PPPop is a MacPPP 2.0.1 operator application. It puts up a little window containing a button. Clicking on the button brings PPP up or takes it down. An arrow on the button shows the current state of PPP. You can set whether to do a "hard close" or a "soft close". The MacPPP extension 2.01 (or better) must be installed for PPPop to work. It also requires System 7.0 or higher.
Some other things it does: a separate little window will show current session time, or monthly or daily cumulative time on-line. You can open the Config PPP or MacTCP control panels directly from the File menu. These control panels must be in the Control Panels folder of the System folder. You can also set up a launcher to open a PPP connection with your mail, news, &tc. clients.
I wrote PPPop because I didn't want to keep looking at the ConfigPPP cdev once I had it set up. (There are now a number of other applications, extensions, control strip modules, scripting additions which perform similar service.)
WHAT IS NEW IN VERSION 1.3
1. FreePPP 1.0.1 by the FreePPP Group required a change to PPPop so that it would properly open a connection. PPPop also includes changes developed by the FreePPP Group to make it Open Transport compatible.
2. In the Timer Settings dialog, you can manually enter the Total Time.
3. There is a new Launcher menu which allows you to launch your mail, news, web browser, ftp, irc, and telnet clients. A PPP connection will be opened first, then the application will launch. There are command key equivalents for each function.
4. PPPop can automatically run an application whenever it opens a connection. This was requested by a few people who use PowerTalk and must run something to get a remote connection to work. The feature could also be used to run an AppleScript or an application, such as Eudora, which you use every time. Shift-clicking the PPPop icon will bypass the automatic launch.
5. Completely new screen positioning routine. It remembers positions on different monitors, e.g. a Powerbook which is sometimes plugged into another monitor.
6. New icon drawing routine which I hope will solve problems several have reported with improper updating of icons.
7. Minor change to sound play routine so that PPPop will play the first sound it finds in a sound file. This should make various other sound files useable, such as the ones out there for ZTerm.
This version is somewhat rushed out the door because of the urgent need to fix the problem with FreePPP. There are several other requested additions in the works for version 1.4, including a warning limit for the timer and scripting support.
PROGRAM NOTES
If PPPop is in the background, clicking on it will bring it to the foreground, and double clicking on it will cause it to operate MacPPP. This is normal Finder behavior. The Prefs Menu contains a "Return to Finder" item. Checking this will cause PPPop to return to the Finder after operating MacPPP, rather than remaining in the foreground.
In the Prefs menu, the first item reads either "Hard Close" with a checkmark, or "Soft Close" with a checkmark. In other words, the menu item always shows what PPPop will do when you close the connection.
The timer function displays the connect time for the current session. Time appears in a separate draggable window which can be shown, or hidden, from the Prefs menu. The timer maintains a cumulative time as well. Session time is in 00:00:00 format (hh:mm:ss). Cumulative time is in 000:00 format (hhh:mm). To switch between the two, click the Timer window, use the Prefs menu, or press <return>. Cumulative time can be automatically reset daily (at midnight) or monthly on a specific day. IMPORTANT: PPPop does not keep time when it is not running!
Just for fun, PPPop will play sounds when the connection opens and closes. The sounds are read from individual sound files called "PPPop - Going Up" and "PPPop - Going Down". They must have the right name and must be in the same folder as PPPop. You can paste new sounds into these files, or use other sound files which contain 'snd ' resources.
The Launcher Settings dialog is for selecting applications which you can launch from PPPop with a command key press. There are built-in menu commands for mail, news, web browser, ftp, telnet, and irc applications. Of course, you can assign any application you want to any of these keys. Selecting one of the menu items will open a PPP connection before launching the application. If the opening fails, the application won't launch. You can also set up an application to run automatically whenever a connection opens. When you press a "Set" button, a standard get file dialog appears. The files visible are filtered to include applications, text files, aliases, control panels, daemons, AppleScripts, Newswatcher groups, and Prefs (Eudora Settings). There may be some other sort of file you want to use. If so, check the "Set Shows All Files" box to see everything except invisible files.
NOW SUPERBOOMERANG 5.0 NOTE: This extension may cause PPPop to run out of memory after you have used the Set button in the Launcher Settings dialog. (It leaves a non-relocatable block in the middle of the heap.) If you have problems, you could quit and restart PPPop, give PPPop more memory, or use the Superboomerang control panel to add PPPop to the list of excluded applications.
Source code for PPPop 1.2 was distributed on Apprentice CD Release 3 by Celestin Company. This is a great CD! Send a blank message to info@celestin.com for information.
Anti-litigation Statement: This program is free HACKWARE. It is distributed because it may be useful. It is not warranted to do anything, nor to be free of bugs. If PPPop causes you grave physical, financial, or emotional harm—I'm really sorry.
