Readme file for: PEEK-O-BOO Version 3.0

INSTALLATION:

Peek-O-Boo does not require any "installation". You should simply copy the program to the folder where you want to store it. Then right-click on it to create a shortcut. You can put that shortcut on the Desktop, or on the Start | Programs menu. You can also just navigate to the program and double-click on it when you want to run it. It can even be run from a floppy diskette, if you don't mind waiting for the program to be read in each time. Note that the extra floppy disk activity you hear when you open the folder for the floppy disk itself is the icon for the program being read in, not some virus attacking your computer.

UN-INSTALLATION:

If you don't find this freeware (please read the license agreement) program useful, you can delete it, and your computer will be just as if you had never used the program. No changes are made to the Registry, and no other files are created.

RE-DISTRIBUTION: As freeware, you are welcome to re-distribute this program unchanged, without charge, to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Be sure to tell them that it is freeware, and that they should read the License Agreement and the ReadMe screen.

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS: Although the program "looks" as if it is going to open your show file and run Obsession Off-Line©, that is not the case. There is no way to run Obsession Off-Line© without rebooting Windows®. Peek-O-Boo reads just enough of your show file to post identifying information on the screen. It never writes to the file. You could, for example, browse Obsession Off-Line© files on a write-protected floppy disk, or over a network to a folder where you have read-only permission.

Once you have selected an Obsession© show in the listview window, the data fields will be filled in. Note that it takes extra time to read from a floppy diskette. If the show file is Obsession© I, you'll be able to pull-down (click on the arrow) an abbreviated cue list, under the Show Comment field. Only the cue number, up and down times, and the cue comment are shown in this list. It is not possible to provide this information for Obsession© II shows because the files are compressed. If you learn anything about the compression scheme, please e-mail me.

For the same reason, only the Show Name, Show Comment, and Version fields can be read from Obsession© II files. The Channels and Dimmers boxes will be blank for an Obsession© II file, but the program will otherwise work just fine. Note that in later versions of console software, version numbers can be longer than they used to be. One example is "5.1.0.9.0.50".

You can single-click your mouse, or use the arrow keys to browse through the list of files in the dialog box. Don't double-click on a file, because that is the same as clicking on the "Close" button. When you have found the file you want to copy or send somewhere, right-click on it. You'll get the same "context menu" you'd get in a File Open dialog. This will let you send a copy of the file to a floppy diskette. You can also add useful items to the context menu yourself. Because it takes longer to identify a version 5 file, users with slower machines may notice some latency in switching from show to show.

If you click the "ListAll->File" button, all files in the folder/directory you've been examining will be scanned. This may take a perceptible amount of time, but not more than a few seconds. Most of the data you'd see on the screen for each Obsession© show file is written to a file named "obsnshow.txt", in the same directory where you have stored this program. Any existing file with the same name is overwritten. The file can be read and printed with any text file or word processing program.

Note that the lines are more than 80 characters long, so you might print in "Landscape" format if you use a large font. Because all Obsession© show filenames are in "8.3" format, file names that are not Obsession© shows will appear in their "old" 8.3 format. Unless you chose otherwise, this showlist file will open, in your default text editor after it is created. (See "Customized User Options" below.)

The information in this file is formatted so that it can be imported into a database program or a spreadsheet file. You might rename the file as "obsnshow.csv" to make that a little more automatic.

CUSTOMIZING THE CONTEXT MENU:

The quickest way to do this is to download a Microsoft® giveaway called "Powertools", and install the SendTo package from it. This provides an "Any Folder" entry on the context menu, and an "E-Mail as Attachment" entry. You can create almost the same choices yourself, by creating two shortcuts on the desktop, and moving them to the SendTo folder. This is not for the faint-hearted, but it's only just beyond "basic" Windows®. You can create a shortcut to each of the folders you might want to send to, including folders on your network. Right-Click on an empty space on the Desktop. Select New | Shortcut. Enter the path of the folder you want to send to in the first dialog box. This should create the desired shortcut. If you double-click on the finished shortcut, you should find yourself in the folder, as if you had gotten there from "My Computer".

Making the e-mail shortcut is a little harder. First, right-click on the shortcut you use to start your e-mail program and make a copy of it on the desktop. Rename the copy something like "EMail Attachment". Now start the email program from the regular shortcut and chose the Help Index. Look for a topic like "attachments,creating at startup". That's the right topic in Microsoft® Outlook 98®. That help screen will give you (relatively difficult) instructions for entering command-line arguments in the copy of the e-mail program shortcut you left on the desktop. After you have edited the "Shortcut" or "Program" tab of the copied shortcut, double-clicking on it should create a new e-mail with the shortcut as an attachment. Discard the test e-mail.

