Workbench Design/WB Collection.iso/workbench werkzeuge/icon tools/iconmanager/iconmanager.guide

Amigaguide Document | 1996-04-07 | 25KB | 512 lines

@database "IconManager.doc"
@Node Main "IconManager.doc"
            IconManager V37.1
 Copyright 1994 Alex Taylor
               All Rights Reserved
               WhatIs.library
 Copyright 1990, 1992 S.R & P.C.
               All Rights Reserved
               Contents
               ========
              @{" Copyrights and Disclaimer " link copyright}
              @{" System Requirements       " link sysreq}
                 @{" User Requirements         " link usereq}
              @{" Introduction              " link intro}
              @{" Installation              " link inst}
              @{" Usage from the Shell      " link shell}
              @{" Usage from Workbench      " link wb}
              @{" The GUI                   " link gui}
              @{" Icons:                    " link icons}
              @{" WhatIs.library            " link whatis}
              @{" Future                    " link future}
              @{" Obligatory Quotes Section " link quotes}
              @{" Contacting The Author     " link author}
              @{" Acknowledgements          " link acks}
@endnode
@node copyright "Copyright"
IconManager is
 Copyright 1994 Alex Taylor, all Rights Reserved.
It may be freely distributed, provided that no charge is made, other
than a reasonable fee for media/copying.
It may not be uploaded to BBSs which claim copyright on any uploaded
material. It may not be distributed on coverdisks without the written
permission of the author.
When distributing IconManager, distribute ALL files together, preferably
as the original archive you received (if you did...). None of the files
may be modified, other than "FileTypes", and none may be removed from
the archive. However, feel free to update FileTypes to include new types,
and add new icons to the package. If you do this, though, please send me
copies of both icons and FileTypes so that I can add them to the next release.
As always, Fred Fish has permission to include IconManager on his AmigaLib
CDs/floppies...
IconManager uses the @{" whatis.library " link whatis}, which is
 Copyright 1990, 1992 S.R & P.C.
See the WhatIs documentation for further details.
DISCLAIMER
----------
You use IconManager at your own risk. No warranties are made or implied. I do
not know of any bugs in IconManager; however, bugs may exist, so watch it!
I cannot and will not be held responsible for any damage or loss of data/life/
family pets caused by the use or misuse of IconManager, so don't bother sueing.
To summarize : no selling, filching, modifying or complaining (unless it's a
               bug report).
If you do not agree with any of the above, then you must delete this package
now. THIS MEANS YOU!
@endnode
@node sysreq "System Requirements"
Any Amiga running Kickstart V37+ (not supplied)
WhatIs.library (supplied)
@endnode
@node usereq "User Requirements"
IconManager is Shareware. If you use it, you are requested to pay the Shareware
Fees are as follows:

5.00 sterling
        OR  $US10.00
        OR  DM15,-
    If you live in Great Britain, you can pay by cheque, postal order or cash.
    For the rest of the world, unless you know an alternative cheap method,
    please send CASH ONLY! Cash is acceptable in any of the above currencies.
    Alternatively, if you write Shareware software yourself, send me a
    registered copy of your latest program. (Standard density disks only,
    please.)
    See @{" Contacting The Author " link author} for the addresses.
@endnode
@node intro "Introduction"
Since the release of Workbench2, users have had the option to view all files on
the Workbench, whether they had corresponding .info files or not. Workbench
would create a "pseudo-icon" for those with no icon. However, Workbench only
differentiates between six objects : Disk, Drawer, Tool, Project, Trashcan and
Kick (non-DOS disk). Additionally, Workbench considers a file to be a Tool if
its "executable" bit is set, and a "Project" otherwise, regardless of whether
the file is actually a program or not. This is a bit pathetic, not to mention
boring, staring at rows and rows of identical icons. Wouldn't it be nice if
Workbench could identify the files and display suitable icons for them?
Enter IconManager, stage left   :-)
IconManager fools the Workbench into thinking that icon-less files have real
icons, and then supplies an icon for each file, based on its type. Simple.
