THE Mac Download Manager

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3. Reference - Main Screen

KEY:
[1] Toolbar
[2] Queue Display
[3] Slot Indicators
[4] Information Display

3.1 The Toolbar [1]

3.1.1 Go/Stop

This toggle button starts and stops the queue function.

Starting the queue causes Monica to cycle through the queue list and start downloading any items in a queued status when a download slot becomes available. The queue is checked every 8-10 seconds - so be a little patient!

Stopping the queue does NOT abort any running downloads, but prevents any new ones starting.

3.1.2 Get it Now!

Use this to immediately start downloading a selected queue item, if a free slot is available.

3.1.3 Hold

You may de-activate a download that is not in process by highlighting it on the queue list and pressing this button. This effectively puts the download on hold and it is ignored by the queue until re-activated.

3.1.4 Enable

You may re-activate a download previously put on hold by highlighting it on the queue list and pressing this button. You may also re-activate downloads that had errors, or were successfully completed, in this way.

3.1.5 Add

Pressing this will open a window in which you can manually add a new URL.

The "Port" field is normally automatically set for you, but you may override it if you know the server port is non-standard.

The "Login" and "Password" fields are again automatically set but may be overwritten. This provides your login information to ftp and Hotline servers, and is only relevant to http URLs that require authorisation.

If you wish Monica to automatically resume a download from a previous session then check the "Try to Restart" checkbox. If this is NOT checked, and a file with the same name exists in your Downloads folder, that file will be deleted. Once Monica is running she will ALWAYS try to resume after the first attempt goes wrong.

The "Timeout" field specifies the number of seconds to wait without receiving any data before restarting the download.

The "Times to Retry" field specifies the number of times to keep on trying if errors occur. This does NOT apply to errors such as "File not found" or "Invalid password", as in such cases trying to restart is a bit pointless.

The "Local Folder" field and "Select" button allow you to choose where the file is to be put on your computer.

The "Local Name" field allows you to choose the local name of the downloaded file.

3.1.6 Edit

You may change details about a download if it is not currently in progress or actively queued by highlighting it on the queue list and pressing this button.

You may also edit downloads by double-clicking on them in the queue list.

3.1.7 Delete

You may delete a queued download if it is not currently in progress by highlighting it on the queue list and pressing this button.

You may also just press the "del" key after highlighting the download in the queue. You may use the cursor up and down arrows in the queue list to navigate.

3.1.8 Purge Queue

This will purge the queue of all queue items that have been successfully downloaded. It will not purge items that have had errors.

3.1.9 Import

This button allows you to import a file of URLs into the queue. This file must have one URL per line.

3.1.10 Export

This button allows you to export your queue as a list of URLs into a text file.

3.1.11 Save Queue

Monica automatically saves the queue every 10 minutes or so. This button allows you to save the queue immediately. Use it if you have just spent 10 minutes loading up a complicated set of URLs!

3.1.12 Preferences

Pressing this button allows you to enter various default parameters. These parameters apply by default to any new downloads added to the queue. Please see the Preferences section below.

3.1.13 File Types

Pressing this button allows you to enter parameters for setting the Mac file Type and Creator properties of downloaded files based upon file extensions ( the letters after the last "." in the file name ). You may add new ones or delete any existing parameters in this window. Setting these up correctly for your machine will allow you to double-click on downloaded files to open them with your chosen application.

3.1.14 Schedule

Pressing this button allows you to maintain queue schedule times i.e.: to set times at which to start or stop the queue. For example, if you wish your college/work computer to start downloads after hours, you may set the queue to start at a later time. You may also set it to stop at a specified time, to start PPP or stop it at a later time.

INFO: Note that Monica must be running at the time for these schedule functions to work.
INFO: Note that the schedule is SELF-PURGING and any items referring to past times are automatically deleted ( 10 minute safety zone ).

You may add a start or stop parameter by setting the date and time and then pressing the "Add" button. To delete an item, highlight it and press the "Delete" button. You may cancel any changes made by using the "Cancel" button, or save the changes to the schedule using the "Save" button. Starting and stopping the queue by means of schedule items is accurate to within a minute. You may not add more than one event for the same time.

3.1.15 Show/Hide Drop Window

This toggle button will show or hide a small window onto which you can drop URLs. Often, when browsing, you have very little screen space available, and this allows you to place a small window on a visible part of the screen so that it is not necessary to bring Monica to the front on your screen. You should move this to some convenient place on your screen.

3.1.16 Available Helpers

If you have downloaded and installed the separate Monica Helper applications, these buttons will allow you to start the helper applications.

3.1.17 Display Key

This brings up a small window showing the colour codes of the queue display graphics.

3.1.18 Get List

Monica has a facility to download off the net a list of files for further downloading. The URL for this list may be entered in the Preferences under the "Transmission" tab in the "Base URL" field. The file pointed to by this URL must be a standard text file with a single URL per line eg:

http://www.someplace.com/file1.zip
ftp://ftp.anotherplace.com/file2.hqx

Pressing this "Get List" button will cause Monica to:

• Delete any pre-existing ( old ) list.
• Download the list from the Base URL.
• Load all URLs in the list file into the queue.
• Start the queue.
• Download the files.
• Stop the queue.
• Purge the queue.

