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1993-02-27
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219 lines
Help file for Palette Plus.
===========================
This programme is ©1991 to P.R.Banks (me) but it may be copied and
duplicated for use as long as all files stored in its sub-directory are
copied as well. I withhold all rights to the code contained in it and if
you wish to use code from this application you must obtain permission in
writing from myself. Not that it is particularly worth it as the code is
fairly simple.
To use it double click on it and it will load itself and ,dependant
on the setting of its configuration file, open a window showing informat-
ion on the current screen mode. Clicking select on the icon will open this
window (if it is closed) or reopen it at the top of the screen if it is
not open. The auto-open option can be turned off. Clicking menu will
present you with this menu :-
----------------
| Palette Plus | ----------
---------------- | Status |
| Info -» | ----------
| Status -» | | View |
| Revise List | | Save |
| Find Mode | ----------
| Mode List |
| Quit |
----------------
'Info' :- leads to a standard window informing you who wrote this
and what it does....boring I know but it does keep to the standard.
'Revise List':- does precisely that and updates the programmes list of
what modes are available for use. You should use this option whenever you
load or kill a module that has screen mode definitions in it. It must be
noted that non wimp modes are ignored (ie mainly modes 3,6 & 7). This is
because I felt it was pointless including modes that cannot be reached
from the Wimp.
'Find Mode' :- Opens a window that allows you to search for a desired
screen mode. To use the window fill all the white Desired Statistics icons
with the wanted X resolution,Y resolution & Colours of the screen you want
. Either hitting return when the caret is in the Colours white icon or
clicking on the 'Search' icon will cause the programme ,using the config-
ured search scheme,to look for the best fit mode currently available. This
option is most useful when you are porting images from other machines and
you want to find the best Archimedes screen to display them in. The search
algorithm makes no assumptions about the machines hardware and will take
advantage of Multisync,VGA or High Res Monochrome monitors as well as the
standard Arc monitor. Also any graphics cards installed,if they inform the
O.S. in the correct way,will be taken advantage of. Of course if you are
using a High Res Monochrome monitor expect predictable answers!
'Mode List' :- This opens a window that lists all known screen modes with
their colours and resolutions. If the 'SafetyLock' is off clicking on the
window will select the screen mode currently highlighted allowing you to
pick and choose for yourself!
'Quit' :- Well if you can't guess what this does you are using the
wrong machine! Please note the configuration settings you are using must
be explicitly saved and the programme will let you quit without saving
them! (This is mainly because the configuration settings are so trivial
...)
'Status' :- This leads to a sub menu which allows you to alter or save
your configuration of this programme and it has two options :-
'View' opens the configure window that allows you to set the
Search Type used. X and Y searches do so by selecting
all modes with the right colours and then selecting
out of this sub list by X or Y resolutions first
fitting the second resolution last. This can lead to
different results depending on the information
entered in the white Desired statistics icons. X:Y
Ratio searches for a screen mode with the closest
fitting Ratio of Pixels to that entered. When X:Y
Ratio search meets two screen modes with equally good
ratios it selects the one with the highest number of
pixels so that the screen mode with the greatest
chance of displaying all of the picture at once is
chosen.In general the order of preference of search
is :-
X:Y Ratio (because this preserves the
correct image aspect)
X first (because Y compression is
less noticable than X)
Y first (for the reasons above)
Other flags to be set or unset are 'safetylock',
'close on select' & 'open at start up'.
'SafetyLock' :- When set it locks the Mode List
window so that clicking on it has no effect.
This is to allow you to prevent accidental
clicking on the window creating havoc with the
machine suddenly changing screen mode! This can
and has caused problems for me before....
'Close on Select' :- This ,when set, causes the
mode list window to close when clicked on with
the select mouse button (The left most button).
This is to give the window a 'Menu' feel that
you can select a mode and the window will go
away. It also means that the chances of an
accidental clicking on this window are reduced
as it does not stay around on screen till you
call it. Please note when the safety lock option is set this option is ignored....
'Open at Start Up' :- This controls whether the
application opens it's main window when it is
started. Setting it to off does give the
application a more 'RISC-OS' feel to it as all
you see is the icon on the icon bar till you
summon the main window...
'Save' saves the Search type used the 'Safetylock','Close on
Select' & 'Open at Start Up' setting to the config
file in the application directory. When the
application is next started these settings will,of
course,be preserved. This is merely to prevent a
ritual of setting these options everytime you start
the application up.