Well, not really, otherwise it wouldn't have taken me so long to do...
The idea (according to a text file I found whilst clearing my hard drive)
was generated last November!
Identifying files is done by use of the whatis.library. It recognises 30
filetypes internally, and more can be added through its configuration file.
See @{" WhatIs.library " link whatis} for details. If the file can be identified, and an
appropriate icon exists for it, then the icon is passed to Workbench, where it
is treated like a real icon. If the file cannot be identified, or if no icon
exists, then Workbench uses the standard defaults instead.
Currently, IconManager only fakes icons for files. Drawers and Disks are
handled in the normal way.
This is not the first program I have seen that does this trick, but it is the
only one that I've seen that actually works...
In addition to this, IconManager provides the ability to write these faked
icons out to disk, thus giving the file a real icon. If the file already had a
real icon, it will be overwritten, but any of its attributes (position, default
tool, tooltypes, etc.) may be preserved.
Finally, if you set the default tool of the fake icons, double-clicking on one
will attempt to load the file into the appropriate tool.
IconManager uses the following algorithm to determine whether or not to fake
icons: If the icon is on the "Workbench" window, it checks the icon of the
directory being scanned, and does what its flags say.  If there is no icon, it
fakes anyway.  Otherwise, it goes by the user's selection on the "Window" menu.
@endnode
@node inst "Installation"
Very easy - double-click on the "Install" icon and follow the instructions.
IconManager's Install uses Commodore's Installer program (not supplied).
If you want to do the installation by hand, this is what you need to do:
    (1) Copy the IconManager executable and its icon to wherever you want
        them. Suggested place is SYS:WBStartup/
    (2) Copy the doc files to wherever you want them.
    (3) Copy Libs/whatis.library to LIBS:
    (4) Copy S/FileTypes to S:
    (5) Copy the Icons drawer to your disk.
    (6) Add the following lines to S:User-Startup  ->
                        Makedir RAM:Icons
                        Copy SYS:Icons/#? RAM:Icons ALL QUIET
                        Assign Icons: RAM:Icons
    Alternatively, if you have a hard drive, you might prefer to save RAM,
    and leave the Icons drawer on the drive, in which case simply assign
    Icons: to wherever you have the icons.
    To have IconManager started up every time you boot, either place it in
    the WBStartup drawer, or add the following line to S:User-Startup  ->
                Run >NIL: IconManager <options>
    Note that IconManager must be in the path, unless you supply an explicit
    path, and that this line MUST be after the assign statement!
    See @{" Usage from the Shell " link shell} for a description of the command-line options.
@endnode
@node shell "Usage from the Shell"
Type "IconManager ?" at a command prompt to get the command template.
It looks like this:
        M=MODE/N, P=SAVEPOS/S, S=SAVESTACK/S, O=SAVETOOL/S, D=SAVEDEFTOOL/S,
        W=SAVEWINDOW/S, I=ICON/S, X=ICONXPOS/N, Y=ICONYPOS/N, T=ICONTEXT/M
    The arguments act as follows:
        MODE=n      - sets the operation mode of IconManager, where n=0, 1 or 2
                      Defaults to 1
        SAVEPOS     - save old icon's coordinates when overwriting. Defaults
                      FALSE.
        SAVESTACK   - save old icon's stacksize when overwriting. Defaults
                      FALSE.
        SAVETOOL    - save old icon's tooltypes when overwriting. Defaults
                      FALSE.
        SAVEDEFTOOL - save old icon's default tool when overwriting. Defaults
                      FALSE.
        SAVEWINDOW  - save old icon's window defs when overwriting (drawers and
                      disks only...). Defaults FALSE.
        ICON        - create an AppIcon on the Workbench. Defaults FALSE.
        ICONXPOS=n  - x coordinate of the AppIcon. Defaults to NOICONPOSITION.
        ICONYPOS=n  - y coordinate of the AppIcon. Defaults to NOICONPOSITION.
