EvenMore ©1996-2009 Chris Perver
ReqTools ©1991-1994 Nico François, ©1995-1998 Magnus Holmgren
Introduction
System requirements
Installation
Features
Getting started
Programming EvenMore
Contact me
Credits
The Amiga operating system is well designed, but for some reason it has always lacked a decent textviewer. Commodore developed the More tool for reading plain text, and Amiga Guide and MultiView offered more enhanced features, including datatype recognition and such like. I wanted a textviewer which would look good and blend in with all my other Workbench patches. I started developing EvenMore in 1996 as a hobby. It started off fairly basic as textviewers go, but now EvenMore offers functions such as proportional font support, multi-coloured text, file conversion plugins, and more. EvenMore is entirely programmed in AmigaE, which is an excellent programming language developed by Wouter van Oortmerssen.
Those requirements in red are essential for EvenMore to run. Those in black are libraries used by EvenMore if available.
Kickstart 39+
Asl.library 37+
ReqTools.library 37+
XPK libraries 2+
Newicon.library
OpenURL.library
Titlebar.image class
Icon library 44+
Installation is simple. EvenMore should run directly from the directory it is in, without any need of setup as long as you have the required libraries already on your system. But if you don't, here is what to do.
1) Copy 'libs/reqtools.library' to 'Libs:', if you haven't already got
it, or haven't got a version later than 37.
2) Copy the entire EvenMore directory anywhere on
your harddrive.
3) Run EvenMore and then configure the preferences to
your own taste.
EvenMore takes two arguments when running from Shell and just one when running from Workbench (Which is drawers or files).
Shell
If you do not specify any filenames, a requester will pop up allowing you to do so. Once you have selected the file you wish to view, a window will open displaying the contents, eg:-
EvenMore S:User-startup PREFS=BigHD:EvenMore.prefs
EvenMore
Docs:EvenMore SYS:Utilities S:User-startup S:Startup-sequence
Workbench
You can either shift-select multiple files or drawers with EvenMore (Holding shift, left click on the EvenMore icon, then double click on a file), or if you simply double click on the EvenMore icon, a requester will allow you to choose a file. EvenMore of course supports drag and drop. Just drag a file or folder on to the EvenMore window, or onto the icon when EvenMore is iconified, and EvenMore will open the file or folder.
EvenMore will detect on start-up what type of files your have selected to open, if any. If you are running the FileTypes plugin module, EvenMore will first of all scan through what filetypes have been configured, and then launch the applications associated with the files listed in filetypes.txt. The EvenMore window should then appear, and any files remaining to be opened will be opened now.
Across the top of the window you will see a toolbar, giving access to common functions of EvenMore. Positioning the mouse over each of these will display a help text to show what each button does. The buttons and an explanation of what they do are listed below.
| Close file | Close currently displayed file |
| Open file | Open a new file. If the file is already opened, the previously opened file will be viewed instead. |
| Reopen file | Reopen displayed file |
| Save file | Save displayed file in a plain text format (if the file was opened through a plugin, EvenMore will not save it in its original format) |
| Edit file | Open the displayed file in a text editor |
| Print file | Print the displayed file/highlighted section |
| Search window | Search the document for words |
| Find last | Repeat last search going backwards |
| Find next | Repeat last search going forwards |
| Find occurrence | Find number of times a word occurs in the displayed file |
| Preferences | Change the EvenMore settings |
Depending on the current configuration, you may have EvenMore set to open with a standard Amiga window, or on it's own custom window. Whatever the case may be, you can use the scroll bars available to scroll about the document. Pressing the HELP key will open a list of additional keys you may use to run common functions on EvenMore.
EvenMore will automatically look for a file called "quickload.txt" in the EvenMore directory. This is simply a text file containing a list of strings, something like the following...
