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Text File  |  1999-11-08  |  11KB  |  221 lines
  1. #==========================================================================#
  2. |                                                                          |
  3. |                              ClockedX 1.1ß                               |
  4. |                              -------------                               |
  5. |                                                                          |
  6. |    a helpful commodity for starting programs at specific times of day    |
  7. |                                                                          |
  8. |                        by Niels Böhm alias Mr.WC                         |
  9. |                                                                          |
  10. #==========================================================================#
  11.  
  12.         requirements:   an Amiga/emulator       (obviously)
  13.                         kickstart 2.05 / OS 37 or higher
  14.                         commodities.library V37 or higher
  15.  
  16.  
  17. COPYRIGHT ANNOTATION:
  18.  
  19.         Although this program is freeware and may be copied and spread at
  20.         will, yet the copyright remains intact. None of the files may be
  21.         changed in any way and the archive must be distributed in its
  22.         complete form.
  23.         The author may not be held responsible for damage or loss of data
  24.         caused by this program, wether directly or indirectly.
  25.  
  26.  
  27. The program:
  28.  
  29. With this program one can have executed certain actions at certain times of
  30. day. It is supposed to be a system-conforming commodity. hopefully :-)
  31.  
  32.  The gadget user interface (GUI):
  33.  
  34.  The GUI (what means the preferences window in this case) may not only be
  35. opened in one way. Following possibilities exist:
  36.  
  37.         (1)     by executing ClockedX, while the Tooltype "CX_POPUP" either
  38.                 must not be present or has to be set to "YES" or "TRUE"
  39.  
  40.         (2)     by executing ClockedX twice. As a result, the second process
  41.                 ends immediately and the first one opens its window.
  42.  
  43.         (3)     by sending a CONTROL-F break to the process. That can be
  44.                 achieved, for example, by simultaneously pressing "Ctrl" and
  45.                 "F" inside the SHELL windows from which ClockedX has been
  46.                 launched. Another possibility is being provided by the Break
  47.                 command from the "C:" directory.
  48.  
  49.         (4)     by applying the hotkey combination, which has been preset
  50.                 via the tooltype "CX_HOTKEY". If this tooltype is missing,
  51.                 the combination defaults to "Ctrl"-"left Amiga key"-"X".
  52.  
  53.         (5)     thru the commodity control program "Exchange"
  54.  
  55.  The large part of the GUI is occupied by the list of actions in conjunction
  56. with the string gadget for completing and changing the first one. An action
  57. always consists of the running time and the command to execute, that, after
  58. all, is nothing else than a SHELL command. The same action may be performed
  59. at different times as well as several actions may be started simultaneously.
  60. Any commands that are set off by ClockedX are being launched asynchronously.
  61. That means that ClockedX keeps on running even when the action has not yet
  62. finished. One should especially be aware of this fact when many actions need
  63. to be startet at the same moment as they could possibly affect each other.
  64. The remaining part of the window is occupied by following gadgets:
  65.  
  66.         Insert          for inserting/copying an action
  67.  
  68.         Delete          for deleting an action
  69.  
  70.         Save            for saving all settings to the tooltypes of the
  71.                         program
  72.  
  73.         Hide            for hiding the gadget user interface (GUI)
  74.  
  75.         Enable/Disable  for enabling/disabling the program. As long as the
  76.                         commodity is enabled, the title bar of the window
  77.                         will display the current system time and the actions
  78.                         are being executed when the preferred time has been
  79.                         reached, if it is disabled, neither of the mentioned
  80.                         things is true.
  81.  
  82.         Quit            for exiting ClockedX. The settings will not be saved
  83.                         on quit.
  84.  
  85.  The description of any of the possible tooltypes will follow:
  86.  
  87.         DONOTWAIT                       while being ignored by ClockedX,
  88.                                         needs to be specified, when ClockedX
  89.                                         is stored in the "WBStartUp" drawer,
  90.                                         for making the Workbench not to wait
  91.                                         before going on starting the next
  92.                                         program
  93.  
  94.         STARTPRI=<priority>             is ignored by ClockedX, too. The
  95.         default: "0"                    programs in the "WBStartUp" drawer
  96.                                         are sorted by the Workbench
  97.                                         according to this start priority.
  98.                                         The application with the highest
  99.                                         priority gets executed at first.
  100.  
  101.         CX_POPKEY=<key combination>     specifies the hotkey combination
  102.         default: "control lcommand x"   through which the window of ClockedX
  103.                                         can be hidden and opened
  104.  
  105.         CX_POPUP=<YES|NO|TRUE|FALSE>    determines, if the window should be
  106.         default: "YES"                  opened upon startup of ClockedX.
