NoDesktopCleanup documentation


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 Version 1.5                                                                                                    October 1997 

©1995-97 Alessandro Levi Montalcini        Technical support, permissions, suggestions:
C.so Re Umberto 10                                     mailto:alm@kagi.com
10121 Torino                                              mailto:alm@torino.alpcom.it
Italy

Online shareware registration:                    Software download and information:
http://order.kagi.com/?67                         http://persoweb.francenet.fr/~alm
                                                                   ftp://ftp.alpcom.it/software/mac/LMontalcini
                                                                                                                                            

¥ Shareware: $10
×  This program is distributed as shareware and costs $10. If you use it, please save a copy of the Register utility with the button below and launch it. Enter your name, your email address (if available), and the number of licenses you wish to purchase. Save, copy or print the data from the Register application and send it to Kagi along with your payment. Kagi will process your registration and forward your payment to me. If youÕre on the Internet, an online registration site is also available at the above URL.
×  If you donÕt want to pay through Kagi, you can send your payment in cash directly to my Italian address. Please provide your name, your address, your email, and the name and version of the software youÕre registering.
×  You may want to get a copy of the complete ALM Share and ALM Free packages, which contain most of my shareware and freeware programs and can be registered at a very low price. The packages are available as two large compressed archives and can be downloaded from my web and ftp sites.
×  Please register: your support is the only way for me to keep working on cool shareware programs.

¥ Kagi registrations
×  Payments sent via email and through the online registration site are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when your registration is done. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days. You will also be notified by email if you provide a correct internet email address. Payments sent via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
×  If you pay with a credit card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is <sales@kagi.com> and their fax number is +1-510-652-6589. You can either copy the data from Register and paste it into the body of an email message, or you can save the data to a file and attach the file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, itÕs already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just print the data to the Kagi fax number.
×  You can also pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries, or with a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies. In both cases you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:

      Kagi
      1442-A Walnut Street #392-67
      Berkeley, California 94709-1405
      U.S.A.

×  If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You may want to highlight the line that reminds them to include a copy of the form with their payment.
×  Kagi cannot invoice your company. If you need an invoice, you must act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
×  Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate cash, check or invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed.

¥ Introduction
×  NoDesktopCleanup is a cool control panel that lets you add a confirmation dialog to any menu item in any application. The unusual name comes from the original task I wrote this control panel for: disabling the annoying ÒClean Up DesktopÓ and ÒClean Up AllÓ menu items in the Finder, which often make oneÕs life miserable by moving all the icons on the desktop away from their carefully chosen locations. The ÒRestartÓ and ÒShut DownÓ menu items can also be nasty, especially if your Mac has software power-off; I already took care of them with the Shutdown Delay control panel, but NoDesktopCleanup lets you cancel before all applications are closed.
×  Versions 1.3 and later can run KeyQuencer Macros whenever a menu item is selected, either as an addition to the original command or as a custom replacement. For those of you who never heard of it, KeyQuencer is my award-winning macro engine which is available both in shareware (version 1.2.2) and as a commercial product (version 2.0, which can be purchased from Binary Software <keyquencer@binarysoft.com>).
×  NoDesktopCleanup also provides a useful auto-confirm timer which prevents your Mac from hanging forever when itÕs working alone and thereÕs no user to press the ÒOKÓ or ÒCancelÓ buttons.
×  Another thing you can do with NoDesktopCleanup is to disable menu items altogether (without any user confirmation). If you leave stuff in the trash and you donÕt want your kids to empty it, just disable the ÒEmpty TrashÓ menu item. When you really have to empty it you can open the control panel, turn it off with the main switch, empty the trash, then turn it back on. The whole thing takes a few seconds, but it can be a real lifesaver.

¥ The control panel
×  The NoDesktopCleanup control panel allows you to view and edit the menu items you want to disable or confirm. The following commands are available in the control panel:
×  New: Creates a new menu item action and brings up the menu item editor window.
×  Edit: Brings up the menu item editor for the selected menu item. Beeps if no menu item is currently selected.
×  Delete: Deletes the selected menu item after asking if itÕs OK to do so. This operation cannot be undone. Beeps if no menu item is selected.
×  Info: Displays this text and lets you save it as a text file. You may also save a text file with your personal registration form, which can be printed with TeachText or any other text editor.
×  The menu items list displays all currently defined menu items in alphabetical order. You may double click on a menu item to edit it (same as the Edit button).
×  The on/off master switch enables and disables NoDesktopCleanup.

¥ Editing an item
×  When you create a new menu item action or edit an existing one, you have to enter the following data:
×  Application: the exact name of the application that owns the menu item to intercept, as it appears in the Applications menu at the far right of your menu bar. You can leave this field empty to intercept the menu item in any application.
×  Menu Item: the full or partial text of the menu item to intercept. If NoDesktopCleanup doesnÕt seem to work, make sure you didnÕt skip any leading or trailing spaces and verify that unusual characters like "..." are written correctly. For example, "..." can be inserted in the menu either as three "." characters or as one "É" character (by typing Option-";") so you should try both forms.
×  Window: the full or partial name of the window that must be frontmost when the menu item is intercepted. Leave this field blank to ignore the window name and always intercept the specified menu item.
×  Partial: tells NoDesktopCleanup to accept any menu item  or window name containing the specified text as a substring.
×  Confirm: If this option is checked, NoDesktopCleanup asks the user what to do whenever the menu item is selected. The user confirmation text can be set in the related text field. If this option is not checked, NoDesktopCleanup doesnÕt ask anything and acts as if the user had clicked OK.
×  On OK: These two checkboxes define the action to perform when the user clicks OK.
×  On Cancel: These two checkboxes define the action to perform when the user clicks Cancel.
×  Do Menu Command: If this is checked, the applicationÕs original menu action is performed. You configure NoDesktop Cleanup to perform the original action upon an OK, upon a Cancel, in both cases, or never.
×  Run KeyQuencer Macro: If this is checked, a KeyQuencer macro is run. You configure NoDesktop Cleanup to run a KeyQuencer macro upon an OK, upon a Cancel, in both cases, or never.
×  Hilite OK/Cancel Button: defines which button is hilited by default when the NoDesktopCleanup confirmation dialog is displayed. Has no effect if the Confirm option is not checked.
×  Auto OK/Cancel After # Seconds: tells NoDesktopCleanup to automatically dismiss the confirmation dialog after the selected number of seconds. Has no effect if the Confirm option is not checked.
×  KeyQuencer MacroÉ: this brings up a dialog where you can set up a KeyQuencer macro. You can insert the name of an installed macro that was defined in the KeyQuencer Editor or Control Panel, or write the complete text of a KeyQuencer macro.