S:Startup-sequence
S:User-startup
BAR
Commands
SUB
EXE
NewCLI,c:newcli
Open in Multiview,sys:utilities/multiview "%s"
FILE
ITEM
BAR
Work:Readme.txt
Each of these files will then be loaded into the Quickload menu in EvenMore for easy access. 'BAR' in the file will create a menu break. 'SUB' will place the following lines in a sub menu, with the preceding line containing the name of the sub menu. 'ITEM' designates the end of the declaration of sub menu items, and the beginning of the main menu items again. 'EXE' will cause EvenMore to treat the following lines as strings to execute from the shell rather than text files for opening. These lines can be preceded by a short description and a comma, to give them an intelligible name. The text after the comma contains the command to execute. EvenMore will replace the text %s in the strings with the currently opened file, so it is possible to pass this on to external programs with the click of the mouse. 'FILE' will revert EvenMore to treating subsequent strings as text files for loading in the text viewer again.
Any files that are loaded into EvenMore are stored in memory. In fact, EvenMore will allow you to open up to 1000 files at one time. Each filename is then added to the History menu. You can move between the files you have opened by selecting documents in this menu.
Clicking on the Preferences button on the main toolbar will bring up the settings window. Across the bottom of the window are 3 buttons, marked Save (Save settings to current preference file), Use (Accept settings without saving them) and Cancel (Reject any changes made). To the left is a listview where you can select different preference pages. These are as follows...
| Tab | Setting | Description |
| Application | Position | This will let you specify where on the screen the appitem will be created when EvenMore is iconified |
| Open/Close | This will allow you to select how EvenMore behaves when it is opened or closed. It can open as an icon on Workbench, or when you quit, EvenMore can be iconified instead, etc. | |
| Confirm quit | A requester will appear whenever you want to quit, asking you to confirm this is ok. | |
| Multiple copies | If EvenMore is already running in the background when you try to open another file with EvenMore, the file will be passed on to the copy already open. This option disables that behaviour. | |
| File | XPK pack method | If you have XPK archiver installed you can select which method of archiving you wish to use if you want to save a file crunched with XPK. |
| XPK efficiency | Again, same as above except this option specifies how efficient the crunch routine should be. | |
| Default | Document(s) loaded when EvenMore starts with no arguments. | |
| Editor | Contains the path of your favourite text editor to use
when editing files. Note that the string you enter here is basically a command line. So you can
include options other than just the editor path.
Keyword... Replaced with... For example... |
|
| GUI | Objects | Clicking on an object in the listview (eg, Gadgets, Text, Info bar), will select the settings for that object in EvenMore's window. |
| R, G, B | Adjusting these sliders will allow you to set the main colour of the currently selected object. | |
| Style | Using the listview, you can select what each GUI element that makes up the EvenMore interface will look like. | |
| Recess/Light | Selecting these will show the object currently selected in a recessed state, or in a lightened state. | |
| Offsets | These are the gaps between the edge of the window and the rest of the interface, and the gap around the toolbar buttons in pixels. | |
| Dither | You can select a type of dither to use for either the window pen or the toolbar pen. | |
| Select icon set | This is the path where the images for the toolbar are located. | |
| Text | Font | The font to use to display the file. |
| Leading | Extra space in pixels between the lines in a file. | |
| Tab | How many spaces a tab character will use (default is 8). | |
| Page overlap | How many lines will be 'repeated' when you scroll by a page length. | |
| Wheel-mouse Scroll | How many lines a single scroll of a wheel mouse is equal to. | |
| Smooth scroll | Scrolling will be graduated instead of immediate. | |
| Window | Mode | Screen mode to use for EvenMore's own screen. |
| Public screen | The name of the screen EvenMore should use. | |
| ASL filerequester | Use an ASL filerequester instead of ReqTools (default). | |
| Info bar | The format of the file information bar. Keyword... replaced with... %fs File size |
|
| Scrollers | You can set which proportional gadgets should be available in the window, or have a borderless window for EvenMore. | |
| 3d window title | If enabled the title will be drawn in 3D when the window is borderless. |
In addition there may be other preference pages in the list that appear depending on which plugins you have installed.
