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Amiga Collections: MegaDisc
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MegaDisc 36 (1993-11)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip
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MegaDisc 36 (1993-11)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf
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Tutes_&_CLI
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Default_Icons
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Default_Icons
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Text File
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1993-10-22
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6KB
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142 lines
User Definable Default Icons
============================
Anthony Robertson
Please Note: As far as I know the following information works
with Workbench 2.1 and later. It may apply from WB2.0 onwards but
I have no access to earler versions of the 2.x Systems.
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One of the real bonuses of Workbench 2 (and onwards) is the
feature of the operating system to let you view any file from the
Workbench with the show-all menu option (except disk.info).
The WB2.x ROMs store an icon image of each type of icon we use
with files so that when the Amiga shows us something that has no
icon of it's own.
The only fault I found with this was that after a while these
stored icons get pretty boring since you can't change the ROMs
icon images.
Luckily the Amiga operating System (from at least 2.1 onwards)
looks for a new default icon in the System environment directory
(copied onto the Ram Disk at boot-up).
I never knew of this System call until a few days ago when I
received a copy of SnoopDOS 1.5 from Megadisc. As I started to
use it I came across the Amiga looking for a file called
def_drawer.info whenever I used the show-all option and there were
directories without icons.
The location my Amiga was looking in is RAM:Env/Sys with a
Virtual name called ENV:Sys. I saw that the computers search was
failing since the file had never existed on my computer before.
Looking into my WB2.1 Workbench and AmigaDOS manuals I found no
reference to a file called def_drawer.info. There was no mention
of new default icons either when I looked since that was what I
guessed it was.
So using a little inventiveness, I copied a personal drawer
icon I use (not the System default one) to the Ram Disk directory
called RAM:Env/Sys as def_drawer.info and then chose the show-all
option on the Ram Disk.
The effect was instant - each and every drawer without an icon
was now being represented by my own icon (instead of the normal
one).
Fantastic! From now on I can have my own personal drawer icons
used instead of the boring and plain ROM default ones. Another
bonus is that if I get tired of these drawer icons I can change
them all as fast as any real drawer icon.
Another added feature that I only realised later was that each
new drawer created from the menu (or Hotkeys) uses my icon as the
template and not the old System one!
------------------------------
Will it Work Elsewhere?
-----------------------
Will it work with other icons as well? I thought that it was
pretty obvious considering how the default drawer icon was named so
I tried it out on three other types of icons. They were disk,
tool, and Project icons.
Choosing unconventional icons of each type, I named them as
follows:
def_disk.info
def_tool.info
def_project.info
Each and every one of these new default icons work perfectly so
long as the names are correct and the icon types are correct too -
ie. default tools are tools, default disks are disks, etc.
Keep It Simple
--------------
To keep your work simple (that's the idea of default icons) you
should position and resize drawer icons, then Snapshot them (from
the Windows menu) before copying it to the RAM:Env/Sys directory.
If you don't do this you will keep the old drawer preferences when
you save it for the default drawer. That would mean that if you
have a drawer that is overly large or small to start with, will
pass on these anoyances to every newly created draw and any drawer
shown with the show-all option.
Also remember that the same applies to the default disk icons
too. For those that don't know, disk icons are stored normally in
the root directory of each disk as disk.info.
Where to use these Icons
------------------------
If you're making up a new disk like Megadisc where you use a
lot of drawers that are similar, it would be worthwhile to put
your temporary icon into the RAM:Env/Sys directory. You could
also use this idea if your making a series of disks with the same
icon, you could just snapshot each one as you insert the disk and
it would be permanent for that disk on every computer that it's
inserted into.
How to make it Permanent
------------------------
Lets make it permanent to save us a lot of time if we want
these new default icons all the time. What you do after you're
pleased with your icons and want them permanent, all you need to
do is copy each of your new default icon files FROM the Ram:Env/Sys
directory TO the boot-disk directory called Sys:Prefs/Env-Archive
(where Sys: is your boot-disk).
Once these default icons are saved to the directory mentioned
above on your Boot-disk, your Amiga will copy these files to the
Ram Disk each time you boot (unless Startup-Sequence has has been
modified to remove this copying).
The End
-------
That's all I have on this subject at the moment. Any comments
are welcome along with info if changing default icon changing is
possible before Workbench 2.1
~ August 1993
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