3.1.19 Quit

This will close the program.

3.2 Queue Display [2]

Monica keeps you informed of status and progress by means of status text and pseudo-LEDs in the main window.

Looking at a queued item from left to right, the information is as follows:

• Pseudo-LED.
  "Queued" means the item is waiting in the queue.
  "Starting" means the download is starting.
  "On Hold" means that this item is on hold and is being ignored by the queue.
  "In Process" means that Monica has connected to the remote server and the download is about to start.
  "Error" means that an error occurred. A brief description is displayed.
  "Received" means that the file was successfully received.
  "Blocked" means that you have added a new item to the queue with the same name as another item in the queue or as an existing file in your Downloads folder. To download such a file you need to edit it so as to resolve this conflict.
  
• URL.
  This is the URL!
• Retries.
  This is the number of times Monica has tried to get the file.
• Size.
  This is the file size if the server gave it.
• Information.
  This is verbal information about the download status.

You may Paste a URL into the Paste/Drop URL field. Please note that this is not a type-in field - use the Add toolbar button to do this.

You may change the queue order by selecting items and pressing the Change Order arrows.

3.3 Slot Indicators [3]

This area shows indicators for the available download slots. These numbered buttons change colour when active, and may be pressed to bring the relevant download window into view if a download is in process.

The Slots indicator shows the maximum number of simultaneous downloads selected at this time. At program start this is read from your preferences, but you may increase or decrease this number as you go by pressing the adjacent up and down arrows.

The Show Windows checkbox allows you to select whether to display the download sub-windows or not, as you please.

The Queued indicator shows the number of items in the queue currently in a Queued state.

3.4 Information Display [4]

This area shows help information, including the toolbar button functions as you pass your mouse over them

3.5 Queue Status Explanations

• Bad Login. Your login/password were not accepted.
• Bad Password. Your login/password were not accepted.
• Check Size. From all the information received by Monica from the remote server the file has been successfully downloaded, but the local file size is different to the size anticipated, or the remote server did not tell Monica the size. Possible file corruption, or an incomplete download, but probably downloaded ok.
• Disk Error. There has been an error writing to disk.
• Domain Not Found. The remote site cannot be found. Either it doesn't exist, or your DNS server is having a bad day.
• Download Error. There is an unknown problem trying to get a file from a Hotline server.
• Error nnn. Some other error occurred. Please tell me if you get these frequently.
• File Missing. The file you are attempting to download has been removed from the server location.
• File not Found. The remote file was not found.
• Files Same Size. The remote file is precisely the same size as the local file so it was not downloaded again.
• In Drop Box. The file you are trying to get from a Hotline server is in a Drop Box and is thus not available to you.
• Internal Error. This is an internal Monica problem. Please notify me of what happened.
• Local File Bigger. From all the information received by Monica from the remote server the file has been successfully downloaded, but the local file size is bigger than anticipated. Possible file corruption.
• Local File Exists. The local file is the same size as the remote file so it was not downloaded again.
• Misc OT Error. Open Transport has returned one of its many incomprehensible errors.
• Not Allowed. The Hotline server you are trying to download from does not let your login download files.
• OT Not Installed. Monica requires Open Transport. You don't have it installed and working.
• Over Retry Limit. Monica has tried the download unsuccessfully the number of times you specified.
• Received. The file has been successfully received.
• Redirected html. The http server has said that the required file has been moved, but links to a html page. Many servers redirect a "File Not Found" to another web ( html) page so as to tell you in glorious technicolor that the file cannot be found. Monica ignores redirections to html pages for this reason.
• User Abort. You pressed the big ABORT! button.

3.6 Download Sub-windows

When a download is in progress a sub window appears that shows what is going on.

Each sub-window has a big "Abort!" button that you may press to abort the download.

There is also a "Diagnose/Ignore" toggle button. This will cause Monica to put up a window when the download attempt is over showing the Monica-server dialogue. Use it when you are not sure why you cannot download a file, but the dialogue in the download sub-window whizzes by too fast. Switch off the option by pressing the button again.

The window also shows the following:

• URL. The URL!
• Total in. The total bytes that are currently written to disk, including anything received on prior attempts.
• File Size. If the remote server told Monica the file size, it is displayed here.
• Restart at. The number of bytes received prior to this download attempt.
• BPS. Download speed in bytes per second, calculated as the total bytes received this attempt divided by the elapsed seconds since starting this attempt.
• Server Dialog Display. This shows the dialog between Monica and the remote server. Lines beginning with a "*" are informational lines generated by Monica. Lines beginning ">" are outgoing commands. Lines starting "<" are responses from the remote server.
• Progress Bar. Progress! Only useful if the remote server told Monica the file size.
• Time Left. Estimate of the time left on the download based upon the BPS rate.
• Expected. The length of the complete transmission expected from a Hotline server.
• Received. How much of the transmission has been received from a Hotline server.

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Last updated by DocGen on Thursday, March 15, 2001 at 8:56:53

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