MacWorld 1999 September (IDG)/Sep99.iso/MarkzScout™ 14-day trial/Readme

Text File | 1999-04-17 | 13.8 KB | 390 lines | [ttro/ttxt]

MarkzScout Mac Beta 21
======================

Table of contents:
------------------

  MarkzScout
  What is installed where and why ?
  Changes since the last beta
  Known problems, to do's and other issues

MarkzScout
----------

This demo version of MarkzScout is based on a late beta.
As a result, some of the features of the final release
version might not yet be functional in this version.

This version runs on MacOS 7.0 or higher. Preferrably, system
7.5 or higher should be used - some user-interface features are
not available on System 7.0 and System 7.1. Make sure you do not
disable extensions and control panels that are part of your standard
MacOS (like the Contextual Menu Extension, for example).

The demo is time limited: you can use it for 14 days.

To install: double-click MSMac021.sea, and extract it to a
a folder on your hard disk.

There are subfolders called 'Layouts', 'Rules', and 'Scripts', and
'Layout Scripts'.

You can drag the files from the 'Rules' or 'Scripts' folder straight
onto your layout to use them.

To use Layout Scripts: select the 'Layout Preferences...' menu item and
click on the 'Layout Script...' button.

To install the tutorial documents: double-click TDoc_021.sea,
and extract it to a folder on your hard disk. The preferred
location to extract to is your desktop folder.

To extract the tutorial: Double-click MSDoc.sea. It will extract
to a tutorial and a reference manual; you need to install Acrobat Reader 3.0
to read it (downloadable from http://www.adobe.com).

When you open the MakeCMYK.MSL dialog as mentioned in the tutorial,
you might find that the  "Convert To CMYK" Photoshop action has a red
cross.

This is because MarkzScout does not yet know where your copy of Photoshop
is, and it does not automatically scan for it. Control-click the
actionpoint, and select 'Change Action...'. Then show MarkzScout
your copy of Photoshop 4.0 or 5.0.

Also, make sure you define the Photoshop action called "Convert To CMYK" as outlined
in the tutorial - if you don't follow the instructions closely, it will not work.

To remove red crosses through checkpoints (fonts, application): enable the
corresponding startup scan in the 'MarkzScout Preferences...'. Quit and
restart MarkzScout to enable those checkpoints.

Kris Coppieters
Markzware
17 April 1999

For comments, requests, remarks: please send e-mail to:

[e-mail]

Check our web site at

http://www.markzware.com

Markzware U.S.A.
Sales: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Markzware Europe
Sales: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

What is installed where and why ?
---------------------------------

Currently, MarkzScout does not come with an installer program. This is a deliberate choice:
I am listing the component files here so it is easy to manually install, remove,
and manage a MarkzScout installation without reverting to an automated installer which
would leave you at loss about what is installed and where. This allows you to stay in
control, for example when you want to move MarkzScout.

1) Contents of MarkzScout folder

(Application, fat)     MarkzScout
(Folder)               Rules
(Folder)               Scripts
(Folder)               Layouts

2) Can be reated in Preferences folder inside the System folder when running MarkzScout:

(Prefs File)           MKZSCOUT.INI
(Crash Recovery File)  MKZSRCVR.INI

Changes since the last released beta (check 'MarkzScout Mac History' for older betas)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Solved potential problem when undo cut or undo clear: sometimes the links might
not be restored correctly.

- Solved problem with paste menu item being active without anything to be pasted.

- Layout Preferences window now has a title

- Can now tab through edit fields in Layout Preferences.

- Can now resize Output Window

- Layout Preferences: can add/remove layout script.

- File-Open now only shows layout files.

- After create new folder Undo now says 'Undo New Hot Folder' instead of 'Undo New Point'

- Layout auto-scrolls to new points when pasting points

- Paste is now enabled after Cut.

- Solved crash when pasting the same folder twice, and then undoing.

- Solved extraneous 'Undo Link Change' when no link was changed.

- Added 'New Window on Startup' Preference

- Double-click on hot folder or script action now calls the dialog to change them.
To edit the script or open the folder in the Finder, you now need to option-double-click.

- Restore correct location of Select Rule dialog even if partly off screen

- Blinking from/to point now stops blinking if layout not front window.

- Option-double click on application action point launches app.

