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The CDPD Public Domain Collection for CDTV 2
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powerpanel
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upp.doc
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UPP - A CanDo-generated Productivity Tool - V1.0
by M. Joel Guerra, 5-May-1990
Introduction
------------
UPP is a Power Panel List utility for the Amiga. The "U" stands
for (take your pick) Ultimate, Ubiquitous, Unnamed, Utilitarian, or
Ugly. I first called it MCP for Master Control Panel, but that's too
sexist. PCP was too druggie. Heck, if you don't like the name, you
can change it (and anything else you wish to change) with CanDo.
If you have CanDo, you know what a power panel is. If you don't
have CanDo, a power panel is a little program with buttons/menu items/
list object items which can be selected with the mouse to launch other
programs. Power panels can save you the time of opening up multiple
windows just to get to the application you wish to run; a click or
double-click on a button or item is all you need. Power panels are
great for use on hard disk systems.
Power panels are easy to build with CanDo. However, adding a
program to a power panel usually requires editing the power panel with
CanDo, which takes a little time. In exchange for those beautiful
buttons (which can even use graphic brush images), I present the
convenience of this Power Panel List, which looks somewhat like a file
requester. It is very easy to use, it can be updated on-the-fly, and
it doesn't require CanDo.
Running the Program
-------------------
To use it, double-click on the UPP icon or go to a CLI or Shell
and type:
Run C:DeckRunner {pathname}/UPP (if you have CanDo)
Run C:DeckBrowser {pathname}/UPP (if you don't)
DeckBrowser is a freely-distributable residentable application
which will run CanDo decks without CanDo. It is available on many
bulletin boards.
{pathname} is the volume:subdirectory pathname where you have put
the UPP application.
The Power Panel List Window
---------------------------
When UPP is up and running for the first time, you will see only
one entry, Calculator. If the Amiga Calculator is in your
Sys:Utilities directory, double-clicking on the Calculator entry will
load and execute the Calculator program. If it is not, nothing will
happen.
As you will see below, you can easily add new entries to execute.
To launch (start) a program, just double-click on the corresponding
name in this list.
There are two menu items for this window of UPP. Selecting
"Quit" or pressing Right-Amiga-Q when the UPP window is active will
close the UPP application. Selecting "Entry Editor..." or pressing
Right-Amiga-E will open a new window, the Control Panel Editor.
The Small Window
----------------
The Small Window is reached by clicking on the Close gadget at the
upper left of the Power Panel List Window. This merely reduces the
displayed window to a few pixels high to get it out of the way. To
return to the Power Panel List Window, click again on the Close gadget
at the left of the Small Window. (If you wish to quit, see the menu
discussion under the Power Panel List Window.)
The Control Panel Editor Window
-------------------------------
Here's where you can add new entries, or edit/delete existing
ones. On the left, you see the same list object of entries ("entry
list"). Detailed information of the highlighted entry is shown on the
right ("displayed entry"). Single-click on an entry on the left to
select it for editing, or click on the "New" button to clear out the
entry buffer.
The List Name Field -- This is the name that will appear in the Power
Panel List. It can be up to 10 characters long.
Stack Size Field -- This field indicates the stack that will be used
by your application. The default stack size is 4000 bytes. This size
is assumed by DOS if the STACK command is not executed. Only if you
change this size from 4000 will the STACK command be part of the DOS
command issued by UPP when you double-click the entry to launch it.
See the Warning below.
Directory Button -- This button (to the left of the Directory field),
when selected will pop up a file requester asking you which directory.
You can select either just a directory or both a directory and an
application. If you specify a program or CanDo deck, the complete
path and program/deck name will be put into the Command field, and the
path will be put into the Directory field. If it is a CanDo deck, the
prefix "c:DeckRunner" will be inserted. (In which case, if you do not
have CanDo, you will want to change "DeckRunner" to "DeckBrowser".)
Helpful Hint: Use this button twice, first to find
your program (say, c:ED), then to specify a different
directory which contains your data files (say, your
correspondence directory). The second time, do not
select a file, just a directory. This changes just
the Directory field.
Directory Field -- UPP will change to the directory specified by this
field before executing the Program indicated by the Command field.
Click in the field to enter or edit the directory path, or use the
Directory button to find it for you. Use Right-Amiga-X to clear the
field once you've clicked in it. If you leave the field cleared, no
directory change will take place when you launch the application via
UPP.
