Mac Expert 1995 Winter/Mac Expert - Winter 95.iso/Les fichiers/Utilitaires divers/Divers/AWOL utilities ƒ/Maybe 1.3 ƒ/Maybe Help/Maybe Help.rsrc/STR#_1029.txt

Text File | 1994-04-01 | 24.7 KB | 1,580 lines






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åDialogs





Maybe does not open any windows other than dialog boxes, which are

described here.










xThe Options Dialog



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This dialog appears when you are converting a Finder alias file, and when

you ask to change the options in a converted alias.







•  Action option



This version of Maybe offers five choices of action to perform when the

converted alias is opened or printed.  Click one of these five radio buttons

to select an option.







•  Alert User action option



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If you choose this action type, the user will see the Prompt dialog when

opening or printing the converted alias, asking for a “Yes” or “No”

answer.  Only if the answer is “Yes” does Maybe proceed to open or print

the target item.

See the section entitled “The Prompt Dialog” for more information about

the Prompt dialog.





The default response will be assumed if the user presses the Return or

Enter key, or if you specify a wait time and it elapses.  (If more time is

needed, the user can stop the countdown timer by clicking on it.)





°  Alert Text option



If you leave this field blank, then Maybe will compose the message to

display in the dialog box, along the lines of, “Do you want to open “Target

Item”?”  You can put any text you choose in this field, as long as it is

phrased in the positive.  For example, “This looks dangerous.  Do you

want to abort?” would be wrong, because Maybe would not understand

that a “Yes” answer means don’t open the target item.







•  Check Keys action option



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If you choose this action type, Maybe will decide whether or not to open

or print the target item depending on the state of the keyboard at the

time.





The default response will be assumed unless the user presses a certain

combination of keys and not certain others.





°  Keys Down… option



Click the Keys Down… button to choose which keys must be down

(pressed) to override the default.  When the Keys dialog comes up, hold

down all the keys you want in this set, and click the OK button.  Due to

limitations of the keyboard design, you may find that sets of four or more

keys are sometimes truncated, because the keyboard can’t report that

combination.  The Options dialog gives you feedback so you can check what

was recorded.







°  Keys Up… option



Click the Keys Up… button to choose which keys must be up (not pressed)

to override the default.  The procedure is the same as for the Keys

Down… option.







•  Send AE action option



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If you choose this action type, you can compose a single Apple event and

address it to any program on any Macintosh on your network.  It is up to

you to determine what Apple events that program will accept, but if you

get it wrong the first time, Maybe can tell you what the problem is by

telling you the error string or error number returned by the target

program.  Sometimes, you may need a list of Apple event error codes to

figure out what is wrong.





The default response will be assumed if you specify a wait time and the

target program doesn’t respond within that time, or if the target program

(server) can’t be found, either locally or through the network.  If the

server returns any sort of error, Maybe will not open or print the target

item.  Also, if you cancel the wait by pressing Command-Period, Maybe

will beep to confirm, and will not open or print the target item.





°  Target… option



Click the Target… button to choose a program which will receive the

Apple event.  It brings up a program browser dialog, listing all “linkable”

programs which are running at this time.  If you are connected to a

network, you can choose any zone and any machine, then select from its

list of programs.





Remember that in order for program linking to work, the target machine

must have program linking turned on in the Sharing Setup control panel,

your user name must be allowed to do program linking through the Users

& Groups control panel, and the target program must allow remote

program linking through its Finder Sharing dialog.



NOTE:  If you have already chosen a target program, and that program

cannot be found when you click the Target… button, you will see a warning

alert to that effect.  When the program browser dialog appears, if it was

the target machine which could not be found, it will show an empty list

under Programs.  This is a bit misleading, especially if your machine is

disconnected from its network, because it looks as though there are no

programs running on your machine.  To correct this, select a machine

name from the list under Macintoshes.





°  Class option



Enter the four-character Apple event class code for the Apple event you

want to send.  For example, for a Quit Application event, you would enter

“aevt” (without the double quotes).







°  ID option



Enter the four-character Apple event ID code for the Apple event you

want to send.  For example, for a Quit Application event, you would enter

“quit” (without the double quotes).







°  Activate option



The standard practice for Apple-event-aware applications is to “request

user interaction” before putting up a dialog box in response to an Apple

event.  If the target application does this, Maybe will automatically yield

to that application so that you can answer the dialog.  If it does not do

this, then the dialog will come up in the background, and you will have to

click on it before you can answer it.  For example, if ResEdit 2.1.1 has a

modified file open, and you send it a Quit Application event, it will ask you

if you want to save the file, but the dialog comes up in the background.