You can use EvenMore's ARexx port to control EvenMore remotely. The port's name is 'EvenMore', followed by a number. This number will increment if a port of a similar name is found, for instance if you load two copies of EvenMore, the first copy will have a port name of 'EVENMORE.1', and the second one will have a port name of 'EVENMORE.2'. You can find which port EvenMore is using by looking in the Information/About requester.
The commands are:-
| CLOSE | Close current file |
| CLOSEALL | Close all files opened |
| r = GETFILENAME | Return name of current file |
| r = GETFILESIZE | Return size of current file |
| OPEN <name> | Open a new file |
| VIEWFILE <number> | View a file already opened |
| r = CURRENTFILE | Get number of current file displayed |
| SAVE <name> | Save current file to disk |
| Print current file | |
| r = GETLINE <number> | Return text of line number |
| r = GETFIRSTLINE | Get number of first line in window |
| r = GETLASTLINE | Get number of last line in window |
| r = GETFIRSTCOL | Same as above but for column numbers |
| r = GETLASTCOL | Same as above but for column numbers |
| r = GETTOTALLINES | Get total number of lines in window |
| r = GETTOTALCOLS | Same as above but for columns |
| SCROLLTOLINE <number> | Scroll to a line number in the window |
| SCROLLTOCOL <number> | Same as above but for columns |
| SCROLLTOPAGE <number> | Same as above but for pages |
| SCROLLTOPERCENT <percent> | Same as above but for a percentage of the document |
| BOOKMARKSTORE <number 0-4> | Store current position in document |
| BOOKMARKRECALL <number 0-4> | Recall stored position in document |
| r = GETFONT | Get the name and size of font used |
| SETFONT <name/size> | Set the font in the window |
| r = SEARCH <string> | Search for this string in the current document |
| r = OCCURANCE <string> | Find how many times this string occurs in the document |
| GOTOSCREEN <name> | Move window to another screen |
| ICONIFY | Toggle iconifying of EvenMore |
| QUIT | Close EvenMore |
| GETWINPTR | Return a pointer to the EvenMore window if open |
'r = ' indicates the command returns a value. To use one of these commands from a shell, you could simply type the following:-
RX "ADDRESS 'EVENMORE.1'; OPEN 's:startup-sequence "ram disk:my file"'"
Note the quotes which must be put around some strings when characters like ':' are present in them.
There are quite a few plugins I have created for use with EvenMore, ranging from MSWord file conversion, HTML, RTF, and many more formats. When EvenMore loads, it will automatically check the file it is loading against each of the plugins that are installed in the plugins directory. When a match is found, this plugin will then convert the file data into a readable format. Now full colour text is possible in EvenMore, and many plugins will support this (see RTF, HTML plugins, WordWorth, etc).
The function of each of the plugins will vary. One such plugin is the Filetypes plugin. This plugin looks for a file called "filetypes.txt" in the EvenMore directory. This is a file containing wildcard matches for files and an associated program path to launch the selected file with, eg:-
#?.guide=sys:utilities/multiview "%s"
This string would cause EvenMore to pass any file ending in ".guide" over to MultiView to open. The '%s' in the line is replaced by EvenMore with the file selected for loading. Other plugins are designed to unarchive files, word wrap text, and so on. Some plugins can even allow you to create your own preferences in the EvenMore preference window. This will allow more complicated plugins to be developed in the future.
Creating your own plugins
The plugins are fairly simple to code, and anyone
with a basic understanding of any library-compiling language is able to create
these. There are a few basic types of plugins you can create. These are identified by
EvenMore from the Em_pluginid() function.
When EvenMore opens a file, it is passed through these plugin types in the
following order...
FTYP: This plugin type is loaded whenever the user has selected which file they want to
load, but before the file is actually opened. The name of the file is passed on to the plugin,
and the plugin returns either TRUE or FALSE to EvenMore depending on whether a match was made (TRUE
will stop EvenMore from opening the file itself).
