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DataLine presents
***** **** ****
** ** ** **
** ** ** **
******* ** **
** ** ** **
** ** **** ****
v2.00
(18th November 1993)
`The Original'
Archiving Intuition Interface
©1992 by Paul Mclachlan
SHAREWARE ($5) - See my address at the end of this document
User Documentation
"
Anything that happens, happens
"
-'Mostly Harmless'
INTRODUCTION
What is the Archiving Intuition Interface?
The Archiving Intuition Interface, AII, is a specially developed
workbench program that enables even the novice user to archive and
de-archive software using most of the various archivers around,
without needing to learn (or lookup) multitudes of commands, what
they stand for, and type in line length CLI arguments. It
utilises the brilliant ReqTools library, by Nico François as well
as GadTools. Until recently this has meaned that AII was only
useable under KickStart 2.0 or higher. Starting with version 1.38
however, AII will work under KickStart 1.3 just fine. I don't
know anyone who has a 1.2 machine, so I cannot test it here but
there is no reason why it shouldn't work under this early version
of KickStart.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
o An Amiga running KickStart 1.3 or higher.
o Some archiving software. The archivers supported
by AII are listed below in the documentation.
o ReqTools.library in your LIBS: Directory
o The execute program in your C: Directory. This
can be found on your 1.3 or 2.x WorkBench disk in
the C/ directory on that disk.
Before I get started, I'd like to thank all the people who have
registered for AII. When I first started this program I hardly
expected it to be this popular, but after a wonderful review or two
in Amiga Shopper and now registrations of ten (10) people. It is
very encouraging to see that the spirit of shareware is still
alive, and it has encouraged me to continue to develop AII.
NEW FEATURES FOR EXPERIENCED USERS
If you have previously used AII v1.38 or lower, then you will not
need to read this entire docuemnt. In fact, you'll probably only
need to read a few paragraphs, to keep you up with the changes.
Changes from v1.38/1.37:
Under Kickstart 2.x+ AII is now a commodity. What this means,
essentially, is that it can be managed via the 'exchange' utility
provided by Commodore, and that it can stay dormant without a
window on the screen, to be re-enacted by a hotkey or through
exchange. Due to this, the iconify gadget has been removed from
the 2.x+ interface (although it is still there under the 1.3
version). This is because iconify is of no use if AII can install
itself as a commodity.
The default hotkey is 'lcommand a', meaning hold down the left
amiga key and hit 'a'. This will toggle the Main AII window
(on and off). The hotkey can be changed in the tooltypes with the
"CX_POPKEY = " or via the usual method from CLI. (This is covered
in detail further on in this document).
CX_POPUP also works as specified, and this allows you to stop the
AII window appearing initially. (So you can run it on startup and
always have a dormant AII around).
Several more archivers have been added. The addition of Shrink
compatibility, as well as two 'whole' disk archivers on the
suggestion of F.Morgan (Thanks!). Later in this document is a
short section on the abilities of the supported archivers.
Since more archivers have been added, the format of the
configuration file has been updated. You will need to reselect
your archivers through AII again (sorry). To help this along,
though, a new configuration editor window has been added to AII.
While currently all the features of this are not supported
(disabling of archivers is not yet implemented), it is much easier
to use than just selecting 7 or 8 archivers one after another.
Sorry to the 1.3 people, you will still have to use the old method.
Changes from v1.25:
Firstly and foremost, the program now works under KickStart 1.3.
That should be pretty self explanatory. The reason I'm harping on
about is because it effectively doubled the size of the source,
and also doubled the time that I've spent on writing this program.
By the way, you had better pay your shareware or I'll be really
annoyed!
Anyway, from 1.25, the archive format .zip has been added. Umm,
I'm not so sure which unzip I have used or anything.. btw.. If you
have an archive program you would like to see supported, then pay
your shareware and tell me about it. It'd be nice if you'd tell
me where I can get it as well, like on which fish disk or which
SYDNEY bbs...
