Info: FAQ

This is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) regarding TopSoft, Inc., and the FilterTop software, including the FilterTop application and Toplet drag-and-drop applications.

This version of the FAQ has been formatted using a style proposed by Chris Lewis which is documented in the "FAQs: A Suggested Minimal Digest Format" FAQ which can be found at:

<http://www.faqs.org/faqs/faqs/minimal-digest-format/>

The FAQ source document is a SimpleText text file, which takes advantage of a feature of SimpleText 1.4 for the Mac OS operating system, providing a Table of Contents menu.

Subject: 2. Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Table of Contents

3. Who is TopSoft?

4. Contacting TopSoft

5. What is FilterTop?

6. How does FilterTop work?

7. Where can I get FilterTop?

8. Mailing lists and online meetings

9. How can I get involved?

10. What development environments are used?

11. What's new in version 1.1 of FilterTop?

12. What is the future for FilterTop?

13. Trademark acknowledgments

Subject: 3. Who is TopSoft?

TopSoft is an Internet-based Macintosh programming group dedicated to creating ground-breaking free and low-cost software for the Macintosh! TopSoft is incorporated in the state of Utah as a non-profit organization. Membership is open to anyone interested in participating in Internet-based cooperative projects.

TopSoft was formed in September 1991, when Steve Jovanovic, a computer engineering graduate student at Marquette University, asked readers of the comp.sys.mac.programmer Usenet newsgroup if anyone was interested in collaborating on a small project. The reply was overwhelming and the result was the formation of TopSoft six months later.

TopSoft is governed by a Board of Trustees and managed by its organizational officers. For more information, please refer to the Articles of Incorporation and other documents, available on the TopSoft Web/FTP site. Officers are elected in mid-June to serve a one-year term. The Board and Officers take care of various activities associated with being a company, but don't take the titles too seriously. At heart, TopSoft is a growing group of friends working together to have fun and make a difference. Everyone has equal say in everything we do.

Subject: 4. Contacting TopSoft

TopSoft, Inc. may be contacted via any of the following means.

Email: <mailto:info@topsoft.org>

US Mail: 3247 Kenton Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84109, U.S.A.

Web site: <http://www.topsoft.org>

See below for information on the weekly TopSoft meeting that is held online.

Subject: 5. What is FilterTop?

FilterTop is a Macintosh utility application designed by TopSoft. It was largely influenced by the drag-and-drop applications that were being released in 1991-92, including FileTyper and StuffIt Expander™, which saved users a lot of time by letting them perform various operations on files transparently.

We were really impressed by the time and effort that such drag-and-drop applications were able to save the user, and we hoped to be able to expand upon the concept. What if the user wants to concatenate a bunch of text files? And what if he (or she) wants to take the combined file, compress it, and then BinHex-encode it? He would need to find and run several different apps and manually go through the process of converting the files to the desired format. We wanted that user to be able to automate the entire process, and be able even to process multiple batches of files simultaneously.

Some of these useful Macintosh applications are comparable to some filters used by the UNIX® operating system. But in UNIX, the great thing is that you can "pipe" the output of one filter into the input of another, so that you can perform very complex tasks by chaining relatively simple filters together in a pipeline. Another UNIX concept which we wanted was the ability to have multiple threads of execution&emdash;that is, multiple filtration operations going on simultaneously.

We thought wouldn't it be great if the user could construct a pipeline in FilterTop and actually save it as a stand-alone drag-and-drop application, allowing the user to easily automate repetitive tasks.

Finally, with a little programming, if users could create new filters, the range of tasks that could be automated with the FilterTop software, would be extended.

FilterTop combines our visions, including the power of pipelines, filters, and batch processing, in a powerful and easy-to-use application that takes advantage of the Mac's great graphical user interface.

Subject: 6. How does FilterTop work?

There are three main parts to the FilterTop software:

* Filters

* The User Interface

* The Engine, or "guts" of FilterTop

FilterTop filters are "plug-in" modules that allow the user to extend the functionality of FilterTop, much as Adobe Photoshop® plug-ins do for Photoshop. However, unlike Photoshop plug-ins, FilterTop filters are designed to work together.

