Thanks to Kevin Marks for great debugging help & diverse ideas.
Thanks to Douglas Adams & my boss Max Whitby for invaluable testing & suggestions.
This version of this software may be given away, but the software is still copyrighted material and is not in the public domain.
So What Is It?
DepthCharge is a control panel device/system extension that lets you rapidly switch the color settings of any screen, or change the speaker volume, without leaving the application you are running. It is designed to work with multiple or single monitors. It also saves any changes you make, so they are not forgotten when you turn the machine off. In this respect it just implements the most frequently used bits of the Monitors and Sound control panels in a more convenient form. It doesn't replace either of these control panels completely. If you add a new screen to your system, or swap video cards around, you should open and close the Monitors control panel at least once, so it can put your system into some kind of order.
Since I wrote DepthCharge, I've come across various other control panel devices that do more or less the same thing. Call it parallel evolution, call it coincidence, call me a cab.
Using DepthCharge :
Anytime you want to use DepthCharge, just hold down the magic keys and click anywhere. DepthCharge comes set to work when you command-control click, although you can change this. A popup menu will appear listing the available color settings for the screen you clicked on.
Choose a new setting from the menu and the screen will switch to it. The popup menu also shows whether the screen is currently displaying Colors or just shades of Gray, and lets you switch from one mode to another. Choose a new speaker volume level from the "Speaker Volume" submenu and it will change instantly.
DepthCharge works with Macintosh System Software versions 6.07 & 7.0 and has been tested on Macs including a IIfx, IIci, IIcx, LC & Quadra. DepthCharge requires a color capable machine, and so refuses to load on B/W Macs like the Classic, SE, Plus or Powerbook 100 .
System 7 users :
Put DepthCharge in your Control Panels Folder and restart.
You can then double-click DepthCharge to set the key combination DepthCharge uses. If you try and open the DepthCharge control panel before DepthCharge has had a chance to install inself, the Finder will give you a message like “You cannot use that control panel with this Macintosh”, which basically means the DepthCharge control panel refused to open.
System 6.07 users :
Put DepthCharge in your System Folder and restart.
If your machine is a Mac II, IIx, IIcx or SE30 then you also need to put a copy of 32 Bit QuickDraw 1.2 in your System Folder. It's on the last of your system discs.
Using the DepthCharge control panel :
You can set the magic key combination DepthCharge uses by checking the boxes that stand for the keys you want to use. DepthCharge comes set to use Command & Control. If you check the “Save Changes” box, any changes you make to monitor settings will be saved, as will changes to speaker volume.
Any changes you make in the DepthCharge control panel take effect straight away. You do not have to reboot (or even close the control panel).
About Version 1.1
This version fixed all known bugs in the INIT code.
About Version 1.2
This version is a cdev (control panel device), so that the user can change the key combination DepthCharge uses.
About Version 1.3
Now updates the "scrn" resource in the system, so depth changes are remembered when you reboot.
About Version 1.3.1
Fixed a bug in the code that saves the screen settings.
About Version 1.3.2
Due to popular request, DepthCharge should no longer get in the way of other "hot key" extensions.
About Version 1.3.3
Fixed all known bugs in the code that saves the screen settings.
About Version 1.4
Found and fixed the last bug (?) in the screen settings saving code.
About Version 1.5
The click used to pop up DepthCharge will now never cause a MultiFinder switch.
DepthCharge now works even when there is a modal dialog, and in HyperCard even when a script is running.
DepthCharge's total size has been reduced from 26k to 18k .
This version patches no traps at all.
About Version 1.51
Fixed a problem where Excel 3.0 would ignore clicks.
Fixed all other known incompatibilities.
About Version 1.6
In reponse to user requests, I added a submenu to control speaker volume.
About Version 1.7
Added balloon help.
DepthCharge was written in MPW Assembler & MPW Pascal.
Internal resources were created with Resorcerer (great editor for cdev writers) & ResEdit.