OS/2 Shareware BBS: InfoMgt/InfoMgt.zip/cutv20.zip/cutit.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1994-07-03 | 20KB | 524 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                CutIt Version 2.0
                      (C) Copyright Andre Nancoz 1993, 1994

The CutIt application will append the contents of the clipboard into one of a
list of categories. It is a handy way to save notes from other applications,
e-mail, etc. into files of your choice or output the clipboard to the printer.

The main window is a categories list which can be adjusted to use a minimum
amount of screen real estate.  This window also contains a menu bar, paste
button, view button and status line.

A window for category maintenance and an options notebook can be opened when
needed from the main window menu bar. The application is exited via the close
option on the system menu or double clicking on the system menu. If the
category maintenance or options notebook are opened they will also be closed
when the main window is closed.

Windows (double click for more information).

    Main Window
    Category Update Window
    Option Notebook


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Command line parameter ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The only valid parameter is a profile file name.  If no parameter is specified
the default is CutIt.ini in the working directory. If the .ini file does not
exist or is not valid for the current version of CutIt a message box will pop
up.  See switch .ini file for more information.

The file specified may contain a path specification, if so the directory
specified will be switched to.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Main window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

When the size is changed the list box size is also changed. Double click on the
highlighted items in the list below or set the focus on a control in the window
and press F1 for help on each control.

The position and size of this window is saved when the application is closed.
When this window is closed the maintenance and options windows will also be
closed if they are open.

Menu Bar.

    File          Switch .ini file
    Update        Category or option maintenance
    Help          Contents, index, product info, etc

Controls.

    Paste         Paste from clipboard to category
    View          View or edit category
    Categories    List of categories
    Status        Messages (optional)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. File Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

At present the only option on this menu is switch .ini. This allows the use of
multiple category lists.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1.1. Switch Ini File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The default profile file is CutIt.ini which is maintained in the start up
directory of the application.  You can change the start up default by a command
line parameter or change to another profile after start up with this menu
option.

Selecting the "Switch ini" option displays a standard file dialog with which to
pick an .ini file or enter the name of new .ini file.  When a selection is made
the application will switch to the directory containing the .ini and attempt to
read it.  If the file does not exist or is not a valid CutIt profile file a
message box will be displayed. You will be given the options of "Yes", "No", or
"Cancel".

Yes       Use the specified file.  If it doesn't exist it will be created. If
          the file exists all current contents will be deleted.
No        The file dialog window will be displayed again allowing you to choose
          another file.
Cancel    This will cancel the "Switch ini" request and restore the previous
          profile file as the current one.

After selecting a new profile, if their are no categories defined the category
maintenance window will be opened or activated.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Update Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Selecting the main window menu bar/update item displays the following items.

Update Menu

    Categories    Add, change, or delete categories and their files.
    Options       Change options notebook.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.1. Category Update ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Selecting this item from the main window Update menu will open the category
update window or activate the window if it has already been opened.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2.2. Option Update ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Selecting this item from the main window Update menu will open the options
notebook  or activate the notebook if it has already been opened.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Help Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Besides accessing help table of contents, index and the introduction (general
help) you can also set the focus on a control and press F1.

Product information and registration is also available through this menu.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3.1. Product Information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                CutIt Version 2.0
                      (C) Copyright Andre Nancoz 1993, 1994

                        If you have registered, THANK YOU

                   Shareware registration fee $10.00 US funds.
                  Send checks, suggestions and bug reports to:

                                Mr. Andre Nancoz
                                 349 Quincy Ave.
                              Bronx, NY 10465-3011

                         Suggestions and bug reports to:
                             Compuserve ID: 73777,13


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. Paste Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Appends the contents of clipboard into the selected categories file.  If the
erase clipboard option is on, the clipboard will be cleared.  If no errors are
encountered the button will briefly turn green.  If the status bar is active
and the "display paste" option is on, the beginning of the pasted text will be
displayed.  The appended text may be preceded by a separator line which can
contain several pieces of information; date, time and/or category name.

If the clipboard is empty the separator will still be appended unless the "no
paste" option is active.  If "no paste" is selected then an empty clipboard is
treated as an error.

If the paste fails the button will flash red and a brief beep will sound.  If
the status bar is active a message will be displayed

After the paste operation is completed the focus may be automatically returned
to the window which was active prior to the paste.  This is controlled by the
"show previous window" option.

Note:  See paste options for more information.

Errors:

    No category selected
    File I/O error
    Clipboard empty (optional)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.5. View Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Clicking on this button will execute a command chosen by the user via the
options notebook.  As delivered this is set to e.exe with the currently
selected category's file name as a parameter.

Note:  See View Option for more information.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.6. List Box ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This box contains the list of categories which have been defined.  The box size
will be automatically adjusted whenever the main window size is changed.  The
contents of the box can be scrolled horizontally and vertically.

