Archive Magazine CD 1995

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!BootA Version 2.00 - 15 December 1991 -------------------------------------- CONTENTS OF THE BOOTA_ETC ARCHIVE The BootA_Etc archive contains the !BootA application plus several other applications which provide examples of how to use !BootA. This document is also present in the archive. A read-only version of the Archive Filing System (ArcFS) is also provided, allowing you to run the example applications directly from the archive (the full read/write version of ArcFS is available from David Pilling, PO Box 22, Thorton Cleveleys, Blackpool, FY5 1LR). To do this, first double click on the ArcFS icon to install the filing system, then double click on the BootA_Etc icon. A filer window will open showing the contents of the archive. You can now run applications directly from the archive in the same way as from any other filer window. If you want to unpack the entire contents of the archive to another disk, it will require approximately 900K of disk space. However, in order to get working versions of !BootA and the example applications, you do not need to copy the 'C-source' or 'Unshared' directories. Without these, you will need less than 500K of disk space to accomodate !BootA and accompanying example applications. PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT This document is intended to provide an introduction to the !BootA application. The !Help file in the !BootA application directory provides reference information on using !BootA once you have read this introduction. INTRODUCTION TO !BOOTA !BootA is a RISC OS desktop application which provides a simple front-end for running non WIMP-based applications and utilities as if they themselves were proper desktop applications. Such utilities would normally have to be started by command outside the desktop environment, or from within an !Edit task window, or at the very least by pressing f12 in the desktop in order to enter the command. By using !BootA as a front-end, the application or utility looks very much like any normal RISC OS desktop application. It has an application directory on which you double click to install the application on the icon bar, and you can then drag files to this icon for processing by the application. All the applications accompanying !BootA (e.g. !Lock, !UnLock, etc) are actually examples of using !BootA as a front-end for non Wimp-based applications. These are referred to below (and in the !BootA !Help file) as 'client applications' to emphasise that they rely on !BootA to do many of the things for them that a real RISC OS desktop application does for itself. TRYING OUT !BOOTA The !BootA application itself is set up so that when you double click on it, you install all these example 'client applications'. Normally, you would never do this. Rather, you would double click on whichever individual 'client application' you wanted to install. This would automatically start up !BootA, although no icon for !BootA itself would appear on the icon bar, only the icon for the client application. However, on this occasion, to get a feel for the use of !BootA, double click on the !BootA icon to install the icons for all the example client applications. Then click the mouse menu button over these icons one by one, chosing 'Help' for each one. This will give you a brief summary of what each application does. You can also move the mouse pointer over the arrow at the right of the 'CmdOpts' option on these menus. This will display a dialogue box for entering additional input for the application. Some of the applications will have default 'CmdOpts' information, others will have none. One of the icons installed on the icon bar will be for the !Dummy application, which does nothing but echo some information to your screen and is a silhouette of a dummy's face. Click on this to see what happens. Then drag to it any file or directory icon and again observe the result. Try changing the 'CmdOpts' information for !Dummy and repeating the above. SUMMARY OF !BOOTA FUNCTIONS To summarise, !BootA provides the following services for its client applications: - installing the client application's icon on the icon bar when you double-click the mouse SELECT (or ADJUST) buttons on that application's icon in a directory viewer window - displaying a menu with a 'quit' choice when you click the mouse MENU button on the installed icon, and removing it from the icon bar if you chose this 'quit' option - providing a 'help' option in the same menu and displaying a brief help message if you chose this 'help' option - running the client application when you click the mouse SELECT or ADJUST buttons on the installed icon, or when you drag a file or directory to it (clicking ADJUST over the installed icon will also remove it from the icon bar) - responding to requests for help text from the '!Help' application (which displays the text in an 'Interactive help' window) - supplying additional input ('command options') to the client application when it is run. - changing the sprite used to display the client application icon on the icon bar when requested to do so (see description of BootAutil program below for more details of this). As touched on above, you do not need to install the !BootA application before installing the first client application on the icon bar. !BootA is automatically activated when you double-click on a client application icon