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Text File | 1995-11-21 | 17.6 KB | 511 lines

Instructions for !WimpPatch and OutlineWimp by Andrew Sellors ***************************************************************************** * NOTE: * * !WimpPatch and OutlineWimp (outlnwimp) are Shareware. * * They are part of the Outline Wimp desktop enhancement package and must * * not distributed without the accompanying files. * * * * You may use this software for a trial period of 30 days. If, after this * * you decide you would like to continue using it then you are required to * * Register. See the ReadMe1st file for details of registering * * * * This version maybe freely copied and distributed, provided that it is * * complete with all original files, and that you do not sell it. * * PD libraries may charge a nominal fee for the cost of duplication, * * postage etc. * * * * In no circumstances shall the author be liable for any damage, loss of * * profits, time or data or any indirect or consequential loss rising out of * * the use of this software or inability to use this software. * ***************************************************************************** Contents: --------- Features OverView Patching the WindowManager Installing the new WindowManager Configuring the new WindowManager Justification OS_Write replacement SWIs Text and sprite indirected icons with right justified text Technical information Contacting the author ******************************************************************************** Features -------- !WimpPatch (new WindowManager) ------------------------------ Uses outline fonts instead of the system font in all icons (both single and multiple line varieties). Note: Some text may still appear in the system font. This is due to the fact that it is the application concerned is plotting the text and not the WIMP. Particular offenders are BASIC programs which use PRINT to display text on the WIMP. Right justifies key short-cut text in menus. (configurable) Replaces the up arrow with a specified character as most outline fonts do not have an up arrow character. (configurable) Uses font 'WimpMisc' (supplied) for the characters that are undefined in normal outline fonts such as the arrow characters. (configurable) Caret positioning takes account of proportional spaced letters. Does not intercept SWI vector and so does not slow SWI system down. OutlineWimp (support module) ---------------------------- Handles outline font on mode changes to make sure the correct font aspect ratio is used at all times. Provides * commands to set all the options mentioned above. Saves current settings in the "DeskBoot" file. Provides SWIs as replacements for OS_WriteC, OS_Write0 and OS_WriteN which plot outline fonts rather than the system font to allow other programs that write directly to the screen to be patched easily (like the filer, see !OutFiler) Installs font 'WimpMisc' into ResourceFS with the other ROM Fonts to allow its use without having to install it into a !Font directory on a disc. ******************************************************************************** OverView -------- !WimpPatch patches the original WindowManager module so that it uses outline fonts instead of the system font. OutlineWimp (the file outlnwimp) must be run at the same time as the patched WindowManager module and allows the font name, size, justification of key short-cuts, replacement of the up arrow character and the use of the symbol font 'WimpMisc' to be configured. Failure to run this module will result in no text appearing. ******************************************************************************** Patching the WindowManager -------------------------- Note: This patch only works with WindowManager version 3.16 (the one in RISC OS 3.1x) Simply double click on the !WimpPatch application. This should create a new file called "NewWimp" in the same directory. This is the patched WindowManager module. When run, the version number of the WindowManager is checked, and if it is not 3.16 then an error is reported. ******************************************************************************** Installing the new WindowManager -------------------------------- The new WindowManager module created by !WimpPatch and outlnwimp must be loaded before the desktop is started. This is easily done as part of your boot sequence by, for example, adding the following lines *RMLoad SCSI::SCSI_4.$.!Boot.NewWimp *RMLoad SCSI::SCSI_4.$.!Boot.outlnwimp (Note: replace the path to the !Boot application with that for your own system or your preferred location of the files) You may also want to save the fontcache after all the letters have been cached and load it up in your boot sequence so that the text appears instantly the first time it is printed. (If you are not already doing this then it will make the desktop startup box appear instantly as well.) It is also advisable to setup a fontcache large enough to hold the fonts used by the WindowManager and to set it using !Configure so that the memory is allocated every time the computer is Reset. As a minimum I would recommend a setting of 64K but if you intend to use other outline fonts by using programs like !Draw then a higher setting should be used. ******************************************************************************** Configuring the new WindowManager --------------------------------- The