@database 07a22bf8-0 @master Emi:CLang/Progs/DirMenu/DirMenu.guide @$VER: 0.9b @author "Jure Vrhovnik" @(c) "1994" @wordwrap @font topaz.font 8 @remark Created with Heddley v1.1 (c) Edd Dumbill 1994 @node "Main" "Dir Menu v0.9beta" @{u}Dir Menu v0.9b@{uu} @{fg shine} Jure Vrhovnik, 1994@{fg text} @{i}This is a PUBLIC DOMAIN program.@{ui} You can use and redistribute it as long as you don't use it for commercial purpose. Please redistribute this program with all files originaly included in the archive. This is a test (beta) version. If you find any bugs, if you want any features not yet implented, if you have any suggestions or comments, please report any thing to the author. Click here for @{" author's address " link "Address" 0}. ------------------------------------------------ @{" What is this? " link "WhatIsThis" 0} @{" How to INSTALL it? " link "Instalation" 0} @{" How do I start it? " link "Start" 0} @{" How do I use it? " link "Usage" 0} @{" Icon tooltypes " link "ToolTypes" 0} @{" The config file " link "Config" 0} @{" Defining new file types " link "Whatis Library" 0} @{" Future versions " link "Future" 0} @{" Thanks go to " link "Thanks" 0} @endnode @node "WhatIsThis" "About Dir Menu" Dir Menu is a pop up based file selector. You simply press a hotkey and a menu will pop up on current screen, showing all disk volumes you have. Then select a volume, and it's root directory will appear. Then select any file on your directory, and Dir Menu will execute selected file according to its type @{i}(if it's an IFF file it will get shown on a screen)@{ui}. @{fg shine}But there is more! If you're still interested READ ON!@{fg text} You can configure what Dir Menu should do on any type of file you will select. You can also configure your favorite directories and files to appear on the first display (when you press a hotkey). @{fg shine}But that's still not it! :-)@{fg text} Dir Menu will recognize almost every known type of files. It uses WhatIs library, and that means if there is any type of file not already configured you can configure a new type, and Dir Menu will remember it for ever! @{b}AGAIN:@{ub}@{fg shine} With Dir Menu you can instantly and quickly browse throught directory trees on your disk drives, easily take a look at a picture anywhere on your disk, read any text without worrying how to load a text shower first, look into a lha archive by simply selecting that archive file etc.@{fg text} @endnode @node "Start" "How to run Dir Menu" When you first start the program a display will pop up on a screen. @{b}If you don't want Dir Menu to pop up on first execution you can disable this option in the icon tool types.@{ub} If you've started the program you can now browse through your directories by clicking on their names. When you select a file Dir Menu will try to find its type, and will execute a command that is defined for that type in DirMenu.cfg configuration file (if there is a definition). If a file's type is not known, or if no action is defined for a file type then nothing will occur. You can change that by configuring a new file type and add a new action definition for that type. @endnode @node "Usage" "How to use Dir Menu" @{b}I tried to make this program to be handled as easily as possible, while still considered enough space for future implementations. I count on you to express any thoughs about future versions of Dir Menu!@{ub} As already mentioned in @{"What is this?" link "WhatIsThis" 0} section, you can pop up the main display by pressing a hotkey. The default hotkey is @{fg shine}Left Alt + d@{fg text}, however you can change this to any combination of keys you want. You may want to take a look into @{"Tooltypes" link "ToolTypes" 0} section. When the main display is opened, all available volumes on your computer will be displayed. (you can change this to suite your needs in the @{"config file" link "Config" 0}) You can press on any volume name, and a new display with root directory will appear. You can go 15 subdirectories deep. The main display has two buttons on the top: '@{b}Quit@{ub}' and '@{b}Close@{ub}'. If you click on @{b}Quit@{ub} then Dir Menu commodity will be removed from memory. If you click on @{b}Close@{ub} button you will still be able to pop it up again by pressing a hotkey. Every display (except from main) has the same two buttons on the top of it: '@{b}Root@{ub}' and '@{b}Parent@{ub}'. If you click on @{b}Parent@{ub} button you will get rid of the highest display. And clicking on @{b}Root@{ub} button will take you down to the main display. @{fg shine}HINT: You don't need to click on Parent button in order to go to a parent directory: you can also click on any directory or file on a parent display (or any display), and all higher displays will automaticly be gone. If you select a directory, you can close a new display by clicking on the same button again.