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________________________________________________________________________ / \ | TidyDesk v1.63: Desktop Manager | | October 1996 | | by Mike Curnow | \________________________________________________________________________/ Quick Start =========== After double clicking on !Tidydesk two extra menu functions are available. Pressing ALT-Menu brings up a menu to control the current window, whilst CTRL-Menu provides control over all open windows. The CTRL-Menu is also available from the iconbar. The menu options provide the same action as the window control icons, even when the icons are obscured. Your desktop a mess? Select Tidy from the iconbar/CTRL-Menu to neatly arrange the windows. On screen help is available from the iconbar/CTRL-Menu. Full interactive help is provided through the !Help application, including help on menu entries under RiscOS 3. Try this before delving further into this manual. However careful reading of this help file will reveal many useful features. Better still, print it out. Full Details ============ TidyDesk is designed to provide extra control over the desktop without affecting normal operation. Features are: a) A menu to control the window under the pointer. b) A menu to control all open windows, allowing windows to be tidied etc. c) Keyboard control over window sizes, which window is topmost and window scrolling. d) Drag and resizing of windows from anywhere within the window, including dragging upwards and leftwards. e) Cut and paste of icon text, and a flashing caret with variable flash time. f) Customisable screen blanker. g) Task killing (for bugged applications). h) Long double click to open application directories and load files, including direct editing of BASIC programs. i) Mouse parking. j) Fully customisable keyboard short cut facility, giving quick entry of text, launching applications or issuing OS commands, via a simple ALT key combination. k) Run programs in a task window. RiscOS Support: TidyDesk has been designed for optimum use under RiscOS 3.x. Some windows may not look so good on prior versions due to the usage of outline fonts and 3d icons. In RiscOS 3.1 and before most text in TidyDesk is displayed in the Homerton.Medium font rather than the coarse system font but users of low resolution monitors may want to turn this feature off - see the configuration section. On RiscOS 3.5+ TidyDesk uses outline fonts if you configure your desktop to do so, otherwise it uses the system font. TidyDesk has been reported as working correctly under RiscOS 3.5+ including the StrongArm, but it has only been tested by the author on RiscOS 3.1. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALT-Menu -------- Press ALT and Menu together whilst the pointer is over a window. A menu is opened showing the name of the window owner in the title. The menu controls the window under the pointer, the options being : Wdw to Front: brings the window to the front. Same as clicking on the title bar. Wdw to Back : puts the window to the back. Maximise Wdw : makes the window as large as possible. Minimise Wdw : makes the window as small as possible. Max. Width : maximises the width of the window. Max. Height : maximises the heigth of the window. Close Wdw : closes the window. Iconise Wdw : iconise the window. Pin Window : closes the window and places it on the pinboard. The window : title must specify a file or directory name. Quit Task : shuts down the task owning the window. Note: Maximise and Minimise only work on windows that are resizeable. Remember to release the Alt key BEFORE making a menu selection. CTRL-Menu or Iconbar Menu ------------------------- Press CTRL and menu together to open a menu providing control over all open windows. This menu is also available from iconbar when the 'I' start-up option is used by clicking menu over the icon. The menu selections are: Windows: leads to a submenu showing all the open windows by task name and shortened version of the window title, in the order back-most to top-most window. The window owning the caret (if any) is ticked. For each window there is a further submenu which is exactly the same as the ALT-Menu described previously. Clicking on the window name brings the window to the top, so running down the window list, clicking as you go, cycles through all the windows. Tidy All: tidies all the windows, in backmost to topmost order, so that you can see them all and also see the icon bar. Tidy->Stack (the default) stacks the windows on top of each other just showing their title bars, whilst Tidy->View arranges the windows across the desktop. Note that some windows can't be made the size required to fit neatly across the screen, so some overlap is inevitable. However you should get a reasonably clear picture of what is running and be able to select the window you want. Tidy Filer: Like Tidy All but just for Filer windows. The submenu also allows you to close all Filer windows. Note: if you use Adjust with Close, then the parent directories will be opened, which is probably not what you wanted. Lose Caret: takes the caret away from the current input window. This menu entry will be shaded if no task owns the caret. Losing the caret is particulary useful to gain access to hot-key tasks (eg. Ctrl-key combinations) and the function keys which would otherwise be trapped by the current task. It is also useful to temporarily exit input mode sometimes to prevent unwanted keystrokes being inputted, especially