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!DeskCtrl
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1995-11-20
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Instructions for !DeskCtrl by Andrew Sellors
*****************************************************************************
* NOTE: *
* !DeskCtrl is Shareware. *
* It is part of the Outline Wimp desktop enhancement package and must not *
* distributed without the accompanying files. *
* *
* You may use this software for a trial period of 30 days. If, after this *
* you decide you would like to continue using it then you are required to *
* Register. See the ReadMe1st file for details of registering *
* *
* This version maybe freely copied and distributed, provided that it is *
* complete with all original files, and that you do not sell it. *
* PD libraries may charge a nominal fee for the cost of duplication, *
* postage etc. *
* *
* In no circumstances shall the author be liable for any damage, loss of *
* profits, time or data or any indirect or consequential loss rising out of *
* the use of this software or inability to use this software. *
*****************************************************************************
Contents:
---------
Features
Compatibility
Operation
Iconbar menu
"Edit Palette" window
"Mode Selector" window
Hot-Keys
"Desktop Font Setup" window
"Texture Setup" window
"Desktop Control Setup" window
"CMOS RAM Setup" window
Clicking on iconbar icon
Auto loading of extension modes
Configuring the Colour and Resolution menus
Adding mode definitions
Removing "Quit" from the menu
Contacting the author
Credits
********************************************************************************
Features
--------
Replaces Palette Utility on iconbar.
Provides palette chooser and facility for loading and saving palette files.
Saves current mode and palette in "DeskBoot" file like the Palette Utility.
Provides RiscPC style mode picker with configurable menus for different monitor
types, whilst still allowing modes to be selected by number.
Provides "Hot-Keys" for quick selection of modes.
Provides easy selection of the configuration parameters of the outline font
windowmanager.
Provides easy loading of sprites for the textured window background
windowmanager and display of texture allocations. (Only with registered version
of outline font windowmanager, see ReadMe1st file)
Loads up extension mode Relocatable Modules placed in "Mode" directory on
startup.
Uses 3D bit in CMOS RAM to select 2D or 3D windows _and_ iconsprites on startup.
NOTE: Read about "CMOS RAM Setup" window below for how to turn on 3D windows.
Provides facility to alter options in CMOS RAM that do not have *configure
commands.
********************************************************************************
Compatibility:
--------------
This program is for RISC OS 3.10 or later. The program will function without
the outline font windowmanager loaded, just with the features of configuring
the windowmanager removed.
********************************************************************************
Operation:
----------
When the !DeskCtrl icon is double-clicked, DeskCtrl installs itself on the icon
bar in the place of the Palette Utility, the palette utility is still however
running as it is needed to respond to the *Desktop_SetPalette command.
When Quit, the Palette Utility is restarted and replaces DeskCtrl on the icon
bar.
********************************************************************************
Iconbar menu
------------
+-----------+
| DeskCtrl |
+-----------+
| Info ⇨ | ⇨ opens "About this program" window
| Palette | Opens "Edit Palette" window
| Mode ⇨ | Opens "Mode Selector" window, ⇨ submenu allows mode to be set
| Font | Opens "Desktop Font Setup" window. by number
| Texture | Opens "Texture Setup" window.
| CMOS | Opens "CMOS RAM Setup" window.
| Options | Opens "Desktop Control Setup" window.
| Quit | Quits program (can be removed, see below).
+-----------+
********************************************************************************
"Edit Palette" window
---------------------
This allows the 16 colour desktop palette, the mouse pointer colours and the
screen border colour to be altered.
"RGB" group
-----------
The proportions of the red, green and blue constituents of each colour can be
changed by either dragging the coloured bars or by typing the number into the
writeable icon to the left of the corresponding bar and pressing RETURN.
The "Round RGB Continuously" option makes the program mimic the Palette
Utility by only allowing the proportions of each colour to change in multiples
of 16.
Clicking on the "Round RGB" button causes the values of the colour bars to be
rounded to a multiple of 16.
For the technically minded, the rounding process keeps the bottom 8 bits of the
value set at zero.
"Colours" group
---------------
The array of buttons to the left of this group select the colour that the colour
bars alter when they are dragged or the number typed in. The top two numbered
rows correspond to the 16 wimp colours and the bottom row the border and mouse
pointer colours.
The current colour and its number (or name for the border and mouse colours) are
shown to the right.
Clicking on the "Save" icon causes a savebox to pop up which allows the current
palette to be saved as a palette file.
Clicking on the "Close" icon closes the window, all the changes made when it was
open are kept.
Clicking on the "Default" icon sets the wimp palette to its default colours.
********************************************************************************
"Mode Selector" window
----------------------
This allow the screen mode to be changed.