        ICONTEXT=string  - text to display under the AppIcon. Defaults to
                           "Write Icon". MUST be the last argument on the line!
IconManager operates in one of three modes. Mode is set by either the MODE
switch from the Shell, the MODE tooltype from Workbench, or the MODE gadget
in the GUI.
MODE=0  disables IconManager's faking of icons. The "Write Icon" function will
        still work, though.
MODE=1  (default) IconManager will respect the setting of "Show..." on the
        Workbench "Window" menu.
MODE=2  override mode. Icons will be faked regardless of the menu setting.
NOTE  : When switching between modes, or switching between "Show Only Icons"
    and "Show All Files" on Workbench's "Window" menu, it may be
    neccessary to select "Update" from the "Window" menu in order for
    the changes to take effect.
When running, IconManager creates two AppMenuItems on the "Tools" menu. It will
also optionally create an AppIcon on Workbench. This is controlled by use of
the ICON switch or tooltype.
The first menuitem, "IconManager", brings up the config window when selected.
If the AppIcon is present, double-clicking on it has the same effect.
See @{" The GUI " link gui} for details of its use.
The second menuitem, "Write Icon", will write to disk default icon(s) for any
files selected when the menuitem is selected. Dropping icons on the AppIcon
will also perform this action. Note that the selected icons may be real, faked
or Workbench-created pseudo-icons.
When the selected object has a real icon, certain of its attributes may be
preserved in the new icon. Which attributes are preserved is set by the
switches above.
WriteIcon will work for any object. Disks and drawers receive the system's
default icon, as do any files which IconManager cannot identify. Note that
IconManager's ID routines are different to Workbench's, so that a file which
shows up with Workbench's "default tool" icon may switch to the "default
project" icon when WriteIcon is performed on it. Default Tool icons will only
be written if the file is actually an executable.
The faked icons can be dropped onto IconEdit or similar, but they will not
show up in the Shell, directory utilities (eg SID) or file-requesters. This
is (currently) deliberate. If you would prefer this to be configurable, drop
me a line. (See @{" Contacting The Author " link author} for addresses.)
Starting a second copy of IconManager will cause the first one to quit.
WARNING : IconManager patches two library functions, dos/ExNext() and
      icon/GetIcon(). It does NOT check them before exiting...so anything
      installed after IconManager which patches the same vectors will be
      "cut off", and will almost certainly cause a system crash when it
      is removed. If you are not sure about the state of the patches, you
      can disable IconManager from its GUI. See @{" The GUI " link gui} for details.
      Additionally, at present, IconManager MUST be run after any programs
      which patch the Workbench menus, eg "ToolsDaemon" (
 Nico Fran
ois).
      This is due to a small problem in the way in which IconManager
      reads the Workbench menus...being investigated :-)
      The best way to ensure this is to set the tooltype "STARTPRI=-128"
      if running from WBStartup, or place it after the "LoadWB" command
      in your startup-sequence if running from the Shell.  If you selete
      "Save" from the GUI, IconManager will write the tooltype out to its
      icon automatically.
NOTE    : If IconManager is launched from the Shell, it does not read its
          tooltypes. Only the command-line arguments apply.
@endnode
@node wb "Usage from Workbench"
To start IconManager, double-click on its icon. Configuration of IconManager
is by the use of tooltypes. The following are available:
           MODE=n
       ICON
       ICONXPOS=n
       ICONYPOS=n
       ICONTEXT=string
       SAVEPOS
       SAVESTACK
       SAVEDEFTOOL
       SAVETOOLS
       SAVEWINDOW
       DONOTWAIT    - needed if you are placing IconManager in WBStartup
       STARTPRI=n    - recommended! Set n=-128, see above for reason!

See @{" Usage from the Shell " link shell} for details of what they do.
When you save your configuration from the GUI, it writes new tooltypes into
the icon. These will overwrite all old ones, except the "DONOTWAIT" tooltype,
and the "STARTPRI" tooltype. Note that saving will *ALWAYS* result in the
tooltype "STARTPRI=-128" being written to the icon...
