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M A G N E T I C P A G E S: Editor (V1.0)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction:
The Editor is the largest and most complex part of Magnetic Pages. With
it you create the articles for your magazine. Each article can contain up to
100 pages. You use the editor to create you page layouts, import your text,
graphics, sound and music and put them all together. Note that you must
import your text, graphics, etc. The Editor is not a word processor or a
paint program. You must write you articles on a word processor, save them
as text files and them load them into the Editor. The same is true for
any graphics, sound or music you want to use. You must have already created
it with the appropriate program and then import it into the Editor.
There are two page types available. The most common is called the
'text page'. It's called a text page because it can contain text as well as
graphics. A 'text page' is displayed on an 8 or 16 colour non-interlaced
hires display. (ie 640*256 pixels PAL, or 640*200 pixels NTSC). Most pages
should only need 8 colours, but some graphics look better if you use 16
colours. Just remember that when you are using a 16 colour screen your
articles will use more memory (to display and store) and will be
slower to display. A text page is made up of a series of boxes defined by
the user. On a text page you can create two types of boxes. Text
boxes and Graphics boxes. Text boxes are used to display text and Graphics
boxes are used to display pictures. All boxes can be set up to allow the
reader to branch to different sections in the magazine by clicking on them.
They can also be used to play a piece of sound or music when the user
clicks on them. When a box is clicked on by a user the box works like a
push button. A graphics box may have up to 30 frames of animation instead
of the push button effect.
A 'graphics page' is a lot simpler than a text page. Its primary use
is to display pictures that use different screen modes from that used by a
'text page'. For example you can display HAM (Hold & Modify), Extra
Half-Brite, Lo-Res 32 colours, etc. A 'graphics page' contains no boxes at
all.
In addition to the sound/music that can be played by clicking on a box
you can set up a page so that as soon as the page is displayed a specific
sound or score will start playing.
Running the Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Editor will run on a standard 512k machine. However, the more
memory you have the better. If you have enough memory, it is very convenient
to run a word-processor and a paint program at the same time. The Editor can
be run from the workbench or the CLI. If you run the Editor from the CLI,
make sure you have a stack size of at least 10k.
Editor Functions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following is a description of the menu commands available in the
editor. All action is carried out using menus and their associated
requesters. Many of the menu commands have keyboard equivalents. I recommend
you use these instead of the menus once you are familiar with the commands.
PROJECT
About - Displays a window with information about the program.
New Article - Allows the user to start a new article. A requester will
allow the user to cancel this command, as the previous
article will be erased.
Load Article - Load a previously saved article. Note that any current
article will be erased by the article loaded. Also at this
point I find all floppy disk access is speeded up by moving
the workbench screen to the front. This is becuase the
editor uses a 16 colour hires screen, which slows down DMA
activities.
Compressed articles will be decrunched automatically (see
Save Article below).
Save Article - Save an article to disk. Just enter the file name you want
the article saved as. Note that once an article has been
saved, you may compress it using Power Packer. This saves
disk space and reduces load time. When you are in Power
Packer, make sure you set the file type to 'Data File'.
Don't bother using the crunched article if it crunches to
less than a 30% saving.
Load IFF Pic - Use this command to load any graphics you want to use. Note
the picture must be saved as an IFF file. Brushes and
pictures are treated no differently. I recommend you use
DPaint III for creating icons, etc. Other useful programs
are PixMate (especially good for colour manipulation)
and PhotoLab (good for reducing the number of colours in a
picture).
Load Text - Allows you to load the text for your article. The text file
must be in ASCII format. It may also have ANSI control
sequences imbedded to allow you to change the text mode and
colour. Note that if you are using a word-processor to
write your article you must save the text as 'TEXT ONLY'.
You only load one text file per article. The text will flow
automatically from the 1st 'text box' to the next and from
page to page. The text is NOT truncated to fit in the number
of pages you have created. Therefore as you create more
pages and 'text boxes' more of the text will be displayed.
The following ANSI control codes are supported.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ESC [0m - Resets text to default colour and plain style
ESC [3m - Italics On
ESC [23m - Italics Off
ESC [4m - Underline On
ESC [24m - Underline Off
ESC [1m - Boldface On
ESC [22m - Boldface Off
ESC [3nm - Set foreground colour (where n = 0 - 9)
ESC [4nm - Set background colour (where n = 0 - 9)
ESC [6"m - Shadow On { Note: Normal ANSI uses 6"Z
ESC [5"m - Shadow Off and 5"Z for Shadow control. }
ESC = Ascii code 27 and appears as an inverse left square
bracket. There should be no space between ESC and the
[.
It is also possible to combine several commands in the same
escape sequence by seperating them using semicolons.
eg. ESC[3;4;35m - Turns on Italics, Underline and sets the
foreground text pen to 5.
Save Text - Allows you to save your article text as an ASCII file for
re-editing. This allows you to load in some text, perform
some text manipulation commands (eg Re-Format, Justify, etc)
and then save the result so can do other editing from
within your text editor or word-processor.
