============== =ST Whiz v1.1= ============== Welcome to ST Whiz, by Hagop Janoyan, Copyright 1990 June 25, 1990 -INTRODUCTION- ============== ST Whiz is a utility that allows the user to effectively execute programs without the hassle of searching through folders and data files, or having to remember the exact filename. I started writing this program on a late Sunday night, when I suddenly realized that GoGo ST could be improved and offered as Shareware! One feature I loved to see was being able to select a program to execute from a list of DESCRIPTIONS of programs rather than their filenames alone. Thus, I started writing ST Whiz. After a few days of programming, I came up with ST Whiz v1.0. After a few months later, I made ST Whiz v1.1. However, registerations have been very slow for this program, so if you want to see this program developed further, please send in your registeration fee. ST Whiz contains 9 different GROUPS of programs, with each group containing up to 10 programs. Thus, you have access to 90 programs, which should be enough for most of the users. Additionally, in version 1.1, ST Whiz can contain any number of different DATA files. Each DATA file would in turn contain 90 different programs. Each group can have a name to it, which could describe the type of programs in that group. For example, one group can be named "Graphics," and another "Terminal Programs." You can switch from one group to another simply by clicking on it. -EXPLANATION OF FEATURES- ========================= Upon execution of ST Whiz (either through the Desktop, Startgem, or through Codehead's HeadStart), you are presented with a dialog box containing the available groups, the programs for that group, and other buttons for setting up the programs. SETUP --------- In the box "SETUP," there are 6 buttons: ADD - Adds programs (one by one) to the available empty slots. EDIT - Edits the information for a program or a group slot. After selecting this button, select either a program or a group slot to edit it. You may edit as many slots as you need. When finished, simply click on the EDIT button again to return to the normal mode. NOTE: In editing a program slot, you can put in a CONTROL-F character in the parameter area to make ST Whiz display a fileselector and pass the selected file as a parameter. You can put in the CONTROL-F character anyplace you want in the parameter field, and as many times you want. ST Whiz only replaces the CONTROL-F character with the selected file, and displays a fileselector whenever a CONTROL-F character appears. With this feature, you could very well create simple shells for some TOS programs, such as ARC.TTP. DELETE - Deletes a program or a group slot. After selecting this button, select either a program or a group slot to delete it. You may delete as many slots as you need. When finished, simply click on the DELETE button again to return to the normal mode (Deja vu!). CLEAR - Clears the whole list of ALL the programs and ALL the groups. SAVE - Saves the list to a default file "ST_WHIZ.DAT" onto the directory where ST_WHIZ.PRG was initially executed from. NOTE: Currently, ST Whiz only allows for one list, which is updated automatically after you do an ADD, EDIT, DELETE, CLEAR, or QUIT function. EXECUTE - Brings up a file-selector box and allows yoou to select a program to execute without installing it first. DATA FILES -------------- ST Whiz v1.1 can now contain any number of DATA Files. When ST Whiz is first run at bootup, it automatically loads in the ST_WHIZ.DAT DATA file located in thdOДOЙВИ АВOОOДАТ└ЗДШOАOДА╧╧ИДА@╧╧╧УАИ┴╧╧БАOЁpМОИO╧БАO╧ОOАИOЩЮЮOИВИA╧╧МВ OА╧БГИOАОOА╧БГИOМДИ╖:" к Р34╢2РЕ:╖22╣:42Р)вк*и17╝ Р34╢2╣▓╢2 А╧В' ┬B   !BK      ▐K ·G     :     2G     N 2     jG     Ж :     Ч3      Ю?     ! в '  !B,      ╛,     ┌'        '"!   !B+     Ў'     #   .#      J#     f#     В#     Ю#      ║#      ╓#      Є#     #      *#    ' F#  !BD      bD     ~@    ∙+    '7  !B           Ъ     ╢     ╥     ю ТтZ  Ї      ▐     ·          2N>жnц9     %< D4Ьd▄omatically move a program from one slot to another, even from one group to another. * A Password for each different program and/or group, as well as a main System password restricting users from entering and/or leaving the program. * The ability to auto-execute any GEM or non-GEM program right after ST Whiz is executed. Some add-ons for the near future that aren't so definite: * I would like to somehow implement a "Install Application" type of thing, which would allow you to execute a document or data file, and ST Whiz would automatically find