@database 0013e2b0-0 @master IconConvert.guide @$VER: 1.2 @author "Peter Liljenberg" @(c) "1995 Peter Liljenberg" @remark Created with Heddley v1.1 (c) Edd Dumbill 1994 @node "Main" "IconConvert" @next "intro" @{fg shine}IconConvert v1.2@{fg text} @{b}Copyright 1995 Peter Liljenberg@{ub} @{" Introduction " link "intro" 0} What is it -- and why? @{" Installation " link "install" 0} Really simple @{" Requirements " link "requirements" 0} An Amiga @{" Legal Stuff " link "legal" 0} The usual stuff @{" General " link "gen_operation" 0} Use the program @{" Workbench " link "workbench_use" 0} Use the mouse @{" Shell " link "shell_use" 0} Use the keyboard @{" " link "bugs" 0} Smeg'em @{" " link "to_do" 0} The future of IconConvert @{" Version History " link "history" 0} The past of IconConvert @{" Contacting Author " link "contact" 0} Communicate GUI created with triton.library Copyright Stefan Zeiger @endnode @node "intro" "Introduction" @next "install" @prev "Main" Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Icons makes your Amiga more friendly, but finding a set of icons you actually like is very difficult. Commodore's (RIP) icons are terribly ugly, the NewIcon system is a good idea but it is slow and it uses a little too much memory of my precious kilobytes. I had settled on MacigWB's icons, but I wasn't happy with its demand for an eight colour screen (every kilobyte is sacred when you only have 2Mb memory.) So I wrote IconConvert to convert MagicWB's eight colour icons to four colour ones. Now I'm happy. IconConvert's task is to convert the images of icons between different palettes. You can also use it to strip superfluous image planes from icons, and thus save space and time when opening drawers in the Workbench. IconConvert converts the icons by changing the colours so that the original image is kept, even if the new image has fewer image planes or a different palette. @endnode @node "install" "Installation" @next "requirements" @prev "intro" Installation ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Installation is very simple. Just copy IconConvert wherever you want, and copy triton.library (in drawer Triton) to LIBS:. You can use the installer script in the Triton drawer for this. @endnode @node "requirements" "Requirements" @next "legal" @prev "install" Requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~ * At least OS 2.04+. OS 3.0+ will improve the performance of IconConvert. * 150 - 200 kb free memory, the more the better. * Triton library, v3 (release 1.2) or better. IconConvert has been tested on the following setup: * A1200, 020, 2Mb chipmem, 85 Mb hard disk, OS 3.0, with MungWall running. @endnode @node "legal" "Legal Stuff" @next "gen_operation" @prev "requirements" Legal Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~ IconConvert is FreeWare. You can distribute the unmodified archive freely as long as you don't charge more than a nominal fee, say $5. @{b}The author takes no responsibility for any damage or loss of data caused by use of IconConvert. Use of IconConvert is at the user's own risk.@{ub} IconConvert is Copyright 1995 Peter Liljenberg. All rights reserved. Triton is Copyright Stefan Ziegel. @endnode @node "gen_operation" "General Use" @next "workbench_use" @prev "legal" General Use ~~~~~~~~~~~ You choose one or more icons (files ending with ".info") or directories. You must also have an in palette and an out palette, either the Workbench screen palette or a palette from an ILBM file. IconConvert will by default use the Workbench screen palette for both palettes. Note: If the in palette has fewer colours (smaller image depth) than the icons you want to convert, IconConvert can't convert correctly since it won't consider the colours it hasn't information for. Now will IconConvert work out how to convert colours between the palettes, and then convert all choosen icons and the icons in the choosen directories. The icons in all subdirectories can also be converted, if specified. The new icons will replace the old, if you don't specify that IconConvert should backup the originals. If you do, IconConvert will save the old icons with the extension ".oldinfo". @endnode @node "workbench_use" "Workbench Use" @next "shell_use" @prev "gen_operation" Workbench