If you find that the target program doesn’t “play by the rules,” then you

can set the activate option, to force the application to become active

before it receives the Apple event.  The disadvantage to using this option

is that if Maybe wants to report an error, it has to say “ahem” and wait

for you to bring it back to the front.  Maybe strives to be polite.





°  AE Text option



If the Apple event registry information specifies no parameters for the

Apple event, as Quit Application does, then you should leave this field

blank.  If it requires parameters, or you want to supply optional

parameters, you must enter them here as a comma-separated list of keys

and values in AEBuild format.  If one of your parameters is the direct

parameter, please remember to put single quotes around the key, thus:

“'----':value” (without the double quotes).





See the attached documentation on AEBuild for full syntax details.

See the picture above for an example of this syntax.



Maybe will report any syntax errors it finds, and place the text cursor

near the point of the error.





°  Alert If No Target option



If this option is in effect, and the target program does not exist when the

converted alias is opened or printed, Maybe will put up a dialog box to tell

you so.  Otherwise, it will not.  In either case, Maybe will assume the

default response.





This option is on by default.





°  Alert If Target Reports Error option



If this option is in effect, and the target program returns an error code or

error string when the converted alias is opened or printed, Maybe will put

up a dialog box to tell you so.  (If there is an error string, it will form the

text of the dialog.)  Otherwise, it will not.  In either case, Maybe will not

open or print the target item.





This option is on by default.





°  Alert If Wait Elapses option



If this option is in effect, and you have specified a wait time, and the

target program fails to reply within that time, Maybe will put up a dialog

box to tell you so.  Otherwise, it will not.  In either case, Maybe will

assume the default response.





This option is on by default.





•  Open Item action option



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If you choose this action type, you can choose another item (volume,

folder, application, document, alias, or whatever) which will be opened

(not printed) just before the target item is opened or printed.  Maybe

records the identity and location of this other item using alias

information, so that it won’t lose track of it if it is moved or renamed.

The other item can be local or on any volume which is mounted at the time

you set the options.





The default response will be assumed if you specify a wait time and it

elapses.  Set the wait time to zero if you want the target item to be

opened or printed immediately after opening the other item.  Otherwise,

Maybe will wait in the background, blinking its icon in the menu bar, until

you make it active.  If Maybe becomes active before the timer elapses, it

will then open or print the target item.  (For example, if you are using an

alias to a remote server as the other item, so that the target item can

depend on a certain remote volume being mounted, you can set the wait

time to zero, because Finder will not get around to opening the target item

until the mount completes.  However, if your other item intends to bring

up an AppleTalk Remote Access connection which the target item

requires, it would be wise to allow a 45-second wait for the connection to

come up.)





°  Item… option



Click the Item… button to see or choose the other item to open.  The file

dialog which appears has an extra button at the bottom, marked “Select

“item””.  You can use this button to select a volume or folder instead of

opening it, and to select an alias file instead of its target.





The item can be another converted alias, if you want to chain two or more

converted aliases together.



NOTE:  If you have already chosen an item, and that item cannot be found

when you click the Item… button, you will see a warning alert to that

effect.





•  None action option



If you choose this action type, no special action will occur when you open

or print the converted alias, but other options still apply.  In particular,

the default response option will determine whether or not the alias target

is opened or printed, special folder treatment is still given, and any action

sound will still play.





You can use this action type to temporarily “shut down” access to the

target item through the converted alias.  You might also use it to attach

the folder treatment or action sound option permanently to an alias.





•  Wait for Response option



Choose one of these two radio buttons to indicate how long you want to

wait for a response to an Alert User or Send AE action.  This choice also

determines how long Maybe will wait in the background during an Open

Item action.  These buttons are disabled for other action types.





The default is to wait forever, but if you click the other button, the

default time limit is 5 seconds.





°  Up to … Seconds option



Click this button to limit the time Maybe will wait for a response, then

enter the number of seconds in the text field.  If you set this number to

zero, the effect depends on the action type:  for Alert User, the Prompt

dialog will not come up; for Send AE, the Apple event will still be sent,

but Maybe won’t wait for a reply; for Open Item, Maybe won’t wait in the

background after opening the other item.  If you are not interested in the

reply to an Apple event, you should set the wait time to zero and turn off

the Alert if Wait Elapses option.







°  Forever option



Click this button to wait indefinitely for a response.  You can still press

Command-Period at any time to cancel the wait.







•  Default Response option



Every action type can have a default response, “Yes” or “No,” which

determines whether or not to open or print the target item, if there is no

other indication.