OutLineWimp module provides 7 * commands to allow the WindowManager to be configured. *WimpFont <FontName> This command set the current font to "FontName" An error is reported if you try to select a font that does not exist. Eg. *WimpFont Trinity.Medium The default is Corpus.Bold *WimpFontSize <Xsize> <Ysize> This command sets the fontsize in the x and y directions in units of 1/16th points. Eg. *WimpFont 192 192 sets the fontsize to 12pts in x and y directions The default is 172 x 176 (10.75x11.0 points) *WimpInfo This command displays the current selections of all the configuration items. *WimpJustify <0|1> This command selects whether the key short-cuts are right justified. Eg. *WimpJustify 1 turns on justification The default is off. *WimpUpArrow <0|1> This command selects whether the up arrow character (ASCII 139) is to be replaced with a different character. Most outline fonts do no contain an up arrow character so without it being replaced, the key short-cuts are rather confusing. When this feature is selected, the use of the font 'WimpMisc' is turned off. Eg. *WimpUpArrow 0 turns off the up arrow replacement The default is on. *WimpNewUpArrow <ASCII code> This command sets the ASCII code of the character that the up arrow is replaced with. Eg. *WimpNewUpArrow 165 sets the replacement character to ¥ The default is ASCII 182, the ¶ character. *WimpMiscFont <0|1> This command selects the use of the font 'WimpMisc' for the characters that are undefined in the normal outline fonts such as the arrow characters. When this feature is selected, the up arrow replacement is turned off. Eg. *WimpMiscFont 1 turns on the use of the font 'WimpMisc'. The default is off. The default values emulate the system font by selecting corpus.bold which is a monospaced font at the same size as the system font characters. Thus the menus look OK with justification off and programs that rely on the font used being not proportionally spaced also look OK. The settings that I use are: *WimpFont Trinity.Medium *WimpFontSize 192 192 *WimpJustify 1 *WimpMiscFont 1 (Note the fontsize here is 12pts) The * commands that select the current settings are saved in the "Desktop Boot File" when it is saved from the task manager. ******************************************************************************** Justification ------------- When the justification option is turned on the windowmanager searches through all the text it prints in single line icons for those containing key short-cut text on the right hand side. As all the text printed is searched for key short- cuts, the algorithm is very selective, for example if the key short-cut sequence is detected but there is one or more space characters between it and the right hand side then the justification is not applied. In addition to detecting key short-cuts for right justification, the sequence of hard space and then left bracket with any number of spaces between them and the right hand side is searched for. This is included to allow the mode menu on the palette utility to have the mode description text right justified if the messages file is altered to include hard spaces between the mode numbers and the descriptions. Eg. ---------------------- | Mode | ---------------------- | 20 (16 colours) | | 21 (256 colours) | |€31 (SVGA 16 cols) | | | ---------------------- Note: a hard space is obtained by pressing the alt and space keys at the same time. ******************************************************************************** OS_Write replacement SWIs ------------------------- The module OutlineWimp provides 6 SWIs to replace the main text printing calls with ones that use the same outline font as the rest of the desktop. They have the same entry and exit conditions and so can directly replace the OS_Write calls. OutlineWimp_WriteC &496C3 replaces OS_WriteC OutlineWimp_Write0 &496C4 replaces OS_Write0 OutlineWimp_WriteN &496C5 replaces OS_WriteN With these three routines the graphics cursor is advanced to the position it would have been if the OS_Write calls were used after the text is printed. (ie. the width of the system font is used to move the graphics cursor) OutlineWimp_PWriteC &496C6 replaces OS_WriteC OutlineWimp_PWrite0 &496C7 replaces OS_Write0 OutlineWimp_PWriteN &496C8 replaces OS_WriteN With these three routines the graphics cursor is advanced to the end of the actual text on the screen. In both cases, only the X position of the graphics cursor is altered, the Y position remains the same. NOTE: The text always has a foreground colour of 7 and a background colour of 1. (In this version anyway) ******************************************************************************** Text and sprite indirected icons with right justified text ---------------------------------------------------------- Normally when calculating the length of the text in an icon the WindowManager uses the actual length of the outline font characters. In certain circumstances, however this does not achieve the correct results. An example of this is the "Full info" display by the filer. The filename icons are of the type described by the title of this section. As the text is right justified the Filer pads the filename out with spaces at the end so that all the filenames are ten characters long. With the system font this causes the start of the text to line up with each other, however, as the outline font is proportionally