when the input window is hidden. To restore the caret just click on the window where you wish to resume inputting. Blank: when ticked shows that screen blanking is active. Clicking on Blank turns this feature on and off. The time before screen blanking defaults to 5 minutes - see the configuration section to change this. The sub-menu options are: Lissajous - draw a Lissajous figure on screen blank when ticked. When off a user definable message is displayed. Current x - the current x position for the Lissajous figure. Current y - the current y position for the Lissajous figure. See the Blanking section for more details. Edit Keys: See the section on ALT-keys for details. Help: Shows brief details on keyboard and mouse extensions. These key assignments assume the supplied keyboard mapping is being used. Quit: This terminates TidyDesk, should you want to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Window Control Extensions ------------------------- TidyDesk allows windows to be moved and resized without having to drag on the title bar or resize icon. This is achieved by holding down ALT plus SELECT or ADJUST and optionally the SHIFT key, when the pointer is over ANY part of a window. The pointer will change shape to show that the window can be moved or resized, at which point you may release the keys. These extensions make it much easier to move and resize windows. Dragging is instant if you have set the instant WIMP drag via !Configure, otherwise a dashed outline will be drawn until you release the mouse. Note that if you drag a fixed tool box TidyDesk automatically moves its associated parent window as well. ALT + SELECT or ADJUST : Allows dragging of the window. Select causes the window to be opened on top, Adjust maintains its stack order. Tip: use ALT+Select to bring a window to the front. ALT+SHIFT+ADJUST : Resizes the window as if dragging on the resize icon. ALT+SHIFT+SELECT : Resizes the window from the top left corner, allowing you to drag a window leftwards and upwards. Note: When resizing windows which can be dragged off screen, you can keep dragging off screen too, unlike a standard resize. You can only resize windows which have a resize icon, but you can grab windows by their tool boxes (eg. !Draw's tool box). Keyboard Functions And Shortcuts ================================ The main functions of TidyDesk are available directly from the keyboard, which is useful whilst using editors for example. Some additional functions are also provided. The following Alt-Key combinations for window control are provided as standard, but may be customised (See the ALT-Key section). Note that 'current window' refers to the window in which the caret is in, or the one under the pointer if there is no caret (Use ALT-L to release the caret). Alt-Home : Performs a Tidy->Stack on the windows. Use the V start up option to set Tidy->View. Alt-Page Up : Puts the current window to the back. The current window is the window owning the caret if any, else the one under the pointer. Alt-Page Down : Puts the current window to the top. Tip: use Alt-Select to bring the window under the pointer to the front. Alt-Cursor Left : Minimises the current window to the pointer location. Alt-Cursor Down : Maximises the current window. Alt-Cursor Up : Maximises the current window's height. Alt-Cursor Right : Maximises the current window's width. Alt-Delete : Closes the current window. Alt-Tab : Put topmost window to the back. Multiple tab presses thus cycle through all open windows. Alt-\ : Parks the pointer at the right, half way up the screen (ie. over the scroll bar if window full size). Alt-I : Iconise current window Alt-L : Loses the caret. Alt-M : Activates control of the mouse from the keyboard. Alt-P : Close the window and pin file/directory onto pinboard. Alt-V : Toggles the Pinboard backdrop to the front then back again. (See Pinboard) When toggled to the front, double clicking on the backdrop or an icon placed on it causes the backdrop to be automatically placed at the back again. Also, pressing Shift-F12 to toggle the icon bar will also cause the backdrop to be sent to the back. ALT-F1 through F5: Changes the mouse speed setting 1-7, useful when using !Draw or !Paint. ALT-F6 to F12 : Set a screen mode. These are set to the one's I use. Customise to your requirements. The following keys may be used instead of the scroll bars when no task is in input mode (use Lose Caret or ALT-L to get out of input mode). They scroll the window under the pointer. These keys can be useful in !Paint and !Draw for example. Cursor Left : same as clicking on scroll left icon Cursor Right : same as clicking on scroll right icon Cursor Down : same as clicking on scroll down icon Cursor Up : same as clicking on scroll up icon Shift Cursor Left : pages left Shift Cursor Right : pages right Shift Cursor Down : pages down Shift Cursor Up : pages up Page Down : pages down Page Up : pages up Keyboard Control of the Mouse ----------------------------- This feature is activated by pressing Alt-M (this can be redefined). The colour of the pointer is inverted to show that keyboard control is in effect. Pressing the cursor keys moves the mouse pointer in that direction. Use cursor+shift for very fine control or cursor+ctrl for fast movement. The mouse buttons are simulated by the Delete (Select), Copy/End (Menu) and PageDown (Adjust) keys. Pressing a key twice quickly is the same as a double click. Dragging is not supported. Cut And Paste ------------- This feature