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%% Custom Gadgets with Directory Opus                 by David Tiberio %%
%%                                     dtiberio@libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu %%
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        Creating Custom Gadgets with Directory Opus by David Tiberio


        One of the best features of a program such as Directory Opus is
    that it can be used to control other software. For example, mine
    controls my music module player, software compression, email, and
    much more. Although the authors would like for you to believe that
    it is easy to configure, this simply is not true! In many cases
    external files were necessary, although newer versions have fixed
    those problems (I will use my older scripts for the sake of those
    who are using the older version or other software).


    -- EdPlayer --

        One of my favorite uses is to control my music player. I use
    EdPlayer by Ed Mackey to play my modules. Although Ed does have a
    usable interface, I rarely ever see it since DirOpus does all the
    work. My EdPlayer control panel contains the following options:
    OPEN, MENU, PLAY, STOP, NEXT, PREVIOUS, EJECT, and KILL. In the past
    I have also used volume control functions but apparantly they were
    deleted and not used as often.
        To load a music module, I merely select the file or a group and
    then press the OPEN command from DirOpus. This executs a script that
    loads the desired file. My DirOpus config contains the line:

        OPEN:   AmigaDOS    c:telled.s {f}

        With the following options:

            CD source
            Do all files
            Run Asynchrously

        My c:telled.s file is an AmigaDOS script that looks like this:

key infile/a

run c:edplayer -h
c:telled DCOL 4
c:telled PALM
c:telled AUTO 3
c:telled JUKE <infile>
c:telled NEXT           ;use this line for the module to play immediately

        To play a song, I used the command: AmigaDOS c:telled NEXT

        Likewise, I also use other EdPlayer commands. The NEXT option
    above may be replaced with STOP, HIDE, KILL, EJEC, PREV, or nothing
    to load the EdPlayer screen. Now I can play and control EdPlayer from
    DirOpus. The advantage is that it is much faster and easier to select
    the songs I want to hear.


    -- XPK --

        I also frequently use XPK for realtime file compression and
    decompression of files on my hard drive. For this I used to have
    every supported XPK method, but now have only two selected, NUKE
    and SQUASH (for audio samples and music modules). I also access
    the XPK decompressor and the compression identifier program. These
    allow my to select various file with DirOpus and select only one
    gadget to actually perform the compression. Here are the commands
    I use in the DirOpus configuration screen:

        XPACK:      AmigaDOS    c:xpack {f}{sr} method nuke
        XSQUASH:    AmigaDOS    c:xpack {f}{sr} method squash
        XUNPACK:    AmigaDOS    c:xup {f}{sr}
        XDIR:       AmigaDOS    c:xdir {f}

        With the following options:

            CD source
            Do all files
            Output window


    -- LHA --

        Using LHA, I can compress files in various ways. By merely
    selecting the files I wish to compress with DirOpus, clicking the
    right gadget will either compress to a default name, add files to
    an archive, move files to an archive, and more. Also, if the archive
    already exists, new files may be added without destroying the old
    archive.

        For example, a basic LHA addfiles command looks like this:

        LHA ADD:    AmigaDOS c:lha -2x a "{sr}{aArchive Name}"{O}.lha
        LHA MOVE:   AmigaDOS c:lha -2x m "{sr}{aArchive Name}"{O}.lha
        LHA EXT:    AmigaDOS c:lha -x x {f}
        LHA LIST:   AmigaDOS c:lha v {f}
        LHA TEST:   AmigaDOS c:lha t {f}

        With the following options:

            CD source
            Do all files
            Output window
            Recursive directories
            Rescan source           (not needed for ADD, LIST, and TEST)


    -- MultiView --

        MultiView is a great little program incorporated into Workbench
    3.0. This will display pictures, hear sounds, read text and hypertext,
    and hopefully play music modules also in the future. The great part
    is that using "loaders" called datatypes it can access various types
    of file formats, unlike other picture viewers (but keep your favorite
    viewer, such as viewtek, as a spare).

        SHOW:   AmigaDOS sys:utilities/multiview SCREEN {f}

        Or if you have a large 256 color Workbench or greater, try using:

        SHOW:   AmigaDOS sys:utilities/multiview WINDOW {f}

        With the following options:

            CD source
            Do all files

        My backup viewer is viewtek, which handles GIF and JPEG much better
    than the current MultiView datatypes do. This command looks like this:

        VIEWTEK:    AmigaDOS c:vt {f}

        With the following options:

            CD source
            Do all files





        In closing, you will find DirOpus can perform many tasks. When I
    used to run my Internet site, I could send email and binary files to
    people simply by clicking on the files and entering their email
    addresses. I could also post files ot newsgroups or send files to
    FTP mail servers. Then my machine would be able to send and receive
    all the files while I ate lunch, went to class, or slept.

        Good luck using your file manager programs in the future, and look
    for my new shareware file manager which will be coming soon. The layout
    is designed to increase performance once you become accustomed to the
    new design, as well as increased configurability. Unlike some programs
    which insist that configuring the appearance of the program is most
    important, you will come to find that getting work done is much more
    important. But my interface looks better than theirs anyway! :)


dtiberio@libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu