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CU Amiga Magazine's Super CD-ROM 11 (1997)(EMAP Images)(GB)(Track 1 of 3)[!][issue 1997-06].iso
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IRJ.doc 26-Feb-97
Intro:
Welcome, my fellow Imagine users! This is the third(final) release of the
Imagine-Requester-Jester (also known as IRJ) for the Amiga release of
Imagine5.0 by Impulse. For versions of IRJ that work with previous versions
of Imagine, check out Aminet.
Let me preface this doc file by saying that I hate writing docs - I'm
a programmer, not a tech writer. 3^)
What does IRJ do? Well, IRJ replaces Imagine's calls to its own file
requesters with calls to the system ASL file requester. IRJ maintains
seperate paths for different file operations(better explained later). IRJ
can be used to either attach itself to a running version of Imagine, or can
itself launch Imagine. IRJ runs from the CLI or from its Workbench icon.
System requirements:
First I should say that IRJ requires WB2.04+, which I hope you are all
running. This version of IRJ only works with Imagine5.0. This is because
IRJ overwrites the file requester subroutine calls made by Imagine at known
specific in the program. IRJ does not modify your original version of
Imagine - rather it 'hotpatches' Imagine once it's in memory.
Installation:
type 'lha x IRJ.lha ram:' at a CLI prompt ... some of the icons & dirs
included in this archive require being placed in ram: If you de-arc'd this
package to another location, some of the icons may need to be modified.
After you gain confidence with IRJ you may move the executable to somewhere
in your command path (say c:), and copy the supplied icons and IRJ config
files to whereever you want. If you keep the icons, be sure to edit the
tooltypes to reflect any changes you make.
Usage:
IRJ is designed to be used from the CLI or via a WorkBench icon.
From WorkBench: double-click any of the included icons.
IRJ recognizes the following icon tooltypes:
-------------------------------------------------------
CONFIG= <path&filename of a IRJ config file>
IMAGINENAME= <name of imagine executable>
IMAGINEDIR= <path to imagine executable>
IMAGINESTACK= <stack size to start imagine with>
IMAGINEPRIORITY= <adjust imagine priority>
PUBSCREEN= <open Imagine's screen as a public screen>
QUIT= <quit IRJ without quitting imagine>
these relate closely to the CLI usage except the keywords may not
be abbreviated and QUIT is not a switch but rather a booleen (ie
QUIT=T, or QUIT=t), same goes for the new option PUBSCREEN
...or...
From any CLI prompt, type 'IRJ help' to find the command template:
IRJ CONFIG/K,ID=IMAGINEDIR/K,IN=IMAGINENAME/K,IS=IMAGINESTACK/N,
IP=IMAGINEPRIORITY/N,PUBSCREEN/S,QUIT/S
here are a few CLI examples:
IRJ CONFIG=ram:IRJ.config
IRJ IP=-1
IRJ
IRJ QUIT
IRJ IMAGINENAME=imagine4.0_fp ID=imagine: IS=20000 PUBSCREEN
How it works:
When first run, IRJ reads its default config file (unless another is
specified). IRJ then looks around to see if Imagine is already running; if
it is, IRJ attaches itself to Imagine, changes Imagine's priority (if
specified) and then waits for the user to quit Imagine, or for a subsequent
invocation of IRJ to signal this one to detach from Imagine and quit.
Whew! ok, so if the first IRJ doesn't find Imagine already running,
it (IRJ) checks IMAGINEDIR and IMAGINENAME to see if you want IRJ to launch
Imagine -
-if not, IRJ waits in the background taking up no time waiting for the user
to start Imagine in some other fashion; when it shows up, IRJ will attach
itself and wait for the user to quit Imagine, or for a subsequent invocation
of IRJ to signal this one to detach from Imagine and quit.
-if so, IRJ will change its current dir to IMAGINEDIR (which must contain
Imagine.pic & Imagine.config - well, not really, but that's where Imagine
is going to look for those files) and then run the program IMAGINENAME.
The values of IMAGINESTACK & IMAGINEPRIORITY are both applied if specified.