- Solved various freezes and crashes around cut/copy/paste and drag/drop

- Enhanced File Info and JPEG Quality scripts: they can now process a whole folder
as well as single files.

- Reversed Type/Creator field sequence in dialog

- Solved problems when talking to FlightCheck and other apps.

- Solved problem where you could double-click a layout point when the layout was active.

- Added "LAUNCH" statement to the scripting language which allows launching AppleScripts
and other apps or documents from MarkzONE scripts. Syntax is:

LAUNCH "<applicationpath>" [ WAIT ]
LAUNCH "<docpath>" { [ WITH [ APPLICATION ] "<applicationpath>" ] | [ WITH CREATOR "<code>" ] } [ WAIT ]

- Added layout preferences: Layout script - a MarkzONE script for storing predefined procedures.
Procedures that are already defined: OnOpenLayout, OnCloseLayout, OnStartLayout, OnStopLayout,
OnSaveLayout, OnJobRead, OnJobChecked, OnEndJob, eOnIdle, OnCheckYes, OnCheckNo
When these procedures are called, it is defined as follows
OnOpenLayout, OnCloseLayout, OnStartLayout, OnStopLayout: it = path of layout file
OnEndJob: it = final path of job
OnJobRead, OnJobChecked: it = job object
OnIdle: it = boolean, true when layout active, false otherwise
In addition to 'it' there is also a variable called 'scriptName' which contains the
file name of the layout script.
OnCheckYes, OnCheckNo: it = rule code

- Solved problem when reading invalid PDF files created by Photoshop 5.0

- Added new statements:
START LAYOUT
STOP LAYOUT [ CONFIRM ]
CLOSE LAYOUT [ CONFIRM ]
QUIT [ CONFIRM ]

- Symbolic attributes have changed: in beta 19 and earlier, a symbolic attribute was
equivalent to a string with its description. However, this resulted in ambiguities.
To solve the ambiguities the symbolic values where made equivalent to their code, instead
of to their description. Use the DESC() function for the old value. This means you will
need to check all custom rules and scripts.
The quickest way to check custom rules is to copy-paste the whole layout into a text
editor. Then do a find and replace '\040' by a space (MarkzScout saves spaces encoded
as octal code \040). After that you can glance over all the custom rules in the layout.
After adjusting any literal values, copy-paste the text back into an empty layout.

- Added new functions:
DESC(<expression>) returns descriptive string for symbolic values.
INT(<numeric>) truncates a floating point value (it is still floating point,
but the fractional part is dropped)
DATE_SECONDS(<float>) converts a floating point number of seconds into a date.
The starting point is arbitrarily taken to be Jan 1, 1970. Negative numbers
are before that date; positive numbers are after that date.
SECONDS_DATE("14-char date string") converts a date string to a number of seconds
since Jan 1,1970.

- Added new attribute for Photoshop-created images: HAS_WORK_PATH. This is TRUE when there
is an unnamed work path in the file.

- Added new 'is' syntax item. Instead of having to write

  IF NOT (<something> IS UNDEFINED) THEN...

you can now write the equivalent

  IF <something> IS DEFINED THEN...

- Solved problems that occured when editing one layout while a second layout was active.
Anyway it is not a good idea to edit layouts while one or more layouts are running. However,
MarkzScout now avoids problems by postponing critical operations until the
running layout becomes idle. The layout being edited will stall until it can perform
the user interface action.

- Added some ready-to-use layout scripts.
* "JobTimeLogger.m1s" is a layout script that
adds logging features to a layout. Bring up the layout preferences, and click Layout Script...
Then select "JobTimeLogger.m1s". This will create a log file that is stored in the same
folder as the layout file. Open with any text editor or spreadsheet program.
* "LogStartStop.m1s" logs only the start and stop of the layout
* "AutoRun.m1s (Copy & Rename).m1s" allows a layout to start and stop at predetermined times.
To use "AutoRun.m1s (Copy & Rename)"
  1) first determine the following information:
  fromDay (dd: 01 to 31; 99 = ignore)
  toDay (dd: 01 to 31; 99 = ignore )
  fromhour (hhmmss: 0000 to 2359; 9999 = ignore)
  toHour (hhmmss: 0000 to 2359; 9999 = ignore)
  days of the week (up to six digits between 1 and 7, 1 = Monday)

  2) Concatenate all this information into one long string of digits - it needs
  to be at least 12 characters long.

