____________________________________________________________________ NoteIt! Version 1.4 _______ by Ryan J. Bruner December, 1993 ____________________________________________________________________ Welcome to NoteIt!, a Post-It style notepad program for the Commodore Amiga. Requires Workbench 2.0 or greater. I. Why did I write it? II. What does it do? III. What is to come? IV. Who to contact? V. Acknowledgements I. Why did I write it? _______________________ I have always felt that the Amiga needed a Post-ItŠ style notepad. Apparently, due to responses from NoteIt! users, others have also felt it is a need as well. So, needless to say, I wrote one for myself. Admittedly, I haven't needed such a program very often for myself. I originally started this project to teach myself more about programming for Amiga intuition. I've had so much fun with it, plus enough of responses to deem continue improving it. Note: I cannot be responsible for any system crashes caused by this program. :-) I just hope they don't happen! I have tried to thoroughly test this. II. What does it do? ____________________ NoteIt!'s features include multiple page editing, window minimizing, auto-save of notes, font-sensitivity, and custom size and location of the window. NoteIt! version 1.4 provides several new features. Graphical buttons, font-specification through a font requester, auto-minimizing window, and the ability to paste from the system clipboard are some of the new features. A. Startup B. Tooltypes C. Using NoteIt! D. Configuration A. Startup ___________ NoteIt! requires at least Workbench 2.0 to run. NoteIt! can be started by either the CLI, or from the Workbench. Several parameters are supported to configure NoteIt!. These parameters are the same for the CLI as for the Workbench Tooltypes. B. Tooltypes _____________ The following Tooltypes can either be used as a CLI parameter, or as a Tooltype set through NoteIt!'s icon information. It is important to note that Tooltypes override any of the saved configuration information. The Tooltypes are as follows: TOP You can specify the where the top of the NoteIt! window will open using this Tooltype. For example, to open the window 100 pixels from the top of the screen, use "TOP=100". The default position is 20. LEFT Similar to TOP, except you can specify where the left edge of the window will open. Default position is 20. WIDTH Using WIDTH tells NoteIt! how many pixels across the window should be. For example, to to have a window 300 pixels across, use "WIDTH=300". Default is 100. HEIGHT Similar to WIDTH, except you can specify the number of pixels up and down that can be displayed. If you specify fewer than the default, then NoteIt! will use the default. Actual default varies with font size.. PUBSCREEN You can specify which Public screen NoteIt! will open on with this Tooltype. If the Public screen does not exist, then it will default to the Workbench. CONFIGFILE This is the file and pathname of where to save the configuration file. The default path is the directory where NoteIt! was started from. NOTEFILE This is the file and pathname of where to save the note file. The default path is the program directory of NoteIt!. *** Important *** Previously the default note file path was found in ENVARC:noteit.notes. This is no longer the case. The current default location for the notes is now PROGDIR:noteit.notes. If you require to read the old notefile, either set the NOTEFILE ToolType, or else copy the notefile from the ENVARC: directory to the program directory. Example of use: To open NoteIt! with a top edge at 100, and left edge at 100 from the CLI, you would enter: NoteIt! TOP=100 LEFT=100 C. Using NoteIt! ________________ Once NoteIt! is open, you can simply start typing text. NoteIt! automatically word-wraps text, so there is no need to use the return key for each paragraph. Because of this, NoteIt! also knows when you start a new paragraph with the return key so that if you change the size of the window, the text will not wrap awkwardly. NoteIt! supports multiple pages in the window, allowing you to leave yourself several messages with only one NoteIt! program running. Therefore, NoteIt! will only allow you to run one at a time. This is necessary since having more than one running could erase the notes in the note file with the notes of another. See below for more on the note files. The multiple pages can be controlled either by the window gadgets, or through the menus. C.1 Menus C.2 Gadgets C.3 Saving C.1 Menus __________ Project menu: About NoteIt!... I'm sure you can figure out what it does! :-) Minimize Shortcut: Amiga-M Choosing this item, or clicking on the size gadget of the window will minimize the window to the size of the title bar. All functions are disabled except for the system gadgets this way. Click on the size gadget to return to the previous size and location. Quit Shortcut: Amiga-Q This will quit out of NoteIt!, saving any remaining notes. (see section about saving notes below). Using the Close gadget will perform the same function. Edit menu: Paste Shortcut: Amiga-V This will paste any text that is in the system clipboard to the current page. Page menu: Add Page Shortcut: Amiga-A Choosing "add page" will create a new empty page to type into. Delete Page Shortcut: Amiga-D Choosing "delete page" will delete the current page, and advance