Snail: Dejal Userware, PO Box 33-1011, Takapuna, Auckland 1309, NEW ZEALAND
Internet: dejal@iconz.co.nz (preferred) or dejal@deepthnk.kiwi.gen.nz
Dejal Userware home page: http://amug.org:80/~dejal/
CompuServe: >INTERNET: dejal@iconz.co.nz or 100033,2435
I read the Internet mail every day, and will reply immediately (allow a day or two for net.delay), but only call CI$ once a fortnight, or less.
Note: my software is now available for anonymous ftp at ftp.amug.org in the /pub/dejal directory. Most of the software is also available on sumex-aim and its mirror sites, though my ftp site has the advantage of having all my software in the one directory, and you know they are the latest versions.
Shareware, US$15 for the package.
——— TANSTAAFL ———
Or “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.” This package is NOT free. It is made available on a try-before-you-buy basis, under the Shareware system. If you use it, please send the registration price to one of the addresses above (e-mail registrations accepted if paying by credit card).
I can accept VISA, MasterCard, Bankcard, Diners Club and American Express, as well as cash & cheques in any major currency or international money orders — I can even accept credit card orders via e-mail! I prefer cash (any currency, not only NZ$ or US$!) for small amounts. See the accompanying Order Form for the complete range of options available.
You may give this package away to anyone, provided that you keep all of the documentation and software together, and they are unmodified. If you received an incomplete package, please let me know. Commercial distributors are welcome to include this package — intact — in their collections, provided that they let me know and send a copy of the product to Dejal Userware.
——— Installation ———
There are four different kinds of files in this package: an application, a control panel, a number of system extensions, and a number of FKEYs. The LockHD4Session application you might like to place in your Startup Items folder; the control panel and extensions should be placed in the appropriate folders within your System folder, leaving only the FKEYs.
There are several ways to install FKEYs, depending on how you organise your disk. Personally, I use Suitcase™ to open the FKEY files, but if you prefer you can use a FKEY moving utility (such as FKey Manager) to copy them into a large FKEY file, or indeed the System file. Under System 7.1 or later, a simple method is to change the file type to “zsys” and the creator to “MACS”, and put it in your Fonts folder. You could also use ResEdit™ to copy the FKEY resources into your System file, or one of several other utilities that are available. If you copy them using ResEdit or FKey Manager, note that the FKEY files may contain a few other resources, including preferences and a cursor. While you don’t need anything but the FKEY resources, you will need to copy the cursor if you want it to be used.
Here’s instructions for installing with ResEdit:
1. Make a copy of your System file
2. Launch ResEdit
3. Open the FKEY file
4. Select all resources in the file except the ‘vers’ one (choose Select All from the Edit menu, then Command-click on the ‘vers’ resource’s icon)
5. Choose Copy from the Edit menu
6. Open the copy of the System file [Never use ResEdit on the current one]
7. Choose Paste from the Edit menu
8. Quit, saving the System file on the way.
Also provided for use with the AltClipboard FKEY is a very short sound. The sound is played if installed in your System file or an open sound suitcase, when the Clipboard contents have been successfully swapped.
To install the sound, simply drop the file on your System file (if under System 7) or use a sound copying utility, such as Riccardo Ettore’s highly recommended Sound Mover™ (if under System 6). Make sure it remains named “AltClipboard”, otherwise it won’t be played. You can use any sound you like, or none. If you use your own sound, make sure you rename it as “AltClipboard”. I thought that this sound was quite appropriate: it’s the sound of a clipboard! (I have a huge collection of sounds, if anyone wants more sounds: see below for details of how you can get some, or a catalogue.)
——— Usage ———
AltClipboard FKEY:
The AltClipboard FKEY adds the functionallity of a second Clipboard to any application. Simply copy something (anything — text, picture, sound, whatever) into the Clipboard, activate the FKEY, and then you can copy something else without the first item being lost. You can then paste the second item, and to paste the first item, activate the FKEY again to retrieve it. Each time you activate the FKEY, the contents of the active Clipboard and the alternative Clipboard are swapped. You can swap them as much as you like, without losing either item (until you replace the contents of one or both by cutting or copying, of course). While swapping, the cursor (or pointer) changes to a mini clipboard shape (in colour on colour machines). If successful, a custom sound can be played. Both of these features can be deactivated if you wish.
