home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Frozen Fish 2: PC
/
frozenfish_august_1995.bin
/
bbs
/
d07xx
/
d0744.lha
/
P-Index
/
P-Index.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-10-12
|
12KB
|
295 lines
PRE1
P - I N D E X V1.1
INTRODUCTION
There are a great many index/selector programmes around, some of them very
good. They all have one thing in common - they replace icons and drawers with
simple arrays of boxes listing the files or commands to be called by a click
within the box or on a gadget within the box. No alternative types of display
are offerred.
With P-Index appearance of the index is limited only by your imagination -
or your paint programme. Arrays of boxes (of varying shapes) can be produced,
pages of icons can be simulated, anything that can be drawn as a "brush" can
be used to index a file, decorations and text can be added. The "index" from
which you called this doc will give you some idea of the possibilities. Have
a look at Sample 1 and Sample 2 which index some System2.0 files in two
alternative ways. The index is active but will only work for you if you have
the files and they are on the precise path set into the index.
Another problem with existing programmes is that almost without exception
they will not handle script files containing conditional commands ('if' etc);
P-Index copes.
Icons are notoriously wasteful of disk space, so if they are replaced by
identical-looking brushes in a P-Index index file (as in Sample1), which is
automatically compressed, there will be a very substantial saving.
Below are some examples of P-Index 'lines':
#! 1 4 10 0 :P-Index/linetypes.brush
This is only a demonstration - the lines are not active.
In the framed box the red 'P-Index' would be a dummy, the green 'P-Index
could call the programme and the others display the doc and asm files.
Indexes are built by the program
Indexbuilder and used by
P-Index
.
Indexbuilder
can be called from WorkBench or the cli (no arguments).
OPERATION
Window Size.
When
Indexmaker
is called a small requester will appear with string
gadgets for
width
and
height
, and a toggle for
Lace
. The width and height
figures set the size of any index pages subsequently called. The Lace settin
g only affects
Indexmaker
and is not transmitted with the index. Click OK to
open the main window at the first index page.
Menus
The main window has four menus - Project, New, Color and Show.
Project - Load.
Used to load an existing index for modification.
- Modify-Line.
Change (including delete) an existin line.
- Modify-Delete Page.
Remove a complete page from the index.
- Save.
Save the whole index to a file.
- About.
Short notice about
P-Suite
.
- Quit.
Clicking the
closewindow
gadget also terminates.
New - Page.
Opens the next page.
- Line.
Called to add a new line to the current page.
Color - Color1
- Color2
- Color3
- Color4
Sets the page color.
Show - Comds
Show the cli calls made by each line.
- Names
Show the names allocated to each line.
Page Gadget
The current page number is shown in a small gadget at the top left of the
window. When
New-Page
is called the number shown will advance. To move to
an existing page delete the number shown, enter the page-number wanted, and
press
return
.
Page-making
Call
New-Page
if necessary.
Create the lines required. These will show the line text initially.
To view the associated cli commands, call
Show-Comds
.
To return to showing the line text, call
Show-Names
.
To check the operation of a line, call
Show-Comds
or
Show_Comds
, then click
(
LMB
) the line to be checked. It may be necessary to move the window to the
back to see the result.
Line-making
Call
New-Line
. A requester will come up. Shown on the next page. Against
Form
are five gadgets:
RECT
Produces a simple rectangular border for the text.
CIRC
Produces an oval border.
OCT
Produces a rectangle with the corners cut off (octagon).
BRUSH
Calls a brush created by a Paint programme.
BLOCK
Produces a solid block of color as background for the text.
Click (RMB) on the form required.
#! 1 27 8 0 :P-Index/page.brush
WIDTH.
Not used if
BRUSH
has been selected. Enter
width for the box or
block (pixels) and press
return.
WIDTH.
Not used if
BRUSH
has been selected. Enter
height for the box or
block (screen lines) and
press return.
COLOR.
Enter pen number
(1 to 4). If
BLOCK
has
been selected this sets
the color of the block,
and the programme will select a suitable contrasting color for text. For other
Forms this sets the text color.
TEXT.
Except where a BRUSH is being used for the line, text entered here is
what will be seen when the index is in use. Maximum length of text is 79
characters.
For brushes enter the file reference of the brush
- which should
incorporate any text needed.
COMMAND.
The command line or instruction to be run or executed when the line
is selected by a user. See
Command Lines
below for details. Maximum length
of line is 79 characters.
Click
OK
to accept the line,
CANCEL
to reject it. Note that the box "Delete
line" is not active. If
OK
is selected the line will be drawn (it may be
off screen and not visible at this stage); position the mouse at the upper
right corner of the line, or where you want the line to appear, hold down the
RMB and drag the line to its required position. On releasing the RMB the line
will be fixed and the
BUILD LINE
requester will reappear ready for the next. If
If no more lines are needed click
CANCEL
.
