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*** THIS SOFTWARE IS SHAREWARE *** /\ / \ / / / / /\ ONT MANAGER RELEASE II \ \/ \ \ / \ / \ \ \ \ \ / \/ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Manual for !FontMGR2. Version 0.12 For RiSCOS 3 font management. © Andrew P. Lindesay 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Written by Andrew Lindesay at Auckland, New Zealand. PO Box 28 548 Auckland New Zealand fax (64-9) 528 5691 (before April 1995) ph (64-9) 528 8776 (before April 1995 and evenings) eMail apl@kcbbs.gen.nz ------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS SOFTWARE IS MADE IN NEW ZEALAND ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • RELEASE ONE AND RELEASE TWO There currently exist two releases of Font Manager. This is release two. The version numbers between the two releases are completely independent. Looking back this hasn't been such a good idea, but now it has to be. Within this document "!FontMGR" refers to release one, and "!FontMGR2" refers to release two. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • LEGAL CONDITIONS - SHAREWARE Release one was freeware and has been quite a success. Many people are now using it, and finding it invaluable. I have written much freeware software including the new !Graffiti painting application and it has all been of a high standard. Now I need a new computer and I have decided to make release two of Font Manager shareware. However having said this don't get disappointed because it's only £2.00, which I needn't remind you is very inexpensive. The reason why it's so very inexpensive is because I want to allow every RiSC OS 3 user to be able to afford it and hopefully people will be more honest if the fee isn't too large. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Please send the following amount in cash, bank cheque or postal cheque: UK pounds 2.00 German marks 5.00 Australian dollars 5.00 New Zealand dollars 5.00 to: Andrew Lindesay PO Box 28 548 Remuera Auckland NEW ZEALAND By sending twice the required amount and a 3.5" 800k E-format or 3.5" 1.6M format disc you will also receive the latest version. I may return your disc blank PLUS another one with the software on it, but please supply a disc just in case. Please also supply a name and address for registration. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- You are allowed seven days in order to fully evaluate the software. At the end of the seven days if you are not happy with it, please destroy your copy or pass it on to a friend. If you do decide to keep it, then please note that your money is not refundable. Note that the payment also entitles you to any future versions of release two and also any release two utilities that may be written - although you will have to obtain them yourselves. If you would like to include !FontMGR2 in a software package then please take note of the amount I must be send for each copy released. This scheme is designed to make including this software in your products affordable and hence viable. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Value of product: Amount I must be sent per copy: less than UK£20 UK£0.20 less than or equal to UK£100 UK£0.50 greater than UK£100 UK£0.80 -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- This does not mean you are entitled to sell !FontMGR2 on it's own, it must be with another software package. Note that if you are going to enter into the above arrangement please inform me of what you intend to do. Also note that the conditions of use must also be met. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • CONDITIONS OF USE 1. I take no responsibility for the loss of data through the use or misuse of this application, or any assocaited files or utilities. 2. No part or parts of this application, associated utilities or files may be used in the development of any other application in any form - especially sprites (except the file_3f8 icon) 3. Any distributed copies must be supplied with all utilities, files and manuals. The copies must be in full with no files missing and as you found them. If you want to make an exception to this please write to me. 4. None of the application's internal files may be tampered with, with the exception of the files in the directory "!FontMGR2.Resources.Messages". 5. The distribution of this software is entirely free. It may be stored on any media/bbs/pd/cd resources or library. However if you wish to use it, the required money must be posted to the author. 6. I will not, and cannot refund any money sent to me. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • INTRODUCTION !FontMGR2 was designed to give a better interface to you for your fonts. It is fair to say that it performs this task very well. In addition to this, !FontMGR2 allows you to group fonts and turn those groups on and off. So that applications you are using can have those fonts hidden from them. This means no more five yard font menus firing up your screen when you go to change font. It also allows you to store setups and it's display features are not only configureable, but also a pleasure to use. Remember if you have any ideas that might be useful for further versions or to add into utilities then I would consider them for the future versions and utilities. