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- !Readme - file for !backthrow 0.2
- =================================
-
- This package contains:
-
- !backthrow - the application directory
- !backthrow.!Help - simple Help file
- !backthrow.!Run
- !backthrow.!Runimage
- !backthrow.!Sprites
- !backthrow.Templates
- !backthrow.Messages - messages file for the desklib message system.
- !backthrow.!Readme - this file
- !backthrow.c.main - source code, the wimp interface.
- !backthrow.c.backthrow - backthrow routines source code
- !backthrow.c.throwback - source code, library with throwback SWI interf.
- !backthrow.h.throwback - header file for ^^^
- !backthrow.h.backthrow - header file for backthrow.c
- !backthrow.Makefile - the makefile
- !backthrow.o - object file directory
-
-
- What and whatfor
- ================
- This is a program that takes the files you get when you save the contents
- of the output windows of !cc, !pc, !find, and probably others, and feeds
- them back to the throwback system of the ddeutils module, so that you can
- work with these as if they were the throwback windows from said applica-
- tions.
- I wrote it because when I port large programs, I first run them through
- amu with errors ignored, so that I get a list of all errors CR4 finds in the
- ported program, and then fix them all in one go rather than compiling
- source module by source module... But if I do so, I loose the ability to use
- throwback, if I don't want to leave the computer on until the port is done.
- So here's the solution: it allows me to reuse the contents of the standard
- output windows from these programs, by feeding them to the throwback system
- when I need to.
-
- Input file format
- =================
- Currently !Backthrow assumes the following format on input files:
- Every line holds one message, and has the format:
- "path.name", line 123: error: dis is da message
- , where error is one of 'Warning:', 'Error:' or 'Serious error:', or
- "path.name", line 123: dis is da message
- The first line will be 'thrown back' as an error message, the second line
- as an info message. Lines that do not have this format are ignored.
- These formats are generated by the C compiler (at least the release 4
- one), DDE pascal, and by DDE !Find.
-
- Rebuilding the program
- ====================
- You get source code of the program. To build it, get and install
- Desklib (preferrably a bugfixed version...), and the Menus-library for
- Desklib. You may have to alter the makefile, but after that you should
- be able to just start amu, then drag the makefile inside the applica-
- tion directory to amu, wait, and go.
-
- Use
- ===
- When you start the application, it installs an icon on the iconbar.
- If you click with select on this icon, a dialog box opens which has a
- writable icon, and an OK and a CANCEL button. There are no additional
- options, the only things you pass to the program are the names of the
- files whose contents you wish to be fed to the throwback system. You
- just drag them to either the iconbar icon or the setup dialog box of
- !Backthrow. Multiple input files are supported.
- You start the throwback process by clicking the OK button. A throw-
- back server (for example !srcedit or !zap) should open throwback
- window, and start filling it with information from the input files,
- you can then use this throwback window as usual. However, you may have
- to make the directory, where the source is, the CSD, if the pathnames
- in the backthrow input file are not full pathnames.
-
- Caveats
- =======
- Everything seems to work fine. Of course, there are zillions of
- bugs, but as I wrote the program, they will not occur to me. A known
- problem arises when you use !backthrow with zap under RO2: as zap
- opens one window for every throwback_processing message it receives,
- it may happen that you get a 'too many windows' message under RO2.
- As far as I know, this is fixed under RO3.
-
- Copyright status
- ================
- The !Backthrow application is freeware. You may not sell it, but apart
- from this you may do anything with it provided that you keep my name in it.
- The throwback SWI interface (throwback.c, throwback.h) is public domain.
- This means you may do anything with it, that is, you may sell it, use it in
- your programs, produce a hexdump of it and pin it to your toilet wall, or
- even claim you wrote it.
-
- I hope you find this a useful program.
-
- Suggestions, donations, bugs
- ============================
- Send all of the above to
- gunnar@fasel.robin.de or
- zoetl@isa.informatik.th-darmstadt.de
-
- History
- =======
-
- Version:
- --------
- 0.3 Awful, awful... yes, there were some bugs. Hope I got them
- all...
- 0.2 Wrote a new desktop frontend with desklib. The frontend is
- still kinda crappy, because I could not figure out how to
- do some things, but it works, and does not add too much to
- the code. The throwbacking does not yet multitask, but
- this does not matter too much as it is rather fast.
- 0.1 Just a small program with a DDE frontend.
-