m204help@cca.UUCP (05/29/87)
I have a 520st at home and am contemplating a 1040st. I want to use the 1040 in my 'live' keyboard setup with my band. What I would like to do is have a sequencer program loaded and also have quick access to some other programs. Is it possible to make any program a desk accessorie ? Are there special rules for what can be a desk accessorie ? Could I have my main program loaded and also have 2-3 other programs either written by myself or purchased, loaded as accessories ? All responses via net mail would be appreciated. keith hedger
manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (06/02/87)
In article <16225@cca.CCA.COM> m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) writes: >Is it possible to make any program a desk accessorie ? Within limitations, it is possible to write a desk accessory to do almost anything that a full-fledged application can do. Exceptions (apart from the obvious ones such as memory--a DA is loaded at boot time, and takes up space whether you use it or not) include the inability for DA's to have menus, and some restrictions imposed by various language implementations. Programming systems which I *know* support the creation of DA's include the Atari C Developer's Kit, Mark Williams C, and TDI Modula-2. Many other systems support the creation of DA's, but those are the ones whose documentation I have seen. (I have never written a DA, so please don't ask me for advice). As far as I know, it is *impossible* to write a DA in Atari Basic. In general, a DA writer had better understand GEM pretty clearly. Although it doesn't cover DA's specifically, the Sybex "GEM Programmer's Guide" is an invaluable introduction. >Could I have my main program loaded and also have 2-3 other programs >either written by myself or purchased, loaded as accessories ? You can't turn an application into a DA or vice versa. Other than that, the only other restriction is the limit of 6 DA slots that GEM imposes. ----- Vincent Manis {seismo,uw-beaver}!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!manis Dept. of Computer Science manis@cs.ubc.cdn Univ. of British Columbia manis%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 manis@ubc.csnet (604) 228-6770 or 228-3061 "The difference between capitalism and communism is obvious: under capitalism, man exploits man, while under communism, it is exactly the opposite."
john@viper.UUCP (06/03/87)
In article <1432@ubc-cs.UUCP> manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vincent Manis) writes: >In article <16225@cca.CCA.COM> m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) writes: >> >>Could I have my main program loaded and also have 2-3 other programs >>either written by myself or purchased, loaded as accessories ? >You can't turn an application into a DA or vice versa. Other than that, the >only other restriction is the limit of 6 DA slots that GEM imposes. > Applications can only be turned into desk accessories by rewriting them. Vincent is correct as far as desk accesories are concerned, but there is an alternative that would address the underlying question Keith seems to be getting at... Since Keith just wants to be able to access multiple application programs (which he probably doesn't have source code for), the alternative is using a program called K-Switch. This is a "switcher" (not a multi-tasker) which allows multiple application programs to be loaded at the same time and for the user to "switch" back and forth between the various programs using a special keystroke. Using K-Switch takes -Lots- of memory. It essentialy divides your ST's memory to create multiple psudo-ST's. Even with this disadvantage, it's still a very useful program as long as you have the memory and the need to have more than one application available at the same time. --- John Stanley (john@viper.UUCP) Software Consultant - DynaSoft Systems UUCP: ...{amdahl,ihnp4,rutgers}!{meccts,dayton}!viper!john
minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (06/04/87)
In article <1432@ubc-cs.UUCP> manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vincent Manis)
discusses desk accessories, implying that they cannot have menus.
Actually, there is no problem with menus (CONTROL.ACC and EMULATOR.ACC
both have menus. However, it may well be the case that they can't
have separate resource files. Thus, you have to roll your own
menu data structure, which is moderately painful, but not impossible.
As Vincent noted, the Sybex book is very useful in this regard.
Sources to a "desktop" accessory were posted to comp.sys.atari.st
a few months ago. It didn't have a menu, but the interaction
with Gem was fairly clear.
Martin Minow
decvax!minohamanis@ubc-cs.UUCP (06/04/87)
In article <86@decvax.UUCP> minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) writes of DA's: >However, it may well be the case that they can't have separate resource >files. This is indeed the case. There's apparently a bug with the Resource Library: if you use RsrcLoad in a DA, it wastes a considerable amount of memory (about 40K). TDI Modula-2 comes with a program called the Resource Embedder, which turns a resource file into Modula-2 code. If you're using another language, you'll pretty well have to do it yourself. My original remark about menus was imprecise. I was specifically referring to what you can do on the Mac, where a DA can install a menu on the menu bar, unbeknownst to the host application. The "Keycaps" DA on the Mac uses that to add a "Font" menu. I don't know how that can be done on GEM. ----- Vincent Manis {seismo,uw-beaver}!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!manis Dept. of Computer Science manis@cs.ubc.cdn Univ. of British Columbia manis%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 manis@ubc.csnet (604) 228-6770 or 228-3061 Nothing in the above should be taken as a criticism of Her Majesty's Government of British Columbia, as pointing out errors in legislation introduced by Her Majesty's Government, or in any other way which might be deemed as illegal, seditious, or treasonable by Her Majesty's Government of British Columbia.
hi2cah@sdcc13.ucsd.EDU (John "Tushie" Ogawa) (06/05/87)
<<EAT AT JOE'S>> <<NOT AT MINE>> As the author (unfortunately) of a desktop accessory (that I *am* working on, it should be out on Sunday) I thought I'd throw my (probably wrong) advice into this discussion: It is entirely possible to have menus in DA's. It is also possible to have separate RSC files. However, the latter requires some special attention. You can (according to the documentation that I have) only have one resource tree loaded with rsrc_load in memory at a time per running program. Since DA's are constantly running (in a sense) you can only have one RSC file per DA *and* application. This means that if you have a DA with a separate RSC file loaded, you *cannot* run an application that loads its own RSC file. Early versions of SCHIZO.ACC that had separate RSC files would crash if you tried to run them after leaving Uniterm. There are 2 ways of solving this problem. 1)Write your own resource tree by hand or include it as C code generated by a Resource Constructor, and 2)Free the memory allocated for the resource tree before leaving the DA. I chose the first method for SCHIZO since it did not require time consuming disk reads to load the RSC file *every* time the DA was called. The second method requires the use of rsrc_free before calling the evnt_multi loop again. You must also load the RSC file with rsrc_load when coming out of the evnt_multi loop. Whew! I realize the above discussion was not the clearest. I hope that it does help future DA writers though. All information was gained through hair-tearing experimentation and the patience of several ST gurus. In other words, it may be wrong. But, it may be right. Who knows :-). I'd be happy to answer any questions concerning DAs and RSC files until this account goes away (June 14th). After that look for me on GEnie. Happy Hacking! John Ogawa GEnie: TUSHIE NET: ps136sag@sdcc13.ucsd.edu <or> ...ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc13!ps136sag PLEASE SEND MAIL TO ADDRESS ABOVE!