System Booster/System Booster.iso/Commodities/ResetHandler/ResetHandler.doc

Text File | 1996-09-27 | 8.4 KB | 219 lines

ResetHandler V1.01 by FtC of eFS
--------------------------------

A program that let's you execute DOS commands and/or display a warning when
the user triggers a keyboard RESET.

1. Introduction
---------------

"Well, to access the WordWrap function in my new text editor, I have to
press CTRL-W-left Amiga-right Alt..." <BOUM> "... Rats! I've pressed right
Amiga instead of right Alt! And now my text is lost!"

If things like this happen often to you, ResetHandler is the right program
for you.

But also if you hate the fact that you have to quit manually certain
programs every time before you reset, you should take a look at
ResetHandler.

But be aware: Contrary to IBM PC computers and clones (YEEK!), the keyboard
reset of the Amiga *can't* be stopped, it can only be delayed. About 10
seconds after you've pressed the three magic keys, your Amiga will reset,
no matter what happens. So don't blame me when you resetted your Amiga,
realised your mistake, and tried to save the 100kb text you've been writing
to floppy.

However, if you owned a fast hard drive, it could have worked :-)

2. Usage
--------

Before I explain the usage of ResetHandler, one thing first: This program
will *not* run on all Amigas. Commodore designed the reset logic on the
A500 (and perhaps other ones) differently than on the A1000, A2000, A4000
etc. ResetHandler will "run" on any Amiga equipped with at least Kickstart
2.0, but it won't do anything useful on an A500 (as well as A1000s and very
old Amiga 2000s). There's nothing that can fix this "bug", it's hardware.
Blame Commodore, not me.

As I really don't know if it runs on A600s and A4000s, you can do nothing
but test it. Please report me (address at the end of the doc file) if it
works or not if you are using such a machine. Better, if you happen to own
an A4000 which you don't need anymore, send it to me :-)

To activate ResetHandler, start it. If you run it from the Shell (CLI), you
have to RUN it (no auto-detaching code), but it can also be run from the
Workbench. Copying it in your WBStartup drawer, setting the tool types and
forgetting all about it is perhaps the easiest way to use it.

Started from the shell, its template looks like this:

ResetHandler ShutDownCommand,Wait/N,Warn/S

ShutDownCommand: This is the DOS command to execute when you trigger a
keyboard reset. A script containing the DOS commands used to quit your
constantly-running-applications will be appropriate most of the time, I
think. Don't forget to prepend the name of the script with "Execute" in
that case (example below).

This argument defaults to "Execute S:ShutDown-Sequence". If you don't want
ResetHandler to execute anything, you have to specify "nothing", as in

    ResetHandler ""

Wait: This argument accepts a number which will be used as a delay after
the DOS command has finished. This is meant to be used without the Warn
option to give your hard drive some time to finish it's writing, for
example. Note however that you've got only 10 (ten) seconds time after
you've triggered the reset, so larger values than, say, 6 won't be of a big
use.

Warn: This switch tells ResetHandler to put up a requester that tells you
that you have resetted your Amiga. It is useful in case you want be given
a chance to do some cleanup "by hand".

Examples:

 1> Run ResetHandler "" Warn

This will start ResetHandler. When you press ctrl-lamiga-ramiga while
ResetHandler is still running, it will pop up a requester telling you about
what you've done and offering you the choice of resetting your Amiga or
waiting. Remember that after you've triggered the reset, a hardware
controlled 10-seconds timer starts to tick which *will* reset your Amiga,
no matter what happens! So don't stare at the requester for too long, but
either hurry and choose the "save" button of your word processor and pray
that it will finish the "save" in less than 10 seconds, or press the button
"Reset NOW!" on the requester and let it go.

