Alchemy Help:
Alchemy Preferences


[Contents] [Index] [Windows] [Helper apps] [Colors] [Fonts] [Sounds] [FTP] [Telnet] [Thumbnails] [Project upload]

Configuring Alchemy

The Alchemy Preferences dialog box is used to set application-wide preferences such as windows, helper applications and fonts. Many of the items that you set up here, such as your server log-in ID and password, are default settings which will be copied into any project files you create; you can then modify the settings in the Project Preferences dialog for each specific project.

You can display the Alchemy Preferences dialog at any time from the Project window by pressing the Change application preferences button on the toolbar or by selecting the Options/Alchemy preferences... menu item. The list box on the left side of the dialog displays the various areas of Alchemy that can be configured. When you select an item from the list, the contents of the configuration pane on the right side of the dialog will change to display the current settings for the area that you have selected. Following is a description of each of the areas that you can set up.


Windows


Each of the items in the Windows listbox represents an application window which is accessible via the Window menu item on any Alchemy menu bar. Each item consists of the name of the window followed by the word internal or the name of an application. Windows are referred to as internal or external. Internal windows are windows that are built in to the Alchemy application. External windows are separate applications such as Adobe Photoshop®, Microsoft Word®, etc. You can use this dialog to replace a built-in Alchemy window with an external window of your choosing. For example, if you wanted to use the Windows Notepad application to edit HTML files instead of Alchemy's built-in Web Editor, you could change the Web editor window from Internal to NOTEPAD.EXE. Alchemy includes the following built-in windows:

Important: Since Alchemy does not have a built-in web browser, you must always specify an external web browser window such as Netscape, Mosaic, etc. It is very important that you set up this item, since Alchemy uses the web browser to provide online help as well as to display the contents of your HTML documents.

To set up an external window, select the window in the listbox that you want to configure (i.e. Web browser), uncheck the Use internal window checkbox and supply the application's full path name in the Application path edit control (i.e., "c:\netscape\netscape.exe"). If you want Alchemy to start a fresh copy of the application each time it sends the application a file, check the Always start a new copy checkbox. If you want Alchemy to use the copy of the application that is already running, leave the box unchecked.

To set up an internal window, select the window in the list box that you want to configure (i.e. Web editor) and check the Use internal tool checkbox.

Note: Alchemy uses the Windows drag-n-drop interface to load files into external applications. For example, if you have set up an external HTML editor and you double-click on the name of an HTML file in the Project window, Alchemy will check to see if the application is already running. If so, and you have not checked the Always start a new copy checkbox, Alchemy will send a drag-n-drop message to the application telling it to load the file. Otherwise, Alchemy will start the application and specify the name of the file on the command line. Most HTML editors interpret a file which is drag-n-dropped onto them as a URL reference rather than as a file to be loaded, so Alchemy will not be able to load files into a copy of the application which is already running. If you want to use an external Web editor window, you will probably need to check the Always start new copy checkbox. See the Alchemy Third Party HTML Editor Compatibility List to find out how your favorite HTML editor reacts to drag-n-drop messages.


Helper Apps


Alchemy uses external applications to edit many types of files, particularly graphics files (GIF, JPEG, etc.). These applications are called Helper apps, and this section of the Alchemy Preferences dialog is used to set them up. Each of the items in the Helper apps listbox represents an external application which is accessible via the Helpers menu item on any Alchemy menu bar. Each item consists of the description of the application which appears on the Helpers menu, followed by the extension of the type of file it is used to edit and the name of the application's executable file. When you double-click on a file name in the Project window, Alchemy will use the filename extension (i.e., "GIF", "JPG", etc.) to determine which helper app it should use to edit the file, and will then send the file to that application.

To add a new helper app, click the New... pushbutton. This will add an item called New to the list. Change the Application description to whatever text you would like to see on the Helpers menu (i.e., "Adobe Photoshop"), type the filename extension that you want Alchemy to associate with this application into the Launch... edit control (i.e. "GIF"), and supply the application's full path name in the Application path edit control (i.e., "c:\photoshp\photoshp.exe"). If you want Alchemy to use this application whenever you double-click on a filename with which you have not associated a specific helper app, check the Default helper application checkbox.

