- added new printing algorithm for rotated text on PostSript™ printers (see Preferences Dialog)
- faster resizing of cover objects
- tool window positions are remembered
- support for reading audio cd information from the CD Remote file
What's new in 1.4 Beta 2 (2001-04-25)
- can read track information from audio cds
- user definable default cover template
- 5 user definable macros for text fields
- "New Empty Cover" command
- "New Cover with Default Template" command
- application accepts volume and folder drags onto its icon
- user definable startup action
- data field name can be changed by double clicking
- fixed a bug that made it impossible to open folders of a data folder from the hierarchy window
- fixed a bug that disabled most menu commands after you did editing in the info window
What's new 1.4 Beta 1 (2001-04-10)
- instead of having to use one of the predefined cover layouts, you can now create your own layouts with several cover panes on one sheet of paper
- you can save and of course open cover layouts
- you can save covers layout as templates as starting point for new covers
- supports iTunes playlist files
- supports ID3v2.2 tags
- supports all QuickTime supported image formats
- you can rearrange the track order using drap and drop in the track dialog
What's on the list for the final 1.4 release
- several volumes/seesions on a data field
- a manual
- printing pictures with full printer resolution
- support for MacOS X
- support for ID3 tag standard 2.3 and 2.4
- support for internet cd databases (see www.freedb.org)
System Requirements
MacOS 8.6 or later
CarbonLib 1.0.4 or later
8 MB free RAM
Creating a new cover
UnCoverIt 1.4 lets you create your own cover layouts. In addition, UnCoverIt comes with cover templates for the most common media types. When creating a new cover, the cover assistant lets you decide wether to start with either a data or a audio template. Choose data template when you are going to create a cover for a data storage media type like ZIP, Jaz or CD-ROM. You will get a cover listing the files and folders on the storage media you select as data source.
When you are going to create an audio cover, you will get a track listing showing the tracks index and the tracks playing length. UnCoverIt can read this track information from various sources, including MP3 files and iTunes™ playlists.
Adding Elements to a cover
One of the main improvements of UnCoverIt 1.4 is that you can customize your layouts. You can add as many cover elements as you like. To add new elements, open the component window from the windows menu and drag the desired new element from the component catalog to your cover window.
Creating your own templates
You can add your own templates to the template menu in the New Cover dialog. Just save your favorite cover layout as stationary and move them either to the data or to the audio template folder within UnCoverIt's tempates folder.
The fastest way to create covers
Some users noted that its quite nasty to dig through the menu commands just to create a new cover. To speed up this process a little bit do the following things:
- select you favorite cover type in UnCoverIt's Preferences window
- place an alias to UnCoverIt somewhere on your desktop
- drag your volume onto the UnCoverIt icon
This approach saves me alot of time.
Working with MP3 Files
There are several ways to create audio covers from a selection of MP3 files:
- when creating an audio cover with the cover assistant, choose MP3 Folder as audio source
--OR--
- drag MP3 files to an audio pane
--OR--
- drag a folder containing MP3 files to an audio pane
UnCoverIt will attempt to read the song names from the ID3 tag info inside the MP3 files. You can edit and view theses tags using iTunes or one of the many ID3 tag utilities. UnCoverIt supports tag info versions ID3v1.0 and ID3v2.2. Most MP3 Tag utilities let you convert between the different versions of the ID3 tag standard.
If, for any reason, the ID3 tag containing the songs name isn't found, the file name is used as song name instead.
Working with iTunes
To create a cover from a custom playlist in iTunes:
- export your playlist to a text file via the Advanced Menu
- choose this text file when creating an audio cover with the cover assistant choosing "iTunes playlist" as audio source
--OR--
- drag the exported iTunes playlist to an audio pane on your cover
--OR--
- drag the tracks directly from iTunes to an audio pane
Working with Pictures
When creating pictures shapes in UnCoverIt, please keep in mind that the picture file associated with it is not imported into the cover file. Instead UnCoverIt saves a link to that picture file. In case you delete the picture file, the picture shape will remain empty because UnCoverIt will not be able to find the original file. When sending your cover file to somebody else, please included any picture files used in that cover layout.
Known Bugs
Here is a list of known bugs, which are nasty but not fundamental. I'm going to fix them as soon as I find some time:
- save requester appears above wrong window
- scrap contents gets lost when app gets send to background
- volumen capacity/free space not saved to file
Note about MacOS X
Although UnCoverIt 1.4 is a carbon application, there are some issues that only appear under MacOS X. The main issue is that Drag & Drop from the new Finder doesn't work like it used to be. Since drap & drop is heavily used in UnCoverIt, you won't be able to use most of its features. There seems to be an issue with data volume scanning, too, that results in UnCoverIt crashing.
On the other hand you can at least open saved covers created under MacOS 9.
FAQ - Frequently aksed questions
Q.Why doesn't the component catalog respond to my actions?
A:You have to click on an object inside the component window and drag it over to your cover window.
Q:Where can I get CarbonLib and what is it?
A:CarbonLib is supplied by Apple. It allows developers to create applications that run under MacOS 8/9 and MacOS X without modification (at least in theory). The link below gives you a list of available carbon library versions. Pick the newest for your language.
If you like UnCoverIt and want to keep using it, I really encourage you to register it. The registered version of UnCoverIt doesn't have to annoying registration dialog coming up every time you start it and allows text output.
The single user license is $10.
A Site License costs $50 and covers all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software.
A World-Wide License costs $500 and it covers all locations for your organization on the planet earth.
If you want to register over the internet using your credit card, cash or check click the the ‘Register…’ button in the registration dialog or double-click the "Register online" bookmark file that comes with UnCoverIt. This will point your web browser at to Kagi page automatically.
If you don't have Internet Config installed, or it can’t find your web browser, you can go there manually by entering the following URL
<https://order.kagi.com/?3W9>
If your web browser doesn't support the HTTPS protocol for secure connections, you may use the following URL, using an unsecured HTTP connection to the Kagi server.
<http://order.kagi.com/?3W9>
Once there, follow the instructions given to register.
