Amiga Format ReadMe Text This text is the Amiga Format's guide on how to use this program, what this program is, and why. This text should not be distributed with the final release on the CD-ROM (that is to say if you put it on there, but I'm very positive about the fact that it WILL go on :). INTRODUCTION This program is called the AFExtractor. Over the last couple of CDs, the coverdisks have been archived into a directory. There also are a few AmigaDOS scripts to decompress the archives. And the subscribers extractor is really, erm, poor, shall I say? :) So, I decided to do my favourite magazine a favour - I wrote a program (well, two actually) to extract archives neatly and in a well-presented manor. I hope you agree. Shortly, this program replaces those AmigaDOS scripts and CanDo programs (come on...:) with two self-contained programs. One is for Workbench 1.2-1.3 users and the other for Workbench 2.0 and higher. The programs features are as follows: - Supports ALL Amigas from Workbench 1.2 through 3.x. - Has a fully font-sensitive user interface. - Fully keyboard controllable. - User can customise program to their likings, and Amiga Format (that's you) can easily change the programs main settings. - Features a "Coverdisk Description" gadget - Checks destination disks to see if they have stuff on. - Destination drive is configurable - Supports all versions of DMS from 1.0 - Magic Workbench icons (wo, major feature :) - .. and a few more things you'd expect from an extraction program. WHAT AMIGA FORMAT NEEDS TO DO TO GET THIS WORKING Luckily for you, I've done most of the hard work for this. You just keep doing what you usually do - i.e. DMS-up all the disks, and put a password on the Subs disk. And that's it really. The filenames may be tricky, but here's an example (ok, it's not that bad :) If there were coverdisk numbers 800a and 800b, with a subs disk you would call the DMS archives... AF800a.DMS \____ the normal coverdisks AF800b.DMS / AF800c.DMS --- the subs disk Simple! Anyone could do it. But, that's not all. Hidden away in the tooltypes for the AFExtractor program (not the 1.3 version) are some extra options - exclusively for Amiga Format to change, and the user doesn't need to worry about or even know their there. They are: CONWINDOW= e.g. CONWINDOW=CON:20/20/640/100/Hello This allows you to set the console window dimensions and stuff for DOS output. The 1.3 version of the program also uses this parameter as its input and output. Defaults to CON:20/20/640/100/Extracting... DISKS= e.g. DISKS=2 This tells the Extractor how many disks there are. Do not include the subs disk in this total - just the normal coverdisks. Defaults to 2. DMSEXEC= e.g. DMSEXEC=AFCD6:c/UnDMS Use this parameter to instruct where the DMS executable is to use in the decompression. If the DMS program specified cannot be found for any reason, the Extractor will alert you when you try to extract. Defaults to C:DMS. DMSPARS= e.g. DMSPARS=NOVERIFY This really depends on what version of DMS you are using. Generally, for DMS 1.11, nothing needs to be specified here. For DMS v2.0 or higher, NOVERIFY can be specified to make DMS not verify the disk on write. !! Do not add parameters which are not supported with the version of DMS specified in DMSEXEC! DMS will fail or doing something silly! DMS is badly programmed, and there is nothing I can do about this !! ISSUE= e.g. ISSUE=90 Specify a numeric value here for what issue of Amiga Format these archives are for. Defaults to 1 (dunno why - it just does :). SUBSDISK= e.g. SUBSDISK=YES If there is a subs disk, supply YES, otherwise, anything at all. This does not support TRUE or anything like that - just YES. Defaults to NO. As with normal tooltypes, they can be toggled on and off with the bracket pairings, e.g. (SUBSDISK=YES). Do not rename the AFExtractor program. It will not be able to find its icon and then fail. I would have sorted this out, but that's too much hard work - nothing's perfect :). Oh, two final things. Firstly, the "Disk Information" listview. This has the purpose of giving user a brief (or long :) description of what you will find on this disk when unarchived. To make a description text for the archive AF90a.DMS, call the text AF90a.TXT, etc.. Since the listview doesn't do any wordwrapping and such, keep the right margin in CygnusEd or something to a maximum of 35 characters. The listview is forced into using topaz.font 8 because proportional fonts make the text, horrible. Lastly, the Save Settings menu item saves the configuration in ENVARC:. If the CD autoboots, ENVARC is on the CD and the configuration cannot be saved. This may not be a bad thing, although, as the defaults for the config are quite reasonable. LIBRARIES AFExtractor doesn't require any strange third party libraries. The only disk-based library is does use is the diskfont.library. The 1.3 version of the program requires to open a CON: window, so make sure all the relevant con-handlers and stuff are on the CD if you want to support 1.3. 1.3 support is optional - just don't include the 1.3 program! :) FIN And that's it really. To find out how to use the actual program, read the user docs (ReadMe). Further suggestions for this program are welcome! Source code is available if you want to have a perusel. E-mail me at 101330.1207@compuserve.com if you want the code. It's written in Blitz Basic - you'd never have guessed by looking at it! :) I was writing it in Amiga E, but it took far too long! I am on a tight schedule! :) Oh well.. have a nice day, and keep up the good work. Find my survey at the e-mail address, and give Nick Veitch a 'hello' from us here at Q-Group. Even though he completely ignored me at the World of Amiga show in Hammersmith earlier this year... hmmm... :( Cheers, Oondy/Q-Group (aka Andrew King). 14 October 1996.