Press Start | Run. Type 6 characters, SendTo as the program to be run, and press OK. This will open the SendTo folder on your desktop. You can cut and paste the two shortcuts you made into the SendTo folder. Close the SendTo folder. These two choices should now appear on your context menu.

CUSTOMIZED USER OPTIONS:

Option 1: As delivered, when you start up the program, it will show you the contents of the directory C:\ETC\OBSN\SHOWS. If there is no such directory, it will show the directory where you are running the program. If you do not keep your Obsession Off-Line© files in the directory C:\ETC\OBSN\SHOWS, you will have to browse to the correct directory every time you run Peek-O-Boo. If you want the program to start up in a different directory, you can edit the Windows® shortcut to the program so that it will do what you want. You need to edit the command line, on the "Shortcut" or "Program" tab of the "Properties" window of your shortcut. The exact name of this edit box depends on which version of Windows® you are using on your computer. In Win98, it's "Target".

That line will now show the complete file path and program name, usually in double quote marks. The quote marks are in case some of the directory names have blank spaces in them. You need to add a blank space after the closing quote mark, and then the complete path and directory where you want Peek-O-Boo to start browsing for your show files. This is called the first "command-line argument". At least one blank space must appear between command-line arguments. Filenames with blanks in them *must* be enclosed in double-quotation marks, which are otherwise optional. Such a completed line might look like this: "C:\MyPgms\Utilities\Peekoboo.exe" C:\Theater\Lighting\Obsnshows

Option 2: When you click on the "List All->File" button, a text (obsnshow.txt) file is created. The completed file will "open" in your default text editor. Most likely, this is "Notepad.exe". If you *don't* want the file to open, add a command-line argument of N. (Examples below.)

Option 3: Normally, the file date and time in the "obsnshow.txt" file will be in quote marks. But if you are using a spreadsheet or database to display this file, you will probably want the quotes omitted, so that the displaying program will recognize the field as a date and time, and convert it to its' own internal format. To omit the quote marks on the date/time, add a command-line argument of D.

Some possible command-lines are: "C:\Utilities\Peekoboo.exe" C:\Theater\Lighting\Obsnshows N "C:\Utilities\Peekoboo.exe" N C:\Theater\Lighting\Obsnshows "C:\Utilities\Peekoboo.exe" N D

LIMITATIONS AND WARNINGS:

This program is designed to do exactly one task: Find and move around Obsession Off-Line© show files. Unfortunately, it also makes it easy to abuse those files. For example, you should not attempt to make light board diskettes, nor should you carelessly transfer show files between different versions of Obsession Off-Line©. You can do such a thing now, but it takes much more work without this program.

Note that Obsession© creates its' cryptic file names to guarantee unique names within a directory. You may be sending such files from one directory to another, or mixing shows from one light board or PC with those from another machine. WATCH CAREFULLY for the Windows® warning that there is already a file of a certain name in the destination directory. If you reflexively press "OK", the "old" file will be destroyed without hope of recovery.

The dates reported by this program should appear in the Windows® Short Date format you've chosen in the Control Panel. If you need to sort your obsnshow.txt file on alphabetical dates, you may need to chose a format that has leading zeros to get a correct collating sequence.

YEAR 2000 INFORMATION:

This program does not perform any calculations with dates or time of day. It does report the file system date that it finds in the directory for the files it reports on. If the information in the directory is inaccurate, the same inaccurate information will be reported by this program.

SUPPORT AND ADVERTISING:

Although this is Freeware, without any support, there may be a situation where you feel you must contact the author. You may contact me at the following address: mailto:secondcut@att.net . Although I may have given you my light booth e-mail address in a message, please do not use my employment e-mail address for mail that is purely about this program.

If you would like to receive information about possible future lighting software that is *not* free, you may visit my web site: http://secondcut.home.att.net . There are link buttons below.

CONSTRUCTION:

This program was written with Borland C++Builder 6 Pro. It has been tested with Windows 98® and XP®. It will not work with Windows 3.1®. It has been tested over a Windows 98® Network using the Client for Microsoft® Networks logon. It has been tested on an internal (EIDE) Zip® disk drive and on a parallel-port Zip® disk drive. It will use the "new" Open File dialog (with the "Places" bar) on Windows 98® and Windows XP® systems. The dialog will be resizeable on most systems.