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User's Manual for MachIII Version 3.2 and SetMachIII Version 3.2 and SetMachW Version 3.2 Copyright 1988-1991 by Brian Moats MachIII.Unreg, SetMachIII and this documentation are Copyright 1988-1991 by Brian Moats. These may be freely distributed. Registered copies of MachIII and SetMachW are intended for lawful users of these programs They are hereby licensed only to read the programs, from their media into the memory of a computer, solely for the purpose of executing the programs. Duplicating or copying for purposes other than backup is forbidden. Disclaimer This product is distributed and sold "as is" without representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The user assumes all risks and responsibil- ities related to its use. Information And Technical Support Polyglot Software 884 W. Melrose Ln Boise, ID 83706 (208) 336-4583 GEnie B.Moats1 Table of Contents Introduction...............................................3 Terms Used..........................................3 The Sample Hotkeys..................................3 Chapter 1 Usage...................................................4 Running SetMachIII..................................4 Loading MachIII.Cfg.................................5 Chapter 2 Mouse Features..........................................6 Mouse Accelerator...................................6 Mouse Off...........................................6 SunMouse............................................6 Window Cycling......................................6 Click To Front......................................6 Mouse To Menu.......................................7 Playback Delay......................................7 Chapter 3 Clock Features..........................................8 Basic Clock Types...................................8 Clock To Top Window.................................8 Clock To Top Screen.................................8 Online Meter........................................9 Alarm...............................................9 Low Memory Warning..................................9 Alternating Date And Memory Display.................9 Clock Position......................................9 Clock On And Off....................................9 Clock Colors........................................9 Chapter 4 Macros..................................................10 Recording Macros....................................10 Correcting Mistakes.................................11 Aborting Execution..................................11 Clearing A Macro....................................11 Chapter 5 Using SetmachIII And Macros.............................12 Changing The Current Hotkey.........................12 Using Select Hotkey.................................12 Selecting By Name...................................12 Modifying Macros....................................12 Copying And Appending...............................13 To A Named Macro..................................13 To Another Configuration..........................13 Maximum Macro Size..................................13 Help................................................13 Using Show All......................................14 - 1 - Chapter 7 More About Macros.......................................15 ARexx Support.......................................15 Viewing A Macro.....................................15 Recording Mouse Button Clicks.......................15 Recording All Moves.................................16 Using Escaped Characters............................17 Windows And Screens.................................17 Activating Windows..................................17 Sizing Windows......................................18 Moving Windows......................................18 Layering Windows....................................18 Pausing Within A Macro..............................19 Auto Execution......................................19 Executing Programs..................................20 Changing Directories................................20 Terminating Strings.................................20 Identifying Labels..................................21 Changing Priorities Within A Macro..................21 Sending Date and Time...............................21 Chapter 8 Configurations..........................................22 Changing Configurations.............................22 Adding And Deleting.................................23 Loading And Saving..................................23 The Configuration File..............................23 Chapter 9 Priorities And Screen Blanking..........................25 Priorities..........................................25 Screen Blanking.....................................25 Chapter 10 Miscellaneous Features..................................26 Suspend.............................................26 Remove..............................................26 Check Waltz.........................................26 No Caps Lock........................................26 Beep................................................26 Hold Qualifiers.....................................26 Chapter 11 Using SetMachW......................................28 Pens................................................28 Chapter 12 Foreign Names.......................................29 Appendix A Escaped Characters.....................................30 Appendix B Common Questions.......................................33 - 2 - Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------- 3 MachIII is a utility program that provides hotkeys and many other optional features for both CLI and Workbench users. All options and hotkeys may be changed at any time with SetMachIII. You may have different hotkeys and settings for each window or screen. Version 3.2 also includes a second configuring program named SetMachW. The main difference between the two is that SetMachW opens multiple windows on the Workbench Screen and SetMachIII uses a custom screen. There are also a few more options available in SetMachW. Unless otherwise indicated, you may use either one. It is discussed more fully later. Terms Used In this manual, "qualifiers" mean the keys Ctrl, Shift, Alt, Left-Amiga (C=), and Right-Amiga. The term "hotkey" means any other key pressed in combination with zero or more qualifiers. The term "macro" means the string of characters that are sent as keystrokes or backslash functions that are interpreted as some special action. A macro may be attached to a hotkey or to no key at all. A macro may also have a name. A single key may have up to 32 macros attached to it, each with a unique qualifier combination. For example, F1 may have a macro and so may Ctrl-F1, Ctrl-Alt-F1, Shift-F1 etc. IMPORTANT: All hotkeys referred to in this documentation are included in the sample MachIII.Cfg file. In order to do the examples, MachIII needs to load this file. You may change the hotkeys later. The Sample Hotkeys Left-Amiga-J Window to front. Right-Amiga-K Window to back. Left-Amiga-N Screen to front and activate window. Right-Amiga-M Screen to back and