Thank you for downloading and trying DP Autochanger.
DP Autochanger is a shareware product that changes your desktop picture automatically. You set the time between changes. The new picture is chosen at random from a folder you choose. DP Autochanger keeps track of which pictures have been shown so that all the pictures in your folder are shown, unlike many randomizers.
DP Autochanger requires Mac OS 8 or later.
Please share this with others. I would appreciate it if you would pass on the complete package. The easiest way to make sure of that is to give the stuffed package, or the folder you get when you unstuff the package. Please don’t pass on your preferences file, as that may cause confusion.
If you would like to see graphics of the dialogs discussed here, please refer to the HTML docs. To read them, drop DPAutochanger.html on your Web Browser (you don’t need to be connected to a network to do this). You can also open the file from inside the browser.
What’s new in DP Autochanger 1.2
• 8.5 Compatible
• Handles non picture files more gracefully
• Drag & Drop desktop picture display
• Allows Change Intervals of less than 1 minute
Caveats
Opening and quitting the Appearance Control Panel too many times under 8.5 will cause strange effects, and may lead to a crash. This appears to be a flaw in the Appearance Control Panel. It is best to let DP Autochanger leave the Control Panel open.
If you choose to let DP Autochanger leave the control panel (Desktop Pictures under 8 and 8.1 and Appearance under 8.5) open under any system, let it do the clean up as well. When DP Autochanger quits, it will attempt to close the control panel if thinks it has left it open. If the control panel is not open, DP Autochanger will open it in order to quit it.
Using DP Autochanger
It’s not hard to use DP Autochanger. The first time you run DP Autochanger, you will be asked to find the folder that contains the pictures you would like to use. Just use the standard file dialog to navigate to the folder you would like to use, and click on the choose button at the bottom.
If there are invisible files, folders or other non picture files in the folder you select, you will see a dialog telling you so.
If you click yes, you will see a standard save dialog that will allow you to enter a name and a file location.
You can look at the file that is then saved with SimpleText to find the files that DP Autochanger does not think it can display. DP Autochanger will skip these files while it is choosing a file to display.
You will then be asked for the interval, in minutes, that you would like to pass before the picture is changed. Type in the minutes, and click the “OK” button. You can enter a number less than one.
Next you will be asked to select the alignment you would like to use. You can choose to have Desktop Pictures do it automatically, have the pictures tiled on your screen, or you can choose one of three other options, Center, Scale or Fill.
Once you choose an alignment, the same one will be used for all pictures in the folder. All of these preferences will be saved for you, so you will not be asked the next time you run DP Autochanger. You can change them using the DP Autochanger Editor.
You have the option to have DP Autochanger change the desktop picture as soon as it starts running, or you can have it wait until the first iteration.
You can choose to have DP Autochanger leave the Control Panel open at all times. Under Mac OS 8 and 8.1, this is an option that allows the pictures to change more quickly, so you will see a dialog offering you the choice.
Under 8.5, not leaving the Appearance Control Panel open can lead to a crash (see the caveat above), so a dialog discussing this is shown.
I strongly recommend that you take the default, and leave the Appearance Control Panel open. No window will open when you do this, so if you need to change a setting in the Appearance Control Panel, I recommend that you quit DP Autochanger, and re-launch the Appearance Control Panel. After you are done making your changes, quit the Appearance Control Panel, and relaunch DP Autochanger.
You will be asked whether you want to have DP Autochanger start each time you start your computer.
If you select “Yes”, an alias to DP Autochanger will be created in your startup items folder, and you will not be asked again. If you select “No” you will be asked this question each time you run DP Autochanger. If you choose “Don’t Ask Again”, the alias will not be made, and you will not be asked. If you change your mind later, and decide that you do want to have DP Autochanger start automatically, you can reset this in DP Autochanger Editor.
Since DP Autochanger is shareware, the first time you start it, you will see a message telling you that. DP Autochanger will not bother you again for 30 days, and then a request for the registration key will appear each time you start DP Autochanger. See below for registration information.
Drag & Drop Operation
DP Autochanger will accept files and folders dropped on it. You can drop no matter whether DP Autochanger is running or not. If you drop a picture file on DP Autochanger, it will immediately display the picture as the desktop picture. At the next interval, a picture from the currently selected folder will replace it. If you drop a non picture file on DP Autochanger, it will advise you that it cannot display that file.
If you drop a folder on DP Autochanger, it will scan it for picture files. If there are non picture files, invisible files or folders in the folder, it will tell you, and offer you a chance to save a list of the offending files.
If you click yes, you will see a standard save dialog that will allow you to enter a name and a file location.
You can look at the file that is saved with SimpleText to find the files that DP Autochanger does not think it can display. DP Autochanger will skip these files while it is choosing a file to display.
You will then be asked for the interval, in minutes, that you would like to pass before the picture is changed. Type in the minutes, and click the “OK” button. You can enter a number less than one.
Next you will be asked to select the alignment you would like to use. You can choose to have Desktop Pictures do it automatically, have the pictures tiled on your screen or you can choose one of three other options, Center, Scale or Fill.
