Apple, Macintosh, and AppleLink are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Super Boomerang is a trademark of Now Software, Inc.
S y n o p s i s
“Jump Open…” — now you can open anything from a Standard File dialog box.
When using Macintosh System Software 7.0, “Jump Open…” allows you to quickly traverse your files to select and open them without leaving a trail of open folder windows. Selecting the “Jump Open…” menu item, available at all times, displays the transient Standard File dialog box where you can choose a file to be opened. The use of the pre-System 7.0 Standard File dialog box allows “Jump Open…” to work with existing Standard File enhancers, such as Super Boomerang.
Version 0.2 of “Jump Open…” is a shareware prerelease providing one feature of the version 1.0 file browser which will be available after the final System 7.0 is shipping.
S h a r e w a r e T e r m s
Please send $10 (with your address and where you got the software) to Robert W. Thornton at the above address as a token of your appreciation and/or encouragement and to register your use of “Jump Open…”. Comments and bug reports are also appreciated.
Those registering before Apple releases the final version of System 7.0 will be allowed to upgrade to the subsequent complete version of “Jump Open…” with no additional licencing fee (if physical distribution is required there will be a charge to cover costs). Users registering after System 7.0 release, but before Jump Open 1.0, will be offered a reduced fee upgrade. There will also be no additional fee for registered users when upgrading to other prerelease versions (the occurrence of which will depend upon Apple's release date).
I n s t a l l a t i o n
The normal configuration is to put the “Jump Open…” application in the Apple Menu Items folder and an alias to it in the Startup Items folder. Put “Jump In” in the Extensions folder. All of these destination folders should be found in your System Folder. (Remember it only works with System 7.0.) Whenever you restart the computer “Jump Open…” will be loaded.
U s a g e
Select the “Jump Open…” item from the Apple Menu or the Application Menu (a.k.a. the icon, process, or mode menu) to display a Standard File dialog box. (Of course, you may also open the “Jump Open…” application file in any manner such as by double clicking on its icon in the Finder.) Select a file to open in the normal fashion — the dialog box disappears and the file opens as if you had opened it within the Finder.
You should be able to open any file which you can open in the Finder, including: documents, applications, desk accessories, control panels, suitcase files, font files, edition files, stationery, and even the System file.
F e a t u r e s
(In a time honored tradition of computing, presented here are characteristics of the product which could conceivably be called design flaws, implementation inadequacies, bugs, or “brain damage”. However, since they are repeatable, consistent, and herein documented they are, by right, called “Features”.)
[All features previously described here have been removed in v0.2.]
B u g s . . . B U G S , W h a t B u g s ?
Since this software is intended to be as ubiquitous and commonly used as the Finder I intend to make every effort to ensure that it is bullet proof. Therefore, although I currently know of no unusual behavior (other than when run without adequate memory – see below for discussion of memory requirements), I would appreciate hearing about any problems which occur.
O p e r a t i o n a l D e t a i l s
(This section is optional. It doesn't provide any further discussion of “Jump Open…” functionality. It attempts to explain two alternative methods of installation or usage which can affect its speed of operation and memory requirements.)
Installation/Operation Alternatives
1) The “Jump Open…” application may be used by itself: whenever it is opened, wether by selecting it in the Apple Menu or otherwise, the dialog box is displayed, a selected file is opened, and “Jump Open…” quits.
2) When used together with the “Jump In” system extension (by placing “Jump In” in the Extensions folder and restarting) “Jump Open…” will remain memory resident between uses, waiting in the background for the user's request. Whenever it is opened, which in this configuration may also be done by selecting it from the Application menu, it will come to the front and do its job. After a selected file is opened it returns to the background. You may also wish to have “Jump Open…” preload every time you start the computer by putting it (or an alias to it) in the Startup Items folder. In this case it will not display the dialog box, when first opened, but go directly to the background to wait for the user's requests. (***Note that once “Jump Open…” is memory resident the user CAN Quit the application, through the File menu after Canceling the dialog box, if it becomes necessary to reclaim the memory being used.)
The trade-off is this: memory residence makes subsequent use of “Jump Open…” a bit quicker; quitting each time saves the small amount of memory that is required (see below). If you are using a Mac +, SE, or Classic and/or a slow disk drive it really feels more sluggish when not memory resident. If you have a faster Mac with a reasonable hard disk drive you have to use it a lot and be sensitive to slight delays in order to appreciate the speed-up of permanent residence in memory. (I regularly use a 4MB SE/30 with 10MB VM and always leave it memory resident.)
In future releases, containing more features, the performance advantage to preloading becomes more apparent and the operations requiring use of the “Jump In” system extension become more frequent than the global file access provided by the 0.2 Jump Open dialog box.
Memory Requirements
As distributed “Jump Open…” requests 60K bytes of memory. In addition, “Jump In” requires about 1K from the system heap. This is enough to cruise through folders with well over 200 files on a 256 color display running System 7.0b4 with Super Boomerang 2.0.3 loaded. Without Super Boomerang, you can cut this down to 35K for the same capacity. If you have folders with more files than this or use other Standard File dialog enhancers you may need to increase the memory (and God bless you).
A b o u t J u m p D e v e l o p m e n t G r o u p
Many of my friends (especially the serious computer graphics types) are surprised when they find out what I've been working on for the past two years. Instead of continuing to attempt huge grandiose computerized solutions to the problems of the world, I have actually found it quite gratifying to take some relatively simple ideas about efficiently accessing our computer files and then designing and implementing and tweaking and redesigning over and over down through the smallest details of operation.
I am also frequently asked, why the Macintosh? “Why abuse yourself trying to program the Mac when you could be luxuriating in the natural programmer's habitat of a unix workstation? There is a growing mass market for unix software. Or, if you really want to create for the masses why not just grit your teeth and get on with that PC thing (… its got 640K, windows, and everything)? There will certainly be millions of PC's long after Macintosh has gone the way of Betamax.” These are difficult questions to answer logically with numbers and words. However, it is clear to me that the Mac is the best computer available today for most all use which is characterized by a person working with the tool in some creative effort. It is this kind of situation which I would like to make a positive contribution to, on as broad a basis as possible. It is this kind of person, who recognizes and values this aspect of the Macintosh tool, who will most appreciate the fruits of my craftsmanship. And who knows, maybe even Apple will finally wise up and license the ROM and OS code to clone makers in order to expand the market and milk it for all it's worth before they start shipping the next generation RISC machine.
In the final analysis the decision is simple. It's like some people who are lucky enough to have found their perfect mate or life's partner — it is so clear you don't have to compare the alternatives, the choice is just obvious.
I intend to provide products which, rather than adding to what using a computer means to most people, actually take something away from it in terms of reducing the complexity, or simplifying what it takes to get what you want from the tool. I also intend to lighten up a bit when I write things like this in the future.
Robert Thornton, March 1991
P.S. Please, register early, register often. Get your friends to register!
