SwapTop is a desktop picture manager, which allows you to automatically update your desktop picture. It can be used to display your personal collection of images (e.g., digital photographs), or can automatically download new pictures from the Webshots photo network. It fully supports multiple monitors, and runs natively on Mac OS X.
For systems prior to Mac OS X, SwapTop requires Mac OS 8.6 or later with CarbonLib 1.1 or higher. For systems running Mac OS X, it requires Mac OS X 10.1 or later.
Registering SwapTop
SwapTop costs $15. You may evaluate it free of charge for 30 days, after which you should register to purchase your copy. Registering will remove the reminder message which will start to appear after the 30 day evaluation period is over.
Payments are processed by Kagi Shareware, who provide an on-line ordering service at <http://order.kagi.com/?6AF>.
Payments can also be submitted by fax, email, or post by using the supplied Register application. Full details of these payment methods are contained in the “How To Register” document.
Using SwapTop
To use SwapTop, double-click the application to launch it and select “Preferences...” from the Edit menu (or the application menu on Mac OS X).
The Preferences window forms the main user interface for SwapTop, and is divided into three panels:
The General panel allows you to start SwapTop automatically at startup, to automatically download new pictures every day, to allow SwapTop to check for the release of a new version, and to control if images should maintain their aspect ratio or be stretched to fit the display.
It also allows you to control if higher quality images will be downloaded from Webshots. This feature is only available if you have signed up for the “Webshots Unlimited” service from Webshots, otherwise the normal quality images will be downloaded.
The Schedule panel allows you to control when SwapTop should change the desktop picture. By default this happens once a day, however you can increase the frequency to view several pictures over the course of the day.
If SwapTop is allowed to automatically download pictures, the first two updates each day will downloaded from the Webshots daily picture collection. Further updates on the same day will be from your local image archive.
SwapTop contains a built-in Screen Saver to display your Webshots pictures. This feature, and the tab which controls it, is only available on Mac OS X 10.1 or higher.
To activate this function, select the Screen Saver tab of the SwapTop Preferences dialog, and check the Install Screen Saver box. When the Screen Saver (or Screen Effects) System Preferences panel opens, select SwapTop from the list of installed Screen Savers. Close the System Preferences panel, and the SwapTop Preferences dialog.
SwapTop can also be directed to update to the current daily picture, or a random picture from your local archive, by using the commands in the File menu.
If you wish to remember the URL of a picture for future reference, or to identify its author, the Get Picture Info command in the File menu can be used to retrieve this information for the current picture. Alternatively you can use the Archive menu, which provides quick access to your most recently downloaded pictures.
To quickly find the picture file on your hard drive, which is currently displayed on your Desktop, choose the Get Picture Info command in the File menu, and click on the Reveal in Finder button.
To locate a particular subject within the WebShots database, you can use the Search command on the Special menu. This will search the WebShots website for a picture matching your query, and display a list of images that can be downloaded.
SwapTop Archive
SwapTop maintains an archive of your desktop pictures within your Preferences folder. This archive can be browsed directly from the Archive menu, or can be viewed in the Finder with the Browse Archive command.
The archive folder is divided into two folders, Other Pictures and Webshots Pictures. Images downloaded from Webshots will automatically be saved within the Webshots Pictures, and your own pictures (or aliases to them) can be placed in the Other Pictures folder.
Dropping a picture onto SwapTop will install that as the current desktop picture, and will automatically copy the file to the correct location within your archive. By design, Webshots picture files will be moved into the archive (since these can not be viewed in other applications), however normal picture files will be copied (leaving the original untouched).
Notes
• At your discretion, SwapTop can automatically check for updates when it goes online. This version checking process is similar to Apple’s System Update function, and does not transmit any personal or identifying information from your computer back to Zonic.
To check for a new release, SwapTop fetches a web page which lists the current version number. No personal information is sent from SwapTop to the web server, and you can inspect this page yourself using an ordinary web browser at <http://www.zonic.co.uk/support/version.xml>.
If you have any questions or concerns about this version checking procedure, please contact <support@zonic.co.uk>.
• In order to download daily pictures from the Webshots picture archive, you must sign up for a free Webshots account at <http://www.webshots.com/>. SwapTop will remember your account details and automatically log you in to Webshots when it needs to fetch new pictures.
• In order to download higher quality pictures from the Webshots picture archive, you must sign up for the “Webshots Unlimited” service. Once your Webshots account has been updated to this level of service, SwapTop will be able to fetch the high quality versions of the pictures.
• We plan to update SwapTop to include some of the features present in the Windows WebShots software, such as a desktop calendar. If you have any features you would like to see in SwapTop, please let us know by contacting us at <support@zonic.co.uk>.
• If you encounter a WebShots file that SwapTop is unable to display, please forward a copy of the file to <support@zonic.co.uk>. We will attempt to add support for that particular file in the next release.
• SwapTop does not currently support proxy servers.
Version History
1.9, 2rd December 2002
• Added support for OS X Screen Savers.
• Added a 'Reveal in Finder' button to the Picture Info dialog.
