Amiga Toolbar 2.1.3 FAQ ----------------------- This document was written after I found a big bug in the ATB package. This is a FAQ, a 'Frequently Asked Question' solver. Well, the most frequently and only question I got was this: Q: I CAN'T GET ATB RUNNING. WHY ? A: Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, ... I've included the WRONG documentation to ATB. The included ATB 2.0 documentation does not describe the features of ATB 2.1.3, and the 2.1.3 version is absolutly different from the 2.0 release (uhh, confusing numbers..) Starting Amitoolbar ------------------- Before you run ATB, make sure you have created a preferences file! It is absolutely needed. Add a program icon to ATB and add this tooltype: CONFIG= or simply start it from the shell by typing > atb CONFIG= ,where is a filename with path to your configfile, like S:AmiToolBar.prefs. THIS FILE IS WATCHED DURING ATB IS RUNNING. If you overwrite the file or delete it and so on, ATB will reread the config file (good for testing configurations; just edit the file and write it back - ATB will reread it) Editing The Configfile ---------------------- The file is a plain textfile. It is parsed LINE BY LINE. It supports COMMENTS, everything after a ';' is ignored until the next line starts (END OF LINE COMMENTS). this is no comment ; this is a comment. The FIRST line of the preferences file contains GLOBAL OPTIONS. The options must match the following standard AmigaDOS template: "T=TOP/N/K,L=LEFT/N/K,W=WIDTH/N/K,MD=MEMORYDISPLAY/S,TD=TITLEDISPLAY/S, CP=COMMANDPANEL/S,MDW=MDWeight/N,TDW=TDWeight/N,CPW=CPWeight/N,CHIP/S,FAST/S, VMEM/S,HISTORY/K" ((If you don't know how to interpret such a string refer to your AmigaDOS handbook)) TOP/LEFT : specify the topleft corner. default is a placement in the : right bottom corner of the screen WIDTH : force a width for the window. you shouldn't do this, MUI : will autolayout the width. A WIDTH=0 makes the window as : small as possible. Default is maximum width (ScreenWidth) MD/TD/CP : Switch on one of the various displays MDW/TDW/CPW : Set a weight for the each display. (affects the 1:1:1 ratio) : (the title display should get a weight triple as much as : the memory display and the commandpanel together) CHIP/FAST/VMEM : switch on what memory types should be displayed. note: VMEM : is only supported by the special VMEM version of ATB. HISTORY : the filename of the comandpanel history. default is a file : placed in S:.history The SECOND line of the preferences file are the titles for the Registers. "REGISTERTITLES/M/A" Example: REGISTERTITLES "First" "Second" "Third" or REGISTERTITLES "" ; NO REGISTERS, ONLY ONE BUTTONBANK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE REGISTERS YOU HAVE TO USE THE EMPTY ("") REGISTERTITLES OPTION !! All following lines describe the buttons of ATB. Because of the register feature, the buttons need to be in blocks. The first block belongs to the first registertitle, the second block to the second registertitle and so on. Each block begins with a BLOCK OPTIONS line, which is parsed with: "NUM=BUTTONS/K/N/A,ROWS/K/N,COLS/K/N,HELP" NUM : the number of buttons following. ATB reads only NUM buttons : from the file into the actual register no matter how many : button descriptors are following. the next register reads : its buttons AFTER the NEXT block options. ROWS/COLS : use x ROWS or x COLS for layouting. don't use both options : at once (only one option is needed, just think about it) HELP : shorthelp text for the register (for the popup bubble) Each BUTTON is described with a line parsed with this template: "TITLE/A,IMG=IMAGE/K,KEY=SHORTCUT/A,CMD=COMMAND/A,PATH/A,STACK/N/A, PRI=PRIORITY/N/A,Q=QUIET/S,WBSTART/S,REMAP/S,TRANS/S,HELP" TITLE : the title of the button IMAGE : if you want to have an image button, you have to select an image : with the image keyword. see "IMAGES" below KEY : specify a shortcut for a button. This should be only ONE char : and is CASE SENSITIVE COMMAND : the command description, like "newshell CON:...". Each command : is started like from shell unless you specify the WBSTART : option. PATH : the path to the command or the application's path STACK : the size of the stack for this command PRIORITY : the priority of the new process (you should always use 0) QUIET : redirect all output to NIL: for this process WBSTART : use the wbstart.library and simulate a Workbench start REMAP/TRANS : unused keywords, read IMAGES below HELP : shorthelp text for this button (bubblehelp..) --------------------------------------- IMAGES: The remapping of images via datatypes was too slow for 30-40 buttons. I'm using NEWICONS and so all my images (.info's) was remapped to the workbench TWICE. So I removed the datatypes code and just loaded the icon and provided it as an image. THIS MEANS YOU CANNOT USE IMAGES THAT ARE NOT AN NEWICON. Sorry for that, but if you still use MWB or similar, just save your MWB icons as newicons. I'm loading the icons with the icon.library, this means you have only to use the name of the image WITHOUT a '.info', like "SYS:Images/AmigaLogo" and NOT "SYS:Images/AmigaLogo.info". Some people wrote me that they're using some other icon.library patches and could only use icons if they provide the full name, like "...Logo.info". So please try both.. (very strange..) ---------------------------------------- Example Preferences Files: ---- BEGIN ---- MD TD CP WIDTH=0 REGISTERTITLES "" ; now the first buttonbank NUM=2 ; only two buttons "Hello" KEY="" COMMAND="newshell" PATH=RAM: STACK=100000 PRI=0 HELP="A simple shell" "World" KEY="" COMMAND="newshell" PATH=RAM: STACK=100000 PRI=0 HELP="A simple shell" ----- END ----- ---- BEGIN ---- MD TP CP REGISTERTITLES "First" "Second" "Third" ; first block of buttons NUM=2 ROWS=1 ; 2 buttons in a row "HDToolBox" IMG="newicons:hdtoolbox" KEY="t" ... WBSTART "MEmacs" IMG="newicons:memacs" KEY="m" ... WBSTART ; the next button is never used since the NUM=2 ! "Dummy" "" "format drive hd0: name empty quick" .... NUM=1 COLS=1 "Dummy Button for the Second Register" "never reached for the second register" ... ----- END ----- In the last example, we haven't provided any buttons for the third register. as MUI is very stable against this, we will get 3 register sliders but cannot access the third register since it is empty. Finally I'll describe the ESCAPE SEQUENCES, as many users does not know them. The MUI text engine supports for ANY texts a couple of ESCAPE sequences just to make text a bit nicer. PLEASE get the MUIxxDEV.lha archive from aminet for further details. Each escape sequence starts off with the ESCAPE character. since many text editors can't insert an escape character, you can use the \e macro for this (*only in ATB, not in a general MUI application..*). Even Newlines (ascii:10) can be used, just type \n whereever you want. \e is the syntax. where is one of: b - bold text on i - italics text on u - underlined text on n - reset text engine to normal c - center text r - right alignment on l - left alignment on 1 2 .. 9 - use pen number (0..9) read MUI developer docs for more details I - use an inline image described by . examples: "\ebthis is bold\enand this is not" "\ecthis is centered" "\ecthis is a centered line\n\erand this is right aligned" The last example looks like this: " this is a centered line " "and this is right aligned " inline images: "\I[5:sys:images/test.ilbm]" uses sys:images/test.ilbm please refer to the mui developer docs! btw.: mui is copyrighted by stefan stuntz. I hope that this document solves many problems. I wrote this document after receiving more than 50 mails complaining about the sh*t I wrote... ;-) and always remember: atb is a trashcan release.. (was not made for the public..) bye, daniel balster