For the Alert User action type, the default response determines which

button gets the thick outline, the one which is assumed to have been

clicked if the timer elapses.



For the Check Keys action type, the default response is assumed if the key

conditions are not met.  If they are met, Maybe takes the opposite

indication.



For the Send AE action type, the default response is assumed if the target

program does not exist, or if the timer elapses.



For the Open Item action type, the default response is assumed if the

timer elapses.  It is an error if the other item does not exist.



For the None action type, the default response is always assumed.



The “default” default response is “No.”





•  Folder Treatment option



Maybe doesn’t know whether or not the target item is a folder (or

volume, which is equivalent for this purpose) until it has decided to open

or print it.





If you choose the Open Window option, Maybe will ask Finder to open the

folder’s window, showing the icons inside.  (It is an error to ask Finder to

print a folder.)  If you choose the Open/Print Each Item option, Maybe will

ask Finder to open or print each item in the folder.  The folder may contain

Maybe documents, which are opened or printed in turn.



The default is to open the window.





•  Appearance options



The following three options affect the appearance of the resulting

converted alias.  They are available only at the time of initial conversion.

At other times, when changing options, they are unavailable.







°  Brand Icon option



When this option is in effect, the converted alias will sport a rather large,

garish question mark stamped over the former icon, to make it clear that

it is not a normal alias file and not the original.  The grayish color which

fills the question mark is tinged according to the label color of the Maybe

Preferences file, if any.





This option is on by default.





°  Convert File Name option



When this option is in effect, Maybe will suffix “ (Maybe)” to the name of

the alias file as it is converted.  This accomplishes the same effect as

branding the icon, but is more likely to be noticed in file dialogs.  At any

rate, you can always change the name after converting the alias.





This option is on by default.





°  Stationery option



When this option is in effect, Maybe will make the converted alias into a

stationery pad, and alter the brand icon slightly to reflect that fact.  If

you don’t use this option, you could change the converted alias to a

stationery pad using Finder, but it wouldn’t look any different from one

that isn’t a stationery pad.





This option is off by default.





•  Action Sound… option



By default, no sound is played when a converted alias is opened or printed.

To change this, you click the Action Sound… button to bring up the Action

Sound dialog.



See the section entitled “The Action Sound Dialog” for more information.





•  Cancel



Click here to cancel the conversion of a Finder alias file, or to cancel the

changes made to an existing converted alias.







•  Use Defaults



Click here to change all options to their default values, which you may

have changed using Make Defaults (see below).  Click here with the Option

key pressed to change all options to their built-in default values, the ones

described in this help file.







•  Make Defaults



Click here to change the default values for all options to those displayed in

the dialog.  You may or may not prefer this approach to using stationery

pads.





If any options are invalid, you are prompted to correct them.





•  OK



Click here to accept the options and close the dialog.  This will lead to the

conversion of a Finder alias file or the changing of options in an existing

converted alias.





If any options are invalid, you are prompted to correct them.








xThe Action Sound Dialog



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Clicking the Action Sound… button in the Options dialog opens the Action

Sound dialog.  This is where you select a sound to play when the converted

alias is opened or printed, just before the action takes place.







•  Sound list box



This list box contains one line for every sound found in the System file,

Maybe itself, the Maybe Preferences file, and the Finder alias file.

(Normally, a Finder alias file does not contain sounds, but if you add one

using Maybe, it will stick with the alias even after it has been reverted to

a Finder alias file, and Finder will ignore it.)  Click any line to hear the

sound and select it, or double-click to hear it and choose it.  If you don’t

want to hear the sound, hold down the Option key as you click.





The top line in the list box says “[none]”.  Click this line if you want no

sound to be played.  This is the default.





•  Always Play Sound to Completion option



If any sound is selected in the list, you have an option of whether or not to

play the sound to completion when the converted alias is opened or

printed.  If you turn on this option, the user will always hear long sounds,

such as voice messages, to the end, even if that holds up the next sound to

be played as another converted alias is opened or printed.  If you turn off

the option, Maybe will cut off the playing sound if it has another sound to

play.





This option is off by default.





•  Cut Sound (Command-X)



Click this button to cut the selected sound to the Clipboard, removing it

from its file.  You are not allowed to cut a sound from the System file,

nor from any unwritable file.







•  Copy Sound (Command-C)



Click this button to copy the selected sound to the Clipboard.







•  Clear Sound



Click this button to clear the selected sound, removing it from its file.

You are not allowed to clear a sound from the System file, nor from any

unwritable file.  Pressing Delete is equivalent to clicking Clear Sound.







