#Wishes & stuff
29 messages in this thread
YAWL
BME wishes
— Edit attributes of existing pictures (the things found on the "New Picture"
requester). I frequently scan things with a video camera and DCTV, and output a
24 bit picture. If I'm going to use it in PageStream, I usually reduce it to 6
or 5 bit grayscale, to save space and time. Currently, I have to make a new
picture and paste the old one into it. Then I can't use "Update". Sometimes all
I want to do with a picture is insert DPI information.
Speaking of that, is there a general-purpose IFF display program that
doesn't choke on DPI chunks? I have been using Mostra for years. It just shows
a black screen if the picture has a DPI chunk.
Along with one of the IFFILBM.Import drivers, there were some instructions
(which I now can't find) for setting DPI info in PageStream. Something in "Edit
Coordinates" that's not in the manual. Could someone remind me about that?
— Rotate pictures +90, -90 or 180 degrees. I don't have another program that
can rotate a large 24 bit picture. I use a utility called "Wasp" for some
pictures, but it reduces 24 bit pictures to 12 bit.
Another possibility: In PageStream, have some way to save scale changes
and/or some rotations to a picture. For instance, I scale a picture to 25% and
rotate it 90 degrees. Then I use the special update command to make this scale
and orientation the original values, so now the picture is at 100% scale and 0
rotation. Then I could Update or Export the new picture. It's OK if this only
works with 90 or 180 degree rotations (mapping pixels one-to-one).
— Basic color processing, like changing brightness or contrast for the whole
picture. If I'm laser printing a picture from PageStream, I often want to
lighten it. This feature could be put in PageStream as well as (or instead of)
BME.
— Display the coordinates of the clip box. I may want to clip or crop to an
exact size.
PageStream and IFF DTXT wish
— Some kind of "form feed" or "hard page" code that forces the cursor to the
top of the next text column.
— Multiple justification modes on one line. For example, in WordPerfect I can
have flush left, centered and flush right text on one line, and put a dot
leader between them if I want.
One thing I work on has reference numbers out in the left margin, which
should stay attached to a certain point in the text. The main text is
outdented, but the reference numbers are on the left margin. I'd like to do
something like this:
Pseudo code:
{outdent and auto justify} … end of section one. {save}{block
left}2]{restore}Beginning of section two …
Appearance:
2] end of section one. Beginning of section two …
so the number 2] stays on the same line with the word "Beginning".
At the moment, I make a text object of "2]", paste it in and have to move it if
the text gets reformatted.
— In PageStream "Set Indent/Outdent" hasn't worked for me. It stays stuck at
0.5". I can set Indent/Outdent in a tag, however.
— A floppy disk failed and damaged a large PageStream file, so now PageStream
crashes when I try to load it. The damaged file was in a .lha archive, so
finding the error is a pretty hopeless task. Is there some kind of signature in
the PageStream file that could tell me where to cut it, so I can retrieve the
good part? If I knew what the beginning of a page is supposed to look like, I
could try cutting out each page (maybe).
Better yet:
— Instead of crashing, PageStream would say something like "There's an error
in this file. Some object on page 3 wasn't loaded."
Art Expression:
— Blending between two filled shapes frequently doesn't work right. The
intermediate shapes all get colored like one of the end shapes, instead of
blending from one color to the other.
— A file that I created with AE 1.03 now gets "AE stack error" in 1.04, and
eventually crashes it. I have set stack sizes up to 1 meg in the Workbench
icon. AE 1.00 used to report "AE stack error" a lot, but would load things
anyway.
Thanks for your suggestions.
BME _may_ get the functionality you requested. (No promises yet, depends on
time constraints.)
Display utilities: if you had WB 3.0 you could use Multiview which displays
bitmaps, text, etc… Works great. CBM has one called WDisplay to display
pictures, but it's only available with a program that includes it with their
AmigaGuide license. We may or may not include it with PageStream 3.0. (Depends
on whether or not we need it.)
Bitmap contrast control: in PgS 3.0.
Better Cursor control in pgs: yes.
Multiple justification on one line: probably not, but I'll ask.
Outdents: all you would do in 3.0 to make that line up properly is set the
first tab to the same amount as your outdent value. With numerically set tabs,
this is easy to do.
Indent/Outdent in 2.2: it doesn't work logically. You have to highlight the
text, choose indent or outdent, then choose set indent/outdent. It does work,
however.
Corrupted file due to bad disk: nope, you cannot fix a broken document. There
is no way for you, or even us, to fix it. The new format in 3.0 will be better
for this if you understand IFF formats, but it would still be a nightmare to
consider fixing. It's not as easy as putting up a requester saying an object on
page 3 won't load, but yes, 3.0 shouldn't crash on a bad file. (I've never seen
2.2 do that either, so you must be lucky. 😉
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Micheal,
Yeah, that's one thing I hadn't thought about, but it's a great idea–have
you guys looked at supporting DataTypes for input/output stuff, as well as
your own format? That would be great for OS-wide flexibility.
Actually, the best scheme would be if you used DataTypes for all your I/O
conversions, but in that case you could potentially provide functionality
to competing programs. Although it would be a great boon to the user, I
can see where it might not make business sense…
While the subject is wishes…. ARexx. Please! Support the interprocess
communication mrthod that is 'official', system-wide, and universally available
to all users.
Art Expression:
When grabbing an object, the lines superimposed on the rulers show top and
bottom of the object. It would be VERY nice if it also showed where the cursor
is, for use in lining up a particular part of an object with another part of a
different object.