@endnode
@node gui "The GUI"
To bring up the IconManager config window, either select "IconManager" from
the "Tools" nenu on Workbench, or double-click on the AppIcon (if created).
The window is fully font-adaptive, normally to the screen font of Workbench,
but if using the screen font would result in a window larger than the screen,
IconManager will attempt to use the default system font, or, failing that,
topaz-8. In any event, the window will adapt itself to the font when opened.
It will center itself as best as possible on the mouse pointer, but it will
never go off the visible part of the screen (unless it is larger than the
visible part...). Should the worst occur, and come of the gadgets are not
accessible, the keyboard shortcuts will still work.
Under Kickstart V39+, the checkbox gadgets will also be scaled...
The window is divided into three main areas :-
    At the left side are the controls for the AppIcon:
      Create Icon       : If checked, the AppIcon will be created
      Any Position        : If checked, Workbench will put the icon in
                    the first available position
      X            : If the "Any Position" gadget is not checked,
                    you can enter the X coordinate for the AppIcon
                    in here
      Y            : Enter the Y coordinate for the AppIcon here
      Label            : Enter the text to be placed under the AppIcon
                    here
    Notes : If "Any Position" is not checked, the "X" and "Y" gadgets
        will be disabled.
        You can still set the coords and label for the AppIcon
        whether you are creating it or not, and they will still
        be saved to the icon.
        If "Any Position" is checked, then no ICONXPOS or ICONYPOS
        tooltypes will be saved; if the Label is "Write Icon", no
        ICONTEXT tooltype will be saved. This is normal, as the
        defaults are "No Position" and "Write Icon".
    At the right side are the settings for attribute preservation:
      Position        : Save old icon's coords when overwriting
      StackSize        : Save old icon's stacksize when overwriting
      Default Tool        : Save old icon's default tool
      Tool Types        : Save old icon's tooltypes
      Window        : Save old icon's window defs (drawers/disks only)
    At the bottom are the main controls:
      Mode            : Set the operating mode of IconManager
      About...        : Brings up an information window
      Save            : Saves the current config to IconManager's icon
      Use            : Uses the current config without saving
      Cancel        : Return to the previous settings and close the
                    window
      Quit            : Guess what this one does...
    Notes : If there is insufficient memory to open the config window,
        IconManager will open a requester from where you can quit
        the program if you wish.
        All gadgets in the window have keyboard shortcuts.
@endnode
@node icons "Icons:"
The default icons used by IconManager are stored in a drawer. The logical
assignment "Icons:" is made to this drawer, allowing you to put the icons
wherever you like. Floppy users will probably want to copy them to RAM:
for speed. If you have a hard drive (or low memory!), you may prefer to
leave them on your boot disk or something. Mine are in DH1:Icons/
You do not need to have an icon for every filetype IconManager can recognise.
If the file is identified, but no icon exists, then Workbench will provide
a system default icon for it. Workbench will also handle Disk/Drawer icons.
Placing "def_Disk.info" or "def_Drawer.info" in Icons: will have no effect
on this (yet...) However, the icon "def_Tool.info" is used by IconManager.
If this icon is missing, the Workbench will use its "def_Tool" icon instead.
Due to the way in which whatis.library works, IconManager differentiates
between the following types of executable : "def_Tool", "def_Pure Exe",
"def_PP40 Exe", "def_PP30 Exe", and "def_PP Exe".
This neans that even if you want them all to have the same icon, an icon must
exist for each type. See @{" WhatIs.library " link whatis} for more information.
@endnode
@node whatis "WhatIs.library"
IconManager uses the whatis.library to identify filetypes. Whatis.library is
 Copyright S.R & P.C.
Whatis.library recognises 28 different filetypes internally, and more can be
added by means of a simple configuration file, S:FileTypes.