•  Paste Sound Into… (Command-V)



Click this button to paste a sound from the Clipboard into the converted

alias file or preferences file.  Unless you cancel in the Sound Name dialog

that follows, this will close the Action Sound dialog.  Press the Option key

if you do not wish to hear the sound as the Sound Name dialog appears.

This button is disabled if there is no sound in the Clipboard.







•  Record Sound Into…



Click this button to record a sound into the converted alias file or

preferences file, using the sound input device selected in the Sound

control panel.  Unless you cancel in the Record Sound dialog or Sound Name

dialog that follows, this will close the Action Sound dialog.  This button is

disabled if there is no sound input device available.







•  Cancel



Click here to cancel the action sound choice and close the dialog.  This will

not affect any changes made to files containing sounds while using the

dialog.







•  OK



Click here to accept the action sound choice and close the dialog.










xThe Record Sound Dialog



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This is the standard Macintosh Record Sound dialog.  It appears when you

click Record Sound Into… in the Action Sound dialog.





If you find that the dialog does not offer enough recording time for the

sound you want to record, quit Maybe and increase its memory size.  It is

not necessary for users of converted aliases to increase Maybe’s

memory size to hear large sounds.





•  Record, Stop, Pause, Play



Click these buttons to control recording and playback, as you would on a

tape recorder.  You can use the Pause button during recording to splice

different sounds together.  Nothing is actually saved to disk before you

click Save.







•  Cancel



Click here to avoid recording a sound and return to the Action Sound

dialog.







•  Save



Click here to proceed to the Sound Name dialog.  If you don’t want to hear

the sound, hold down the Option key as the Sound Name dialog appears.










xThe Sound Name Dialog



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The Sound Name dialog appears when you ask to paste a sound from the

Clipboard, or after recording a new sound, while using the Action Sound

dialog.  This is where you assign a name and number to the new sound, and

decide whether to put it in the converted alias file or in the preferences

file.  If you don’t want to hear the sound, hold down the Option key as the

dialog appears.







•  Name



Optionally, you may enter a sound name in this box.  This name will be

displayed in the Action Sound dialog’s list box.







•  Number



Enter a number between 128 and 32767 in this box.  This number will be

displayed in the Action Sound dialog’s list box.  The number is important,

because it’s how Maybe remembers the sound you have chosen for a

converted alias.  Unless you need to coordinate sound numbers between

several Macintoshes, there is no need to change the randomly generated

number in this box.







•  Place Sound In



Click one of the two radio buttons to choose which file where the sound

will be placed.  The preferences file button is disabled if the preferences

file is unwritable.  The default is to place the sound in the converted alias

file.







•  Cancel



Click here to avoid placing the new sound in a file and return to the Action

Sound dialog.







•  OK



Click here to place the sound in the selected file and close the Action

Sound dialog.










xThe Prompt Dialog



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When Finder asks Maybe to open or print a converted alias which has the

Alert User action type, and the Command key is not pressed, and the wait

time is not zero, Maybe posts the Prompt dialog.





This dialog displays the text supplied using the Alert Text option.  If no

text was supplied, Maybe will compose some appropriate question.





•  Countdown timer



If the options specify a wait time, Maybe makes room for a circular

countdown timer, rather like the one you see in a motion picture leader.

It starts at the wait time limit and works down toward zero.  The user

can stop and start the timer by clicking on its face.  If the timer elapses

before the user chooses “Yes” or “No,” the default response is assumed.





NOTE:  On a monitor set to 256 grays or colors, the countdown timer will

actually sweep down the seconds.  Unfortunately, the timer animation

causes other applications such as Finder to erase and redraw their

windows, so you may want to turn off the animation.  To do this, if you

have a resource editor, change the ProcID field of Maybe’s 'CNTL'(128)

resource from 2048 to 2063.





•  No



Click here to tell Maybe not to open or print the target item.  If this is the

default response as defined in the Options dialog for the converted alias,

you can press Return or Enter instead.  Pressing ‘n’, ‘-’, Escape, or

Control-Period is equivalent to clicking No.







•  Yes



Click here to tell Maybe to open or print the target item.  If this is the

default response as defined in the Options dialog for the converted alias,

you can press Return or Enter instead.  Pressing ‘y’ or ‘+’ is equivalent

to clicking Yes.










xThe About Dialog



This dialog presents Maybe’s About box.  It is opened by the “About

Maybe…” command in the Apple menu.





It mentions, by way of a balloon, that Maybe offers help through both

Balloon Help and Help on Wheels.  If you already have balloons showing,

Maybe spares you the balloon, figuring that you’ve probably seen enough

recently.