Short English abstract - Note: I'm no native speaker so please excuse some poor phrases.
(*): Changes
What?
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'mINI' is a small, dialog driven, INI editor. It provides the basic functions like viewing, editing etc. and can keep all available INI files on your system to provide quick access.
Furthermore you can export applications or whole INIs to Rexx code.
Since version 1.00 it is also possible to view and edit ASCII based INI files if they are of Windows's style INI format.
The files in this distribution:
- \install.cmd Creates program objects and associations (*)
- \mINI.exe Executable
- \mINI.dll Graphics-DLL
- \mINI.txt German docs
- \mINI.ico Icon
- \mINIdata.ico Icon for data files
- \history.txt German revision history
- \fastini.dll See below (*)
- \english\mINI.txt This text
- \english\history.txt Revision history
NOTE: 'mINI' does make use of the highly recommended Freeware-DLL FastINI for Rexx from Dennis Bareis (http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~dbareis/index.htm) (*) if available.
You are encouraged to get FastINI.DLL from the author's homepage (current version: fi_98148.zip).
The plain DLL is included in this mINI package for your convenience. (*)
Why?
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Nice question :-)
You obviously will have a good reason to look at INI files. There are many INI editors and viewers for OS/2 available so you can freely decide which one to use.
'mINI' doesn't provide sophisticated copy functions, can't clean up your system INI files and - if not using FastINI - is no performance wonder.
Doesn't matter: 'mINI' meets my own needs, offers a nice looking GUI with treeview, can edit, view, delete ASCII and HEX data, exports Rexx code and provides quick access to all INI files.
How?
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There's no need for a special installation procedure. Just copy all the above files into one directory that suits you. If you want to deinstall - delete them.
Please take the time and get FastINI! Just unpack it and copy fastini.dll to a directory in your LIBPATH so 'mINI' can support the fast INI functions of it.
To do so, start 'mINI' with parameter "-FASTINI".
You don't have to install FastINI but then RexxUtil is used which is not so fast...
Furthermore you can pass an INI file via command line or Drag&Drop it onto the program object to view the INI directly. This is usefull if you don't want to associate all *.INI files with 'mINI'.
Usage should be easy. Just try it out.
On first start I recommend you to search all available INI files on your HD ("add" "all") which may take some time.
"include ASCII INIs" provides the possibility of including ASCII based INI files while scanning.
Once done these files are stored for further use and quick access. Of course you can manually "add" single INIs or choose the system ones, too.
"clear" clears the current file from list. "clear" "all" does what you would expect.
The AutoLocator ("Search") allows you to find specific INI files in very large lists and places the results in an extra list box for quick access, (just select and hit "return").
"View" shows INI and provides the basic functions via pop-up. (*) If the current file is not readable or has an unknown format you can view it via E.EXE.
Rexx or ObjectRexx must be installed.
If you use Warp 3 or 4 it's a good idea to 'pack' the executable and the DLL with 'lxlite' by Andrew Zabolotny to save some space on your HD.
NOTE: If you don't know exactly what you are doing you can cause serious damage when changing INI files. This is not a problem just with 'mINI', it can happen with all INI editors. So please be careful.
That's it :-)
What else? (*)
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-Special thanks for reporting problems, comprehensive suggestions and friendly mail:
Raphael Tennenbaum
Raul E. Barragan
Norbert Kohl
Barbara Ann Baker
Aglaja Przyborski
Rossen Assenov
Carlos Andre R. Marcier
Klaus Staedtler
Bill Scarlett
Jack Troughton
Walter Schmidt
Very special thanks to Bill Scarlett for parts in this file corrected to colloquial english! (*)
Known Bugs? (*)
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- It is not possible to perform delete or export actions on ASCII based INIs. I have no plans to change this yet.
- Saving ASCII INIs will store all included available comments at the end of the file. The previous or original order will not be preserved.
- ASCII based INIs with comments before the first section, will not be recognized.
- Adding data causes a re-read of the selected INI file. Sometimes there seems to be a problem (can't figure out exactly what it is) which may crash mINI after re-read. As of my research there seems to be no data loss. But be carefull with heavy adding things to large INI files (such as USER or SYSTEM). (*)
Who?
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mINI is a quick hack but was tested carefully under Warp 4 (German version) with FP1/FP8.
If you detect problems, or errors, or if you have suggestions, please let me know.
Have fun.
Kai Evers
email: ke@LB.maus.de
www: http://www.s.netic.de/kevers/
mINI is freeware and (c)opyright by Kai Evers.
Rexx export code based on ConvINI by Bernd Schemmer (100104.613@compuserve.com).
Use at your own risk. The author shall in no event be liable for the accuracy of the retrieved data and the program code or for any damage that the software might cause directly or indirectly.
