PowerDock™ is a file and process management utility. Its primary function is to aid in locating and accessing files, folders and documents on a large volume or across a network. It achieves this task by placing a window with an array of cells which hold items (applications, folders, documents etc...) in their iconized form. If you have a clutter of icons scattered about your desktop, then PowerDock™ is the perfect utility for you.
• System requirements.
PowerDock™ v.1.1.0 will work on any Macintosh equipped with Color Quickdraw and System 7.x. It requires an absolute minimum of 125k of RAM (with possible loss of non-core functions and potential weird happenings). It works optimally in 8bit color with System 7.1 and 375k of RAM.
• Parts of PowerDock™.
When you first launch PowerDock™, you will be greeted with a copyright notice and serial number dialog box. Click 'Ok' to proceed. You will now see a window across the bottom of your screen. To the left is the Company Logo. On its right is the Info Box. To the right of the box is the Dock (which will be empty at this point) and Scroll region. (See figure 2 below)
• Adding items to the Dock.
To add a new item, select 'Add new items...' in the Setup menu or hit Command-O. You will be greeted with a custom Get-file dialog box like so:
The Get-file dialog box consists of two lists. The first list is the standard files list which allows you to navigate around your hardrive(s) and network (if any). To make an item appear in the Dock, simply select it and click the 'Add' button. This item will be added to the New Items list. Should you decide to remove an item from the New Items list, simply select it and hit the 'Remove' button. When you are finished adding all the items you want, click the 'Done' button. A progress bar will display each item as it is processed and added to the Dock. PowerDock™ creates aliases of the items and adds them to the 'QuickLoad' file in your Preferences Folder. Various other essential information (like icons etc) is stored in this file as well.
Folders, volumes and servers are best when they have custom icons. If a custom icon cannot be found, a generic icon is used and the items name is printed over the generic icon on the Dock. Item names are displayed for documents as you may have more then one document for the same application on the Dock. It is recommended (for speed) that you add custom icons to your folders, volumes and servers since the name plotting can be a time consuming process which increases as more and more generic icons are added to the Dock. Documents should be attached to applications and not added to the Dock directly (See 'Drag 'N Drop Sub-launching' section of this documentation below on how to attach documents to applications on the Dock.)
PowerDock™ v1.1.0 can hold an unlimited (ooooohh aaaaaahh) number of items once registered and is limited to 5 functional items otherwise. The current set-up has been tested to be safe up to 20 to 30 items with 150k of RAM. Should you encounter any problems, increase the memory allocation for PowerDock™ in the Finder.
• PowerDock™ functions.
Each segment of the PowerDock™ window performs a series of functions and displays various information. Each segment may have special key combinations which administer additional functions. There are 4 special keys used by PowerDock™; the Shift, Control, Option and Command keys. For simplicity, the cursor depicts which function will occur next should the mouse button be clicked with the current modifier keys held down. Remember, you bought a Mac because you did not want to have to deal with cryptic keyboard commands, so just bang one of these 4 keys and the cursor will react. These functions vary from segment to segment and each segment will be discussed individually.
• The Company Logo segment.
- Modifier keys: No modifier key.
- Function: Toggles between Iconized and non-Iconized mode.
- Cursor: (Iconized)
- Cursor: (non-Iconized)
- Description: When the Company Logo is first clicked, it causes the PowerDock™ window to collapse all the way to the logo segment. This gives you some breathing space when there is too much clutter on your screen. To redisplay all items on the Dock, simply click on the logo again.
- Modifier keys: Control Key.
- Function: Reloads all items on the Dock.
– Cursor:
- Description: This is a feature held over from PowerDock™ v1.0.0. It simply reloads all items on the dock by re-scanning the 'QuickLoad' file.
- Modifier keys: Option key
- Function: Drag window when Iconized or when Info segment is hidden (see below).
- Cursor:
- Description: The PowerDock™ window is now draggable. When the info segment is hidden or when the window is in Iconized form, Option clicking on the logo initiates dragging.
• The Info segment.
- Modifier keys: No modifier key.
- Function: Drag window.
- Cursor:
- Description: The Info segment may be used to drag the window.
Other than the dragging function, the Info segment provides you with information about the current status of your Mac.
- Display: App (Application)
- Description: This shows the name of the current foreground application.
