All files contained within this ARC are Copyright (c) 1990 Double Click Software All rights Reserved This is a demonstration version of the DC DESKTOP GEM desktop enhancement package from Double Click Software. Distribution of these demonstration files is permitted, only if this accompanying text file is included in the ARC file in its entirety without any alterations. ------- WELCOME ------- Welcome to DC DESKTOP! DC DESKTOP is a series of programs designed to enhance the GEM desktop. Included in this DEMO ARC are the files: DC DESKTOP : DCDSKTOP.PRG - main program DC Configurator : DCCONFIG.PRG - allows you to configure the different programs of DC DESKTOP DC Icon Installer : DCINSTAL.PRG - installs desktop icons and allows for the loading of CABINET and DESKTOP files DC ICE : DCICE.PRG - DC DESKTOP ICon Editor DC Show ARC : DCSHOARC.PRG - DC desktop 'SHOW' module which allows viewing/extracting of ARC files DC Desk Drop : DCDSKDRP.PRG - replace the desktop with a pattern or picture DC Spooler : DCSPOOL.PRG - DC Desktop printer spooler Not icluded in this demo, but part of the DC DESKTOP package are: DC Show Pics : DCSHOPIC.PRG - DC desktop 'SHOW' module which allows viewing of many different picture formats and image files. DC Show : DCSHOW.PRG - DC desktop 'SHOW' module which allows viewing of text files DC KeyTop : DCKEYTOP.ACC - GEM desktop menu entries via keystrokes Icon File : DCDSKTOP.ICE - DC Desktop icon file - contains upwards of 75 new icons Also, included are a bootup selector (SuperBoot), a command line interface (Gulam), and a fully working demo of QuickST 2.0! ------------------- What is DC DESKTOP? ------------------- "The GEM desktop just got better!" DC DESKTOP, a new product from Double Click Software, enhances the GEM desktop like no other program before it. DC DESKTOP does not replace the GEM desktop like other programs, but adds features the GEM desktop lacks. Maintaining 100% compatibility with all software and not requiring you to learn a new interface. These features include: * Unique icons for all files and drives (You can import NeoDesk icons!) * Install programs and files for execution directly from the desktop. * Execute desktop icons (programs) with a keystroke. * A unique 'CABINET' allows you to store all your programs in one location so you don't have to wade through disks and folders. Acts just like a disk drive. Also, load/save cabinets with a key press. * A printer queue that acts like a RAMdisk, drag files to it, show info... Also buffers screen dumps and regular printing! * A trashcan that lets you 'undelete' files. * Replace the GEM desktop with a picture or pattern. * Keystroke equivalents for all GEM desktop menu commands. * Change the desktop layout (load a DESKTOP.IN?) with the press of a key. * Replaces the GEM desktop 'Show' text file routine. No need to 'Install Application' any more, just click on 'Show.' * View pictures from the desktop 'Show' routine. * Extract and list ARC files from the desktop 'Show' routine. * Modular design allows you to conserve precious system memory! Don't need a feature? Don't install it and save memory! * Completely configurable. * Fast! Everything remains RAM resident for *FAST* execution! * Much More. The DC DESKTOP GEM desktop enhancement will debut at the World of Atari Show in Anaheim, CA on April 7 & 8, 1990. If you are going, please stop by and see us! Retail price is $39.95. As a special offer, Double Click Software is offering a 'bounty.' Send your ORIGINAL NeoDesk (1) disk to Double Click Software and $20 (plus shipping and handling, $2 in USA, $5 foreign), and you will get the DC DESKTOP program, complete documentation and full support. This offer expires May 31, 1990. Double Click Software P.O. Box 741206 Houston, Texas 77274-1206 Phone inquiries: (713)645-3759 Support BBS: (713)944-0108 GENIE: M.VEDERMAN2 CompuServe: 76356,2510 UseNet: uace0@uhnix2.uh.edu BITNET: uace0@uhupvm1 ------------------- Setting up the disk ------------------- To get started, place the files DCDSKTOP.PRG - must be the first program to run. DCINSTAL.PRG DCDSKDRP.PRG DCSHOARC.PRG DCSPOOL.PRG in the AUTO folder. This demo has been designed to work from a floppy disk, but will work if you install it on your hard disk. Next, create a directory called DCDSKTOP on your floppy. Next, create a directory called TRASH on your floppy. Copy the programs DCICE.PRG and DCCONFIG.PRG to the DCDSKTOP directory. Lastly, copy the file DESKTOP.INF to the root directory. ---------- DC DESKTOP ---------- DC Desktop DEMO has the following configurations built-in to the DEMO: Pressing the CONTROL key while deleting a file(s) will