to the next page. If the current page is the only page, then a requester will say you can't delete that page. Next Page Shortcut: Amiga-N Choosing "next page" will advance to the next page, if one exists. Prev Page Shortcut: Amiga-P Choosing "prev page" will move back to the previous page, if one exists. Settings menu: Font... Shortcut: Amiga-F Opens a font requester which allows you to select any non-proportional font. The font requester also allows you to choose a font color, as well as background color. The background color is the color of the page. Default font is Topaz 8. Autominimize Shortcut: Amiga-Z When set, this will cause the NoteIt! window to automatically minimize when the window is not selected. If you want it to return to full size, then click on the Zoom gadget in the upper right-hand corner of the window. Default is off. Small to start Shortcut: Amiga-S If this item is selected, then the next time you start up NoteIt!, it will automatically shrink down to a small size. You must save the settings for this item to take affect for the next time you start NoteIt!. Default is off. Button Bar Shortcut: Amiga-B When this item is selected, the navigation buttons will appear in the NoteIt! window. If it is not selected, then no buttons will appear. Default is on. Save settings Saves the font and page color settings into the configuration file. C.2 Gadgets ___________ There are four gadgets in the NoteIt! window, provided that you have the button bar turned on. Add Page is represented by a graphic of a page. Delete Page has a crossed-out page. Previous Page is an arrow pointing to the left. Next page is represented by an arrows pointing to the right. Each of the page functions match the respective menu items under the Page menu. You can also minimize the window to just the title bar by clicking on the Zoom Gadget. While the window is minimized to only a title bar, menu functions, as well as keyboard input is disabled. Just click the Zoom Gadget again to restore the window back to its original size and location. C.3 Saving __________ NoteIt! also will save your notes between power cycles. All notes will be stored in a file, found either in the program directory when NoteIt! is located, or the file specified by the NOTEFILE tooltype. Every time NoteIt! is run, if a note file exists, it will read the file and display the first one in the window. Use Next Page, or Previous Page to view any other notes. NoteIt! also saves the notes after approximately 10 seconds of inactivity, or if the NoteIt! window becomes inactive by selecting another window. Leaving NoteIt! running until shutting power off will not lose messages unless you shut off the power prior to the 10 second time period. Once you close the NoteIt! window, either through the close gadget, or through the menu item "Quit", it will save any messages. D. Configuration _________________ Configuring NoteIt! can occur through the use of Tooltypes and the Settings menu. Options for fonts, autominimizing, starting NoteIt! in minimized form, and having the button bar all are set using the menus. Size and position of window, public screen, and the filenames for the configuration and notefiles are all set using Tooltypes. Once these configuration items are set, they can be saved using the Save Settings... item from the Settings menu. Note that the Tooltypes will override anything you have saved in the configuration file. The size and position of the window will be saved when you save settings. Simply position the window anywhere on the screen prior to saving the settings will then cause that position to be saved. If you wish to not use the Tooltypes in the icon, but as CLI parameters only once, then you may do so, and then save the settings. From then on, the window will open in the same location. III. What is to come? _____________________ I do plan to continue working on NoteIt! at least until this summer. While I have a list of features I would like to add, I do not guarantee that any of them will appear. My current plans for future versions include: o Ultimately replacing all TOOLTYPES with a configuration window within the program. o Support for the copying to the system clipboard o The ability to scroll the text in a window without using the keyboard. o Ability to insert cursor with mouse. o ARexx port. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated. IV. Who to contact? ___________________ I can be contacted through electronic mail at the following address: rbruner@engin.umich.edu or through snail mail at: Ryan J. Bruner 3075 Whisperwood Dr. Apt. 448 Ann Arbor, MI 48105 USA V. Acknowledgements ___________________ I first would like to thank Christopher Wolf, a.k.a. cwolf on the IRC (chris@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu), for the ParseParameters function so I could support Tooltypes. Thanks to my beta testers, Xed, Dense, JanusMan, Timmer, colins, and DrDemento, all from the IRC. I would also like to thank Martyn Knapton, a.k.a. B-Trayor on the IRC, for the NoteIt! icon. He designed several, but I could only use the smallest version until I find a way to use larger images in IconEdit. I would like to thank all the guys on #amiga for all the assistance they have provided while programming this. Thanks, especially, to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! God bless us all!