The types whatis.library knows about are:
    Disk
    Assign        - not used by IconManager
    Drawer
    Tool        - executable
    Pure Exe    - executable with the "pure" bit set
    PP40 Exe    - executable packed with Powerpacker V4
    PP30 Exe    - executable packed with Powerpacker V3
    PP Exe        - executable packed with Powerpacker < V3
    Script        - not sure...
    Text        - ASCII text
    Object        - object code
    Lib        - linker library
    IFF        - IFF-ILBM
    ILBM        - not sure about this one...
    ILBM24        - 24-bit ILBM
    ANIM        - IFF-ANIM
    8SVX        - IFF-8SVX
    SMUS        - IFF-SMUS
    FTXT        - IFF-FTXT
    Prefs        - IFF prefs file
    Term        - term file
    Icon        - not used by IconManager!
    Imp Data    - file packed with Imploder
    PP Data        - file packed with Powerpacker
    Zoo        - zoo archive
    LHArc        - LhA or similar archive
    MED Mod        - MED song
The default icon for each of these is "def_<name>.info" where <name> is one
of the above.
Icons for each of these (apart from Assign, Drawer and Icon!) are provided in
the "Icons" drawer of this distribution. Additionally, the S/FileTypes file
adds the follwing types to the list:
    s        - assembler source file
    i        - assembler include file
    c        - C source file
    h        - c include file
    Library        - run-time library
    Device        - device
    JPEG
    Doc        - text file with filename including "doc" somewhere
    Readme        - text file with filename including "readme" somewhere
    Guide        - AmigaGuide file
    DMS        - dms-packed archive
    dvi        - dvi file
    tex        - tex file
    rexx        - ARexx script
    Zip        - zip archive
    pcx        - pcx graphic file
    mod        - SoundTracker/equivalent module
    imgobj        - Imagine file
    filesys        - filesystem
Icon names as above.
Icons for these are also present in "Icons".
I think all the icons are Public Domain; they've been sitting on my hard drive
for so long I can't remember where they came from now  :-)  Apologies if
they're not!
Replace them by all means, but please send me copies of any nice ones that I
can include with the next release.
To define your own types, you need to edit S:FileTypes.
Each filetype has a definition in this file. The format of these definitions
is very simple, using a few keywords to define each type:
    TYPE <string>        - starts the type entry for <string>
                  Must be the first keyword.
    SUBTYPE    <string>    - this type is a subtype of <string>
                  This is optional.
    INSERTAFTER <string>    - places the new type after <string> in the
                  filetypes list, as the list is not
                  alphabetically sorted. Optional, not used by
                  IconManager.
    ICONNAME <string>    - <string> is the name of the default icon
                  filename (minus the .info bit...).
                  Optional. If not supplied, then the string
                  "def_<typename>" will be used instead.
    NAMEPATTERN <string>    - <string> is a standard AmigaDOS pattern-
                  matching string. The filename of the file
                  being scanned must match this pattern.
                  Optional, mutually exclusive with
                  OPTNAMEPATTERN.
    OPTNAMEPATTERN <string>    - the same as NAMEPATTERN, but may be
                  overridden. Optional, mutually exclusive
                  with NAMEPATTERN.
    COMPAREBYTE <n> <bytes>    - test the file for <bytes> at offset <n>
                  bytes in to it. Optional.
    COMPAREBYTE <n> <string>- test the file for <string> at offset <n>.
                  Optional.
    SEARCHBYTE <string>    - search for <string> in the first block of
                  the file.
    SEARCHBYTE <bytes>    - search for <bytes> in the first block of the
                  file.
    SEARCHPATTERN [CASE] <string>
                - search for <string> in file. If CASE is
                  specified, search is case-sensitive.
    MATCHPATTERN [CASE] <n> <string>
                - search for <string> in file at offset <n>.
                  If CASE is specified, search is case-
                  sensitive.
    ENDTYPE            - ends the type entry.