Note: Alchemy does not require you to supply a file extension when you set up a helper app. This allows you to add items that are not content-specific (like a calculator application) to the Helpers menu without having to associate it with a particular file type, giving you easy one-click access to the applications you use most often.


Colors

This section lets you specify the colors which Alchemy uses in the Project and Resource Browser windows.


Fonts

This section lets you specify the fonts which Alchemy uses in the Project/Resource Browser and Web Editor windows.


Sounds


This section lets you specify the sounds which Alchemy plays at the completion of various operations such as uploading your project to the web server. You can associate a sound with each of the following events:

To associate a sound with an event, select an event in the Sounds listbox and supply the full path name of a Windows WAV file (i.e., "c:\windows\chimes.wav")in the WAV file path edit control.

To disable all sounds, check the Mute checkbox.


FTP


This section lets you configure the default internet File Transfer Protocol settings which Alchemy will use to upload your projects to your web server (a.k.a. your host). When you start a new project, these settings will be copied into the new project file so that you can tailor them for that specific project. When you select the Project/Upload project to server... menu item or press the Upload toolbar button in the Project window, Alchemy uses the project-specific settings to connect to the host's FTP server and send your HTML, graphics, etc. files to it. If you have a shell/SLIP/PPP account, the values that you provide here are the same ones that you use to connect to your service provider. Note that not all FTP servers require a password or account, so check with your service provider if you have questions.


Telnet


This section lets you configure the default internet Telnet settings which Alchemy will use to upload your projects to your web server (a.k.a. your host) and to automatically connect to a host for a terminal emulator session. When you start a new project, these settings will be copied into the new project file so that you can tailor them for that specific project. When you select the Project/Upload project to server... menu item or press the Upload toolbar button in the Project window, Alchemy uses the project-specific settings to connect to the host's Telnet port and change the access permissions on your directories and HTML, graphics, (etc.) files if you have specified that Telnet be used to set the access permissions. When you select the Host/Connect menu item or press the Connect toolbar button in the Telnet Session window, Alchemy uses the project-specific settings to automatically connect to the host's Telnet port. What you are essentially doing here is creating a log-in script. If you have a shell/SLIP/PPP account, the values that you provide here are exactly the same as those that you use to connect to your service provider. If you are using Trumpet Winsock (or something similar) you should pull these values out of your current log-in script.


Thumbnails


This section lets you specify how you want Alchemy to handle thumbnail sketches. When your project contains HTML documents which reference graphics files, Alchemy can display reduced-resolution versions of the images contained in the files. These reduced-resolution versions are referred to as thumbnails or thumbs. You can select from a variety of size and formats in which to display thumbs.

Size:

Format:

Create thumbnails when importing HTML documents:


Project upload


This section lets you specify defaults for the way in which Alchemy will handle your project files when uploading them to the web server. When you start a new project, these settings will be copied into the new project file so that you can tailor them for that specific project.

Traditionally, there are three steps involved in storing documents on a web server so that they can be accessed by a web browser. First, you must create the directories in which the files will be stored. Second, you must copy the files to the server. Third, you must set the Unix access permissions for each of the directories and files so that they can be accessed by the web server and sent to a web browser. Alchemy will take care of all of these items for you automatically, but you need to tell it how you want your files to be processed.

Set access permissions using:

Access permissions:

Stop upload if:

Append this to all file names:

*Note: how to tell if your FTP server supports the SITE command
There are several ways to determine whether or not you can set access permissions using FTP.

  1. Ask your service provider

  2. Try it - Establish a command-line FTP session with your server and issue the SITE command. If you get the message "Command not implemented." or something similar, then your FTP server does not support the SITE command.

  3. Check the Alchemy log - The first time you upload your project using Alchemy, set the Set access permissions using: value to FTP. If the upload fails, check the Alchemy Messages window. If you see the message "SITE command not implemented." or something similar, then your FTP server does not support the SITE command.


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