• Added a 'Get Picture Info ...' option to the Dock menu.
• Now display file names without truncation in Picture Info window.
1.8.2, 3rd October 2002
• Added support for new Webshots website layout, restores Daily Picture download feature.
• New tabbed Preferences window appearance.
• Fixed bug where images within the archive could become corrupted.
1.8.1, 9th September 2002
• Now generate custom icon preview when installing images into archive.
• Now draw registration reminder correctly on multiple-monitor configurations.
• Fixed spurious 50Mb memory allocation on startup.
1.8, 20th August 2002
• Added support for grayscale Webshots images.
• Added support for another variation in Webshots file format.
• Now display errors returned by QuickTime.
• Now use Cmd-, for Preferences shortcut to follow Jaguar UI Guidelines.
• Now recognise StuffIt archives as such if passed to SwapTop.
• Fixed graphical glitch on Jaguar.
• Fixed bug where last image in a gallery pack could be skipped.
1.7, 7th June 2002
• Added ability to download higher quality “Webshots Unlimited” content.
• Added ability to preserve image aspect ratios.
• Added Dock menu to set desktop picture on Mac OS X.
• Now use image title as default file name when exporting.
• Improved support of corrupt gallery packs and now import all available images.
• Improved support of HTML error pages from Webshots.
• Fixed bug where Webshots cookie could be lost preventing login.
1.6, 5th April 2002
• Added support for picking up status messages on version check.
• Added support for automatic Webshots login.
• Fixed glitch where download window would flicker during downloads.
• Fixed bug where schedule would stop updating if machine was slept within 10 minutes of an update.
• Fixed bug where a PicHandle was disposed of twice, caused console warning on Mac OS X.
• Fixed crash if a pre-1.4 version of SwapTop was run after using version 1.5 or later.
1.5, 21st March 2002
• Added “Other Pictures” archive folder for non-Webshots images.
• Added support for multiple monitors on Mac OS X.
• Added support for any image format supported by QuickTime.
• Added support for HFS+ long file names.
• Added schedule summary to preferences window.
• Added workaround for URLAccess redirection bug on Mac OS X.
• Added support for another variation in the WebShots file format.
• Now accept drags of any file type on Mac OS X.
• Now download both daily pictures if more than one update scheduled per day.
• Now keep download preference in sync with schedule requirements.
• Now follow aliases when building Archive menu.
• Now use minimal CPU time on Mac OS X.
• Now register for .wbp file extension for photo packs.
• Now include version number in SwapTop Problem.wbz report files.
• No longer show preferences window when activated from Dock on Mac OS X.
• Fixed bug where schedule could fail to update.
• Fixed bug where DebugStr was present in previous release build.
• Fixed bug where moving a .wbz in the archive could create a duplicate file.
• Fixed bug where version check could check more than once a day.
1.4, 14th January 2002
• Added support for importing packs of photos from a WebShots gallery page.
• Added error dialogs for failures during download process.
• Added support for point releases to update check.
• Added support for shift-clicking Dock icon on Mac OS X to suppress Preferences window.
• Now register for .wbz and .fcgi file extensions on Mac OS X.
• Now save images as PNG files, fixes a desktop update problem on Mac OS 9.2.1.
• Now only enable “Update to random” if archive contains at least two files.
• Now quit if another copy of SwapTop is already running.
• Fixed bug which could cause startup items to get out of sync on Mac OS X.
• Fixed bug where random update could update to current image.
1.3, 17th December 2001
• Improved compatibility with corrupt JPEGs.
• Improved automatic post-processing of WebShots downloads.
• Added “Export Picture...” command to export pictures from .wbz format.
• Added “Browse Archive” command to browse the local image archive in the Finder.
• Added auto-update feature to check for new releases.
• Added dialog to improve support process for unsupported image formats.
• Now show .cgi and .fcgi files in file import dialog.
• Now compatible with latest WebShots web site.
• Now require Mac OS X 10.1 or later when running on Mac OS X.
• Now sets desktop picture on Mac OS X without relaunching the Finder.
• Now use QuickTime for PICT export to avoid running out of memory with large images.
• Now export a picture for each monitor, fixes unwanted borders on stretched screens.
• Now follow aliases to local image archive, allows one archive to be shared between 9 and X.
1.2, 20th September 2001
• Added support for two new variations in the WebShots file format.
• Now remove watermark as soon as registration is complete, not on next download.
• Now add SwapTop to the Login Items panel on Mac OS X if asked to run at startup.
• Fixed potential crash if an empty file was downloaded.
1.1, 2nd August 2001
• Improved compatibility with WebShots file format.
• Added archive menu to allow browsing of previously downloaded files.
• Now create image previews for downloaded files.
• Now archive downloaded .wbz files within the Preferences folder.
• Now use archive folder as default folder for File->Open.
• Now register as a post-processor to automatically install .wbz files downloaded with a web browser.
• Fixed bug where register reminder could re-appear even after registering.
• Fixed bug where copyright string could draw into the wrong window.
