Vectronix 2/VECTRONIX2.iso/FILES_09/RUNNER.ZIP/OTHERS.HLP

Text File | 1992-05-25 | 25KB | 437 lines

                        Runner -- A Desktop Alternative

                                 Other Programs
                Mini-Run, Regions, Rpicname, Rconvert & Rpicsel


                       Copyright (C) 1993 by Dave Thorson
                       Version 1.61     November 18, 1993


        This file describes Runner's companion programs and other
        support programs distributed with Runner or available when
        registering Runner.

        Some of these programs are disabled in one way or another,
        until you register Runner:

               REGIONS   - all saves are disabled
               MINI-RUN  - a lengthy delay will discourage you
                         from using this day to day but you can
                         see how it works and test compatability
               RPICSEL   - all saves are disabled

        They are included in this form so you can try out most of
        their capabilities but still have incentive to pay the small
        shareware fee to have fully working programs!  It's all
        documented in other places, but basically you need to send
        $10.00 US (or more, if you, like others, find the programs
        worth more than that!) to me:

                    Dave Thorson
                    4040 East Flower Street       <-- new address!
                    Phoenix, AZ  85018
                    USA
                    [phone]
                    On GEnie: MR.DAVE

        If you have already sent in your shareware registration for a
        previous version, no need to pay again unless you want to keep
        eniticing me to improve things....  Just call or write and I
        can give you the security code for the serial number already
        assigned to you.

        HOW TO GET WORKING COPIES OF THE PROGRAMS

        Once you register, I will send you a serial number and
        a special security code.  Put the program RUNR_REG.PRG (Runner
        Registration program) in the same folder (directory) as the
        programs listed above -- this should be Runner's home
        directory, or, for floppy disk users, the disk you keep these
        programs on.  DO NOT RUN THE RUNR_REG.PRG PROGRAM ON YOUR
        ORIGINAL RUNNER DISK.  Any Runner disk for version 1.61 or
        higher may now be copied for others or placed on bulletin
        boards, but not if it contains "fixed" versions of Regions,
        Mini-Run, or other "protected" runner programs.

        Run the RUNR_REG.PRG program, and if you agree to the terms
        and conditions it describes, enter your serial number and
        security code as requested.  RUNR_REG.PRG will then modify all
        protected programs to make them fully working versions AND to
        embed your serial number within them.  This way, if I find a
        working copy on a bulletin board or shareware disk, I can
        trace it back to you and take legal action for your violating
        my copyright on these programs.  Sneaky but effective, eh?  Oh
        yes, the odds of breaking the code are less than 1 in a
        million...

        Should you ever need to remove your serial number from the
        programs, run RUNR_REG.PRG again and enter your serial number
        with a different code (letter-number-letter).  You should test
        one of the programs to be certain they are now disabled.

        Enough of all this, what are these programs, anyway?


$$      Mini-Run

        Mini-Run is a companion program callable only from within
        Runner.  It is used to free more memory for larger programs.
        It works like this:

        1. Runner determines which program to run
        2. Runner tells GEM to call Mini-Run, and puts information about
           the program you wanted to run where Mini-Run can find it.
        3. Runner exits from memory, and GEM loads Mini-Run
        4. Mini-Run grabs the information Runner set up, the loads the
           program you requested based on this information.
        5. Your program starts, you do what you need, and exit it.
        6. Mini-Run resumes control and if you requested Hold Screen, it
           waits for a keypress or mouse click.
        7. Mini-Run tells GEM to load Runner and exits.
        8. Runner restarts.

        Of course there's more detail than that, but this sequence
        should give you a feel for what's going on.  It's all
        transparent to you as a user unless the information passed to
        Mini-Run gets to be too long (Runner will warn you of this and
        let you change the command line).  Mini-Run takes about an extra
        second to load on a hard drive, and then Runner must reload
        after Mini-Run exits, so there is some inconvenience.  But,
        Mini-Run takes about 29K of memory where runner needs nearly
        100K more than that if a background picture is loaded.

        Mini-Run MUST be copied to Runner's home directory.  That's all
        there is to installing it.  For floppy disk users, it might work
        best to put Mini-Run on each disk with a program that needs it,
        in a RUNNER directory.  See SETUP.HLP for more information.

        Mini-Run can be called in several ways:

        1. Press ESC.  The words "MINI-RUN" appear in Runner's upper
           right corner, replacing the time/date display if it's on.
           The next program run will be run via Mini-Run, and the MINI-
           RUN indicator will be turned off.  Press Esc some more to
           cycle through HOLD_SCR, MRUN/HLD, and back to normal
           (date/time or blank).

