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AddIcon Users Manual
Version 2.0
5/19/88
AddIcon Version 2.0 ⌐ 1988 Stormgate Software
Donald T. Meyer
7 Homestead
St. Peters, MO 63376
THE COMMERCIAL PLEA: -----\
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This software is being distributed as shareware. If you like it and
use it, please do your part for the shareware concept (not to mention
my computer-based indebtedness :-{) and register as a user by sending
$10 in small, unmarked bills to the above address. This will not only
entitle you to support (which should not really be needed a whole lot)
but will also get you the next version of this program if I write a
next version. Who knows, maybe some other stuff I have written or will
write may also find it's way onto the disk?! By the way, that $10 is
not set in stone. More would be fine (surprised?), but so would less,
although you may very well NOT get an update disk should there be one.
Support also might not provide 100% correct answers... ;-{)
CHEAPSKATES AND IMPOVERISHED AMIGA FANATICS RESUME READING.
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AddIcon is a utility program which will automaticly create icons for
files which do not have them, or even files that do if you so desire.
This is it's simplest use. It's more complex capabilities also allow
it to selectivly replace "pieces" of existing icons. Icons are not
actually "created", rather there is a directory which contains icon
templates which are cloned as required. These templates are nothing
more than normal icons, which the user may modify and add to as
desired.
When AddIcon is started (from CLI or WorkBench), the main window is
always opened. This contains two string gadgets which allow entry of
the directory and, optionaly, the specific file to create icons for. If
just a directory is specified, icons will be created for all files
which it contains. If a filename is also specified, an icon will be
created for that file only.
The file "AddIcon.config" contains the data which allows customization
of AddIcon, as well as storing menu status's, window positions and
sizes, etc.
Please note that in the following text, the words "drawer" and
"directory" are used interchangably.
================== MAIN WINDOW GADGETS =====================
Clicking the close gadget will cause the program to exit.
The "Drawer:" string gadget allows you to enter the name of a
directory in which files to add icons to can be found. If no filename
is present in the "Filename:" gadget, icons are added for all files
contained in the given drawer. If a filename has been typed into the
"Filename:" gadget, only this file will have an icon created for it.
Wildcards may also be used in the filename gadget. These are very
simple, of the form "*.c" or "fred.*". The asterisk is a wildcard
matching anything, and can appear only once, at the beging or the end
of the name. The period is not neccessary. Here are some further
examples:
*.doc
*totals
*q
a*
January*
q*a INVALID wildcard in middle
fredand*me INVALID wildcard in middle
*amiga* INVALID two wildcards
**timmy INVALID two wildcards
The START! gadget begins the icon creation process, as does pressing
return while the Drawer: gadget is selected.
The STOP! gadget will cause an in-progress creation to halt. This is
really only usefull if icons are being added to all files in a
directory.
There are two versions of AddIcon. In the smaller one, the file
requester gadget does not function.
In the larger version, this will cause a file requester to pop up,
allowing easy selection and browsing of directories and files.
**As of 2.0 the larger version is not complete**
It is also possible to select files and drawers from the workbench via
"extended selection". If you select a drawer for example, then hold
down the <shift> key and double-click AddIcon, the filename string
gadget will contain a message indicating that when AddIcon was started,
there were some object selected on the Workbench. Clicking the start
gadget would then cause AddIcon to process the item or items as if they
were typed into the string gadgets.
========================= MENUS ================================
PROJECT MENU
Source Directory
Allows changing directory where templates come from. All icons are
cloned from a template icon of your choosing. This menu selection will
present you with a requester showing the current directory that AddIcon
expects to find the templates in. It can then be changed to any
directory that you choose.
Load Config
Load a new configuration file. A requester will be presented in which
you can enter the filename of the desired configuration file to load.
