System Booster/System Booster.iso/Archivers/ModPack/ModPack.doc

Text File | 1996-09-26 | 17KB | 331 lines

                              ModPack V1.4b
                            -----------------
                             by  Mike Coenen


INFO
    This little assembler-program packs soudtracker-modules together with a
    file containing additional information into an LHA-archive.
    The program needs at least OS2.04, but it will run on every processor
    of the 68000-family (that's not quite me, is it ?). In addition the
    program 'LHA' is needed somwhere where you can reach it without having
    to add a path (e.g. C:).
    ModPack is ThinkWare. So if you use it frequently, you should think of
    me...
    A propos: I will NOT be held responsible for any damage or dataloss
              caused in connection with ModPack!

SELECT FILES
    As ModPack has to know which files to pack, you have to tell him somehow.
    To do so, you have three choices.
    You can call a file-requester by pressing the 'Add'-gadget and select the
    desired modules (multiselect with SHIFT is allowed). You are also able
    to drag icons directly into the ModPack window and drop them there (even
    more than one, if you like). This would make more sense with large
    numbers of modules, as you can show files without icons on the Workbench
    as well. Third, you can do an ExtendedSelect. That means you click once
    on the ModPack-icon, and then with the SHIFT-key held down click on all
    files you want to be loaded. Do a double-click on the last icon (SHIFT
    still pressed) so that ModPack is started and the files will be read.
    If you want to select an entire directory, but it is unreachable from
    Workbench because it lies in a fifth-level-subdirectory without any
    icons or whatever, you don't have to 'Window/Show/All Files' all
    directories. Just click 'Add', select the desired directory and press
    'Add' in the file requester without selecting ANY file. Then the entire
    directory will be analyzed. Note that by selecting entire directories
    the pattern defined in the ToolTypes (or the default one) will be used
    and NOT the one in the file requester. That's because I don't know how
    to access it.

    The selected files are then examined and, together with their size,
    displayed in the ListViewGadget. If you want to add some modules to the
    List later on, just repeat the procedure and the new files will be
    attached at the end of the list. Don't care about the path - it doesn't
    matter. In fact every file could be in an other directory, ModPack
    handles it automatically.
    The number of selected files can be seen in the bottom left hand corner
    in the 'Cnt:'-TextGadget.
    ModPack recognizes files crunched with the PowerPacker or the Imploder.
    Such files will be marked in the ListViewGadet with a "P" for "Power-
    Packer" or an "I" for "Imploder". The RealName will in such cases only
    be "PP_x" or "IMP_x", where x is a number.

EDIT FILES
    When you select an item from the ListViewGadget, some information will
    become visible on the left side, as there are:
    'RealName': This TextGadget displays the module's name. This is not the
                filename but the 'real one' which is read from the file.
    'Filename': Here, the filename of the arcive will be displayed. It will
                be assembled from the RealName and the suffix '.lha'.
                All spaces, colons, slashes, full stops, commas, and "_"s
                (I dont't know what a '_' is called in english...) will be
                thrown out, and the following character will be capitalized
                (Ä, Ü, ö etc. treated correctly). 'live long,and_Prosper'
                would therefore be converted into 'LiveLongAndProsper'.
    'Composer': The Composer... The name will be extracted from the file's
                comment which must have the following format:
                COMPOSER^FROM^INFO
                The character '^' operates as separator, where it is not
                necessary for all three fields to be existent. Valid is for
                example '^^Metal', what leads to an empty Composer- and
                From-String, and to an Info-String containing 'Metal'. You
                can enter 'Mike Coenen' as well, so that the Composer will be
                'Mike Coenen' and the rest will be empty ('Mike Coenen^^'
                will, of course, work too).
    'From'    : The source of the module (e.g. Demo xyz). This will be
                extracted from the file's comment which must have the
                following format: COMPOSER^FROM^INFO
    'Info'    : This field can contain many things, for example the kind of
                music... The Info-string will be extracted from the file's
                comment which must have the following format:
                CMOPOSER^FROM^INFO
    Except for the RealName you can edit everything, even the name of the
    archive, which, in many cases, might be not quite like you want it.
    But Attention! ALL INPUTS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED AFTER PRESSING RETURN,
    TAB OR SHIFT-TAB! IF A STRINGGADGET IS INACTIVATED BY A MOUSECLICK, THE
    CHANGE WILL NOT BE CARRIED OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    ALL STRINGGADGETS IN THIS PROGRAM WILL HANDLE IT THIS WAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!

DELETE FILES
    If you want to delete a file from the list, just select it, and click on
    'Del'.
    By clicking on 'ClrAll' you can delete all entries in the ListViewGadget.
    There won't be any changes on disk when you delete an entry. Only the
    items in the list will be affected.

