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MD_Changes
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1993-07-12
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MegaD changes from 2.0 to 3.0
First and Foremost!
If you are reading this document you are probably a user of
MegaD and curious what the new features are. If so and you are
a registered user you have a MegaD2.pf file that contains your
preferences for MegaD 2.0. YES, MegaD 3.0 will read, use and
save those preferences. Be sure to copy your MegaD2.pf file to
the same drawer that you placed MegaD 3.0 before running MegaD
3.0. Once you save this file with MegaD 3.0, MegaD 2.0 will not
be able to use it anymore.
MegaD Changes
I have been trying to keep all of the changes listed in this
file. I know that I have missed a few. All of the document
have been updated to the current version.
MegaD Meets ARexx
This is the biggest change from MegaD 2.0. It is also one of
the best changes, in my book. MegaD now fully supports ARexx,
at my last count, there was 123 different commands. Every
function in MegaD is available through the ARexx port. Being
the extensive nature of this port there is a separate document
file titled MDARexx.Guide that contains all of the information
needed to use the MegaD ARexx port. You will also find useful
ARexx scripts with this version.
MDPrefs
The main program, MegaD, and the functions to set your personal
preferences have been separated into different programs. This
was done to help reduce the size of the main program. These
functions are now handled by MDPrefs. MDPrefs can be run on its
own with or without MegaD or it can be started from within
MegaD. The two program communicate with each other to help you
set MegaD to your own preferences.
The settings performed in the preference windows have been moved
around a little bit. Some were moved to their own windows and
other were moved in with other like settings. You'll find
things just a little more organized than the last time around.
This is a quick map of the new arrangement.
All Items new to this version are marked:
(NEW 3.0)
MDPrefs Windows
Colors,
Directory
File
Selected
Unselected
Text
Background
Title
Information
Border 1
Border 2
1.3 / 2.0 Color switch
Gadget back
Gadget Text
Defaults
Auto resize windows
Auto update windows
Confirm quit
Iconify at start
Keep active window to front
Last active window is destination
Place tool icon & menu on Workbench
Messages off
Panic button window
Return keypad to unshifted (NEW 3.0)
Save defaults at closing
Save window positions
Simple refresh windows
Warn before copy
Warn before delete
Warn before move
Warn if deleting protected file
Warn if replacing larger file
Warn if replacing newer file
Warn if replacing file
F10 Closes control window
Display
Date Format
1000 separator
Use Today / Yesterday
12 Hour Clock
Decimal is Comma
Directory listing order
Set Keypads
Built In's
Menu Sets
AutoBoots
User Gadgets
ARexx (NEW 3.0)
Dev. Gadgets (NEW 3.0)
Gadget Sets (NEW 3.0)
Hot Key (NEW 3.0)
Menus & Devices
Menus Sets
Device Gadgets
Device Gadgets Titles (NEW 3.0)
(45 possible device gadgets (NEW 3.0))
Miscellaneous
Copy/Format Program Control
View Text Program Control
Source icon for directories
Dictionary filename
Create master Dictionary
Set Print (NEW 3.0)
MDSpool Program Control (NEW 3.0)
ARexx port name (NEW 3.0)
Add Job (NEW 3.0)
Add Job then delete file (NEW 3.0)
Stop All Jobs (NEW 3.0)
Stop Current Job (NEW 3.0)
Quit Spooler (NEW 3.0)
Set to MDSpool (NEW 3.0)
Set to internal spool (NEW 3.0)
Set Screen
Screen Type
Now that you have seen where every thing has been moved to, lets
talk about the new features that are set from preferences.
Return keypad to unshifted
This is a new flag that can be set in the Defaults window. If
you check this item, MegaD will always return the Keypad Gadgets
to the unshifted state.
ARexx
This is a new type of Program Control accessed through the Set
Keypad window. MegaD now supports ARexx, Along with this
support comes the ability to launch ARexx programs. ARexx is a
subject better covered by other manuals, you will find a
document title MDARexx.doc that will describe all of the ARexx
commands that you can use through the MEGAD ARexx port. Every
function of MegaD can be accessed through the ARexx port. You
will also find a number of useful ARexx scripts that you can
call from within MegaD.
Dev. Gadgets
Device Gadget can now be attached to Keypad Gadgets and Gadget
created in the new Gadget Sets facility. There are now 45
possible Device gadgets. You gain access to the Device Gadgets
by using the Set Keypad window, much like you did when you
attached Built in commands and User Gadgets to your keypad.
Gadget Sets
This is another exciting addition to MegaD for this version.
With the new Gadget Sets facility you can create a wide variety
of gadget configurations. You may create simple windows that
open with just a few gadgets and is set up for a very specific
task or you could create full screen layouts of strategically
place Gadgets Sets and Snapshot windows so that you can have a
directory utility of your own design.
Creating a Gadget Set
Gadget Sets are created and designed from the Set Keypads window
of Set Preferences. You must first cycle the Source area to
"Gadget Sets". Once this is done you may select the "Add"
gadget. A new window will open.
Define Gadget Set Window
You will find 5 string gadgets in this window to let you define
the size of the window and how many gadgets you wish to have in
this window. Gadget Set windows are font sensitive, so the
number and size of your gadgets are effected by this. There is
also a gadget under the Window Type gadget that will open a
window that you can physically size and move to define the
correct size of the window.
Gadget Set Title
This is a string gadget for you to enter the title of the Gadget
Set. Like all other titles of object in MegaD, it should be
unique. MegaD will test this title and tell you if it finds
other objects with the same name. MegaD will not let you create
an object with the same name.
Inner Window Width
This is what you would like to set the inner window width to.
The inner window width is the size of the window without the
window border calculated into it. The reason we use the inner
width and height of the window is due to the fact that this is
where we will be placing the gadgets. They would look unsightly
if there were place over the window boarders. You will notice
to the right of the gadgets a minimum and maximum value that
show the range that can be enter into the gadget.
Inner Window Height
This is to set the height of the Gadget Set window. The higher
you set this value to the more gadgets you will be able to place
in a column. Once again you will see minimums and maximum
values displayed to the right of the gadget.
Gadgets Across
Gadgets are created in the Gadgets Set window in a grid fashion.
You are allowed to set the number of gadgets across with this
gadget. Gadgets can be so small that they will only display one
character or they can be as wide as the screen. You should
notice that at the bottom of the display area is a value title
"Gadget Char. " This displays how many characters the gadgets
will display at the current settings. This is there to help you
judge if you are creating your gadgets wide enough to display
the information you would like to see displayed. The maximum
value is effected directly by the setting of the "Inner Window
Width."
Gadgets Down
This will let you set the number of gadget the window will have
down the window. The maximum value is effected by "Inner Window
Height."
To figure out how many gadget your window will have once it is
opened is a simple multiplication problem.
Gadget Across * Gadget Down = Number Gadgets
Window Type
This is a cycle gadget that lets you cycle to one of three
settings.
Under Mouse
The Gadget set window will always open under the mouse pointer.
Fixed
The Gadget Set window will always open at the last place it was
closed.
Rigid
The Gadget Set window will be an immobile backdrop window that
cannot be moved. This window will not have any window boarders.
This type of window is very effective when designing a full
screen of Gadget Sets and snapshot windows.
Close once used
This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will close the
Gadget Set window once it has been used.
Keep to front
This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will try to
keep the gadget set window to the front of other windows while
it is open.
Open at startup
This is a check gadget. If it is checked, MegaD will open the
window when the program is started or if a new preference file
is loaded with this type of Gadget Set found. If one of these
are set with this checked, MegaD will not open the "Main Control
Window", if you need this window opened you may use the F8, F9,
or F10 key to open it once the program and/or the preference
file has loaded.
Rigid and Open at startup
By setting one or a few Gadgets Sets with Rigid windows and Open
at Startup, you can end up with some very impressive screens.
You'll be surprised as to what a few vertical and/or horizontal
bars of gadgets and a few snapshot directory windows can do to
create a productive environment to use you directory utility
from.
Sizing Window
This is a small gadget below the Window Type gadget. When
selecting this gadget you will be given a window that can be
moved, sized and then closed. This will fill in the information
for the size of the window. It will also define the location of
the screen it is to open to if you create a 'Rigid' or 'Fixed'
window.
Opening the new Gadget Set window
After setting all of the values to where you want them, select
the "Use" Gadget. The "Define Gadget Set" window will close and
your new Gadget Set window will open. All of the gadgets in
this Gadget Set window will be blank. This window is
interactive with the Keypad Source gadgets. You can copy
objects to it in the same manner you have been copying objects
to the keypad. Select the gadget in the Gadget Set window you
wish to copy to, then select the object from the source area of
the Keypad window. The Object will be copied as soon as two
gadget are selected.
Quick color copy
There is new feature to help you set the destination gadget
colors. I found that setting the colors of the Keypad Gadgets
and the Gadget Set gadgets was a very tedious job. A new
feature has been added in this version to help speed up the
setting of the gadget colors.
Select one of the destination gadgets that has the color set to
the color you wish to copy. Select the gadget once more to
unselect it. MegaD will now remember the text and background
colors of that gadget. Hold a Shift key down and select the
other destination gadgets that you wish to copy the colors to.
You may copy the colors to as many destination gadget as you
wish. The color will remain the same until you select a new
color.
Once you are done, you may close the Gadget Set window with the
Close gadget or by pressing the Esc key while it is the active
window. If you have selected Rigid, or Fixed windows, remember
to place the Gadget Set window where you would like to see it
reopen before closing it. By selecting "Use" from the Set
Keypad window while other Gadget Set windows are open, MegaD
will close the windows and remember their locations for you.
Getting access to Gadget Sets
To use the Gadget Set, you need to have some type of access to
it. Gadget Sets that have the "Open at startup" attribute
checked will automatically open for you. Other need some type
of trigger to open them. You can place a Gadget Set object onto
your keypad or you can give Gadget Sets a "Hot Key" so that they
can be called with a key press.
Hot Keys
At the right hand bottom of the Set Keypads window you will find
a gadget titled "Hot Key." You may give any object a "Hot Key"
by using this gadget. You must first select the object you wish
to give the "Hot Key" to then select the "Hot Key" gadget, a
window will open.
Hot Key Window
This window will open with the title, "Define Hot Key for
[object selected]. The title of the object you selected will be
place in the window title to help you remember what you were
setting the "Hot Key" for.
Hot Key Qualifiers
You may use qualifiers with your "Hot Key." The possible
qualifiers are:
Left Shift
Right Shift
Caps Lock
Control
Left Alt
Right Alt
Left Amiga
Right Amiga
Numeric Keypad
Middle Mouse Button
Right Mouse Button
Left Mouse Button
You may select the qualifiers with your mouse by checking the
corresponding check box. Or better yet, just hold the
qualifiers down and press the regular key you wish to use. As
the key is pressed, MegaD will also keep track of the qualifiers
that was used during the key press. As soon as you press a
regular key, That key will be displayed in the Hot Key
character box.
To use this Hot Key definition select the "Use" Gadget. Or you
can "Cancel" adding the Hot Key.
Delete Hot Key
An object that has been defined to have a Hot Key can have that
Hot Key remove in one of two ways.
The first way is to select the object that has the Hot Key you
wish to have removed, you select this object within the Set
Keypad window, select the "Hot Key" gadget and finally select
the "Delete" gadget in the "Hot Key" window. The "Hot Key"
definition will be removed.
The second way is to define the same key press and qualifiers
for a new object and then select the "Use" gadget from the "Hot
Key" window. You will be greeted with a requestor asking:
Replace Hot Key defined for
<Object Name>
Answer yes to this requestor and the Hot Key definition will
delete from the old object and then created for the new object.
Hot Keys are
not global
Unlike the Hot Keys you define for a commodity that take high
priority over the system input channels and steal the input from
the active program or window, Hot Keys in MegaD are only good
if one of the MegaD windows are active and accepting the input.
Key press that are define as menu short cuts, such as "Left
Amiga O" for Open will take priority over the same Hot Key
defined for MegaD.
Menus & Devices window
In the Set Menus & Devices window you will see a couple of
changes done to the layout. This used to be the first window
that would open when you selected "Set Preferences." The upper
section is to define Menu Sets, and the lower section is to
define Device Gadgets. You will find the lower section
revamped.
Device Gadget
You may now define 45 deferent device paths and titles that
share the original 9 Device gadgets. You access the added
device gadgets by scrolling the list with the proportional
gadget place to the left of all of the device string gadgets.
Each Device gadget has both a Device definition and a Title
definition.
Device string gadget
The device string gadget is for you to enter the path for the
directory to load once you've selected the corresponding "Device
Gadget" in the Main Control Window. This can be a simple assign
name such as "S:" or a long path such as
"Work:jrcomm/transfers".
Title string gadget
To the right of each Device string gadget you will see a string
gadget for entering the title. You may want the title to be
just the same as the path that will load such as "S:" or if you
enter a long path such as
"Work:jrcomm/transfers"
you may want to change the title to something that will fit in
the limited display area of the gadget. For this case you could
enter "Downloads" into the Title string gadget.
Set Print
MegaD has a very nice print spooler. It will let you print all
day long and not freeze the program while it is sending
information to the printer. I has one drawback, it will not
let you view the list of jobs waiting to be printed and it will
not let you pick specific jobs from the job list to be removed.
For those of you who feel that you need better control over the
jobs waiting to go to the printer, MDSpool has been written and
ARexx support has been added to MegaD to control it. This is
the purpose of the new Set Print preference settings. MDSpool
is a stand alone program with a full ARexx port.
Very little effort is required for you to set MegaD from the
internal spooler to the new external spooler that has a full
graphic interface. At the bottom of the Set Print window you
will see two gadgets. The first gadget Is "Set to MDSpool"
which will set all of the settings to the correct ARexx commands
to communicate with MDSpool. The second gadget "Set to internal
spool" will return MegaD to using the simple internal spool
program.
For more information on MDSpool, read the supplied documentation
for it. You will find that MDSpool has enough features to make
it a worthwhile addition to your software collection by itself.
Multiple Running MegaD's
You may now have multiple MegaD's running at one time now. This
is not advisable, but it is allowed. Each time a new image of
MegaD is run a new Public Screen will be opened with the public
screen with an added number behind it. So "MEGAD" public screen
name will become "MEGAD.1", MEGAD.2" and so on.
The same holds true for the MegaD ARexx port. Which follows the
exact same convictions. "MEGAD" ARexx port name will become
"MEGAD.1", MEGAD.2" and so on for each new occurrence..
Warn before launch
A new check item has been made available to all program controls
such as AutoBoot, and User Gadgets. It is the "Warn before
launch" attribute. By checking this item, MegaD will open a
requestor that reads
Launch
Program Control
<Program Control Title>
You may answer yes or no to this requestor. By answering No to
the requestor, MegaD will skip the launching of that Program
Control. This is especially handy for potentially dangerous
ARexx scripts or other destructive types of Program Controls.
ARexx Double Click
Double Click ARexx files will now open Program control window to
launch ARexx script. For this to work the filename must end
with .arexx or .rexx and the first non space characters of the
file must be "/*"
New 'More...' gadget in the Program Controls window to access the
next two sets of items.
New Checks for Program Controls
Query for 'Flags to add'
Query for 'Text to append'
New Strings for Program Controls
Con: window string that can be created with the use of the close
window icon gadget to the right of the string. This should only
be the Con:10/10/600/100 part of the console open string.
Stack size string, Any value less than 4000 will default to
4000.
ASL requestor to set Program Control Path
Added ASL requestor to set Program Path and Filename string
gadget of Control Window. You will find a small folder icon to
the right of the string gadget.
Added Auto Scroll feature to Text Windows.
Selecting the text window with the Left mouse button, the text
window will start to scroll up or down at different speeds
depending on the current position of the mouse pointer. One
more select or activating another window will end the scroll.
This enables the user to set the scroll of the window slow
enough that the text file can be read line after line.
Text Window word wrap has been added.
In the MegaD Preferences, Miscellaneous window the setting View
Text word wrap can be found.
0 = Default to window width
20 - 999 = User defined (A high value pretty much disables word
wrap :-)
Text Window tab width has been added.
In the MegaD Preferences, Miscellaneous window the setting View
Text tab width can be found. Any value from 1 to 20 is accepted
here.
New Sort feature.
Sort on Extension.
NOTE: If you had check in the menus Output, W/Tree lines the
check will be place on the new sort Extension menu. Be sure to
take a quick look at the Menu Sort on after starting this
version, if two check are found Select your standard default and
save the preference file.
Recursive Search Text
Search Text is now recursive trough selected directories. This
will let you select any directory and MegaD will test each file
in all subdirectories to see if it is a true text file, if so
it will search the file for the search string. Very disk
intensive but very useful.
Added Continue feature that will allow you to open a text window
that has the requested string and continue on with the search
for more file with the same string in it.
AmigaGuide Help
Full implementation of AmigaGuide for on-line help by pressing
the 'Help' key. And selecting the object within MegaD that you
need help for. A second press of the 'Help' key will open the
MegaD.Guide file to the contents of the file.
OK, so I've been a bit busy!
John L. Jones
PO Box 292
Midvale, Utah 84047
USA
