Voodoo-X

Short:        V1.5, Supports over 80 archive formats (via XAD).
Author:       mechanismx@lineone.net (Andrew Bell)
Uploader:     mechanismx lineone net (Andrew Bell)
Type:         util/arc
Requires:     AmigaOS 3.0+, MC68020, 2-4MB of RAM recommended.
Architecture: m68k-amigaos

          util/arc/xadmaster.lha    - version 10+
          util/libs/mui38usr.lha    - version 3.8+
          dev/mui/MCC_NList0_89.lha - version 0.89+
          dev/mui/MCC_NListtree.lha - version 18.8+
          dev/mui/MCC_Speedbar.lha  - version 1.3+
Optional: util/virus/xvslibrary.lha - version 33+
          comm/www/OpenURL30.lha    - version 3+
	  docs/hyper/xadclients.lha - version 1.3+

 (Note: This version lacks documentation)

 ============================================================================
                            Quick Introduction
 ============================================================================

 Voodoo-X is an MUI based archive browser and extractor that uses the XAD
 unarchiver engine. This means it doesn't depend on external archiver
 commands being in the C: (etc.) drawer.

 The following archives, disk packers and filesystems are supported:

 Ace, Ace MS-EXE, Amiga Plus Unpack, Amiga Standard FS, AmiPack, Ar, Arc,
 Arj, Arj MS-EXE, BZip, BZip2, CAB, CAB MS-EXE, CompDisk, Compress, Cpio,
 CrunchDisk, DImp, DImp SFX, DMS, DMS SFX, GZip, LhA, LhA MS-EXE, LhA SFX,
 LhF, LhPak SFX, LhSFX, LhWarp, LZX, Marc's DiskCruncher, Microsoft FAT FS,
 MSA, MXM-Simple Archive SFX, PackDev, PackDisk, PCompress PACK, RAR,
 RAR MS-EXE, S-Omni, S-Pack, S-Pack SFX, SanityOS FS, Savage Compressor,
 SDS Software SFX, Sensi disk FS, Shrink, SuperDuper3, Tar, Trackmo-DOS FS,
 WinZip MS-EXE, xDisk, xMash, XPK Archive, ZAP, Zip, Zip MS-EXE, Zoo, Zoom,
 Zoom 5 plus many more in the future.

 This list depends on the version of XAD you're using. By the time you read
 this, XAD might be several generations better and more advanced.


 ============================================================================
                             Long Introduction
 ============================================================================

 Voodoo-X is an MUI based front-end for Dirk Stoecker's powerful unarchiving
 system xadmaster.library (Shareware). Unlike other dearchiver front-ends,
 Voodoo-X doesn't depend on external archiver commands (such as LZX, LHA,
 DMS, etc.) being in the C: drawer nor does it require complicated command
 line setups for these commands. This is because XAD does all the hard work.
 :-)

 Voodoo-X allows you to quickly browse an archive's contents and view
 individual files (with filetypes) like pictures and documents just by
 double clicking your mouse. This method of browsing archives proves to
 be highly effective since you don't need to get your hands dirty by
 extracting files to temporary locations such as Ram:. Voodoo-X does all
 that for you.

 xadmaster.library is a modular system and will support even more archiver
 formats in the future.

 Note: Voodoo-X doesn't actually write disk based archives (like DMS, xMash,
       etc.) back to disk, but instead examines them to see if they are
       OFS or FFS formatted, if they are, it then allows you to browse
       through the contents of them and retrieve individual files.

       Voodoo-X can also retrieve files from inside standard FFS formatted
       (i.e AmigaDOS) ADF files like those used with WinUAE. OFS, FFS,
       DirCache, International, double-density and high-density disks
       formats are all supported.


 ============================================================================
                       Known bugs/Things still to do
 ============================================================================

 These are known problems and are not worth reporting. You're only wasting
 your own time if you report them, but thanks for the effort anyway. :-)

- No Locale support yet (planned).

- Those who use small screen resolutions (i.e. like < 640x512) may notice
  some weird layouts with MUI. Don't ask me why, but some people have
  reported MUI defaulting to the Helvetica font.

- Progress bar resets to 0 with really big archives (100MB+).

- You need to quit Voodoo-X and restart it to update any newly configured
  toolbars. I removed the "Update Toolbar" feature at the last moment due
  to some bugs/design issues that would have taken ages to fix. I'll bring
  this feature back in version 1.6.