-larry
We have already announced that PgS 3.0 will support recordable and editable
ARexx scripts. TypeSmith already supports ARexx.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Michael,
My current wish for PgS 3.0 is that it have a printer driver for the Canon
BJ300 & BJ330 bubble jet printers. This would save me the bother of reverse
engineering my own 😉
Regards,
Shraddhan – via Whap! from Hertfordshire in the UK
Shraddhan, we already have a Canon BJ 330 printer driver. It is version 2.0.0.
Mark @ Soft-Logik Publishing
Mark,
My previous message was rather cheeky in that when I _first_ obtained a copy of
PageStream, there was no driver supplied with it that drove a BJ330, so I
rolled my own.
With the advent of PgS 3.0, I didn't want to repeat this. I gather then that
the printer drivers for PgS 2.xx will still work with PgS 3.0. I had been just
a little concerned that maybe perhaps they wouldn't.
I might mention that the BJ300/BJ330 is not too happy with having to pause in
the middle of a graphics printout, which is what used to happen for me a long
time ago before I bought extra memory. Also, I am a very happy user of
PageStream + BJ330. I _still_ manage to impress people with the quality of the
output. Now, if only they would pay me accordingly…
Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Shraddhan – via Whap! from Hertfordshire in the UK
No, printer drivers and import modules from previous versions will not work
with 3.0. Everything is being rewritten.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Michael,
>Printer drivers from previous versions will not work with 3.0
I thought that might happen. Hence my wish that a BJ330 driver be supplied
next time. As I'm sure it will 😉
There's something I've noticed about PgS 2.xx, which has been around as far
back as I've had PgS (1.8 I think?), and that is that your conversion factor
from inches to millimetres to inches gives 25.4416 mm to the inch, whereas here
in Britain we use 25.4000 mm (exactly) to the inch. Is the North American inch
bigger than the British inch, or is this an undocumented feature of PageStream?
Regards,
Shraddhan – via Whap! from Hertfordshire in the UK
Um, you're right. I'll mention this to the programmer. Since the program is
being rewritten from scratch, it would probably be changed anyway, but I'll
confirm it.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
See: CANOND.DMS in library 10 of AmigaUser.
What are the chances of Art Expression supporting ARexx in the near future?
-larry
I can't discuss a future version of AE at this time. Sorry.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
RE: Wish List
Include templates for business cards, greeting cards, forms, letterhead,
etc.
———————————————-Don- via Whap!
Michael,
Any tentative list of ARexx commands that will be available for PgS
3.0? We're looking forward to being able to use ARexx to better support
scanner input to PgS, like we already do for ProPage.
Vic, I don't want to post the list of arexx commands because we 're adding more
on a daily basis, because they're subject to change, and because we're still in
beta.
I will send you email.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
son of a gun…. I finally smell direct scanner support in PgS! <g>
Michael,
Is PS V3.0 going to provide for a print cancel gadget that works in
"real time"?
Real World:southern Illinois,USA Internet:ca0008 at siucvmb.siu.edu
I'm only allowed to basically discuss the stuff on the feature list that we've
posted. (We don't want the competition to know too much about 3.0 until we
release it.)
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Michael,
No problem with "non-disclosure". I will upgrade anywho, when the time
comes 🙂
Real World:southern Illinois,USA Internet:ca0008 at siucvmb.siu.edu
Michael,
Some time ago, there was a competitive upgrade offer for PS. Is this
still available?
-Richard
Richard, the competitive upgrade for PageStream is $175 for versions 2.xx (with
a free upgrade to PgS 3.0) and for 3.0. Elegible competeting programs are
ProPage, Saxon Publisher, and The Publisher.
If you already own a major Soft-Logik program the PowerUp is $160. Major
programs elegible include PageStream, Art Expression, and TypeSmith.
Mark @ Soft-Logik Publishing
Mark, I'm calling S-L TODAY to place my upgrade order. Good luck.
But, ummm….
All these "wish-list" requests make me a bit nervous. In my opinion, the
reason x.0 software (for ALL platforms) often arrives at the market a
little goofy is that the programmers keep tinkering around with it.
…and then there are those semi-infinite "read-me" files – you should see
the ones that came with DOS 6.
…and then there are all those long waits for RSN software. (Remember
PageStream 1.0? Remember the initial release of Windows?)
Shouldn't you know by now just what's in and what's out? (Particularly if
you're re-writing the code from the ground up.)
Eager – but a little uneasy,
Nancy – in Edmonton, Canada
Yes, most of the things in 3.0 are already cast in stone, but there is always
the "If I have time I'll add XXX feature to the Program." I think Michael has
been responding to the "Wishes" of everyone letting them know the likelyhood of
the wish making it into the new PgS 3.0. Some things we just cannot talk about
either way though.
Mark @ Soft-Logik Publishing
A print cancel button that *works* would blow the lid off the competition.
I can see your reluctance in talking about it. 🙂 😉
Dave Czaya …via AutoPilot
Dave: there's lots of things I can't talk about yet, either because I don't
want the competition to know more details than are on the sheet we handed out,
or because I'm unsure how they will be implemented or how they will work. The
print cancel button is one of the latter. 😉
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Ahhh… now I understand! We used to call that CYA discussions. 🙂
David Czaya …via AutoPilot
"Something in "Edit Coordinates" that's not in the manual."
Well, it is on page 3.5, but I'm not sure if it's correct because it says
to enter the DPI (DPI=XXX,YYY) in the FILE 'TYPE' REQUESTOR and I *think*
you're supposed to di that in the 'IMPORT AS:' requestor.