Amiga Format CD 42

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Text File | 1999-05-14 | 22.1 KB | 575 lines

================================================================ === VERSION 3.6 CHANGES ------------------------------------->>> ================================================================ Events & Commands : - Event : xTIMER TIME|SINGLE|REPEAT TIME|INTERVAL ON|OFF will provide you with accurate timing events - see the guide for details. - ClipBoard support for text clips is now provided for listviews. o When you load a file called Clips:0 (or any number 0-255) then the lv will load whatever is in that clipboard unit. o When you save a file whose file path starts with "CLIPS:" i.e. something like Clips:3, the lv will be saved to the given clipboard unit in correct iff format. o Moreover listviews will load any IFF-FTXT file correctly. - SHAREMENU GuiName - (Global command) Will share the menus of the named gui file. When the menu is selected it will be as if the other gui's (the one which has the actual menu events in it) menu was selected and all commands attached to it will be executed. - Menus will now accept many BARLABEL items. - Now you can give '#This' as the gui file name, and it will mean the current file - i.e. GuiOpen #This - will mean : open the file that this command appears in. This gives you more independent code. - CONTROL-R will now execute all xOnClose/Quit/Load commands it encounters while Re-Loading a file. Note that your gui will not re-open if there is no guiopen command in the xOnLoad event. - RESINFO FontHeight ScreenWidth ScreenHeight - is a new Global command with which you can give some info to Gui4Cli to enable it to resize the gui correctly on other people's systems. - Worked around gadtools limitation by which when you move a listview with the scroller and after try to continue with the arrow keys, it snaps back to the last record you had clicked on - now Gui4Cli will guess the line and scroll correctly. ARexx : - There is now a global variable named *REXXVAR which has special meaning. You use it as you would any global variable but when someone sends a rexx command to Gui4Cli from a rexx program which has OPTIONS RESULTS declared, then the contents of this variable will be returned and will be available from withing arexx as variable RESULT. So... >> SetVar "*REXXVAR" "'$mygui.gc/myvar'" ..would put whatever is in $mygui.gc/myvar into RESULT. Note the use of the quotes: one set for arexx, another for Gui4Cli (since $mygui.gc/myvar could be a string of words). - If you set OPTIONS RESULTS you will now cause the Gui4Cli command you have sent from an ARexx program to be executed synchronously. This has the advantage of returning a result. Without OPTIONS RESULTS the execution is asynchronous. - Also fixed some Gui4Cli<->ARexx communication errors.. You can now run a rexx program with a public port and have it communicate back and forth with Gui4Cli without the deadlocks that used to occur. C Programmers Interface : - Have provided an include file with Gui4Cli internal structures and set up a mechanism whereby you can communicate with Gui4Cli, and in effect provide extensions to Gui4Cli's command set, as follows : - From outside programs -to-> Gui4Cli a) Send message and LOCK Gui4Cli, look at it's internal structures, manipulate variables, listviews etc, and then unlock it again, and let it continue, or b) Send command lines for it to execute (like rexx msgs) - From Gui4Cli -to-> outside programs Use the new command : > CALL PortName Command Arg1 Arg2... Arg6 to send special Gui4Cli messages containing commands to outside programs, who should then process the commands using, if they want, any of Gui4Cli's internal structures, and give control back to Gui4Cli (maybe returning something) See the examples in the "Guis:Ext" directory for more info. IMPORTANT NOTE : - Changes have been made to the structures of the BETA version that was on my page !!! - Recompile or crash. Extensions : Two extensions can already be found in guis:ext : - GCSound - a 8SVX sample player (mono only for now) with the ability to load & play many samples simuiltaneously, change speed & volume while playing etc - Full gui is available in the same directory. - LVFormat - various functions which act on the current listview like : wordwrap, indent, justify etc New internal variables : $$SYS.AW - Active Window Title (may or may not be a Gui4Cli window) $$SYS.AS - Active Screen title $$SYS.ASN - Active Screen Name (if it's public) $$SYS.FS - Frontmost Screen Title $$SYS.FSN - Frontmost Screen Name (if it's public) If you need other data (width etc) you can SetScreen the current gui to the name you want (no need to open it) and read the $$SRC.xx vars. $$SYS.TIME - the current time (ex: 10:30:25 - hh:mm:ss) $$SYS.TS - the seconds part of the above time (i.e. 25) $$SYS.TM - the minutes part (i.e. 30) $$SYS.TH - the Hours part (i.e. 10) $$SYS.DATE - the date (see below for formats) - following available *only* for dd-mm-yy (CDN) format: $$SYS.DD - the Day part of the above date $$SYS.DM - the month part $$SYS.DY - the year part $$SYS.DAY - the day of the week (i.e. Monday) By default the date format is DD-MM-YY (15-07-98) You can change this with the SET command : > SET DATEFORMAT number - where number can be: 0 = DOS format -> dd-mmm-yy (15-Apr-98) 1 = INT format -> yy-mm-dd 2 = USA format -> mm-dd-yy 3 = CDN format -> dd-mm-yy (default) NOTE : the $$SYS.DD/DM/DY vars aply *only* to CDN format! Bug fixes : - Fixed 10 enforcer hits, only 1 of which was of any real danger, and you can thank Giuseppe Chillemi for pointing them out to me. Gui4Cli is now clean with Enforcer (until the next bug..) Also fixed an enforcer hit in c:gui. - Not actually a bug.. Now RUN will also receive a console which will be opened every time something is RUN. - Got the SAS 6.58 patch and recompiled, optimized and caught a few other small bugs too.. - LVSearch will now stop at every string found - if there are many instances of a string in a lv line. The $$search.pos etc internal vars will show the position & length correctly. ** fixed again ** - Fixed ReadVar trash if it read less than you asked for. - xICON can now be setgad HIDE|SHOW (had forgoten to put it..) - Fixed some GuiEditing graphics errors. - Also xICON new positions will now be saved (again forgoten) - SET DEBUGSTEP ON|OFF, will cause an easy requester to appear before every command is executed (in debug mode) so you can control execution (I used this for catching the enforcer bugs) - Setwintitle will now work even if window is not open. - Fixed a bug where messages returned from launches & pipes got confused with messages replied from AREXX and could lock Gui4Cli. - makedir will no long be confused if there is a / at the end - Fixed bug reported by Chris Ralph, where LVINSERT increased the total record count by 2 instead of 1 ================================================================ === VERSION 3.5 CHANGES ------------------------------------->>> ================================================================ Mathematical Abilities : - Added mathematical expression evaluation and floating point numbers. You can now enclose an expression in brackets with a $ in front and Gui4Cli will evaluate it. Variables can be included : var = $(45*7.45+($OtherVar /25)) say 'The answer is: $($var *2)\n' Moreover, inside the brackets you can use the math functions : abs(), sin(), cos(), tan(), log(), ln(), exp(), 'pi', etc - BECAREFULL with variables.. You must leave a space or ')' or '(' or '\' after the var name otherwise Gui4Cli will not read the var name correctly. say '$($var*2)\n' <- is incorrect (the var name is "var*2") Read more in "Important Topics" Database ListViews : - ListViews can now have fields (or columns) if you load a special type of DataBase file - i.e. a file saved in a special format. This introduces new notions like fields (which are something like variables) - Read about it in the Guide, in "Important Topics". - LVSort will now also sort by field : LVSort %FieldName All sorting is ascending i.e. from small to large DataBase ListView Commands: - DBSUM ALL|SELECTED|UNSELECTED %FieldName ResVar Will add all specified fields in a DB listview and place the result into ResVar. - RECSORT %FieldName Will sort the current record into a DB listview according to the given field. To be used when you add or edit a record, instead of having to sort the whole lv from scratch. New ListView Commands: - LVClip CUT|COPY lines|-1 ADD|PASTE|INSERT gui ID Will CUT or COPY the amount of lines specified (or all if -1) from the current LV (starting at the current record) and ADD or PASTE or INSERT them (after the current record) into the destination LV given. - LVSwitch Gui ID - Will switch the data of the current listview with the one specified. Everything else (IDs, gadget attributes, lvmode etc) will remain the same. - Added the following keywords to LVMULTI: SHOW - will refresh the LV ALL/NONE - select/deselect *all* lv items - LVMOVE 0 - will now refresh the LV display. - If you give the escape code for the "concealed mode" in a listview, the text will now be rendered in 3D (since I don't know what the hell concealed stands for and multiview ignores it anyway..) BTW : Its <ESC>[8m -or- <ESC>[32;8m (for white on black shadow) Attributes to control gadgets : - ATTR AtributeName Value - (a gadget modifier) - SETATTR Gui ID AtributeName Value - (a command) can now be used to set various atributes of various gadgets, like setting the field color & style in DataBase listviews, the distance between lv lines, etc.. Variables : - New (the last - I promise :) LOCAL variables which are declared within the event they belong to, with the gadget modifier : LOCALVAR var1/var2/var3 etc.. These are valid *only* inside the event in which they are declared. - Now you can use the new - VarName[start][length] - notation on all types of variables (env: vars, LV fields, internal vars, normal and local vars). File requesters : - You can now provide a default file together with the DirName (last argument) and it will be shown in the file gadget. - Put a '#' char in front of the DirName you give, to force a requester to open at this same dir every time. - Requesters will no longer be confused by quoted strings. Various improvements : - Mouse positions for WinOnMouse are now taken from IntuitionBase. This allows you to pop-up guis at the mouse, when the command to open the gui is sent from an other program. - You can give <Guiscreen #ScreenName FRONT|BACK> now, using the actual ScreenName if you want, by putting a # character in front. - You can now declare an xIcon as "" meaning that you don't want to show it yet, or changeicon to "" making it disappear. - Extract now has 2 new keywords : HEX - will convert the number given into Hex notation OCT - will convert it into octal notation - DEBUG mode will no longer print out the GET:/SET: statements. You can SET DEBUGVARS ON|OFF, if you prefer the old method. Bug fixes : - If you try to act on a file whose dir has been changed, the Dir Listviews will now refresh the dir, check if the file still exists and if so, they will go ahead and act on it. They used to just refresh and stop. It's more intuitive like this. - LVSave will now set $$Retcode if it fails: Can't open file = 10, nothing to save = 5. - Fixed $$lv.tot which showed 1 record when in "No data" mode. - LVs now gets updated if OFF, but not updated if HIDEn (even if no redrawn given yet). NOTE : It is *much* faster to HIDE an lv and act on it (with commands like lvadd, lvput etc) and then SHOW it again, than to have the LV updated continuously while actions are going on. When you show it again, you must "nudge" it into redrawing itself - with LVMULTI SHOW or LVMOVE 0 - Fixed small bug in guirename (it was case sensitive) ================================================================ === VERSION 3.4 CHANGES ------------------------------------->>> ================================================================ NEW COMMANDS : - TEXTFILE FileName - will mark the start of a text file. Lines of text will be read in and writen to "FileName". Use "###" (3 hash characters) to mark the end of the text block. They MUST appear at the begining of a line. A TEXTFILE can appear anywhere in a gui. Good for embedding arexx scripts or data for listviews etc.. - SEARCHVAR Variable String CI|CS FIRST|NEXT Search a Variable for a string - FIRST occurrence, NEXT occur.. etc Results can be read via internal variables: - $$SEARCH.POS = contains the number of the character where the string found begins (0 is the 1st character) - or "" if nothing found. - $$SEARCH.LENGTH = the total length of the variable. - REPVAR Variable OldString NewString CI|CS Will replace all occurances of OldString in Variable with