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1996-07-08
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___________________________
| |
| P I P |
| |
| (Picture-In-Picture) |
| |
| Version 2.9 |
| |
| © 1996 by Paul Shandi |
|___________________________|
--< INTRODUCTION >-------------------------------------------------------
"PIP", or "Picture-In-Picture", is a small program that opens a window on
the frontmost screen and displays all other Intuition screens within it.
It does so by shrinking all such screens by 50% and displaying them. Thus,
you can quickly get an accurate status of what each screen is doing without
flipping to it and leaving your current screen.
--< STARTING THE PROGRAM >-----------------------------------------------
There are 4 files associated with the program, and they are:
PIP - The main program
PIP.info - The main program's icon
PIP.doc - This documentation
PIP.doc.info - This documentation's icon
Okay then, to start the program, all you have to do is double-click on its
icon. If you wish to start the program from a CLI, use this format:
run >nil: pip
This will allow you to close the CLI window after running the program.
The last thing to note is the program ONLY runs on Workbench 2.04 or higher
Amigas, so Workbench 1.3 users will miss out. Sorry people, but you really
should upgrade as soon as you can afford it.
--< USING THE PROGRAM >--------------------------------------------------
Once the program has started, you will notice a window at the top-left of
the current screen. It will show one of two things:
(1) Nothing. This means there are no other Intuition screens currently
open, and thus PIP can't display anything. :)
(2) A shrunken screen with its title in PIP's title bar. This screen was
the first Intuition screen found by PIP.
To view any other open Intuition screens, just click the radio gadgets down
the right-hand side of PIP's window. Think of them as channel selectors on
a television set. :) In fact, think of PIP as a TV set where you flick
through channels to see what's on. :)
There are 2 menus for use with PIP, called "Project" and "Redraw".
PROJECT: Here you can re-scan your Amiga for all screens, and this may be
necessary from time to time because PIP won't know when you've
closed screens or opened new ones. You can also jump directly to
the currently displayed screen by selecting the "Go to" item.
REDRAW: The 3 menu items here let you set the speed of PIP's redraw rate.
Constant will do it constantly, Delayed will do it slower, and None
will stop it altogether.
--< WHAT HAPPENED SINCE V2.2 OF PIP? >-----------------------------------
Some of you may have used Version 2.2 of PIP which can be found under
"util/misc" in Aminet. Such users might think that this version, 2.9, is
far inferior in operation to it (others might think it's better). Let's
start off by listing the differences:
V2.2 V2.9
Shows only 640x256 screens Shows first 640x256 of any screen
Shows only 10 screens Shows up to 14 screens
Shows 50% or 100% size Shows only 50% size
Uses menus to select screens Uses gadgets to select screens
Allows different redraw rates Only 3 different redraw rates
Allows jumping to next screen Allows jumping to displayed screen
Uses ToolTypes to set window Opens window at top-left only
Unstable (crashes sometimes) Stable (won't crash where V2.2 did)
After comparison, which version seems better? It all depends on personal
taste. Why couldn't I incorporate the same features from V2.2 into V2.9,
such as 100% size and ToolTypes? Well, because I wasn't happy with PIP.
It was originally designed to be a size-reduced representation of all open
Intuition screens. Then I added bells and whistles such as 100% option,
gave it ToolTypes, allowed different redraw rates and so on. This made it
bulky and stupid; the program became too big for my intended uses.
So I took it to a weight-loss centre (read: my program editor) and gave it
a face-lift and liposuction. ToolType and 100% support were the first to
go. A choice of 3 redraw rates were given instead of the 5 from previous.
The restriction of 10 target screens was upgraded to 14 due to new gadget
support (and we lost the chunky "Screens" menu as a result - hooray!).
In the process of these changes, the program also became more stable and
less prone to crashes. Screens of 256 colours will now be shown without
PIP spitting the dummy as in V2.2. Also, you can now view the first 640
horizontal and 256 vertical pixels of ANY screen, whereas V2.2 only allowed
screens of 640x256 or less to be shown. (You can't view all of screens
which are >640 or >256, because that would mean re-writing the program to
re-size its window constantly, which I'm not prepared to do. One thing
I've learned from feedback of V2.2 is that everyone has different screen
sizes due to graphics boards etc, so it's an impossible task to accommodate
everyone personally).
PIP has always been Freely Distributable. If you don't like the changes
from V2.2 to V2.9, then bad luck. After all, you didn't pay for it. :)
--< KNOWN BUGS AND THE FUTURE >------------------------------------------
The only known bug is that PIP is designed to use a font of Topaz 8 size.
Any other font sizes will probably corrupt PIP's window. Whether or not
this gets fixed in a future release remains to be seen.
So what is PIP's future? Do you want to see it continue? I'm not one to
say never, which is why this release is V2.9, meaning that the definitive
and final version of 3.0 could well see the light of day. But is it worth
it? Does anyone actually regard PIP worthy of another regeneration? Let
me know if you honestly like it and want to see V3.0 come along.
--< COPYRIGHT AND DISTRIBUTION >-----------------------------------------
"PIP" is Freely Distributable. This means anyone can spread the program
where they see fit. You may upload it to BBS's, submit it to PD libraries,
give it to your friends; whatever. However, it is NOT a PD product; the
author retains all copyrights to it, as well as this documentation.
COMMERCIAL NOTE: Although this program can be freely distributed, it may
NOT be distributed as part of a commercial package under ANY circumstances!
Doing so will get you issued with a lawsuit, so don't consider it. If you
would like to have it as part of a commercial package, contact me first.
The single and ONLY exception to this commercial-related rule is when the
program is to be included in a CD-ROM compilation of PD, ShareWare or
Freely Distributable software, such as the excellent Aminet CD collections.
The program MUST be distributed with the following 4 files, of which NONE
may be altered or omitted:
PIP - The main program
PIP.info - The main program's icon
PIP.doc - This documentation
PIP.doc.info - This documentation's icon
--< CONTACTING THE AUTHOR >----------------------------------------------
You can contact me (Paul Shandi) via E-Mail only:
E-Mail: shandman@fl.net.au
Please do so if you have any comments, bug reports, etc, about the program.
========================< END OF DOCUMENTATION >=========================