        2. From the file selector, hold down Control when you select a
           program to run.  Note: if you select a data file that should
           trigger an installed application, holding down Control will
           simply bypass the application and send the file to File View
           instead.  Moral: You can't cause Mini-Run to be used for an
           installed application by using the Control key.  Press Esc
           BEFORE going to the file selector if needed.

        3. Within the Add/Change Dialog Box (you see this whenever you
           add or change a program) you can left-click on "Use Mini-Run"
           and then, whenever that program is run from Runner, Mini-Run
           will be used.  You can do this for programs, installed
           applications, or data/document files that trigger installed
           applications.

        If Runner senses that Mini-Run is requested by ANY of the above,
        Mini-Run will be used.  For example, if even though Spectrum 512
        does not have the "Use Mini-Run" flag set in the Add/Change
        Dialog Box, if you press Esc before selecting it from a menu
        then Spectrum 512 will be loaded using Mini-Run.

        If you hold down Control when exiting an application run via
        Mini-Run, then Mini-Run will return control to the desktop
        instead of Runner (if you want to go from Mini-Run back to
        Runner but want to supress the loading of a background picture,
        be sure to hold down Control AFTER Runner begins loading).
        Also, if a program is run with Hold Screen enabled, you can exit
        directly to the desktop by pressing Esc instead of a mouse click
        or other key, bypassing the return to Runner.

        One design decision made for Mini-Run will cause a problem if
        you try to enter parameters for a program with characters above
        ASCII 224.  These will be remapped into the lower-case character
        range.  Someone please let me know if this is a problem, but I
        can't imagine a program expecting characters in that range, far
        above the range of normally printable characters!  As a result
        of this, you can now pass lower case characters, intact, in your
        prarmeter strings (also known as command lines).


$$      Regions

        Regions is callable only from Runner, and only when a
        background picture is loaded (Not true -- as of Runner version
        1.60c you can use Regions without a picture!  See STARTUP.HLP
        for more info).  There is a lot of on-line help within
        Regions, so only the basics and obscure stuff are covered
        here.  Regions lets you define rectangular areas or regions
        (hence, the catchy name!) on the screen.  Within Runner,
        clicking within one of these regions causes almost any Runner
        function to happen.  It's great for setting up a mouse-driven
        front-end to your applications, to make life even easier for
        you, your clients, your kids, or anyone else getting close to
        your system.

        Press Y to call Regions.  REGIONS.TTP will be loaded from
        Runner's home directory (where Runner first found RUNNER.CFG or
        else the root directory of the drive Runner was loaded from --
        see SETUP.HLP).  Once the program is loaded, information from
        Runner is passed through memory to Regions.  Regions has its own
        GEM menu bar.

        For help in Regions, press the Help key before selecting
        anything in the pull-down menus.  Press it again to turn off
        help.  Help is also turned off any time you select an item from
        a Regions menu.

        Regions displays the current background picture and lets you add
        or change up to 32 active screen regions for that picture.  When
        you exit Regions (using the Save & Quit option), all changes are
        updated in Runner's memory and Regions exits.  No disk access at
        all (nice, eh?) and your changes are all active within Runner,
        until you exit Runner or load in another picture.  To make your
        changes more permanent, you must save them in a picture
        configuration file.  Use Runner's pull-down menu option File,
        Save Config to save both picture and Runner config files, or
        hold down Control when you select Save Config to save ONLY the
        picture config file.  (You can also press S or Control/S,
        respectively).  See SETUP.HLP for information on picture
        configuration files.

        Since screen region information is saved in a picture
        configuration file, you can have different screen regions for
        each picture.  The idea is that you could create a background
        picture with "pseudo icons", pieces of a picture that act as
        icons but are really just pixels in the picture.  You might have
        different disk drive icons, one for exiting Runner, one or more
        for your favorite programs.  You can turn off Runner's menus and
        use nothing but screen regions to control Runner, if you prefer.

        You could dress up your game disks by showing a picture of each
        game that would be clicked on to start the game, or create a
        custom desktop with your own icon shapes to control your Atari
        system.  Of course these are not "real" icons; you cannot drag
        them around on the desktop.  To change them, you must change
        your picture in a paint program, then update where the screen
        regions are defined to match the new picture, using the Regions
        program.  More complex than dragging an icon on the desktop, but
        perhaps more fun and gratifying as well.

$$      Screen regions are created using the Add option.  You can define
        and adjust a rectangular region anywhere on the screen.  Then
        you need to assign a function to the region.  Five types of
        functions are currently available:

        1. Menu Bar functions or those available from Runner's GEM menu
           bar.  About, Save, Load, Install, Add, Drop, colors, and so
           on, can be assigned to a spot on the screen.

