Lately I have been collecting a lot of Plug-ins for Netscape. And since having all of these plugs active all the time, makes Netscape more unstable, and requires more memory that I wish to give Netscape. I made this application that turns Plugs on or off.
This application works a lot like the Extensions Manager that comes with System 7.5. The first time you run it, it will ask for the location of an active Plug-in. Just goto the Plug-in folder you want to manage, and select it. The main window shows a list of all your plugs, on or off. If there is a checkmark in front of the Plug's name, it is on, else it is off. After you turn on the plugs you want, quit Plug Master by pressing the Ok button. When you start the program that uses those plugs, it will only load the plugs you marked as on. Although you can move plugs while the program is running, I wouldn't suggest doing it, you might crash.
Plug Master works by moving the plugs that have been marked off into a different folder. Just look in the folder that the Plug-in folder is in, there will be a ╥Plug-ins(disabled)╙ folder where the inactive plugs will be. Also included, for those of you that like costum icons for your folder, an icon for the disabled plugs folder. (It is for Netscape Plug-ins, and you will need to paste it on yourself)
The Sets menu works like it does in Extensions Manager. You can choose to turn on all plugs, turn them all off, or save or delete a plug set. When you save a plug set, you are asked for a name, then all the plugs that are on are remembered. When you choose to delete a set, you will see a dialog box with a list of all the plug sets in the current group. Hilite the one you want to delete, and press the delete button.
Due to great demand, Plug Master now can manage more than one folder. There is a "Plug Groups" menu in the menubar that lists all the different groups that you have. To make a new group, goto the "New Plug-in Group" item in the File menu. It will ask you for a name, then ask for the folder that has the plugs you want to manage. The current group you are viewing in the window is checked in the "Plug Groups" menu, and will change if you select a different item in this menu. If you want to delete a group, just make it the current one, and select "Delete Plug-in Group" from the File menu. If you delete the last group, Plug Master will immediately ask you to create a new group. (If you have had an earlier version of Plug Master , it will save your old prefs as a group called "Netscape Plugs". Also, if you want to rename a group, go into your Preference folder and find the "Plug Master Prefs" folder. In it is a file for each group you have, the name of the file is the name of the group.)
If you press the Command key while clicking on a plug's name, a dialog will open where you can save a short note about that plug. If you want to remove all the notes for the current group, select the "Clear Plug Info" item in the file menu. A bit of a waring; people have been reporting problems with this command, and I'm still trying to reproduce them. So just keep in mind that his function my be unstable.
Requirements:
ÑSystem 7
ÑAn application that uses any kind of Plug-in.
Disclaimer
Plug Master should not cause any damage, but you╒re using it at your own risk. As an independent software developer, I can╒t make any warranties on it.
Distribution
Plug Master is ⌐1996 by Mike Tilstra. It can be freely distributed as long as it is not modified and there╒s no charge for it.
All online services and bulletin boards may make it available to their users at no charge other than the normal connection fees.
All non-profit user groups may distribute it at no charge.
All magazines may distribute it without asking me first, as long as I get a copy of the issue containing my software.
All CD-ROM shareware collections and CD-ROM magazines may include it without my prior consent, as long as I get either a copy of the CD-ROM or an offer to buy the CD-ROM at a discounted price.
If you don't fall into any of the above mentioned, or you're just not sure, ask me about it.
Where I am:
If you have some suggestions for Plug Master, or wish to inform me about bugs. I can be reached by these methods.
Snail mail:
Mike Tilstra
RR2 Box162A
Luverne, MN 56156-9589
USA
e-mail:
<tadpol@kagi.com>
<tils0007@gold.tc.umn.edu>
webpage:
<http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/g019/tils0007/>
Registration:
Plug Master is $5 per user.
A Site License costs $100 (roughly equal to 20 users) and covers all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software. A World-Wide License costs $400 and it covers all locations for your organization on the planet Earth.
Registering Plug Master is fairly simple. You can either send the fee directally to me at the address above, or use the included Register program. (Read the How To Register file if you're not sure how to use Register.)
Version History
1.0.0 -First Public release.
1.1.0 -Included a folder icon for the "Plug-ins(disabled)" folder.
-Items are sorted alphabetically in list now.
1.1.1 -Name changed to Plug Master. Jonas Wallden released something with
the name Plug-in Manager two years earlier. Sorry for any confusion.
1.2.0 -Added the InfoBox.
-Changed some internal stuff.
1.2.1 -Fixed bug where Plug Master had to be on the boot disk, other wise it
couldn't find the Preference Folder.
1.3b0 -Switched all occurences of "Plug-in Manager" to "Plug Master"(I think anyways)
-Added an info box to each plug. Holding the Command key while clicking
on a plug name will open the InfoBox.
