If you like the demo, for a mere $20 you may purchase a single-use full version of MiniWin. You'll receive a control panel that allows you to configure MiniWin according to your preferences or change settings with simple key-click combinations:
･ Turn window zooming sounds on or off!
･ Set number of clicks to minimize a window, or override the Windowshade button!
･ Turn MiniWin on or off!
･ Set the size of the MiniWins (full or half-height)!
･ Snap MiniWins to the current grid, or change the grid on the fly!
･ Normal or quick icon searching!
If you like the demo, don't fool around - buy the full version! Increase your productivity! Upgrades are absolutely free to registered users! Support shareware authors!
See below for details.
Welome To MiniWin!
MiniWin was designed for we Mac users who don't really care for the Apple ｪ or Aaron ｪ WindowShade feature. After all, those titlebars can clutter up a screen pretty fast! This control panel will allow you to "minimize" application windows. A small window will appear in place of the application window, with an icon in it.
Installation:
BE SURE you have disabled or removed any other version of MiniWin from your control panel folder. If you have the MiniWinDemo in your Extensions folder, it MUST be disabled or removed also. Simply drop the MiniWin control panel, and the TSM Fix 1.03 extension onto your System folder. They will be put into the right folder. Just select "OK" when the dialog box appears. Restart your Mac. You MUST install the TSM Fix extension to assure predictable behavior for the minimized windows.
NOTE ABOUT WINDOWSHADE: You should disable pre-OS8 versions of WindowShade or MiniWin may not work properly. Just turn it off in the WindowShade control panel. Some things you just can't have both ways ;).
NOTE ABOUT RECENT DOCUMENTS FOLDER: For best speed, you should open the Apple Menu Options control panel and be sure the "Remember Recently Used Items" checkbox is checked. Set the "Documents" field to 15 or however many documents you usually have open at one time ( 15 is a good starting point). This isn't necessary for MiniWin to work, but it does save time for document searches. MiniWin looks in this folder if
it can't find a document by other, quicker means.
Usage:
Open up the MiniWin control panel and select your preference:
MiniWin:
1). On - turns MiniWin on.
2). Off - turns MiniWin off.
Double - click on any draggable area of a window to minimize it. I say this because the window borders are thickened under Aaron and System 8.0 and can be used for dragging. The WindowShade button will work as usual under OS8 or Aaron. However, you cannot minimize collapsed windows.
You cannot turn MiniWin off if there are any MiniWins onscreen. They must all be maximized first.
The minimized window will appear in the lower left corner of the main screen. Successive minimized windows will be added to the right of the first one. When the bottom row beomes filled, MiniWins will move up a row and continue this pattern. If Control Strip is active, the MiniWins will start just above it.
The minimized window(s) may be dragged on the screen just like any other window.
Maximize the MiniWins by double - clicking anywhere in them.
Notes, etc.
As with any INIT of this complexity and functionality, there were some unavoidable compromises which
I had to address. Please read the following for clarification:
The icon that appears in the minimized window is determined by the window's title. Thus, if there are identical file or directory titles, the minimized window may display the wrong icon. Hopefully this is rare. This can be avoided by giving ALL of your files and directories unique names WHEN WARRANTED. The file search routine stops when it finds the first file or directory that exactly matches the window's title, for icon display purposes. It would be too time-consuming to search every file on every volume that matches the title, especially on high-capacity or networked drives. Even if a full search was done, there is no guarantee that the icon would be correct. This could happen if a file was read into memory and closed. If no match is found, the icon will be the the application's icon. The full version uses only the application's icon if you select a quick search.
You will notice (of course) that the title of the minimized window is severely truncated due to the window's size. For this reason, the full title will appear when the cursor is over the titlebar of the Miniwin. If the MiniWins overlap, the ones in back will be brought to the front as the cursor passes over their titlebars.
You will hear a system beep (which indicates an error) if you try to minimize a window under the following conditions:
There is not enough memory available to allocate a MiniWin.