        2. File Selector functions provide control of the file selector,
           just like the Space bar and Alt-letter keys.  Display a file
           selector for the last drive you visited, or start at the root
           directory of any active drive.

        3. QuickKeys can assigned to any region, so that anything a
           QuickKey can do (run a program, display a menu, show a text
           file, etc.) can be done from a screen region as well.

        4. Load Picture functions let you pick a picture file name using
           a file selector, and assign it to a shifted number key.  It
           is also assigned to a screen region.  Even if the region is
           later dropped, the name can remain assigned to the shifted
           number key.

        5. Miscellaneous functions cover most of the remaining keyboard-
           only types of Runner commands, such as changing date format,
           exit via Undo key, menus on/off, Help, and so on....

        A Change option lets you alter anything about a region,
        including its priority.  If one or more regions or menus
        overlap, the one with the highest priority will be selected.
        Runner's menus have highest priority, then screen regions.
        Think of the regions as being in sequence on a list; those first
        in the list have a higher priority than those at the end.  A
        region may be moved to first or last place, moving other regions
        down or up as needed.  It's possible to have a region completely
        surrounded by another; as long as it has a higher priority it
        can still be selected and clicking in the surrounding region
        will activate its function instead.

        Regions also has the capability to save the current palette into
        a selected picture file.  Ideally, you should only save the
        palette to the file whose picture is displayed!  This option
        lets you take a palette changed within Runner, and update a
        picture file so it will have the same palette.  Normally, Runner
        only saves altered palette information in picture configuration
        files.

        Additional menu options let you load in other pictures or
        picture configuration files (Regions will even translate
        picture config files from other screen resolutions to the
        current one), and you can also save picture config files.
        These options give you a lot of flexibility for copying a
        setup from one picture to others, so you can use the same
        regions for a picture translated across different screen
        resoultions or use the same colors and regions across lots of
        pictures for a standardized, mouse-driven menu system.

$$      One other point should be made about the Regions program: it
        offers a lockout feature for Runner.  This is intended for use
        in making demos or custom applications where you don't the user
        to have access to anything else.  When lockout is selected,
        Runner's GEM menu bar goes away; selecting Exit Runner does
        nothing; the keyboard is ignored (mostly -- see below); the
        QuickKeys menu cannot be displayed; and anything else with
        potential danger is disabled.  Lockout takes effect only AFTER
        changes have been saved from Regions to Runner, and from Runner
        to a picture config file, and that picture is loaded into
        Runner.  Otherwise you would be unable to save changes from
        Runner!  Turning lockout OFF in Regions takes place immediately
        on return to Runner.  One problem: how do you get to Regions to
        disable lockout if the keys (including the Y key which starts
        Regions) are disabled?  A not-too-elegant solution: Runner
        watches for a sequence of keystrokes, namely Esc-y-Esc (three
        keys, no hyphens, and no shift on the y).  This is hard to hit
        at random and not too hard to remember.  You can prevent use of
        Regions for sure by simply removing it from Runner's home
        directory when it's not needed, or by renaming it to
        REGIONS.TTX or some name other than REGIONS.TTP.

        Since lockout removes the GEM menu bar and Runner's menus, you
        can create a nice looking custom desktop.  The menu bar area is
        not available for screen regions but you can put anything else
        in your picture up there.  Even a Macintosh logo (now wait a
        minute, let's not get carried away here).  All functions in
        Runner should be available through screen regions, including
        displaying sub menus and calling the file selector, but you can
        pick and choose the ones you need.  If something's not there,
        let me know!

        I can see uses for locked pictures in disk menus, tutorials
        where selecting an item on the screen displays a text file
        describing it, starts a program to animate it, or branches to
        another picture with all different regions to show more (or
        different) levels of detail.  You could simulate a large-than-
        screen-size picture by setting up regions at the edges and
        corners which load a new picture of the view in that direction.
        You could even program a simple (or complex) maze, or a walk-
        through of a house plan showing the view from any direction.
        Some of this is limited only by disk space for all the pictures,
        but you could always change disks before moving to a new
        picture.  Just be sure the picture's config file accompanies the
        picture.  And if you need a different set of Runner menus,
        create what you need and name it after the picture file (if
        STUFF.PI1 is the picture, then STUFF.CF1 is its config file and
        STUFF.CFG will be loaded as Runner's config file if it's in
        Runner's home directory).  Have fun with it!