When opened the current screen mode's details (if known) are entered into the
"Colours" and "Resolution" boxes. If !DeskCtrl has not been configured to know
about the current mode that is selected then an error message is displayed when
this window is opened. See the section "Adding mode definitions" below for
instructions on how to add new modes to !DeskCtrl
Clicking on the menu icon to the right of the number of colours brings up a
menu allowing a new number of colours to be selected. If a mode with the
selected resolution is not defined in that number of colours then a new
resolution is chosen.
Clicking on the menu icon to the right of the resolution brings up a menu
allowing a new resolution to be selected. If, like with the colours, the
selected number of colours cannot be provided at that resolution then a new
number of colours is chosen.
Clicking on the "Change" icon with Select changes the screen mode to the
selected one and closes the window, if the icon is clicked on with Adjust then
the window is left open when the new mode is selected.
Clicking on the "Cancel" icon closes the window without changing the screen
mode.
The resolution menu is chosen for the particular monitor configured and both
menus are fully user definable, thus users with graphics enhancer cards can
add more resolutions and colours to the menus, see below for details.
********************************************************************************
Hot-Keys
---------
The program provides hot-keys to allow quick mode selection.
These work be advancing the selection of the resolution or colour menus.
<Alt>+(Cursor Up> changes the mode to the next resolution down in the menu.
With the provided menus this increases the resolution.
<Alt>+<Cursor Down> changes the mode to the next resolution up in the menu.
With the provided menus this decreases the resolution.
<Alt>+<Cursor Left> changes the mode to the next number of colours up in the
menu. With the provided menus this decreases the number of
colours.
<Alt>+<Cursor Right> changes the mode to the next number of colours down in the
menu. With the provided menus this increases the number of
colours.
As with the selections on the colour and resolution menus on the "Mode Selector"
window, if the number of colours or resolution is undefined then new ones will
be chosen.
********************************************************************************
"Desktop Font Setup" window
---------------------------
This window allows the outline font windowmanager to be configured without
having to use the command line. The window is only displayed if the outline
font windowmanager is installed, otherwise the menu option on the main menu
is greyed out.
"Font" group
------------
The box at the top of the window shows the fontname of the outline font used
by the windowmanager, it can be changed by clicking on the menu icon to the
right which brings up the standard font menu. The menu is updated every time
it is shown so that it will take account of new fonts as and when they are added
to the system.
The writeable icon below labelled "Size" allow the font size in points to be
changed by either typing it in or using the up and down arrow icons to increment
or decrement the number.
The writeable icon below labelled "Aspect X:Y" allow the aspect ratio to be set
in a similar way to the font size. An aspect ratio of less than 100% squashes
the letter's length and greater than 100% stretches them. The aspect ratio only
changes the length and not the height of the letters.
"Text" group
------------
The "Justify key short-cuts" option selects whether the key short-cut text is
right justified in menus. This makes them look better when a proportionally
spaced font is used.
The "Use font 'WimpMisc' option selects the use of the font 'WimpMisc' which
contains some of the characters that normal outline fonts lack, such as the
set of arrow characters. When this option is selected, "Replace up arrow with"
is turned off as both cannot be turned on at the same time.
The "Replace up arrow with" option selects whether the up arrow character, which
is used in key short-cut descriptions in menus, is replaced by the character
defined below. This is useful as most outline fonts do not contain a up arrow
character and therefore, without any replacement, the key short-cuts would be
very confusing. The character used can be set by either typing it's ASCII code
in the writable icon and pressing RETURN or by using the up and down arrow icons
to scroll through the possibilities. The character selected is shown in the box
to the left of it's ASCII code. When this option is selected, "Use font
'WimpMisc' is turned off as both cannot be turned on at the same time.
Clicking on "Change" with Select configures the windowmanager as selected and
then closes the window, clicking with Adjust configures the windowmanager but
leaves the window open.
Clicking on "Cancel" closes the window without making any changes.
Read the !Help file for the !WimpPatch application for more details on the
outline font windowmanager.
********************************************************************************
"Texture Setup" window
----------------------
This window allows the textured window backgrounds of the registered outline
font windowmanager to be configured without using the command line. If the
unregistered windowmanager patch is being used or just the normal windowmanager
then the menu option to open the window is greyed out.
Unlike some of the other dialogue boxes in !DeskCtrl, operations with this
window are performed immediately instead of only when the "OK" button is
pressed.
A sprite file containing texture tiles can be loaded by dragging its icon
to the "Texture Setup" window. The filename of the currently loaded sprite file
is shown in the "Texture File:" box. If no file is loaded then "<None>" is
shown instead.
The centre portion of the window shows tables of what tiles have been loaded.