Umm, two little boxes have been added beneath the two getfile
gadgets, which show the archive you are working on, or the path
you wish to restore to. It does not show multi-files yet as I
have no idea how I'm going to fit that in without making the
window MUCH larger. I don't particularly want to do that.
Oh, the iconify gadget got smaller too, and AII now autodetaches
correctly if run from a CLI (silly mistake anyhow)
Changes from 1.03:
Firstly, there have been more archiving formats entered. This
allows you to archive in lha, lzh, arc, and zoo, and de-archive in
lha, lzh, arc, zoo, and arj. You cannot archive in arj as a
program has not been written that can do it yet. As soon as one
comes out, AII will be updated to support it.
Next, there has been a change in the user interface. Several of
the gadgets have been moved, and the perform gadget resized. This
was done to, uh, make it look better.
A iconify feature has been added, which can be invoked by clicking
on the title 'button', at the top of the window. If you can't
find it, buy some glasses, since its about ¼ of the window big.
The icon window also remembers its previous position, so you can
place it where you want it.
Finally, the addition of a Delete file command, enables you to
delete files while using the program, in case you make an error,
archiving something you didn't want to or whatever.
INSTALLATION
To install AII simply click and drag the AII program into a
suitable directory on your hard drive or system boot disk. If
you only have a single disk drive, you may find it more efficient
to first drag the program onto the RAM: drive, and then from there
onto your system boot disk.
The actual setting up of the program is made easy by the
'select archiver' option in the Project menu. Simply run the
program, and then select 'Select Archiver...' from the 'Project'
menu. This will bring up several file requesters. Use these file
requesters to find the archivers that are specified on your hard
drive or system disk. Click on OK when you have found and
selected this program, or double click on the archiver program
name. Now this pathname and setup will be saved to disk in the
file S:AII.config. If you ever move any of the archiver programs,
you can easily edit this file or use the method described above.
AII will try to read its config file every time it is loaded, and
if AII cannot find this file then it will use certain defaults,
and relys on your system path to allow it to find the program. If
you are running from workbench then it is possible that it will
not find the archiver. It will warn you that it can not load the
config file with a small requester window.
It has come to my attention that AII is getting quite large (now
over 50k in fact). This may impede installation on non-hard drive
systems. Keep in mind however, that powerpacker 4 will crunch AII
down to a small 23576 bytes, more than halving the size of AII. So
if space is a problem, try that.
TROUBLE SHOOTING WITH INSTALLATION
If the program does not work as you expect, then first check that
your expectations are correct :) But if you cannot get it to
work, try some of the following:
o Ensure that reqtools.library is present in your LIBS:
directory. It is preferable to have a more recent
version, such as 36 or higher. Version 37 or 38 are
ideal.
o Ensure that you have chosen the correct archiver
and that it has saved to your disk. You disk should
not be write protected when AII attempts to save its
configuration file. If you are running from
workbench, it is especially important that the config
is set correctly. If it is not then there is the
possibility of AII not being able to find your
archiver!
o Ensure that the Execute command is either in your C:
directory or resident. Without it AII will find it
much more difficult to archive. (Although it may
still manage - there are about 4 different methods
included if others fail)
o The logical device RAM: cannot be write protected.
AII uses the RAM: drive as a temporary device. If you
have a disk you have called RAM: in a drive and have
write protected it, then AII may or may not manage to
perform the operation. Also under KickStart 1.3, you
will need to have the ramdisk.device in the devs:
directory.
If all else fails you can contact me at my address at the bottom
of this file or in the about requester of AII. If you have paid
your shareware fee and supply a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
than I will reply as quickly as possible.
USAGE
Wow, if you've got this far then obviously you really intend to
read these docs. Usage is fairly simple, and made simpler by an
extensive help feature in the program. Nevertheless, I will
describe all the features of the program here.
PROJECT MENU:
The one and only menu. There are a few things in here that
might prove useful.
