Readme for "MegaClip" version .02

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER:
The author takes no responsibility for any loss of
data, hardware failure or other misfortune that
may befall the user as a direct or indirect result
of using this software.  Use of the software
constitutes acknowledgement of, and agreement to 
the above.

Hi.  This is the second release of MegaClip and it
is still basically a beta.  I'm looking for feedback
as to how useful the program is, which features need
work, and what new features or options would be 
useful.  Also, does the layout make sense?  How would
you improve it?  And of course... I love to hear about
whatever bugs, crashes, or whatever else you encounter.

Basically, if anyone who is currently using another
clipboard utility (ManyClip, other?) tries MegaClip
and does not switch to it full time, I want to know
WHY!!!

MegaClip is currently freeware and will remain so until
at least version 1.0.  In the future, I may create a
shareware or commercial version with _additional features_
if there seems to be enough interest/demand.

Finally, I did not include any sort of installation
utility with this release, but hey... if you found and 
downloaded this thing, I imagine you can create a 
program object for yourself.  I suggest placing it 
(or a shadow) into your startup folder.

Contents:
 - Introduction
 - Using MegaClip
 - Known bugs
 - Future plans
 - Contacting the author

Introduction:
-------------
MegaClip is a utility to manage multiple OS/2 PM 
clipboards.  It is inspired in part by the IBM EWS
program "ManyClip", as well as by a Windows 3.1
program I used Looong ago (but have forgotten the
name of now).  MegaClip's key feature over ManyClip
is its ability to handle bitmaps and metafiles in
addition to text.  Other benefits include the ability
to view more than one clipboard at a time (multiple
windows), to view details about the clip (date, time,
size, etc), and to 'hold' one clip in the system 
clipboard -- even while copying other clips. Clips
may be stored within the main program window or placed
directly on the desktop and it is possible to turn
off 'Auto-Retrieve' so that only desired clips are
retained.  These features are briefly explained below.

Using MegaClip:
---------------
  - Show/Hide Container
      LOCATION: main window popup menu
      toggles visibility of information window

  - Free floating clips
      LOCATION: main window popup menu
      toggles clip location between desktop and
      MegaClip window -- which may then (optionally)
      be resized -smaller- until it acts like a
      toolbar.

  - Auto retrieve
      LOCATION: main window popup menu
      toggles automatic clipboard retrieval when a
      new item is placed in system clipboard.

  - Retrieve now
      LOCATION: main window popup menu
      Copies system clipboard to a new clip.

  - Place in clipboard
      LOCATION: clip's popup menu 
     *SHORTCUT: double click anywhere in the clip
      Copies selected clip to system clipboard.

  - Hold in clipboard
      LOCATION: clip's popup menu 
      holds the current clip in system clipboard,
      even after another item is copied by the user.

  - Save as...
      LOCATION: clip's popup menu 
      Allows clip to be saved in user specified 
      location.

  - Remove
      LOCATION: clip's popup menu 
      Removes/Destroys/Deletes the selected clip.
      (Gets rid of it!)

  - Find...
      LOCATION: _TEXT_ clip's popup menu 
      Find's text in the current clip ONLY. (so far)
      Selected text will automatically appear in the
      find dialog.
      *Note: 'Replace' is only enabled if clip is 
             currently being edited.

  - Edit text
      LOCATION: _TEXT_ clip's popup menu 
      allows text in the clip to be edited.  Clip
      background will change color to indicate editing
      is in progress.  'Edit text' must be selected
      again for changes to take effect.

  - Strip newlines
      LOCATION: _TEXT_ clip's popup menu
      converts text to one long line.