activate window. Left-Amiga-ESC Create a newshell. Alt-ESC Start or stop macro recording. Ctrl-Alt-ESC Start or stop named macro recording. Ctrl-Left-Amiga-ESC Run SetMachIII. Ctrl-Left-Amiga-B Blank the screen. Ctrl-Left-Amiga-N Execute a named macro. Alt-Help Display a macro. Chapter 1 Usage --------------------------------------------------------------- 4 When MachIII is run, it automatically attempts to load s:MachIII.Cfg. If it cannot, cancel the "s:MachIII.Cfg Not Found" and "Using Defaults" requesters. The defaults will be used, but there will be no macros. You should use SetMachIII to load MachIII.Cfg. It is a text file that contains all settings and macros. SetMachIII and MachIII should normally be in your c: directory and MachIII.Cfg in your s: directory. You can use one of the following commands to start MachIII: Run, ARun, or RunBack. These are some ways to start MachIII from the CLI or your startup-sequence: Run MachIII Does not allow the CLI to close. Or... ARun MachIII NOIO Allows the CLI window to close. Or... RunBack >Nil: c:MachIII The CLI window can close. If any one of these commands is included in your startup- sequence file, MachIII will run every time you start or reboot your computer. If you do this, be sure that you place it after your Path command (if you have one). ARun is an ARP command and requires the arp library. The only obvious indication that MachIII is running is the title bar clock. The real power of MachIII is lying in the background waiting to assist you. Exactly what it can do will depend on your configuration file. Running SetMachIII There are (at least) five ways to run SetMachIII. 1. The easiest is to activate the clock and press the right mouse button. 2. You may use the hotkey Ctrl-Left-Amiga-ESC, which has \x as its macro. 3. You may simply type SetMachIII in your CLI window. 4. You may double click on SetMachIII's icon. 5. The final method is to execute a \XSetMachIII macro. Usage --------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Method 1 and 2 are preferred because they will bring SetMachIII to the front immediately if it is already running, while \XSetMachIII must load SetMachIII from the disk. Macros and hotkeys are explained in a later chapter. NOTE: Do not rename SetMachIII or MachIII won't be able to find it. SetMachIII must also be in the path as it was set when MachIII was run. You may run SetMachW by entering the name in the CLI, using \XSetMachIIIW in a macro or by renaming it SetMachIII and using it instead of SetMachIII. Loading MachIII.Cfg MachIII.Cfg is a text file that contains all your settings and macros. It is loaded when MachIII is first run. If MachIII is unable to find the file, you should load it using SetMachIII. To do this, run MachIII and then run SetMachIII using the methods described above. In the Configurations section, enter in the string gadget the full path and name MachIII.Cfg. This is normally s:MachIII.Cfg, but if MachIII is unable to find it, you must enter the correct path and name. This may be df0:s/MachIII.Cfg, df1:s/MachIII.Cfg or perhaps just MachIII.Cfg. Next, click on Load. If you've entered the correct path and name, MachIII will load this file. You should now change the name to s:MachIII.Cfg and click on Save. This will save it to the s: directory. Whenever you make changes to your settings or macros that you want to keep, remember to click on Save Chapter 2 Mouse Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 6 All mouse features are adjusted or toggled on or off in the Mouse Features section of SetMachIII. Some features may also be modified with macros. Mouse Accelerator Move the mouse. Notice how much quicker it moves? Both speed and sensitivity are adjustable. Speed is an acceleration factor applied to mouse movements. The Threshold adjusts the sensitivity of the mouse. Low values decrease the sensi- tivity. Set Speed to 0 to disable the accelerator. Mouse Off Press a key. Notice that the mouse disappeared? Now move the mouse. It reappears! MachIII assumes that if you are typing, you do not want the mouse in the way. It will also turn the mouse off after 5 seconds of inactivity. This time delay is adjustable in SetMachIII with Mouse Off Delay or with \Monn in a macro, where nn equals the number of seconds of delay. Set Mouse Off Delay to 0 to disable this feature. SunMouse Now move the mouse into another window. The window under the mouse automatically becomes the active window. This is called the SunMouse, named for the way in which mice behave on Sun workstations. To prevent windows that the mouse is merely passing over from becoming active, a window is not activated until the mouse comes to a stop. The SunMouse may be toggled on and off with \Ms in a macro. Window Cycling If you have more than one window open, place them so that one is behind the other. Now with the mouse over the top window, press and hold the left button and press and release the right button. The top window will move to the back. This is called Window Cycling. If the mouse is over a "backdrop" window or no window, the screen will be sent to the back. Click To Front Now place a window behind another so that you can see just part of it. Move the mouse into this area and click quickly twice. That window should now be the top window. This is the N Click feature where N is the number of clicks required and may be set from 0 to 9. CAUTION! Due to a bug in the intuition library, clicking to front over an icon may cause a lockup. The program WTFPatch3 (included) by David Jenkins will fix this. Read its documentation for correct usage. Mouse Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Mouse To Menu One feature that defaults to off is Mouse To Menu. When this feature is on, every time you press the right mouse button the pointer will jump to the menu bar. When you release the button and make a slight movement, the pointer will return to where it was. This is the MTM gadget in SetMachIII. It may also be toggled on and off with \MM in a macro. Playback Delay When recording and playing back mouse movements, you may set a delay in this gadget. The values are in 50ths of a second. See Chapter 6, More About Macros for more information. Chapter 3 Clock Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 8 There is a wide variety of clocks to choose from. Click on the clock type gadget in the Clock Features area to change types. These are shown below. Each of these may be made either horizontal or vertical by using the H/V gadget and the time may be in 12 or 24 hour format. If you select Clock+Memory or Memory Only, and if you do not have any "Fast" memory, the clock will just show Mem. Basic Clock Types Clock+Memory ------------------------------ | Chip 456 Fast 357 4:32:45 | ------------------------------ Memory Only --------------------- | Chip 456 Fast 357 | --------------------- Clock+Date ------------------- | 8-01-90 4:32:45 | ------------------- Clock Only ----------- | 4:32:45 | ----------- Clock+Memory (No fast memory) ------------------- | Mem 456 4:32:45 | ------------------- Clock To Top Window You may select to have