The standard FilterTop software release comes with a collection of filters in a variety of categories; additional filters and categories continue to be developed and all filters are available for download from the TopSoft Web site.

Example kinds of filters are:

Change: Add Line Numbers - numbers lines of text.

File: Unique Name - gives the output files unique names.

Miscellaneous: Speak - speaks arbitrary text or the input file names.

Order: Order by Name - sorts the output by input file name.

Report: Line Count - reports the number of lines in the input.

Route: Route by Date - routes inputs based on their file's date information.

Send: to FTWindow - sends output text to a separate FTWindow application.

Filters are often configurable (and are configured using the User Interface). For example, the "by En/DeCryption" filter allows the user to specify an encryption string (in a configuration dialog).

FilterTop's functionality is only limited by its filters&emdash;and if you need a custom filter, it is very easy to create one, and TopSoft is eager to assist in or write custom filters for users.

The part of FilterTop that most users see is the User Interface. There the user picks and chooses whichever filters he wants and connects them together, graphically, to form a SuperFilter pipeline. The user then selects a file (or batch of files) to work on, and then tells FilterTop to start the filtration. FilterTop then proceeds to work on the specified files. While it is doing this, the user can open up many other windows and create new SuperFilter pipelines and specify other batches of files and get many filtrations going at the same time. In this manner, the user is able to perform multiple complex operations on batches of files.

SuperFilter pipelines can be saved as stand-alone Toplet drag-and-drop applications.

The FilterTop Engine is responsible for moving data among the various filters in a SuperFilter pipeline, managing multiple threads of execution, and servicing filters.

This is only a brief overview of FilterTop; much more information can be found in the FilterTop application's About Box or Help menu, and in other places.

Subject: 7. Where can I get FilterTop?

The official home of FilterTop is the TopSoft Web/FTP site. You can always find the current (and previous) versions of FilterTop there.

As of this writing, the current version of FilterTop (in development) is 1.1.

The complete FilterTop software package, additional filters, development kits, etc., are available for download.

Start at the TopSoft Web site home page:

<http://www.topsoft.org>

or using anonymous FTP:

<ftp://ftp.topsoft.org/Visitors/FilterTop/>

Please feel free to peruse other directories and download any other files that you find interesting. New uploads are temporarily stored in the "Incoming" directory.

Subject: 8. Mailing lists and online meetings

TopSoft runs several mailing lists and conducts a weekly meeting online for the purpose of discussing FilterTop software development.

All mailing-list subscription requests should be addressed to the automatic listserver:

<mailto:info@topsoft.org>

For information on this service and how to use it, type "help" (without the quotes) by itself in the Subject line of an email message and send it to that address.

As of this writing, the following lists are currently active:

ft-filters - for announcements of new filters

ft-dev - for FilterTop active Development Team members

ft-bugs - for reporting bugs in the FilterTop software

As of this writing, an online meeting is held on Wednesdays at 6/8/9 PM PST/CST/EST (Thu 2 AM GMT/UTC).

To join the online meeting, telnet to:

<telnet:chat.topsoft.org>

After you connect, everything you type gets sent line-by-line to everyone else. For further information please use the online help, by entering the command "/help" (without the quotes) on a line by itself.

If you can't make it to meetings regularly, or just want to see what they are like, minutes are kept automatically and mailed to subscribers of a meeting logs mailing list.

Subject: 9. How can I get involved?

The best way to get involved is to join us at our online meetings, and to join the ft-dev mailing list.

In addition to programmers, we are constantly seeking graphic designers, writers, testers, and FilterTop software evangelists!

If you wish to develop FilterTop filters, please refer to the Filter Development Kit available on the TopSoft Web/FTP site. The following MacTech® magazine article also offers help in getting started:

<http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.13/13.07/WriteaFilterTopFilter/index.html>

Subject: 10. What development environments are used?

Originally, the FilterTop application was developed using THINK C 5.0 (C with object extensions) then THINK C/Symantec™ C++ 6.0.x, when much of the code was converted to use C++. In 1992, FilterTop was ported to also build in the MPW 3.3 environment. In 1994, the entire FilterTop project was converted to use the Metrowerks® CodeWarrior® environment. As of FilterTop version 1.1, only CodeWarrior development is supported, building native versions of the code for both 680x0 and PowerPC™ processors.