  107.                                         "YES" and "TRUE" result in a
  108.                                         preopened window at the start, "NO"
  109.                                         and "FALSE" prevent it from doing
  110.                                         so.
  111.  
  112.         CX_PRIORITY=<priority>          sets the priority by which the
  113.         default: "0"                    commodity is enqueued into the
  114.                                         InputEvent queue. When, for
  115.                                         instance, another commodity with a
  116.                                         higher priority UNTERCEPTS the timer
  117.                                         events and "DESTROYS" them (what, of
  118.                                         course, no normal program does),
  119.                                         they won't arrive at ClockedX's
  120.                                         filters and as a result the actions
  121.                                         would not be performed. Does,
  122.                                         however, ClockedX have a higher
  123.                                         commodity's priority than the other
  124.                                         program, such problems won't show
  125.                                         up.
  126.  
  127.         LEFT=<left>                     specifies the offset of the window
  128.         default: "0"                    from the left border of the screen
  129.  
  130.         TOP=<top>                       specifies the offset of the window
  131.         default: "11"                   from the top border of the screen
  132.  
  133.         WIDTH=<width>                   sets the width of ClockedX's window
  134.         default: "256"
  135.  
  136.         HEIGHT=<height>                 sets the height of ClockedX's window
  137.         default: "123"
  138.  
  139.         INPUT=<input source>            determines the source of the inputs
  140.         default: "NIL:"                 for the actions. It defaults to no
  141.                                         input, because the source of input
  142.                                         is the "silicon-NIL-vana". But this
  143.                                         may effortlessly be changed to e.g.
  144.                                         "CON:0/0/640/128/Input/AUTO".
  145.  
  146.         OUTPUT=<output target>          determines the target of the outputs
  147.         default: "NIL:"                 of the actions to launch. The
  148.                                         default target for that is the
  149.                                         "silicon-NIL-vana", too, whereby
  150.                                         possible outputs remain invisible.
  151.                                         However, a change into "PRT:" for
  152.                                         outputting to the printer or e.g.
  153.                                         "CON:0/128/640/128/Output/AUTO/WAIT"
  154.                                         for outputting to a console remedies
  155.                                         things.
  156.  
  157.         STACKSIZE=<stack size>          changes the stack memory size
  158.         default: "4096"                 assigned to the created processes
  159.                                         into any value starting from 4096
  160.                                         bytes
  161.  
  162.         PRIORITY=<priority>             sets the actions' process' priority
  163.         default: "0"                    to a globally predefined value. But
  164.                                         this should, however, not be greater
  165.                                         than ClockedX's task priority (not
  166.                                         to be confused with the commodity's
  167.                                         priority).
  168.  
  169.         ENTRY=<time/action entry>       lists the actions and the times at
  170.                                         that the first ones are to be
  171.                                         started. This tooltype may occur
  172.                                         any number of times you like (only
  173.                                         limited by memory).
  174.  
  175.  ClockedX supports all of the 4 Break signals; these have following effects:
  176.  
  177.         Ctrl-C          quits ClockedX
  178.  
  179.         Ctrl-D          disables ClockedX
  180.  
  181.         Ctrl-E          enables ClockedX
  182.  
  183.         Ctrl-F          shows/hides the gadget user interface (GUI)
  184.  
  185.  Finally there are some examples with explanation of their effects:
  186.  
  187. 00:00:00 NewSHELL                       -> always at midnight a SHELL is
  188.                                            being opened
  189.  
  190. 12:00:00 LoadWB                         -> always at high noon the Workbench
  191.                                            is being loaded, if it wasn't
  192.                                            already open
  193.  
  194. 04:00:00 FixFonts                       -> the "FONTS:" directory will be
  195. 12:00:00 FixFonts                          updated in 8 hour intervals
  196. 20:00:00 FixFonts
  197.  
  198. 06:00:00 Delete T:#? ALL                -> always at 6 o'clock AM the
  199. 06:00:00 Copy ENV:#? ENVARC: ALL           temporary directory is being
  200.                                            emptied and at the same time the
  201.                                            environmental variables are saved
  202.  
  203. 15:30:00 RX S:examine.rexx              -> always at half past three PM the
  204.                                            AREXX-script, residing in the
  205.                                            "S:" directory, is being executed
  206.  
  207.  
  208. MY THANKS MUST GO TO:
  209.  
  210.       * my finnish friend "wind", for betatesting
  211.       * Commodore, for this incredibly fantastic machine called Amiga
  212.  
  213.  
  214.  If there are questions or problems, you will like to contact my via the
  215. following address:
  216.  
  217.         Niels Böhm
  218.         Johannes-Kepler-Str. 2a
  219.         07407 Rudolstadt-Schwarza
  220.         GERMANY
  221.