@{fg text} When you select a desired file Dir Menu will first try to recognize what its type is. This is done with a help of @{"whatis library" link "Whatis Library" 0} (and the FileTypes file included in this archive).If it is a file to execute it will get executed. Otherwise it will look in @{"DirMenu.cfg config file" link "Config" 0} for that type definition. If it finds it a defined action for that type will be executed. There are some predefined actions already included in Dir Menu (such as what to do with Exe type file, or Guide - AmigaGuide file etc. - those definitions are listed in @{"DirMenu.cfg file" link "Config" 0} , and you can override them with your own new definitions). If you'd like to configure new file types, please read about @{"WhatIs library" link "Whatis Library" 0} in this manual. @endnode @node "ToolTypes" "Icon Tooltypes descriptions" Select a @{b}DirMenu@{ub} icon and select '@{b}icon information@{ub}' from a Workbench menu. You will be able to edit a few tooltypes, thus changing Dir Menu's enviroment to be the most comforting to you. @{b}Here are all tooltypes in this version:@{ub} @{fg shine}CX_POPKEY:@{fg text} A hotkey that will popup the main display when pressed. @{fg fill}Examples: "lalt d", "ctrl lalt p"@{fg text} @{b}Default: Left Alt + d (lalt d)@{ub} @{fg shine}CX_PRIORITY:@{fg text} What priority this commodity will have in the system environment. @{b}Usually is set to 0.@{ub} @{fg shine}CX_POPUP:@{fg text} Will the main display show when you first run Dir Menu? Possibilities: YES, NO If you put DirMenu in WBStartup you will set this tooltype to NO. @{b}Default: YES@{ub} @{fg shine}MAXITEMS:@{fg text} Maximum number of lines for each display. If you set this to 0 the only limit for maximum height of a display will be a screen's height. @{fg fill}Example: 10 - only 10 lines or less will be visible.@{fg text} @{fg shine}SLIDER:@{fg text} This tooltype will let you change the slider's width. This is very usefull if you use some extra strange fonts for your screen. 0 - slider width will be the same as font's width 1 - 1.5 * font's width 2 - 2 * font's width 15 or more - number of pixels. Note that the minimum width is 15 pixels. @{b}If you define less than this, DirMenu will force to use 15 pixels.@{ub} @{fg shine}DIRSFIRST:@{fg text} Will directories appear in display before files or after? YES - dirs will be shown first NO - files will be shown before dirs @{b}Default: YES@{ub} @{fg shine}CLOSESELECT:@{fg text} Will all displays close when you select a file? YES - close everything when selected (you can popup it again with a hotkey) NO - remain opened when file selected @{b}Default: YES@{ub} @{fg shine}SHOWTYPE:@{fg text} This is an advanced option for those who want to play with configuring new types of files, and checking if they work. On each selected file it's action, file type, and file subtype will be written on screen. Read about @{"configuring new file types" link "Whatis Library" 0}. @{b}Default: NO@{ub} @endnode @node "Config" "Configuration file description" It is not very hard to configure new actions for file types. Firstly, a configuration file is @{fg shine}DirMenu.cfg@{fg text}. Dir Menu will first try to read it from a current directory (where Dir Menu lies), and it is not there Dir Menu will try to read it from s: directory. However, if it finds the config file in a current dir, it won't try to read it from s:. If there is no config file, only volumes will be shown in the main display, and some default actions will be present. Those default settings will be overridden if there is a config file. Currently, there are only two lists to configure: @{fg shine}Items to appear in the main display@{fg text}, and @{fg shine}Actions for specific file types@{fg text}. Two commands will separate those lists in config file: definitions after a line '@{u}#PATHS@{uu}' will be used for configuring the main display. And lines after a line '@{u}#ACTIONS@{uu}' will represent actions to be taken for certain file types. 