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:
- a quote line is limited to 80 chars
- signatures can contain up to 16 lines
- each signature must be followed by a @
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:
- a Macintosh (or compatible) computer equipped with any PowerPC CPU
- MacOS 8.0 or greater (appearance manager required)
History
- v3.0: Native Version for Mac OS 8.6 - 10.x, Localization added (German/English)
(July 2004)
- v2.3: Fixed a bug with inconsistent line-endings when adding
quotes in the editor, Option key displays application window (overriding the hide option)
(January 2002)
- v2.2: New Option to hide the dialog when launching the program,
Minor bug-fixes in the Editor, better error-handling in case some files
are missing.
(October 2001)
- v2.1: Linefeeds now optionally MacOS or UNIX-style, Minor cosmetic
bug-fixes, slightly overhauled documentation.
(10. September 2001)
- v2.0: New built-in editor, quotes can now contain up to 16 lines.
(6. September 2001)
- v1.1: Fixed a bug causing SR to crash when quotes had more than 4
lines (first public release)
(June 2001)
- v1.0: Initial version (non-public)
(January 2001)
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.