Once you choose an alignment, the same one will be used for all pictures in the folder. All of these preferences will be saved for you, so you will not be asked the next time you run DP Autochanger. You can change them using the DP Autochanger Editor.
If DP Autochanger is not running, you will be asked about leaving the control panel open.
If DP Autochanger is running, it will wait until the previous interval has passed before making your folder drop changes.
Changing Your Preferences
Use the DP Autochanger Editor to change your preferences. When you run the editor, you will first be asked about your choice regarding the open state of the control panel.
Next, you can choose a different startup option. The current option will be the default.
Next, you will see the display of your preferences. Here you can choose to use the current preferences, change one of the three displayed preferences, or choose to register or ask for the automatic launch question again. If you have registered, and if you did not choose “Don’t Ask Again” when asked about launching every time you start your computer, the “Change Other” option will not be presented.
Selecting “Change Other” will lead to one or two other questions, depending on your situation. If you have not yet entered your registration key (see below), you will be asked for it.
When you register and enter the correct key, you will not be bothered by DP Autochanger nor will you be asked in the Editor.
If you chose not to have DP Autochanger automatically launch, and you chose “Don’t Ask Again”, you will have an opportunity to change that. If you would like the opportunity to have DP Autochanger ask you about starting automatically, click on “Please ask”.
When you have answered the questions which appear, you will be returned to the opening dialog for the Editor. If you choose “Change”, you will see the next dialog, which asks you to choose the Folder Location, the Intercal or the Alignment.
You can choose one of the three items to change. They each lead to the same questions which you answered when you first started DP Autochanger (see above). No matter which you choose, when you are done making your change, you will return to the opening, and be allowed to change something else.
When you choose “Use These”, you will end your editing session. The preferences will be written out, and you will see a dialog to remind you about when the changes will take place. Remember that you will not see any of these changes until the previous interval time has passed.
DP Autochanger Hints and Tips
DP Autochanger uses the Desktop Pictures Control Panel to display the pictures. There are some limitations. You cannot display any file that isn’t a picture. If you have any files in your selected folder that are not valid picture formats, they will be skipped over.
Some pictures may not fill the screen. This will particularly be the case if you have chosen center alignment. In this case, the selected desktop pattern will be displayed in those areas of the screen where the picture is not. You might want to choose a neutral pattern in case of this.
Apple’s Desktop Pictures Control Panel uses Quicktime to translate the picture formats. Quicktime 2.5 can read the following formats:
GIF
JFIF/JPEG
MacPaint
Photoshop
QuickDraw Picture (PICT)
QuickTime 3.0 supports a wide range of industry-standard digital media file formats, including the following still image formats:
BMP (Windows Bitmap)
GIF
JFIF/JPEG
MacPaint
Photoshop
PNG
QuickDraw Picture (PICT)
QuickDraw GX Picture
QuickTime Image File
Silicon Graphics Image File
Targa Image File
TIFF
DP Autochanger 1.2 skips any file that is not one of the types that QuickTime 3 can read.
Apple has provided a number of interesting desktop pictures. Under Mac OS 8.1 or 8.5, look in your Apple Extras folder under Sample Desktop Pictures. Under 8.5, you will find pictures in the Appearance folder in the System Folder. You will find more pictures on the CDs. Look in CD Extras.
Paying for DP Autochanger
DP Autochanger has the following pricing. Single user licenses cost $5 per user. A Site License costs $250 (equal to 50 users) and covers all locations for your organization within a 160 kilometer radius of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using the software. A World-Wide License costs $1000 and it covers all locations for your organization on the planet earth.
Paying for DP Autochanger is fairly simple. You can either the Register program that you downloaded with the program, or you can register online at <http://order.kagi.com/?DC> .
If you choose not to register online, open the Register program that accompanies DP Autochanger. Enter your name, your email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire for each program you wish to purchase (or Site or Word-Wide licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. More specifics on the Register program to follow. Kagi handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-DC
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical. If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment. Kagi can not invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed. Payments sent via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
As noted above, after 30 days DP Autochanger will remind you about paying the shareware on each startup until you enter the key. When you pay, Kagi will send you the key. You can either enter the key in DP Autochanger when it asks, or you can run the Editor and enter it there. If you do not have an email address, please enter your complete postal address. Please remember we do not know what country you live in, so please enter that into the postal address also.
If you do not have an email address you should consider selecting the Postcard Receipt so that Kagi can inform you of your registration code. Kagi transmits the registration codes via email and paid postcard receipt only.
Credits and Acknowledgements
“Cancun Sunset”, the picture on the right of the DP Autochanger icon, is Copyright 1997 Laura Garnel. It is used with permission. “Midsummer Night”, the picture on the left of the DP Autochanger icon, is Copyright 1997 Eric Joustra.
Thanks to Keith Carlile, John Carlile, Ken Carlile, and Mike Weasner for testing and suggestions. They are my father, brother, son, and friend respectively.