SAVE INFO
    ModPack offers you the possibility to save the info displayed on the
    left as an ASCII-file. Click on 'Save' and a file requester will open.
    Select or enter the filename and confirm it. Should the file already
    exist, you can either overwrite it or append the new information. As a
    third option you can cancel and not do anything.

(DONT'T) PAY ATTENTION TO COMMENT
    With the CheckboxGadget you can define whether ModPack shall examine
    the module's file comment or not. If the comment is not in the format
    'COMPOSER^FROM^INFO' there might be some unwanted results which have
    to be corrected manually. So you can switch this function off to ignore
    the comment. Note that ignoring the comment can only be done while
    selecting files. Once a file is in the list, switching on or off will
    have no effect.
    The default is 'COMMENT=TRUE' that makes the comment to be examined.
    If you want to have it the other way round just from the start, set
    'COMMENT=FALSE' in the ToolTypes. This would then be the predefined
    setting when launched from the Workbench.

8 CHARACTER LIMIT
    This has been implemented in order to save MS-DOS users from total
    despair. I did see more than one BBS crashing because of too long file-
    names. If activated the filenames of all Modules in the ListView will
    be truncated to eight characters plus '.lha'. Making the option inactive
    causes all filenames to be normal again :-)
    This can also be controlled by the ToolTypes. Add 'CHARLIMIT=TRUE' to
    activate it right from the start.

EXTERNAL ID
    As the default file_id.diz-layout might surely not please everyone, I
    added the possibility to use you own IDs. You have to set up two ASCII-
    files, one for the 'full' ID and one for the 'empty' one. Add the Tool-
    Types 'FILEIDFULL=File' (where 'File', of course, can be any valid path
    to a file) and 'FILEIDEMPTY=File'. Only if those two entries are valid,
    the CheckboxGadget will be enabled.
    The File can be as long as you want it to be. To insert the RealName
    you have to type '^R_$(xx)' where xx is a number indicating the length
    of the string (shorter ones will be padded with SPACEs). The keyword
    for the composer is '^C_$(xx)', for the From-entry '^F_$(xx)' and for
    the Info-entry '^I(xx)'. so it could look like:

    A MODULE...
    ======================================
    RealName    : ^R_$(20)
    --------------------------------------
    Author      : ^C_$(30)
    --------------------------------------
    From        : ^F_$(7)
    --------------------------------------
    Information : ^I_$(128)

    This inserts a 20-bytes RealName string, a 30-bytes Composer string, a
    7-bytes From string and a 128 bytes Info string.
    The order must always be the same: first RealName, then Composer,
    followed by From and Info.
    The 'Empty' ID (without 'From' and 'Info' fields) lacks the ...well...
    'From' and 'Info' fields. Surprising, isn't it ;-)
    With the two ToolTypes present and(!) valid, the CheckboxGadget is auto-
    matically enabled and activated. However, 'EXTERNALID=FALSE' overrides
    that, and leaves the Gadget blank (but enabled). Note that you cannot
    force the gadget to be enabled by 'EXTERNALID=TRUE' without having valid
    ID-files.

THE LIST FILE
    The ListFile keeps track of all files prcessed so far. It also prevents
    name conflicts by renaming files that already exist. The ListFile can
    only be activated by setting ToolType 'LISTFILE=File' (where 'File' can
    be any file. If the specified file doesn't exist, ModPack creates it.
    With a file present, ModPack reads all entries an stores them in memory.
    Everytime a file is processed by LHA, ModPack checks its name and adds
    it to the file.
    If a name conflict occurs, ModPack renames the file to Filename_xx, where
    xx is a hexadecimal serial number. In 8-character-mode the files are
    renamed to Filenaxx. The name is cut off behind the sixth character and
    the seriel number is appended. Of course you can edit the ListFile with
    every text editor...

SELECT DESTINATION PATH
    All modules, after they have been archived, will be stored in this
    directory. The default path is 'RAM:'. Do you want another path, you can
    either enter it manually or, by clicking onto the gadget to the left,
    select the new path in a directory-reueqster. In addittion there is the
    possibility to drop a drawer icon into the ModPack-window. The program
    will take its path and put it into the StringGadget.
    If there are some drawer icons within some file icons that are dragged
    into the window, ModPack will take the path from them as well.
    If you want to have another destinaion directory right after the start,
    you have to change the ToolTypes. Example: 'DESTINATION=DH5:Upload/'

SELECT SOURCE PATH
    This is the directory that is the default directory in the file requester
    when you select files. It is always changed when you select a module in
    a different directory. The default is 'Modules:'. If you don't have
    this assign or volume, with the first file requester comes the nasty
    'Please insert volume...' message. To prevent this you can set the source
    directory in the ToolTypes to whatever you want. If you'd like
    'DH1:Music/Modules/', type 'SOURCE=DH1:Music/Modules/'.