spaced the starts of the text would no not line up with each other. To remedy this problem, the patched WindowManager detects that type of icon when calculating the length of the text and uses the length the system font would have if it is longer then the actual length of the outline font. Thus the starts of the text now line up. Another program that uses spaces of positioning is !StrongHlp v1.x by Guttorm Vik. This formats the text lines by using centred text with spaces added on the end to make the start of the lines line up with each other when the system font. At the moment I cannot see any way to make the WindowManager format the text correctly when a proportionally spaced font is used. ******************************************************************************** Technical information --------------------- The module OutlineWimp provides a set of SWI calls for use of the patched windowmanager and other programs that want to use outline fonts in the desktop. SWI Chunk number: &496C0 SWI group prefix: OutlineWimp_ (Both allocated by Acorn) =========== SWI &496C0 : OutlineWimp_Fonthandle On Entry: --- On Exit: R0 = fonthandle of current desktop font Use: This call is used by the WindowManager to get the fonthandle of the normal desktop font. =========== SWI &496C1 : OutlineWimp_KeyShortCut On Entry: --- On Exit: R8 = flags bit 0 set => right justification of key short-cuts on bit 1 set => replacement of up arrow character on bit 2 set => use of font 'WimpMisc' on bits 3 - 10 => ASCII value of character used to replace up arrow by all other bits reserved Use: This call is used by the WindowManager to obtain the configuration of the various features provided. =========== SWI &496C2 : OutlineWimp_Configuration On Entry: --- On Exit: R0 = pointer to name of current desktop font R1 = fontsize in X direction in units of 1/16th points. R2 = fontsize in Y direction in units of 1/16th points. R3 = flags bit 0 set => right justification of key short-cuts on bit 1 set => replacement of up arrow character on bit 2 set => use of font 'WimpMisc' on bits 3 - 10 => ASCII value of character used to replace up arrow by all other bits reserved Use: This call provides information on the current state of the outline font WindowManager. It is used by the program !DeskCtrl to find the current configuration for the "Desktop Font Setup" window. =========== SWI &496C3 : OutlineWimp_WriteC On Entry: R0 = ASCII character to write On Exit: R0 preserved Use: This call writes the character whose ASCII value is in R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the width of the letter if the system font was used. This SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_WriteC. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C4 : OutlineWimp_Write0 On Entry: R0 = pointer to null terminated string On Exit: R0 preserved Use: This call writes the string whose pointer is in R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the width of the string if the system font was used. This SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_Write0. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C5 : OutlineWimp_WriteN On Entry: R0 = pointer to string R1 = number of characters to write On Exit: R0 - R1 preserved Use: This call writes the number of specified characters from the string pointed to by R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the width of the string written if the system font was used. This SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_WriteN. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C6 : OutlineWimp_PWriteC On Entry: R0 = ASCII character to write On Exit: R0 preserved Use: This call writes the character whose ASCII value is in R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the actual width of the letter. This SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_WriteC. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C7 : OutlineWimp_PWrite0 On Entry: R0 = pointer to null terminated string On Exit: R0 preserved Use: This call writes the string whose pointer is in R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the actual width of the string. This SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_Write0. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C8 : OutlineWimp_PWriteN On Entry: R0 = pointer to string R1 = number of characters to write On Exit: R0 - R1 preserved Use: This call writes the number of specified characters from the string pointed to by R0 at the current graphics cursor position using the current desktop font and then moves the cursor on the actual width of the string written. SWI can be used as a direct replacement to OS_WriteN. The fontcolours are fixed at wimp colour 7 for the foreground and wimp colour 1 for the background. =========== SWI &496C9 : OutlineWimp_MiscFontHandle On Entry: --- On Exit: R0 = fonthandle of font 'WimpMisc' or 0 if font not used Use: This call is used by the WindowManager to get the fonthandle of the font 'WimpMisc' that is used to plot the arrow characters etc. ******************************************************************************** Contacting the author -------------------- I, Andrew Sellors, can be contacted either at 57 Boundaries Road Feltham Middlesex TW13 5DR England Or via Internet email at asellors@orac2.demon.co.uk Any feedback from users (bugs reports, requests for new features etc.) is gladly received.