- The Listtree viewmode is obsolete, will be totally removed sometime in
  favour of NListtree. So questions like "What's the point of having two
  tree viewmodes?" will be ignored. It's a transitional thing, get used
  to it. ;-)

- Voodoo-X looks for toolbar images in its home dir by default. This can be
  problematic when launching it from environments (like filemanagers, etc.)
  that screw with the PROGDIR: path (this is where Voodoo-X expects to find
  the Images drawer). To bypass this, use an absolute path to the image
  location. For example, use something like "MyTools:Voodoo-X/Images/Quit"
  instead of "Images/Quit".

- Lack of documentation. I've absolutely no time to update the documentation
  for this version. If somebody could do this for me I'd be very greatful. :-)
  You can find the v1.4 HTML docs on my website, in the old v1.4 archive.

  You'll just have to play around with it for now. Read the history file
  for a detailed description of changes made since v1.4.


 ============================================================================
                        New things for Voodoo-X 1.5
 ============================================================================

- Major speed improvements when loading archives.
- Support for Simone Tellini's SpeedBar MUI class. Buttons can now be
  configured to suit. Thanks to Martin Merz for taking the time to
  draw the images for me.
- Improved client information window.
- Support for archives with multiple portions.
- Improved temporary file handling.
- The About window now shows the history file.
- Low memory handlers.
- More shell arguments
- Support for Carsten Scholling's NListtree.mcc. You now have proper
  multiselection in tree mode. :-)
- New archive information window. Also shows DMS texts, etc.
- Overwrite requesters now popup when extracting.
- New recent submenu that holds recently accessed archives.
- Run executables inside arhives.
- Plus lots more (see history file).

 ============================================================================
                                 Features
 ============================================================================

 o Browse many archives very quickly. Voodoo-X contains an archive history
   list, much like the URL history list of a web browser. This allows you
   to switch between archives VERY QUICKLY with only three clicks of the
   mouse button.

 o Retrieve files from within DMS archives (and other disk based archive
   formats too) without having to extract the entire archive to disk or
   a virtual disk device like FMS.

 o Browse archives inside archives. Quickly gain access to that document
   inside that LHA inside that LZX inside that DMS. ;)

 o Quickly view pictures, documents or similar files that are inside archives
   simply by double clicking on a file. Voodoo-X will then extract it and
   start the viewer of your choice.

 o Drag one or more archive icons from Workbench into the main window to
   browse their contents.

 o Support for multipart archives.
 
 o Support for archives that contain multiple portions (like embedded filing
   systems, etc).

 o Virus checking. If you have Georg Hoermann's xvs.library system installed
   then you can check archives for file viruses. You can also specify if
   every file extracted should be checked.

 o Lots of archiver formats are supported (common ones and obscure ones). 
   Disk image formats are also supported, so you can treat AmigaDOS
   formatted ADF files as normal archives under Voodoo-X.

 o Fast decompression, thanks to xadmaster.library. Note that this really
   depends on the client being used. Some clients are coded in C and might
   noticeably slower than the original archive program on older CPUs.

 o Very easy-to-use user interface, thanks to MUI.

 o Quickly copy, move or delete archives using pull down menus. This can
   be highly convenient when going through download directories.

 o Search window. Search for strings or filename patterns inside archives.
   Uses assembly optimized string search routines for greater speed.

 o Nice progress bars. :-)


 ============================================================================
                               Quick thanks
 ============================================================================

 I would like thank those individuals that took the time to send a gift and
 honoured the GIFTWARE status of this program. They know who they are.
 Thanks again!

 I would like to say no-thanks to those individuals that said they'd send a
 gift if I added feature X, Y or Z and after I did, they never upheld there
 part of the deal.

 So only those people who have took the time and bothered to send a gift will
 get first priority when it comes feature requests.


 ============================================================================
                                 Copyright
 ============================================================================

 Voodoo-X is Copyright © 2000-2001 Andrew Bell. All rights reserved. Voodoo-X
 is uncrippled GIFTWARE and is provided "AS IS". Please refer to the
 documentation for more information.

 Although Voodoo-X is uncrippled GIFTWARE, xadmaster.library and MUI are
 SHAREWARE. Please consider registering XAD/MUI and show your support for
 Amiga software.

 Voodoo-X wouldn't be possible without the following third-party software:

 xadmaster.library         - Copyright © 1998-2001 Dirk Stoecker. 
 muimaster.library         - Copyright © 1992-2001 Stefan Stuntz.
 NList MUI custom class    - Copyright © 1996-2001 Gilles Masson.
 Listtree MUI custom class - Copyright © 1995-1997 Klaus Melchior.
 xvs.library               - Copyright © 1997-2001 Georg Hoermann.
 Speedbar MUI custom class - Copyright © 1999-2001 Simone Tellini.

 Special thanks to the above programmers, for their hard work.

 Another special thanks goes to Dirk for allowing me to access to the beta
 versions of XAD to test with Voodoo-X. Thanks again!