At any time you may use the Help application on the Risc OS Application
Disk 1 to aid you. The help works in any of the windows and is context
sensitive. And that is the lot really. This application was designed
because there are alot of public domain modules about that provide new
screen modes and don't document their exsistence at all (StrongED by
Guttorm 'Armstrong' Vik is a prime example in providing mode 127...) also
the desktop palette utility is a little sparse in detail when it comes to
screen modes where it expects you to go hunting through manuals to find
detailed information. It is so much nicer to have this information
presented online as it were....
If this programme makes it out of the Wellington region of New
Zealand I would appreciate either a letter or (preferrably) an email
message to me at 'banks_p@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz'. The email address is valid
indefinitely for the moment. The address for the letter is:-
Mr P.R.Banks,
10 Southgate Rd,
Island Bay,
Wellington 2,
New Zealand.
Of course any bug reports or suggestions for improvement will be
welcomed to either of these addresses too. Well have fun with this
programme and I hope you get as much enjoyment out of using it as I have
gained out of writing it.
Version History
===============
Version | Comments
------------------------------------------------------------------
0.00 | Simple non 'Wimped' version. (25-Jul-1990)
0.01 | First Wimp version and first Publicly released version.
| (28-Jul-1990)
0.02 | Tidied up some internal window handling (29-Jul-1990)
1.01 | Added the 'mode search' function and attendant routines.
| Not bad I reckon for not having my Manual on the Wimp
| here! Needs more work though.... (28-Aug-1990)
1.02 | Added the Hourglass function to 'Acornise' the program
| properly. Still haven't got my manual back and I need
| to add caret handleing to the dialogue box!!!
| (19-Oct-1990)
1.03 | Added Caret handleing and some key processing to the
| find mode window.Still no sign of the manual....
| :-( (3-Jan-1991)
1.04 | Updated the Hourglass percentage generator to give a
| more realistic percentage. Added the beginings of
| the Mode List window.Added the icon handling code
| in preparation for this window. (3-Jan-1991)
2.00 | Added the Mode List window in full. This version now
| presents you with a full list of all current modes
| and allows you to select a mode at the press of a
| rodent! (5-Jan-1991)
2.01 | Added the code to fix a redraw window problem...I tell
| ya *never* try to get the wimp to draw icons upside-
| down by putting the max y in the min y and vice verca..
| .. The wimp does some very unusual things. (5-Jan-1991)
2.02 | Added two new search types instead of the fixed X first
| search. Added the icons to handle the new code. Began
| making the configuration window. (5-Jan-1991)
2.03 | Added the 'Safetylock' feature to prevent accidents switching
| the screen mode about. (5-Jan-1991)
2.04 | Added the configuration save feature and tidied up the iconbar
| code. Now it *always* displays the icon! (5-Jan-1991)
2.05 | Added a new icon to the main window to display the total no.
| of modes known to the program. (5-Jan-1991)
2.06 | Added the code to handle the suggestions sent to me by email
| to configure whether you want the main window to open at
| start up and whether the mode list window acts like a menu
| or a window. (20-Feb-1991)
2.07 | Added the code for interactive help from the Help application
| on the Risc OS Applications Disk 1. Even made the help
| context sensitive! (10-Mar-1991)
2.08 | Tidied up the window code a bit more (some nice interface
| touches) and cleaned up the interactive help some more.
| It now gives a default level of help on windows without
| having to query an icon. (04-May-1991)
2.09 | Added a new memory monitoring variable to prevent errors in the
| Wimp_Slot sizing and tided up a memory allocation error.
| (15-May-1991)
2.10 | Corrected a memory dimensioning error which caused the program
| to run out of memory and die on a 1 meg machine (*blush*).
| Now once all functions have been used once no more memory is
| needed. (17-May-1991)
2.11 | General tidying up internally. Added a few more help messages.
| Thats about it really. (18-May-1991)
2.12 | Corrected it for use with ScResizer so that it auotmatically
| updates it's mode list window for the current screen mode.
| Altered the mode list window so that non-wimp modes no longer
| show up. Corrected a few potentialy embarrising errors
| regarding memory usage. <sigh...> now up to 56K on a 1 Meg
| machine. So much for keeping it small! (15-Jun-1991)
2.13 | `Templated' the information window to save on internal space.
| Added the attendant code to handle this. Also compacted the
| mode list window to help on space as well. (15-Jun-1991)
2.14 | Cured a small bug in a procedure thats stops non fatal but
| annoying errors. <Sigh> always remember your special cases!
| As my Comp Lecturer tells my class every so often.
| (13-Jul-1991)
2.15 | Fixed a minor open_window bug that caused problems under RO3.
If this file flashed by too fast to read load in !Edit and try again. And
if you can't manage that I *really* can't help you.... :-)