HELP MODE: HotKey Amiga h
By selecting this menu, you can toggle help mode on and
off. This means that it turns help on and off. Help mode
is used by simply turning it on, and then selecting the
function that you would like help on. I think the help is
pretty good actually :)
SELECT ARCHIVER:
This is used to configure the program. By selecting it
you enable a file requester that lets you pick where your
various archivers are and what it is called on your hard
drive or system disk. This is then saved in the file
S:AII.config. If the disk is write protected then AII
will not be able to save the configuration, and you will
be asked to configure the program again next time you load
up, until it has written to the disk. Starting with
version 2.0, under kickstart 2.x+, this option will open a
configuration window which allows you to more easily change
the archivers. String gadgets show the archiver currently
selected, a file requestor gadget on the right allows
selection of another archiver (or you could type the
filename). The disable button on the far right, while it
works is not fully implemented yet. It has no function to
the working of the program.
DELETE FILE:
This brings up a file requester allowing you to delete a
file of your choice. Kinda obvious, huh? (Thats why it
wasn't in the 1.25 documentation.. I forgot - more to the
point, that's why it hasn't been in the online help until
version 2.. I forgot :)
ABOUT:
Try it and see :)
QUIT: HotKey Amiga Q
This enables you to leave/exit/quit the program.
ICONIFY GADGET:
This gadget is only present when running under 1.3. Under 2.x+
AII is a commodity and is iconified through exchange or its
hotkey.
This gadget has the words 'ARCHIVING INTUITION INTERFACE' in
it, and doubles as a title and an iconify gadget. When you
select this gadget, the window is replaced by a 'title bar'
size window. You can return to the original AII window by
clicking the right mouse button while this window is
activated. You can also quit AII in the usual way from here
by selecting the close gadget.
ARCHIVING METHOD GADGET:
This gadget is a cycle gadget. It cycles through the
different compression methods that this archiver supports, by
suffix. At the moment this gadget supports nine methods, .lha,
.lzh, .zoo, .arc, .arj, .zip, .dms, .lhw and .shr. So if,
for example, you wanted to de-archive 'Myfile.lha' then this
gadget should be set to '.lha' as that is the suffix of the
archive.
COMMAND GADGET:
Another cycle gadget, this allows you to select from the
various forms of commands for the archiver program, such as Add
Files or Extract files. The actual functions in these
commands are all supported by the LHA archiver, which is also
the most popular archiver around at the moment. The other
archivers, however, do not support all of these commands, and
if you select a command that is not supported by the current
archiving method, then AII will let you know with a small
requester. The commands are:
ADD FILES:
This function allows you to add files to the archive
specified. It will also create a new archive if you
specify a non-existant file. The archive filename
that you have selected will appear in the box below
the gadget.
APPEND ARCHIVES:
With this command it is possible to concatenate
several archives to one or to append several archives
to the end of another. So, if you have 3 archives,
and you wish to 'join' them together, then you can use
this command. Specify the destination archive as
usual, then, instead of filenames, select archives to
concatenate. If you specify an existing archive as
the destination, then the other archives will be
appended to this one.
EXTRACT FILES:
With this command it is possible to take a copy of the
files in the archive out, and place them in the
directory specified.
Full Path:
This extracts the files with their filepaths as
well.
LIST FILES:
The various list commands show the contents of the
archive, or, if you like, the filenames in the
archive. The higher the level of complexity (short,
verbose, full - in that order), the more information
is shown about the files. Try it out on any existing
archive.
TEST INTEGRITY:
This command tests the files in the archive, to ensure
that they are all complete and proper. Especially
useful if you have downloaded a file and you think
some line noise has gotten through, or if you have
accidently corrupted a disk.
FRESHEN FILES:
This command can be used to replace older files in the
archive with new files from the files selected. This
command never actually adds additional files to the
archives, only files that are already present and
older will be replaced.
UPDATE FILES:
This performs in exactly the same way as freshen,
except that files that are specified and not already
in the archive are added as well.