Theoretically, filters can be written in almost any high-level language (and some were originally written using Pascal), although currently, interfaces are provided only for C/C++. Most of the filters are written in C, although some are written in C++.

Subject: 11. What's new in version 1.1 of FilterTop?

FilterTop 1.0 was written to take advantage of many features brand new with System 7. Now even Mac OS 8 is history, many Macintosh users are using Mac OS 9, and Mac OS X has seen its first release! Running FilterTop 1.0 under these more recent operating systems, users have discovered some problems. For example, some windows are not drawn properly. These problems have been fixed in the FilterTop version 1.1 release. But FilterTop 1.1 has added a whole lot more, too.

Up front, you'll find version 1.1 easier to use. There is a Windows menu. The mouse cursor changes to a hand when dragging a filter to a SuperFilter pipeline editing window. FilterTop 1.1 is now partially scriptable so it can be controlled with AppleScript scripts. You can store your own scripts in the Scripts folder, and they will show up in the new Scripts menu. The appearance of the windows and palettes has also been somewhat redesigned to be easier to use. For compatibility, system window and menu definitions are now used. Some error messages that were not too clear now make much more sense.

When development of FilterTop 1.0 first began, there was no such thing as a Power Macintosh computer; FilterTop 1.0 runs in emulation mode on Power Macintosh computers. Now FilterTop 1.1 has been extensively recompiled as a FAT binary application, so that it will run mostly native with both 680x0 and PowerPC processors. Many of the filters (though not all) in the FilterTop 1.1 release are now also FAT binaries.

Under the hood, FilterTop 1.1 operates much more efficiently. Multithreading support has been updated. Memory management uses a newer, more efficient scheme. Internally, the code has been reorganized (more of it is now object oriented) and communication is by Apple Events. All this makes it more maintainable and facilitates scripting.

Previously, when filtering dragged text (clippings) and the contents of the clipboard, if you didn't save the output to a file, it would seem to disappear. This no longer happens (the desktop is now the default location).

One inconvenience under FilterTop 1.0 was that saved SuperFilter pipelines (Toplet drag-and-drop applications) could become unusable if you updated or moved any of the filters they used. FilterTop simply lost track of those filters, and it would not even let you open the Toplet. Now FilterTop 1.1, using a convenient dialog box, helps you update your Toplet pipelines when FilterTop doesn't know where the filters are. In many cases this lets you preserve valuable configuration information stored in the Toplets, information that would otherwise be lost forever.

FilterTop 1.1 takes thorough advantage of Navigation Services wherever available, providing you with all the conveniences that come with Apple's most advanced method of opening files and saving them to disk.

Numerous small (and not-so-small) bugs have been fixed.

Finally, you should be aware that FilterTop 1.1 is still backwards compatible with all Macintosh computers with a 68020 processor or later (and all PowerPC processors), as well as with operating systems as early as System 7. (For best results, your display and computer should support at least 256 colors.) System 7.5 (which is available for free from Apple) or later is recommended.

Subject: 12. What is the future for FilterTop?

Currently, the FilterTop engine and user interface are combined into one single application. In the future, we may make the Engine a background-only application servicing the user interface "front-end" application, and others, via Apple Events. This separation would allow third-party developers to call FilterTop filters from their own applications, without requiring the FilterTop user interface.

Making FilterTop run natively in Mac OS X, using the Carbon software technology, is a important future direction.

Subject: 13. Trademark acknowledgments

FilterTop, SuperFilter, and Toplet are trademarks of TopSoft, Inc.
AppleScript, Mac, Macintosh, and MPW are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Carbon is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
StuffIt and StuffIt Expander are trademarks of Aladdin Systems, Inc.
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.
Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
MacTech is a registered trademark of Xplain Corporation.
Symantec is a registered trademark of Symantec Corporation.
Metrowerks and CodeWarrior are registered trademarks of Metrowerks Inc.
PowerPC is a trademark of Motorola, Inc.
Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.