Up the side of the tables are the Wimp background colours and along the top
are the number of bits per pixel of the modes:
"1" = 1bpp = 2 colours
"2" = 2bpp = 4 colours
"4" = 4bpp = 16 colours
"8" = 8bpp = 256 colours
"D" = Default tile - the tile that is used if no specific tile is provided for
the current colour depth of the screen mode.
Different tiles can be defined for different window background colours. They
can also be defined for specific colour depths to speed up plotting. A typical
configuration would be to provide a 16 colour default tile and a specific 256
colour tile for 8bpp modes. This would mean that in 256 colour modes where the
most work is done to perform the tiling, a 1:1 match between the tile and the
screen is provided resulting in the optimum tiling speed with the 16 colour
default tile being used for all other colour depths.
See the !Help file of the registered !WimpPatch for more details.
The "Use Textures" option selects whether the tiling of window backgrounds is
turned on or off. This option can be on if no tiles have been loaded, the
backgrounds will still be the normal colours though.
Clicking on the "Kill Textures" button, turns off textured window backgrounds
and removes the textures file from memory, freeing the memory used.
The "Close" button closes the window, no other buttons are present at the bottom
of the window as the actions are performed immediately.
********************************************************************************
"Desktop Control Setup" window
-----------------------------
This window allows the configuration options that are loaded as the program
starts to be changed and saved.
"Icon-Bar Click Open:" group
----------------------------
This group of icons allow the selection of the window that is opened when the
iconbar icon is clicked on with Select and Adjust.
This allows frequently used windows like the "Mode Selector" to be opened
by clicking on the iconbar icon rather then having to use the menu.
Clicking on "Set" with Select applies the changes made and closes the window,
clicking with Adjust applies the changes but leaves the window open. In either
case the options are not saved and so will be lost when the program is quit.
Clicking on "Cancel" closes the window without altering the options.
Clicking on "Save" performs the same action as "Set" except that the options are
saved so that they will be used the next time the program is run.
Clicking on "Default" changes the options to the default setting without
actually applying them.
When the options are saved, the state of the "Round RGB Continuously" option
in the "Edit Palette" window is saved also.
********************************************************************************
"CMOS RAM Setup" window
-----------------------
This window allows you to change those options in the CMOS RAM that do not have
*configure commands.
"Desktop" group
---------------
"Use solid-drags" selects whether solid-drags are turned on for when file icons
are dragged. This will only affect solid-drag aware programs such as this one
which will show the icon of the file as it is moved to it's destination rather
than the normal dotted-line box. Sadly the filer is not solid-drag aware, but
the excellent "FilerPatch" by Jens H. Ovesen (available in most good PD
libraries) provides this and many other useful features.
"Use dither more often". With this off the wimp only dithers the grey scale
colours in 2 colour modes. With this on, in all modes, any wimp colour that does
not match any the hardware can display will be dithered.
"Use 3D look" selects whether programs should use 2D or 3D windows. This is only
for programs that are aware of this, such as this program and !Printers v1.22+.
"Hardware" group
----------------
"Do long power-on tests" selects whether the long or short hardware test is
performed when the computer is first turned on. On ARM 2 machines this takes a
while so you might want to turn it off.
Clicking on "Change" with Select updates the CMOS RAM with the selections made
and then closes the window, clicking with Adjust updates the CMOS RAM but leaves
the window open.
Clicking on "Cancel" closes the window without making any changes.
********************************************************************************
Clicking on iconbar icon
------------------------
Clicking with either Select or Adjust on the iconbar icon opens up the windows
configured by the "Desktop Control Setup" window.
This allows frequently used windows such as the "Mode Selector" to be brought
up quickly without having to use the menu.
********************************************************************************
Auto loading of extension modes
-------------------------------
Any Relocatable Modules placed in the "Mode" directory will be loaded by the
program when it starts up. This is included to load modules that provide extra
resolutions and or colours, of which 4 new modes are provided with this program.
They are:
Mode 32: 800x600 256 colours.
Mode 116: 1024x348 2 colours.
Mode 117: 1024x348 4 colours.
Mode 118: 1024x348 16 colours.
Note: All these modes are for multisync monitors only and are already included
in the multisync resolution menu.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Depending on what model of computer you have, your VIDC may not
be able to display mode 32.
Older machines with 8Mhz memory (A300, A440, A400/1, A3000) can not display this
mode, even if they have a 36Mhz oscillator fitted, as there is not enough memory
bandwidth. (It will work without a 36Mhz oscillator, but like the other 800x600
modes at this lower refresh rate, the flicker makes it unusable)
Machines with the ARM 250 (A30x0, A4000) can display this mode as the memory
and the VIDC is fast enough.