    #            - anything else on this line is a comment.
 Note : <string> means ASCII text, enclosed in quotes, eg - "Hello"
     <bytes> means actual byte values, entered in hexadecimal,
     eg - $ABCD, or decimal, eg - 1234, or binary, eg - %10101
     <n> means a single number from 0 to 255 ($0 to $FF)
Example: defining the type for assembler source files:
    TYPE "asm"            ; ID string
      SUBTYPE "text"            ; the file  must also be a text file
      NAMEPATTERN "#?.(s|asm)        ; the filename must end in either ".s"
                      ; or ".asm"
      ENDTYPE                ; end of type definition
Example: defining the type for IFF-ILBM files:
    TYPE "iff"            ; ID string
    COMPAREBYTE 0 "FORM"        ; check for the string "FORM" at the
                    ; start of the file
    COMPAREBYTE 8 "ILBM"        ; check for the string "ILBM" at the
                    ; eighth byte in
    ENDTYPE                ; end of type definition
See the FileTypes file for more examples (which work!)
Whatis.library can perform two types of scanning - LIGHT and DEEP. Light
scanning only checks the filename, so if you renamed an executable to end
in ".s", whatis.library would think it was an assembler source file if the
SUBTYPE keyword were missing. DEEP scanning overrides the filename checking,
which means that libraries (which are executables) show up as executables in
DEEP mode, but libraries in LIGHT mode.
IconManager performs a LIGHT scan, followed by a DEEP scan if the file could
not be identified in LIGHT mode, which means that libraries will show up as
libraries rather than executables...took some doing to get that working!
If any condition in the filetype definition is not satisfied, then
whatis.library will not identify the file as that type.
See the whatis.library documentation for more information.
@endnode
@node future "Future"
What happens next? Well, that's up to you... If people pay the shareware fee,
and send me suggestions, I will continue to develop IconManager.
Current ideas for the next release include:
    A GUI-based editor for the FileTypes file
    Support for muFS so that "protected" files don't show up at all...
    Rewrite the damn thing in C!
Any other ideas? If so, send them to me (with some money :-) and I'll see
what I can do...
If you have an idea for another program, send that along too. I'm doing a
computing course at present, so I may as well get some practise in...
After a fruitless session of trying to get "ShellMenus" to work, I am
thinking about writing my own. Any suggestions for that...?
@endnode
@node quotes "Obligatory Quotes Section"
Well, everybody's doing it these days...
    "Trust me, I'm a Doctor"    - The Doctor (c'mon BBC, bring him back!)
    "The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All"
                    - Nanny Ogg (
 Terry Pratchett)
    "I need a vacation"        - The Terminator
    "Mind your own business, Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference."
                    - James T Kirk

    "UNIX soit qui mal y pense" - unknown
    "Ninety percent of everything is crud"
                    - Sturgeon's Law

    "God made the integers; all else is the work of Man"
                    - unknown

    "Two's company; three's a Liberal Democrat meeting"
                    - unknown
@endnode
@node author "Contacting The Author"
This is a little complicated...
    Shareware fees should be sent to:
    Alex Taylor
    20 Nunroyd Road
    Moortown
    Leeds
    LS17 6PF
    ENGLAND
    Bug reports/suggestions/queries should be sent to the above during
    University holidays, and to one of the below in term-time:
    Internet:    [e-mail]
            [e-mail]
            [e-mail]
        Try them all until you get through...to say that we're not
        very well connected is an understatement!
        The first one is the one I use for anonymous ftp-ing, the
        second one is known to work from the Helios net at Aston
        University (but not from anywhere else at Aston...?), and
        the last one seems to work from Oxford...
    snail-mail:    Alex Taylor
            Newbattle Abbey College
            Dalkeith
            Midlothian
            EH22 3LL
            SCOTLAND
        Note : this address is only valid until June 1994!
        After that, please use the top address if e-mail is
        inappropriate or unavailable.
@endnode
@node acks "Acknowledgements"
    S.R. & P.C (whoever you are) for the whatis.library...
    Commodore for making this job a damn sight harder than it should
    have been! Pleeeeease make Workbench use the LVO's! That's what
    they're there for!
    Whoever it was wrote the program that gave me this idea...
@endnode