1.3b1 -Changed all Preference and PlugInfo stuff to save in the resource fork
of the preference file.
-Found a few more "Plug-in Manager" occurences, switched them.
-More little internal things
1.3b2 -Starting to get the Sets stuff in, some of it even works too.
-Sets are all ready except for the Delete command.
1.3b3 -Rebuilt the way sets worked. It takes less memory now.
-Fixed an eye-candy bug in the ╥Sets:╙ menu.
-Fixed an eye-candy bug in the way the list updates after picking a
saved set.
1.3b4 -Fixed bug where you could save multiple sets with the same name.
-Fixed more eye-candy in the ╥Sets:╙ menu. (not a bug, but still fixed ;)
-Decided to totally drop the ╥Goto:╙ button.
1.3b5 -Fixed a eye-candy bug in the ╥Sets:╙ menu. (Boy, popups are tough items.)
-Fixed an update bug in the list that wouldn't show the changes after
selecting a saved set. (The changes were still made though.)
1.3.0 -Finally have the new stuff in and working!!
1.4b0 -Added a cammand in the Menu to remove Plug Info Enteries. (has some bugs yet.)
1.4b1 -Finally have the new LDEF in and working.
-Tweeked some redraw stuff.
1.4.0 -New LDEF is in and is working the way I want it to.
-All error messages were moved into STR#s.
-All other strings were also moved into STR#.
-Fixed bug where saving sets with certain chars in the name would cause problems.
-Some internal tweeking of the error handling.
-Some changes to the About Box.
-Fixed a major bug, where it was shear luck that Plug Master even worked this long.
1.4.1 -Got the Required Suite of AppleEvents working.
1.4.2 -Fixed minor bug in ReadMe.
1.5b0 -Finally getting some little things in the dialog windows working right.
-The Delete Set Dialog now finally uses a list instead of a menu.
(Makes it look more like Extension Manager.)
-Went through the program's resources and deleted uneeded items.
-Fixed bug where mouse clicks "fall" through dialog boxes onto the main list.
1.5.0 -All the stuff I wanted to do is done. Unless some major bugs or if Netscape changes
the Plugs work, this is the last version for a while.
1.5.1 -I spoke too soon.
-Now handles the following situation much better.
If you run Plug Master and if you should throw out the Netscape/Explorer folder
and all the stuff in it, at a later time. Then run Plug Master again, it would
quit after giving a "Couldn't Find Parent Folder....(-43)" error.
Now it gives the err, then asks you to relocate your Plug-in folder.
(It is a bit of a mess right now, and will be improved on in the future.)
1.5.2 -Redesigned the dialogs that asked where your plug-in folder was.
-Fixed a minor redraw bug that happened when you relocated to another folder.
-Now use a "StandardGetFolder" function I found on Info-Mac for selecting the
Plug-in folder.
(versions 1.5.1 and 1.5.2 were never released)
1.6.0 -Added all the code and resources for managing multiple folders.
1.6.1 -Found a irritating bug, where when Plug Master was launch in certain ways, other
than using Finder, it would give a "Couldn't Create Preference File...(-48)" error
and quit before you could do anything.
-Started using MoreFiles 1.4.2
-Seems to have fixed the bug.
-Fixed a minor bug where an extra item could appear in the Plug Group menu.
1.6.2 -Updated to MoreFiles 1.4.3
-Fixed a bug when you hit Cancel in the open box when making a new group.
Now completely cancels the process, instead of leaving it half done.
-Fixed bug when switching Plug groups, Sets popup menu wasn't being rebuilt.
-recompiled in CW10
-Now is distributed as both a 68k and PPC versions.
1.6.3 -Changed "Plug Manager PPC" to Plug Master PPC" which it is suposed to be.
(I don't know why I put the old name on there, guess that happens at 3am ;)
-Fixed the read me a bit.
Thanks to:
#macdev for putting up with my continous questioning.
DaveK for pointing me to MoreFiles.h
Thomas Ward for the disabled folder icon.
Rafael B. Cruz for tweeking the disabled folder icon.
xyzzy for explaining how to get CompareText() working.
Benjamin Hill for the InfoBox idea.
Arnaud Mouronval and many, many others for finding the prefs folder bug.
Doug McKenna for writting the StringLister stuff for "Ultimate Mac Programming"
Deirdre for showing me some of the cooler memory calls.
Leegion for some tips on writing LDEFs.
Stephen Ellett for noticing the braindead way lost parent folders were handled.
kenobi for pointing me to CustomGetFile();
Sorry to Jonas Wallden for using a name he already copyrighted.
