* Choosier version 1.0
by Mark C Smith / University of Michigan / Information Technology
Division Copyright (c) 1995 The Regents of The University of Michigan.
All Rights Reserved.


* What is it?

Choosier is a replacement for Apple's Chooser(tm) desk accessory.  The
primary goal in writing the Choosier application was to provide a
richer interface to help the user deal with the huge multitude of zones
that large sites (such as our university) have on their AppleTalk
network.

Choosier was developed using Metrowerks' Code Warrior development
environment by Mark Smith of the University of Michigan Information
Technology Division.  It is not officially supported in any way.  It
is, however, informally supported by the author (see below for the list
of relevant e-mail addresses).

The latest information on Choosier is available at this URL (Uniform
Resource Locator):
    http://www.umich.edu/~rsug/choosier/


* Some of the advantages Choosier has over Apple's Chooser:

    + AppleTalk zones are displayed in, and navigable as, a hierarchy.
       This is Choosier's main reason for existence.

    + Windows are resizable, and multiple windows can be open at the same time.

    + Choosier is a fat binary that runs natively on 68K and PowerMacs.
       This is not much of an advantage right now, since AppleTalk currently
       runs emulated on PowerMacs.


* Here are a few things you will still need Apple's Chooser for:

    + Configuring serial printers (Choosier only supports AppleTalk devices).

    + Turning AppleTalk on and off (will be supported in the future).

    + Working where there are no zones on the network (will be supported in
      the future).


* Using Choosier (in brief):

Choosier 1.0 requires a Macintosh Plus or newer Mac running MacOS
System 7 or later (including System 7.5 and Power Macintoshes).  It
also requires version 53 or later of the AppleTalk driver software.
The latest version of the AppleTalk driver is available as part of
Apple's Network Software Installer (anonymous ftp to ftp.apple.com and
look in the /dts/mac/sys.soft/netcomm directory).  Choosier is believed
to run under System 6.0.5 through 6.0.8, but this has not been well
tested.

When you first start Choosier it will read the AppleTalk zones from the
network, parse them into a reasonable hierarchy, and try to open
windows for AppleShare and the LaserWriter 8 driver.  To open other
device windows, use the New submenu on the File menu.  By default,
Choosier will quit when you close the last device window.  The two
popup menus located in the upper-left hand corner of a Choosier window
are used to change the device type and current zone.  You can use
Command-Shift-letter (where 'letter' is the first letter of a device
name) to switch devices within a window.  Command-Shift-DownArrow and
Command-Shift-UpArrow will change to the next and previous devices
respectively.

There are a number of settings that are configurable using the
"Preferences" command on the File menu, including many controls for the
zone hierarchy parsing that Choosier does at startup.  All settings are
stored in a "Choosier Preferences" file in the System Folder
Preferences folder.   Experts can copy the 'ChPr' resource id 128 from
a Choosier Preferences file to a copy of the application to create a
customized version of Choosier (this requires a tool such as Apple's
ResEdit resource editor).


* Availability

Choosier is free for everyone to use (see the copyright at the end of
this file for more information).  At the present time, the latest
version of Choosier can always be obtained via anonymous ftp from the
/mac/choosier directory on the machine terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu.
Here's a URL:
    ftp://terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu/mac/choosier/choosier.sit.hqx

The latest information about Choosier is available using this URL:
    http://www.umich.edu/~rsug/choosier

Choosier will also be made widely available on the various Macintosh
software archives across the Internet.


* Mailing lists

Send any problems or suggestions via Internet e-mail to:
    choosier@umich.edu

If you are interested in testing pre-release versions of Choosier, send
a message to:
    choosier.testers-request@umich.edu

and you will be added to a mailing list of people who are testing
Choosier.  If you are affiliated with the University of Michigan, you
can join this list using an X.500 Online Directory client such as
maX.500.

If you are only interested in receiving announcements about non-test
releases of Choosier, send a message to:
    choosier.announce-request@umich.edu

and you will be added to the announcement list.  If you are affiliated
with the University of Michigan, you can join this list using an X.500
Online Directory client such as maX.500.


* Future plans:

Choosier is a "spare time" activity for the author, but I have many
ideas for future improvements:

     + Support shortcut files (also available in a menu) to choose a zone,
       server, printer, etc.
     + Support AppleEvents, including scripting.
     + Provide online help (including balloon help) and/or a Choosier Guide
     + Display the (optional) warning when the active printer is changed.
     + Run when there are no zones available.
     + Notice when the AppleTalk configuration changes.

Please send your own suggestions via e-mail to:  choosier@umich.edu.


* Copyright and other legalese

The following copyright applies to the Choosier software and associated
documents:

Copyright (c) 1995 The Regents of The University of Michigan.
All Rights Reserved.

Redistribution and use are permitted provided that this notice is
preserved and that due credit is given to the University of Michigan at
Ann Arbor.  The name of the University may not be used to endorse or
promote products derived from this software without specific prior
written permission. This software is provided ``as is'' without express
or implied warranty.


* README last updated 4 May 1995 by Mark C Smith