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Message: 4955
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 14/10/2005
Subject: JSWED: Andrew's comments (Chapters 3, 4, 5)
(The following comments are based on the jswed.exe from JSWED
v2.2.4, but using a printout of jswed.pdf from v2.2.3)
==================
3 Installing JSWED
==================----------
3.1 Installing under Windows
----------------------------
JSWED also works under Windows XP.
===============
4 Running JSWED
===============
My preferred way to start JSWED is to type "jswed
Command Prompt (after "cd"ing or "Drop to DOS"ing to the correct
directory), where
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4.1 Load file
-------------
Changing to a different drive (by typing e.g. "a:" in the filename-
field and pressing Enter) doesn't work for me. It just says
"F Failed to open file".
Browsing for files is painful compared with the Browse function of
just about any other Windows application, because (a) there are no
shortcuts, and (b) it starts in "C:\Program Files\JSWED\" every
time, rather than remembering the last directory from which a file
was opened.
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4.2 Save file
-------------
I don't like the way JSWED imposes its own BASIC loader and Spectrum-
filenames when resaving a TAP file. This is okay when saving a game
that was loaded from a snapshot, but when JSWED loads from a TAP
file, it would be nice if it behaved something like this:
Program: We Pretty
(JSWED doesn't recognise it as a JSW game, but saves it in memory)
Bytes: Krisnikova
(ditto)
Bytes: WE PRETTY
(JSWED recognises it as a JSW48 game, and remembers the header)
Then, when you resave it, JSWED should save "We Pretty"
and "Krisnikova" on the TAP exactly as it loaded them, followed by
the modified revision of "WE PRETTY".
Likewise for JSW128 and JSW64 games for which I write my own
loaders - though I concede that a file-naming convention*
(".js1", ".js2", &c.) is necessary in order to allocate the files to
the correct areas in 128K memory (when I load and resave Party Willy
128, it loses the tunes presumably because I saved them
as "wolf.tun" and "bluebi.tun").
---
* Unless JSWED could be clever enough to extract from the BASIC
loader where in 128K memory the files are relocated to.
Also, JSWED should automatically change the file-type if you type a
filename ending in (not case-sensitive) ".TAP", ".SNA" or ".Z80",
and should reject unrecognised file-extensions with an error-message.
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4.3 Edit game
-------------
If no game-file was (successfully) loaded, it would be nice to get
an error-message instead of you click and nothing happens.
It would also be nice to have an option "New game" in the Main menu,
which offers you a blank game of every type (MM, JSW48, JSW128,
JSW64, &c. - with a convention as to where the first item in a JSW
game goes, since it's not possible to encode a JSW game with 0
items).
-------------
4.4 Configure
-------------
The ability to paste in a path from Windows Explorer would be nice
here.
How do you play-test the game from JSWED anyway? I remember seeing
an option for this in an earlier revision of JSWED, but now I can't
find it. :-o
"Set emulator" would be a better description of this option
than "Configure".
-----------------
4.6 Leave program
-----------------
This should offer to save any changes (flagged at the first `poke'),
as should closing the JSWED window.
And then there's the issue of losing unsaved work when JSWED
crashes. It should save (overwrite) a temporary file after every
user-operation (even after every block-placement, if this does not
noticeably slow down the program). The temporary file should be
deleted when the user decides to save (or elects to leave without
saving), and JSWED should check for its presence every time it
starts up.
====================
5 The user interface
====================
It would be nice if, when editing text-fields, the cursor could be
positioned by clicking the mouse.
It would also be nice to be able to cancel pop-up menus by clicking
outside the menu.
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
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