[Archive Keywords: Development Tools, Libraries, Metrowerks, CodeWarrior, PowerPlant, Balloon Help]
About Visual Balloons
Visual Balloons™ is the coolest way to add Balloon Help to your PowerPlant projects (really! *:o). With Visual Balloons, you simply drag a help balloon from the PowerPlant Catalog window to any of your PowerPlant Panes, add no more than two lines of code to your application, and Visual Balloons does the rest! No subclassing, no code modifications, just add your balloons!
Features
• only two additional lines of code to write
• Seamless integration with PowerPlant Constructor
For development, you'll need CodeWarrior and PowerPlant Constructor 2.4 or greater.
Visual Balloons will work on any computer that has System 7 or later installed. Visual Balloons disables itself automatically when running on a pre-System 7 computer.
What's new in this release (reverse chronological order)
DR 3
+ Updated "Visual Balloons Documentation"
+ Added sample application
+ Changed licensing scheme; we now use the Kagi Shareware registration service
+ Added Register application
DR 2
+ Easier to use: there are now only two 68K libraries, one for model near and one for model far
+ Improved stability: Balloon Toggler no longer crashes when not attached to an LControl (thnx to Willis Morse, wmorse@aol.com)
DR 1
+ first public release
Installation
Installation is very simple:
1. Put the "Visual Balloons™.CTYP" document into Constructor's "Custom Types" folder
2. Copy the "Visual Balloons™ Headers & Libs" folder to your hard disk
Using Visual Balloons with Constructor
1. Open your project's .ppob file with Metrowerks Constructor
2. Open the "Catalog" window
3. Switch the Catalog Window to "Attachments" (see 'em, see'em? *;o)
Adding a Visual Balloon
1. Now open any of your LWindows (or LDialogs, just any LPane)
2. Choose "Show Object Hierarchy" from the Layout menu
3. Grab a Visual Balloon from the Constructor Window and add it to a Pane
Configuring your Balloon
1. Open the Property Inspector window
2. The "Visual Balloons™" section contains the standard Balloon Help parameters. You can just leave the default settings in most cases. Otherwise, please see Inside Macintosh for the meaning of these settings.
3. Depending on the type of Balloon you added, you now type in the string or resource ID of the message that should appear in your Balloon.
4. That's it!
Using the Visual Balloons Libraries
Again, this is as simple as Drag & Drop:
1. Add the "LMouseTracker" PowerPlant class to your project
2. Drag the appropriate Visual Balloons library to your project
3. Add the following two lines to your application (a good place is the "Initialize" method of your LApplication subclass)
// in the #includes section of your app, add
#include "UVisualBalloons.hpp"
// in your "Initialize()" method, add
UVisualBalloons::Initialize();
4. Well... that's it again. Now just run your app!
How to Register
Visual Balloons is Shareware, which means if you use it, you must pay for it (with one exception, see below). There are 4 types of licensing available, based on what kind of software you develop:
Freeware License
If you make a Freeware product, Visual Balloons is free for you. You'll have to give me credits in your About box and documentation though: "Visual Balloons™ by Andreas Pizsa". I also ask you to send me a copy of your product.
Shareware License
If you use Visual Balloons in a Shareware product, the license fee is US$ 25 for each product that includes Visual Balloons, and you have to give me credits in your About box and documentation (e.g. "Visual Balloons™ by Andreas Pizsa.").
Commercial License
If you are a commercial developer and want to use Visual Balloons in any other application (esp. commercial or in-house applications), the fee is US$75 per application.
Unlimited License
An Unlimited License gives you the right to include the Visual Balloons libraries in any of your or your company's products, without any limitations, for only US$ 149.-. Yes, that's less than 2 Commercial licenses *:o)
Using the Register application
1. Run the Register program and fill out the form
You need to enter your name, email, postal address, and the shareware you wish to pay for. The form accepts many different payment methods such as: US Check, Money Order, Cash (in many different currencies), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, First Virtual, and Invoice (to be given to your accounts payable department).
2. Send it to Kagi Shareware
Then either email the data generated by the registration program or print it and send it via postal mail or fax. Credit card information is encoded by the Register program.
The address to send the completed form is output by Register when you Print or Copy the completed form. The addresses are:
Email: shareware@kagi.com
FAX: +1 510 652 6589
Snail-mail:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-TH
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405
USA
Contacting the Author
If you have any questions, suggestions, or bug reports please feel free to contact me anytime at one of the following addresses:
e-mail: Andreas@ToolsAndToys.com or ToolsAndToys@kagi.com
Web site: <http://www.ToolsAndToys.com>
Phone: +43 1 216 5585
Fax: +43 1 216 5585 19
If you want to snail mail me:
Tools & Toys Software Ltd.
Zirkusgasse 40
A-1020 Vienna
Austria, Europe
Where to finde the latest
Visual Balloons can be found on the info-mac archive and its mirrors. The info-mac archive can be searched at <http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html> or through c-net's Shareware.com site at <http://www.shareware.com>
Our own Web site at <http://www.ToolsAndToys.com> lets you download the latest version of Visual Balloons, and also gives you the option to subscribe to our mailing list so you will be notified when new versions of Visual Balloons become available.
Copyright & Legal Stuff
Visual Balloons was developed and is Copyright by Andreas Pizsa. All rights reserved. Visual Balloons, the Visual Balloons logo, Tools & Toys and the Tools & Toys Logo are trademarks by Andreas Pizsa. All rights reseved. BalloonHelp is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. PowerPlant is a trademark of Metrowerks.
