DMS-Face by Pat Seguin, Copyright 1994
Version 1.1 - February 25, 1994
Welcome to DMS-Face v1.1, the ultimate DiskMasher interface! Alot of work has
gone into making this program a GUI-lover's dream! No longer do you have to
type long lines of commands to decompress, compress, view, or test your DMS
archives. Everything can be achieved with the mouse.
I crashed my hard drive a while back and lost some of my most useful utilities
which included a DMS GUI. I had the resources to make my own interface to do
the work for me so I decided to take on this project. I decided that the usual
4-color interfaces for many Amiga utilities were kind of boring so I decided to
use the MagicWB XEN style and colors. Because of the wide exceptance of
MagicWB, I felt that leaving this program's GUI as is would be exceptable to
most users. If there is a call for it, I will release another version with a
standard 4-color interface.
Features of DMS-Face:
--------------------
* Enhanced 8-color custom GUI using the popular MagicWB XEN style.
* Full support for all command-line arguments of DMS.
* Preferences editor for defining DMS command and default directories.
* Full GUI for every DMS function; Write, Read, Test, View
Requirements for DMS-Face:
-------------------------
* OS 2.04 or better (designed under OS 3.0)
* An Amiga with 1MB of RAM
* Workbench running at least 3 bitplanes (8 colors) with MagicWB palette
scheme (supplied in archive). NOTE: Will work with less than 3 bit-
planes but will be hard to read.
* DMS v1.11
Installation:
------------
1.) 'Antique' font is no longer needed as in v1.0. You do however need to have
XHelvetica and XEN fonts that were supplied with MagicWB. These are NOT
included in this archive.
2.) Copy DMS-Face anywhere you like.
That's it! The program will use it's internal defaults until you change the
settings in the prefrences editor. See PREFERENCES for more information.
The Program:
-----------
Double-click the DMS-Face icon and you will be presented with the (pain-in-
the-butt) DeckRunner delay window and then the DMS-Face window in WRITE mode.
If you have never used DMS-Face before, then the internal defaults will be used
to locate DMS, and for all of the default directories. You should go right to
the preferences editor before using DMS-Face and define your paths. See the
PREFERENCES section.
Note: When you first start the program, or if there is no filename selected,
certain buttons and gadgets in every mode will be 'ghosted' or unavailable.
You must select a DMS file before you can change any options or click 'Start'.
Also Note: DMS-Face 1.0 had editable text-string fields for filenames. DMS-
Face 1.1 does NOT. I wanted to use only XHelvetica font and CanDo does not
support proportional fonts in string gadgets. I can justify this by saying
that if you want to type, use DMS from CLI!
WRITE MODE
----------
The SOURCE field is where the name of the file you wish to decompress should go.
Youuse the popfile gadget to the left of the text field to get the name.
You will be presented with an ASL file requester asking for the filename and
only filenames ending with '.DMS' will be shown.
NOTE: The source field only displays the filename you are working with. If you
want to see the full filename with the path, double-click on the filename and
a window will open giving you pertitnent information.
The OPTIONS area corresponds to the available options for DMS in WRITE mode.
Please read your DMS documentation for more information on these options.
When the option is active, there will be a checkmark displayed next to it.
The DEST area displays the device where the file will be decompressed to.
The gadget is a popup gadget, not a popfile gadget. This means that when you
click on it, a list will pop up giving you four choices for the destination:
DF0:, DF1:, DF2:, and RAD:. Clicking the popup gadget again or any other
gadget will make the popup window go away, changing nothing.
The CONTROL area contains the buttons PREFS, START, QUIT, !, and the mode switch
START
-----
START will prompt you to insert a disk in the device you have selected. MAKE
SURE YOU DO THIS NOW. If you hit 'OK' and there is no disk present, DMS will go
ahead and start writing and possibly damage your drive. After inserting your
disk and clicking 'OK', a console window will open and DMS will start
decompressing the file. Depeneding on you preferences settings, the console
window will either close right away or stay open, waiting for you to close it.
If RAD: is your selected drive, then a requester will pop up and tell you to
make sure you have mounted RAD: already. It will also mount RAD: for you when
you click 'Mount'. If you click 'OK' and RAD: is mounted, DMS will start
decompressing the DMS file to RAD:. If RAD: is not mounted and you click 'OK'
anyways, DMS will start writing to DF0:. This is the way DMS works so make sure
you either mount RAD: first or click 'Mount'. After clicking 'Mount', RAD: will
be mounted and you will return to DMS-Face. Click start again and click 'OK' and
away you go.
Every mode of DMS-Face has the following buttons:
PREFS
-----
Clicking the PREFS button will take you to the preferences editor. See the
PREFERENCES section for information.
TOGGLE MODE
-----------
This is the gadget that that looks just like a switch. Clicking on this switch
will toggle between WRITE mode and READ mode, bringing up the proper interface.
The '!' button above this switch will switch you to TEST/VIEW mode.
READ MODE
---------
The DESTINATION field works the same as WRITE mode's SOURCE field. In READ
mode, the DESTINATION field selects the path and filename you wish to compress
the disk to. You use the popfile gadget to select the filename. If you select
or type in a filename that exists already, a requester will ask you before
overwriting it. You may double-click on the name in the destination field
to get more information on the file.
The TEXT FILE field lets you select and optional text file to compress with
your new DMS file. By default, the requester will look first in your S:
directory or else it will look in the directory specified in the preferences
editor under 'Text File Path'. You may double-click on the name in the text
file field to get more information on the text file.
The LOW TRACK and HIGH TRACK slider gadgets correspond to the LOWTRACK and
HIGHTRACK options of DMS. This allows you to split your disk into more than
one DMS file.