 1> Run ResetHandler Wait 4

With "S:ShutDown-Sequence" containing something like this:
-----------8<--------------8<--------------8<--------------8<------------
FailAt 99999
C:CliExchange Kill MailManager
Mail:bin/TrapTell Quit
rx "Address Spot;QuitSpot NoReq"
C:Cronevent q
----------->8-------------->8-------------->8-------------->8------------
(which is, incidentially, my personal config)

This will start ResetHandler. When you trigger a keyboard reset,
ResetHandler will execute this script, which will close
(***commercial presentation***) MailManager, TrapDoor, Spot and TPTCron
(***commercial presentation finished***) :-)

After the script has finished, ResetHandler waits 4 seconds (to allow the
hard drive to finish its writing) and finally, it will reset your Amiga.

When you start ResetHandler from the workbench, you have to supply the
arguments as tool types (just look at the icon contained in the archive).
To disable the ShutDownCommand here, you have to specify a
"ShutDownCommand=" tooltype (that is, nothing after the equals sign)

When ResetHandler is running, you can quit it by either send a CTRL-C or
CTRL-D to its process, or you cann kill it using Commodities Exchange.
Using Exchange, you can also "Inactivate" and "Activate" ResetHandler as
much as you wish :-)

However, remember that ResetHandler will quietly let a reset happen when
it's "inactive", and it won't do anything when you've killed it (really!) :-)

If you run ResetHandler while it's already installed, it will terminate
itself.

3. Why did I write this?
------------------------

Well, there was a friend of mine (Hi Denis!) who asked me if it's possible
to prevent a keyboard reset on the Amiga. I answered "no, but..." and he
had the idea of ResetHandler. So I did.

Wasn't a bad idea!

4. To do
--------

Anyone has any ideas?

5. Bugs
-------

This program is written in a fully system friendly way. It uses
keyboard.device's ResetHandler system (hence the name), and absolutely no
hardware hacks. It shouldn't, under any circumstances, crash or cause
directly any data loss. But remember that it may cause a DOS command to run
while a reset occurs (if the DOS command runs long enough), which may even
physically damage your hard disk. There's nothing you can do about this.

Anyway, all programs have bugs. I didn't find any, but that doesn't mean
anything. So if you find your Amiga behaves quite unusual, report the bug
to me, please. I'll try to fix it ;-)

Note again that this program *can't* work on A500s because their reset
hardware is constructed *differently* from the hardware of other Amigas.
This program works on A2000s and is reported to work on A1200s, but
don't know about other Amigas. However, it should at least work on the "big
box" Amigas (A3000, A4000). Don't blame me!

6. Disclaimer
-------------

This program is © 1995 by FtC of EfS. All rights reserved. You may
distribute this program as you like, but don't charge any money except some
nominal fee for media. If this program does any harm to your hamster, your
gold fish, your grandma or - most probably - your Amiga, I don't take any
responsibility for it.

And don't send me an assault command (or a letter bomb) if the 10 second
timeout occured while you were writing your 100kb textfile to your floppy
(thus damaging it permanently). I'm not responsible for this timeout
either.

Donations (beer, girls, netmails, money, emails, amigas, ISDN cards,
postcards, harddisks etc., no cars please - I can't drive) are always
welcome.


7. The source
-------------

I release the source code together with the program, but please don't tell
me that my programming style is terrible: I already know it.

To compile it, you'll need Wouter van Oortsmerssen's excellent E compiler.
It should compile without any problems under the demo version of EC 3.1a or
newer, but a registered version won't hurt either :-)

8. History
----------
131195  1.0   First released version
151295  1.01  Modified default behaviour to "Execute S:Shutdown-Sequence"
              instead of putting up the requester
              Changed the "NoWarn" switch and tooltype to the "Warn" one,
              which incidentially means the opposite :-)

9. Contacting the author
------------------------

I can be contacted the following ways:

Internet: [e-mail]
          [e-mail]            (sometimes faster)

 Fidonet: 2:301/317.6
Amiganet: 39:110/311.6

If you don't have any access to electronic mail, you may reach me at my postal
address:

   Andreas Trottmann
   Kronengasse 7
CH-5400 Baden

   SWITZERLAND

Enjoy ResetHandler!