The ability to load and save the current program configuration is a
very handy way to customize AddIcon based upon your habits. When
AddIcon is started, it begins a search for a file named
"AddIcon.config". Several directories are searched until this file is
found. First is the directory AddIcon is in (if launched from
WorkBench) or the "current directory" if launched from CLI. Second is
the root directory ( ":" ). The last place AddIcon looks is in the
"S:" directory. When found, the configuration file is loaded which
establishes most of AddIcon's operating parameters. For more
information about this file see the section titled "Configuration File
Details".
Save Config
Save the current configuration to a file. This will bring up a
requester which will allow you to specify the filename to save the
current configuration as. For more information see above "Load Config"
and the section titled "Configiration File Details".
Open List Window
Opens the listing window. If the listing window is closed, this will
cause it to be opened. The listing window is used by AddIcon to show
which files it is working on and which icon it has decided to add, also
for other various messages. If started from CLI, these messages will
instead be sent to the CLI window. This information is for information
only. Any error messages, etc. will appear in a requester.
Help
**not implemented in 2.0**
About
Tells a little about whodunit.
Quit
Exits the program.
TYPES MENU
Projects
If checked, icons for 'regular' files will be created.
Tools
If checked, icons for executable programs will be created.
Drawers
If checked, directories will have icons created for them.
Trashcan
If checked, trashcan icons can be created. This one is not too usefull
since the only way to tell a trashcan directory from a normal one is by
the name. AddIcon does not look at the name. Perhaps it should?
These control the types of icons created. This acts mainly as a filter
which can prevent some types of icons from being created. It in no way
will cause the type of the template used to be changed.
This type applies to the type of the template icon, not the
destination icon (even if there is one).
For example, if "Tools" was the only one checked, only icons whose
template type was TOOL would be created. If AddIcon determined that
the icon to add was PROJECT, TRASHCAN, or DRAWER then no icon would be
created for that file since their corresponding type was not checked.
PIECES MENU
Image
The graphic picture which is seen on the workbench.
Default Tool
The tool which is started by workbench to use this project file.
Type
whether the icon represents a Tool, Project, Trashcan, etc.
Position
Where in the window the icon will be positioned.
Stack Size
Used by workbench to allocate some memory used by a Tool.
Tool Types
Parameter information which is sometimes used by Workbench tools to
tell something about a file. See the v1.2 Notepad documentation for
some examples of this kind of data's usage.
Drawer Data
For a drawer icon, this is what determines where and how big the window
is when you open the drawer.
These control whether all or part of an existing icon is replaced. If
all are checked, then the new icon is an exact clone (exception:
position will ALWAYS be set to 'free floating') of the template icon.
If some of these are unchecked, only the pieces checked will be
replaced in the pre-existing icon. This is useful to change images
while leaving position, etc. alone, also to add or change a default
tool for some icons. This is an advanced feature which can be very
usefull if you understand what types of information is contained in an
icon.
Example: All your artwork icons look like picture frames. You have
just drawn or found an icon that you think is great, and would like all
your artwork to have this picture. Quite a job since you have 300
picture files on your hard drive! With AddIcon, simply put the new
icon in your AddIcon template directory, giving it the correct name so
AddIcon will use it as the ILBM template. On this menu, un-check
everything but "Image". Now run AddIcon upon the directory which
contains your picture files. Only the image will be replaced. The
location in the drawer, default tools, ect. will not be touched!
OPTIONS MENU
Ask Before Creating New Icons
If this is checked, a requester will be presented asking the user if an
icon should be indeed created on a file-by-file basis. This is really
usefull only when adding icons to all the files in a directory.
Replace Existing Icons
If this is checked, existing icons will be replaced with whatever
template icon AddIcon decides is appropriate.
Ask Before Replacing Existing Icons
If "Replace Existing icons" is checked, this item will then determine
if the user should be asked prior to replacement.
Do Sub directories
This will cause all directories "under" the specified directory to have
icons created for their files. For example, if this is checkmarked and
you select DF0: as the directory to add icons to, all files on DF0:
will be processed, even if they are in subdirectories like DF0:c/more or
DF0:mystuff/private/secret.
