Signature Randomizer

(Release 3.0)

by J. Barnholt


About

SignatureRandomizer started out as a small program I've written on a rainy afternoon. All I wanted was a small tool to select another signature from a single database (rather than many different files) each time it is ran.
Since the first public release of SignatureRandomizer was quite popular I decided to add some features like the built-in editor (v2.0+) as well as implement some more functionality requested by various users.
Hope you like this little application and find it as useful as I do.

The 'Signature Randomizer' is freeware.

However, if you like the program please feel free to send me an eMail, a postcard, money or whatever :-)



Installation

Just place an alias of 'SignatureRandomizer' in your 'Startup Items' folder.
That's all - the program will be launched each time you boot your system. You'll now have to choose the signature in your eMail application (see next section).



How it works

All signatures recognized by the SignatureRandomizer are kept in a single plain-text file.
Each time SignatureRandomizer is launched a random quote is chosen from this database. This signature is then written to a file called 'CurrentSignature.txt'.
You can either select this file directly as signature in your favoured eMail application -- e.g. Netscape allows to choose an arbitrary file -- or you might also make an alias from this file and place the alias wherever your eMailer might expect the signatures and rename the alias to whatever name your eMailer likes the file to be called -- this might be the preferred way for Eudora users.



Adding your own Signatures

Since release 2.0 of the SignatureRandomizer the preferred way to add signatures to your personal database as well as delete others is using the built-in editor (see following section).
However, for these of you preferring to edit the database manually here's a short description of the database format.

'SignatureRandomizer' comes with a sample file including three different quotes, so it might b ea good idea starting with this file when creating your personal database of signatures.

When editing the quotes database manually please note that: All these restrictions are handled automatically by the built-in editor.

This is a short sample file containing a single signature:
--+---+-+--+---+-+--+---+-+--+---+-+--+---+-+--+---+-+--+--
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
                                           - Sledge Hammer
@
There's almost no restriction what the - up to 16 - lines specifying a signature can contain;
just note that a line starting with the @ character is interpreted as the end of a signature. All text following the leading @ will be ignored if you accidentally try defining a signature line starting with the @ character.



The Editor & Preferences

The Preferences Button invokes the preferences and quotes editor.
As mentioned before SignatureRandomizer includes a built-in editor since release 2.0 to make editing the quotes database easier for you.

It features very basic operations like editing, adding and deleting quotes.
You can also change the current quote -- the quote currently included in the file 'CurrentSignature.txt' -- by using the 'Choose!' button, which will make the quote currently visible in the editor the current one (until SignatureRandomizer is run the next time).

Using the two radiobuttons you can choose if you'd like to use UNIX-Style linebreaks (using ASCII-Character 10) or MacOS-Style linebreaks (ASCII-Character 13) in the generated 'CurrentSignature.txt' file.

Uncheck the 'Show dialog at startup' option to hide the Signature Randomizer window when it is launched. This might be useful when launching the program on a regular basis (e.g. using a script) but you don't want the program window to show up each time a new signature is selected. However to view the program window again you have to edit the preferences file 'sr.prefs'. Open this file in any text editor (e.g. SimpleText), locate the line 'FRONTEND=N' and change it to 'FRONTEND=Y'. Next time you launch Signature Randomizer the program window will appear.
You can also use the Option key when launching Signature Randomizer to force the application window to appear.



Requirements

To run the 'Signature Randomizer' your computer should match at least the following specifications to run the program:




History





Contact

If you have any questions, suggestions, bug reports or just want to send me lots of money, write me an eMail: jan.barnholt@epost.de

or visit the 'Signature Randomizer' homepage at http://www.barnholt.net/sw/sr/



Disclaimer

This program is provided "as is". The author disclaims all warranties with regard to this software including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances shall the Author be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from the use of this software.