NewString CS means case sensitive, CI not. - LVREP OldString NewString CI|CS Do the replacement on ALL the records of the current listview - You can now use ++ and -- on a variable, C style - i.e. ++var is the same as saying: counter var inc 1. Same for --var. - IFEXISTS and WAIT now have a negative form, by puting a ~ character in front of the name of the item you're looking for. - IfExists PORT ~MyPort will be TRUE if port "MyPort" does *not* exist. - You can now hit Control-D in any window to start/stop debug. BUG FIXES : - Fixed $$REXXRET which stoped working in V3.3 (a stupid error..) - Inverted all the GadKey KeyBoard shortcuts : now a normal keypress increases a gadget whereas a shifted one decreases it (used to be oposite) - Enabled binary chars in env variables, so that they can contain multiple lines. If last line has a trailing \n it's removed. ================================================================ === VERSION 3.3 CHANGES ------------------------------------->>> ================================================================ Nothing much.. This version was released because Version 3.2 had a bug in it's INSTALL routine. - Fixed a small bug in the LVInsert command which didn't increase the $$lv.tot count and did not make the inserted rec current. - Added a whole lot of new file type checking (by Brian Jones) Most types should now be recognised. Also added 1-2 guis. ================================================================ === VERSION 3.2 CHANGES ------------------------------------->>> ================================================================ CHANGES AFFECTING GUIS OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS: Only one change, which will not greatly affect your guis : Now a gui's variables are considered to be PRIVATE by default, i.e. without having to previously issue the VARPATH command. It's more straight forward this way. If you have any problems, just add the global command: - VARPATH '*' - to your guis. If you still have problems you must trace down the variables you want to have as Global, and put a * in front of them. HELP: Now help for gadgets is available through the gadget modifier : > GADHELP 'This is some help text' To turn the help system on/off you can hit the HELP key, or give the command SET HELP ON|OFF NEW EVENTS: - xPIPE PIPE:FileName ON|OFF will launch a new process which will open and monitor a pipe: file and will send you any output that any program redirects to it in the form of lines of text via the internal variable $$PIPE.TXT - SetGad now has a new keyword CLEAN, used *only* for pipes. NEW COMMANDS: - xLVINSERT RecordNumber string will insert the given string *before* the given record. RecordNumber of -1 means the CURRENT record. - BREAKTASK TaskName CDEF (signals) signals a task named TaskName with a given combination of signals - like if you used the Amigados break & status commands together. Usefull for stopping programs. - SET DEEPTRANS ON|OFF - setting DEEPTRANS OFF will stop Gui4Cli from translating variables within variables - this will last for one execution cycle. This comes useful in the filetype checking routines which are now much faster. - PARTREDRAW GuiName L T W H - will redraw only part of the window. Use this if you're just changing some gadgets in one area of the window and do not want a full redraw. It's easier on the eyes.. - SETGADVALUES GuiName - will store the values of all the gadgets of a gui into their respective variables. This is usefull at the start of a gui, when you have to set the default values of your variables. VISUAL EDITING IMPROVEMENTS: - CONTROL-J while in GUI Visual Editing mode, will now clone the gadget in it's own window. - A GRID is now available, which makes lining up the gadgets much easier. By default the grid size is 1 which means "no grid". You can set the grid size with "SET GRID 5" (5 is a good size..) - Gui4Cli will now adjust the position of ghosted gadget you move around while editing, to keep it inside the window borders. This does not effect inter-gui cloning which works as usual. - Various small bugs were exterminated (see bug-fixes below). TEXT IMPROVEMENTS: - CTEXT last argument (the mask for underline|bold|italic) now works... Also, it has 2 more digits : Digit #4, is the color