Use ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Double click on IconConvert to start. You can choose icons and directories at the start by clicking once on IconConvert, and then shift click (hold down shift and click) on icons and drawers, and then double click on the last icon/drawer to start IconConvert. You can also drop icons and drawers on the main window -- it's an AppWindow. You can define which palettes to use and some of the options with the @{"tooltypes" link "tooltypes" 0} in the program icon. Now two windows will be opened. The main window and the conversion settings window. @{"Main window" link "main_win" 0} @{"Conversion settings window" link "conv_win" 0} @{"Palette window" link "palette_win" 0} @{"Conversion window" link "convmap_win" 0} @{"Progress window" link "progress_win" 0} @endnode @node "tooltypes" "ToolTypes" @next "main_win" @prev "workbench_use" ToolTypes ~~~~~~~~~ By defining tooltypes in the program's icon you can change the default settings at startup. INPAL -- Use the palette in the specified ILBM file as in palette. It is a good idea to use "ENV:Sys/palette.ilbm" here. It has 16 colours, so if you once have had MagicWB the first eight colours will be MagicWB's which makes it easy to convert MagicWB icons to four colours when you have a four colour screen. OUTPAL -- Use the palette in the specified ILBM file as out palette. DEPTH -- The depth of the resulting icons. Must be within 1 to 8. ALL -- Convert icons in subdirectories to choosen directories. SAVEOLD -- Backup the old icons with the extension ".oldinfo". DIRICONS -- Add the drawer icons to chosen directories. @endnode @node "main_win" "Main Window" @next "conv_win" @prev "workbench_use" Main Window ~~~~~~~~~~~ Gadgets: Icons -- A listview gadget showing all choosen icons and dirs. You can use the cursor keys to scroll the list. Add -- Click on the button to add icons to icon list. A file requester opens where you can choose icons. Shiftclick to choose more than one icon. Add Dir -- Add a directory to the list. Choose the directory in the requester. Remove -- Remove the selected icon/directory from the list. Add Drawer Icons -- When you add a dir it's drawer icon will be added to the list too, if set. Convert -- Start conversion. Menus: Icon: Add -- See above. Add Dir -- See above. Remove -- See above. Remove All -- Remove all icons/directories from the list. Convert -- See above. About -- Pop up a requester with some information. Quit -- Quit IconConvert. Palette: Edit In Palette -- Open in @{"palette window" link "palette_win" 0}. Edit Out Palette -- Open out @{"palette window" link "palette_win" 0}. Drop icons and drawers on the window to add them to the list. Clicking on the close gadget will quit IconConvert. @endnode @node "conv_win" "Conversion Settings Window" @next "palette_win" @prev "main_win" Conversion Settings Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gadgets: Show Conv. Map -- Show @{"conversion window" link "convmap_win" 0} before conversion, allowing you to alter it. Enter Subdirs -- Convert icons in subdirectories to choosen directories. Save old icons -- Save the old icons with the extension ".oldinfo", otherwise delete them. Depth -- The image depth of resulting icons. Menus: Same as the menus in the @{"main window" link "main_win" 0}. Clicking on the close gadget will quit IconConvert. @endnode @node "palette_win" "Palette Window" @next "convmap_win" @prev "conv_win" Palette Windows ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gadgets: Palette -- A list of all colours in the palette, in the form "n: r, g, b" where n is the colour number, and r, g, and b are the red, green and blue values for the colour. You can scroll in the list with the cursor keys. Colour -- The currently selected colour. Red -- The red value of the selected colour. Green -- The green value... Blue -- The blue value... Menu: Palette: Load Palette -- Load the palette from an ILBM file, which you choose in the file requester. Get Screen Palette -- Get the Workbench screen palette. Change Depth -- Change the depth of the palette. A requester is opened. Set the new depth with the slider. Clicking on the close gadget will close the palette window. @endnode @node "convmap_win" "Conversion