- Display: Tmr (Timer)
- Description: This shows two sets of times in hours and minutes. The first set of numbers shows how long the current application has been running and the second set of numbers shows how long the current application has been in the foreground.
- Display: Spc (Space)
- Description: This display graphically shows the memory usage of the foreground application. It shows, of the total allocated memory in the Finder, how much is being used (black bar) and how much is free (gray region). This is a good indication of how many more documents the foreground application has the memory to open or if it is running out of memory. The memory usage bar turns red when the amount of memory used is greater than 75%.
NOTE: Spc is NOT displayed when PowerDock™ is running in small icon mode (see figure 4) due to space (as in window real estate) constraints.
- Display: Mem (Memory)
- Description: This display graphically shows the global memory usage of your Mac. It may consist of one (large icon mode) or two (small icon mode) bars overlapping a black bar on a gray background.
- Black bar: This shows how much of the total available memory (internal RAM SIMMS and Virtual Memory, if any) is currently being used by ALL current executing processes (ie. System + foreground and background apps). This bar turns red when more than 75% of available memory is being used.
- Blue bar: The blue bar overlaps the black (or red) bar. It is a graphical representation of the chuck of memory that is being used by the current foreground application (out of the total memory being used by all executing processes). If you are low on memory, you could cycle through your running applications and choose to quit the one with the largest blue bar.
- Yellow bar: The yellow bar appears in place of the Spc display above when PowerDock™ is running in small icon mode. The yellow bar overlaps the blue bar and indicates the amount of FREE memory out of the foreground applications allocated memory. The larger this bar, the more documents you can open.
• The Scroll segment.
The scroll segment is made up of two 'thumbs'; the scrolling thumb and the resizing thumb. The resizing thumb sits on the top rightmost corner of the PowerDock™ window.
- Thumb: Scrolling thumb
- Modifier keys: Accepts no modifier keys.
- Description: Clicking and dragging this thumb left or right scrolls through all the items currently on the Dock in real time. This allows you to get to any item on the dock promptly. If the total length of all the cells put together is less than that of the Dock segment, then all items are currently visible and scrolling is disabled. Clicking anywhere in the scrolling segment (other than the resize thumb) causes the Scrolling thumb to pop to that position. This is one of the key features of PowerDock™ which allows it to hold an unlimited number of items on the Dock regardless of monitor size.
- Thumb: Resizing thumb
- Modifier keys: Accepts no modifier keys.
- Description: Clicking and dragging this thumb allows you to resize the PowerDock™ window. A vertical bar spanning the height of your monitor follows the mouse until released. This gives you an idea what the size of the window will be when the mouse button is released.
• The Dock segment.
- Modifier key: No modifier key.
- Cursor:
- Description: Clicking on any item on the Dock initiates a launch command.
- Item: Document: Launches the application that created the document and opens the document.
- Item: Folder: Opens the folder in the Finder.
- Item: Volume: Opens the root directory of the volume.
- Item: Server: Asks you for your user name and password and mounts the volume.
NOTE: If the item is an Application/Control Panel/DA/Document on a remote volume (ie on a Server), the Finder will ask you for your username and password, mount the server and then launch the item.
- Modifier key: Shift
- Cursor:
- Description: Initiates a reveal command.
- Item: Application/Control Panel/DA/Document/Folder: Opens the folder containing the item (if not on desktop) and selects it.
- Item: Volume: Selects it on your desktop.
- Item: Server: Mounts the server and selects it on your desktop.
- Modifier key: Control
- Cursor:
- Description: This function only works if file sharing is on. It displays the file sharing setup of the item clicked on and allows you to make changes (if authorized).
- Item: Same function for all items.
NOTE: All the Dock segment functions listed above are commands sent by PowerDock™ to the Finder. It is up to the Finder to ask for username and password, mount remote volumes and display error messages if any.
- Modifier key: Option
- Cursor:
- Description: This function is part of the document attachment feature of PowerDock™. Option clicking only works for Applications and DA's. It displays a list of documents currently attached to the item. You may then select and sub-launch selected documents, remove them from the list or Hold the item. Holding (and document attachment) is discussed in the Drag 'N Drop Sub-launching section of this documentation below. Option clicking on non application items and items that do not have any documents attached to it will cause a beep.
