+ Documentation for DeskColor Control Panel v3.1 Here is a Control Panel that allows you to change the color of the IIGS desktop from the old periwinkle blue to any pattern or to a picture. Whatever pattern or picture you choose or create becomes the new desktop the next time you power up the computer, close the Control Panel, or launch another application. I want to thank Vince Cooper for reinspiring me to complete this project. His article in Call A.P.P.L.E. got me back on the ball. Look for the source code for this utility. Catch me as: America Online: DAVE L32 GEnie: D.LEFFLER Snail Mail: Dave Leffler 14 I Cape Drive Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548 + Distribution: This product is classified "Jesus-A-ware". It is the equivalent of FreeWare. It is distributed the same as God's Love. That means it's free to anyone who'll accept it. It will be given to anyone, regardless of who or what you are or have been. It's not where you've been, but where you're going! Everyone is free to use the "JesusAware" name. Spreading the Gospel message through Software. This product is free. Give it to everyone, even if they don't have a computer! This work is a labor of love for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Just as knowing Christ gives you a colorful background, this Control Panel gives your IIGS desktop a colorful background. + How to Install: Copy the file "Color.CDev" to the "CDEVS" folder in the "SYSTEM" folder of your boot disk. You MUST do this with the Finder or another GS/OS compatible utility program or it will not copy correctly. It is an extended file. The NEXT time you open the Control Panel NDA, you'll see the "DeskColor" icon. You do not have to reboot your computer! If you experience problems with the Control Panel NDA, you might want to delete the "CDEV.DATA" file found in the "CDEVS" folder, since the NDA sometimes has problems when a new Control Panel is installed. To keep the same pattern/picture you are using now, (i.e., you're updating to this new version) just open this Control Panel after you've installed it (select the DeskColor icon), then select another Control Panel or close the Control Panel NDA. Your pattern/picture is saved painlessly. Again, if you experience problems with the Control Panel NDA, you might want to delete the "CDEV.DATA" file found in the "CDEVS" folder, since the NDA sometimes has problems when a new Control Panel is installed. + How to Use it: Fairly Simple! The type of background can be found in the right hand menu, just select the type you'd like to use for a desktop background. You'll notice the current desktop type is displayed as the menu choice. The three types of backgrounds are Pattern, Graphic, and None. "None" is fairly self- explanatory. It removes any desktop messages from the system, and also updates the "FINDER.DEF" file on your boot disk to clean up the Finder's desktop. Selecting the "Pattern" menu will display a pattern editor, if it was not already active. The pattern editor is divided into the following areas: Upper Left: Current pattern display Upper Right: Grid to design pattern Lower Left: Current color Lower Right: Color selection area The scroll bar and two buttons below the current pattern display allow you to move between multiple loaded patterns, insert a new pattern, or delete the displayed pattern. Please try not to confuse loaded patterns and the file from which they came from, and the system pattern. There is only one system pattern and it is saved (attached) to the Control Panel file whenever you close the Control Panel. Pattern files are only saved/updated when you select the "Save As .." commands. To change the current color, click in the color selection area in the color you'd like, you'll see the current color change. To fill in the pattern grid with the current color, click in the current color area, you'll notice the grid fill with that color and the pattern area will also update to reflect this. To change the pattern, click the the appropriate block on the grid, you'll notice that block change to the current color and the pattern area will show the updated pattern. You may also drag here to "paint". To temporarily change the current desktop to the current color, click in the current pattern display. I wouldn't suggest doing this in the Finder, because it will cover up ALL the icons. No big loss, just close all the windows, press "Open Apple A" to select all icons and it will pull them back to the top. This will not actually send the new pattern into the system, but just change this desktop. Unless you select "Revert" before you close the Control Panel, this temporary desktop will be replaced by the currently selected desktop. If more than one pattern is currently loaded, the scroll bar can be used to move between and select the different patterns. If you would like to insert a new pattern, click in the "Ins" button or press the "clear" key. A periwinkle blue pattern is inserted before the currently displayed pattern. You now have one more pattern contained in the loaded patterns. The pattern file is not updated until you use a "Save As .." command. If you would like to delete a pattern, use the scroll bar to select it, then click in the "Del" button or press the "delete" key. The currently displayed pattern will be deleted from the loaded patterns and you'll be moved to the previous pattern. If only one pattern was loaded, it will be cleared to periwinkle blue. The pattern file is not updated until you use a "Save As .." command. When you get a pattern you like, you can do several things with it. You could see it temporarily on the screen (try it out) by clicking the current pattern display. This will not actually send the new pattern into the system, but just change this desktop. If you don't do anything, your pattern will be sent to the system becoming the system pattern and saved when you close the Control Panel NDA or DeskColor Control Panel. You should see the new pattern on your desktop immediately. If you were just editing a pattern, you could save it to a pattern file. Again a reminder, the pattern files are ONLY updated/saved when you use a "Save As .." command. The system pattern is updated when you close the Control Panel. To load a picture, select the "Graphic" menu item. You'll be presented with a Standard Get File Dialog. The file may be of any SHR type; i.e., Screen (PIC, $C0), PackBytes (PNT, $C1, aux $0000), PaintWorks (PNT, $C1, aux $0001), Apple Preferred (PNT, $C1, aux $0002), or PaintWorks 640 mode (PNT, $C1, aux $8000). You must keep in mind that the picture will be used for both 320 AND 640 mode, so it should be one that looks okay, even when the colors change. I would suggest using my ShowPic NDA to see the pictures and/or modifying them first if you don't know what they'll look like. A pattern or some sort of design/logo would work very well, but a portrait won't. The