//---------------------------------------------------------------- // deus ex machina // scot shinderman, compuserve 72277, 171 // maintenance release //---------------------------------------------------------------- fixes some bugs (especially one annoying one that doesn't show up on my machine during startup.) 1. fixed a bug in the associations load/save 2. improved error handling in case of very large copies / moves / finds. enjoy. //---------------------------------------------------------------- // deus ex machina (version 0.11235813213455) // scot shinderman, compuserve 72277, 171 //---------------------------------------------------------------- another saturday of bad weather in new york city. so... improvements include a view by option (icon, name, extension...) and better memory / icon file handling. I now use the win.ini file to save the top level window's coordinates along with the drive bay. Icon and program attachments are also saved there. I don't use the fileman section right now due to laziness and also because it generally does not contain the path. Folders that are deleted will disappear from the screen. There is a space in the icon association dialog box for the run associates so that they can be changed by hand. Sorry, I still haven't found out how to rename directories. If anybody has code out there for this it would be greatly appreciated. The letter 'c' cleans up a window, 'i' gives info about the file(s) or folder(s) that are selected, and the del key deletes the selected items. 'a' selects all. You can also set the folders to a few different colors so that some stand out more. Some people requested that the window automatically shows an executable's icons. I found that the time to open a file and parse through its crazy resource scheme was just too slow. In a few clicks you can select an .exe, do a get icons, and then do a set icon. enjoy. p.s. this program is still offered as where-ware. send money where- ever you wish! (suggestion: new york has a huge budget defecit and could probably use a few extra bucks) //---------------------------------------------------------------- // notes from first upload //---------------------------------------------------------------- Enclosed is a program that I wrote over the past couple of weekends. It is a mac-like interface for windows 3.0 that uses the dos tree structure to emulate the finder. Here are some quick notes... You can click and drag icons(& folders) into and out of windows and the appropriate move will take place. (Holding down the control key does a copy). Also during any move/copy you can switch to another program since it time slices on a per-file basis. (So if you copy lots of small files you'll have control most of the time. Copying large files is done in one shot so it will yield much less.) You can also cancel any move/copy in the middle and the program will clean up what it has done. The File Manager that ships with Windows 3.0 does not do this - it just halts and lets you pick up the pieces!!! Since there is no direct provision for binding resources to a file as on the macintosh, d_ex will create a file called "DESKTOP.DSK" to store the information it needs. Right now I store the file in each subdirectory. The resources that are "bound" include icons and descriptions. There is a file stored on the root of the drive which will store a list of icons. You can point to a file and then choose Use Icon... Also, you can set up associations so that an extension will automatically show a certain icon - this is the main way I intended the program to be used. You can bind a description to a file so that the text on the screen has <= 40 characters instead of the 8.3 of DOS. i.e. instead of Q4TH.123 you can have "fourth quarter, (123)" You can automatically have a program run based upon the extension of a file. It's a two step process to do this. First, go into the Icon Association menu. Create the extension you want with the add button. (you can give it a default icon here) Then go into the Run associate menu (after pointing to the program you want to run in one of the windows). A text box will ask for the extension to associate with the program. Voila, - that's it. Now when you double click on a file with the appropriate extension, the original .EXE program will open with the data file. There are some bugs (known to me) that I have not cleaned up yet; most are fairly superficial: 1. Moving a folder to another will not update the descendants of the source folder on the screen (there path changes and therefore they become invalid - the File Manager has the same problem and just says something like "Invalid directory..." ) 2. There is a limit to 555 files per folder. It's just an arbitrary number that I will change one day. 3. There is a limit of 50 associations 4. When you copy a file from one folder to another and it has an icon bound to it by hand, the icon will not show up in the destination folder. This is because the icons are not bound to the file but rather to the DESKTOP.DSK file which does not get updated. 5. I don't know how to rename directories - only files work now. 6. If you delete the assoc or icons.all files, strange things will occur (like crashes) right now - unless you delete all of the DESKTOP.DSK files. Any comments will be appreciated. Send to compuserve # 72277,171 and address to scot. //---------------------------------------------------------------- // end, readme //----------------------------------------------------------------