actually create a list itself but makes it possible for programmers to add this capability to their applications.

One practical place to maintain a document history list (DHL) would be a program such as Thomas' own Start Me Up (SMU) - and surprise, surprise from v7.01 SMU is indeed a DHST server. On loading SMU it places a DHST cookie into the cookie jar which contains the ID number of the server to inform other programs where they should send DHST messages.

Any program that supports the DHST protocol should send a DHST_ADD message to the server whenever a user loads or saves a file. This message tells the server the names and absolute paths of the document and the program in which it is being used.

The server takes this information and adds an entry to the DHL which, when selected by the user, reloads the file into the appropriate program - clever stuff!

Even better, some popular applications already support the DHST protocol including CAB, Texel, and my own GEMTrade. Although undocumented, the current English SMU v7.0e already acts as a DHST server. To activate this hidden ability simply add the line:

/documents

to your menu structure and restart.

Scripting GEMs!

GEMScript is another new protocol. If you're familiar with Apple Mac machines you may be aware of AppleScript which enables programs which support the protocol to control the operation of other programs. The GEMScript protocol offers similar abilities on our favourite platform.

Again the GEMScript protocol does nothing on its own - it simply defines the way communication between programs should take place.

When an application has established the receiving program supports GEMScript, it can send a GS_COMMAND message via the AES. This will contain a command along with any required parameters, such as a filename.

The command could conceivably be anything the programmer could dream up which throws up a potential problem. If individual programmers dream up their own commands, a standard means of communication would be impossible. To counter this potential problem, the creators of the GEMScript protocol have created a standard set of commands for programmers to use wherever possible.
 

What's the point?

Imagine one of the programs was an interpreted programming language? It would then be possible to write a list of instructions, much like a shopping list, and the instructed programs could carry out their instructions autonomously!

Here's an example, using appropriate commands, a script could be written to carry out the following tasks:

  •  Log onto the internet.
  •  Load CAB, and download a web page.
  •  Print this web page.
  •  Close and finish.
The user would simply execute the script, entering the URL address at run-time then leave the applications to get on with it via GEMScript! The potential uses are mind boggling.

So do we have an interpreted programming language which makes this all possible? Yes, it's called Scripter, programmed by Holger Weets (of ST-Guide fame) and Christian Wempe. Scripter is published by Applications Systems Heidelburg (ASH) and available now in German, As usual there's no English release available but hopefully System Solutions will be on the case.

On a brighter note a demo version of Scripter is available for download from ASH's web pages and just in case you're wondering, my own iPL will shortly also offer similar capabilities - in English!

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