CHANGE PATTERN
    When selecting files by file requester only those files will be shown
    that either start witn 'mod.' or end with '.mod'. This can only be
    changed in the requester itself and is then only valid once. To achieve
    a constant change, change the ToolTypes. If you want that for example
    files with the suffix '.xyz' shall be visible as well, write
    'PATTERN=(mod.#?|#?.mod|#?.xyz)'

START ARCHIVING
    After a click on 'Start' all modules will be archived one by one. ModPack
    opens a CON:-window to show the output of LHA. In addition to the module
    the ASCII-File 'file_id.diz' will be added, which contains information
    about the module.

STOP ARCHIVING
    To stop archiving, klick on the 'Stop!'-Gadget. After the current module
    has finished, the process will be interrupted.

QUIT PROGRAM
    To quit ModPack klick on the window's CloseGadget or the button labeled
    'Quit'.

START FROM CLI
    When launched from the CLI, the following presets will be activated:
    Source     : 'Modules:'
    Destination: 'RAM:'
    Comment    : 'TRUE'
    Pattern    : '(mod.#?|#?.mod)'
    CharLimit  : 'FALSE'
    ExternalID : 'FALSE' (disabled)
    ListFile   : (disabled)
    Those presets are also valid if launched from the Workbench and there
    are no ToolTypes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUGS
    Perhaps there might be some layout problems with OS2.0. The appearance
    of the ListViewGadgets has been changed from 2.0 to 3.0 an, so do I
    believe, the reaction on the Height-parameter as well. I couldn't test
    the program with Kick 2.0, so dear OS2.0 users, if there goes something
    wrong, ask Commodore (or Samsung or whoever) why.

    If there should be any more bugs, please contact me...

HISTORY
    V0.xx   before 12.08.1994   Inofficial beta-versions

    V1.0a   12.08.1994          First public, fully operational release
                                Code length:  9408 bytes
                                Sourcecode : 52421 bytes / 2249 lines

    V1.1a   13.08.1994          - Now supports ExtendedSelect on Workbench
                                - Colons, commas, full stops, slashes and
                                  '_'s (those things, you know) will be
                                  taken out of the filename
                                Code length:  9600 bytes
                                Sourcecode : 54067 bytes / 2304 lines

    V1.4a   13.09.1994          - Eliminates question marks, inverted commas,
                                  '#'s and '%'s (whatever they're called) in
                                  the filename and converts '()' and '[]'
                                  into '{}' (brackets like '(' or '[' confuse
                                  LHA's parser...)
                                - Pressing the 'Add' button in the file
                                  requester before having selected a file now
                                  means to add all the files in the directory
                                - Option added to limit filenames to 8 chars
                                  plus the '.lha' extension
                                - Reading only the first 19 Bytes as the
                                  RealName (that's the ...well specification)
                                - Recognizing PowerPacked and Imploded files
                                  and doesn't read any RealName but gives
                                  them a number and marks them in the ListView
                                - Added a ListFile option to keep track of
                                  processed files and to prevent name
                                  conflicts
                                - Eliminated enforcer-hit that occured when
                                  dropping icons into the window. ModPack is
                                  now free of enforcer-hits !  (*)
                                - Added the possibility to use custom FileIDs
                                Code length: 12864 bytes
                                Sourcecode : 79181 bytes / 3174 lines

    V1.4b   14.09.1994          - Cleaned up BSS-Hunk. Memory usage now 3172
                                  bytes less than before
                                - The 'Save' and 'ClrAll' gadgets were
                                  disabled after an extended select. Fixed now
                                - Module and ID file now archived in one pass.
                                CodeLength: 12848 bytes
                                Sourcecode: 79495 bytes / 3181 lines

(*) It wasn't so hard to find this bug although it occured in ROM. I just
debugged me through there and in a matter of minutes I found it. In order not
to make any effort, my MessagePort for the AppMessages was the same as for the
IntuiMessages. I waited with WaitPort() for something to happen and then
called GT_GetIMsg(). So far so good, but if an AppMsg comes in, it will be
processed by GetIMsg() as well. GetIMsg() does nothing but calling exec's
GetMsg() and processing the data by calling gadtools' GT_FilterIMsg(). But as
the structure of AppMessages and IntuiMessages differs, FilterIMsg() reads at
the wrong offsets. Now, after WaitPort() I check whether it's an AppMsg or not.
If it is, ModPack does only call exec's GetMsg() and ReplyMsg().
I just wanted to say this so that other programmers are able to fix that nasty
bug in advance...


THANKS
    ...go to Timo Henke who had the initial idea of ModPack and who came up
    with a lot of suggestions and some icons.


ADDRESS

In general:

    Mike Coenen
    Kleestr. 10
    D-31655 Stadthagen
    Germany


Until about 01.08.1995:

    Mike Coenen
    Virchowstr. 5
    D-31737 Rinteln
    Germany