The OPTIONS area corresponds to the available options for DMS in READ mode.
Please read your DMS documentation for more information on these options.
When the option is active, there will be a checkmark displayed next to it.
The SOURCE field displays the drive specified in the preferences files. This
is where DMS will read from.
The CONTROL area contains the same buttons as write mode. Start will begin the
DMS READ operation. This operation brings up the same requesters as the START
button in WRITE mode. See WRITE mode for an explanation. Clicking OK will
open a console window and DMS will begin compressing right away from the defined
LOWTRACK to the defined HIGHTRACK.
VIEW MODE
---------
The SOURCE filed contains the name of the DMS file to view. If you have
previously selected a filename in WRITE mode, that filename will be displayed
here. Manual entry or the popfile gadget can get a new filename to view.
The START button will begin the DMS VIEW operation right away.
TEST MODE
---------
TEST MODE works identically to VIEW MODE except the START button will begin
the DMS TEST operation right away.
STATUS SECTION
--------------
This is a simple window that gives you messages about what DMS-Face is doing.
PREFERENCES EDITOR
------------------
Here is where you define all of the variable needed by DMS-Face to operate
properly on your system. You may only use the popfile gadgets here. Manual
text entry will have no effect except for in the Source/Dest drive field.
DMS COMMAND is where you tell DMS-Face what command to use for DMS. The
default is c:DMS but not everybody keeps DMS in their C: directory, so
that may be changed here. This should contain the path and filename of
DMS. Note that DMS v1.52 and up may not function properly at the moment.
DMS FILES DIRECTORY tells DMS-Face where to look first for your DMS files.
The ASL file requester will open to this directory with the #?.DMS pattern.
This is SYS: by default.
TEXT FILES directory tells DMS-Face where to look first for your text files
to compress with a DMS archive in READ mode. This is S: by default.
DEST/SOURCE drive is where you tell DMS-Face what device to use for WRITE
and READ operations. WARNING! If what you enter here is not a valid
trackdisk device, like DF0:, DF1:, RAD:, the DMS will use DF0: by default,
regardless if there is a disk in DF0: or not. So, make sure you enter the
name of a device that you have or that is active. If you enter RAD:, make
sure RAD: is mounted. DMS-Face will give you the option to mount RAD: when
you click START if RAD: is entered here. In the future, there will be
support for DMS v1.53 which allows you to use a hard disk location instead
of just trackdisk devices.
CONSOLE AUTO/CLOSE section contains a row of switches labeled with the diff-
erent DMS-Face operations. These switches control whether the output console
windows will close automatically or manually by the user. The upright position
(A) is for AutoClose, the down position (C) is for Close(manual). By default,
all windows AutoClose.
SAVE will save everything currently displayed in the text fields to
S:DMSFACE.CFG.
USE will remember what was entered in the text fields but not save them to
disk. This is useful for temporarily changing some of your default paths
and DEST/SOURCE drive.
CANCEL will exit preferences and return to the last remembered settings.
Clicking any of the above buttons will return you to the window you just left
from when you clicked the preferences button.
Clicking the right mouse button will load the last saved preferences settings
from disk. If there are none on disk, then the internal defaults will be
restored.
KNOWN PROBLEMS
--------------
Clicking 'OK' from the START operation will launch DMS and it will start doing
its thing even if there's no disk in the drive. This is potentially dangerous
but hitting CTRL-C in the output window will break the operation. I am working
on this but as it is, DMS has enough safeguards so there should be no problems.
I won't take any responsibililty for any damaged incurred while using DMS-Face.
If the program's instructions are followed, there will be no problems. I should
have this problem eliminated in the next release.
The console window displayed at startup is not under my control. Innovatronics
has a new licensing policy for software written with CanDo. I received a
freely distributable version of DeckBrowser (which is bound into DMS-Face)
which displays this message. It's not too long and only displays upon
startup. Hopefully, they will take out the console window in a future version.
Bug reports can be sent to me via FidoNet at 1:260/158 (Pat Seguin).
DMS-Face is FREEWARE. It may be distributed anywhere as long as the archive is
left intact with all current files. No money can be made from its dist-
ribution with the exception of copying fees for PD collections (i.e. Fred Fish)
CREDITS
-------
Many thanks go to David Czaya for testing this for me and for all of his
suggestions. Without his help, this program may never have seen the light
of day.
MagicWorkbench is by Martin Huttenloher. Thanks Martin!
HISTORY
-------
v1.0 (2/15/94) First version released to public.
v1.1 (2/25/94) Second version released to public.
Changes:
* Overhauled interface to blend better with MagicWB. Used XHelvetica.font and
XEN.font where appropriate.
* Changed text button imagery (Start, Prefs, etc.) to use new XEN style and
XHelvetica font.
* Changed checkmark gadget imagery.
* Changed 'Switch' imagery. Bigger and better, IMHO.
* Changed slider knob imagery in READ mode. LowTrack and HighTrack text is now
displayed in white on dark grey in the XEN font.
* Changed drive popfile gadget to a popup gadget. This now pops up a list of
drives you can choose from to use with DMS. Most people will not have more
than 3 drives so I put in DF0:, DF1:, DF2:, and RAD:. DMS won't let you
write to anything other than a trackdisk device so I saw no need to have a
file requester anymore.
* ALL string gadgets are gone now. I did this because the string gadgets ONLY
use topaz.font and I wanted everything to be in 'XEN' fonts. Everything is
achieved using mouse only now. I think that's the way it should be. If you
want to type, use DMS from CLI. ;)
* Added double-click function to all filename fields to give more information
to the user.
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