Command Field -- Click in this field to enter or edit the application
name. You can use this field to add a command line argument to the
application you found via the Directory Button. To do so, position
the cursor *AFTER* the last double-quote, type a space, then type your
parameter(s). For example, you have selected the ED program and you
want to specify a file to edit:
Run <Nil: >Nil: "c:ED" yourfile
If "yourfile" is a name with spaces (e.g., "1990 Report"), then put it
in quotes:
Run <Nil: >Nil: "c:ED" "1990 Report"
(The quotes around c:ED are not necessary, but some programs have
spaces in their path/filenames, so quotes are automatically generated
by UPP.)
NOTE: If you specify an invalid path or filename (by manual entry),
you will not be told of the error when you attempt to execute the
application. Be sure that your application exists and is in the
directory you specified.
Move Up, Move Down Buttons -- Use these buttons to move the
highlighted entry in the entry list either up or down in the list.
Add Button -- Select this button to add the displayed entry to the
entry list. You will be asked to confirm. If the list name is blank,
a non-executable blank entry will be added to the list.
Replace Button -- Choose this button to replace the highlighted entry
in the entry list with the displayed entry. The names must match; you
are performing a "replace". (Otherwise, use the Add and Delete
buttons.) You will be asked to confirm. If the list name is blank, a
non-executable blank entry will be added to the list.
Delete Button -- Select this button to delete the highlighted entry
from the entry list. You will be asked to confirm.
Save Button -- If you select the Save Button without previously
changing the list via the Add, Replace, or Delete buttons, nothing
will happen. Otherwise, you will be asked if you wish to save this
list. If you select "OK", the list will be saved to "s:PowerPanel".
(If you wish to change the target path/filename, use CanDo to change
the name in the AfterStartup script of the PowerPanelCard.)
******************
Please NOTE: NO changes are made to the list when you
make changes to the fields. The list is only changed
when you use the buttons to add, replace, or delete an
entry, or move an entry up or down. So if you change
the stack size, you must also select the Replace button
to update the list entry. If you create a new entry,
you must use the Add button to add it to the list.
******************
Close gadget -- Select the Close gadget at the upper left of the
Control Panel Editor Window to return to the The Power Panel List
Window. If you have added, replaced, or deleted an item without
saving, you will be asked if you wish to save your changes. An "OK"
reply saves the new list; otherwise the old list will be reloaded.
WARNINGS and Suggestions
------------------------
WARNING: If you do not use the <Nil: and >Nil: redirections on
the command line, you run the risk of a Task Held requester (=> GURU).
Some programs require an output CLI window. If they attempt to output
text or error messages and you do not redirect output to the Nil: (or
the NULL: device if you have RunBack), you will get a GURU.
WARNING: Some programs require a stack size greater than the
default of 4000 bytes. You might check the stack requirement via the
Info menuitem on the Workbench menu after single-clicking on the
program's normal icon. Enter this number into the Stack Size field on
the upper right of the Control Panel Editor Window, then select the
Replace button to update the current entry. Don't forget to Save.
TOO SMALL A STACK for the program WILL CRASH YOUR MACHINE.
WARNING: No Warranty is provided with this program. Conse-
quences of misuse of this program are your responsibility.
------------
The Command line for a NewShell (if you have AmigaDOS 1.3) would
be something like:
Run <Nil: >Nil: NewShell NewCon:0/11/640/189/AtYourCanDoCommand
Set your stack to something like 20000. If you run UPP from your
startup-sequence, you will have your complete path available to you.
If you launch UPP from its Workbench icon, only the Current Directory
and the C: directory will be in the path.
------------
Use the Resident command in your startup-sequence file to make
Run and DeckRunner (or DeckBrowser, if you don't have CanDo) resident.
You may have to use the PROTECT command to set the Pure bit on
DeckRunner/DeckBrowser if it is not set already. Be sure you are
using DeckRunner/DeckBrowser 1.02 or later for this. If you make
these commands resident, you don't need the c: directory reference
before the command name.
------------
Put this program into your startup-sequence file. If you have
RunBack, the syntax would be:
RunBack c:DeckRunner {pathname}/UPP (if you have CanDo)
RunBack c:DeckBrowser {pathname}/UPP (if you don't)
You could use "Run >Nil: <Nil: c:DeckRunner {pathname}/UPP" but this
will leave your startup window open.
------------
If you have CanDo, you can modify the deck to play sounds or show
pictures in the same manner.
************
The iconify-with-the-close-gadget idea and much of the UPP
Control Panel Editor's visual appearance was stolen from Cash Foley.
Thanks, Cash!
Enjoy! Or don't use it! ;) -- Joel