¥ Hints
×  To completely disable a menu item, uncheck the Confirm option and both the Do Menu Command and Run KeyQuencer Macro options (the On OK ones, since the On Cancel ones are disabled).
×  To replace a menu item with a KeyQuencer macro, uncheck the Confirm option and the Do Menu Command option, then check the Run KeyQuencer Macro option and set up the desired macro by clicking the KeyQuencer MacroÉ button.
×  To add a plain confirmation dialog to a menu item, check the Confirm option and the On OK Do Menu Command option, then uncheck the On Cancel Do Menu Command option and both of the Run KeyQuencer Macro options.
×  Some versions of the Finder appear to have an invisible ÒspaceÓ character at the end of the ÒShut DownÓ menu item. If typing ÒShut DownÓ alone doesnÕt work, you may either add a space at the end of the menu item name or mark it as partial. The same hints apply to any other menu item you canÕt get to work properly.

¥ Shortcuts
×  Typing some characters when the control panel is open selects the first menu item in the list whose name matches the characters typed. You should not use the shift key while typing because it is used for NoDesktopCleanupÕs button shortcuts. 
×  Some keys may be used as shortcuts when NoDesktopCleanupÕs control panel is the front window. These shortcuts need the shift key; I could not use the command key because the Finder doesnÕt let control panels use it.
>> Shift-N = new menu item
>> Shift-E = edit menu item
>> Backspace = delete menu item
>> Shift-I = info & registration
>> Return or enter = select none
>> Down arrow, right arrow or tab key = select next menu item
>> Up arrow, left arrow or shift-tab = select previous menu item

¥ KeyQuencer
×  KeyQuencer is my cool macro engine, available both in shareware and as a commercial product. Information about the commercial version is available on Binary SoftwareÕs web page at <http://www.binarysoft.com>, and you can contact Binary or order your copy at <keyquencer@binarysoft.com>. The latest shareware version can be found both on my ftp site and on BinaryÕs web page.

¥ Installation
×  System 7: Move the NoDesktopCleanup control panel to your Control Panels folder (inside the System folder) and restart your Macintosh. Open the Control Panels folder and double click on NoDesktopCleanupÕs icon to configure it.
×  System 6: Move the NoDesktopCleanup control panel inside your System folder and restart your Macintosh. Open the Control Panel desk accessory to configure it.

¥ Version history
×  1.5 - Added window name checking to support the new Mac OS 8 Finder menu items.
×  1.4 - Switched the payment method to Kagi. Recompiled with CodeWarrior 11.
×  1.3 - Added support for KeyQuencer macros.
×  1.2.1 - Updated documentation and recompiled with CodeWarrior 9.
×  1.2 - Ported to Metrowerks CodeWarrior to ease future interaction with KeyQuencer.
×  1.1.4 - Added pictures and a contents menu to the online documentation.
×  1.1.3 - Cleaned up the code and updated documentation.
×  1.1.2 - Fixed a minor incompatibility with Okey Dokey, thanks to Brian A. Foster for reporting it.
×  1.1.1 - Removed a couple of lines from this documentation.
×  1.1 - Added auto-confirm timer option.
×  1.0 - First public release.

¥ Thanks to...
×  Valentina Pavia, who always kept me happy while I was coding;
×  Mark Nagata, Haruka Ishi and David-Artur Daix, for all their careful beta testing work;
×  Fabrizio Oddone and Alberto Ricci, for the usual testing and suggestions;
×  Alberto Lenz, who suggested to add the auto-confirm timer.

¥ Distribution
×  This software is ©1995-97 Alessandro Levi Montalcini. It can be freely distributed as long as it is not modified and thereÕs no charge for it, but it may not be included in any commercial package without my consent.
×  All online services and bulletin boards may make it available to their users at no charge other than the normal connection fees.
×  All non-profit user groups may distribute it at no charge.
×  All magazines may publish it on floppy disk or CD-ROM without asking me first, as long as I get a copy of the issue containing my software.
×  All CD-ROM shareware collections and CD-ROM magazines may include it without my prior consent, as long as I get either a copy of the CD-ROM or an offer to buy the CD-ROM at a discounted price.
×  All redistribution companies such as Pacific HiTech, AMUG, Celestin or Educorp may distribute it, as long as I get a copy of each media containing my software and a catalog of the companyÕs offerings (where applicable).
×  The latest versions of my stuff are on http://persoweb.francenet.fr/~alm or ftp://ftp.alpcom.it/software/mac/LMontalcini. The ALM Share and ALM Free packages, which contain most of my stuff and can be registered at a very low price, are also available there.

¥ Disclaimer
×  This software should never cause any damage, but youÕre using it at your own risk. As an independent software developer, I can make no warranties whatsoever on it.

¥ Have fun!
×  And donÕt forget to register your shareware, so that more cool inexpensive utilities can see the light in the future.