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ToolsDaemon 2.1a
User Manual
January 30, 1994
PREFACE
The programs and files in this distribution are freely
distributable, but are also Copyright (c) Nico Francois. They may be
freely distributed as long as no more than a nominal fee is charged
to cover time and copying costs.
No commercial usage is permitted without written permission from
the author. Everything in this distribution must be kept together, in
original unmodified form.
The above is generally known as freeware.
If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you
find any bugs, please let me know.
Contacting the author:
Internet: nico@augfl.be
FidoNet : 2:292/603.10
AmigaNet: 39:120/102.10
Snail-mail: Nico François
Corbielaan 13
B-3060 Bertem
BELGIUM
If you can please use e-mail. That way you'll stand a much better
chance of getting a reply quickly.
ToolsDaemon uses and requires reqtools.library V38 (or higher).
ReqTools is also Copyright © 1991-1994 Nico François.
NOTE: ToolsDaemon 2.1a requires Kickstart 2.0 and Workbench 2.0 or
higher to run!
1. Introduction
---------------
Your Workbench 2.0 manual will tell you: It is possible to run a
program by choosing a menu item from the Tools menu of Workbench
2.0. But only if your application software supports this feature.
Your application software will have instructions on how to create the
new menu item.
Page 1
But what if you want to add programs to Workbench's menu strip
which do not have this feature? Then there is ToolsDaemon 2.1a.
ToolsDaemon allows you to run programs simply by selecting a menu
item from the menu strip of Workbench 2.0. Shell and Workbench
programs are supported, including arguments and tool types for both
of these. The menu items can be arranged in several menus, with
sub-items and keyboard shortcuts.
ToolsPrefs is designed as a preferences editor for the ToolsDaemon
menus. It features a full intuition front-end and supports the 2.0
AppWindow feature. This means it allows you to drag programs into
its window and they will be automatically added to the menu items
list.
ToolsDaemon is the background program that will launch the tools
you select from the menu strip. It is meant to be dragged into the
WbStartup drawer so it will automatically be launched on startup.
2. Installation
---------------
Installation is very easy. Double-click the 'Install' icon to
install ToolsDaemon.
You will need Commodore's standard Installer utility to run the
install script. If you have Workbench 2.1, 3.0 or higher you will
find Installer on your Workbench installation disk. Simply copy it
to your 'SYS:Utilities' directory (or anywhere in your Workbench
command path).
To install ToolsDaemon manually simply copy 'ToolsDaemon-Handler'
to 'L:', drag 'ToolsDaemon' to 'SYS:WbStartup' and drag 'ToolsPrefs'
to 'SYS:Prefs'.
3. Usage
--------
Once everything is installed run ToolsDaemon and then the
ToolsPrefs program. This will allow you to define the menus and menu
items you would like to add to the menu strip of the Workbench.
ToolsPrefs has two lists: 'Menu Items' and 'Commands'. The menu
items list corresponds to the text that will appear in the menu
items. Each menu item has its own command list. So by choosing one
menu item you can invoke several commands (asynchronously).
ToolsPrefs features a full intuition front-end to edit the items
and commands lists. Everything is fairly self-explanatory, except
maybe the 'Move Up' and 'Move Down' menu items in the 'Edit' menu.
These allow you to change the order of the menu items, by allowing
Page 2
you to move the current item closer to the top or to the bottom of
the list.
Items can be set to be a menu title, a sub-item or a seperator
bar. Use the 'Menu' and 'Sub' checkboxes to set an item's type (if
none of these is checked the item is a normal menu item). The 'Bar'
button will set the current menu item to be a seperator bar.
The 'Key' string gadget can be used to assign a keyboard shortcut
to an item. Note that you can only use keys that aren't used by the
Workbench. You are not limited to using letters, but you can also
use numbers or other symbols (e.g. '1', '-', '/'). If you are
running Kickstart 3.0 or higher there will be an extra gadget
underneath the 'Key' gadget. In this gadget you can enter a short
description string for the hotkey (see below), which will be shown in
the menu.
The hotkey gadget holds an optional hotkey for the current item.
A hotkey entered here will work even if the Workbench window is not
active. Hotkeys are described according to the Commodities standard
(for example: 'control alt t').
Commands can be run as Workbench or Shell commands. Commands
indicated as Workbench commands will be loaded and run by ToolsDaemon
just as if you had double-clicked them in the Workbench. Shell
commands will be executed with a command line as if they were typed
in in a Shell window.
ToolsPrefs supports the use of arguments. If you select one or
more icons before selecting an item from the 'Tools' menu these files
will be passed as arguments.
If the command is a Workbench command the arguments will be passed
as if you selected the program's icon and Shift-clicked some other
icons. For this to work the command has to be followed by '[]'
indicating it expects to get arguments. For example: '(WB )
C:PPMore []'.
If the command is a Shell command the arguments will be expanded
onto its command line. You should indicate with '[]' where you want
the arguments to appear. For example: '(CLI) Type [] HEX'.
The number gadget next to the command string gadget determines the
stack size for the command (in case of a Shell command). If the
command is launched as a Workbench tool the stack size will be read
from the tool's icon.
The easiest way to add an item is to pick up an icon and drop it
in the ToolsPrefs window. This will create a new item named after
the program with a command list to run the program. Dropping an icon
in the 'Commands' listview will not result in the creation of a new
item, but in adding a new command to the current command list.
Page 3
When you select 'Save' ToolsPrefs will check if ToolsDaemon is
running and will tell it to update the menus if it is. It is
therefore advisable to call ToolsPrefs if ToolsDaemon is already up
and running. If you have dragged ToolsDaemon to your WbStartup
drawer as suggested above it will always be running and you'll have
nothing to worry about.
Double-clicking the icon of a menu file saved with 'Save As...'
will result in adding the menus to the Workbench's menu strip (if
ToolsDaemon is already running the previously added menu items will
be removed first).
NOTE: - ToolsDaemon will search the path for Shell commands and