allows text to be copied from textual icons into writeable icons via a clipboard. Use these keys: Ctrl-C: Cut text to clipboard. Ctrl-X: Cut text, deleting source. Ctrl-V or Insert: Paste text into a writeable icon. Alt-Insert: Paste text into icons, editors etc. Ctrl-Z: Paste text, overwriting original text. The text is cut from the caret position if the caret is within a textual icon. If not, then the text at the pointer location is cut if the pointer is over a text icon. Successful cutting is indicated by switching the pointer shape to a hand. Use Lose Caret if you want to be sure of copying text under the pointer. Suitable textual icons are menu entries and often text in dialogue boxes. Some applications trap the above keypresses in which case the above functions will not work. Note also that Cut and Paste does not work inside editors such as !Edit since they have their own cut and paste mechanisms. However Alt-Insert should always function. Up to 255 characters may be pasted in one go. A more powerful pasteing function is provided via the Alt-Key facility. Task Killing ------------ The Wimp disables the escape key to prevent the inadvertant termination of applications. However bugs do occur in applications and it can be nice to escape out of them without resetting the machine. TidyDesk provides two levels of escape which should only be used if you suspect an application is looping. Alt-Esc: Same as pressing Escape outside of desktop. Usually enough to kill applications written in BASIC or C. Alt-Brk: More severe version of above, capable of terminating assembler programs as well. In both cases you should save any outstanding work once control is regained. Note that files may be left open (try *CLOSE) and the state of the machine cannot be guaranteed to be safe. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long Double Click ----------------- Holding down the Select or Adjust button over a filer icon after a previous click causes the following to happen:- Applications: The application directory is opened rather than running the application. This is similar to holding down the Shift key at the same time, which can still be used. Files: Attempts to load the file. If there is an Alias$@LoadType_xxx system variable set for the file, then the file is *Load'ed. If not then the file is passed to !Edit (or !Zap) which will be loaded if not already so. If you don't want files loaded into !Edit, set up an Alias$@LoadType_xxx for the file - issue "*SHOW ALIAS$@Load*" for the current settings. For instance, to load a sprite to the screen try "Set Alias$@LoadType_ff9 Screenload %0" (the system default is SLoad). In both cases, using Adjust rather than Select will cause the source Filer directory to be closed as normal. Extensions For Loading Basic Programs ------------------------------------- For BASIC programs the variable BEd$Dir is set to the directory of the program loaded. To ensure your programs are saved to the correct directory add this as the first line of your program: "10REM > <BEd$Dir>.name" (press ALT+E for this to be done automatically). Note also that the function keys are set, the defaults being: F1 EDIT, F2 RUN, F3 SAVE , F11 QUIT, F12 BASIC. These may be altered by editing the value of Alias$TidyBcmd in the !Run file. Some people like the CSD to be set to the directory containing the file just loaded into BASIC. To do this add "DIR |<BEd$Dir>|M" to the Alias$TidyBcmd string. Infact you can add any suitable OS command to Alias$TidyBcmd, separating each by ||M. The commands will be executed each time a BASIC program is loaded. By setting the B start-up option, the BASIC editor EDIT will be entered after loading. For this to work ensure that the BASIC editor is loaded. Under RiscOS 3 Basic programs may be loaded into !Edit or !Zap by issuing "*Unset Alias$@LoadType_FFB" in your !Boot file. In this case do not use the B start up option. Running Applications In Task Windows ------------------------------------ In RiscOS 3.1+ the TaskWindow command allows non-desktop applications to be run within a window. To do this normally you have to open up a task window from the task manager icon, and then type in the full path name. TidyDesk provides a much quicker way to do this - just drag the program onto the TidyDesk icon and the program will automatically be run in a task window. Note: you can change the amount of memory allocated to the task and the taskname by changing the variable TD$TaskWind - see the customisation section. Acceptable file types are Utility, BASIC, Application and Obey. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashing Caret ============== By setting the C start up option the caret will flash on and off when displayed, making it easier to locate. The flash period defaults to 0.4 seconds but this can be changed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Screen Blanking =============== This feature prevents screen burn in and is effective only when running under the desktop. The screen is blanked after 5 minutes (default) have elapsed with no keyboard or mouse activity. When blanked either a moving message (default) or a Lissajous graphic is drawn. Unlike most other screen blankers desktop operation continues, allowing background tasks to continue operating. To restore the screen move the mouse (if the 'M' start-up option is set), click a mouse button (eg. menu) or press a key (eg. Shift, Alt or Ctrl). The defaults can be overriden by the configuration options (see later) and