  - Wrap text
      LOCATION: _TEXT_ clip's popup menu 
      toggles text wrapping on/off

  - Keep proportional
      LOCATION: _BITMAP_ clip's popup menu 
      toggles proportional display of bitmap.
      (Default is scaled to window size)

  - View [Icon or Name or Text or Detail and Mini icons]
      LOCATION: Container (information) window popup menu
      selects desired display view

  - Hide
      LOCATION: Container (information) window popup menu
      Hides the container window

  - Cascade diagonally
      LOCATION: toolbar
      cascades the open clips diagonally

  - Cascade vertically
      LOCATION: toolbar
      cascades the open clips vertically at full horizontal
      width

  - Tile
      LOCATION: toolbar
      tiles open clips 

  - Minimize
      LOCATION: toolbar
      minimizes open clips

  - Up/Down arrows
      LOCATION: toolbar
      Moves up/down to next available clip and opens
      unopened clip windows.

  - Find active clip
      LOCATION: toolbar
      Locates (opens and/or brings to front) the clip
      that is currently active in the system clipboard.

  - Exit
      LOCATION: toolbar, menus
      Closes the program and saves current clips

Notebook Options:
----------------
  - Auto close clips
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Toggles between unlimited open clips and closing clips
      (based on user criteria) whenever a new clip is inserted.

  - Kb
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Determines maximum clips to remain in memory based upon
      the number of kilobytes in use

  - objects
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Determines maximum clips to remain in memory based upon
      the number of objects (clips)

  - Oldest first
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Autoclose closes clips based on age

  - Largest first
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Autoclose closes clips based on size

  - Remove entirely
      LOCATION: Memory Usage page
      Autoclose removes the clip entirely, rather than saving it
      to disk and freeing its memory

  - Autosave clips between sessions
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Automatically save clips

  - Text
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Toggle autosave of Text clips

  - Bitmap
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Toggle autosave of Bitmap clips

  - Metafile
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Toggle autosave of Metafile clips

  - Released from memory
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Clips are saved when they are closed or else when the program exits

  - Created
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Clips are saved at the the time they are created

  - Use Directory
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      Directory in which clips and associated information are to be stored.
      Folders may be dropped on this control.

  - Validate
      LOCATION: Save Options page
      The directory must be verfified as valid before it can be used.

  - Strip newlines
      LOCATION: Text page
      Default text clip behavior is to remove all line breaks

  - Wrap text
      LOCATION: Text page
      Default text clip behavior is to wrap text at right margin

  - Edit
      LOCATION: Text page
      Brings up font dialog to determine default font.

  - Foreground color
      LOCATION: Text page
      Determines default text color

  - Background color
      LOCATION: Text page
      Determines default background color

  - Keep Proportional
      LOCATION: Bitmaps page
      Toggles proportional as default on/off

  - Background color
      LOCATION: Bitmaps page
      Sets the default background color visible when proportional is on.


Known bugs:
----------
  - Bitmaps sometimes take a long time to save and colors may be
    distorted when retrieved.  Workaround: save only 24 bit images,
    or turn off bitmap saving in the options notebook.

  - Clicking on help button does nothing.  However, this doesn't
    matter at the moment because the help file contains nothing
    useful anyway.  (Smart people read the readme!!)

  - Crashes when run from a directory that contains a space in its
    name.


History:
--------

Version .01
  - First public release

Version .02
  - Multiple item selection/removal in container
  - Settings notebook (with Warp 4 look)
     - Memory options
     - Save options
     - Text clip defaults
     - Bitmap clip defaults
  - Window colors/fonts retained
  - Clips may be renamed via ALT + mouse click
  - Container window resizeable
  - Fixed metafile display bug (previously displayed as black)
  - Strip newlines from text clips
  - Arrange feature made WarpCenter aware (won't cover it)
  - improved window management and drawing


Future Plans (well, under consideration at least):
-------------
  - active clip indicator in clip's titlebar and in container.
  - 'Send to' option (e-mail)
  - 'Append' and 'Glue' features for text
  - multiple clipboards (IE, one for URLs, one for e-mail, etc)
  - drag/drop operations
      - file import/export
      - URL support
  - Search ALL clips for text
  - better threading (clipboard retrieval, file operations)
  - Printing
  - Keyboard accelerators (possibly system wide)
  - float on top

Your suggestions are welcome!!


Contacting the author:
---------------------
Dan Libby
dandaman@aloha.com
http://cjb.ico.net/~dan
Last resort: 408-637-5210