WARNING: This feature may malfunction if too little memory is allocated.
- Item: Applications and DA's only.
- Modifier key: Command
- Cursor:
- Description: This is the get-info function of PowerDock™. Command clicking on any items displays information about that item.
- Items: Appropriate dialog box and information is displayed for any given item clicked on.
• PowerDock™ Menu functions.
- Apple Menu
- Description: Holds standard Apple Menu Items.
- File Menu
- Description: Holds the Quit command. This exits PowerDock™.
- Edit Menu
- Description: The Edit menu provides standard editing functions like Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Clear. These functions are only active during serial number entry.
- Setup Menu
- Description: This menu contains all functions needed to configure PowerDock™ to your requirements. Each command is discussed separately below:
- Menu Item: Auto Switch
- Description: Auto Switch is a feature which causes PowerDock™ to pop into the foreground when the mouse cursor wanders into a region of the window. When the mouse leaves, PowerDock™ returns the previous foreground application to the foreground.
- Sub-Menu item: Never
- Description: Selecting Never disables Auto Switching.
- Sub-Menu item: Always
- Description: When Always is selected, Auto Switching occurs when the mouse wanders into the rectangle that encompasses the Dock and Scrolling segment.
- Sub-Menu item: In Visible Area
- Description: When this is selected, Auto Switching only occurs when the mouse wanders into a visible region (ie. the area NOT covered by foreground windows) of the Dock and Scrolling segment.
- Menu Item: Snap Dock
- Description: Snap Dock moves the PowerDock™ window to either the top or the bottom left of your monitor screen.
- Sub-menu item: Top left
- Description: Moves the window to the top left of the screen (below the menubar.)
- Sub-menu item: Bottom left
- Description: Moves the window to the bottom left of the screen.
- Menu item: Sound
- Description: This function enables or disables the Tick-Tock sounds made when tiles in the Dock are clicked.
- Menu item: Use Large Icons
- Description: This function allows you to toggle between large (32 x 32) and small (16 x 16) icon mode. This is a space saving feature.
- Menu item: Hide Info box.
- Description: Should you not require the functions provided by the Info segment, select this option and it hides the Info segment. NOTE: All dragging has to be done with the Logo segment and the Control key if the Info box is hidden.
- Menu item: Edit Dock
- Description: This menu items brings forward a dialog box with a list of all items currently added to the Dock. You may sort (alphabetically or manually), remove or launch one or more items on the Dock.
- Function: Sort
- Keyboard equivalent: None
- Description: Clicking this button sorts all items on the Dock alphabetically. Each group of items is individually sorted. When the sorting is completed, the Dock will be arranged like so:
|-Volumes and Servers-|-Folders-|-Control Panels-|-Applications-|-Documents-|
If there is an item on the Dock that you wish to remain locked in place and NOT be sorted, simply double click the item. The item will turn yellow indicating that it is a locked item and sorting will not change its location.
- Function: Remove
- Keyboard equivalent: Delete key
- Description: This button removes all selected items from the list. To select multiple items as a block, hold down the Shift key and drag the mouse. To individually select multiple items, hold down the Command key and click on the items.
- Function: Launch
- Keyboard equivalent: None
- Description: This function allows you to launch a bunch of items at the same time. Simply select multiple items (using the Shift or Command keys) and hit the Lunch button.
- Function: Done
- Keyboard equivalent: Return key
- Description: Clicking this button exists the Edit dialog items dialog box and performs all changes made to the Dock (eg sorting, removing etc.)
- Function: Manual Sorting
- Keyboard equivalent: N/A
- Description: To manually sort any item on the Dock, simply select it (one item at a time only) and drag the mouse up or down. Releasing the mouse will move the item being dragged to the location IN FRONT OF the item dropped onto.
- Menu Item: Add new items...
- Description: As discussed above.
• Drag 'N Drop Sub-launching
One more feature PowerDock™ has is Drag and Drop. Drag and Drop allows you to navigate through the Finder and open a document using any item on the Dock. This is a 2 step process. To sub-launch an items on the Dock, drag the item and drop it onto the PowerDock™ v1.1.0 icon in the Finder. When this happens, PowerDock™ will pop to the foreground.
NOTE: If you change your mind and decide you no longer wish to sub-launch the documents, simply hit the Esc key.
