I'm happy finally to release the AppleWorks InitPack 2024, which adds
four (4) brand new Inits to the AppleWorks InitPack, bringing the total
number of Inits in the package to fourteen (14).
The first of these new inits, FinderFileLoader, is cool enough that I
prepared a 1-minute .mp4 video to show it off.
<
http://www.apple2works.com/appleworksinitpack/finderfileloaderinitdemo.mp4>
It allows you to select and open any combination of up to 36 AppleWorks
Word Processor (AWP/$1B), AppleWorks Data Base (ADB/$19), AppleWorks Spreadsheet (ASP/$1A) or TEXT (TXT/$04) files at one time from the GS/OS
Finder and then automatically (i) launch the AppleWorks 5.1 application
and (ii) add the selected files to the AppleWorks desktop for immediate
use.
It is based on something written over 30 years ago by John L. Tegelaar
and Ton W. van Santen of the Netherlands that worked only with AppleWorks 3.
The second of these new inits, CalendarMY, allows one to access a
multi-year perpetual calendar from anywhere within AppleWorks via the
Desktop Index menu.
{Trivia: Randy Brandt had conceived and planned to include a built-in
perpetual calendar when AppleWorks 5.1 was released in 1995, but since
the feature was not finished in time to be included he disabled its <oa-Q><oa-M> shortcut and placed a teaser screen in the final release
for folks to find on their own}.
Here's that teaser screen:
<
http://www.apple2works.com/appleworksinitpack/unfinishedcalendar-560408.png>
The third of these new inits, FileAuxTyper, allows you to change both
ProDOS file types and aux types in hex, as well as allowing you to
select from twenty (20) common ProDOS file types from the File
Activities menu.
It also displays both the current and pending file type and aux type of selected file(s) in both the 3-character file type (e.g. AWP) and its hexadecimal representation (e.g. $1A).
The last of new inits, MoreDTHelp, adds explanations for over 2 dozen
new shortcuts added in AppleWorks 4 and 5.
When the new keystroke combinations were added in AppleWorks 4 and 5,
the Desktop Help menu from AppleWorks 3 was not updated to reflect them.
This init corrects that deficiency, including showing the shortcuts to
display the new Multi-Year Perpetual Calendar and also to receive a
personal 'Easter Egg' message from Randy Brandt and Dan Verkade.
As is the case with most of my Apple II work these days, I must again
express my appreciation to Ewen Wannop for writing his superb Desktop
interface disassembler program 'BrkDown.' Without it, I would never
have understood the inner workings of AppleWorks well enough to write
any inits.
All fourteen of the InitPack inits (and their source code) may be
downloaded from my site: <
http://www.apple2works.com/appleworksinitpack/>
Hugh Hood
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