How to use ToolBox - Control Panel
The ToolBox Control Panel is the main window of the ToolBox application. From here
you control
global settings, create, clone and delete toolboxes. This window is not always visible while the application
runs. In fact, when you first run ToolBox it will appear, so you can create your first toolbox.
After
that, every time you run the application (e.g. when Windows start), the ToolBox Control Panel will
NOT appear as long as you have at least one toolbox window.
At the bottom of the window there are two buttons. Use 'Exit ToolBox' to terminate the application, and 'Hide Control Panel' to hide this window (the application is still running and all ToolBoxes are visible).
Working with Toolboxes
On the left there is a list of the active Toolboxes. The buttons on the form and the File menu options, which
are used to maintain toolboxes are explained below:
- New. Use the 'New Toolbox' button or 'File/New Toolbox' from the menu to create a new one. A new toolbox will appear at a random screen position and a new entry will appear in the list.
- Properties. Use the 'Properties' button or the 'File/Toolbox Properties...' menu option to change the properties of a ToolBox (see Toolbox Properties for details). Note that you can also access each ToolBox's properties by right-clicking on a toolbox and selecting 'ToolBox properties...' from the pop-up menu.
- Delete. Use the 'Delete' button or 'File/Delete Toolbox' from the menu to delete the current selected toolbox from the list. Toolboxes are not removed from the disk, their filenames are just renamed. You can undelete a toolbox that has been accidentally deleted. See the Administration Tasks section for more details.
- Clone. You can also clone toolboxes! This is extremely useful when you want to split a toolbox to two for example. You can clone first and then remove the icons from the toolboxes that should no longer be there.
- Convert old ToolBox v1.* DAT file. You can create a new ToolBox from a v1.* DAT file (old configuration file). This new version of ToolBox (v2 and onwards) uses new XML configuration files that are easy to debug, easy to read and even easy to re-configure by hand. The old versions used to save the configuration in binary files. If you want to migrate from a previous version of ToolBox please use the migration guide in the Administration Tasks section.
Global Settings
These settings are common to on all ToolBoxes:
Snap to Screen Edges. By checking this option ToolBox will force window to stick
to the
screen edges as you move windows
Start ToolBox when Windows start. Checking this option will create a Windows shortcut to
ToolBox at:
c:\Documents and Settings\your user name\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Uncheck this check-box and the shortcut will be removed. ToolBox does NOT create any files in any other
folder than the installation folder automatically.
Refresh Transparency even when not moving. If this option is checked, then Toolbox windows that
have the CyLog transparency
effects enabled, will be re-painted when you click with your mouse to activate them, not just when you moved them to
a new position.
Character Encoding for XML files
ToolBox saves each individual window's settings in XML files. If your filenames, or shortcut
descriptions
contain character from different character sets, you need to specify your prefered encoding for saving toolbox
files.
The setting can be changed by selecting Settings/Character enoding for XML files from the menu. Select one
of
the
encodings provided from the drop-down list, or type a different one (make sure that your system support's it).
Save all toolbox settings
Although ToolBox saves changes (new properties, new shortcuts, etc.) at the time they are modified or
created, the 'Settings/Save all toolbox settings' menu option from the Control Panel forces all Toolbox
windows to persist themselves by revising all configuration files.