The currently selected category is the focus of all paste, view and update
operations.  Double clicking on a category is the same as clicking on the paste
button.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.7. Status Bar ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The status bar displays informational and error messages . If the "display
paste option" is set the beginning of the paste text will be displayed here. If
the paste fails the message will give the reason for the error.

The status bar can be turned off, in which case the list box will automatically
increase in size.  If an error occurs and you wish to view the message you can
go to the options notebook and turn the status bar back on and the last message
will be shown.

Note:  See remove status bar for more information.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Category Update ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window is used to add, update, or delete categories. It is opened by
selecting update/categories from the main window menu bar, or automatically
when there are no categories defined. If this window is already open, clicking
on update/categories will bring it to the top and make it the active window.

The information displayed in this window always tracks the currently selected
category in the main window.

The window is closed via the system menu or when the application is closed. Its
placement on the screen is saved at shutdown.

Controls.

    Category      Name of category
    File          File name to store the category in and file dialog button
    Add           Add category push button
    Update        Update selected category
    Delete        Delete the selected category


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.1. Category Name ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This entry field will be initialized with the currently selected category in
the main window.  You can click on delete to remove the category from the list,
modify the the name and and click on the update button to change the current
item,  or type in a new name and click on add to create a new category.

If you select another category from the main window list box before doing an
add, update or delete this entry field will change to reflect the new selection
and the previous contents of this entry field will be ignored.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.2. Category File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This entry field initially contains the file name associated with the currently
selected category in the main window list.  You can change the file name by
typing over it or by clicking on the "list" pushbutton which will bring up a
standard file dialog.  You can assign a unique file to each category or have
several categories use the same file. Also see Printing the clipboard.

When you click on the add or update pushbutton, if the file name field is blank
a file name will be generated based on the category name.  The generated name
will be in the current directory with the first 8 alpha-numeric characters of
the category name and a extension of .cat.  If the generated name already
exists a 3 digit number will replace the last 3 character of the name.  The
number starts at 001 and increments until a file name that doesn't exist is
found. For example a category name of "Bob's messages" will first generate the
file name bobsmess.cat, if this file already exists then the name will be
changed to bobsm001.cat.

If you supply a name then it will be accepted whether or not it exists.  It
must be a valid file name in an existing and accessible directory.

Whether the file name is supplied by you or generated by the program, if the
file does not exist it will not be created until such time as the first paste
operation is done to it.

If you select another category from the main window list box before doing an
add, update or delete this entry field will change to reflect the new
selection's file and the previous contents of this entry field will be ignored.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.3. Add Category ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This pushbutton is used to add new categories to the main window list box.
Enter a new name in the category entry field and enter a file name in the file
field or select a file by clicking on the "list" pushbutton.  If you wish the
program can select a file name for you.  In order to do this, delete all data
in the file entry field, (see file entry field).

The category cannot already exist, a message box will inform you if it is a
duplicate.  The name is case sensitive, therefore "bob's messages" and "Bob's
messages" will be considered different categories and both can be added.

The new category will be placed in the list box in alphabetical sequence.  The
new entry will be selected and the list will be scrolled to make the new entry
visible.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.4. Update Category ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This button will change the currently selected category in the main window to
the values that are in the category and file fields of this window.  You may
change either one or both at the same time.  If you are changing the category
the new name cannot already exist in the list.

When a category name is changed it will be placed in alphabetical order in the
list, selected, and the list box will scroll to the entry.  If the file name is
changed the old file will still exist on disk with its contents unchanged.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.5. Delete Category ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Clicking this button will delete the currently selected category in the main
window.  The name in the category entry field on this window is ignored.  If no
item is selected a message box will be displayed.  The category and file name
fields will always be updated to reflect the item that was deleted.  If the
delete button is clicked by mistake, clicking on the add will restore the
category and file.  IF the file deletion option is on though the contents of
the file will have been lost.

Whether or not the corresponding file is deleted is governed by the delete page
of the options notebook.  If the delete file and the confirm file delete are
both on then a message box will request that the file deletion be confirmed
before it is deleted.  If the confirm file delete is not on, the file will be
deleted without notification.  As delivered the file deletion option is OFF so
that the category files will not be deleted.

After the deletion there will be no item selected in the main window list box.
This is so that an inadvertent double click on the delete button will not cause
an unwanted deletion. Before another operation (update, paste, view, etc.) can
be done, a category selection will have to be made.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Option Notebook ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This notebook is used to update various program options. It is opened by
selecting update/options from the main window menu bar. If the notebook is
already open, clicking on update/options will bring it to the top and make it
active.

All options take effect immediately, you do not have to close the notebook.
Each page has a reset button. This will restore any changed options on that
page to those which were in effect when the notebook was opened.

The notebook is closed via the system menu. Its placement on the screen is
saved at shutdown.  It will also be closed when the application is closed.
Once the notebook is close the options become permanent and the previous values
cannot be recovered.

Notebook Pages.