Load Sound - Allows you to load in digitized sound. This sound can be
stored as an IFF sound file or as a RAW file of data.
Load Music - Allows you to load a Soundtracker music module. The module
must have been saved using Soundtracker V2.3 or above.
Note it must be a module and not just a song file.
The Editor does not check to see if the file you have loaded
is a valid Soundtracker module. This means if you load any
old file and try to play it, you may cause a system crash.
Remove IFF Pic - Allows you to discard a picture you have loaded but are
not going to use in the article. Note that even if you don't
use a picture in the article, it will still be saved as part
of the article.
Remove Sound - Same as Remove IFF pic except it removes a sound.
Remove Music - Same as Remove IFF pic except it removes a music module.
Quit - Exit the Editor here.
PAGE
New - Creates a new page. This displays a requester which allows
you to define your page. This requester is also displayed when
you first run the Editor.
Requester Fields:
Page Title: Title that appears in the title bar at the top
of a page. This doesn't appear on a 'graphics
page' so you should clear it. Click in the box
to change the title. Note it is only displayed
by the Displayer and not the Editor.
Page Type: 'Text' or 'Graphics'. Note if you specify a
graphics page you must specify a picture to
display before you save the article.
Colours: Choose an 8 or 16 colour screen for you 'text
page'. It has no effect on a 'graphics page'.
Page Colour: Use the + and - gadgets to select the pen
you are going to use as the page colour.
Initial Sound: Use the + and - gadgets to select the
sound to play as soon as the page is displayed.
Initial Music: Use the + and - gadgets to select the
music to play as soon as the page is displayed.
Note that you can only have sound or music
played when the page is turned, not both.
IFF Picture to Display: Use the + and - gadgets to select
the picture to be displayed. This is only used
for a 'graphics page' to select the picture to
be displayed.
Clear - Deletes all the boxes on a page. Has no effect on the text.
Copy - Allows you to make a copy of the current page. If the 'to
page' is greater than the number of pages in the article
it is tacked on the end, or if it's less than 1 it is put
at the start.
Move - Similar to Copy except the current page is moved to the
specified position. Note that the text is not moved with it.
Edit - Allows you to edit the page characteristics. See PAGE New for
more information.
Delete - Deletes the page and all associated boxes. Has no effect on
the text.
BOX
New Text - Creates a new 'Text Box'. Brings up a requester allowing you
to edit the box characteristics.
Requester Fields:
Text
Left, Top - Left and Top edge co-ordinates of the box.
Columns, Rows - Number of Columns and Rows of text in the
Box.
Text Colour 1 - The colour of the actual text.
Text Colour 2 - The colour behind the text or if the text
is in shadow mode the colour of the text
shadow.
Border
Width, Height - Width, Height of box border in pixels.
Colour - Actually this is the colour of the box.
Special - Standard - This box is for displaying text
only. It cannot be clicked on.
Play Sound - If at least 1 sound has been
loaded then this option will
appear. Will play the sound
selected below when the reader
clicks on the box.
Play Music - Same as play sound but plays
music instead.
Go to Page - When clicked on by the reader
they will be taken to the
article specified in the
'Go to Page ?' field below.
Shadow
XOff - Offset of bottom shadow component from
the left edge of the box.
YOff - Offset of right shadow component from
the top edge of the box.
Width - Width of the right shadow component.
Height - Height of the bottom shadow component.
Colour - Shadow colour.
Go to Page ? - the AmigaDos path and filename of the
article to be loaded when the user clicks
on the box. You must have selected
'Go to Page' in the 'Special' gadget or it
will be ignored.
Sound - Sound to be played when the box is
clicked by the user.
You must have selected 'Play Sound' in the
special gadget or this field will be
ignored.
Music - Music to be played when the box is
clicked by the user.
You must have selected 'Play Music' in the
special gadget or this field will be
ignored.
New Picture - Creates a new 'Picture Box'. Brings up a requester allowing
you to edit the box characteristics. You must have loaded at
least 1 IFF picture for this command to work.
Requester Fields:
Text
Left, Top - Left and Top edge co-ordinates of the box.
Width, Height - The width and height of the picture. You
cannot change this.
Border
Width, Height - Width, Height of box border in pixels.
Colour - Border colour around the picture.
Special - Standard - This box is for displaying text
only. It cannot be clicked on.
Play Sound - If at least 1 sound has been
loaded then this option will
appear. Will play the sound
selected below when the reader
clicks on the box.
Play Music - Same as play sound but plays
music instead.
Go to Page - When clicked on by the reader
they will be taken to the
article specified in the
'Go to Page ?' field below.
Shadow
XOff - Offset of bottom shadow component from
the left edge of the box.
YOff - Offset of right shadow component from
the top edge of the box.
Width - Width of the right shadow component.
Height - Height of the bottom shadow component.
Colour - Shadow colour.
Animate
PUSH/FRAME - Gadget to toggle between a standard
push button box and a box with several
frames of animation.
