TRASHMASTER Vrelver

The ultimate in byte disposal for the Amiga.

Copyright © 1994 By Aric R Caley and Greywire designs

In short, this a ``super trashcan'' that deletes icons dropped into it, as opposed to the normal trashcan that is simply a directory on the disk. And, unlike some other similar programs, Trashmaster makes sure Workbench properly removes its icons..even if they are icons that Workbench made on the fly with the Show  » All Files option.

There are other programs out there, that try to do exactly the same thing. I don't know if any of us have copied from each other, we just all had the same basic idea.  However, Trashmaster is much better than anything I've yet seen -- its smaller (no big deal, though), and it handles things better.  For instance, none of them seem to properly delete files if the icon is a ``fake'' icon created by the Workbench Show » All Files option (the icon never goes away).

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This program is NOT public domain.  It is SHAREWARE.  May be distributed freely, as long as this file (Readme) is included.  You may not charge for distribution an amount higher then what Fred Fish currently charges for a disk.  You can steal any ideas that this program uses (see my solutions in the docs for getting this thing to work!).  :)

If you are so inclined, and have a conscience that compells to you to pay for everything you use (gee, wish there were more of you!), you may send:

Money, software (PD), money, disks, money, younger sisters or daughters from 18 to 25 (unmaried) :), Amiga 1200/3000/4000's, hardware, etc etc.

If you do send money or something worth around $10, I'll send a disk of whatever interesting things I might come up with (in lieu of having put together a disk, I'll send along the latest version of Trashmaster via disk or preferably UUencoded mail.  I'll also notify you by email if possible when a new version comes out).

The record so far remains a cool $10, sent by Tor Willy all the way from Oslo Norway.  Now don't the rest of you feel bad for not donating.  :)

For $15 you'll be registered for both Trashmaster and Slidemaster (a cool little ARexx controlable picture viewer), that's $5 less than registering both separately!  What a deal!  And you can sleep more soundly at night.

There is NO guarantee for this program, I'm not responsible for any files mistakenly deleted in a fit of multiple-selection; or any problems as result of a bug, etc (though I will try to fix any bugs that come along)

Special thanks to the following people:

Translators:

Marc Christiansen (German documentation). Michael A. Krehan (German catalog). Paul Weterings (Dutch catalog and documentation). Daniel Stenberg (Swedish catalog). Mathias Axelsson (Swedish documentation). Stefano Picciolo (Italian) Morten Eriksen (Norwegian) Isaac Ramos (Spanish) Radoslaw Chyra (Polish)

The people that make internet possible.

The people who made the Amiga possible.

All  the  pizza  makers, the inventors of Jolt cola, and the fine craftsmen who make M&M's (a great pizza topping).

Trashmaster features
********************

Features of Trashmaster are as follows:

  * It's really small.  In fact, the docs are bigger!

  * It's for 2.0 and above only.

  * It removes any file that Workbench lets you "drag and drop".

  * If the file has a real icon on disk, it is deleted.

  * Workbench removes the icon and closes any windows those icons might have open.

  * If Workbench had the Show  » All Files option on, even the ``fake'' icons generated dynamicly will be removed from display.

  * If the file can't be deleted (another program locked it or maybe it has an assignment to it), Trashmaster will put the icon back.

  * You can delete things interactively -- confirming each file to be either deleted, to skip and go to the next file, to delete the rest of the files non-interactively or finaly to abort the whole thing.

  * You can format disks.

  * You can force-delete protected files.

  * You can turn off the anoying verification requesters.

  * It's localized.

Author
******

If you have any sugestions for this program, bug reports, ideas for other things you think somebody should write, or you are willing to translate the text into another language, I can be contacted through the folowing communication channels:

Paper mail:

Aric R Caley 5829 Los Feliz Dr. Buena Park, CA. 90620

Phone (primitive vocal communications only): (714) 229-9957

E-Mail:

Miscatonic University, as "Dances V2.0" at (310) 404-6363 (C-Net)

Usenet/Internet: dances@qedbbs.com

Future and History
******************

FUTURE
======

I intend to write more utilities like this one, that use AppIcons.  I've recently rewrote my very old SlideMaster, it now uses an AppIcon to display pictures (in addition to ARexx, command line and old style Workbench support).  I also have several ideas for extensions to Workbench and intuition in general ('Encino' -- Workbench Replacement).  Eventualy, I will finish my Interface builder program.  Stay tuned.

Possible future additions to TrashMaster:

  * CLI command, that works like the Delete command, but also deletes icons and makes Workbench remove them from display.

  * "Trash Management".  Options to place files into trashcans, periodic "trash collection" to delete older files in the trashcans, etc.

  * Preferences editor (although setting ToolTypes is pretty easy, so this is not a high priority item right now).

  * "Wipe"  option  --  writes  0's throughout deleted files to ensure the data cannot be recovered.  Might be usefull for security reasons.

I've had a few people suggest some of these things (as well as some of things in the latest version).  The more "yays" I hear on these or other suggestions, the more likely I will spend time implementing them.  So please speak up if you like what you see.

HISTORY:
========

(I only had sporadic access to a 2.0 machine, so thats why the versions are so far apart for such little changes; and/or I had other more pressing projects to handle first :)

V1.0 Jan 23 1992.
     First release, version 1.0.

V1.1 Jan 24 1992.
     (duh, that didnt take long, did it?  :) Made it ``detach'' - more convienient (didnt think of it before..  duh) and put in the needed-but-forgot DONOTWAIT in the icon (for WBStartup)

V1.2 May 11 1992.
     Added "X" and "Y" tooltypes for setting the location of the AppIcon.

V1.3 Mar 17 1993.
     Added ICON tooltype.

V1.4 Apr 27 1993.
     Added interactive option, fixed minor bug -- forgot to free a message port.

V1.5 Jul 5 1993.
     Better handling of protected files -- with ``force'' requester, and FORCE tooltype.  Now formats disks when dropped on us.  Added NAME tooltype to specify the AppIcon's name.  Added VERIFY tooltype to turn off the verification requester.  Added TYPE tooltype to control the default delete mode when VERIFY is used. Fixed bug that caused a crash if you renamed Trashmaster, fixed bug that wouldn't delete a file in a directory if it had only an .info file.

V1.6 Jul 28 1993.
     Fixed a bug that prevented Trashmaster from working on some systems (About requester always quit Trashmaster; no files were deleted no matter what option was selected from verify requester)

V1.7
     Added localization (need some translations, though).  Icons don't blink when deleted, and when in "view by name" mode the names blink only twice (Workbench ``bug'' I guess) instead of four times.  Command line options.

Archive contents
****************

This archive should contain the following files:

     TM/Docs/Readme
     TM/Docs/Readme.guide
     TM/Docs/Readme.texinfo
     TM/Docs/Trashmaster.doc
     TM/Docs/Trashmaster.guide
     TM/Docs/Trashmaster.texinfo
     TM/Catalogs/Trashmaster.cd
     TM/Catalogs/Trashmaster.ct
     TM/Trashmaster
     TM/TrashmasterHiRes.info

Plus associated .info files.

If these files aren't all there, contact me to get the full archive.