STARTUP MENU
Auto File Requester
In the large version of the program, this will cause the file requester
to always be presented to the user as the means of specifeing a
directory or file.
Do Selected
If this is checked, any files or directories "extended selected" on the
workbench when this program is started will have icons created for
their files.
Do Default Directory
When checked, this will cause the program to immediatly add icons to
whatever is specified as the default Drawer: and Filename: strings.
Auto-Exit
If checked, along with either "Do Selected" or "Do Default Directory"
that action will be performed and the program will then exit by itself.
This allows one double-click to call up the program, add icons to the
default directory, and then quit the program.
All of the above affect what AddIcon does when it is first started.
SPECIAL MENU
Delete All Icons
Deletes icons instead of adding them. Looks to the "Types" menu items
to provide some control of it's action.
**Not implemented or fully defined in 2.0**
------ CONFIGURATION FILE DETAILS ------
If you save a configuration file (note that one has to exist to start
with or AddIcon will not work) you can retain the state of the program
for the subsequent times that you run AddIcon.
Several configuration files may be saved with different names. These
can then be loaded to quickly change AddIcon's "personality".
The configuration files contain a version number corresponding to the
program version. If these do not match, AddIcon will proceed anyway
after giving you a warning message. Future versions of AddIcon will
attempt to retain the ability to read "old" configuration files. This
should mean that the only action you should have to take in the future
would be to re-save all configuration files. We shall see...
The configuration file contains information not only about the
configuration which the user prefers, but also the information
controlling icon template names etc. The following is an outline of
the configuration files contents:
<various internal and menu parameters>
User should not change any of this.
----------------------------------------
<The names and messages for content based icon adding>
User may change these, but not the number of line here or
the position.
----------------------------------------
<Extensions, names, and messages for extension based adding>
User may change, add to or delete these as desired.
----------------------------------------
This file is an normal ASCII text file which may be edited with almost
any Amiga text editor (TxEd, Ed, Emacs, etc.). it is composed of three
sections. Some may be changed quite a bit by the user, some should be
touched little if any. The three sections are seperated by and
terminated with a line containing a bunch of ------'s.
First section.
This contains a version number, title and various default directory
names, window positions and menu states. This section really should
never be altered by the user, as most things here can be set through
the normal program methods.
Second section.
This contains the names and messages for icons to be added based upon
the content of a file. These cannot be added to by the user, but the
names and messages can be changed. The format is icon name followed by
a comma followed by the message given in the listing window when this
icon is used. The order is what determines things here. This order
and the criteria used are as follows:
1. Unknown. If AddIcon does not recognize this file at all.
2. Executable. For executable programs (Tools).
3. Directory. For directories (Drawers).
4. Text File. If AddIcon thinks the file is a text file.
5. Forth Source. If the file seems to be text and starts with "\".
6. ILBM. If the file is an IFF form ILBM but an unknown type.
7. Lo-Res.
8. Lo-Res Interlace.
9. Medium-Res.
10. Hi-Res.
11. HAM Lo-Res.
12. HAM Lo-Res Interlace.
13. A RIFF animation file.
These cannot be added to by the user since they are used based upon an
algorithmic assessment of file contents. I can and will add to them as
I come across usefull formats. Registered users are encouraged to send
me formats you would like to have included in the possible next
release. Please attempt to either tell me enough about the file format
so that I can write a routine to identify it, and/or send me some
samples.
The third section.
This is where some real user customization can take place. The entrys
here consist of the target file extension, template icon name, and list
window message. Again all are seperated by commas. These can be added
to, deleted and of course changed. A sample entry like:
DOC,document,Document File
is interpreted thusly. The "DOC" is the extension looked for on the
end of the target file ( such as "AddIcon.doc" or "Recipe.Doc" or
"Friends.doc" ). The second string "document" should correspond to the
name of an icon in the template directory that you want to use for
files which end in ".doc" ( of course the template icon name will be
"document.info" but AddIcon knows that ). The third string "Document
File" is what will be printed in the listing window when this icon is
added to a file by AddIcon.