Introduction
Voodoo-X is MUI-based front-end for Dirk Stoecker's powerful unarchiving system - xadmaster.library. Unlike other dearchiver front-ends, Voodoo-X doesn't depend on the archiver commands (such as LZX, LHA, DMS, etc.) being in the C: drawer nor does it require complicated command line setups for these commands. This is because XAD does all the hard work. :-)
Voodoo-X allows you to quickly browse an archive's contents and view individual files (with multiview) like pictures and documents just by double clicking your mouse. This method of browsing archives proves to be highly effective since you don't need to get your hands dirty by extracting files to temporary locations such as Ram:. Voodoo-X does all that for you.
With the help of XAD, Voodoo-X supports more archiver formats than you can wave a stick at, Amiga and non-Amiga, these include:
LZX, LHA, ZIP, WinZip-MS EXE, DMS, DMS-SFX, Tar, GZip, RAR, SuperDuper, CrunchDisk, xDisk, PackDev, Zoom, Shrink and many many more...
xadmaster.library is a modular system and will support even more archivers in the future.
Note:
Voodoo-X doesn't actually write disk-based archives (like DMS,
xMash, etc.) back to disk, but instead examines them to see if they
are OFS or FFS formatted, if they are, it then allows you to browse
through the contents of them and retrieve individual files.
Voodoo-X can also retrieve files from inside standard FFS formatted (i.e AmigaDOS) ADF files, OFS, FFS, DirCache, International, Double-Density (aka DD) and high-density (aha HD) disks formats are all support.
Features
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Browse many archives very quickly. Voodoo-X contains an archive history list, much like the URL history list of a web browser, which allows you to switch between archives VERY QUICKLY with only three clicks of the left mouse button. |
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View pictures, documents or similar files that are inside archives by double clicking on an entry. Doing so will make Voodoo-X extract the selected file then launch multiview to view it. |
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Drag one or more archive icons from Workbench into the main window to browse their contents. |
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Virus checking. If you have Georg Hörmann's xvs.library system installed then you can check archives for file viruses. |
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Lots of archiver formats are supported (common ones and obscure one). |
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Retrieve files from within DMS archives (and other disk based archive formats too). |
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Fast decompression, thanks to XAD. |
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Very easy-to-use user interface, thanks to MUI. |
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Quickly copy, move or delete archives using pull down menus. |
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Nice progress bars. :-) |
Requirements
To run Voodoo-X, you must be able to satisfy the following system requirements:
Amiga OS 3.0 (AmigaOS 3.1 or 3.5 are recommended).
A MC68020 CPU (MC68040 or better recommended)
2-4MB of RAM recommended (the more the better, basically).
Voodoo-X also requires some external systems, by clicking on the links below, you can download the required files directly (Note: You must be viewing this document with a WWW browser while online) from the main Aminet server, located in Germany. These files have not been included in the main Voodoo-X archive for bandwidth reasons.
XAD version 4 or better.Download from Aminet: util/arc/xadmaster.lha
XAD handles all of the archive extraction and decompression work.
MUI version 3.8 or better.Download from Aminet: util/libs/mui38usr.lha
MUI provides the interface.
NList MUI custom class version 0.89 or better.Download from Aminet: mui/MCC_NList0_89.lha
NList provides the MUI listers.
Voodoo-X can also take advantage of some other external systems, it is recommended that you download and install these archives too.
XVS version 33 or better.Download from Aminet: util/virus/xvslibrary.lha
XVS provides the virus checking features.
WBStartup version 2.2 or better.Download from Aminet: util/libs/WBStart.lha
WBStartup provides the ability to start programs from Workbench.
Distribution
This software can be distributed freely provided the original archive it arrived in is kept intact and unmodified. You cannot sell this software for profit, unless you have the author's written permission.
Distribution on magazine cover mounted mediums (such as CD or floppy disk) is allowed and encouraged, provided that all the files remain intact and unmodified. Please contact the author and make sure you have the latest version of the software.
Do not add extra files to the archive or the directory tree.
These distribution terms only apply to the Voodoo-X archive and not the third party software it uses. Please refer to the distribution terms of those products for more information.
Installation
Simply move the Voodoo-X directory to any location you want, after you extract it. Voodoo-X itself doesn't require any assigns nor modifications to your user-startup.
However, Voodoo-X does need some external systems installed onto your HD, before it can be used. Please refer to the Requirements sections for information on these systems. Please refer also to the installation guides of these products for installation details.
The main window
The main window for the program is fairly straight forward to use. This picture shows a standard MUI configuration, so some gadgets may look different depending on your GUI setup.
Click on this image to see the window enlarged.
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Archive |
This string gadget contains the path of the currently loaded archive. You may type in a new archive path here and Voodoo-X will automatically load the archive for you. |
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Archive history popup gadget |
This small gadget, which is located immediately to the right of the Archive string gadget, will popup the history list when pressed. The history list is a list of all the archives you've loaded since Voodoo-X was started. To reload an archive again, simply double click with the left mouse button on one of the archive entries in this list. If this list gets too big you can clear it by selecting Clear archive history... from the Archive menu. |
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Load archives gadget |
Pressing this gadget will open a file requester. Using this requester, you can load one or more archives. If you load more than one archive, then use the archive history list to access the rest of the archives. |
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Archive entries lister |
This is the main archive entry list. It shows you the contents of an archive. Along with other details like size in bytes, date and comment. By double clicking on an entry, it is temporarily extracted and viewed with multiview. Using the "VIEWER" tooltype, you can use an alternative viewer, instead of multiview. |
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Destination path |
This string gadget contains the desination path, this is where all extracted files are saved to. Pressing the small gadget to the right of this gadget will open up a desination drawer requester. |
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Status and information gadget |
This text gadget is used to display useful information. |
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Extract selected |
Pressing this button will invoke the extraction process. All entries selected in the main lister will be extracted to the currently specified destination path. |
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Quit |
End the program. |
The main menus
Voodoo-X has two pull down menus that allow you to gain access to many more of Voodoo-X's features. This section describes what each menu item does.