the clock pop to the front window by having Clock Front selected. If Clock Depth is selected, invisible depth gadgets are placed on the far right side of the clock (horizontal clocks only). These function the same way as normal depth gadgets, the imagery is just written over by the time text. Clock To Top Screen The clock may pop to the top screen by having Clock To Top selected. This and the Screen Depth option will place an invisible screen depth gadget on the left side of the clock. (A vertical clock may still be dragged by carefully positioning the pointer on the upper right corner of the clock.) You may select WB Screen to keep it on the Workbench screen. Note: These must be used with some caution as not all programs work properly with another window on their screen. Some programs refuse to terminate or close their screen while the clock is on it. Clock Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Online Meter You may select to have the time portion of your clock keep track of your online costs by selecting Meter On. Clear your costs with Reset. Put the online rate (per hour) in the Rate gadget. Alarm An alarm may be set in the Alarm gadget. Use 24 hour format. The clock will beep six times when it goes off. (You can set more alarms in macros with the \a function. See Chapter 6.) Low Memory Warning If you would like to be alerted to low memory situations, enter the memory warning level in the LowMem gadget. When free memory drops below this value (in kilobytes), the clock's text will turn red (or orange, or whichever color is set by color number 3). With version 3.2 or later, this color may be set with "Warn" in Clock Features of SetMachW. Alternating Date And Memory Display If you want the clock's display to alternate between memory and time, and the date, enter the number of seconds to show the memory and time in the Date gadget. If you do not have any fast memory, the date will be in the short (MM-DD-YY) form. Clock Position You can change the clock's position by entering the left edge and top edge in the ClockLE and ClockTE gadgets (Left Edge and Top Edge in SetMachW). An easier method is to position the clock with the mouse and then enter a -1 in these gadgets. The correct value will then be entered for you. Clock On And Off You may, of course, turn the clock on or off with the Clock On / Off gadget. Within a macro, a clock may be turned on with \KD, turned off with \KK, toggled on or off with \KZ and sent to the top screen with \KT. Clock Colors The clock border, text and warning color may be set with the Clock Features gadgets Border, Text and Warn in SetMachW (versions 3.2 and later only). Set Border to 0 for a borderless clock Chapter 4 Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 10 The real power of MachIII is its ability to record and play back macros. In their simplest form, macros are just strings of keystrokes attached to hotkeys. You may, for example, have a macro that contains the text "diskcopy df0: to df1:". When played back, these letters will appear in your active window just as if you typed them. But there is much more to macros. Besides having letters in macros, you may include any special key by preceding a letter with a backslash. This is called an escape character. Some examples: \F1 is Function key 1, \E is the ESC key, \5 is numeric key pad 5. These will be entered for you during recording. In addition, there are many special functions that may be performed in a macro. You may send a screen to the back with \sB, or to the front with \sF. Functions such as these cannot be recorded, they must be entered using SetMachIII. See Chapter 5, "Using SetMachIII And Macros" to find out about viewing and modifying macros. There are many more of these listed in Appendix A. Recording Macros One of the most important escaped character functions is \mk. This is the macro that starts or stops a recording session. In the sample MachIII.Cfg, this is attached to the key combination Alt-ESC. By pressing this, and then pressing the key combination that you want for the hotkey, you begin a recording session. Press any keys that you want recorded and then press Alt-ESC again. The macro is now ready to be played back. A practice session may help to understand this. To do this, you must be in a CLI or shell window. You also need a \mk macro already setup and attached to Alt-ESC. You should have this if MachIII loaded the file MachIII.Cfg. Press Alt-ESC (you will hear a beep and the clock will display the message Select Hotkey...). Press Alt-D (the clock will say Recording Macro...). Now type "dir df0:" without the quotes and press Return. The directory of the disk in df0: will be displayed. Now press Alt-ESC again to end recording. You may now press Alt-D and your recorded keystrokes will be played back. There is a short beep for each keystroke and mouse button entered during recording. Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Correcting Mistakes Ctrl-H may be used to correct a keystroke without recording the mistake or the backspace. Because of this feature, you cannot record Ctrl-H. You may however, enter it as \Ch in the macro. If you are using a keymap that has "H" in a different location, you must use the key that has the key code of 25 hex. Aborting Execution Pressing ESC during macro execution will abort further execution. An exception to this is when pausing for variable length input (\PV). Press Ctrl-ESC to abort and ESC to terminate input. Clearing A Macro To clear a macro, that is, to free it from a hotkey, press Alt-ESC, then the hotkey, then Alt-ESC again. This records no keystrokes which means that the macro is empty and the hotkey is free. You may also clear macros using SetMachIII as will be explained in Chapter 5. Chapter 5 Using SetmachIII And Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Macros may also be created, modified, copied or appended in SetMachIII. In the area titled Hotkey / Macro, there are many gadgets that are used to do this. Changing The Current Hotkey The two up/down arrow gadgets next to Hotkey are used to step through all your macros. The word "More" will appear when there are more macros attached to the same key but with different qualifiers. The gadgets Ctrl, Shift, Alt, Amiga (left) and Amiga (right) show the qualifiers for the current key. You may click on them to change current hotkeys. If you select qualifiers that have no macro, the Macro gadget will be empty, ready to accept a new macro. Note: Hotkey is not a gadget. It just displays the current key. Using Select Hotkey You can make a hotkey current by clicking on Select Hotkey and then when prompted by the flashing message, press your desired hotkey combination. This will make that combination your current hotkey and display the macro attached to that hotkey (if there is one). If you want to display a macro that is not attached to a hotkey (that is, a named macro), you should press Caps Lock when prompted and then enter the name in the gadget that will pop up. Note that the red LED on your keyboard will remain on...you need to press it again to deactivate it. If you want