Documentation for ToolManager 2.1b 13-Mar-1996 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 1990-1996 Stefan Becker No program, document, data file or source code from this software package, neither in whole nor in part, may be included or used in other software packages unless it is authorized by a written permission from the author. NO WARRANTY There is no warranty for this software package. Although the author has tried to prevent errors he can't guarantee that the software package described in this document is 100% reliable. You are therefore using this material at your own risk. The author cannot be made responsible for any damage which is caused by using this software package. DISTRIBUTION This software package is freely distributable. It may be transfered to any media which is used for the distribution of free software like Public Domain disk collections, CDROMs, FTP servers or bulletin board systems. In order to ensure the integrity of this software package distributors should use the original archive file ToolManager2_1b.lha (file name on Aminet: ToolManagerUpd.lha). The author cannot be made responsible if this software package has become unusable due to modifications of the archive contents or of the archive file itself. There is no limit on the fee taken by distributors, e.g. for the media costs of floppy disks, streamer tapes or compact discs, or the process of duplicating. Such limits have proven to be harmful to the idea of freely distributable software, e.g. the software package was removed instead of reducing the price of a floppy disk below the limit. Although the author does not impose any limit on these fees he would like to express his personal opinions on this matter: * This software package should be made available to everyone free of charge whenever this is possible. * If you have purchased this software package under normal conditions from a Public Domain dealer on a floppy disk and have paid more than 5DM or US $5 then you have definitely paid too much. Please don't support this improper profit making any longer and switch to a cheaper source as soon as possible. USAGE RESTRICTIONS No program, document, data file or source code from this software package, neither in whole nor in part, may be used on any machine which is used * for the research, development, construction, testing or production of weapons or other military applications. This also includes any machine which is used in the education for any of the above mentioned purposes. * by people who accept, support or use violence against other people, e.g. citizens from foreign countries. I. Description ============== This small package contains an update to the (still) current ToolManager 2.1 release. Changes since that release: toolmanager.library V3.2 - Added support for ScreenNotify - Added support for WBStart 2.0 - Requires OS 3.0 (V39) or better screennotify.library V1.0 - Notify on screen close/private/public wbstart.library V2.0 - From WBStart 2.0 package - Requires OS 3.0 (V39) or better toolmanager.doc - Missing AutoDocs for toolmanager.library ToolManager now supports ScreenNotify, a library which sends out notifications when a public screen is opened or closed. This means that it is now possible to open docks automatically on a public screen after it has been opened. The docks will be closed automatically when the screen is closed. Now you can change the screen mode of your Workbench without manually closing all your ToolManager docks! The automatic open/close feature only works if you specify the public screen name for a dock object. It won't work for dock objects with the "FrontMost" flag set or for docks which should open on the default public screen. You must also set the "Activated" flag for the dock object. Every time a public screen is opened ToolManager will scan all dock objects and open all docks which have the same public screen name as the newly opened screen. When a public screen is closed ToolManager closes all open docks on this screen and marks them. If the public screen is opened again ToolManager will reopen all marked docks. ToolManager has been updated for the new WBStart 2.0 package. WBStart is now also a library so the old L:WBStart-Handler is not needed anymore. Due to the changes in the WB startup method emulation you might have to update some of your Exec Objects. II. Installation ================ If you already use ToolManager 2.1 then copy the following files to the appropriate directories: libs/toolmanager.library -> LIBS: libs/screennotify.library -> LIBS: libs/wbstart.library -> LIBS: If you have used ToolManager 2.1 or 2.1a already then please remove the file L:WBStart-Handler. It is not needed anymore for this version. If you never have used ToolManager before then you have to install the release 2.1 first. It may be found on Fish Disks/CDROMs or on AmiNet. III. Question & Answers ======================= Q: When I change the screen mode of my Workbench or start certain applications then the ToolManager docks will disappear forever. I have to start the Preferences Editor and press Save to get my docks back. A: You have installed the screennotify.library but you have forgotten to enter the name "Workbench" in the Public Screen string gadget in the Dock Object edit window. ToolManager can always close the docks but to open them it has to know on which Public Screen they should appear. Q: After installing ToolManager 2.1b some of my Exec Objects of the type WB don't work anymore. A: The WB startup method pf WBStart 2.0 has been made more compatible to the real Workbench. Therefore some of the old path settings might not work anymore. Please check the paths in your Exec Objects. A look at the output of a tool like SnoopDos might be helpful. IV. Warnings ============ ToolManager in conjunction with ScreenNotify will cause dead locks under certain conditions. When a dead lock occurs you can't move the mouse pointer anymore or enter anything on the keyboard. These dead locks occur most of the time when other programs want to close a public screen. Unfortunately there is no way to circumvent this problem, so if you experience dead locks with many of your normal applications then you can't use ScreenNotify at all and MUST remove the screennotify.library. ToolManager will still work without this library, but you'll loose the automatic dock open/close feature. If you are using MUI 2.3 (or older) you MUST NOT open docks automatically on MUI public screens or a dead lock will occur! This problem has been fixed in MUI 3.0 and up. V. Cobtact addresses ==================== NOTE: I have moved (again) to another city since the last release of ToolManager. Please DO NOT use the old addresses anymore or your mails may get lost! Postal address: Stefan Becker Bonner Ring 68 D-50374 Erftstadt GERMANY EMail: stefanb@yello.ping.de World Wide Web: http://www.ping.de/sites/yello/