Frames - Number of frames of animation. Select
between 1 and 30.
Speed - Number of 1/60ths of a second between
frames.
Picture - Select the picture for the box or
current frame of animation.
Next/Prev Frame - Move to the Next/Prev frame of the
animation so a picture may be selected
for that frame.
Go to Page ? - the AmigaDos path and filename of the
article to be loaded when the user clicks
on the box. You must have selected
'Go to Page' in the 'Special' gadget or it
will be ignored.
Sound - Sound to be played when the box is
clicked by the user.
You must have selected 'Play Sound' in the
special gadget or this field will be
ignored.
Music - Music to be played when the box is
clicked by the user.
You must have selected 'Play Music' in the
special gadget or this field will be
ignored.
Edit - First choose a box to edit by clicking on it. Then you will be
presented with a text or graphics box edit requester. This
is the same requester used for 'New Picture Box' and 'New
Text Box'.
Move - Pick a box, hold the mouse button down and drag the box
into the desired position.
Resize - Pick a box, hold the mouse button down and drag out the box
to the desired size. If you resize a graphics box, then only
the border size will change. The actual picture will not
be resized. When you resize a text box, the new size will be
used to work out the maximum number of text rows and columns
for the box. Anything left over will be used for the borders.
Copy - Pick an existing box, hold the mouse button down and drag
the copy into the desired position.
Erase - Pick a box. If the box is a graphics box it will ask if you
want to delete the picture as well. If the picture is
being used by another box or page it won't let you remove
the picture.
If the box has sound or music associated with it, it will ask
if you want them removed as well. Again this may not be
possible if they are still being used by another box or page.
TEXT
Re-format - This command lets you remove unnecessary spaces from lines
of text and fill lines that can fit more words on them.
It is most useful when you import text. Lines that don't fit
in the text boxes are broken at word boundaries if possible
and put on the next line. This often leads to lines that
contain only 1 or 2 words. To fix this use Re-format. Simply
select text to re-format by clicking the mouse at the start
of the text you want and drag-select the rest. You may have
to do this several times on a box as the text is compacted.
Because you can only select the text from one box at a time
you often can't fill the bottom line of a box. If you want
to do this you will have to save the text and edit it using
a word processor. Re-format can also be used to unjustify
text that you have used 'Justify' on.
Justify - Used to right justify text. Select the text to justify in the
same manner as you do for Re-format.
Centre - Used to automatically centre text within a box. Select the
text to centre in the same manner as you do for Re-format.
*** NOTE *** These text formatting commands may have slightly
unpredictable results, when used on lines that contain
ANSI control codes (see Load Text). If they don't format
the text as required, you will have to save the text
and edit it using a text editor/word-processor.
Set Style - Not implemented in current version.
Edit Style - Not implemented in current version.
TURN TO
Self explanatory.
OTHER
Palette - Allows you to change the page colours. You can use a pictures
palette by selecting the picture you want and then clicking
on picture colours. UNDO lets you undo a change you have
made to a colour. COPY allows you to copy a colour to another
position. Note that 3 of the proportional gadgets have no
effect on the colours. These are going to be used to alter
a colour's Hue, Saturation and Brightness in a future update.
I never quite got round to writing the code for it.
Show Pics - Lets you view any picture you have loaded. Useful to view
pictures that use custom screen modes.
Play Sound - Allows you to play any sound you have loaded. It also lets
you change the volume, period and number of cycles of a
sound. Set the number of cycles to zero to have the sound
play continuously (when played from the displayer).
Play Music - Allows you to play any music you have loaded. It also lets
you change the number of times the music is played. Set the
number of cycles to zero to have the music play continuously
(when played from the displayer).
------------------------------
Well that's it. If you have found any parts of this manual unclear, or
incomplete, please let me know and I will address the problem in future
updates. This manual was written pretty quickly and is meant only to be
a reference. See the tutorial for a step by step, worked example of
creating articles.
Upgrades
~~~~~~~~
The Editor is by no means perfect. I will continue to work on it when
I get the time. I'm not promising anything but if enough interest is shown
in Magnetic Pages I hope to make the following improvements to the Editor.
* Total overhaul of the intuition interface. The current version is
quite rough and crude in parts. I'm a bit reluctant to spend a huge
amount of time on the perfect intuition interface when Workbench 2.0
is on the horizon.
* Edit Text Style and Set Text Style commands implemented. These commands
will allow you to change text style and colour within the Editor by
simply selecting the text to change.
* More powerful (intelligent) text formatting commands.
* Proper file requesters. Again these weren't done properly as
Workbench 2.0 is supposed to have a standard one built in.
* General optimization in all time critical areas.
* Use the Clipboard device so text can be exchanged directly between a
wordprocessor/text editor.
* An Arexx port. Only because it's trendy.
The above improvements are just a few general ideas I have planned. If
you have any suggestions, or complaints please let me know when you order
the Organiser.
Mark Gladding.