to make a mouse button current, hold down your selected qualifier keys and click INSIDE the message box. You may also press the letter S instead of clicking on Select Hotkey. Select Hotkey functions the same way in Show All. Selecting By Name Macro Name displays a (possibly) descriptive name for the macro. You may select a named macro by entering the name in the Macro Name gadget and pressing Shift-Return. Pressing just Return will simply change the name of the current macro. This operates the same way in Show All. Modifying Macros The string gadget titled Macro holds the macro that is attached to the current key. You may modify it, or delete all its text to free that hotkey. Clicking on "Del" next to it will also delete it. To enter the example from Chapter 4, click on Select Key and press Alt-D. Now enter "dir df0:\N" in the Macro gadget and press Return. That's it! "dir df0:<Return>" will be played back when you press Alt-D. If you recorded the previous example, the macro will already be there. Using SetmachIII And Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Copying And Appending Copy will copy a macro from one hotkey to another and Append will append a macro to another hotkey. First make the hotkey that you want to copy or append from the current hotkey. Then select Copy or Append. When prompted by the flashing message, press the desired hotkey combination that you want to copy or append to. To A Named Macro To copy or append to an unkeyed named macro, proceed as above but press CapsLock when prompted for a hotkey and then enter the name in the gadget that will appear. To Another Configuration Proceed as above and then while the message is flashing, switch configurations with the up/down arrows in the Configuration area, then select your hotkey. CAUTION! Since any key or mouse button may be copied or appended to, there is no way to back out when the message is flashing. If you make a mistake and do not want to continue, you MUST select something. Use a key that does not have a macro attached, and then press Return. Do not simply click the left mouse button or that button will replay the macro when ever you press the left button. Maximum Macro Size The default maximum macro size is 512 characters but this may be changed in the Max Size gadget. This controls the size of dynamic buffers which are allocated only during macro recording or when SetMachIII is running. The actual macros take up only as much space as they need plus a little bit of overhead. The maximum size allowed is 65,535 characters. If you enter a number smaller than your largest macro, the size of your largest macro will be entered. If you are recording all mouse movements, you will need to set the buffer size considerably higher than 512. Help Clicking on Help (or pressing the "Help" key) will show all the escaped characters that may be used in macros. They are also listed in Appendix A. Using SetmachIII And Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Using Show All Show All opens a window that has most of the same Macro / Hotkey functions, but up to eight macros for a particular key are displayed together. If you have more than eight macros for a key, the rest may be viewed by using the scroll bar. The top macro is the current one and only that macro may be modified. As you select other macros, the macros that scroll off the top wrap around to the bottom. Some help is displayed in the upper right corner. The text depends on just what you are doing at that moment. You may click on the Qualifier gadgets to make other hotkeys current, or if no macro is attached to the combination, you may enter a new macro. Selecting Add Macro will prompt you to select a new hotkey. Again, you may use CapsLock to select an unkeyed named macro. Clicking on Del Macro will delete the current macro. This is the same as clicking in the current macro string gadget and pressing Right-Amiga-X and Return. Copy and Append operate the same as in the main SetMachIII window except that you can not copy or append to a macro in another configuration. Chapter 6 More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 15 ARexx Support Macros may be sent to MachIII from ARexx programs with the ARexx command "address 'MachIII Port' `macro string'". MachIII will execute the macro just as if you pressed the hotkey. Viewing A Macro You can view a macro by issuing the help command (\h) in a macro. This is Alt-Help in the sample MachIII.Cfg file. You will be prompted for a hotkey combination. Use the same macro (\h) to end help. An Example As an example of the flexibility and power of MachIII (and to show why there are so many escaped characters), this macro will toggle the Workbench screen to interlace and change your preferences: (Assuming that you have wbLace in c: and a system-configuration (preferences) file named prflace in devs:) Endcli\N\KK\PS1\Xc:wbLace\\pdevs:prflace\\KD\ j\XNewShell "Newcon:0/0/640/400/AShell" Ends the current shell Endcli\N Turns the clock off \KK Pauses 1 second \PS1 Executes wbLace \Xc:wbLace\ Changes preferences \pdevs:prflace\ Turns the clock back on \KD Workbench to the front \j And creates a new shell \XNewShell "Newcon:0/0/640/400/NewShell" Recording Mouse Button Clicks Mouse button clicks may be recorded, or entered manually in the Macro string gadget. When recording a button click, MachIII puts in the mouse's position, which button it was and whether it was pressed or released. For example: \Mxy155,075\Mld When played back, the mouse will be moved to x = 155, y = 75 and a left button down will be sent. A \PSnn will be inserted for every nn second delay between clicks. This will allow for menus to drop or requesters and windows to open. You may adjust or delete them from your macro if desired. You may manually enter tenths of a second such as \PS.4 or \PS2.3. More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 16 If you record just the left button, you might see something like this for the macro: \Mxy152,095\Mld\PS01\Mlu unless you moved the mouse between clicks in which case the new x and y values would be entered before the \Mlu. Recording All Moves If you need all mouse movements recorded, for a painting demonstration for example, you need to set the Playback Delay value somewhere between 1-99. These represent delays of 50ths of a second between moves. 1 = 1/50, 2 = 2/50 etc. This is needed by many programs in order to keep up with the movements. It can be set in two ways: 1. In the Mouse Features section of SetMachIII, set the desired value in the Playback Delay gadget. 