$$      An example picture file demonstrating the use of Regions
        is included for low, medium and high resolution.  Use Background
        from Runner's File menu to load REGIONS1.PC1, .PC2 or .PC3 and
        the corresponding REGIONS1.CF1, .CF2 or .CF3 file will load with
        it (if it's in the same directory as the picture).  Without the
        Regions program you cannot change anything, but you can click on
        the various "icons" to see what they do.  The Runner key
        equivalent letter for each icon is shown next to it.  If you
        have the Regions program you can call Regions to edit the
        functions or locations of regions in this file, using the
        REGIONS1 picture as a training ground.  [Note: as of Runner
        version 1.60, the recommended short-cut keys to access the file
        selector for various disk drives are the alt-letter keys, such
        as Alt-A for drive A:, Alt-B for drive B:, etc.  Older versions
        of Runner (and 1.60b, maybe even newer versions) allowed Shift-1
        to access drive A:, Shift-2 for drive B:, and so on.]


$$      Rconvert

        This program is provided as an aid to prior users of Runner.
        It converts Runner configuration files (not picture
        configuration files) from older formats to the newest one.
        All information from older config files can be translated,
        except for installed application information.  Rconvert will,
        if you select the appropriate dialog box choices, send a list
        of all your installed applications to a disk file with a name
        similar to your config file's name.  Use this list to help you
        set up your applications in the new version of Runner (sorry,
        but the new approach to installing applications is just no
        longer compatible with the older information, and the
        potential for inconsistent results through an automated
        translation is just too high).

        Rconvert is easy to use, and it need not be in any particular
        directory.  Run it by double clicking on RCONVERT.PRG.  You can
        then remove the disk with RCONVERT.PRG on it and insert any
        others with .CFG files that need updating.  Follow the prompts;
        it's easy to use and quick!  You should be able to convert all
        your old .CFG files in a matter of minutes, and then you won't
        need RCONVERT.PRG any more....  Config files did not change
        formats between Runner versions 1.5x and 1.61.  Run Rconvert
        for more info!


$$      Rpicname

        RPICNAME.PRG is a program that lets you quickly change default
        (startup) picture files for Runner.  Runner now looks at the
        size of picture files, and if a file is less than 100 bytes (or
        was it 128?) then it assumes the picture file contains a
        filename for another picture file instead of picture data.
        Runner also looks for RUNNER.PI1, RUNNER.PI2 and RUNNER.PI3 (or
        the .PCx equivalents for compressed pictures) at startup to use
        as autoloading picture files.  Rpicname ties these two concepts
        together.

        Run Rpicname by double clicking on RPICNAME.PRG (you can also
        put this one into a Runner menu, if you like).  Once it's loaded
        you can take out that disk and put in another if you need to.
        Rpicname displays a file selector.  Simply click on any picture
        file you want to use at startup, and Rpicname will put its
        filename and path into RUNNER.PIx for you (x is 1, 2 or 3, and
        is taken from the file extension of the picture file you
        select).  You can select files for any resolution in the same
        session.  If you did not select picture files from Runner's home
        directory, be sure to copy the resulting RUNNER.PIx file(s) into
        the home directory.  And be careful not to copy a name file over
        a real picture file (check the file sizes).  Rpicname works best
        if all the pictures you select from are in Runner's home
        directory.

        Rpicname assumes you want to use RUNNER.PIx for holding picture
        filenames instead of pictures.  If it tries to update a
        RUNNER.PIx file and finds it longer than 128 (or was it 100?)
        bytes, it will warn you and stop the update.  This way you
        cannot lose any picture files.

        If you only use one picture for each resolution and never plan
        to change, then you won't need Rpicname.  Otherwise it can be a
        very handy way to change the pictures you see on startup without
        a lot of renaming and copying of picture files.


$$      Rpicsel

        Rpicsel (short for Runner picture selector) lets you create a
        list of pictures you like as background pics.  Runner selects
        one picture from the list at random each time it starts up.
        Rpicsel lets you add to or delete from picture lists.  One list
        is used for each screen resoultion.  Runner can load in a
        picture list when it starts just like it loads in a single
        picture.  A simple and effective way to avoid the monotony of
        looking at the same desktop all the time!

        The only confusing thing about using RPICSEL.PRG (because it's
        different than most programs) is that it gives you the options
        of load/add and save, and when you select load/add you can
        specify a single picture, a list of pictures, or a wildcard
        filename (like C:\RUNNER\*.PI3) to load bunches of pictures into
        the list at once.  Rpicsel is smart enough to figure it all out
        for you.  No menu full of Load, Add, Replace, Update or other
        commands, and no need to specify what type of file you're
        loading.  Why aren't more programs written this way???  The only
        donwside is that you can only create lists for a given screen
        resolution while your system is in that resolution.  More help
        is available within RPICSEL.PRG.

        [end of OTHERS.HLP]