CHOOSE ARCHIVE:
This getfile gadget allows you to select the archive that you
wish to use. If the archive is new, then simply type the
archive name in the appropriate space after selecting the
correct directory. Otherwise, you can just double click on
the name or click on the name and then click okay. The archive
name that you have selected will appear, without its path in
the box below the gadget.
CHOOSE FILES/PATH:
This getfile gadget changes in function depending on the
command selected currently. If you are extracting files then
you will need to select an output directory for the files to
go into, and if you are adding, updating of refreshing files
than you need to specify the files to be used.
Directory selection:
Simply click your way through the directory levels until
you get to the directory that you want to dearchive to.
Note that no files will be displayed in the directory
requester. The final directory that you have selected
will appear in the box below the gadget.
Multifile selection:
In this requester, you can select multiple files, either
by using the 'all' gadget for all the files visible, the
'match' gadget for files matching a certain pattern (see
your AmigaDOS manual for more on pattern matching) or by
holding down the shift key and clicking on the files that
you want to use. When you have finished and all the files
that you want are highlighted, simply click on 'Okay' in
the lower left corner.
(NB: When using one of the full disk archivers (DMS or LHW),
this gadget has no function whatsoever. The internal (DF0)
drive is always used when using the disk archivers)
OPTIONS or the CHECKBOX gadgets:
All of these options are supported by the LHA archiver, but
many are not supported by the other archivers. If you have
selected an option that is not supported, then that will just
be ignored, and AII will execute the command anyway. This was
done because the options are just that, options, and certainly
not vital to the archive. If you wish to know what the
various options mean, you can consult the LHA documentation,
or the help mode of AII.
PERFORM:
This gadget will actually execute the archiver that you have
selected with the options you have specified. AII checks that
you have selected an archive to work on, but not if you have
selected any files. After all, not selecting the archive
crashes the computer, but not selecting files just wastes a
little time. Another window will open up, and the archiver
output will be displayed in there. When the archiver has
finished, you can click the close gadget to this window and it
will disappear.
WHICH ARCHIVING METHOD SHOULD I USE
Here is a list of compression results on some standard files:
Test.shr 3346 ----rwed Today 17:16:50
Test.lha 3295 ----rw-d Today 17:18:58
Test.zoo 4912 ----rwed Today 17:16:02
TEST.ARC 4701 ----rwed Today 17:16:02
As you can see, LHA has the best compression, with Shrink a close
second. (btw, these files were created using AII - of course!)
CHANGING THE HOTKEY
(under 2.x+)
While fairly self-explanatory (as with all commodities) through
workbench, I will briefly outline the procedure for changing the
hotkey when you run AII from the CLI.
The easiest way to explain is perhaps with an example:
AII "CX_POPKEY=rcommand esc"
Causes AII to be started with its hotkey (which toggles its window)
as the right amiga key held down when you hit escape. Other
command line options are outlined in this more extensive example
(which is actually only a single line, but split to fit on your
screen):
AII "CX_POPKEY=rcommand esc" "CX_PRIORITY=2" "CX_POPUP=No"
Priority is rather complex and I won't attempt to explain it (check
your AmigaDOS manuals). The Popup function determines whether or
not the AII window opens when you first run it. It defaults to Yes
(ie, the AII window comes up), but if you set it to no you will
need to hit the hotkey or use exchange to open the window.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RELEASE HISTORY:
v1.00 Before release
First version. Complete with online help :)
v1.01 Before release
Fixed a bug whereby the poota crashed if archiving method
was not selected. Thanks to Chris for finding the bug.
v1.02 Before release
Fixed a bug where the poota crashed if LHA returned a fail
code.
v1.03 First release version 20/12/1992
Fixed a bug where the program could not de-archive to any
device ending with a ':'. Only directories could be
de-archived to. This has now been corrected. Thanks to
Chris for finding the bug.
v1.10 Not released 16/1/1993
Added several archivers, including arj, pak, zoo and arc.