2. Execute a macro "\MDnn" with nn being the desired value. Note that this value must be set to some positive number BEFORE recording and during playback. During playback, you may get acceptable (although fast) results by setting Playback Delay to 0 and Playback Priority to 0. During recording, the clock message should read "Recording Macro...ALL". Recording all moves requires much more memory than would normally be required. Use it only if you need to. You may also need to set a larger value in Max Size. Notes: The mouse will be moved to the same position as when recorded which may or may not be over the desired gadget or icon. If you are pressing a qualifier such as Shift, it (\S) will be placed before a \M and will affect the mouse movement and the first click. e.g. \S\Mx330\My122\Mld. When a menu item has a subitem it may be neccessary to bring the mouse down to the menu item, click the left button on it, then move the mouse over the subitem and click the left button or release the right button. Sometimes gadgets will not respond to a quick button down/up. It may require a pause between the down and up. Do not depend on the SunMouse to activate a window during play back. When recording, click in the window to activate it, even if it is activated by the SunMouse. More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Using Escaped Characters All non-printable keys and many special functions are preceded by a \. For example, \B is the Backspace key, \H is the help key and \F3 is function key 3. These qualifiers modify the key or mouse activity immediately following them: \C Control. \S Shift (either one). \A Alternate (either one). \L Left-Amiga (C=). \R Right-Amiga. An example: \Cc\u\A\S\l This plays back the key combinations: Ctrl-c up-arrow and Alt-Shift-Left-Arrow You do not need \S or \A before any character that is printable. For example Alt-E displays the copyright symbol. You can press Alt-E instead of entering \Ae. But if you need Alt-E played back, use \Ae. Note that all escaped characters must be used in the case as shown. That is, if a macro is described as \WF, you cannot use \wF or \Wf. Windows And Screens MachIII implements many functions by putting certain escape sequences in macros. For example, \WF will bring the back window to the front while \WB will send it to the back. You can replace Workbench's standard combination Left-Amiga- N with the macro \sF to bring the back screen (instead of the Workbench screen) to the front. Replace Left-Amiga-M with \sB. You can add \WA to make \sF\WA and \sB\WA, which activates the window under the mouse after the screen is moved. CAUTION! When using these, there are some instances when you have an interlaced and non-interlaced screen - the interlaced screen may become deinterlaced and possibly lock up the computer. Activating Windows You may activate windows by executing \W macros. These are: \Watitle Activate a window by its title. \WA Activate the window under the mouse. \WN Activate the next window. More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 18 When using \Watitle, you may preceed the title with the $ symbol to activate a window based on the name of the program that owns it. Example: "\Wa$program". This has limitations, see the section Changing Configurations in Chapter 7. Sizing Windows The active or the top window may be resized with \Wsxxx,yyy or \WSxxx,yyy. Some examples: \Ws640,200 Make the active window 640 by 200. \Ws0,200 Make the active window 200 pixels tall and do not change the width. \WS,+10 Increase the top window's height by 10. \WS-90,+10 Decrease the top window's width by 90 and increase the height by 10 pixels. An omitted number is assumed to be 0, which will leave that value unchanged. If the requested size is to large for the window's position, the window will be moved. If it is to large for the screen, the screen size will be used. Finally, if it is to small, it will be ignored. So to make a full sized window, it is save to use "Ws1500,1500", for example. You can combine this with "\Watitle" to size a specific window. For example: "\WaAmigaShell\\Ws0,100" will make your AmigaShell window 100 pixels tall. Be sure to note the \ terminating the title. Moving Windows Windows may be moved in much the same way as they are sized. Use \Wmxxx,yyy to position a window at a specific location. Use \Wm+xxx,+yyy or \Wm-xxx,-yyy to move the window a relative distance. \WMxxx,yyy may be used to move the top window. Layering Windows Windows may be layered or stacked with \WL. When this is executed in a macro, all windows will be arranged in a stack or layer. Windows listed in No Layer Titles= in MachIII.Cfg will not be layered. Typically, these would be MachIII and your shell. You can include as many as 5 titles. Due to the length of time that Workbench takes to refresh a window filled with icons, this function may not be very useful when using Workbench. More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 19 Pausing Within A Macro There are three types of pauses; pause for .1-99 seconds, pause for fixed length input, and pause for variable length input. Examples: \PS1 Pause for one second. \PS.3 Pause for .3 seconds. \PS2.5 Pause for 2.5 seconds. \PK5 Pause for five keystrokes. \PV Pause for a variable number of keystrokes. Terminate input with ESC. Abort this macro during input with Ctrl-ESC. \PKn and \PV may be useful in some data entry macros where the macro performs some functions, waits for some user input, and then continues with more functions. The macro may even call itself over and over. An easy way to setup such a macro would be to record a complete data entry loop, and then, using SetMachIII, enter the pause in the appropriate place. A data entry macro might look like this: \Mxy150,40\Mld\Mlu\PV\Mxy460,23\Mld\Mlu\F1 With this attached to the F1 key, the mouse would click at 150,40 (possible a string gadget), wait for a variable number of keystrokes followed by ESC, click at 460,23 (which might be a "Next" gadget), and then execute F1 which would then cause it to repeat. Remember to abort a recursive macro like this with Ctrl-ESC and just ESC for all others. Auto Execution \annnn is the auto execution command. If nnnn = 0 or is omitted, the macro will be automatically executed when MachIII is started. An example: \a0\XNewCli will open a new CLI window automatically when MachIII is first run. If nnnn equals a time of 0001 to 2400, the macro will be executed at that time. Another example: \a930\XNewcli CON:220/50/200/50/Alarm\Call Joe\G\PS3\CxEndCLI >nil:\N More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 20 At 9:30 this will open a window in the center of the screen, print the text "Call Joe", beep, pause 3 seconds, delete (Ctrl-x) the text and end the CLI window. (Note the \ terminating the newcli string before the "Call Joe" text.) \a1200\Xecho >speak: "Lunch time. Why not take 2 hours?" Assuming that you have mounted the device speak:, at 1200, speak the quoted string. You may use \a+nn which will execute the macro every nn minutes. \a+30 will execute every 30 minutes, but \a+45 will execute only at 45 minutes past the hour. \a+10\RS Every 10 minutes, issue the key combination of Right-Amiga-S (which might be a save file keystroke). A popular combination of macros is this: \a+15\G \a+30\PS.5\G \a+45\PS.5\G\PS.5\G \a+60\Ps.5\G\PS.5\G This will beep once at 15 after, twice on the half hour, three times at three quarters after, and four times on the hour. These are 4 separate macros and may of course, be unkeyed. Executing Programs Many programs can be run from a macro by simply putting \Xprogram in a macro. For example, "\Xrun myapp" would run