ToolsDeamon 1.0 User Manual Oct 19, 1991 Preface ======= The programs and files in this distribution are freely distributable, but are also copyright (c) Nico François. They may be freely distributed as long as no more than a nominal fee is charged to cover time and copying costs. No commercial usage is permitted without written permission from the author. Everything in this distribution must be kept together, in original unmodified form. The above is generally known as freeware. If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find any bugs, please let me know. Write to the following address: Nico François Corbielaan 13 B-3060 Bertem BELGIUM These programs only run on Amigas with Kickstart & Workbench 2.0! Contents ======== 1. An introduction 2. Installation 3. Usage 1. An introduction ================== Your Workbench 2.0 manual will tell you: It is possible to run a program by choosing a menu item from the Tools menu of Workbench 2.0. But only if your application software supports this feature. Your application software will have instructions on how to create the new menu item. But what if you want to add programs which do not have this feature? Then there is ToolsDeamon. ToolsDeamon allows you to run programs simply by selecting a menu item from the Tools menu of Workbench 2.0. Shell and Workbench programs are supported, including arguments and tool types for both of these. ToolsPrefs is designed as a preferences editor for the 'Tools' menu. It features a full intuition front-end. ToolsDeamon is the background program that will launch the tools you select from the 'Tools' menu. It is meant to be dragged into the WbStartup drawer so it will automatically be launched on startup. 2. Installation =============== Installation is very easy. Double-click the 'Handler' icon to install 'ToolsDeamon-handler'. Then drag 'ToolsDeamon' to your WbStartup drawer so it will be launched by Workbench each time you reboot. 'ToolsPrefs' requires 'reqtools.library' to run, so make sure this is present in your Libs: directory. Double-click the 'Install_ReqTools' icon for an automatic installation. reqtools.library exists in two versions, one for Kickstart 1.2/1.3 and one for 2.0. Note that only the version for 2.0 is included since ToolsDeamon only runs on Kickstart 2.0 or higher. 'ToolsPrefs' can be dragged to the Prefs drawer of your Workbench, but you can install it anywhere you want. 3. Usage ======== Once everything is installed run the ToolsPrefs program. This will allow you to define the menu items you would like to add to the 'Tools' menu. ToolsPrefs has two lists: 'Menu Items' and 'Commands'. The menu items list corresponds to the text that will appear in the menu items of the Tools menu. Each menu item has its own command list. So by choosing one menu item you can invoke several commands. ToolsPrefs features a full intuition front-end to edit the items and commands lists. Everything is fairly self-explanatory, except maybe the 'Bubble Up' and 'Bubble Down' menu items in the 'Edit' menu. These allow you to change the order of the menu items, by allowing you to move the current item closer to the top ("bubble up") or to the bottom of the list ("bubble down"). Commands can be run as Workbench or Shell commands. Commands indicated as Workbench commands will be loaded and run by ToolsDeamon just as if the Workbench had loaded them. Shell commands will be executed with a command line as if they were run from a Shell (or CLI). ToolsPrefs supports the use of arguments. If you select one or more icons before selecting an item from the 'Tools' menu these files will be passed as arguments. If the command is a Workbench command the arguments will be passed as if you selected some icons and SHIFT-double-clicked the program's icon. For this to work the command has to be followed by '[]' indicating it supports arguments. For example: '(WB ) C:PPMore []'. If the command is a Shell command the arguments will be expanded onto its command line. You should indicate with '[]' where you want the arguments to appear. For example: '(CLI) Type [] HEX'. The integer gadget next to the command string gadget determines the stack size for the command (in case of a Shell command). If the command is launched as a WB tool the stack size will be read from the tool's icon. The easiest way to add an item is to pick up an icon and drop it in ToolsPrefs's window. This will create a new item named after the program with a command list to run the program. Dropping an icon in the 'Commands' listview will not result in the creation of a new item, but in adding a new command to the current command list. When you select 'Save' ToolsPrefs will check if ToolsDeamon is running and will tell it to update the menus if it is. It is therefore advisable to call ToolsPrefs if ToolsDeamon is already up and running. If you have dragged ToolsDeamon to your WbStartup drawer as suggested above it will always be running and you'll have nothing to worry about. Double-clicking the icon of a menu file saved with 'Save As...' will result in adding the menu items to the 'Tools' menu (if ToolsDeamon is already running the previously added menu items will be removed first). NOTE: - ToolsDeamon will search the path for Shell commands, but not for Workbench commands! - Start ToolsDeamon again to quit it. As always, I hope you find these programs useful! PROGRAM HISTORY: ***************************************************************************** VERSION 1.0 First release. ***************************************************************************** ToolsMenu 1.0 written by Nico François (Yes, Nico is my first name :-) thanks to Marc Duponcheel, Jorrit Tyberghein and Peter Stuer for beta-testing and all the useful suggestions, Johan Van Houtven for the editing of this manual. "He was struck by a bullet and he melted into fluid named extinction" - The Pixies (c) 1991 Nico François // Thanks to \X/ Amiga for being the best computer ever !