Fixed the bug which didn't allow AII to put its little
'operation complete' message at the end of the operation.
v1.20 17/1/1993
Removed pak archiver 'cause it was silly. Added a
delete file menu option. Fixed the window open bug, where
it was trying to open a window with a ':' specified twice
in it. The second one replaced with a '-'. I think it
looks okay.
v1.25 17/1/1993
Added an iconify feature. By clicking on the title you
can iconify the window. This window also remembers its
previous position. It is quite large.. maybe I should make
it smaller...nahh.
v1.30 20/1/1993
Added KickStart 1.3 support. Making cycle gadgets under
Kickstart 1.3 is fun. Added the box to show the selected
archive or path. I'm gonna have to change it later so
that if you select multiple files it will show the first
or something... Only released to Chris... I'll be very
angry if he spreads it...
v1.31 21/1/1993 (Early morning)
Auto detach from CLI... Fixed a few bugs, made the About
Requester look prettier. Actually released this to more
than Chris. :) Should see this version on the great
mag, MegaDisc. If you live in Australia and have never
seen it, give the editor a ring on (02) 959-3692. If you
live overseas... well, maybe in a few years :) (eh, Tim?)
v1.32 21/1/1993 (After some sleep)
Worked all day to add a 2.0 look to the 1.3 interface. All
the gadgets now look like they are bevelled.
v1.33 21/1/1993 (Later that night)
A few minor cosmetic changes.
v1.34 22/1/1993
Now AII can be used to archive many things at once, since
it 'runs' the archive command. Also found a bug: when the
program auto-detaches from the CLI, the CLI cannot be shut
until the program is. Umm, pretty awful bug, but its
better than AII not detach-ing at all, huh?
v1.35 27/1/1993
Umm. Fixed that AutoDetach bug.
v1.37 1/3/1993
Fixed a bug which actually prevented AII from running
under KickStart 1.3 :( Pretty stupid bug, as well.
Thanks to Lee of Dataline for pointing it out.
Sorry to all MegaDisc subscribers who have suffered under
not being able to get the program to work.
v2.00 18/11/1993
Added three new archivers, DMS, LHWarp and Shrink: The
first two are whole disk archivers. Added Commodity
support under 2.x+, and removed the iconify feature under
2.x+. Fixed some un deallocated memory bugs (that probably
never even occurred anywhere). Added a new configuration
editor under 2.x+ mode.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUTURE PLANS:
Sometime in the future I'd like to add 'intelligent'
operations for dearchiving, so you can select a whole batch
of archives from all different archivers and AII will just
go through and work out which archive needs which program
and de-archive them all.
I'd love to be able to get those 'checkbox' gadgets to
ghost under 1.3, but no matter what I do... :)
FINALLY:
I have, of course, tried to make this program as easy to use
as possible. I feel this documentation is adequate to
describe the features that are not covered by the help
function in the program.
Tell me what you think of my program, and send in your
shareware fee ($5 recommended) if you like it, huh? Here's my
address:
Paul Mclachlan
60 Hatfield street
Blakehurst, 2221
Sydney, Australia
ph: (02) 546-1346
Get in touch!
CREDITS:
Thanks to:
Chris Burton for the concept of AII + beta testing.
William Waring for some ideas for features and coding.
Nico François for the brilliant Reqtools.library
Jan van den Baard for Gadtoolsbox which made life easier
Stephan Boberg for Lha
Raymond S. Brand for Arc
Rahul Desi & J. Brian Waters for Zoo
Peer Hasselmeyer for UnARJ
Samuel Smith & Greg Tavares for UnZip
Jonathan Forbes for LhWarp
Matthias Meixner for Shrink
and, er.. SDS Software for DMS -Don't have a name on that
one :(
PROGRAMMERS SIDE-NOTE:
AII INFORMATION:
AII was written in C:
Source Code Total Size: 120510 bytes
Compiled under: SAS/C v6.30
Total Compile time: 5:07 minutes
Final Executable size: 50252 bytes
Total Size of distribution: 81850 bytes