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EnigmA Amiga Run 1996 February
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EnigmA AMIGA RUN 04 (1996)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1996-02][Skylink CD III].iso
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earcd
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util1
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rndbkdrp.lha
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rndbackdrop
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Readme
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1995-08-08
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4KB
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93 lines
RndBackdrop V1.0 ScanPicDir V1.0
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Purpose
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Two little programs I've written in ARexx, because similar programs on
aminet did not support reloading of a random picture, in case I get annoyed
of a picture but don't want to reboot (moreover WBPattern can't simply
reload a picture by giving a picture as argument to it, don't know about
WBPicture (NickPrefs) though.).
Disclaimer
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No warranties are given for my ARexx scripts. Of course you can send
me bug reports, see BUG section below.
Copyright
---------
Both scripts are Public Domain. You may use it as you wish, but it would
be nice if you mentioned me somewhere when you include them in one of your
programs, my name is Reinhard Katzmann and I live in Tuebingen, Germany.
Introduction
------------
As I shortly scanned several backdrops I thought it would be good to find
a program which selects a random picture and displays it on the WB screen.
WBPattern (supplied with OS3.x) though only can only display one fixed
picture. Therefore I wrote an ARexx script to do the job. Besides I had to
find out that I could not simply give a picture as argument, but had to
change the fixed picture file. To avoid search time, I wrote a second
script which creates a backdrop list of your pictures (you might even want
to change it by hand). From this list the other script selects a random
picture and copies it to the fixed one.
Usage
-----
ScanPicDir scans one or more directories with backdrop pictures for your
WB and builds a list which RndBackdrop uses to select a random picture.
Usage: RX ScanPicDir Paths/M,Pattern/K,ALL/S,DIR/S,Outfile/K
Outfile is preconfigured as dh0:t/backdrops. Other arguments are similar
the List AmigaDos Command with exception that Paths being only directories.
RndBackdrop selects the picture and copies it to the fixed file. You can
use it in your User-Startup (before loading WB) or as online command.
Actually none of the arguments below must be given to run the script.
Usage: RX rndbackdrop TO,Infile/K,TMPFile/K,TMPPrefs/K,RELOAD/S,MSG/S
TO is the name of the fixed picture file (defaults to dh0:t/bdpic). The name
of this pictures must be also the name of the pic in WBPattern (be sure
to have actually copied a pic file before calling WBPattern :-)
Infile is the the name of the picture list (every entry must have the full
path of the pic). If you use the MSG switch, you will see which file has been
choosen by the program. That are all arguments needed for User-Startup usage.
If you want to change the backdrop AFTER the Workbench has been loaded you must
give at least the RELOAD switch as argument. The ARexx script must rename the
backdrop file to TMPfile (default oldpic) (because WBPattern has a lock on it),
then copies as above and calls WBPattern itself twice (*sigh* you cannot simply
use the same prefs with WBPattern again, WBPattern will not reload the new picture,
a notify would be helpful here, ESCOM ? :-), one with an empty prefs (you can
use the one I included) TMPPrefs and after that the original Prefs. Then it
waits a second until the lock is away and deletes the old picture. (Hope your
mind has no knot after this paragraph ;-)
If you don't own OS3.x, but use instead OS2.x including WBPicture (or a similar
program), you might set the ENV-Variable WBBACKDROPCMD (default is for OS3.0
User: 'WBPattern use' (without quotes) ). Didn't test this, though.
Bugs
----
Not that I knew some ;-). The only thing I encountered is a general problem with
csh (5.43) and ReadArgs() from RexxDosSupport. But I think it will be generally
used from User-Startup or as WBScript or from ToolsMenu.
If you still have bugs/problems/ideas/, feel free to send me an email.
EMAIL ADRESS: Suamor@student.uni-tuebingen.de (Reinhard Katzmann)
History
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V1.0 - Initial release