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • WHAT YOU NEED TO RUN !FontMGR2. Font Manager requires RiSC OS 3, version 3.1 or greater. Two friends have used the !FontMGR2 package on their Risc PC's, which use Risc OS 3.5 and I have been told the system works smoothly after I made a few adjustments. When enough people (around 550) have sent their £2.00 to me, I will purchase a Risc PC and hence the Risc PC option in the display choices window can be used. I feel that running !FontMGR2 off floppy discs is a futile excercise. It is far more suited to living on a mass storeage media such as hard discs or a magneto-optical disc. If you have very few fonts then installing !FontMGR2 may seem to be a bit unecessary. In this case you are probably right, but if you have more than 10 fonts it will most likely be useful and if you have more than 25 then it will most likely be invaluable. Some users may wish to install !FontMGR2 with few fonts in order to use the utilities such as FontView, FontPages and MaTrcicks ------------------------------------------------------------------- • INSTALLATION To install a copy of !FontMGR2 just drag it from the media it's supplied on to the destination drive or media. If you wish to install !Fonts into the new copy of !FontMGR2, just create a group and drag the "!Fonts" onto the "!FontMGR2" window. To create a group, use the item off the main menu entitled "Create Group" ------------------------------------------------------------------- • INSTALLING FROM !FontMGR. Supplied is a utility called "!FM1->FM2". By first unlocking all directories, files and applications concerned and running this application you can quickly and easily transfer all your fonts from "!FontMGR" to "!FontMGR2". ------------------------------------------------------------------- • FONT MANAGER RELEASE TWO @ STARTUP TIME This is done via the normal boot file system. Simply open a directory viewer (filer window) that contains your working copy of !FontMGR2, set up your machine how you want it at startup time and save a Boot file. Those that have some technical experience may wish to simply add a "Filer_Boot" command to their existing "!Boot" file. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE IDEAS BEHIND FONT MANAGER RELEASE TWO In the past it has been difficult for the user to grasp the idea of the font being an entity in itself. Manipulation has always involved directory structures and users have been somewhat confused as to how they can manipulate fonts on their hard discs. Font Manager release two essentially puts something between the stored font and the user; an interface. Font Manager release two also allows you to group fonts together and keep them stored in these groups. Moving fonts from group to group isn't a problem as with the usual filer operations that you would expect. You will be able to export quickly and easily as "!Fonts" directories or normal filer directories - as with importing. Perhaps the most compelling reason to install this software is that you can turn groups 'on' and 'off'. You may be aware of the annoyance in having a font menu that scrolls off the screen and you have to drag through a yard of menu to get to the font you want. However all along you only really wanted about ten of the five hundred that come up. Whilst your applications are running on the desktop you can turn groups of fonts on they will appear in the application's list. If you make a group passive it's fonts will be hidden from the applications you are using. Additionally in recent versions some exciting new utilities have arrived. FontView allows you to view individual fonts and FontPages allows you to view a group or groups of fonts and then print out pages of font specimens. DocScan allows you to drop in documents created by an editor and activate any groups that contain fonts used in that document. So in summary, fonts are stored in groups much like directories and those groups can either be active or passive, which means the fonts inside the active groups will be available for use and those in the passive groups will be 'hidden'. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE WINDOWS The main window opens out with two smaller windows within it. They are called "Groups" and "Fonts". The bar at the bottom is called the "info bar" and to the left of it is an option button. The info bar gives you help with an operation that you have just performed such as 'make a group active'. The option button allows you to turn this help function on and off so that help is or isn't displayed. The button to the left is the resize button. The purpose of the resize button is to allow you to vertically change the height of the main window, and hence the little windows within it. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • CREATING GROUPS Unless you have installed Font Manager release two using the application "!FM1->FM2" then you will currently have a copy of "!FontMGR2" with no groups and no fonts. To create groups, open the main menu by clicking the [MENU] mouse button on any part of the main window. Use the menu item [Create Group->] by typing in a new name up to ten characters and choose that item by pressing [RETURN]. You will now notice that a group has been created in the "Groups" window. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • INSTALLING !Fonts This section deals with how to get your "!Fonts" directory copied into "!FontMGR2". It is very simple. Click on the group you wish to install into with the [SELECT] mouse button. Now drag the "!Fonts" directory onto the "Fonts" window within !FontMGR2's main window. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • INSTALLING Fonts This section deals with how to install a font as a directory structure into !FontMGR2. Simply click [SELECT] on the group you wish to copy the font to. Now drag the font in question onto the "Fonts" window within !FontMGR2's main window. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • EXPORTING !Fonts AND FONT DIRECTORIES Because many users (soon hopefully few) still use "!Fonts" directories to store fonts, I haved used the "!Fonts" directory as a means of tranporting groups. The easiest way to save is to simply drag a group or font from the "Groups" or "Fonts" window. Alternatively if you wish to nominate a name for the exported item you can use the menu [<clicked on name> -> Export ->] which leads to a standard save dialogue box where you can export fonts or groups. If you would rather save groups into directories, see the section entitled "THE EXPORT DIALOGUE BOX". ------------------------------------------------------------------- • MOVING FONTS FROM ONE GROUP TO ANOTHER GROUP Simply drag the font in question from the "Fonts" window and drop it onto the destination group in the "Groups" window. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE SELECTED GROUP AND CHANGING ACTIVE/PASSIVE The "selected group" is a term to define the one group that has it's fonts displayed in the "Fonts" window. There can be only one selected group at a time because there is only one "Fonts" window in which to display fonts. Clicking the [SELECT] mouse button on a group will make it the selected group. To toggle (change state) between active and passive, click the [ADJUST] mouse button on the group in question. An active group will have a little tick displayed to the left of it, indicating that it is active. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • SELECTING FONTS You can select one or more fonts at a time for use with the filer operations. Click [SELECT] on the first one to be selected and [ADJUST] for any additional ones. Alternatively you can hold down [SHIFT] and click [SELECT] instead of using [ADJUST]. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • PERFORMING FILER OPERATIONS These are all obtainable by clicking the [MENU] mouse button on a group or font. Use the menu items under the item that contains the name of the group or font. Note that if you have more than one font selected, the software will display "Font Selection". The operations that the menu makes available to you are: 1. DELETE 2. RENAME -> Enter a name in the writable item and press [RETURN]. 3. COPY -> Enter a name in the writable item and press [RETURN]. 4. EXPORT -> Use the normal save box to save the group or font. 5. SELECT ALL 6. FILER Item 5 allows you to select all the fonts, but only if the menu click was over the "Fonts" window. Item 6 allows you to open the group or font directories as normal directory viewers. !FontMGR2 internally stores the groups and fonts in a directory structure and sometimes it is convenient to access them through the filer system rather than !FontMGR2. Having said this, almost everything you will need !FontMGR2 supplied in terms of filer operations. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • EFFECT SET The changes to which groups are active are not immediately seen in your application's font lists. To enforce the changes you must use the [effect set] menu item off the main menu. You can however have the configuration option [changes are immediate] which ensures any changes are immediately followed by resetting RiSC OS's font lists - this means you need not use the [effect set] menu item. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • REORDERING GROUPS Holding down the [SHIFT] key on the keyboard and using the [SELECT] key on the mouse on a group you can reorder a group in the list. It's basically a drag operation. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • SAVING AND LOADING SCRIPTS Scripts are a feature of !FontMGR2 that allow you to store various pieces of information. What gets saved is the contents of the options dialogue box settings except the display options dialogue box. In addition to this is the information concerning which groups are active, which is the selected list and what order the groups are in. To save a script use the menu item [save]. This lead to a standard dialogue box and from there you can save a script that describes the current setup. To load such a file simply double click on it or drag it onto the !FontMGR2 window. Choosing the [configure->save default] item will save the current setup as the default into a script file. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE CONFIGURATION SYSTEM These allow you to set !FontMGR2 up exactly how you want. There are three and all are obtained from the [configure] menu item off the main menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE EXPORT DIALOGUE BOX This allows you to set the configuration of the exporting features of !FontMGR2. 1. Overwrite Existing Files. This option is on permanently. 2. Export Filer Directories. When exporting groups, they will export as filer directories containing the fonts as opposed to a !Fonts directory. 3. Export Font Directories. Option two and three (as listed here) are radio buttons, so this is the other option for exporting. When on, groups being exported will be exported as "!Fonts" directories. 4. Install on Viewing. When exporting a !Fonts directory this option means that the !Fonts directory will automatically become active when the filer 'sees' it. If you don't understand this, just leave this option on. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE OPTIONS DIALOGUE BOX This allows you to setup !FontMGR2 with respect to general application features. 1. *FontInstall. This means that when you choose the option [effect set] from the main menu, RiSC OS will be reinformed of what fonts are available to it. This may take a few seconds each time it need to be done, so the option is provided for you to turn it off. It seems that most applications update the information by themselves so turning this option off isn't really a problem. 2. All Active. When turned on, all groups are treated as 'active'. 