  3) Make a copy of "AutoRun.m1s (Copy & Rename).m1s" and use the string above as the name
  for the copy, with .m1s appended:

  Example: to run on the 1st of each month between 10:00am and 11:20am:
  010110001120.m1s

  Example: to run on the 1st of each month (the whole day)
  010199999999.m1s

  Example: to run everyday between 1:00pm and 2:30pm:
  999913001430.m1s

  Example: to run every monday:
  9999999999991.m1s

  Example: to run every monday, wednesday, friday between 10:00 and 11:20:
  999910001120135.m1s

  4) Use this script as the layout script for your layout.

  5) Close/save and re-open the layout to activate.


Known problems, to do's and other issues.
-----------------------------------------

- Remove help line when cursor outside layout window

- Need to Disable Save if layout is read-only

- Speed up internal searches:
  Binary tree for Pathlist structure
  Binary tree for IniFile structure
  Binary tree for TFDProc structure

- Binary zeroes can occur in Mac Pathnames

- Screen redraw when folder item count changes needs to be made more efficient -
you can see the redraw on slower machines.

- Photoshop startup problems cause MarkzScout problems. Need to investigate.

- AppleScript checkpoints: rules written entirely in AppleScript

- FlightCheck checkpoint: use FlightCheck + ground controls as a big checkpoint.

- Reader levels (read more or less depending on the checkpoints)

- AppleScript support for managing layout items.

- Color profiles/ColorSync support

- Printing of layouts.

- Save As... Photoshop actions

- Rule syntax errors are not yet shown

- Test Rule button for testing a rule agains a document during development of a layout

- Preference for not scanning server volumes for apps.

- AWK-like Scripted Readers

- Reader Extensions (TIFF,EPS): allow a script for extending a reader (e.g. process
custom tags or search specific patterns).

- 'Sliding' connectors; labels above _or_ below layout points.

- Unit conversion in scripting language; unit manipulations

- Replace embedded AppleScripts by AppleEvents or compiled scripts

- Icon placement problem when multiple items are drag/dropped from Finder in one move.

- The line drawn during dragging a link is orange and this should be
changed to something else (an inverted region depends on the user's
selected color, but this needs to be avoided).

- Processing of aliases

- "Entry Door" point: lock layout, set "door". File dropped anywhere on
layout goes through the "door". Visual feedback needed (i.e. reduce
layout to very small size).

- Job Ticket files: keep track of job components; accumulates
information; allows job components to go separate ways throughout the layout ("Job
Flattening").
Standalone Job Ticket Generator
Generate Layout from Job Ticket.

- "Copy & Rename" action point.

- Reader-specific checkpoints: each reader can have its own checkpoint
page.

- Should be able to list Photoshop Actions in a popup, or save
them to a file, etc.

- Reduce coarseness of progress bar

- There should be a "Windows" menu which lists the layout windows, the
currently active one checkmarked (perhaps an additional icon, or
underlining of the name when the layout is Active), so the user
can    easily switch windows via the menu.

- Perhaps click MS logo can bring up About window?

- Action points should use the icon of the application (when available).

- User should be able to select sounds from sound files. Currently the
list is    just for sounds installed in the System.

- Can't scroll ActionPoint tabs. Have to click multiple times to shift
tabs to view the extra ones.

- We will need an extra tab for "Other Application..." and then do what
OPEN does which is allow the user to select an Application and    a
script selectable from a popup. OPEN has defined resources in
order to present the user with the choices of running the app and
script. Right now, we only have Photoshop and FlightCheck, but we may
want to add others (such as for trapping or inposition).

- "Print" category needs Bleed. The Checkpoint Selections should match
FC 3.3 and this area needs to be looked at closely (for example, we also
need image resolution, etc.)

- Document needs "Required XTs".

- Image Type needs TIFF/IT (and perhaps one for "raster").

- Trapping category will need some extra items (such as overprint Black
in postscript, etc)

- 'Rename' script command

- I need to do research if I can make a layout into a floating window
which stays afloat above the Finder windows.

- Positive and negative questions (Y is red, N is green for negative
questions; Y is green, N is red for positive questions). Currently MarkzScout
only allows for negative questions.

- Transfer ftn in Quark docs ?

- Font encoding ?

- Examples: logo-example, calculate price example, ...

- Stand-alone Job Ticket generator

- Launcher example layout

- Meta-rules that give dialog on import