a program named myapp. Usually, you would want to use Run in your command string to keep from suspending MachIII during the application's execution. Changing Directories Some programs require that you be in a specific directory before executing the program. In these cases, you may temporarily change directories with the \J function. For example: \Jdh0:games/arcade\\XRun SuperActionGame Terminating Strings Strings following escaped characters like \Xstring and \pconfiguration must be terminated with a \ if anything will follow. More About Macros --------------------------------------------------------------- 21 \XNewCLI\Dir\N or \XRun Comm\\F1\F2. Note the two \s after Comm. One terminates the \XRun Comm string and one introduces a function key. When creating a NewCLI, you probably want to preface the command with \j. This will bring the Workbench screen to the front. For example: \j\XNewCLI You need to have NewCLI and Run in the c: directory. A full window example might look like this: \j\XNewCLI CON:0/0/640/200/MyCLI Or \j\XNewShell NEWCON:0/0/640/200/MachShell Identifying Labels For the purpose of identifying portions of your macro or for adding comments, you may insert text following \i. Terminate the text with a \. Example: \iMouse To Close Gadget\\Mxy014,004\Mld\Mlu Changing Priorities Within A Macro Task priority may be temporarily changed within a macro by using \vnn. Programs executed after changing the priority will have the new priority. After the macro is completed, the original priority will be restored. An example: \v4\Xrun myapplication The priority of myapplication will be 4. Sending Date and Time The current date and time may be sent as keystrokes to an application by using \Y, \y or \t in a macro. \Y Send date in the long form such as: February 5, 1991 \y Send date in the short form: 2-05-91 \t Send the time: 9:25:41 Chapter 7 Configurations --------------------------------------------------------------- 22 You may have more than one configuration within your MachIII.Cfg file. The term "configuration" in this section refers to a configuration inside the MachIII.Cfg file. Let's assume that you've set some macros attached to function keys and other features that work well in a shell. Now you want to run an application program such as WordPerfect which uses the function keys. You could disable all macros while using WordPerfect, but there may be some that you want to use. Another alternative is to add another configuration to the one that you have already set up and modify it to work with WordPerfect. To do this, select Add in SetMachIII. This will make a duplicate configuration and number it 2. Clear your macros that are attached to the function keys, if desired. Next, in the gadget to the left of Add, type in " WordP" (notice the space before the WordP, that's like it is in the title bar). In your first configuration, you should type in the title AmigaShell or whatever is in the title bar of your shell. Now, when you click in a WordPerfect window, the second configuration becomes active. Click in your shell window and its configuration becomes active. If you are using the SunMouse feature you do not need to click in the window - the configuration will become active when the window becomes active. Changing Configurations You may have as many configurations as you like. Each one may be attached to a window or screen through its title and activated by clicking in that window. The title need be just long enough to uniquely match a window's title. An @ as the 1st character will lock a configuration which may then only be changed from SetMachIII or by executing a macro that has \cN \cL or \cT in it (see Appendix A). When a configuration is changed from within a macro, there will be no further execution of that macro. When a new configuration is made active, its title will appear in the clock for about one second. The first configuration with no title will be activated when no title matches. This means that you can set up a default configuration with no title that will be active when you click in a window that does not match any of your configuration titles. If the clock is identical to the clock in the previously active configuration, it will not be closed and reopened when configurations are changed. You may put in multiple window titles separated by a | such as "Ashell|TextEd| WordP" up to a maximum of 40 characters. This example shows a configuration that will become active when you click in a window titled Ashell, TextEd, or WordP. Configurations --------------------------------------------------------------- 23 Not all windows or screens have real titles. It may be just text written where the title should be. MachIII cannot locate these titles and thus cannot change to the proper configuration. You can manually change to these configurations with a \cN or \cT macro. You may be able to change to untitled windows by specifying the program's name. Do this by prefacing the name with the $ symbol. For example: a configuration titled "$DPaint" will become active when you click in the Deluxe Paint window. Unfortunately, not all program names are accessible. Programs started from Workbench do not have names accessible. A program supplied with MachIII call AllTitles will list the window and screen titles and program names that are useable. Simply type AllTitles at the CLI prompt. Adding And Deleting Add duplicates the current configuration and then makes that one current. You may then delete or modify macros and other settings in the new configuration. Delete a configuration with the Del gadget. You cannot delete the last configuration. Loading And Saving For any changes to be permanent, you just need to click on Save. When MachIII is first run, it looks for s:MachIII.Cfg and loads that. You may save configurations to other file names, but only s:MachIII.Cfg will be loaded automatically. Click on Load (or use \cLfilename in a macro) to load other configurations. The Configuration File MachIII.Cfg is straight ASCII text and may be edited (but does not need to be except to enter No Layer Titles, Month Names, Day Names and Date Format). Multiple configurations are all saved together under one file name. Each configuration within this file must start with ID=3.0. The specific order of everything else is not important except Month Names and Day Names which must be sequential. These are not needed unless you want to use names other than the English names that are internal to MachIII. Macros must be in the following format: Macro=key\qualifiers{macroname}Macro body The keys and qualifiers are identified in Appendix A. The name should be no more than 12 characters. To enter no name use {}. Configurations --------------------------------------------------------------- 24 Examples: Macro=J\L{WinToFront}\WF This is Left-Amiga-J Window to front. Macro=\E\L{newshell}\j\XNewShell "newcon:0/1/640/100AShell" This is Left-Amiga-ESC and executes a newshell command. (Note the \j brings the Workbench to front before executing the command string.) Macro=\E\A{Start/Stop}\mk This is Alt-ESC and begins or ends a recording