3. Changes are Immediate. This option means that when turned on any change from active/passive with respect to groups means that change will be seen immediately in the available fonts. I recommend this option is turned on. 4. Save Status on Quitting. This means that the default is updated everytime you quit. Effectively this means that !FontMGR2 comes setup exactly how you left it each time. This option should be left on. 5. Extended Paths. This option means you can have up to twenty groups active at a time, but also your copy of !FontMGR2 must not have more than 20 groups. Leaving this option off means you can only have 12 groups active at any one time, but you can have up to 79 groups in !FontMGR2. I reccomend it be left on. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE DISPLAY DIALOGUE BOX AND THE RESIZE BUTTON This allows you to change various aesthetic aspects of !FontMGR2. In particular it makes changing font, size and window height very easy. Use the writable icons to change the settings and click on [use] to enforce the changes and [save] to save the settings for each time !FontMGR2 is loaded. Note that the display height must have units to be valid. The units currently recognised are millimetres, inches, centimetres and os_units. These abbreviate to "mm", "inch", "cm" and "os". An easier way to change the height of the window is to use the resize button, just to the right of the info bar. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • WRITING YOUR OWN SCRIPTS Some people and third parties may wish to write their own scripts for various reasons. Please refer to the document "!FontMGR2.TechText.Scripts" for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • STORING YOUR FONTS OUTSIDE !FontMGR2. Many early users have expressed an interest in storing their fonts outside !FontMGR2. This is something I have also wanted and it has been implemented via a utility called "FontLocus". Details of this feature is documented under the "FontLocus" heading. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE UTILITIES These are extended functions that !FontMGR2 makes avalible, but without taking up the memory unless required. The means of back communication is via the script, described in the directory "!FontMGR2.TechText". Please feel free to read. Below are some instructions to help with using the utilities. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • FONTVIEW This simply allows you to view fonts individually. Run the utility and then a window will open up mid-screen. The writeable icon is for adjusting the size of the font and the icon on the right is for adjusting the font being used at present. You can edit the text in the larger writeable icon and see how various letters and combinations of letters might look on the printed page. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • FONTPAGES Note that to print from FontPgaes, you will need to have a printer driver loaded. FontPages takes it's page boundried from the graphics margin (editable from the !Printers application). So, if the page seems irregular on the page, use the page definition window to adjust the values relating to graphics boundries. Run the utility from the !FontMGR2 menu and a window will open up mid-screen. This allows you the choices for how the page will look in the window and on the printed page. These choices are described below: 1. Include ROM fonts 2. Sample 3. Font 4. Label size 5. Use size 6. Display 7. Cancel 8. Save 1. This allows you to inform !FontMGR2 that you wish to ignore those fonts that reside in ROM such as Homerton, Corpus and Trinity. After all, why would you want these fonts on every font speciment sheet you produce? 2. This is the text that will be used as the specimen, or example. 3. The labels that are used to describe the font in question are in this font. 4. This is the label's text size. 5. This is the size of the specimen. 6. This opens the window displaying the fonts in question. 7. Obviously this quits FontPages. 8. Saves these settings for next time you use the software When the main window opens up displaying what fonts are avaliable, clicking [MENU] on the mouse opens up the main menu. From this menu, you can print, save and quit. If you wish to organise the fonts in your own way, then use the save dialogue box off the main menu, which allows you to save as draw paths the entire page. This should be of particular use to many people. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • DOCSCAN This is so that you can 'drop' in a document from an editor; ie wordprocessor, spreadsheet, graphics package or similar and it will try to evaluate all the fonts that are used in that file. Neddless to say this is VERY useful! The number of files that can currently be recognised is a bit limited, but I hope to expand these in future: - Impression's DDF - Acorn's Draw format - Window Template If you know of a file format you would like supported by DocScan, I would be happy to implement it. Send the format details, some example files and an editor to the author of this software. In addition to this there is an "undefined" parameter, which means that it selects anything in the file that looks like a font and includes it in the scan (this is often 100% sucessful). The "undefined" option hopefully means that almost all files can be scanned in. What happens is that a script with a FontHunt is built and passed back to !FontMGR2, which then scans for groups containing those fonts. In order to scan, just drop a file into the window and either press the [RETURN] key or click on the [Effect] button. If the file you have dropped in is a regognised format then make sure that format is displayed because it will be more accurate. If you wish to save the script for other uses click on the [Script] button. For faster access to this faculty, just drag your file into the main !FontMGR2 window and FontScan will automatically load with the appropriate settings. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • MATRICKS Under RiscOS 3, certain fonts (via experimentation those with the charcteristic "IntMetric0" file) are able to have fonts within the family (forms) that can be defined by the parent font with the addition of a Matrix (hence the witty name). For non mathematicians, the common matrix is just a whole heap of numbers collected together that can perform various graphic operations. These include rotation, scaling, translation and shearing. Again the non mathematician has a face full of woe and disponency. For this reason and general clarification I will give a short description of these concepts: Rotation - By fixing a point on any given letter, the letter is then rotated through (by) a certain angle about (around) this fixed point. eg: Take a piece of card, hammer a nil in to it and move the card about the nail. Scaling - This is 'streching' the letter in question in either the x (horizontal) or y (vertical) direction. eg: Take a light sheet of rubber and streach it in any planar (horizontal or vertical) direction. Translation - This is movement of the object, but it still looks the same. eg: Take a ball, put it on a table and move it! Shearing - As well as something you might do to a sheep, this is where you take an (x,y) coordinate and add to the x-coordinate a proportion of the y value. This can also be done in the y axis. The end result is like taking a contraption with two steel sides and two elastic sides. Then move one of the steel sides across to the right, but keeping it the same height from the bottom steel side; streaching the elastic diagonally. The window opens up with some initially confusing-looking dialogue box. The first item is the "Form Name". This, is going to be the name of your new font. The second down is the font you wish to add this new form to. Clicking on the menu button to the right opens up a menu from which you can choose which font you want a new form of. Some fonts in this menu will be greyed out. They can't be added to because they are of the wrong type, or they are in ROM, and as we know you can't change anything in ROM! The next section in the dialogue box deals with performing transformations. Choose the type you want using the menu button, and enter an appropriate value. Rotation is measured in degrees and the others are proportions. Use the "Apply" button to adjust the numbers in the formula below to suit these values. The formulae precisely define what the transformation will be. You needn't know what this means, but to those who do need to know it should be fairly easy to understand. Use the "Show" button to get an example of what your transformation will end up looking like. Note that translations are not shown. The "Reset" button clears the matrix back to nothing and "Create" actually makes the new font. A word of warning may be in order before you enthusiastically create 40 new versions of "Selwyn" just in case you might need them. Like most things, you can over do something very easily. Like allowing a two year old to play with a welding torch, giving an unskilled user a powerful tool such as this can lead to awful problems. Try to restrain yourself and if possible use an application's own tools to perform rotations etc... if possible, in order to keep your fonts in tidy condition without hundreds of unecessary varieties of strange fonts. !NOTE! - Some transformations may not 'work' with some software, please feel free to experiment, but keep this in mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE INFO WINDOW The info window can be obtained via the main menu and the [info->info window] item. Much effort has gone into making this aesthetically pleasing - so please appreciate it! Also you can get information on this application and the author (me!) from this window. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE Currently I recommend that you restrict yourself to twenty groups. This is a huge number, and so I can't see this being a problem. This is due to some internal limitations on the system variables. Refer to the document "!FontMGR2.TechText.FontPath" for further information. If you are using an application that is using a particular font, X then don't suddenly make the group containing X passive because the application will do something undesirable. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THIRD PARTIES WRITING SOFTWARE If you would like to use !FontMGR2 from your own applications then you might find the information enclosed in the directory "!FontMGR2.TechText" interesting. It contains technical details about scripts and the paths system that !FontMGR2 uses. I have tried to make it cost effective to include !FontMGR2 in with your own software package and I would certainly like !FontMGR2 to become a standard so you are most welcome to use my script format for font information. If you would like to amend it then please discuss the change with me. ------------------------------------------------------------------- • THE MESSAGES FILE AND LANGUAGES I don't speak any other languages either than English. Well that's not entirely true. I do know BASIC, Pascal, C and ARM, but those would be inappropriate for this purpose. If you do speak another lanuage and do go to the bother of editing the Messages file please send me a copy and I will definitely support your language. I am particularly interested in supporting the German, French and Spanish lanuages, but would be delighted to add any others. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- ENJOY THE FONT ORGANISING...