The A5000 may be able to display this mode, it depends on the individual VIDC
chip. Chip production is variable and as this mode is near the rated limits of
the VIDC10, some chips may and some may not be able to display it.
I don't know whether you will damage your VIDC if it is run out of spec., but
I would advise that you don't use it if you see "snow" on the screen or the
chip gets to hot.
********************************************************************************
Configuring the Colour and Resolution menus
-------------------------------------------
The colour and resolution menus are defined in the "Messages" file held in
the application directory.
Load this file into a text editor such as "!Edit" by double clicking on the
!DeskCtrl icon in the filer window with the shift key pressed to open up the
contents of the application directory and then dragging the "Messages" file
icon to the "!Edit" icon.
The colour menu is defined by the line:
menu.col:2,4,16,256
more colours can be added simply by adding the text to the end
NOTE: When the number of colours is changed, the mode definitions need to be
changed also, see below for details.
Eg.
menu.col: 2,4,16,256,32 thousand,16 million
The resolution menu is defined by a line, such as:
menu.res3: 320 x 256,640 x 250,640 x 256_,640 x 480
There are six resolution menus defined, the number at the end of "menu.res"
indicating for which monitor type they are used. The above example is monitor
type 3, VGA. Note, the menu entry "640 x 256" has an underscore "_" after the
text. This causes a dotted line to be placed below this item in the menu and
can be used to separate groups of mode to make the menu easier to read.
Any defined resolutions can be added to the menus, the program does not check
of that particular monitor type can display it, if it can't then the wimp
selects a different mode that is supported.
********************************************************************************
Adding mode definitions
-----------------------
The definitions of the modes that the colour and resolution menus correspond to
are also present at the end of the "Messages" file. The reason that the
definitions are in the file and not read from the operating system when the
program is running is that it allows multiple modes to be defined with the same
resolution and number of colours. For example, on my system I have my own set
of 800x600 modes defined as modes 108 to 110 and use these instead of modes
29 to 31 which are provided by RISC OS, thus on my system the definition for
the 800x600 resolution holds the numbers 108 to 110 rather than 29 to 31.
A resolution definition comprises of a tag on the left and then a comma
separated list of modes as long as the number of colours defined in the colour
menu, the first number corresponding to the first number of colours entry in
the colour menu and so on. If a resolution does not have a mode number for a
particular number of colours then its mode number is entered as -1.
Eg.
m.800x600: 29, 30, 31, -1
Would describe the resolution 800x600 (note the m. before the resolution).
This corresponds to a colour menu with 4 entries and this resolution is
undefined in the 4th entry in the colour menu (256 colours).
When adding more modes for graphics enhancers etc. , the text between the "m."
and the ":" must match the text in the resolution menu but with the spaces
removed. Thus an entry "m.1024x768:" would correspond to the item "1024 x 768"
in the resolution menu.
If the number of colour entries is changed in the colour menu then all the mode
definitions have to be updated to include -1's for the resolutions that do not
support the numbers of colours added.
********************************************************************************
Removing "Quit" from the menu
-----------------------------
The "Quit" option at the bottom of the iconbar menu can be removed to prevent
the program being accidentally quit:
Load the "Messages" file in the !DeskCtrl directory into a text editor such
as !Edit and look for the the line:
menu.main:Info,Palette,Mode,Font,Texture,CMOS,Options,Quit
and remove the "Quit" entry from the end, thus:
menu.main:Info,Palette,Mode,Font,Texture,CMOS,Options
and save the file.
The next time !DeskCtrl is loaded, the option will be gone from the menu,
but the program can still be quit using the taskmanager.
********************************************************************************
Contacting the author
--------------------
I, Andrew Sellors, can be contacted either at
57 Boundaries Road
Feltham
Middlesex
TW13 5DR
England
Or via Internet email at
asellors@orac2.demon.co.uk
Any feedback from users (bugs reports, requests for new features etc.) is
gladly received.
********************************************************************************
Credits
-------
Thanks must go to Paul Coucher who beta tested the previous versions and pointed
out all the bugs in both this program and the outline font patch for the window
manager.
This program was written with the help of the basic library
linker, !Blib by Ian Palmer and the folowing libraries
Event - © Ian Palmer, 1st March 1993
Icon - © Ian Palmer & Tom Hughes, 1st March 1993
Memory - © Ian Palmer, 1st March 1993
Menu - © Ian Palmer, 1st March 1993
Message - © Tom Hughes 28th January 1993
OS - © Ian Palmer, 1st March 1993
Sprite - © Tom Hughes 1st March 1993
Template - © Ian Palmer & Tom Hughes, 2nd March 1993
Transfer - © Tom Hughes 26th February 1993
Window - © Ian Palmer & Tom Hughes, 1st March 1993