number of the "shade" which the letters will be shaded with, producing a 3D effect. Digit #5, is the size of the shade (defaults to 1) You need not declare these two.. - Also in CTEXT, if you give -1 as the background color, the background will not be disturbed. Useful for writing over an Image background.. - CTEXT, WINFONT and GADFONT now also recognise the following : - #MONO specifying the default Monospace font, and - #SCREEN specifying the Screen font, which is usually proportional. It is best to use these two in GUIs which you want to distribute. LISTVIEWS: - COLORED, fancy text can now be seen in listviews! (only WB 3.0+) Listviews will now interpret and render all the console sequences which set text color and mode (bold etc). See "Important Topics". (also read this text with it..) - A new type of listview "SHOW" which is exactly like "TXT", except that the selected choice will remain highlighted. DIRECTORY LISTVIEWS: - DIR ListViews will now show you the directory sizes next to the dir name, if you issue a LVAction ..SIZE.. command. EXTENDED VARIABLE NOTATION: - NORMAL variables now have extended notation: - Private GuiName/VarName[start][length] - Globals *VarName[start][length] Apart from the VarName bit, all other components are optional. Read all about it in "Important Topics" NEW INTERNAL VARIABLES: - $$WIN.PATH will tell you the path of the current or infoed gui. (same as extract gui guipath var) - $$GAD.VAR is the name of the variable that the given gadget will store it's value in. - $$G4C.DEFSCREEN - The screen name which all guis get (default = '*') - $$G4C.OUTPUT - The default console output spec - $$G4C.FILEPATTERN - The default ASL requester file pattern - $$G4C.EDITOR - The default editor name (c:Ed) - $$G4C.GUIPATTERN - The dafault gui extension (#?.gc - for the requester) - $$G4C.GUILOADDIR - The dir that the G4C load requester will open at ARGUMENTS FOR ROUTINES: - New and powerfull improvement (read "GOSUB/GUILOAD" in the guide): Commands which call other events (like Guiload which calls xOnLoad, or GoSub which calls a routine) can now take up to 6 arguments which are passed to the routine the given command calls, in the form of Internal variables $$ARG.0 to $$ARG.5. -OR- (if defined in the event's command line) automatically converted to variables. $$ARG.TOT contains the actual number of arguments passed. - Furthermore, RETURN can also now return from the routine or xONLOAD etc, with up to 6 more arguments, which are passed back to the calling GoSub or GuiOpen etc as internal vars $$RET.0 to $$RET.5. SCREENS: - Up to now, the screen name that Gui4Cli used if no Screen had been declared for a gui was "Workbench". Now it's the "*" character which means "The Front Most Screen". i.e. now, your guis will open by default on the front most screen. - This default screen name can be changed with : SET DEFSCREEN Workbench (or whatever..) Note : This is *not* the same as the OS's default screen.. BUG FIXES: - Fixed redrawing of windows when being resized which sometimes left trash at the bottom of the window. - UNLOADIMAGE which did not seem to work in version 3.1, is actually called FREEIMAGE. (yes.. I'm not perfect.. it was a big suprise to me too..) - Fixed some bugs in $$lv.rec and LVSearch/LVFind commands. - Fixed some bugs in GuiEdit. The Cyclers/radios will now save correctly. ** HOWEVER ** if you add a cycler or radio (by cloning it) and save the gui, you'll have to reload it before you can edit it again, because these gads add lines to the gui and Gui4Cli will think it's an error. Also fixed some other stuff.. - Fixed SetWinTitle command which effected the titles of other windows. - Added a version string for the c:version command. - Fixed extract EXT which did not remove quotes - Optimised command linking when loading file - Loading should now be faster by a nano-pico-millisecond or two... - Fixed a bug with the initial size of the resizable borders which showed up when using the VisualPrefs program (which changes the screen structure border sizes). ================================================================ History of previous versions donated to the National Museum of Modern Art. They didn't want it either, so I printed it out, burned it and danced Kartsilama on the ashes..