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-
- EXA 0.1
-
- © 1994 David Gaussinel
- Cardware
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- Exa was made to use the wonderful library called Whatis.library from
- any software. I have seen some softwares using it but none of them satisfied me,
- so I have decided to create the software I dreamed of. But if you knew my other
- softwares you should know that I'm used to programming with Amos. It was of
- course unthinkable to create a software like Exa with Amos, so I have decided to
- have a look on the E. It allowed me to realize what I dreamed of.
-
-
- OBJECT
-
- Exa recognizes the type of a file, thanks to the Whatis.library, and
- allows the user to perform on this file actions he would have planned.
- E.g. you give to Exa a file that it recognizes as an ASCII text file, it then
- opens a requester giving you several actions you have previously defined.
- The actions can be: Read, Edit, Print... for an ASCII text file.
-
-
- LEGAL STUFF
-
- Exa is distributed "AS IS". In no way the author can't be made
- responsible for any damages caused by the use of Exa. You use this software
- to your own risks and you have been warned. However, I don't see what damages
- Exa could do :-).
- Exa 0.1 is copyrighted by David Gaussinel. The use and the spreading
- of this program is free. You can copy it, eat it... but it is forbidden to
- sell it! This interdiction does not cover the fees of the spreading. In
- one word, it is not allowed to spread it on disks worth more than 25FF
- ($5 or 10DM). In France, however some spreaders are exceeding this tariff by
- far... It's up to you to compare the prizes.
- Exa is cardware i.e. if you appreciate and/or use this program, you'd
- better send a post card to the author to point it out, and also to let him
- know that improvements and future versions would be welcome. My address is:
- David Gaussinel
- 18 rue Fenelon
- 24200 Sarlat
- France
- Reqtools.library © Nico Francois
- Whatis.library © Sylvain Rougier & Pierre Carette.
-
- Fred Fish have an explicit permission for including in its collection, also
- Pascal Rullier in BUGSSDP collection.
-
- REQUIREMENTS
-
- Exa would work only on 2.0+ systems. Libraries Reqtools and Whatis
- must also be present in LIBS:.
-
-
- USAGE
-
- Exa is a shell command, in other words it is useless to run it from the
- WorkBench. A requester will be displayed giving you the ident of the program.
-
- From the shell, you can do: Exa ? to obtain the options syntax as with
- all classic shell commands.
-
- Here are the options; NAME/A/M, CFG=CONFIG/K, PUBSCREEN/K, NOREQ/S,
- NOCFG/S.
-
- First of all you have to specify the name of the file(s) to be
- examinated. CFG is used to define the name of the configuration file for Exa.
- By default this file will be ENV:Exa.prefs. PUBSCREEN specifies a public screen
- on which would be opened the requesters. If you indicate NOREQ that means that
- you don't want any requester, whereas NOCFG means that you don't want Exa to
- load a configuration file.
-
-
- THE CONFIGURATION FILE
-
- Let's talk about that configuration file which is the central point
- of Exa. For each type recognized by Whatis, it has the following format:
-
- TYPE Text
- GAD _Lis|_Imprime
- Bin:Muchmore %f
- Type >PRT: %f
- ENDTYPE
-
- We have here defined the actions for the text type. Two actions will
- occur which are Lis and Imprime. After the indicator GAD we find on the same
- line the text which will appear in gadgets. The sign _ indicates a shortcut
- whereas | separates gadgets.
-
- Then, on each following line, the executed command line is defined in
- order where %f represents the name of the selected file.
-
- But in certain case it can so happen that you wish many types to have
- the same actions. In this case you can define only one and indicate that the
- others have the same actions than it. In our example, we write:
-
- TYPE Doc
- IDEM Text
- ENDTYPE
-
- for the doc type or the text type, which are not really so far, to
- have the same actions type.
-
- Finally, you can desire thet not a requester opens and that an action
- occurs immediatly on this file. Let's imagine that you want any picture to
- be displayed, you can write:
-
- TYPE ILBM
- NOREQ
- Bin:Mostra %f
- ENDTYPE
-
- Last but not least: you can write several commands on a same
- instruction line separated by a | such as for the gadgets. The commands will
- be executed then one by one. For example you can write:
-
- TYPE LHArc
- GAD _Liste
- Bin:Lha v >T:temp|bin:MM T:temp|delete T:temp
- ENDTYPE
-
- This will allow you then to list the content of Lha archives and to
- read them thanks to Muchmore.
-
-
- PRACTICAL USAGE
-
- As you have probably noted Exa has no interface but all is done thru
- the shell. However a good way to use Exa is for example to use it with
- ToolManager creating a Dock, an Appicon or a Menu. In this way, if you have
- created for example an Appicon Exa, you could click on an icon from the
- WorkBench and release it on the Appicon Exa to examinate the file. You can
- also use Exa with any file manager such as BrowserII, Directory Opus, MegaD....
- where you define a menu or a gadget for Exa. Moreover, Exa being openable on a
- public screen, you could see the requester on the screen you want.
-
-
- GREETINGS
-
- To Sada for having designed the icon many times before the end of the
- program in five minutes a day in August. If you want to use Exa in Appicon
- with ToolManager, you can use this icon.
- Very special thanks to Sylvain Rougier and Pierre Carette for having
- written the Whatis.Library which is very powerful.
- I thank Nico Francois too for all his high quality PD programs and
- particulary for the Reqtools.Library.
- Finally, I really thank the E author Wouter Van Oortmerssen for his
- marvellous language.
-
-