from the CTRL-Menu. Screen Messages --------------- On a blank, a message is displayed in one of three modes: a) In a system font, moving down a line every 4 seconds. This option is selected by setting the value of TD$BlankFont to "". b) In an outline font of your choice, moving down a line every 4 seconds. This option is activated by selecting an outline font and setting the Z start up option to Z0 to de-activate scrolling. c) As a scrolling message in an outline font. When the message leaves the screen it reappears one line lower. This option is activated by selecting an outline font and setting Zn where n is the scroll step amount in os units. This option requires RiscOS 3.1+. In all cases the message cycles back to the top when the bottom is reached. The message text, font and font size are customisable by setting four system variables. Normally these will be set in the TidyDesk !Run file (see Configuration section) but they can be modified at any time. The variable values are read just prior to blanking the screen, allowing you to change the message text and font whilst the system is running. This could be done via an Alarm task for example. SetMacro TD$Blankmsg text This variable sets the message text, the maximum length of which is 255 characters to enable long scrolling messages. For non-scrolled messages you should keep the message text to less than a screen line. Use SetMacro rather than Set to allow the value to vary. For example, "SetMacro TD$BlankMsg <Sys$Time>" would set the message to the current time. Set TD$BlankFont fontname eg. Homerton.Bold SetEval TD$BlankFontx x-points eg. 16 SetEval TD$BlankFonty y-points eg. 16 These variables name the outline font and size in points to be used. If no font name is given, then the system font is used. Note when choosing font sizes to ensure your message still fits on one screen line. Nb. You must use 'SetEval' to set the font size, not 'Set'. If the outline font is not available (eg. you mis-typed the name or changed font directories), then the message is displayed in the system font rather than give an error display which would prevent the screen blanker from working. Scrolling Message Text ---------------------- To activate this feature you must select an outline font and set the value of Z to 1 or more. Z is the amount of os_units to move left each re-plot, so letting you choose the scroll speed to some degree. Typical values will be 2 on a RiscPC or an A5000, and 4 or 8 on other machines. Z is specified in the TD$Option string - see the Configuration section for more details. TidyDesk uses standard RiscOS calls to display the message so please be prepared for some flicker. TidyDesk is not a game and cannot use game techniques such as switching screen banks since these are not possible in high resolution modes. Also note that the message is only moved when the desktop is not doing other tasks - if another application wakes up then it could be some while before the message is moved. This is done so as to not stop desktop operation, unlike other screen blankers. There are various things you can do to improve the speed of the display. First, smaller fonts (eg. 14 points) will display quicker than big chunky ones, though the latter look nicest. Secondly, carefully set the Font Manager customisation settings. Basically, if the FontManager cannot cache the font you selected then scroll display will be VERY slow. Cached, 4-bits per pixel displays usually work the fastest. You can achieve this by setting the following *Configure options. Use *Status to see your current settings. FontSize and FontMax: these set the minimum and maximum size of the Font Cache. Use the *FontList command to see the amount of cache already in use. If the cache is full, then it is unlikely that the scroll message will get cached, so increase FontSize and/or FontMax. FontMax3: sets the maximum point size to cache. This value must be EQUAL or GREATER than TD$BlankFontX/Y to ensure the scroll message is cached. FontMax4 and FontMax5: these enable sub-pixel anti-aliasing. This gives a very accurate display but uses 4 times more memory than 4-bits per pixel bit-maps (16 times more than 1-bit per pixel ones) and needs a lot of processing. Either set these values to 0 or ensure they are LESS than the values of TD$BlankFontX/Y. To use these values effectively you will need a very large font cache. FontMax2: sets the maximum point to scale to anti-aliased bit-maps. Anti-aliased fonts look much nicer than 1-bit per pixel ones, especially at small point sizes, since they use up to 16 grey-scales to plot intermediate pixels to give much smoother lines. Anti-aliased bit-maps however needs 4 times as much memory, thus filling the cache up more. If memory is limited then set FontMax2 to LESS than TD$BlankFontX/Y - the scroll font will then be cached as a 1-bit per pixel bit-map which will look a bit jagged, but will display fast. The *Configure FontMax settings are permanent. If you have RiscOS 3.1+ check your Desktop boot file - there is likely to be a line "ChangeDynamicArea -FontSize nk" which overrides the Configure FontSize option. Another Acorn trap I am afraid for the unknowing. To summarise, FontSize and FontMax set the cache size which must be big enough. FontMax3 must be larger than your font else it will not be cached. To save memory ensure FontMax4 and FontMax5 are less than your font. If memory is really limited then set FontMax2 less than your font size, else make it bigger. Note that