new picture will be drawn to the screen after you close the Control Panel. The left hand menu is the command menu and it may not be needed. The first command "Open" will open a pattern or graphic file depending on the selected desktop type. This command is automatically selected when you select 'Graphic' from the type menu. When you load in the saved patterns, the file you choose will be loaded. You'll then see a dialog asking whether you want to cancel loading the pattern file, replace the loaded patterns with the patterns from the pattern file, or add the new patterns to the end of the currently loaded patterns. The "New" command erases all patterns from memory except the one that is displayed. When you next save, it will be a file with only one pattern. This command will not change the pattern currently displayed. You would use this command if you load a pattern file of 60 patterns just to get one of them and then you want to save only that one pattern to a new file. This command also reverses the effect of the 'Revert' command (works for graphics also). You will notice this displayed with there is only one pattern loaded. The "Save APF" and "Save PTRN" commands work similarly. They each save the currently loaded pattern(s) to a file. You will get a Standard Dialog for saving a file. If you loaded your patterns from a PaintWorks Graphic or other file, please don't replace it. The preferred method of saving is in Apple Preferred Format (APF), however the PTRN option saves it as a binary file with the "PTRN" and number of patterns header (like Pattern // and Desktop Lord use). Use the "Revert" command to prevent your new pattern/graphic from being sent to the system. Normally every time you close the Control Panel NDA or DeskColor Control Panel, the selected desktop is sent to the system and saved on disk. The Revert command can be used for backing out of an experimental editing session or any time you change your mind. HOWEVER, if you go back and continue editing the pattern or select a new background type, you'll notice the "Revert" command goes away. The newly updated desktop will be then sent to the system. To reverse the effect of "Revert", you could select the "New" command. The "Update Init" command is used to save the currently select desktype to the DeskColor Temporary Init file. The init file is much smaller to use, but doesn't provide any way to edit the desktop. I would suggest using it only after you have decided which desktop you want to live with. The first desktop loaded will be the one used. I would suggest only having the Control Panel or Init active on your boot disk. If you don't have enough space on your boot disk, get the Control Panel up running first (even if you have to leave off all your favorite NDA's and Control Panels), select DeskColor Control Panel, choose a desktop, then Update the Init. You may then remove the Control Panel from your boot disk and use the Init file. The "Color.Init" file should be placed in the "SYSTEM.SETUP" folder in the "SYSTEM" folder of your boot disk. Depending on the catalog order (not alphabetized order) of the "SYSTEM.SETUP" folder, the Control Panel (CDEV.INIT) or Init (Color.Init) whichever is first, will be the desktop used. DeskColor DOES NOT update the desktop when booting if another utility has ALREADY set the desktop. However, the desktop WILL be updated everytime you close the DeskColor Control Panel, unless you have selected the "Revert" command. The menus should be fairly accurate. The type menu ALWAYS displays the current background type or the one you've requested. The command menu will display "Revert" until you select "New" or "Open" or draw in the pattern. If you close the Control Panel with either "New" or "Open" displayed, the new desktop is sent to the system. If "Revert" is displayed, the desktop is not changed. If you have selected "Pattern", "Open" means more than one pattern is loaded, and "New" means a single pattern is loaded. Keep in mind that a picture message takes up 32K of memory and will also take up almost as much disk space when saved. This makes the Control Panel file grow up to 50K when you have selected a picture. A pattern/color is 1000 times smaller to store. To be honest a graphic desktop takes up over 64K of memory, so if you have memory shortage problems, use a pattern instead. + Known Quirks: There is a big difference between the way 320 and 640 mode work. You'll notice that the colors change on pictures, but the shapes stay the same. There are 16 colors in 320 mode and 4 colors and some mixes in 640 mode. Patterns are also different. In 320 mode a pattern is 8 points by 8 points with 16 colors. In 640 mode a pattern is 8 points by 8 points with 4 colors, but to get 16 mixed colors it goes to 4 points by 8 points. You'll notice the different displays when you bring up the editor in 320 mode and 640 mode. The 640 mode pattern is always the top half of the 320 mode pattern when switching. Meaning, a box pattern drawn in one mode will be a uniquely odd pattern in the other mode with different colors. When editing a pattern in 640 mode a copy is placed in the bottom half of the pattern for 320 mode to create a symetrical pattern. You may modify the bottom four lines of the 320 mode pattern WITHOUT affecting the 640 mode pattern. I personnaly first create a good looking 640 mode pattern, save it, go to 320 mode and edit the bottom 4 rows for a good 320 mode pattern. To obtain a consistent pattern in both 320 AND 640 mode (like Graffiti), use your favoite paint program. Select your pattern and fill the full screen, then save that file. You can then load that graphic file into DeskColor. That's basically how Graffiti does it, not with patterns, but with graphics. Earlier versions of ProSel 16 (pre-8.54?) wipe out the desktop message when launching a ProDOS 8 program. Glen mistakedly used the same message number as the desktop uses. I would suggest updating to the most current version of ProSel 16 anyway, especially if you are experiencing any problems. The Finder draws it's own desktop. To get it updated, you may have to select, then close DeskColor up to three times. This should work with graphics, but it is pretty picky when it comes to updating to a new pattern. The easiest way is to click in the current pattern area, which covers all the icons, then Close All windows, then Select All to bring the icons to the front. AppleWorks GS seems to have problems sometimes if you are using a picture. I don't know if this only affects ROM 03 machines or other also. I have never had a problem with this myself. + Look for the source code somewhere nearby. It's in ORCA/C v1.3 with APW v1.1 Rez files and ORCA/M for the picture loading routines. This program contains material from the ORCA/C Run-Time Libraries, copyright 1987-1989 by Byte Works, Inc. Used with permission + Future Additions: - Ask! You've got my addresses.