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The first menu is the Project menu, this is the main menu. |
| About... |
See some general information on Voodoo-X itself. |
| About MUI... |
This gives you some information on the currently installed version of MUI. |
| About versions... |
Use this menu item to gain access to the version information of the currently loaded external systems. |
| XAD client information... |
XAD is the system used by Voodoo-X to decompress archives. Since XAD is modular you may need to view information on each of the currently installed XAD client modules. Each of these clients handles a particular file format (like LHA, LZX, DMS, ADF, etc.). This menu item allows you to view information on each client. To see a picture of the XAD client window, click on the thumbnail image below:
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| Settings MUI... | This allows you to configure the local MUI settings for Voodoo-X. |
| Hide | Does the GUI annoy you? Using Hide you can tell it to piss off, nicely of course. :-) |
| Quit | Need I state the obvious? :-) |
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The second menu is the Archive menu, this menu allows you to manipulate the currently loaded archive(s). |
| Open... |
Selecting this menu item allows you to open one or more archives for browsing. A multiselect file requester will be opened, after you have selected the archives you want to load, a progress window will be displayed and each archive will be added to the history list. To browse the archives you've just loaded, press the history list popup button in the main window. |
| Close |
Selecting this will close the currently loaded archive, freeing some memory resources and unlocking it. if you have more than one archive loaded, then the contents of the next archive will be displayed. |
| Copy to... |
Sometimes it can be handy to make a copy of an archive. When triggered, this menu item will open a destination file requester. From here you can select a desination file, Voodoo-X will then copy the currently selected archive to this new destination. |
| Move to... |
This is similar to the Copy to... menuitem, but the original archive is deleted after copying. Voodoo-X needs to rescan the archive after it has been moved to it's new location. |
| Delete from disk... |
Extracted all of the file you need out of the archive and don't need it anymore? If this is the case, then you can delete the unneeded archive using this menu item. This feature is especially useful for "download" directories, because you can quickly get rid of an archive after you've obtained it's contents. |
| Select all |
Select all of the entries in the currently loaded archive. |
| Select none |
Clear all of the selected entries in the currently loaded archive. |
| Select pattern... |
This opens up a small window which gives you more control over file selection, using AmigaDOS wildcards. The window looks like this:
The Select Pattern button will tell Voodoo-X to select each entry, depending on the contents of the Pattern string gadget. Clear all is provided for convenience. Pressing it will clear all of the currently selected entries. |
| Extract selected... |
Selecting this will extract all of the selected entries to the destination drawer, which you can specify in the main window. |
| Extract all |
This is the same as Extract selected..., but instead allows you to quickly extract all entries to the selected destination drawer. |
| Clear archive history... |
If you're getting a bit low on memory you can call this. It will clear the archive history list. It will also unlock all of the loaded archives, allowing you to delete them with another external tool, like a file manager. |
| Check for viruses |
When activated, this handy feature will check every file in the archive for viruses. It will throw up a warning requester if it finds any. For this feature to work, you need xvs.library installed. See the Requirements section for more information. Click on the thumbnail image below to see an example of the virus checking progress window.
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Disclaimer
FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS DISCLAIMER, "SOFTWARE" REFERS TO ALL THE FILES PROVIDED IN THE ORIGINAL ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTED BY THE AUTHOR.
THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ALL WHO USE THIS SOFTWARE.
THE AUTHOR HAS DONE HIS BEST TO ENSURE THAT THIS SOFTWARE IS FREE FROM DEFECTS, ALTHOUGH THE AUTHOR CANNOT GUARANTEE THIS. THE AUTHOR HEREBY REJECTS ANY LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE OR OTHER CONSEQUENCES FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE. THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGE TO YOUR EQUIPMENT, TO YOUR DATA, TO OTHER COMPUTERS / DEVICES YOUR COMPUTER IS CONNECTED TO, PERSONNAL INJURY, FINANCIAL LOSS OR OTHER EFFECTS.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS-IS. THIS MEANS THE AUTHOR CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT IT IS FIT FOR ANY SPECIFIC PURPOSE AND THE AUTHOR DOES NOT GUARANTEE BUG FIXES, UPDATES OR HELP DURING ERROR RECOVERY.
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
Copyright
Voodoo-X is Copyright © 2000 Andrew Bell. All rights reserved. Voodoo-X is FREEWARE and is provided "AS IS".
Although Voodoo-X is FREEWARE, xadmaster.library and MUI are SHAREWARE. Please consider registering both and show your support for Amiga software.
Voodoo-X wouldn't be possible without the following third-party software:
xadmaster.library |
Copyright © 1998-2000 Dirk Stöcker. |
muimaster.library |
Copyright © 1992-2000 Stefan Stuntz. |
NList MUI custom class |
Copyright © 1996-2000 Gilles Masson. |
wbstart.library |
Copyright © 1992-1996 Stefan Becker. |
xvs.library |
Copyright © 1997-2000 Georg Hörmann. |
Special thanks to the above programmers, for their hard work.
Contact
I can be email directly at: andrew.ab2000@bigfoot.com. Normally you can expect a reply within a few hours. Although if you mail me between 9am-5pm (GMT) on weekdays please expect a delay, because I'll probably be at work. ;)
To get the latest version of Voodoo-X and to see my other work you can visit my website at www.andrewb.exl.co.uk