these rules apply to all applications that use outline fonts, so you can use the above rules to speed up the desktop. Pity Acorn do not explain it in this way. If you use the Fontlist command after your scroll message has been displayed you can tell if your font is being cached. If you look down the list you should see the font name you selected in your selected point size, showing the amount of memory it is consumming. Note that TidyDesk releases the font when it is not being displayed to allow the cache memory to be used elsewhere if required, so the use count will probably be zero. Lissajous Screen Plot --------------------- To select a Lissajous plot use the L start up option (see Configuration). The Lissajous plots come from the !Lissajous application - refer to it's Help file for details on how Lissajous figures are created. When a Lissajous figure is plotted, use the following keys to control the display: cursor left decreases the x plot cursor right increases the x plot cursor down decreases the y plot cursor up increases the y plot Return restores the x/y values to their settings The current x/y values are shown in the CTRL-Menu. Different Lissajous patterns may be used by double clicking on a Lissajous figure created by !Lissajous, or by using the command *TidyDesk_Load <filename>. This command could be added as the penultimate line of the !TidyDesk !Run file to permanently set the Lissajous plot. Screen blanking consumes very little cpu, even when Lissajous plotting, enabling long running applications such as ray tracers to continue to run unaffected. Also it does not change screen mode or alter the main palette in any way (only the border palette), thus leaving the desktop and other programs unaffected by the screen blank. If you use a different screen blanker, then use the T0 start-up option (see later) to TidyDesk's blanker off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alt-Key Facility ================ This is a very powerful time-saving feature that allows you to perform the following actions by pressing ALT and another key: a) Insert text as if typed at the keyboard including things like today's time and date. b) Launch an application, eg !Draw or !Impression. c) Issue an OS command, such as *BASIC. d) Invoke a TidyDesk provided feature. e) Load text into an application. The ALT key is used since this will in most cases avoid conflicts with other programs. If a conflict does arise, TidyDesk can be customised to only trap the left or right Alt key - see the customisation section. Many preset facilities are provided with TidyDesk, but these keys or any other may be set at any time. Editing Key Definitions ----------------------- Selecting Edit Keys from the main menu or clicking Select on the iconbar icon will open a window with 4 areas: a) ALT or ALT+Shift key definition b) Key being edited c) Facility to save the definitions d) A keyboard layout showing which keys are in use. (note: this keyboard layout is for A3/4/5xxx series machines - the keys may be in different places on other keyboards). Alt Key + : Click on Shift to access the ALT+Shift+key definitions. Key x: This panel shows the key being edited. A key may perform one of 4 functions: a) Insert text as if typed at keyboard b) Issue an OS command c) Load text into an application d) Perform a TidyDesk provided function. These are covered in more detail below. For Insert, Command and Load, click on the white icon to key in the text for the key. For TD Cmd click on the menu icon and then select the function you want - the white icon shows which command has been selected. Click on Update to set the key definition, or Delete to remove the definition. The corresponding key will be colour coded in the main panel to show it has been selected. Keys: Click on Save to permanently save the definitions into a file within the !TidyDesk directory. Click on End to close the display. Keyboard: This panel shows all the keys on the keyboard, colour coded to show their function. Click on a key to see its function: White : unused key or RiscOS special characters (see later) Light Blue : Insert text Dark Blue : Load text Light Green : TidyDesk command Dark Green : OS command Light Grey : Reserved because they are used by Risc OS. Single Key Editing ------------------ To quickly edit a single key, press ALT-K - a panel will appear asking you to press the key to be edited, with Shift if required. The panel that appears is just the main key editing panel. You can press Alt-K even when the Edit Key(s) window is open to switch to another key. When you click on Update or Delete the key will be set and the panel closed, unless you use Adjust. However note that the definition will not be permanently set - use Save from the main Edit Keys window for this. Text Inserting -------------- Up to 255 characters can be inserted when you press ALT+key. This is effective inside any editor (eg. Impression) or even outside the desktop (eg. BASIC Editor). This allows repetitive text strings to be quickly entered without mistake. Note: There is a bug within !Edit on RiscOS 3.1 causing every 21st character to be lost - use the Load facility to overcome this. Instead of typing in the text to be inserted, you can save text from another application, providing an extended cut and paste facility: a) Select the text within the application b) Press Alt-K and the key to receive the text c) Open the application menu and open the Select->Save panel d) Drag the file icon onto the edit key window and the text will be transferred into the key definition. e) Press Update Note also that text may be dragged the opposite way, from the Edit Key window into an application. This allows easier editing of long text sequences. GSTrans: The inserted text supports the GS-Trans format, allowing control codes and system variables to be used. For instance |J (or |M) is the same as pressing Return whilst <Sys$Time> would enter the current time (ALT+Shift+T is preset to this value). Use |<..