its corresponding program file to execute. When I find an ingenious way to implement this, I'll give it a try. NOTE: In the meantime, you can manually enter the name of the document/data file as part of the parameter. To do this, you have two choices. Either install a program as a "GEM - Take Parameters" (or "TOS - Takes Parameters," depending on whether it's a GEM or a TOS program [duhh!]), which would then bring up a dialog box to enter a parameter every time you execute that program, or enter a parameter when you install the program (in the "Program Parameter" field). Here is an example of the second case: For you GFA Basic programmers, say you are constantly programming under a file called GAME.GFA. To get to this file automatically by executing GFA Basic and loading GAME.GFA into the editor, you would install GFA Basic program as you normally would, and in the "Program Parameter" field, you would put in the filename GAME.GFA. In the "Program Info" field, you could say "GFA Program - Game." Every time you click on this slot now, GFA Basic would come up WITH the GAME.GFA loaded up and ready to go! You could also do this for several of your GFA programs, each with a different "Program Parameter." (Whew! I hope SOMEONE out there understood that! Now, anyone care to explain to me what I'm trying to say??!) * I can't think of anything else right now, but crazy ideas like each program slot containing a small Batch command type of thing do pop in my mind here and then. But then ST Whiz would not be a "simple" program anymore (as if it is now!) * Also, many times, I get a lot of ideas from other programs similar to this. That is how I write programs; I get ideas from the works of others and see which ones have worked out best for them. * Key equivalents to Main Menu buttons. You can then just press F2 and ST Whiz will automatically switch to Group 2. Press 5, and ST Whiz will execute Program Slot #5. * A whole slew of Disk Functions. I hope to create a file system similar to MaxiFile (by Codehead) or Universal Item Selector (by Application & Design software), where a list of all files on the current directory would be displayed and the user can then select the files and perform certain functions on them (such as COPY, MOVE, RENAME, etc.). I am working on such a system right now, and hope to have it incorporated in both HagTerm Elite and ST Whiz. In the meantime, I would highly recommend you to use either Universal Item Selector (available whenever a File Selector is displayed), or MaxiFile (available either as an Accessory, or through the Little Green Selector). * A screen saver utility built into the program. * The option to do a warm- or a cold-boot from within the program. Remember, this is only the FIRST version of ST Whiz. These are just some of the many ideas I have for future versions. -OTHER STUFF- ============= PLEASE, send in your suggestions as to what you would like in future versions. Like I had done so with my "other" program, HagTerm Elite (another plug!), I do implement most of the suggestions received by registered users if they are at all possible, even if they are "crazy" ideas that only he would use. Either send me mail through my above address, or if you have a modem, call me up at the following ST BBS's which I call frequently: O-Mayer V BBS - (213) 732-0229 CodeHead Quarters BBS - (213) 461-2095 NOTE: I use the user name/handle "Atari Corner" on the O-Mayer V BBS, and the user name Hagop Janoyan on CodeHead's BBS. (Sorry, but I am rich boy, and do not have accounts on any pay services!) -CREDITS- ========= Gee, unlike my "other" program HagTerm Elite, I don't have many people to thank other than myself! I deserve it, I did everything in this program. Every piece of ST Whiz's code was written by ME! No one else, but ME! But, I would still like to thank everyone who has helped me with GFA Basic, including the two GFA books, "Programming with GFA Basic 3.0" and "The GFA Basic Book." And I would like to thank Antic, who is now the U.S. distributor of GFA titles. Without them, we might not even have had access to GFA Basic 3.0 or its compiler! Best of all, I would like to thank my wife who has put up with me when I've been staying up all these hours......OOOPS! Forgot, I'm not married! I've been reading too many of these documentations for Shareware/Public Domain titles! -ANYTHING I FORGOT?