Map Window" @next "progress_win" @prev "palette_win" Conversion Map Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gadgets: List -- A list of the conversion map in the form "x -> y" where x is the colour in the in palette, and y is the colour in the out palette x will be converted to. You can scroll in the list with the up and down cursor keys. Slider -- With this you can change y. You can use the left and right cursor keys to set y. OK -- Your conversion map will be used, and the conversion will continue. Cancel -- The old conversion map will be used, and the conversion will continue. Abort Conversion -- Abort the conversion and quit IconConvert. @endnode @node "progress_win" "Progress Window" @next "shell_use" @prev "convmap_win" Progress Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gadgets: Text box -- Displays the icon which is being converted. Progress -- Displays how many icons that has been converted. Cancel -- Abort conversion and quit IconConvert. @endnode @node "shell_use" "Shell Use" @next "bugs" @prev "workbench_use" Shell Use ~~~~~~~~~ The argument template: ICON/M,INPAL=INPALETTEFILE/K,OUTPAL=OUTPALETTEFILE/K,DEPTH/N,ALL/S, SAVEOLD/S,DIRICONS/S,QUIET/S,GUI/S ICON -- Icons and directories with icons to be converted. Directories must end in a '/', but icons doesn't have to end in '.info'. INPAL -- Load this ILBM file's palette as in palette. If not specified use the Workbench screen palette. OUTPAL -- Load this ILBM file's palette as out palette. If not specified use the Workbench screen palette. DEPTH -- The resulting icons' image depth. If not specified use the depth of the out palette. ALL -- Convert icons in subdirectories to directories specified with ICON. SAVEOLD -- Save the old icons with the extension ".oldinfo", otherwise delete them. DIRICONS -- Add the icons to the directories to the list. QUIET -- Don't output the icons being converted. GUI -- Open the @{"GUI interface" link "workbench_use" 0} with the settings from the command line. IconConvert can be made resident. @endnode @node "bugs" "Bugs" @next "to_do" @prev "shell_use" Bugs ~~~~ It's not a real bug, but if IconConvert runs out of memory when adding icons to the list or during conversion, it will just skip this icon without notifying the user. The problem is that if IconConvert can't allocate a few hundred bytes, there isn't enough free memory to pop up a requester saying this, and I don't think this situation is serious enough to use an alert. @endnode @node "to_do" "To Do" @next "history" @prev "bugs" To Do ~~~~~ * Improve colour conversion. Maybe an option to produce dithered colours? * Open a screen, so IconConvert can show the colours instead of just the red/green/blue values in the @{"palette windows" link "palette_win" 0}. * On line help. * Localization. @endnode @node "history" "Version History" @next "contact" @prev "to_do" Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **** 1.2 (1 Dec. 1995) **** New features: * Added @{"tooltypes" link "tooltypes" 0}. * Now will drawer icons be included to the list when you add a drawer to it. * The @{"main window" link "main_win" 0} menus are now menus to the @{"conversion settings" link "conv_win" 0} window too. **** 1.1 (8 Nov. 1995) **** This is so embarrassing -- obviously I hadn't bug tested IconConvert enough. I also forgot to document the @{"AppWindow function" link "workbench_use" 0}, but that's alright because it didn't work anyway... Bug fixes: * Icons dropped on the main window or choosed at start from the Workbench had the wrong path (drawers were alright though.) * Memory loss in the colour conversion routine. **** 1.0 (3 Nov. 1995) **** Initital release. @endnode @node "contact" "Contacting the Author" @next "Main" @prev "history" Contacting the Author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'd be glad to hear from you -- bugs, ideas, constructive criticism, whatever! My address is: Peter Liljenberg Tjureda 823 B S-360 40 Rottne Sweden This address should be valid until July 1996. E-mail: dan.eriksson@vxjkatedral.se (lipnv3c, Peter Liljenberg) N.B. Don't forget the part in the brackets, remember at least 'lipnv3c'. This address may change in January 1996, and is definitly not valid after May 1996. @endnode