info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (12/03/84)
From: (Neil Groundwater [stug]) npg@lbl-csam Here are the results of some experimentation with the Journal desk accessory. I am relaying all of my results, assuming that some of the things I say happen will be explained by, or otherwise valuable to, others. You can get the Journal desk accessory from the "Test Drive" disks now at your Apple dealers. My experimentation was on the "MacProject/Multiplan" disk. [the first of several asides: I like the "I'd rather be driving a Macintosh" bumper stickers!] Get a COPY of the Test Drive disk and go to work. My system is single-drive; some of you better-equipped readers please bear with my disk swapping. Boot from a "normal" system disk - prepare it by putting "Resource Mover" on it, and you might want to bring "Set File" along, too. Eject the Sys disk and insert the Test Drive disk. You will see that Test Drive has icons for MacProject, Multiplan, a different Finder (the icon is a reel-to-reel tape deck!), and a ScriptFile (the icon is a Hollywood "clapboard"). Move the Resource Mover and Set File over to the Test Drive disk. I moved Set File along just to poke around, but wound up using it otherwise... more about that in a bit, just follow along. Start up the Resource Mover. Select System and open it up. Scroll down a few pages to the "DRVR" entries. There is a ".Journal" here. My first few jabs included changing this to "Journal" (without the leading period). The result is that when you quit the Resource Mover an Alert window complains "The .Journal Desk Accessory is missing from the system file." When you acknowledge that alert, the disk is ejected and the Mac resets itself. When you repeat the above steps, upon entry into the Resource Mover, you can find "Journal" in the Desk Accessory menu! [another aside: if you would rather have an arrow cursor while using the resource mover, select the alarm clock desk accessory, click the lever to show the alarm and calendar settings... the cursor is now an arrow! Close up the clock and go back to work.] You can access the Journal desk accessory now and it will add a Journal menu to the menu-bar. Selections in the Journal menu are: Record, Play, Stop, and Exit. You can play with it here, but it's more interesting to move it over to a MacPaint disk. Follow along... While in the Resource Mover, "copy" Journal (or .Journal) via the Edit menu. Select and Open the Set File application - you can use it as a transfer medium - those more skilled with the Resource Mover may have other means. Paste the Journal into Set File. Change the name to Journal (from .Journal) if you haven't done so already. Close everybody up and quit. Depending on whether the System file has "Journal" or ".Journal" you will either get an alert and reboot or you will get the Test Drive main "finder". Reboot from a MacPaint disk. Move the altered Set File and RMover over to the MacPaint disk then mimic the above procedure and move the Journal DRVR resource from Set File to the System on the MacPaint disk. Close everyboby up again and return to the Finder. I believe that you will now find "Journal" in the Desk Accessory menu, if not, reboot to get it. Is it live or is it MicroDisk? Selecting "record" from the Journal menu will create a "journal.jrnl" file as it records you mouse trails and clicks. You can "stop" recording and then playback from the file. (no, I haven't looked into editing the journal.jrnl, but I will say that it seems fairly compact... a couple of Kbytes for some mouse cruising and selections) But be warned! The journal is not DWIM. It just echoes the movement of the mouse and such. If the screen under the mouse is not identical to the original scenario, all bets are off. The mouse will move around, click, drag, whatever, but it may miss the mark. Some looking around with Set File on the Test Drive disk confirms that some locks seem to be set on the test-drive-files. That's the only way to assure repeatabilty. [another aside: would someone please post the meaning of each of the file-bits in the Set File window?] Now you're ready for home-movies! Happy (mouse) Trails! ...Neil