in the directory viewer window, and becomes resident in memory at that point. Note that at this time, the client application itself has NOT been started and is NOT using any memory. Only !BootA is actually active and using memory. !BootA simply records the whereabouts of the client application directory so that it can issue the appropriate '*RUN' command when the time comes. However, this does mean that the client application directory must be accessible at that time - no problem with a hard disk, but with a floppy-disks RISC OS may call for the diskette to be re-inserted if it has been removed in the meantime. When you install a second client application (by double clicking on its icon in a directory viewer), this initially causes another copy of !BootA to start-up, but this second copy immediately realises that the first copy is active and passes the responsibility for the client application to it and then shuts down. This means that only one copy of !BootA will be resident in memory regardless of the number of client applications installed Note: installing a large number of client applications may cause !BootA's memory allocation to expand as it adds details of the additional applications to its internal tables. Double-clicking on the !BootA icon itself will cause !BootA to start up and to automatically install a list of client applications contained in the '!Init' file of the !BootA directory. This list is initially set up to include all the example client applications, so you should edit it to eliminate the ones you do not want installed in this way (note: !BootA will ignore any item in the list that begins with '|'). See the '!Help' file in the !BootA directory for more details. CONTENTS OF !BOOTA APPLICATION DIRECTORY The !BootA application directory contains the following files: !Run - obey file to install and start up !BootA !RunImage - !BootA application program !Sprites - sprite file containing !BootA sprite !Help - help text (displayed when HELP chosen from filer menu) !Init - list of clients installed by !Run !Auto - suggested list of clients to start automatically from the desktop boot file BootAutil - additional utility for dynamically changing sprite used for client application icon on icon bar (see below for more details) SUMMARY OF THE EXAMPLE CLIENT APPLICATIONS The following example client applications accompany !BootA: !Dummy - demonstrates how a client application works !FileInfo - issues *FILEINFO command against a file !Ex - issues *EX command against a directory !SetType - issues *SETTYPE command against a file !Lock - issues *ACCESS ... LR command against a file !UnLock - issues *ACCESS ... WR command against a file !SetDir - sets the curently selected directory !CCompile - invokes the Acorn ANSI C compiler !Compare - compares two files !1stMake - converts text file to 1stWord+ file !1stUnMake - converts 1stWord+ file to text file !BasicEdit - loads Basic program file into the Basic Editor !Twin - loads file into the Twin editor !ARCtoIBM - changes end-of-line delimiters from LF to CRLF !IBMtoARC - changes end-of-line delimiters from CRLF to LF !BootA - removes IBM mainframe style line numbers from file See below for more details of these client applications. The client application directories will typically contain the following files: !Run - obey file to start up !BootA to install client icon !RunA - obey file used by !BootA to run the client appl. !HelpMsg - text for menu 'help' option & interactive !Help !CmdOpts - initial value for command options data !Sprites - usual RISC OS application sprites file !Boot - usual RISC OS application boot file !RunImage - application program Of these files, only '!Run' and '!RunA' are mandatory. All the others are optional, depending on the requirements of the particular client application. !BootA requires a minimum of 32K of memory. This is enough to install approximately ten to fourteen client applications, depending on the amount of help message text and command options text in total. This memory allocation will automatically expand if more space is needed, taking it from the computer's free memory (a feature of the shared C-library version 3.75 or later). If there is no more free memory, !BootA will display a normal Wimp_ReportError message and then terminate (which will automatically de-install all the client icons). C-SOURCE AND UNSHARED DIRECTORIES In addition to the example applications, there are two non- application directories accompanying !BootA: the 'C-source' directory and the 'Unshared' directory. The 'C-source' directory contains the C source and header files for the 1stMake, 1stUnMake, ARCtoIBM, IBMtoARC, UnNum and BootA application programs, plus two files of common functions: ArgFuncs and GetDirs (note that the source files have a file type of "00C" and the header files a file type of "00D" - this is a whim of mine and these filetypes correspond to sprites contained in the !CCompile application). It also contains the assembler source for the BootAutil program (which was assembled using the Acorn AAsm assembler), and the make files for the above. The directory "UnShared" contains versions of the !1stMake, !1stUnMake, !ARCtoIBM, !IBMtoARC, !UnNum and !BootA applications which do not use the shared C library. Instead the library functions are linked directly into the image file. This makes them bigger, but they will work if you do not have the correct version of the shared C library installed on your system. If you use the version of !BootA in this directory, it requires 80K of memory to run. ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF THE EXAMPLE CLIENT APPLICATIONS Most of these client applications are (deliberately) trivial in order to provide simple examples of the use of !BootA. Some of them are useless, or outclassed by other generally available applications, or obsoleted by RISC OS 3. Some may actually be useful. (1) !Dummy application This example application does nothing but display information on the screen using 'Echo' commands in its !RunA file. This information includes a mock-up of the command that !BootA generates to start up a client application, so providing an insight into how a client application is run. This is achieved by the following command in the !RunA file for !Dummy: Echo *WimpTask Run <Obey$Dir>.!RunA %*0 which, after the values assigned to 'Obey$Dir' and '%*0' have been substituted for the variables, will display the equivalent of the command issued internally by !BootA. After installing the !Dummy icon (by double clicking on it), just drag to it the icon for any file, directory or application directory to see what 'Run' command will result. Experiment with changing the 'CmdOpts' value (via the 'CmdOpts' option on the menu) to see how this is inserted into the command. The !RunA file also includes other 'Echo' commands to display the system variables set by !BootA before issuing the 'Run' command. (2) !FileInfo application This trivial example provides a quick means of issuing the '*FileInfo' command against a file (or directory). The !RunA file includes the following command: FileInfo %*0 It is, of course, obsoleted by RISC OS 3, which provides an 'Info' option on its filer menu. (3) !Ex application This trivial example provides a quick means of issuing the EX command against a directory. The !RunA file includes the following command: Ex <BootA$Dir> making use of one of the system variables set by !BootA before running the client application. If a file is dragged to the !Ex icon, then the result will be an '*EX' command issued for the directory containing that file. (4) !SetType application This example shows how easy it is to set up a simple application using a 'CmdOpts' value. The !RunA file contains the command: Settype %*0 and the !CmdOpts file contains the default filetype of 'text'. Dragging a file to the installed 'SetType' icon will set that file's type to 'text'. Update the 'CmdOpts' data via menu option 'CmdOpts' to chose a different type. This application is less sophisticated than many of the 'SetType' applications already in the public domain and is obsoleted by RISC OS 3 which has a 'Set type' option on the filer menu. (5) !Lock application This !RunA file for this application includes the command: Access %*0 and the CmdOpts value is set to 'LR'. Drag any file or directory icon to the !Lock icon to lock the file. This can often be much quicker and convenient than using the 'Access' option from the filer menu. This application is also obsoleted by RISC OS 3, which has a much more convenient 'Access' option on the filer menu. (6) !UnLock application This is almost identical to the !Lock application. The only difference is that CmdOpts value is set to 'WR' and the !Sprites file contains a different icon. Drag any file or directory icon to the !Unlock icon in order to unlock it. Like !Lock, this application is obsoleted by RISC OS 3. (7) !SetDir application Drag a directory to the installed SetDir icon to make that directory the 'current' directory. Dragging a file instead of a directory will set the current directory to the directory containing the dragged file. Click on the installed SetDir icon to set the root directory of the current drive as the current directory. (8) !CCompile application This application will invoke the AcornSoft ANSI C compiler to compile a C source file (assuming you have the C compiler installed in the library on your system!). The current directory is set to the parent of the one containing the dragged file (according to the normal practice for using the ANSI C compiler). The 'CmdOpts' are initially set to '-c -list' so that only compilation occurs and a compilation listing is generated (including any error messages). (9) !Compare application Drag two files to this icon to compare them to see if they are the same. The !RunA file invokes a program in the same directory to perform the actual comparison. This program is a very simple comparison utility which reports if the file contents and catalog information match. This example shows how easy it is to process two files by writing a !RunA obey file to save the details of the first file dragged to it until a second is dragged. The !RunA obey file for this client application also contains commands to run the BootAutil program in order to change the sprite used for the !Compare icon on the icon bar. (10) !1stMake application Drag a text file to the installed 1stMake icon to convert it to a 1stWord+ document. Click on the 1stMake icon to see the syntax of the 1stMake command. This application shows how a traditional command orientated utility (which 1stMake is) can be set up as a convenient-to-use desktop application. (11) !1stUnMake application Drag a 1stWord+ document file to the installed 1stUnMake icon to convert it to a plain text file. Click on the 1stUnMake icon to see the syntax of the 1stUnMake