PACK: EvenMore will then check the file against all the plugins with the PACK
identifier. This plugin type should check if a file has been crunched by a
particular compression program, such as XPK, PowerPacker etc. Even if a file has
been found to be compressed, and is uncompressed by the plugin, it still will be
passed onto the following plugin types.
FILE: This is the main type of plugin. Whenever EvenMore opens a file, the Em_begin()
function in the plugin will be called, which will return TRUE or FALSE depending
on whether the file matched the plugin's criteria. If so, the function Em_main()
will be called, which will convert the file format into the desired format via
the plugin code, allocating extra memory if required.
FRMT: This plugin type is used after all other plugin types have been checked
against the file and if none of the other FILE plugins have been used. The plugins that use
this identifier should only change the formatting of a document if necessary,
and not affect the file in any other way. An example of a plugin that would use
the FRMT identifier would be a word wrapping plugin.
Other plugins which don't relate to loading
files...
PREF: This plugin will create its own page on the preference window of EvenMore.
This can be used to store user settings for created plugins. The preference
plugin will have its own separate configuration file, which will be loaded or
saved whenever the main EvenMore configuration file is loaded or saved.
MPRF:
This plugin is used to create the preferences window for EvenMore. The
current preference plugin is created in EasyGUI, but could be replaced by
an MUI interface or any other GUI. Because the preference window and settings
are set through a plugin, it would also be possible for programmers to customize
and expand their EvenMore preferences, either for plugins they create or for the
main EvenMore program.
For examples of these plugins, please refer to the EvenMore website where their source code can be freely downloaded.
You can contact me at the following addresses.
|
Postal address |
|
| Chris Perver 6 Gransha Road Bangor County Down N. Ireland BT20 4TG |
Email: chris@evenmore.co.uk URL: www.evenmore.co.uk |
I cannot expect to be able to develop this program much further, as I am a Christian and believe Jesus Christ will return very soon. If I do not reply to any mail for months and months, then the development of this program has ceased.
If anyone wishes to help in the distribution files, please email me. You could design a few NewIcons, MagicWB icons, Iconographics icons, plugins, or anything. If you have any suggestions or contributions for the distribution files, again email me :). Suggestions for the program are always welcome. Tell me what YOU would like to see in a text viewer.
Mum & dad - RKRM manuals, Amiga 3000... (you name it,
they provided it)
Johan Björnson - AmigaGuide, program icons...
Per Reidar
Verlo - Norsk Install script, locale translations
Girish Nath - Program icons
Beta testers:
Johan Björnson
Mikael Grahn
Per Reidar Verlo
Dominique Neveu
Tony Hazel
Andrew Holt
Roland de Herder
Raul Silva
Locale translators:
Per Reidar Verlo - Norsk
Roland de Herder - Nederlands
Victor Gutiérrez - Español
Jerome Chesnot - Français
Raul Silva - Português, Glowicon and Newicon sets, program, drawer and document
icons
Vitaliy Chepeleff - Russian
Alfred Faust - Deutsch
Jan Zahurancik - Slovak
Pär Boberg - Svensk
ATO-PL - Polski
Members which working on it:
Daniel Sternik
Kamil Niescioruk
Mariusz Danilewicz
Without the following people, writing this program would have been virtually impossible...
Nico François, Magnus Holmgren - ReqTools
Dietmar Eilert - GoldEd
Wouter van
Oortmerssen - AmigaE and EasyGUI
J R Hulance - AmigaE and EasyGUI help
Ilan Sharoni - Word wrapping help
Marco Talamelli - ReqTools help
Eric
Sauvageau - Screenmode help
Sven
Steiniger - patternStringF, runback modules
Will Harwood - gadgetinfo module
A.F.C. - rexxer
Massimo Tantignone - titlebarimage.class