- Function: Sub-launch
- Modifier key: None
- Cursor:
- Description: Clicking on any item on the Dock causes PowerDock™ to launch that item and have it open the document(s) dropped.
If, however, the item clicked on is a Volume or Folder, PowerDock™ MOVES the items dropped into the folder/root directory of the folder/volume the drop occurred on.
- Function: Attachment
- Modifier key: Option
- Cursor:
- Description: Option clicking on any application on the Dock causes PowerDock™ to attach the documents to that item. To sub-launch any of the documents later, simply Option Click on the application icon on the Dock. A dialog box with a list similar to the "Edit Dock Items..." dialog box will pop up. The only difference is that the "Sort" button is now the "Hold" button and items cannot be moved or locked in place.
If however, the item clicked on is a Volume or Folder, PowerDock™ COPIES the items dropped into the folder/root directory of the folder/volume the drop occurred on.
The following functions are for the attached documents dialog box:
- Function: Hold
- Keyboard equivalent: None
- Description: This function allows you to "hold" selected items. When you select one or more items from the documents list and click the Hold button, the dialog box disappears and PowerDock™ allows you to sub-launch the selected documents using any application on the Dock. You may also attach the selected documents to any other item on the Dock by Option clicking on the item.
- Function: Remove
- Keyboard equivalent: Delete key
- Description: Allows you to remove attached documents.
- Function: Launch
- Keyboard equivalent: None but you may double click on any item in the list and PowerDock™ will open all selected items.
- Description: This function allows you to open multiple documents attached to a given item by selecting more than one item and hitting the Launch key.
- Function: Done
- Keyboard equivalent: Return key
- Description: Exits the attached documents dialog box.
NOTE: You may attach an unlimited (ooooohhh aaaaaahhhh) number of documents to any application on the Dock. If you were to move any attached item in the Finder to a new folder, PowerDock™ will not be able to find it. PowerDock™ will, however, attempt to locate items that are on the Dock if they are moved to a new location but this only works sometimes:
- It will NOT be able to find a duplicate copy of the original item. Only the original item will be searched for. (This is because the Mac internally attaches an ID number to each file which is of course different for any duplicates created.)
- For the same reason above, the item cannot be located if it has been moved to a new volume.
PowerDock™ WILL be able to locate any item even if it has been moved to a new location on the volume and if it has been renamed. (This is because the files' ID remains the same!)
NOTE: PowerDock™ does not check to see if the item(s) dropped onto it can be opened by the item you select. It is up the application to ignore your command or display an error message.
It is recommend that you keep PowerDock™ or its alias on the desktop so it is easy to drop items for sub-launching.
• Obtaining a serial number.
Without a valid serial number, PowerDock™ will only display 5 active items on the dock. Try the dock out and if you like it, print and fill out the registration form and mail it with US$15 (or $18 Canadian) enclosed to:
Narayan Sainaney
SNR Enterprises,
3480 Carnarvon Ave,
North Vancouver, B.C.,
V7N 3K9,
CANADA
NOTE:
- Preferred payment: Certified checks, Bank draft, Money order, Travelers checks. (Disks/serial number shipped/e-mailed the very next day)
- Will accept: Personal checks. However, serial number will only be sent out once check clears.
- Make all check(s) payable to: NARAYAN SAINANEY.
- Please do NOT send cash in the mail. We cannot be held responsible for cash lost in the mail.
- Please do NOT send VISA, MasterCard or any other credit card numbers.
- Please do NOT send any live poultry.
- If you wish to have the latest version of PowerDock™ sent to you, add US$3 ($3.60 Canadian) for shipping and handling (see order form.)
- Use the included PowerDock™ Order form for all orders. This would ensure a prompt response.
If not using the order from, be sure to include:
- The name of the application you are registering (PowerDock™ v.1.1.0) or we might mistake you for a deranged millionaire sending out money for kicks. (Just kidding, we'd probably call you and check that you're indeed a deranged millionaire)
- Your name, address and telephone number and any comments and suggestions you might have. (Please print!).
• About the company and where your dollars go.
This is not the beg part of the documentation. We do not wish to have people pay for our product because we're a bunch of fun loving, hardworking, university going, high cost of books and tuition paying, skydiving, Macintosh loving, technogurus. We hope you pay for the product because you find it useful and because it is worthy of selling itself.
