vuCollect and vuFormatter work together to collect and reformat descriptor information from Virtual user. This structured format makes the output very readable and is also useful for documenting application descriptor info.
The simplest way to use these is to copy the two files to your MPW Tools Folder. Then when you want nice readable descriptor information about target windows, simply type:
vuCollect -t "*:TargetName"
For other descriptor information use the "-d" option. For example to see menu information type:
vuCollect -t "*:TargetName" -d "menu"
note: vuCollect needs VU to be accessible as well - place VU in your MPW Tools folder if necessary.
vuCollect makes use of the VU menu script (if installed - see VU docs) and its associated default variables for zones, targets, etc. After "Pick Target" is selected from the VU menu and a target is selected from the list, the user could simply type:
vucollect
Adding "vuCollect" and "relMouse" to the VU menu.
This is easy too! Simply place the two start-up scripts:
UserStartup•vuExtras - enclosed in the vuCollect folder
UserStartup•VU - enclosed in the VU folder
into your MPW folder and relaunch MPW. "UserStartup•VU" will probably ask you to locate your Virtual User folder and resave the start-up file (one time only). From then on, run vuCollect (in default window descriptor mode) by using the pull down menu item "vuCollect" under VU.
Running vuCollect from the VU menu will always append the descriptor information to the default output window selected by "Set Output File". The user can set the output file to the Worksheet using this menu item if desired. If vuCollect is executed as a command line statement, the current window is output to unless the redirection symbol ">" is used.
Additional data provided by vuFormatter
The tool also adds some additional information to the descriptor. Whenever a window descriptor is requested (default selection), all items, controls, etc., appearing in the window will have an absolute rectangle position (provided by VU) followed by a pair of coordinates to show the relative position of the item within its window. Additionally, after every occurrence of a rectangle ("r: {x1, y1, x2, y2}"), a pair of size integers will be enclosed in parenthesis. This makes visualizing the various descriptors according to size much easier as the user doesn't have to perform any manual calculations for sizes.
Note: the structural integrity of the descriptor remains fully intact (i.e. by double-clicking in front of any bracket, the text will be highlighted up to the corresponding bracket.) This is very useful for deleting segments of the descriptor which are not of immediate concern.
relMouse
Simple task to report on the position of the mouse relative to a specified window. This task is especially useful when added to the VU menu in MPW. To do this, place the "UserStartup•vuExtras" file (located in the vuCollect folder) in the MPW folder and place "relMouse.vu" (also located in the vuCollect folder) into the "MPW Scripts" folder, which can be found in the Virtual User folder.
Relaunch MPW - you may be requested to locate the VirtualUser folder via a Std.File dialog. After the VU menu is properly installed and the targets have been selected, you can simply select 'relMouse' from the VU menu and the system will report the position of the mouse relative to the top-most window.