To use the FKEY (once it’s installed, of course), simply copy something into the Clipboard, and press Command-Shift-6 (or whatever number you’ve renumbered the FKEY to) to activate it. If for some reason there is a problem, e.g. there isn’t enough memory, the FKEY will beep once, but normally the contents of the active and alternative Clipboards will be swapped, the sound you installed (if any) will be played, and you can then simply paste the item into the application. That’s it.
Customisation:
My AltClipboard FKEY will work very well without any modifications, but in certain circumstances you may wish to customise it. It is possible to alter several aspects, using ResEdit. This section is aimed at power users, and can be skipped. Within the provided file you will find a ‘APrf’ resource with a corresponding ‘TMPL’ (template) resource. When you install the FKEY, also copy these resources across if you want to modify the settings (if the ‘APrf’ resource is missing or has the wrong ID number the default settings will be used, which are the same as those in the ‘APrf’ resource as shipped). The following is a description of each of the options in the ‘APrf’ resource:
• Prefs Version: Do not alter the value of this field.
• Don’t Play Sound: If this is set to 1 the sound will not be played even if it is installed; if 0 it will always be played when installed.
• Don’t Post Convert Clipboard Event: If this is set to 1 the FKEY will not post an event to the host application notifying it that the Clipboard has changed; if 0 it will.
• Don’t Use Cursor: If this is set to 1 the cursor (pointer) shape will not change; if 0 the cursor will change to a mini clipboard while swapping.
• Don’t Revert to Arrow: If this is set to 1 the FKEY trusts the host application to change the cursor shape back to what it should be after the FKEY has finished; if 0 the cursor is always changed to the standard arrow pointer shape when the FKEY is finished. This is ignored if the previous pref is set to 1.
The default values for the 0 / 1 options are always 0. You should leave all items marked Reserved set to 0. If you like, you can install multiple copies of the FKEY in various applications and have different settings for each! If you would like any other features included in these “preferences”, please let me know.
User Comment:
“I must say that [I] like and use your very nice software pretty much and I'm very pleased with it! :'-) It's often nice to have two clipboards instead of one, but it has been impossible until now. Your FKEY was really wanted!!! :'-)”
— Mattias Sandstrom, Sweden
ClipSize? FKEY:
This FKEY reports the current size of all the contents of the active and alternative Clipboards. Useful where size is an important consideration, e.g. when composing descriptions of files to upload to CompuServe, pasting large pictures, etc.
To use the FKEY (once it’s installed, of course), simply press Command-Shift-7 (or whatever number you’ve renumbered the FKEY to) to activate it. A small window will appear, listing the kind of content plus the size for each item in the active and alternative Clipboards. If there is more than one item in the Clipboard (e.g. a LINK and a PICT, from a SuperPaint™ document, or TEXT and styl for styled text), each is listed separately and the total size is given.
The active Clipboard is the Clipboard that is currently in use. The alternative Clipboard is generated by AltClipboard FKEY, also in this package. If you don’t have an alternative Clipboard available, ClipSize? will report this.
Hide Menubar FKEY:
Ever wanted to temporarily hide that ubiquitous menu bar, as you can in HyperCard? What about everything else on the screen? With this FKEY you can do both at a touch of a key combination.
To use the FKEY (once it’s installed, of course), simply press Command-Shift-9 (or whatever number you’ve renumbered the FKEY to) to activate it. That’s all you have to do: the menubar will be hidden and control returned to you straight away. To show then menubar again, simply press the Command-Shift-9 sequence again. The other feature of this FKEY, hiding everything on the screen so you can admire your current background picture (if you are using one of the many backdrop installation extensions available) can be activated simply by pressing Caps Lock first, then pressing the Command-Shift-9 sequence. The picture will be displayed until you move the mouse; then the former screen contents will be restored and you can proceed with what you were doing.
AltOrMain Folders:
These extensions swap the various system folders around, including: Apple Menu Items, Control Panels, Extensions, Preferences, Print Monitor Documents, Startup Items, Temporary Items, Desktop Folder, and Trash. To do this, simply create a new folder next to the existing one (i.e. in the System folder for the first 6 folders or the root level of the disk for the invisible Temporary Items, Desktop Folder and Trash folders) with the same name with “.alt” on the end. For example, to create an alternative Desktop, create a folder called “Desktop Folder.alt” in the root level of your disk. The last three folders can be swapped on any volume — simply create the alternative folders on whichever disks you want swapped, though remember that the extensions can’t swap folders on disks that haven’t mounted at startup, e.g. SyQuest cartridges.