In any case, the money sent in is probably going to be spent on additional technical documentation, developer CD's and magazine subscriptions and result in making the next release of PowerDock™ conform to all the wonderful feature requests we receive from our subscribing (and non-subscribing potential) customers.
Speaking of which, we'd like to thank all our customers from all over the world for all the support, suggestions and comments we received. We really enjoyed reading your mail and had a lot of fun implementing all the new features. We're happy to say that all the feature requests we received made it into PowerDock™ v.1.1.0 and we believe it is now a better product thanks to your help.
As mentioned above, SNR Enterprises is a small 2 student software house committed to useful, innovative and low cost software development and is primarily customer driven (ie. our customers define our products.) We in turn "hire" a lot of the local technohungry kids to do stuff like beta testing and brainstorming for ideas. (Kids would do anything for some pizza, a movie and the occasional programming lesson.) Our product is not a box, some documentation and a bunch of disks, instead, we believe we sell efficiency. PowerDock™ was designed with efficiency, practicality and you in mind. All our efforts would go to waste if our "product" simply sits in a disk on a shelf or in the back of a dusty drawer. Its glory can only be felt when more and more people out there make use of the software we create......so order your copy now! (or at least let us know what would convince you to do so.)
• Contacting the author.
The fastest way to reach us is via our internet address: sainaney@unixg.ubc.ca. Please forward any bug reports, comments and suggestions to this address for a prompt response. When ordering, include your email address and if the address ever changes, please email us your new address.
• Legal stuff.
This is a legal agreement between you and the Publisher. The terms of this Agreement govern your use of this software. Please read this agreement carefully before you register this package. By registering this package, you are agreeing to be bound by this Agreement.
In consideration of payment of the license fee, the Publisher, as Licensor, grants you, as Licensee, a non-exclusive right to use and display this copy of the software on a single computer (i.e. a single CPU) at one location at any time.
The software and the accompanying written materials are protected by International Copyright laws. Unauthorized copying of the software, is expressly forbidden. You may be held legally responsible for any copyright infringement that is caused or encouraged by your failure to abide by the terms of this agreement. Subject to these restrictions, you may make one (1) copy of this software solely for back-up purposes provided such a back-up copy contains the same proprietary notices as appears in this software.
As the Licensee, you may physically transfer the software from one computer to another provided that the software is used only on one computer at a time. You may not distribute copies of the software, once registered, to others. You may not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works based on the software. You may not modify, adapt, translate or create derivative works based on the written materials without the prior consent of the publisher.
This software is licensed to only you, the Licensee, and may not be transferred to anyone else without the prior written consent of the publisher. In no event may you transfer, assign, rent, lease, sell or otherwise dispose of this software on a temporary or permanent basis except as expressly provided herein.
THE SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND PUBLISHER SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS THE WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY.
However, the publisher warrants to the original licensee that the disk(s) on which the software is recorded is free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of delivery as evidenced by a copy of the receipt of purchase. Further, publisher hereby limits the duration of any implied warranty(ies) on the disk to the period stated above. Some jurisdictions may not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
THE ABOVE ARE THE ONLY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, THAT ARE MADE BY PUBLISHER ON THE SOFTWARE. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY PUBLISHER, ITS DEALERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY INCREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY, AND YOU MAY NOT RELY UPON SUCH INFORMATION OR ADVISE. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS, WHICH VARY ACCORDING TO JURISDICTION.
NEITHER PUBLISHER NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION OR DELIVERY OF THE SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGE (INCLUDING DAMAGE OR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFIT, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF THE PUBLISHER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGE.
Publishers' entire liability and your exclusive remedy as to the disk(s) shall be, at publishers option, either (a) return of the purchase price or (b) replacement of the defective disk(s). If failure of any disk has resulted from accident, abuse or misapplication, publisher shall have responsibility to replace the disk or refund the purchase price. Any replacement disk will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever is longer. In no event shall publishers liability arising under any cause of action exceed the purchase price of the Software paid by Licensee.
This license is not a sale of the original software or any copy. SNR Enterprises reserves all rights not expressly granted to licensee.
The act of entering a serial number into a copy of PowerDock™ signifies that you have read the above information and have agreed to the terms and conditions mentioned above.