On subsequent invocations either from an icon or from another CLI (that
first CLI won't return until IRJ finishes) IRJ first checks if the user has
specified the QUIT option. If so, this IRJ signals the first IRJ to detach
from Imagine (that is if it had already done so - there's no guarantee) and
then quit. If no QUIT option, IRJ will then read a IRJ config file if
specified by CONFIG= and pass it on to the original IRJ.
Then, if Imagine is running, IRJ will change Imagine's priority (if
specified) and then quit, ignoring any other arguments.
Else, since Imagine is not running, check IMAGINEDIR and IMAGINENAME to see
if user wants IRJ to launch Imagine. If not, quit cause I don't see what
you're trying to accomplish. If so, launch Imagine as I've described before.
I'm sorry that was all so complicated but that's just the way the program
logic worked out.
As far as the PUBSCREEN option goes, IRJ will only make Imagine's screen
public if Imagine has not already opened it's screen. This option was added
late in the development of IRJ and has not been tested as well as the rest
of the program. Imagine's public screen is SCREEN_1, I tried making this
user definable, but it was too much work. Also, Imagine's screen was not
designed to be a public screen, so it's up to you to close all visiting
windows or you may expect a crash. And, since Imagine's screen was not
designed to be a public screen, your windows get be overwritten (trashed)
in some circumstances.
Configuring IRJ to your system:
IRJ increases Imagine's flexibility by keeping track of several seperate
paths. These include directories for objects, DXFs, forms, cycles, effects,
splinepaths, brushmaps, attributes, textures, and particals.
When a new project is begun, Imagine used to create only a directory for
objects in the main <project>.imp drawer. Now, IRJ creates additional dirs
for those I just listed. It's up to you what they are called and where they
are created. They can even point to the same thing (maybe you want your
cycle dir to be the same as your object dir or maybe even put your cycle dir
in your object dir). By using wildcards in your CONFIG file, you can even
include the project name in part of the directory (the usefullness of this
is explained later).
IRJ config files are plain text files you create with your own word
processor. Config labels must start in column one and must contain at least
one space between the label and its definition. Supplying a config label
(followed by at least 1 space) with nothing else on the line tells IRJ to
use the directory from which Imagine was run. Comments are not allowed on
the same line as a config label definition.
I'll go through the config labels group by group. To see all of them
listed together see the file from the archive ram:IRJdefaults.cfg
configlabel IRJ-default description
----------- ----------- ----------------------------------------------
PREFSfile Default Imagine config file in prefs editor.
PROJECTdir This is the directory Imagine creates/opens
your projects in/from. You can of course use
the file requester to change this.
PROJECTfile Default project name. Imagine creates a
directory for you called <project>.imp in
which it adds a file called 'staging' - it's
this file you load when you want to open a
project(ie. PROJECTS/JESTER.imp/staging = the
JESTER project). Just to be clear here, for
the example just given, PROJECTdir would be
PROJECTS and PROJECTfile would be JESTER, ok?
SUBPROJECTfile Default subproject name. The same as before,
when Imagine creates a new Subproject, it
creates a dir called <subproject>.pix in
which a file called 'specs' exists, it's
this file you Open to tell Imagine which
subproject you really mean.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When creating a new subproject, these config labels replace Imagine's idea
of defaults in the subproject requester-
PIXdir Default path to render pix to. Useful for
rendering to RAM: or even a PAR
ANIMdir Default path to save anims to.
RENDER40 000 Combine these bits to set button state in
subproject requester. Imagine4.0+
100 - flip fields
010 - field rendered
001 - stereo 3D
RENDERmethod 4 Set this to set render method in subproject
requester. Options are:
0 - b/w wire
1 - b/w shade
2 - color wire
3 - color shade
4 - scanline
5 - trace
WIDTH 320 Sets render size and render aspect values
HEIGHT 200 in subproject requester.