When AltFromMain Folders is executed at startup, it will rename the folders with “.alt” on the end as the main folder, and add the suffix “.main” to the original folder, resulting in the alternative folder taking over from the original one. AltToMain Folders does the reverse, restoring the setup to the original state. Any folders which lack “.alt” counterparts will be unchanged. Don’t run both extensions at once though! Use an extension manager such as Now Startup Manager to switch between them, using an extension set, so you simply press a key on startup to change.
The third extension combines both of these into one unit that switches based on the key you press, instead of leaving that to the extension manager, for those people who don’t want to switch extension sets at the same time: press “M” to switch to the Main folders, or “A” to swap to the Alternate folders.
When the folders are switched, an icon with a large letter “M” or “A” is displayed as appropriate. No letter means neither key was pressed for AltOrMain Folders (the other two extensions always display their letter). If you try using the extension under System 6, an icon with a cross through it will be displayed.
LockHD4Session:
This application software-locks the startup disk when executed, and installs a Shutdown task to unlock it when you Shut Down or Restart the computer. I wrote this to protect my hard disk from my younger brother when he used my Mac, without inconveniencing me. I place it in the Startup Items folder so it is executed automatically on startup. Used in conjunction with one of the AltToMain Folders extensions (also in this package), the disk is only locked when he uses the hard disk with his setup. This started life as an extension, but I discovered that Now Startup Manager got upset about the startup disk suddenly becoming locked during the startup process, since it needs to write to the disk after each extension has loaded.
Privacy FKEY:
This FKEY simply blanks out the screen, quickly and easily. Useful to protect the contents from the prying eyes of visitors (yes, screen savers will do this too, but they often take several seconds to activate). To activate, press Command-Shift-0. To restore the screen contents, simply move the mouse. Idea: if you have QuicKeys, you might want to make it activate when you press Control-Esc or similar, as that’s even easier than a Command-Shift-number sequence (the only available option for FKEYs).
DrawDesktop:
This system extension simply causes the desktop pattern (or picture) to be drawn on startup, without the menubar, so you can look at an interesting pattern or picture while starting up rather than a boring dithered grey screen. This is particularly useful for users of MaxAppleZoom, since that paints the entire screen with the dithered grey pattern. Of course, if you only run a few extensions this won’t bother you, but if, like me, you run heaps of extensions, staring at greyness while they load can get tedious. Naturally, the resulting desktop is only as interesting as the pattern you choose — if you use a desktop picture extension, all the better.
You may like to reorganise your extensions a little for optimum performance: if you use a desktop picture extension, you should ensure that DrawDesktop runs after it. I recommend you rename the extensions so the desktop picture extension loads first (or after MaxAppleZoom if you use that very useful tool), followed by DrawDesktop. You should make sure the extension is one of the first to load, so other extension’s icons aren’t wiped.
Volume:
This control panel contains a slider like in Apple’s Sound control panel, but unlike that one it doesn’t contain anything else, and thus takes a minimum of room, so you can leave it open without taking up too much desktop space. With it you can easily adjust the speaker volume of your Macintosh.
——— Dejal Userware ———
You may be interested in some of my other products. Here are brief descriptions of just two of them:
• SndConverter Pro (Shareware): my most popular product to date; this application allows you to quickly convert a batch of sounds from one format to another. Additional options include the ability to downsample or compress sounds, filter the sound names, change sampling rates, convert 16-bit sounds to 8-bit, plus other features. It will help you find and extract sounds, and supports Apple events (file, folder and disk dropping), resolving aliases, and other features.
• QuickEncrypt (Shareware): drop a file on this application to quickly and securely encrypt it, or decrypt previously encrypted files. It is very configurable and has many features, including support for files of an unlimited length, multiple worksets, user-controlled password limitations, a default password, automatic encryption and/or decryption, verification of validity, the option of a standard source folder and various destination options, opening files once decrypted (via AppleEvents), and more.
——— Compatibility ———
Most of the Dejal Desktop Utilities require at least System 7, and are 32-bit compatible.
The usual disclaimers apply: David Lambert and Dejal Userware accept no responsibility for any incidental or consequential damage of any sort as a direct or indirect result of using this software. The software is provided “as-is”, and no warranties are made as to its fitness for a particular purpose or whatever. I would be very interested to hear of any problems, though. <grin>
——— Release History ———
The following is a reverse-chronology of the changes in each release of the Dejal Desktop Utilities package:
Release 2, 18 January 1995:
• Updated products to reflect my new name.
• Added instructions for installing FKEYs with ResEdit.
• Added suggestion of installing FKEYs in the Fonts folder.