to key session. Macro=N\C\L{X named mac}\n This is Ctrl-Left-Amiga-N and it will execute a named macro. Chapter 8 Priorities And Screen Blanking --------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Priorities All tasks in the Amiga's multitasking operating system run at a particular priority. Higher priority tasks have higher numbers and will run while other tasks wait. Most user tasks run at a priority of 0 and share the computers time equally. MachIII runs well at 1. MachIII also has the ability to change its priority while playing back a macro. A priority of 1 is usually ok here too. You may experiment with these numbers and your particular applications to find what works best. Don't try to set them very high though, usually no more than 6 and certainly no more than 10. By setting the Playback Priority to 0, the application and MachIII will alternate between sending and receiving. The playback priority may also be temporarily changed from a macro with \vnn. See Chapter 6. Screen Blanking After a preset length of time, you may have the screen either go blank or just dim. If you select a dimness of 0 and have Check Waltz on, there will be two dancing check marks on the blanked screen. You may adjust the tempo with the keys 1-9. If you select a dimness value of 1-15, the front screen will go dim. The screen may also be blanked with \b in a macro. Executing this macro will immediately blank the screen Chapter 9 Miscellaneous Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 26 There are six features that don't fit into any of the above categories. Suspend MachIII may be temporarily suspended by clicking on the Suspend gadget. Or, you may create a macro that has \Z as its first 2 characters. Pressing the hotkey that this macro is attached to will either suspend or activate MachIII. Remove You can remove MachIII completely by clicking on Remove. \Q in a macro may also be used. You may also remove MachIII by running it again from your shell. Check Waltz When you have selected 0 for your Dimness in screen Blanking, and you have Check Waltz on, screen blanking will include two dancing check marks. The speed of these may be adjusted with the keys 1 to 9. No Caps Lock Selecting No Caps Lock on will disable your Caps Lock key. It actually may be still used by pressing Left-Amiga- CapsLock. Beep You can use a custom sound for MachIII's beep. Enter the name and complete path of the sound file in the Beep gadget. The sound should be a raw data file with the file size in bytes 1 to 4 and the period value in bytes 5 and 6. Many sound digitizing programs provide the ability to save in a "Raw format". Several samples are provided. This sound is not the sound used when recording macros. The sound is repeated 6 times for the alarm. Hold Qualifiers If Hold Qualifiers is on, you may press and release any qualifier and it will be remembered and added to the next non-qualifier key or mouse button. Many disabled people find it difficult if not impossible to type key combinations such as Ctrl-Shift-F1. So you could for example, press Shift, Alternate, and then F1. The Shift and Alternate would be added to the F1 just as if they were pressed at the same time. This feature is not intended for someone who doesn't need it as it sometimes may cause unexpected results. For example, if you press Alternate and then change your mind, the Alternate will still be added to the next key pressed. Pressing Caps Lock or the right mouse button will clear the qualifiers. Pressing a qualifier again will clear that qualifier. Miscellaneous Features --------------------------------------------------------------- 27 An orange or red (color pen #3) bar will appear on the clock's left edge when there are qualifiers accumulating. Qualifiers may be held for multiple keystrokes if you first press Alt-CapsLock. This may also be used with Workbench's extended selection. Press the Shift key, then click on your icons. Hit any non- qualifier key or the right mouse button to clear the Shift. You can clear all qualifiers by pressing CapsLock or the right mouse button. Chapter 10 Using SetMachW --------------------------------------------------------------- 28 SetMachW is basically the same program as SetMachIII. The main difference is that SetMachW opens windows on the Workbench screen. When SetMachW is run, it opens a window that contains all macro features plus four gadgets to open other windows. You will notice that some gadgets have one letter highlighted - pressing that letter is the same as clicking on the gadget. Of course if a string gadget is active, that letter will go to the string gadget instead. Pressing Return is the same as clicking on the close gadget. Because Workbench colors vary from one user to the next, you can alter the "pens" that are used for windows, text and gadget borders in SetMachW. Pen 0 means "use whatever color that is set for the background". Pen 1 is the color that is normally used for text and window borders. On a normal Workbench screen, there are four colors so you may use four pens, 0-3. Click on Misc. Features. A window will open containing the same gadgets as in Miscellaneous Features in SetMachIII plus a few more. The gadgets under "Pens" are used to change the appearance of SetMachW. Pens Block Window borders and title background. Detail Title bar text. Text All window and gadget text except string gadgets. HiLite Gadget highlighting. Gadget Borders HiLite Top and left edges of button gadgets, and bottom and right edges of string gadgets. Shadow Bottom and right edges of button gadgets, and top and left edges of string gadgets. You may change these to achieve the best appearance for your display. A bright color is usually good for Gadget Borders HiLite and a dark color for Gadget Borders Shadow. These features as well as window positions are saved when you click on Save. You may even have different window positions and pen setting for different configurations. In the Clock Features window, there are gadgets to set the colors used for the clock. Border Pen to use for the clock's border. Text The normal clock text. Warn Low memory warning pen. Next to these is Date/Time. This is the delay period for alternating date and time. Use 0 if you do not want the date displayed. Chapter 11 Foreign Names --------------------------------------------------------------- 29 You may include in your MachIII.Cfg file alternate names for months and days. The format to use is this: Month Name=Name Day Name=Name These may be placed anywhere after the ID=3.0 line, but they will be saved after Clock Screen Type=. Enter 12 lines of month names followed by 7 lines of day names followed by 1 line of 3 characters of date format. The date format can be mdy, dmy, ymd etc. The date output by the short form \y will be displayed accordingly as will the Clock+Date display. If you select dmy, the long form \Y and the Clock+Mem will display DD. Month Year. (y = year, m = month, d = day). Do not use names longer than 10 characters. A German file might look like this: Month Name=Januar Month Name=Febuar Month Name=Marz Month Name=April Month