- ==================== I'm not too good at writing these things. Is there anything that I left out? Oh, yes, I almost forgot: Compatibility! -COMPATIBILITY- =============== ST Whiz should execute any well-behaved GEM/TOS programs. Only exceptions might be EZ-Draw or TouchUp, I think you will have problems when you try to execute the OUTPRINT.PRG from within those programs. It shouldn't be a problem; you can easily quit those programs first and then execute OUTPRINT.PRG. ST Whiz works with TOS 1.4. ST Whiz does not work with low-resolution; it only works with medium and high resolution. Sorry, but I had to make some sacrifices, and not supporting low-res was one of them. Other than that, everything I've run with it works perfectly. If you find something that doesn't work, please leave me a note. -WHY THE NAME?- =============== How in the hell I came up with the name "ST Whiz" you may ask? I don't know, and I don't care. I did not want to come up with a boring name like "ST Menu" or "ST Exec," and suddenly the word "Whiz" popped up. Since it's easy to pronounce, I decided to use the word. Don't you think it has a nice ring to it? (Come on...say "ST Whiz" a few times...don't you also like it?) -CLOSING STUFF- =============== I actually enjoyed writing this documentation, for a change, which is quiet different from writing the documentation for my "other" program, HagTerm Elite. I also enjoyed writing the program ST Whiz. I'm sure you will enjoy using it. Speaking of which, I have been using ST Whiz ever since I created a simple working version. I then improved it and took out some bugs, and using ST Whiz to do this has helped me a lot (I just click on one button, and GFA Basic comes up complete with ST Whiz's source code loaded in. Click on another button, and Word Writer comes up with this documentation on the screen, ready for editting.) I really can't say that "I can't live without ST Whiz," but it has made my use of the ST much more enjoyable and I have been seeing the GEM Desktop less and less. I also hope you will find this program to be better suited to your needs from the others. Of course, if you have purchased HotWire!, then I certainly hope you don't think that ST Whiz is actually better! But since HotWire costs more than ST Whiz and you might not need that much flexibility, ST Whiz could be much better for your budget ($10 shouldn't be a strain on your bank account). So enjoy ST Whiz, and have a happy 1990 year! But be a good boy and register ST Whiz if you start using it regularly. -COPYRIGHT NOTICE- ================== If you didn't know already, then ST Whiz is Copyright 1990 by Hagop Janoyan. ST Whiz _cannot_ be sold for profit. Neither can it be modified and released into the public. I retain all the rights to the source code for ST Whiz; the release of the GFA Basic source code is meant only for educational purpose, and no part of it may be copied. ========================================================================== CHANGES FROM ST WHIZ 1.0 ========================================================================== ~ You can now have more than one data file! ~ The "Execute Other" button has been moved to the SETUP box, and changed to just "EXECUTE." ~ There is no "TTP/GEM-Takes Parameter/TOS" option in the Program Edit dialog box. They are replaced with just "Display Parameter Input Box." ~ In the Program Parameter, the character CONTROL-F will force ST Whiz to display a fileselector and put in the name of the file selected where the CONTROL-F character is put. ~ When you QUIT ST Whiz, it now asks you if you want to save the DATA file. ~ A small bug in the Program Log is fixed. ===================================== =ADVERTISEMENT FOR HAGTERM ELITE 4.1= ===================================== HagTerm Elite v4.1 is now available from Atari Corner Publishing. HagTerm Elite is an advanced communications program that uses the GEM interface extensively. The program is bundled with the shareware programs DCOPY/Shell, UNLZH, and ST Whiz. It supports Xmodem, Ymodem, Ymodem-G, and Zmodem (externally) file transfer protocols. It contains a Scripting language with over 100 commands. For a demo version and a feature-list, either register ST Whiz, download the demo file HAGTRM41.LZH from a local BBS (if available) or most pay services, or send $10 (United States orders only! Includes shipping and handling charges.) to: Atari Corner Publishing 515 Wing Street Glendale, CA 91205 (the $10 will be deducted from the final purchase price) If you would like to order HagTerm Elite v4.1, please send $30 (U.S. orders, add $3 S&H; Canadian orders, add $5 S&H; all others, add $7.50 S&H; UNITED STATES CURRENCY ONLY PLEASE!) to the above address. For more information, please call (818) 242-5692.