command. This application is just the reverse of 1stMake and is similarly structured. (12) !BasicEdit application Drag a basic program file here to load it into the Basic Editor (a text file can also be dragged and will be automatically tokenised by BASIC). The current directory is set to the directory containing the dragged file (and restored afterwards). The !RunA file also sets two function keys - f4 to issue an '*QUIT' command (to return to the desktop after returning from the Basic Edit to BASIC) and f2 to issue an 'EDIT.' command (to re-invoke the Basic Editor after returning to BASIC). This application is obsoleted by the version of !Edit in RISC OS 3, which provides a desktop compliant way of editing BASIC programs. (13) !Twin application This application assumes you have Twin installed in the ADFS library on your system. Drag a file here to load it into Twin, set the colours to a nice (?) yellow on black and set the current directory to the directory containing the dragged file (and restore it afterwards). There are still some things that Twin does better than anything else! (14) !ARCtoIBM This application changes Archimedes end-of-line characters (LF) to DOS format end-of-line characters (CRLF). Drag a file here to convert it and replace the existing file with the updated file. Drag a directory here to convert all the files therein. (15) !IBMtoARC This application changes DOS format end-of-line characters (CRLF) to Archimedes end-of-line characters (LF). Drag a file here to convert it and replace the existing file with the updated file. Drag a directory here to convert all the files therein. With RISC OS 3, you can use this to convert DOS files in- situ on the DOS diskette, then edit the files using !Edit without the annoying '[0d]' at the end of each line, and finally convert the edited files back to DOS mode again in- situ by using !ARCtoIBM. (16) !UnNum application This application deletes line sequence numbers from IBM mainframe style files. It is obviously a specialised utility which was written to meet a particular need. Drag a text file to the !UnNum icon after it has been installed on the icon bar to 'unnumber' it, or drag a directory to the !UnNum icon to 'unnumber' all text files in the directory. These text files must be correctly sequenced numbered in the first place and must not contain any unprintable characters or they will be rejected by !UnNum. BOOTAUTIL PROGRAM This program is included in the !BootA application directory and can be executed from a client application's !RunA file by issuing a command such as the following: *Run <BootA$Appl>.BootAutil -sprite newname which will send a message to BootA requesting that sprite 'newname' should be used for displaying the client application's icon on the icon bar. The sprite 'newname' must already be loaded into the Wimp sprite pool (best done by including it in the !sprites file for the client application). The !Compare application provides an example of the use of BooyAutil. When first installed by BootA, the sprite used to display its icon on the icon bar is '!compare'. As soon as a file is dragged to this icon, the sprite is changed to 'compare0' to indicate that it is now waiting for the second file. When a second file is so dragged, the sprite is changed to 'compare1' and the comparison takes place. When the comparison is finished (or if you click on the icon to 'reset' it, rather than dragging a file to it), the sprite is changed back to '!compare'. The !sprites file for !Compare contains all three sprites: '!compare', 'compare0' and 'compare1'; so that when the directory viewer first sees the !Compare application directory, all three sprites are loaded into the Wimp sprite pool. When using replacement sprites in this way, all should be of the same size. The icon bounding box will be set by the first sprite displayed (i.e. the sprite with the same name as the application itself). BootAutil has a file type of 'absolute' which means that when run it loads into the application workspace at &8000. This is the same area used by other application programs (e.g. programs written in Basic, C, etc), so that it is not a good idea to issue the command to run BootAutil from within such an application program as BootAutil will replace the issuing program in the application workspace (although it could be used as a way of intentionally ending the application and updating its icon on the icon bar at the same time). BootAutil should normally be run from the client application's !RunA obey file. BootAutil accepts three arguments: -sprite xxxx - specifies name of sprite to be used (sprite should already be loaded into the Wimp sprite pool) -quit - requests BootA to remove the client's icon from the icon bar (same effect as 'Quit' on the menu) -handle nnnn - supplies the handle identifying the client's icon; BootA sets system variable 'BootA$Handle' to this handle before running the client's !RunA obey file; if '-handle' is not specified then BootAutil uses the value of the system variable. COPYRIGHT NOTICE BootA, BootAutil, 1stMake, 1stUnMake, ARCtoIBM, IBMtoARC and UnNum are subject to Copyright. Permission is granted by the author to any recipient of this material to use and make/disseminate copies of the application provided that no charges are made for doing so (other than to cover any cost of media or postage) and that this notice is included with all copies. Paul Witheridge - 15 December 1991.