EXA 0.1

			© 1994 David Gaussinel
			       Cardware

INTRODUCTION

	Exa was made to use the wonderful library called Whatis.library from 
any software. I have seen some softwares using it but none of them satisfied me, 
so I have decided to create the software I dreamed of. But if you knew my other
softwares you should know that I'm used to programming with Amos. It was of 
course unthinkable to create a software like Exa with Amos, so I have decided to 
have a look on the E. It allowed me to realize what I dreamed of.


OBJECT

	Exa recognizes the type of a file, thanks to the Whatis.library, and 
allows the user to perform on this file actions he would have planned. 
E.g. you give to Exa a file that it recognizes as an ASCII text file, it then 
opens a requester giving you several actions you have previously defined. 
The actions can be: Read, Edit, Print... for an ASCII text file.


LEGAL STUFF

	Exa is distributed "AS IS". In no way the author can't be made 
responsible for any damages caused by the use of Exa. You use this software 
to your own risks and you have been warned. However, I don't see what damages
Exa could do :-).
	Exa 0.1 is copyrighted by David Gaussinel. The use and the spreading 
of this program is free. You can copy it, eat it... but it is forbidden to 
sell it! This interdiction does not cover the fees of the spreading. In 
one word, it is not allowed to spread it on disks worth more than 25FF 
($5 or 10DM). In France, however some spreaders are exceeding this tariff by 
far... It's up to you to compare the prizes.
	Exa is cardware i.e. if you appreciate and/or use this program, you'd 
better send a post card to the author to point it out, and also to let him 
know that improvements and future versions would be welcome. My address is:
		David Gaussinel
		18 rue Fenelon
		24200 Sarlat
		France
	Reqtools.library © Nico Francois
	Whatis.library © Sylvain Rougier & Pierre Carette.

Fred Fish have an explicit permission for including in its collection, also		
Pascal Rullier in BUGSSDP collection.

REQUIREMENTS
	
	Exa would work only on 2.0+ systems. Libraries Reqtools and Whatis 
must also be present in LIBS:.


USAGE
	
	Exa is a shell command, in other words it is useless to run it from the
WorkBench. A requester will be displayed giving you the ident of the program.

	From the shell, you can do: Exa ? to obtain the options syntax as with
all classic shell commands.

	Here are the options; NAME/A/M, CFG=CONFIG/K, PUBSCREEN/K, NOREQ/S, 
NOCFG/S.

	First of all you have to specify the name of the file(s) to be 
examinated. CFG is used to define the name of the configuration file for Exa.
By default this file will be ENV:Exa.prefs. PUBSCREEN specifies a public screen 
on which would be opened the requesters. If you indicate NOREQ that means that 
you don't want any requester, whereas NOCFG means that you don't want Exa to 
load a configuration file.

	
THE CONFIGURATION FILE
	
	Let's talk about that configuration file which is the central point 
of Exa. For each type recognized by Whatis, it has the following format:

TYPE Text
   GAD _Lis|_Imprime
   Bin:Muchmore %f
   Type >PRT: %f
ENDTYPE
	
	We have here defined the actions for the text type. Two actions will 
occur which are Lis and Imprime. After the indicator GAD we find on the same 
line the text which will appear in gadgets. The sign _ indicates a shortcut 
whereas | separates gadgets.

	Then, on each following line, the executed command line is defined in
order where %f represents the name of the selected file.

	But in certain case it can so happen that you wish many types to have
the same actions. In this case you can define only one and indicate that the 
others have the same actions than it. In our example, we write:

TYPE Doc
   IDEM Text
ENDTYPE

	for the doc type or the text type, which are not really so far, to 
have the same actions type.

	Finally, you can desire thet not a  requester opens and that an action 
occurs immediatly on this file. Let's imagine that you want any picture to 
be displayed, you can write:

TYPE ILBM
   NOREQ
   Bin:Mostra %f
ENDTYPE

	Last but not least: you can write several commands on a same 
instruction line separated by a | such as for the gadgets. The commands will 
be executed then one by one. For example you can write:

TYPE LHArc
   GAD _Liste
   Bin:Lha v >T:temp|bin:MM T:temp|delete T:temp
ENDTYPE

	This will allow you then to list the content of Lha archives and to 
read them thanks to Muchmore.


PRACTICAL USAGE
	
	As you have probably noted Exa has no interface but all is done thru
the shell. However a good way to use Exa is for example to use it with 
ToolManager creating a Dock, an Appicon or a Menu. In this way, if you have 
created for example an Appicon Exa, you could click on an icon from the 
WorkBench and release it on the Appicon Exa to examinate the file. You can 
also use Exa with any file manager such as BrowserII, Directory Opus, MegaD.... 
where you define a menu or a gadget for Exa. Moreover, Exa being openable on a 
public screen, you could see the requester on the screen you want.


GREETINGS
	
	To Sada for having designed the icon many times before the end of the 
program in five minutes a day in August. If you want to use Exa in Appicon 
with ToolManager, you can use this icon.
	Very special thanks to Sylvain Rougier and Pierre Carette for having 
written the Whatis.Library which is very powerful.
	I thank Nico Francois too for all his high quality PD programs and 
particulary for the Reqtools.Library.
	Finally, I really thank the E author Wouter Van Oortmerssen for his 
marvellous language.