Further lines can be added at any time by calling the menu item
New-Line
,
and the detail and position of a line can be changed using
Modify-Line
.
Brushes
: By the use of brushes index pages can be turned into works of highly
useful art. Icons can be simulated by converting the icon into a brush (
itb
by Stephen Vermeulen is recommended), loading into a paint program and adding
text. Brushes wholly created in a Paint program incorporating a program
name can be used for active lines. Brush lines with the Command text line
left blank or carrying
#
(see below) can be used as decorations.
To create the framed set of lines shown in the example on page 2, the
lines P-Index(red), P-Index(green), Doc and Index.asm would be made as RECTs
and positioned. The frame and joining lines drawn as a brush would then be
added and placed over the other lines (Command text of this brush left blank.
Trial and error needed since the last brush must cover and obscure the early
ones. Once the brush has been positioned the text of the P-Index etc lines
will be seen and the area of the invisible boxes will be active.
Command Lines
In general command lines should be entered as they would be at a cli, eg:
dh0:P-Writer
to start the executable P-Writer. There is no need to "Run".
Execute df1:display_script
to execute a script file "display_script".
dh0:P-Reader df1:P-Compress.doc
to use P-Reader to display the text
P-Compress.doc.
dh1:LHArc x y z ram:out
To start an executable with command-line options.
Use full path-names - you may not be able to ensure that the user is in the
correct directory.
It is common for a program to require several commands in sequence - aliases,
setting the current directory, increasing the stack, loading a handler and so
on. The way to deal with this is to write a small batch file, eg:
cd Lib.2:Brazilnut
Stack 10000
Crackit
(the actual file to be run).
save it as "
Lib.2:Brazilnut.script
", and in the appropriate line of the index
enter:
Execute Lib.2:Brazilnut.script
There are three "specials":
1. Command starts with an asterisk
*
followed by a space, followed optionally
by a normal command. When selected a string gadget will come up showing the
command (if any). This can be edited or replaced with a totally different
command which is executed when the user presses
return
. The changed command
is not saved.
2. Command
Page x
(note space). When selected, the current page is replaced
by Page x.
3. Command
#
. The line will be ignored. and any overlapping lines selected
instead. Use this where you want a background such as the tree in the index
for this drawer, and enter this line first so that overlapping lines are
fully visible.
All commands are basically executed from a cli and WorkBench-only programs
cannot be called. Luckily there are very, very few WorkBench programs that
cannot also be called from a cli. Difficulties can be experienced with cli
programs; for example
Screensave
which opens and then waits for RETURN to be
pressed. It finds one in the command stream from P-Index and goes ahead too
early. The usual solution is a single line script file (see
Screensave.script
)
which allows the programme to operate correctly although you will get a
"failed return code" warning of no significance.
MODIFY
To delete a page, display it using the
Page
gadget in the top left corner
and call the menu item
Modify - Delete Page
.
To modify or delete a line, display the page containing it and call the menu
item
Modify - Line
. If you then click the line the
Build Index
requester will
come up showing the original line data. Click
Delete
or modify as required,
not forgetting to press
return
after changing a string gadget entry. Click
OK
or
CANCEL
and reposition the line with the mouse as before - this must be
done even if the required position is not changed.
GENERAL
Remember not to make index pages larger than the user's WorkBench screen.
Initially selecting
LACE
only affects
Indexbuilder
and the setting is not
passed on in the index file.
INSTRUCTIONS - P-Index
The output of
Indexbuilder
is a compressed index file or files.
P-Index
is
used to display and operate the index. It may be started from WorkBench, a
startup-sequence, or a cli.
WorkBench: Create a PROJECT icon for the index and call
P-Index
as the
default tool.
Startup: If you are using System2.0 enter tooltype DONOTWAIT in the index
icon and drag it into the WBstartup drawer. The drawer containing P-Index
should be in your current Path. s:startup-sequence must open WorkBench since
P-Index
displays in the WorkBench screen. Alternatively (and for System 1.3)
include the call
P-Index [file]
in the startup-sequence - use Runback or the
equivalent if you wish.
CLI: Call
P-Index [file]
or
Run P-Index [file]
.
When calling from the CLI note that if full pathnames (including drive) were
not used in making the index - sometimes unavoidable - it is necessary first
to CD to the disk containing P-Index .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Indexmaker and P-Index are Freeware. They may be copied and distributed freely and used without charge for non_commercial purposes. Authority for
commercial use should be obtained from the author below.
No responsibility can be accepted for any loss occasioned by use of these
programmes.
Comments, suggestions, bug-reports all welcome.
Chas A. Wyndham,
1265 Canning Mills Road,
Roleystone,
WA 6111.
Australia