1) Configuring main display@{ub} You can configure any path of directory or file you want to appear on the first display. I use paths such as Picture dirs, Text file directories etc. You can also define to have volumes or all assigns currently defined on your system. Main display configuration starts with a keyword @{u}#PATHS@{uu}. Next lines should be in the following format: [@{fg shine}"@{fg text}]@{fg shine}name@{fg text}[@{fg shine}"@{fg text}] [@{fg shine}"@{fg text}]@{fg shine}path@{fg text}[@{fg shine}"@{fg text}], where @{fg shine}"name"@{fg text} is a word to appear in the main display of Dir Menu, and @{fg shine}"path"@{fg text} is a full path to a file or directory you want to access. (quotes are optional, but required if space appears in either a name or a path). @{fg shine}IMPORTANT:@{fg text} You can define directories to act as files or dirs. If a path ends with a slash (/), this item will be treated as a directory, that means, if you click on it in the main display it will show contents of this dir in a new display. If you don't add a slash to an end of a path Dir Menu will think this is a file with a type "Dir", and will attempt to do an action for "Dir" type (if you had defined it). @{fg fill}Examples: #PATHS ;Starts with paths definitions Pix hd0:pictures/ ;This will add a new entry with name 'Pix' in the main display. This will be a directory Message "df0:filelist" ;This is normal text file. If you select it Dir Menu will look for its file type, and make an action (if it is defined) FileDir sys:c ;This will add a directory to the main display, but it won't open a new display if you select it. It will try to make an action on it if something is defined for "Dir" file type. @{fg text} @{b}2) Configuring Actions@{ub} For each type of file Dir Menu can recognize you can define any program to get executed when a file with a certain type is selected. For example, here are a few file types Dir Menu can recognize: Exe - Executable file; Text - ASCII text file; ILBM - IFF picture; Icon- Icon *.info file; and many more (you should see the original DirMenu.cfg file for more info). To start with action configuration you must write a keyword @{u}#ACTIONS@{uu} anywhere in config file. All entries after this should be in following format: [@{fg shine}"@{fg text}]@{fg shine}type@{fg text}[@{fg shine}"@{fg text}] [@{fg shine}"@{fg text}]@{fg shine}action@{fg text}[@{fg shine}"@{fg text}] Where @{fg shine}"type"@{fg text} is name of a file type (or subtype: see @{" WhatIs library " link "Whatis Library" 0} for more information about types), and @{fg shine}"action"@{fg text} is name of a program (with its full path) which should execute for that file type. (quotes are again optional). When you select a file with Dir Menu, the following procedure will occur: - Dir Menu tries to recognize a basic type and subtype of selected file - It searches through the action file list for a type definition first, and if it doesn't find the type it will search for a subtype definition, and if not found, it will look for any default action for that type. - it executes a proper program (action), as if it's typed from Shell: @{fg shine}'action file'@{fg text} - where action is a defined file name, and 'file' is selected file @{fg shine}VERY IMPORTANT: File types are case SENSITIVE!@{fg text} Keep this in mind. If a program is not executed when it should be, check if you had wrote a file type correctly. @{fg shine}TIP:@{fg text} If you would like to find out about file types for a certain files on your computer you can do it by changing a tooltype SHOWTYPE=TRUE, and restart DirMenu. For each file you select DirMenu will tell you what is its basic type,and its secondary type (SUBTYPE). @{fg shine}HINT:@{fg text} If Dir Menu does not recognize a file type it will return "Unknown".You are able to define a default action for any unrecognized file (if you make a new action entry with file type "Unknown"). @{fg fill}Examples: #ACTIONS ;starts with action definitions Exe "run >nil: