PictPocket • Menu Events • Menu Grabber • Trash Bag
AWOL Utilities 1.4 is a group of seven programs for the Macintosh and Power Macintosh, all of high quality, and all absolutely free. Each works independently, but they work better together, so if you don’t have all seven, might I suggest that you explore your favorite Internet archive site (<ftp://sumex-aim.stanford.edu/info-mac/> or one of its various mirror sites, such as <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/>) and pick up a copy.
Or, if you’d rather, you can send me a formatted DS/DD (800K) or larger diskette at this address, and I’ll send you a copy of the latest AWOL Utilities package. Please don’t forget to include a self-addressed cardboard disk mailer or other suitably large envelope with at least $1.00 U.S. for postage, or I won’t be able to send it back to you. Full details of the AWOL Utilities distribution policy are near the top of the help file for each program.
For the latest information about AWOL software, including AWOL Utilities,
please visit the AWOL Web page at <http://www.magma.ca/~awolsp/>.
Support for AWOL Utilities is through Internet mail at <mailto:ab026@freenet.carleton.ca>. The software is not available by FTP from this site, but America Online and other popular services do offer AWOL Utilities through their Macintosh freeware/shareware areas.
HOW TO GET HELP
All seven programs have help files intended for use with the AWOL Utilities Help on Wheels help server. You can request help at any time while using an AWOL Utilities application by pressing the Help or Command-? key, or through the Help menu. For help on an AWOL Utilities system extension, hold down the Help or Command-? key at startup until you see the icon with a balloon.
If you have a copy of Help on Wheels on your Macintosh, you can read or print the help file from Finder before you even use the program, and when you do start to use the program, you have access to complete on-line help, with hypertext links and context-sensitivity.
If you don’t have Help on Wheels, and you ask for help, the help file is automatically converted to one or more TeachText files for you to read or print. (If you want to read the help for an AWOL Utilities system extension before using it, press Shift along with Help or Command-? at startup to prevent it from loading.)
CAPSULE SUMMARIES
Very briefly, here are the seven programs which make up AWOL Utilities 1.4:
Virtual Desktop 1.9.3 (upgraded)
The premier virtual desktop manager for the Macintosh that works on all types of Macs and all types of monitors. For 180K of memory, you can have a virtual desktop as big as you like, in full color. Excellent for PowerBooks and other Macs with the ability to run many programs at once, but nowhere to put the windows.
To get around, you have several options:
» use the scroll bars on the sides of the screen
» click a “door,” or use the Door menu or Control Strip, to go to a preset location (with the option to launch an application or document)
» see the entire virtual desktop in miniature, and rearrange your windows and icons
» press a key combination to scroll in any direction
» push a reference point on the virtual desktop from A to B using the mouse
» shove the mouse against the edge of the screen to scroll in any direction
Version 1.9.2 adds compatibility with Mac OS 8.0 and 8.1, and improves overall performance. Version 1.9.3 adds compatibility with Mac OS 8.5.
Maybe 1.5.3 (upgraded)
This application picks up where Finder left off in its implementation of aliases. Maybe converts a Finder alias file to give it an additional effect.
Converted aliases do more than just point to the original item. They can:
» play a sound
» open or print every item in the target folder
» open some other item (document, application, folder, or whatever) first
» send an Apple event to another program
» make a startup item optional, by questioning the user, or checking the state of a key
Maybe doesn’t solve your problems directly, but it gives you the power to do a lot of things you’ve been wanting to do.
Version 1.5.1 adds compatibility with Mac OS 8.0, and fixes some sound handling bugs. Versions 1.5.2 and 1.5.3 fix very minor bugs.
Help on Wheels 1.3
This generic help server, which springs from the help facility in the famous Disinfectant program, offers on-line, context-sensitive help service to all AWOL Utilities programs, and potentially others to come.
As a user, you see help for several client programs stacked in a single window, with each program’s menu commands and dialog items keyed to descriptive paragraphs in the help file. You can tell the help server to follow your actions in the background, so that you can read about the program while you use it. Hypertext links connect related sections and trigger demonstration actions by the client application.
The Help on Wheels developer’s kit (now supporting Metrowerks CodeWarrior as well as the MPW environment, and PowerPC as well as 68K programs) includes a sample application, and everything a developer would need to add help service to an application, control panel, or extension. The client interface is designed to take the burden of display, printing, saving, and other common help functions away from the developer.
PictPocket 1.3.2
Here’s a different kind of screen capture utility, great for people who need to build a lot of window pictures into their documents, but don’t want to waste a lot of storage. Most of the pictures in AWOL Utilities help files were captured using PictPocket.
PictPocket “picks the pocket” of applications as they draw their windows, not after they have been drawn. This difference allows it to place in the Clipboard a 'PICT' which represents the actual elements drawn, rather than a bitmap (raster) image. (You choose whether or not to include the window frame.) Not only is a PictPocket 'PICT' smaller than a bitmap 'PICT', and not proportional in size to the depth of color, but you retain the ability to edit the picture later, using an application such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Change text, colors, position of elements, whatever! If you need a blow-up of the picture, just change the Page Setup scaling factor, and it will still print perfectly, with no bitmap “jaggies.”
Version 1.3 makes PictPocket much easier to use. Just press the Caps Lock and Shift keys, find the window you want to capture, click on it, and release the keys when the window starts to blink. Version 1.3.2 is a maintenance release with no feature upgrades.
Menu Events 1.3.1
This system extension bridges the gap between scripting applications and the vast number of non-scriptable applications. It makes most applications controllable through their menu commands, using program linking (Apple events).
Any script, or any program equipped to send Menu events, can query and execute the menu commands of any compatible application on any Macintosh on the network.
An AppleScript scripting addition ('osax') and sample script show you how to control an application through its menus. You can record Menu event commands directly into a script editor by pressing the Caps Lock key while selecting items from menus.
Version 1.3 lets you specify menus and menu items by their string names, numeric IDs, or both, and improves compatibility with target applications. Version 1.3.1 is a maintenance release with no feature upgrades.
Menu Grabber 1.3.1 (upgraded)
A fascinating illustration of the power of Menu Events, Menu Grabber lets you pick an application from any Macintosh on the network, and presents an identical copy of its menu bar on your screen (but in bright red and white-on-black, just so you realize what you might be getting into). While grabbing an application, you can pull down a menu or use a keyboard equivalent to simulate the same action on the target application.
This application can be useful in network management, and to people like me who sometimes forget to close a needed document before leaving the office.
Version 1.3 adds a handy Refresh button, and makes it easier to deal with applications whose menus are sensitive to modifier keys. Version 1.3.1 adds compatibility with Mac OS 8.0.
Trash Bag 1.2.2 (upgraded)
Add this absurdly simple application to your Startup Items folder, and you’ll never have to worry about download clutter again. Trash Bag creates and maintains a folder that looks like a bag in front of your desktop trash can. Use it as the destination folder for encoded Internet downloads, Web browser cache files, or anything you doubt you’ll need tomorrow, and Trash Bag will put them in the Trash automatically.
Unlike the “real” Trash, your Trash Bag folder lets you open what’s inside it, and you can access it through standard file dialogs. It’s also great for making a temporary backup copy of a document before editing — just Option-drag it to the bag. Tomorrow, when you no longer need it, it’ll be in the Trash.
Version 1.2.1 adds compatibility with Mac OS 8.0, and offers some visual feedback to show you that it’s working. Version 1.2.2 fixes a very minor bug.