move it to the TRASH. Icons will not be unloaded when a program is executed (always resident). (The demo program and demo DC ICE have the icons built-in). Disk drives will be displayed using the ICON TEXT to match against an icon. Disk drive letters are not displayed. Old files in the TRASH will be deleted on a name conflict. F1 calls the file selector F2 calls the Icon Installer F3 empties the TRASH F5 calls DC ICE F6 calls DC DESK DROP -------------- Icon Installer -------------- In order to install an icon onto the desktop you need to call up the DC Icon Installer. NOTE: DCINSTAL.PRG can also be run from the desktop and does not need to be memory resident! Press F2 and you will be presented with an empty list. Click on one of the empty slots and you will be presented with a file selector. You can choose either a program or a file. If you choose a file, then you will be presented with another file selector asking you to select a program that the file will be passed to (as a parameter). For example, you could click on a .DOC file and then choose a word processor, and the .DOC file will be passed to the word processor when you 'execute' that file. This way you can have document files on the desktop. You also have the choice of setting up a parameters box before the program is run, or presenting an exit prompt after the program terminates, but before it completely returns to the desktop or chains to a file. You can also choose a program or file to chain to. Click on SET and you will be presented with a file selector that you can use to choose a program or file. If you choose a file/program already installed, it will be used and any options or chain files it uses will be used, ad infinitum... You can also change the entry (SET PATH) or remove the entry. In the upper right corner, you will see a blank white box. Click on the box and you will be asked to enter a keystroke that can be used to execute that program from the desktop. Once you have chosen a program, you will also see the best fit icon that represents that file. If you wish to change the icon, or create a new one, then you can click on the icon and DC ICE will be run. NOTE: DC ICE can also go into the AUTO folder and run as a resident program. When DC ICE comes up, it will be ready for editing the best fit icon, and will display the icon with the text of the installed file. Click on OKAY if you like this entry. Click on CANCEL otherwise. Load/Save Choices ----------------- Once back at the main menu, you can also choose to save this desktop out as one of 11 files. Click on SAVE DESKTOP to do this. The white boxes above the buttons can hold descriptions of the file (so you can know what it contains and represents). Double click on a description box to save out the description. When you choose save, a new DESKTOP.IN? and a file containing the path and configuration information of that desktop would be saved. You can also load a new desktop in a similar fashion. Clear All --------- Clear All will clear all the entries. Set Path -------- Set path will set the path used to load and save certain files (as well as execute DC ICE if it is not resident). If you run DC INSTALLER more than once (or run it if it is installed) you will notice another button which will allow you to chain to the other install. Whereas this is not useful currently, it will be used to allow for several different programs to be chained to that specific key. CABINET and PRINTER ------- ------- Click on these buttons to install a CABINET and/or PRINTER icon onto the desktop. OKAY ---- Click on OKAY to install the icons on the desktop. Once at the desktop, you can double click an icon to run it, or press the keystrokes you defined. CANCEL ------ Click on CANCEL to cancel any changes made. NOTE: YOU MUST NEVER DELETE OR INSTALL A PROGRAM ICON USING THE GEM DESKTOP 'INSTALL DISK DRIVE...' ENTRY UNDER 'OPTIONS' DOING SO WILL NOT RESULT IN THE CORRECT FILES BEING GENERATED. ------ DC ICE ------ DC ICE is a full-featured icon editor. It is unbelievably powerful. It is more of a paint program than an icon editor. We use our own icon file format, and in fact, the icon file format is intelligent in two ways: 1) Duplicate icons are not duplicated in the file. Each filename in the icon file also contains an index into an icon table, therefore duplicate icons are really only stored once with multiple links. This really means much smaller icon files for you! 2) Each filename entry has a weight factor. What this means is that certain files will match before others (ie - *.PR? before *.