    Paste              Paste separator, show, erase clipboard, previous window
    Delete             Delete file with category and confirm.
    Miscellaneous      Title, view/edit program and show status bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. Paste Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The options on this notebook page control the operation of the paste button.

Paste Option Controls.

    Separator          Paste separator line specifications.
    Show               Display beginning of paste in status bar.
    Erase              Erase clipboard after paste.
    Empty Paste        Paste separator if clipboard empty.
    Switch Window      Switch back to previous window after paste.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.1. Paste Separator ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is a group of three controls which define a heading that is pasted in
front of the clipboard data to act as a separator.  If the two check boxes are
not checked and the separator line has no data then nothing is placed if front
of the clipboard data.

The first control is a check box which when on specifies that a blank line is
to be output to the file before the separator line.  The third control when on
outputs a blank line after the separator.  If the two controls are on and the
separator contains no data then 2 blank lines will separate each paste
operation.

The second control is an entry field which specifies data that is to be output
before the clipboard text.  This line can contain any characters you wish plus
a character which signals that special data is to be used at this point.  The
special character is a % sign.  A % character followed by a number and
character, the letters d, t, n, c, D, T, N, C or another % have a  special
meaning as indicated in the following list:

%%    outputs a single % sign.
%d    outputs todays date.
%t    outputs the time of the paste operation.
%n    outputs an additional blank line.
%#?   the # represents a number and the ? represents any character.  The
      character will be output # times.  (i.e. %20- will output 20 dashes, %10
      followed by a space will output 10 spaces, etc.).

The characters d, t, n, c following a % can be in upper or lower case.  If a %
is followed by a character not in the list then they are output unchanged.
(i.e. %x outputs to the separator as %x).

Example: %10- %c %d %t %10-
----------- Bob's Messages 6/14/94 13:26:10 -----------


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.2. Show Paste ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this check box is on, the beginning of the pasted text will be displayed on
the status bar preceeded by OK:. If the check box is off, any previous message
on the status bar will be erased.  In order to see the text the status bar
must, of course, be displayed.

Also see  remove status bar


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.3. Erase Clipboard ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this option is on, the clipboard will be erased after the paste operation is
successfully completed.  The data will remain in the clipboard if this option
is not checked or if any error occurs.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.4. No Separator ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this box is checked the separator will not be output if the clipboard is
empty.  This will also cause the paste request to generate an error message on
the status line and the paste button to flash red.

If this box is not checked the separator and/or the blank lines above and/or
below it will always be output.  Nothing will be output if all the separator
options are off.  In either case the paste operation will display OK: on the
status line, (if the show paste and display status bar options are on), and the
paste push button will flash green.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.5. Previous Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

if this box is checked, after the paste operation completes the window which
was active prior to the paste operation will become the active window.  Note
that if the CutIt main window was active when the paste is performed a switch
will still occur to a previously active window.

If this box is not checked the focus will remain in the CutIt main window after
a paste operation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. Delete Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The options on this notebook page control the operation of category deletions.

Delete Option Controls.

    Delete File             Delete file  when category deleted.
    Confirm File Delete     Request confirmation when deleting file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.1. Delete File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this box is checked, when a category is deleted the corresponding file will
be deleted also.  The confirm file deletion check box will be enabled when the
delete box is checked and the confirm option will be turned on.

If this box is off, the file for the category being deleted will not be deleted
and the confirm check box will be disabled.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2.2. Delete File Confirmation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This control is active only when the delete file with category has been
checked.  Whenever the delete file option is turned on this option is also
turned on.  If you want to skip the confirmation box you must turn the delete
file option on and then turn this option off.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3. Miscellaneous Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The options on this notebook page control several miscellaneous options.

Miscellaneous Option Controls.

    Title         Main window title bar text.
    View          Program to start with View push button.
    Status Bar    Show or remove main window status bar.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3.1. Title ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The title entry field is used to change the main window title.  Whatever is
entered in this field is placed on the title line preceeded by "CutIt - ".


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3.2. View/Edit Program ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The contents of this entry field is executed when the view pushbutton is
clicked.  To include the category's file name as a parameter on the line use a
%f.

As delivered this field contains:

e.exe %f

This will execute the e editor with the currently selected category's file name
as a parameter.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3.3. Remove Status Line ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this line is checked the status line in the main window will be eliminated
and the list box will expand to the bottom of the window.  The paste button
will still flash green or red to indicate success or failure of the paste and
if it failed the beep will still occur.

If you turn this check box off the status bar will re-appear with the last
message displayed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.4. Reset Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Each page of the options notebook contains a reset button. When the notebook is
opened the current values of all the pages are saved.  If you want to revert to
the saved values for a particular page click on the reset button for that page.

Once the notebook is closed the previous values are lost.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Printing the clipboard ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

In the main window select update/categories from the menu bar. In the update
category window enter a unique category name such as Print ( any name will do
).  Enter in the file name field Prn or Lptx where x is the printer number.

When you want to print the contents of the clipboard just double click on the
Print category.

Also see:   category update