ICON APPLICATOR by John R. Majka Copyright 1990 by Raptor, Incorporated P.O. Box 20756 Louisville, Kentucky 40250 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ICON APPLICATOR is a freeware program. Charging a fee for ICON APPLICATOR is specifically prohibited. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the features of the Apple IIGS that make it easy to use is that double clicking on a data file icon will cause GS/OS to automatically launch the application program for that data file. If the application has also been programmed to include the "MESSAGE CENTER" feature of GS/OS, the application program will then automatically open the selected data file. Making use of the "MESSAGE CENTER" feature of GS/OS must be specifically programmed into the application. Many applications were not programmed to make use of this feature. If an application is so programmed, it can not make use of the feature unless the data file icon parameters include the full pathname of the application program. Many Apple IIGS users can not make use of this automatic application launch because they do not have an icon editor, do not understand the importance of providing an application pathname or do not understand how to use this feature. ICON APPLICATOR is an easy to use program which will set the application pathname by using the Standard Open File Dialog with which every Apple IIGs user should be familiar. After launching ICON APPLICATOR, the "About" dialog will appear. Click anywhere in the dialog to close it. Then, under the "File Menu" select the "Open" item and open the icon file you wish to update. A window will then appear at the bottom of the screen. It will display the first icon in the file at the top-right of the dialog. Below the icon the current application pathname will be displayed in a long box. Below this there are five buttons: "Get Application", "Previous Icon", "Next Icon", "Cancel" and "Done". You can change the application pathname in two ways. First, click in the long box and edit it manually. Second, click on the "Get Application" button. NOTE: NEITHER METHOD WILL CHANGE THE "APPLICATION PATHNAME" FOR EITHER A ProDOS 8 or ProDOS 16 APPLICATION ICON. Double clicking on an application program icon cause the application to be loaded and started. It is not necessary nor desirable to set an application pathname for an application file. GET APPLICATION Clicking on the "Get Application" button will cause the Standard Open File Dialog to appear. Only ProDOS 8 and ProDOS 16 application programs will be displayed. Select the application normally, that is, just as if you were going to launch an application or open a data file. Double click on the application's filename or click on the OPEN button. When you select the application in this way, the Open File Dialog will disappear and the full pathname of your application will appear in the long box below the icon. If you click on the "Cancel" button in the Open File Dialog, nothing will change. The other buttons in the Open File Dialog will operate normally. PREVIOUS ICON Clicking on this button will change the icon and pathname to the icon just before the current icon displayed. When you first open an icon file, the first icon will be displayed and clicking on this button will have no effect. NEXT ICON Clicking on this button will change the icon and pathname to the icon just after the current one in the file. If there is only one icon in the file or if you are at the last icon, clicking on this button will have no effect. CANCEL Clicking on this button will cancel the operation. The current icon file will not be saved to disk and no pathnames will be changed. The window will be closed and you can then open a new icon file. DONE Clicking on this button will bring up the Standard Save File Dialog. If you change your mind about saving the modified icon file, you can abort the save by clicking on the "Cancel" button in the Standard Save File Dialog. Icon files should ONLY be saved to the ICONS folder. GS/OS can not find icons anywhere else except in the ICONS folder. The window will be closed and you can then open a new icon file. -------------------------------END------------------------------------