*) The icon editor, besides being an extremely powerful editor, has some very extraordinary features: 1) When you save the icon file out, the files are automatically assigned a weight factor, therefore you can add icons and not worry about where in the file they are located. They will automatically be placed into the correct position for pattern matching. 2) You can import icons from NeoDesk icon files, and you can also import icons from resource files. 3) You can search for an icon in the list. Play around with it and see for yourself. ------------ DC DESK DROP ------------ Press F6 to call up DC DESK DROP. Choose PATTERN then OKAY to choose a pattern to display on the desktop. Choose PICTURE then OKAY, then choose a file format and choose OKAY and select the file. You can use the same filename base for .P?2 and .P?3 files, and the correct file will be displayed according to the resolution. Choose NORMAL for no pattern or picture. Select the DESK button so the PATTERN or PICTURE will only be displayed at the desktop, not when a program is executed. ----------- DC SHOW ARC ----------- Double click on an ARC file (in fact this one is good) and choose 'SHOW' and you will get a VERBOSE listing of the ARC file. You can choose EXTRACT VERBOSE or QUIT. Extract is, of course, disabled for the demo. The configurator will allow you to set up the bootup default and choose whether to create a directory with the same name as the ARC for extraction. ---------- DC SPOOLER ---------- DC SPOOLER is extremely unique. For the DEMO, it is installed as DRIVE O. With the icon on the desktop, you can drag files to it for printout. The DEMO limits it to 4K. DC SPOOLER will also buffer printouts from within programs (or you can save the file to drive O from within the program) and DC SPOOLER will also buffer a screen dump (if it's configured to 64K). You can perform a show info on the drive to see information about it, including the current file being printed. ----------- The CABINET ----------- The CABINET is an *exclusive* featue of DC DESKTOP. The CABINET for the DEMO has certain limits. You can only have 64 unique files in the CABINET, and you can only have 15 folders. You can also *NOT* have more than 30 files in any folder. Just drag a file or program to the CABINET and that's it! For programs, you don't need to copy the resource or information files, or nothing, just copy the program to it. Now you can double click on it to execute it just the same as if you were executing it from its original location. You can also drag files to the CABINET. You can 'SHOW' the files, you can 'OPEN' the files from a word processor, and even 'SAVE' changes back out to the CABINET file and all the changes will be saved to the original file. You can only DRAG COPY programs or files to the CABINET from the DESKTOP, you cannot copy files to it from UIS. The DEMO installs the CABINET as DRIVE P:. You can load CABINETS by pressing CONTROL + to load a file of the name: DCDSKTOP.CA? where ? is the numeric keypad number, or if you choose '.' it loads the default DCDSKTOP.CAB file. DCDSKTOP.CAB will be loaded on bootup. Pressing CONTROL+LEFT SHIFT save the CABINET files. ------------- DESKTOP FILES ------------- Pressing ALTERNATE + will load different DESKTOP.IN? files, where ? is the numeric keypad number, or '.' for DESKTOP.INF ------------ Configurator ------------ Run the configurator to assign keys, toggle options, assign drive letters, configure sizes, etc. for the different desktop files. DC DESKTOP is designed such that when you make a configurator change, the resident programs are immediately updated with the new configuration (so you don't have to reboot!) ------------- IN A NUTSHELL ------------- Well, in a NUTSHELL, that's all the programs in this demo. Many more features are present than described. The other programs in the package are also quite nice! To tell you the truth, we have plans for several other modules, but frankly, we could've spent another 6 months programming before this would ever see the light of day! --------------------- Programmers take note --------------------- DC DESKTOP also has a unique 'registration' feature that allows a program to be installed in the AUTO folder, and register a keystroke to be used to jump to the program. DC DESKDROP uses this technique. We have included sample code so you can see how easy it is! ------------ DISCLAIMER ------------ Double Click Software will not use any NeoDesk software that it aquires pursuant to this offer. This offer is not intended to be a solicitation by Double Click Software of any act or ommission on the part of an offeree which would violate any contractual or other obligations to which such offeree may be subject.