How to install OLGA

This is a small version of how to install OLGA since it does not treat InplaceDrawing (ID4-OLGA)! ID4 is not necessary for using object linking with, for example, QED and CAB.

To use OLGA you must have a multitasking operation system installed, such as MultiTOS, N.AES or MagiC.

First you have to decide if you want the OLGA manager to reside in memory all time or if it should be launched only when necessary. The former is quite simple, you just have to copy the OLGA manager (OLGA.APP) into the root directory of your boot partition and rename it to OLGA.ACC. After rebooting your system OLGA is ready for use.

The latter is a little more complicated, but it saves memory whenever you do not use OLGA (this is the recommended type of installation). Copy OLGA.APP to any location (e.g. C:\GEMSYS\OLGA\OLGA.APP) and set the environment variable OLGAMANAGER to this path. Under MultiTOS you have to insert the following line into GEM.CNF:

  setenv OLGAMANAGER=C:\GEMSYS\OLGA\OLGA.APP

MagiC expects the following line in its MAGX.INF file:

  #_ENV OLGAMANAGER=C:\GEMSYS\OLGA\OLGA.APP

If you launch an OLGA aware application now, the OLGA manager is started automatically. Furthermore, the manager also terminates automatically when the last OLGA aware application has terminated.

How OLGA enhances an application's work depends on the application itself. Take the example of an vector graphics application that can also use bit images within its vector graphics documents. When double clicking this bit image OLGA might launch a server application for manipulating bit images. When you've finished editing the bit image and saved the file the vector graphics application updates its document automatically.

So that OLGA knows which server applications it has to launch you must tell the manager your favourite applications once by setting up OLGA.INF. Copy it to the same directory as your OLGA.APP (OLGA.ACC resp., or to the root directory of your boot partition, or to your $HOME directory) first, then edit its entries. OLGA.INF has the following structure:

[Extensions]
.EXT=path+file name (or an alias)
   ...

[Types]
XY=path+file name (or an alias)
 ...

[Applications]
Alias=path+file name
    ...

At the bottom of this document you'll find an OLGA.INF sample file.

The section [Extensions] defines which application can edit which file types by assigning an application's path and file name to a file extension. You can define every extension only once.

The section [Types] assignes an application's path and file name to a certain type of applications. For the example, "ED" is for editors. The following table shows which types can be used so far:

BTW: The application types are the machine readable types used with the XAcc protocol.

Finally, [Applications] is used to clean up your OLGA.INF file by defining aliases that can be used instead of an application's path and filename. You need not use this section (although it is recommended to do so).

That's it for the installation.

An OLGA.INF sample file

[Extensions]
;remember to use upper case letters for the extensions!
.TAD=$ARTWORX
.CWG=$ARTWORX
.GEM=$ARTWORX
.CVG=$ARTWORX
.AI=$ARTWORX
.SDB=$STELLA
.TXL=$TEXEL
.DIF=$TEXEL
.CSV=$TEXEL
.XLS=$TEXEL
.HTM=$CAB
.TXT=$QED
.ASC=$QED
.IMG=$PAPILLON
.TIF=$PAPILLON
.JPG=$PAPILLON
.GIF=$PAPILLON

[Types]
;you must use upper case letters for the types, too
SS=$TEXEL
VG=$ARTWORX
RG=$PAPILLON
GG=$STELLA
ED=$QED

[Applications]
TEXEL=C:\Program\PP\PRGS\texel.app
STELLA=C:\Program\STELLA\STELLA.APP
ARTWORX=C:\Program\ArtWorx\ARTWORX.PRG
IDEALIST=C:\Tools\IdeaList\IDEALIST.PRG
CAB=C:\Program\WWW\CAB\CAB.APP
QED=C:\Editors\qed\qed.app
PAPILLON=C:\Program\PAPILLON\PAPILLON.PRG

Latest update: 1999-10-25 - webmaster@snailshell.de