> to insert <> symbols without translation (see ALT+E). Linefeeds and carriage-returns are automatically converted to/from GS-Trans format when dragging text to and from the Edit key window. To save you having to work out the GSTrans value for control codes, all you need to do is press the control codes you require (eg. CTRL-J or F3), and the correct GSTrans sequence will be generated. What this allows you to do is enter multiple control codes to a task. For example within !Edit, pressing F4 opens the Search window, and then pressing F2 recalls the previous text. You could assign ALT-F4 to F4+F2 so that this always occurs. Notes: Sometimes it is necessary to generate a delay to give the target task enough time to open the new window. To do this insert |@ (CTRL-@, the null character) after the control code causing a switch of windows. To insert a null code, enter it twice, ie |@|@. To insert CTRL-U (delete contents of an icon) use |U. TidyDesk traps all control codes whilst editing a key, including the F12 key, so use ALT-L to lose the caret if you really need to perform a F12 function. GSTrans Format: This is documented in the RiscOS User guide. Alt-T is preset to the variable <TD$Date> which inserts the current date in a user definable format. See the Configuration Options section to set the date format. Loading Text ------------ This is similar to Insert Text, but instead of inserting into the keyboard the data is sent as a text file to the current application which is the one owning the caret, or the one under the pointer if no caret. The difference depends very much on the application. For Impression for instance, using Load allows the inclusion of styles, eg. {"Bold" on}Some Bold Text{"Bold" off} would cause Impression to enter the text in the Bold style. If you used Insert the bracketed commands would not be interpreted. As mentioned previously use Load to add more than 20 characters to !Edit. The text data for Load may be edited in the same way as for Insert. Also you can use GS-Trans codes and system variables. Issuing Commands ---------------- This facility is only available from the desktop. The command is issued as a new desktop task, so any output will appear in a window. Under RiscOS 3 prefix the command with "TaskWindow" for the output to appear in a multi-tasking window (see Alt+Shift+B as an example). Whilst any command can be issued, the following are suitable examples: a) BASIC (ALT-B preset) b) the full name of an application directory to launch a task c) "Filer_OpenDir dirname" to open a directory display d) An Obey or TaskObey file e) WimpMode xx to change screen mode (RiscOS 3) f) Using SET, SETEVAL and SETMACRO Up to 255 characters can be typed in. A quick way to enter a file name is to drag the file or application from a Filer window onto the Edit Key window. Multiple commands can be issued by separating each by |J, but the easiest way to do this is to code the command sequence within !Edit and then save the output onto the Edit Key window. To re-edit a multi-command, drag the command from the Edit Key window into !Edit. Two commands are provided which are useful in this context. MouseStep n: sets the mouse speed from 1-127 (see Alt-F1 through F5). TD_Insert text: inserts the text into the keyboard buffer. This is useful when performing multi-line expressions. Alt-N is defined as: SetEval N N+1 |J TD_Insert <N> Pressing ALT+N increments the value of N and then inserts the number into the keyboard. Try it and see - useful for section numbering. Press ALT+Shift+N to reset back to 1. To insert the date in different formats use: SET TD$DateForm "format string" |J TD_Insert <TD$Date> TidyDesk Provided Commands -------------------------- TidyDesk provides many functions which can be assigned to a key. They are documented in the "Keyboard Shortcuts" section previously. The standard key assignments are: Command Key Assignment Function ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Wdw to Front ALT-Page Up Window to top Wdw to Back ALT-Page Down Window to bottom Maximise Wdw ALT-Cursor Down Maximise window Minimise Wdw ALT-Cursor Left Minimise window Max. Width ALT-Cursor Right Maximise window's width Max. Height ALT-Cursor Up Maximise window's height Close Wdw ALT-Delete Close window Tidy Wdws ALT-Home Tidy windows Cycle Wdws ALT-Tab Cycle through windows Park Mouse ALT-\ Mouse to far right Edit Key ALT-K Open ALT key edit window See Pinboard ALT-V Toggle pinboard to front/back Lose Caret ALT-L Lose caret Escape ALT-Escape Present escape to current task Kill Task ALT-Break Cancel current task Iconise Wdw ALT-I Iconise the current window Pin Window ALT-P Close window and place on pinboard Mouse by keys ALT-M Control mouse from keyboard All of these functions may be reassigned to different keys. Note that window refers to the current window - the one owning the caret or the one under the pointer if no caret. RiscOS ALT Keys --------------- RiscOS provides some ALT-key functions of its own. Some of these provide access to special characters such as © - these may be reassigned within TidyDesk as long as the key is not greyed out. TidyDesk shows you the character RiscOS 3.1 inserts into the keyboard when using the Latin1 character set. To restore a key to its original function click the Delete icon. Greyed out keys cannot be reassigned. The numeric keys are used within RiscOS to allow any key code to be inserted into the keyboard by pressing ALT and the ASCII keycode using the numeric keypad. The keys marked 'Accent Letter' are used to form accented letters by pressing ALT+key then the letter to accent by itself. For example ALT+[ followed by E produces é. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Configuration Options ===================== Configuration options are set by editing the !TidyDesk !Run file. Hopefully the next version of TidyDesk will feature a desktop customising application since the list of options has grown some what. For now, please read the following section carefully to get the most out of TidyDesk. TD$Options: The following options can be set by editing the line "SET TD$Options ..." in the file !Run within the !TidyDesk directory. For the options to take effect, restart TidyDesk. Each option is a single letter which may be specified in any order, with or without intervening spaces. To remove all the options specify: SET TD$Options "" Ak : By default TidyDesk traps both the left and Alt keys. To avoid conflicts with other applications, TidyDesk can trap either the left key - AL - or the right key - AR. B : When loading BASIC files by a long double click, enter BASIC EDIT mode. Cn : Turns on the flashing caret. 'n' (optional) specifies the flash period in centiseconds. The default is 40 (0.4 seconds). D : Protect dialogue box window sizes on a tidy operation. I : Place TidyDesk on icon bar, otherwise use CTRL-Menu to access. L : Activates the Lissajous screen blank plot. M : Mouse move terminates a screen blank. O : Use outline fonts in low resolution screen modes. P : Protect all window sizes on a tidy operation. S : When Tidying windows, reset the scroll bars to their home position. Tn : Sets the screen blank time to 'n' minutes - 0 disables screen blanking. V : Sets the ALT-Home key action to Tidy->View. The default is Tidy->Stack. Xn & Yn : sets the default X & Y Lissajous plot values. Zn : n is the number of OS units to shift the screen blank message left each redisplay. If Z0 is specified the screen message is not subject to scrolling. Scrolled messages are only supported in outline fonts and with RiscOS 3+. Note: Setting the D and S options will produce the cleanest result without disturbing window sizes unduly when performing a window tidy operation. *TidyDesk_Load <filename> : use this command to load a Lissajous figure of your choice. Alias$TidyBcmd is used to set the function keys on entry to BASIC - see section on Long Double Click. SetMacro TD$Blankmsg text Set TD$BlankFont fontname eg. Homerton.Bold SetEval TD$BlankFontx x-points eg. 16 SetEval TD$BlankFonty y-points eg. 16 TD$BlankMsg is used to set the message used on a screen blank if screen blanking has been enabled and Lissajous plotting has been disabled. Specify up to 255 characters which can include RiscOS variables eg. SetMacro TD$BlankMsg The screen was blanked at <Sys$Time> See the screen blanking section for more details. TD$DateForm "format string" is used to set the date format of the <TD$Date> variable. See your RiscOS User Guide on for the specification of date format strings - too many to mention here! TD$TaskWind is used to set the options for running programs in a task window. Issue *Help Taskwindow to see the available options - TidyDesk passes the TD$TaskWind options on to the Taskwindow manager. To conserve memory it is possible to remove the "RMLOAD <TD$Dir>.TD_Help" command which will stop the help information being loaded until required. For best operation TidyDesk should be loaded at power on by specifying $.path.!TidyDesk in your !Boot file. See the final topic for help on setting up !Boot files. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes On Window Controls ======================== This section describes limitations and caveats which you should be aware of. Window Resizing: a window's size can be changed via Minimise, Maximise or Tidy, regardless of whether it has the related window control icons. Some windows without control icons (such as tool boxes) do not have correct minimum and maximum sizes defined, so when you minimise, maximise or tidy it, the window is not correctly sized. This is usually cured by closing the window and then re-opening it from the owning task, or try Maximising it. Use the D start-up option to stop these window sizes being changed on tidy, and P to protect all window sizes. Task Quit: use this selection with caution - it ends the task with no prompts to save data. Never quit the Filer or Task Manager. Using Adjust: use Adjust to keep the menu open. Note that closing a Filer window with adjust will open the parent directory. When using CTRL-Menu, Adjust does not cause the menu to be re-made since re-sorting the window list could be confusing. Note that after closing a window with Close, the other menu options may or may not work for that window, depending on the application - the window will be re-opened if it still exists. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Automating The Desktop At Startup ================================= The following notes should be of help in automating the state of the machine at power on. I give these since Acorn's instructions are minimal! RiscOS 3 If you use the "Desktop Boot" facility of the Task Manager to set up your desktop boot file then TidyDesk will automatically add a line to load itself. Alternatively if you have customised your boot file then add this line to your !Boot file and/or desktop boot file:- Run <pathname>.!TidyDesk RiscOS 2 1) Issue *CONFIGURE BOOT - this forces the system to look for a !Boot file at start up. Also issue *Configure Language 3 to set RiscOS as the default language. 2) Create an EXEC file called $.!Boot on your hard disk using !Edit. If you only have a floppy disk, create the file on your system disk (the one containing !System and all your main applications). For the moment just add the next 2 lines: *$.dir.!TidyDesk load before starting desktop *DESKTOP -FILE $.dir.Deskboot where dir is a suitable directory such as BOOT. 3) Issue *DIR $ then *OPT 4,3 to set the boot option for the !Boot file on this disk. 4) Create the $.dir.Deskboot file as an EXEC file using !Edit. Typically the lines will be: Set Edit$Options ... Set !Edit options Set Copy$Options ... Set *COPY options pathname.!Fonts.!Boot Prepares the Fonts for use pathname.!Draw.!Boot Initialise !Draw pathname.!application to start an application such as !Alarm FILER_OPENDIR adfs::diskname.$ opens the root directory of this disk Now, when your machine is powered on or you press CTRL-Reset, the system will automatically be fully configured to your options. If you use floppies, you will need to ensure that your System disk is in the drive before booting the system. Note that the lines ending .!Boot don't start an application, but ensure that the application will be ready to be run when required. For example, when you double click on a Draw file, the system will now know what to do with it and where to find !Draw. These lines are only needed for applications that have their own data files. If the applications are on different disks, you can still set them up. Generally you will need to add lines to "Deskboot" in the form: Set Alias$@RunType_xxx adfs::diskname.$.!application.!Run %*0 You will find the necessary lines in the !Boot file of the application. Note that the Deskboot file can be any name and can be tucked away in any directory on the system disk. The !Boot file however must be in the root directory. To bypass the !Boot at reset or power on, simply hold down the SHIFT key. Note: if you have multiple filing systems use *CONFIGURE Filesystem name to set the filing system to contain the !Boot file. If you have multiple disk drives, use *CONFIGURE DRIVE to set the default disk drive to contain the !Boot file. Multiple Configurations with a hard disk: if several people use the machine and you want different configurations for each, set the last line of the !Boot file to *Deskboot -File ADFS::diskname.$.Deskboot, where diskname is the name of each person's personal configuration disk containing their unique Deskboot file. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- History ------- 1.00 12/01/92 Initial version with window controls and screen blanking. 1.01 18/04/92 User definable function keys on entry to BASIC. 1.10 11/05/92 Drag and resize windows via CTRL/ALT. Alt-TAB task cycling. Pointer park. Alt-cursor controls affect caret owner. Flashing caret. Allow loading before *DESKTOP. Task killing. Cut and Paste text icon contents. Icon bar menu. 1.11 26/05/92 Alias$TidyBkeys now Alias$TidyBcmd and allows setting of CSD. 1.13 24/09/92 Outline font support. 1.20 18/11/92 Alt-Key editing feature plus other minor enhancements. 1.25 04/12/92 RiscOS 3.1 enhancements, tidy up of Alt-key feature, bug fixes. Changes to Long double click for BASIC loading. 1.30 08/12/92 Alt-key enhancements, full interactive help, bug fixes. 1.31 29/01/94 Acorn Newlook style icons. 1.40 06/05/94 Pinboard toggling. Max width, height & close window commands. Lose caret command. Some bug fixes (ALT-Tab no longer inserts a tab into !Zap, & handle insertion of character codes >x80). 1.41 10/05/94 Automatic translation of control codes into GSTrans format. 1.42 17/05/94 Allow some RiscOS ALT keys to be redefined. Support for 32k and 16M colour modes for Lissajous plotter. 1.43 02/10/94 Centralise Lissajous plot in all screen modes. Custom select which Alt keys to trap. Windows brought to front correctly. 1.50 01/11/94 Support DesktopSave to automate booting. User defined screen blank msg and in any outline font. Screen blank scroll message. 1.60 12/09/95 Add Iconise and Pin functions. Add window title to window list. 1.61 16/11/95 Add keyboard control of the mouse. 1.62 27/02/96 Overcome RiscOS 3.5 problem with outline fonts in icons. 1.63 28/10/96 StrongArm support. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright --------- This software is copyrighted by Mike Curnow and IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN. If you regulary use this software then it can be registered for £6 direct from the author, the benefit being that you get the latest version and entitlement to future updates. This software must not be resold without prior consent from the author. Mike Curnow, Stoneleigh Swan Lane Great Bourton Banbury OX17 1QR email: mike.curnow@dial.pipex.com SAE with all correspondance please. Send a formatted disk if you want to upgrade to the latest version of this program (registered users only) or you are reporting a bug and would like a fix.