XASPECT 6
YASPECT 7
FILEformat 0 Sets file format for rendering. Options are:
0 - rgbn-12bit
1 - ilbm-12bit
2 - rgbn-24bit
3 - ilbm-24bit
4 - seperate r,g,b
5 - dctv
VIEWmode 0100 (HAM) Sets state of view mode buttons in sub-
project requester. You can combine some of
these options:
1000 - AAcs
0100 - HAM
0010 - hires
0001 - lace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These config labels determine where the various paths IRJ keeps track of
start out at-
OBJECTdir @/objects Each of these directories are kept track of
DXFdir @/objects independantly. Always double check the path
FORMdir @/objects you are saving objects/attribs/splines/etc to
CYCLEdir @/objects since you probably aren't used to having so
SPLINEdir @/objects many paths to manage. It isn't hard to lose
BRUSHMAPSdir track of which path you are manipulating.
ATTRIBSdir @/objects
TEXTURESdir
EFFECTSdir
PARTICALSdir @/objects
REXXdir rexx:imagine ...Imagine5.0 only
The character '@' has special meaning to IRJ for these ten config labels.
It is replaced with the current PROJECT name. You'll get unpredictable
results if you don't open a PROJECT before using a directory with an '@'
in it. Some examples (assuming project opened is named 'JESTER')-
@/objects = JESTER.imp/objects
@/forms = JESTER.imp/forms
@/objects/dxf = JESTER.imp/objects/dxf
brushmaps/@ = brushmaps/JESTER <- you can put it at the end too.
dh1:attribs/@ = dh1:attribs/JESTER <- '.imp' is chopped off the end
When you create a new PROJECT, IRJ will create directories for each of
the ten directories it manages. If you don't want to create all these
directories just define them to point at ram:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IRJ allows pattern matching for each of the filerequesters it manages. I
don't use this myself but some people like using file extensions. Here are
the config labels, IRJ defaults and some suggestions-
PROJECTpat ~(#?.info)
NEWSUBPROJECTpat #?.pix
OPENSUBPROJECTpat #?specs
PREFSpat #?.config
OBJECTpat ~(#?.info) or... #?.iob
DXFpat ~(#?.info) #?.dxf
FORMpat ~(#?.info)
CYCLEpat ~(#?.info)
SPLINEpat ~(#?.info)
BRUSHMAPSpat ~(#?.info) #?.iff
ATTRIBSpat ~(#?.info) #?.atr
TEXTURESpat #?.itx
EFFECTSpat #?.ifx
PARTICALSpat ~(#?.info)
REXXpat #?.irx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With these config labels, you can position and resize the filerequesters-
REQwidth 328
REQheight 222
REQleftedge 156
REQtopedge 86
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inevitable plea for money:
I put a lot of time into creating IRJ and making it so configurable for
all to use. If you use this program and feel it's worth five bucks($5),
please stuff it in an envelope and send it to me. You can also drop me a
postcard with your comments about IRJ or just say hi!; I'd like to know how
many AMIGA users are left out there. (fewer than the last time I sent this out)
Please post this archive to your local BBS's and let your friends know
about IRJ!
Kirk Piepho email: rexx@wavefront.com
2383 N. Dale St. #307
Roseville, MN 55113 <- jeesh, just 20 minutes from Impulse
U.S.A. world headquarters but in no way related
or connected with the aforementioned
company. Small world eh?
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
Well, after releasing the first IRJ for Imagine, I had some dialog with
Impulse, the result of which was my being contracted to add Arexx support
to Imagine5.0 I'm not sure if I got the job because of IRJ, or because of
my proximity to Impulse world headquarters !8^) hmmm.... Anyhow, if you
don't have Imagine5.0 or didn't know of it's existance, call up Impulse at
1-612-425-0557. I'm not being paid for this advertisement, just trying to
keep the program alive.
*****************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************
ps. _If_ you do want to send me money for IRJ, I'll take checks or cash (I've
never had any trouble sending cash thru the mail, so don't let that stop you).
And of course I know you'll have no trouble getting an envelope and a stamp
and taking all that time to address it and to write a check and ...that's
_IF_ you feel it's worth it (IRJ that is - heck, this doc file is worth five
bucks - I hate writing all this but hope I did all right).
See yah!