Name=Mai Month Name=Juni Month Name=Juli Month Name=August Month Name=September Month Name=Oktober Month Name=November Month Name=Dezember Day Name=Sonntag Day Name=Montag Day Name=Dienstag Day Name=Mittwoch Day Name=Donnerstag Day Name=Freitag Day Name=Samstag Date Format=dmy Appendix A Escaped Characters --------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Letter Funnction Example Comments ------ --------- ------- -------- A Alt Qualifier \A Alternate qualifier. B Backspace Key \B C Control Qualifier \C D DELete Key \D E ESCape Key \E F Function Keys \F1 Use \F0 for F10. G Audible Beep \G I ----- J Change Directory \Jdh0:xx Make dh0:xx current. K Clock D Display \KD Display the clock. K Kill \KK Turn off the clock. T Top screen \KT Clock to top screen. Z Toggle clock \KZ Turn clock on / off. L Left Amiga \L AKA C=. M Mouse xnnn \Mx127 Send mouse X position. ynnn \My058 Send mouse Y position. lu \Mlu Send left button up. ld \Mld Send left button down. mu \Mmu Send middle button up. md \Mmd Send middle button down ru \Mru Send right button up. rd \Mrd Send right button down onn \Mo05 Set MouseOff seconds. s \Ms Toggle SunMouse. M \MM Toggle Mouse To Menu. Dnn \MD2 Set playback delay. N Newline \N Return key. O Macros On/Off \O Must be 1st in macro. P Pause Snn \PS01 Pause 1 second. Knn \PK4 Pause for 4 keystrokes V \PV Pause for a variable number of keystrokes. End input with ESC. Q Quit \Q Remove MachIII R Right Amiga \R S Shift \S T Tab Key \T U V W Window A \WA Activate window under the mouse. atitle \WaAsh Activate by title. Escaped Characters --------------------------------------------------------------- 31 Letter Funnction Example Comments ------ --------- ------- -------- W a$progname \Wa$prog Activate by name of program that owns the window. B \WB Top window back. b \Wb Active window to back. F \WF Back window to front. f \Wf Active window to front L \WL Layer windows. Mxxx,yyy \WM10,30 Move the top window. mxxx,yyy \Wm+20,-5 Move the active one. N \WN Activate next window. Sxxx,yyy \WS640,200 Size top window. sxxx,yyy \Ws640,200 Size active window. X Execute a program \Xrun wp End the command with a \ if not at the end of the macro. Y Long date \Y Send date as keystrokes Z Suspend \Z Suspend MachIII. Must be 1st in the macro. a Auto execute \a1730macro Execute at 5:30 pm \a+5macro Execute every 5 minutes. b Blank screen \b c Configuration L load \cLfilename Load configuration. N next \cN Switch to next. S save \cS Save configuration. T title \cTshell Switch to configura- tion titled "shell". d Down arrow key \d e Enter \e Numeric keypad. f ------ g ------ h Help \h Display a macro. i Identifier \ilabel\ This is a comment. j Workbench to front \j Send the Workbench screen to the front. k ------ l Left arrow key \l m Macro k \mk Record to a key. n \mn Record to a named macro n Execute macro \n Get name from user. by name Must be last item in a macro or followed by a blank. \nsetup Execute macro named setup. Escaped Characters --------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Letter Funnction Example Comments ------ --------- ------- -------- o ------ p Set preferences \ppref Load preferences file "pref" and set it. q ------ r Right arrow key \r s Screen B \sB Screen to back. btitle \sbWorkB Screen titled WorkB to back. F \sF Screen to front. ftitle \sfBlitz Screen titled Blitz to front. t Time \t Send the time as keystrokes. u Up arrow key \u v Change Priority \v4 Temporarily change the priority to 4. w ------ x Run SetMachIII \x Brings to front or top if already running. y Short date \y Send the date. z ------ 0 Numeric pad number \0 to \9 ()/*.+- Numeric pad  \/ \* \. \+ \- Appendix B Common Questions --------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Q. Why does the SunMouse sometimes not work? A. When a string gadget (or any gadget anywhere) is active, the SunMouse will not work. You must deactivate the gadget with a click of the left mouse button. The same is true for \WA and \WaTitle macros. Q. How can I run MachIII from an icon? A. This program is usually run from your startup-sequence, but if you want to run it from an icon you can by using XIcon. See your AmigaDos manual for more information. Q. Why can't I close my CLI window after running MachIII? A. In order to keep the current path, MachIII does not detach from the CLI. Use RunBack MachIII or ARun MachIII NOIO. Either of these will allow the CLI window to close. Runback requires the full path, e.g. Runback c:MachIII. Q. Why does MachIII seem to stop functioning after I run an application from a \X macro? A. Unless you use "Run" in the macro, MachIII will wait for the application to terminate. You should use something like \XRun myapp. Q. Why does my application crash when I run it from the NewCLI or from a \X macro? A. Programs executed with \X (such as NewCLI) will have a stack the size that was set when MachIII was run. These and ones that you may run from a new CLI may need a larger stack. Either set the stack before running MachIII, or after you create a NewCLI use the stack command to set your stack to a larger value. The default stack size is 4000. Many programs need 10000 or more. Q. Why does MachIII ask for my Workbench disk when I run a program from a macro? A. MachIII uses the "Run" program which may be in your c: directory. Also, if you made "Run" resident, it will not be found unless you run the patch program SetPatch (Workbench 1.3). Q. Why am I in the c: directory when I create a new CLI? A. MachIII's current directory is the one that was current when MachIII was run. If you bring up a new CLI and find yourself in the c: directory for example, it is because that was the current directory when MachIII was run. You probably did a "cd c:" somewhere before running MachIII. Common Questions --------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Q. Why am I getting a Close Screen Vector message? A. The clock options Screen Depth and Clock To Top replace the CloseScreen vector with one that will allow MachIII to close its clock window. Selecting WB Screen or removing MachIII will put back the original vector. If another program also replaced the vector, you will be given the opportunity to terminate that program before the original vector is replaced. If you get a requester with the message Close Screen Vector Was Changed!, either terminate the program that changed the vectors and click Retry or just click Cancel. If WB Screen is selected, the vectors are not changed. Q. How can I display only the total memory in the clock? A. You can fool the clock into displaying your total memory even if you have fast ram. In your startup-sequence, turn off your fast ram with a command like "nofastmem", run MachIII, then turn your fast ram back on. Q. Why doesn't it change configurations when I click in a window? A. The title entered in the string gadget in the Config- urations section must be the same as the window or screen title (although it may be shorter and the case need not match). It may also be that there is no real title in your window or screen. Check the section in Chapter 7 that deals with this.