A dialog or alert window is in front that needs attention.
You attempted to minimize a dialog window that has no close box.
A system error occurred.
The MiniWins are Text Services Manager windows. There is a known deficiency with TSM windows that may prevent the cursor from changing to a standard arrow cursor when it is over a TSM window. This can occur when a TSM window is on top of an application window that is using, say, an I-beam cursor. You can still drag and maximize the window in spite of the odd appearance of the cursor. Please! This not my fault!
The number of MiniWins you can create is dependent upon the memory available in the System heap. It takes about 2.5K per MiniWin. The memory needed for the full title varies according to its length. However, the memory for the title is immediately released when it is not being displayed. The memory for a MiniWin is released when it is maximized. If you are an expert programmer, you could add a 'sysz' resource to MiniWin if you want more space in the System.
Above all, ENJOY!
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank James Walker, who wrote Find_Icon, for providing the icon searching routine, Jim Luther et. al., for the invaluable MoreFiles library, the gang at Metrowerks, and the csmph newsgroup, for helping me get this project off the ground. Also, thanks to Matt Slot for the TSM Fix, a vital extension for working with TSM windows.
Legal Junk:
This product is offered "as is". No warranties, no nothing. Use at your own risk. You may freely distribute this DEMO as long as all original files are included. If you purchase the full version for single-use, you can install it on one computer ONLY. If you wish to install the full version of MiniWin on more than one computer, you must pay the shareware fee for EACH computer that you will install it on.
Known Incompatibilities:
-BBEdit Lite 4.0-
A popup menu sometimes appears in the upper part of the screen or the program may appear to "freeze" after a BBEdit window has been minimized. This is due to the way BBEdit handles cmd-clicks that are generated by MiniWin in its window titles. Just click somewhere on the screen and the problem will go away. I have contacted the authors about this.
-Apollo-
There are several incompatiblities with the Apollo extension, mainly with sticky menus. I have contacted the author. The rest is up to him ;).
-Virtual Desktop (different authors and versions)-
MiniWin may exhibit odd behavior with such software, or may not work at all. Virtual Desktop programs are usually very dependent upon the system software you are using and alter OS behavior in varied and unpredictable ways. So, I have no plans to support them.
Questions? Comments? Bugs?
Email:
jharvey@mail.airmail.net
Mailing address: (USA)
James Harvey
617 Kingston Place
Garland, TX 75043
NOTE: If you are sending a bug report, please list your model, system version, and a complete description of the problem. This information is vital for bug hunts :).
--If you wish to purchase the full version of MiniWin--
Send payments to (20 U.S. Dollars ONLY - cash is preferred if you live outside of the U.S.A.):
James Harvey
617 Kingston Place
Garland, TX 75043
The full version of MiniWin will be sent to the mailing address you specify, on a 1.4M floppy. If you prefer, MiniWin can be sent to you via email. BE SURE to specify a mailing or email address.
Revision History:
4.0
Made the demo version into a control panel due to several requests. Updated search routines.
3.5:
Added 68k version of demo (yay!). Corrected bug that would cause MiniWins to disappear when minimizing the windows on some apps.
3.4:
Corrected problem with disposal of MinWins when apps are hidden. Corrected problem with MiniWins not being disposed of when their volumes have been ejected or their associated window disappears for other reasons.
3.3:
All memory now allocated on system heap to prevent unexpected memory problems in apps.
3.2:
Corrected crashing bug when quitting an app on some machines.
3.1:
Corrected problem with Control Strip API.
3.0:
Numerous revisions to code. Widened MiniWins so more of title shows under OS8.
2.9:
Corrected crashing bug in GestaltValueDspatch trap, increased border around icons, added support for ejectable volumes, and improved search routines to include directories.
2.1:
Corrected problem with inadvertent clicks on titlebar of MiniWins bringing process to front.
2.0:
Added full titles and Aaron expansion of MiniWins.
