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Charon 0.9.9b11
Changes since 0.9.9b10
This document describes changes in Charon since the previous beta release, which was version 0.9.9b10.
1. More AppleScript support
Charon now features more AppleScript support, although it is far from complete. In any case, there is now enough support present to be able to do queue dialing from an AppleScript. I have provided a sample script, amply sprinkled with comments, that should help you get going.
As I said before, I am new to AppleScript, so I'd welcome comments from the more experienced AppleScripters among you. I am open to suggestions for further improvements in AS support, or modifications to the currently supported events and properties.
Some of the most crucial config-file parameters can now be modified through a script; I am planning on making all data in a config readable and modifiable through scripts. Currently, there is one major limitation in Charon's AppleScript support: you cannot get any data from a config file, as I haven't implemented the "Get Data" AppleEvent yet. This is purely due to time constraints, and I will add it as soon as possible. One of the consequences of this is, that you can't toggle boolean properties. For instance, "set unattended to not unattended" won't work, because it implies getting the current value of "unattended" from Charon. As I said, I'll fix this soon. (You can, of course, use "set unattended to true" and the like).
The result from a dial event can be any of the following:
-10: Dialing aborted by user
0: Dialing completed without error
1: A fatal error occured
2: The modem reported "VOICE"
3: The modem reported "BUSY"
4: The modem reported "NO CARRIER"
5: The modem reported "NO DIALTONE"
6: reserved
7: Connect timed out
8: General modem error
9: No answer
If you have any interesting scripts for Charon you'd like to share, send them to me, and I'll include them in future distributions of Charon.
2. Bugfixes & Minor changes
• If you're running System 7.5 or later, Charon will use the disk cache again.
• Charon now parses the other side's AKAs from the EMSI_DAT properly; it used to misbehave with full 4D addresses (i.e. if the other side had point addresses too)
• Received files ending in ".PKT" are saved with creator 'ttxt' and type 'TEXT'.
• A few more stack-mungers have been quashed.
• A few memory leaks have been plugged.
• The "Paranoid Logging" mode now defaults to off.
3. Future Changes?
If you're using AppleScript with Charon, you'll have noticed the rather unelegant way Charon handles "open" events. As I explained in the script, this is due to historical reasons. To make the "open" event do more what you would expect it to do, I am thinking of making some changes to Charon, but before I do, I'd like to hear from you what you would think of these changes.
I am currently considering changing the File menu in Charon, to have the following items:
• "New" — this would be like "Add a new boss" in the current version
• "Open" — no real equivalent at the moment; it would load a config file from disk, and then keep that config file as the "open document". This means you'd be able to dial the same config more than once, without having to reload it from disk (as you currently have to do, because "Dial" will now put up an standard file dialog, asking you to open a config file).
• "Dial" — this would dial the current "open document." If there is none, it will also go to the "open" code. To dial another config, you'd have to go to "open" first.
• "Edit" — this would edit the currently loaded config file, like "Edit Boss config" does now, except that it would not necessarily ask for a config file to load, if there is one already in memory following an "open".
• "Save" — this would save any changes to an open config file.
I'd be very interested in what you think about such a rearrangement. It would mean a deviation from the way Charon used to work uptil now, and I'm wondering whether you think it's worth it.
4. But first, I'm leaving!
As I have mentioned in email to some of you already, I'll be out of town for a while, starting Sunday, August 14. I hope to be back in about a week to ten days. Don't let this stop you from sending in your comments and bug reports to me at qsi@cnh.wlink.nl. The email will sit patiently there until I get back. :-)
