Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/402.lha/MultiBinder/TheMultiBinder.doc

Text File | 1990-08-04 | 6KB | 102 lines

TheMultiBinder -- A Deck Resource Binder

     A characteristic feature of CanDo applications is their use of
external resources such as picture files, brush files, sound files, and
brushanim files.  Often, after an application has been completed, the
creator of the application wishes to "bind" all the external resources to
the Deck so that it becomes a single, "stand-alone" program which can be
easily given to friends, or sold.

     TheBinder allowed Decks to be made "stand-alone" in the sense of no
longer requiring the cando.library.  TheMultiBinder allows Decks to be made
completely "stand-alone," no longer requiring the use of external resources
nor the cando.library.  With TheMultiBinder, all resources are "bound" to
the Deck, creating a single, executable file.

Limits of TheMultiBinder:

     TheMultiBinder is designed to "bind" only certain types of files,
known as IFF, to an application.  These includes the picture files, brush
files, sound files, and brushanim files, but not document files.
Therefore, text files used by an application cannot be bound to the Deck.
Text files must still be copied and moved by TheRelocator.  This may change
in a future release of CanDo.

     Also, since the Deck must now have all resources loaded at one time,
we recommend that TheMultiBinder not be used for Decks which use large
amounts of resources.  If all resources are bound, in such cases, the Deck
may not run on smaller memory systems.

Installing TheMuliBinder:

     TheMultiBinder requires the following files to be available:
DeckBrowser, DeckRunner, and the new DeckBinder.  By default, these files
must be located in your "C:" directory.  If they are located elsewhere,
then the TOOLTYPES in TheMultiBinder Icon must be changed to reflect their
new location.  NOTE:  the old DeckBinder will not work with TheMultiBinder
so be sure to copy the new DeckBinder to your "C:" directory; the new
DeckBinder does everything the old DeckBinder does and more.

     To change the TOOLTYPES, simple click once on TheMultiBinder Icon,
then select the WorkBench menu option, info.  A requester will appear and
you will be able to scroll through the list of TOOLTYPES and change them as
necessary.  When you are finished, simply select the "SAVE" option.

Using TheMultiBinder:

     Run TheMultiBinder by double clicking on its Icon.  Select the Deck
you wish to "bind" by either using the "Project" menu option "Open Deck,"
or by clicking on the words "Deck Name." With the file requester, locate
the Deck you wish to bind, then select "Ok."

     After TheMultiBinder scans your Deck, it will present the list of
files it found which may be bound.  This list indicates the file name, its
type, and its status for binding.  The status is either No, indicating that
you do not wish to bind it; Yes, indicating that you do wish to bind it;
and ---, indicating that it could not be found.  If the file is found, then
its status can be toggled by double clicking on the files line.  To select
all of the listed files, press the "All" button or choose the "Edit" menu
option "Select All." To deselect all of the listed files, press the "Clear"
button or choose the "Edit" menu option "Clear All."

     Select whether you would like to program to require the cando.library,
pressing the "Needs the Library" button, or if you would like the program
to be completely "stand-alone" by pressing the "As a Standalone" button.
Next, select the name of the resulting Deck by typing the name into the
"Dest Name" Field.  Finally, press the "Bind the Deck" button, and
TheMultiBinder will perform the binding process.  When it is finished, the
newly created Deck will be bound and ready to run.

Features for Advanced Users:

     A problem encountered primarily by advanced users of CanDo involves
the method by which TheMultiBinder identifies which files are used by the
Deck.  TheMultiBinder searches for all commands and Objects that can load a
file, examines them and takes the name from there.  If variables are used
to designate the file name, however, TheMultiBinder is unable to identify
which file is needed.

     If TheMultiBinder cannot find one or more of the resources used by
your deck, then you can add the names of these resources to the list within
TheMultiBinder.  First, test to see if you can access the "Expert" menu
within TheMultiBinder.  If not, quit the program and request info on
TheMultiBinder's Icon.  Step through the TOOLTYPES and change one from
"ExpertMode=Off" to "ExpertMode=On" and save the info, then restart
TheMultiBinder.  You should now have access to the "Expert" menu.

     Within the "Expert" menu are two options:  "Add Entry" and "Delete
Entry." If you select "Add Entry" a file requester will appear and you will
be able to find the file not found by TheMultiBinder.

     After you have found and selected the file you wish to add to the list
of files to be bound, a requester will appear asking you how this file
should be referred to when bound.  It is important here to change the
reference to be EXACTLY as your application refers to it.  For example:
"Work:picture" is not the same as "dh0:picture" even though they are the
same file on disk.  If your application referred to the file as
"Work:picture" and you selected the file as "dh0:picture", this requester
will give you the opportunity to change the reference to "Work:picture".
This feature is also very useful for files which contain no path names
within your application.  You can ensure that "PATH:picture" is bound as
"picture".