Ursula Screensaver
Functional Specification
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL
| Document Ref: | 1309,215/FS |
| Project: | Ursula |
| Revision: | D*** LIVE *** |
| Date: | 29th April 1998 |
| Author(s): | Richard Leggett |
| Change: | None |
Contents:
| 1.0 | Overview. | ||||
| 2.0 | Outstanding Issues. | ||||
| 3.0 | Technical Background. | ||||
| 4.0 | User Interface. | ||||
| 5.0 | Programming Interface. | ||||
| 6.0 | Data Interchange. | ||||
| 7.0 | Data Formats. | ||||
| 8.0 | External Dependencies. | ||||
| 9.0 | Acceptance Test. | ||||
| 10.0 | Non Compliances. | ||||
| 11.0 | Development Test Strategy. | ||||
| 12.0 | Product Organisation. | ||||
| 13.0 | Future Enhancements. | ||||
| 14.0 | Glossary. | ||||
| 15.0 | References. | ||||
| 16.0 | History. | ||||
Published by and Copyright © 1998 Acorn Computers Ltd., Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8PB, England.
1.0 Overview
Previous versions of RISC OS included support for automatic blanking of the screen after a configurable period of inactivity; however, no support was provided for more interesting screensavers. The Ursula release of RISC OS aims to remedy the situation by providing a new version of the Screenblanker module, along with a new module called ScrSaver.
The new modules enable an ordinary WIMP application to be run when the configured period of inactivity occurs and provide a mechanism for letting the application know when the screen needs to be restored.
2.0 Outstanding Issues
None.
3.0 Technical Background
3.1 ScreenBlanker and ScrSaver
N/A
3.2 Screensaver applications
Whilst it would be possible to write single-tasking screensaver applications, they should be multi-tasking, so that other applications can continue processing in the background.
Upon startup, a screensaver is passed the address of a pollword as the first command line argument. The application will pass this value to Wimp_Poll and install a PollWord_NonZero event handler to monitor it. The first call to Wimp_Poll should have the high priority pollword bit set (bit 23) but subsequent calls should not have this bit set. Setting it for the first Wimp_Poll ensures that there won't be unnecessary screen redraw if the user causes an unblank only shortly after a blank.
If the Pollword_NonZero event occurs, the screensaver should exit immediately. In doing so, its window will be removed and the screen will be restored.
A handler for the Pointer_Entering_Window event should also be installed. When this event occurs, the application should switch the pointer off. The program exit code should then switch the pointer on again (to shape 1) before finishing.
The application blanks the screen by opening a black or transparent window over the whole of the screen and then using null events to paint to it. Upon startup, the application should read details about the current screen mode and use this to decide how large to make the window.To ensure that no other windows open over the top of the screensaver window, the Ursula window manager provides the facility for windows to be flagged as foreground windows. These windows can only be obscured by Wimp error boxes.
[To mark a foreground window, windows should be opened with a handle-to-open-behind of -1 and with bit 23 of window flags set. For full details, refer to the Ursula Window Manager Changes Functional Specification [1].]
The !Run file for a screensaver application should include the line:
Set ScrSaver$Running Yes
and its exit routine should unset the system variable.
In order to avoid having to register application names, screensavers should:
Appname$Dir but instead use the reserved variable BlankTask$Dir to point to it's application directory.
4.0 User Interface
Screensaver applications are kept hidden away within the !Boot.Resources.Configure.ScrSavers directory. The !Configure application[2] allows configuration of the screensaver and it produces a list of available savers by scanning this directory. Configure is responsible for writing an Obey file which will be run on startup and which sets the value of ScrSaver$Dir and ScrSaver$MinMem. The latter variable is used by ScrSaver to decide if there is sufficient memory to run a given screensaver. Configure decides on a value for it by looking at the -min switch of the WimpSlot command in the application's !Run file.
Each screensaver may optionally have its own configuration window and this should be provided by an application within the screensaver's own application directory. The application should be called !SvrSetup and should expect command line arguments which tell it where to open the top-left corner of its window. These will be of the form:
!SaverName.!SvrSetup -openat 364 822
The window should provide Configure style Cancel, Set and Default buttons and should keep any choices in a file within the <Choices$Write>.ScrSavers directory, rather than within its own application directory (as this can create problems on networked systems).
5.0 Programming Interface
N/A.
6.0 Data Interchange
N/A.
7.0 Data Formats
No new data formats are involved.
8.0 External Dependencies
The ScrSaver module uses a new SWI which is provided in the Ursula release of the Switcher.
A new version of !Configure will allow easy selection of favoured screen saver.
9.0 Acceptance Test
N/A.
10.0 Non Compliances
None.
11.0 Development Test Strategy
N/A.
12.0 Product Organisation
The new version of ScreenBlanker and the new module ScrSaver will be built into the Ursula ROMs. An as yet undetermined, number of screen saver applications will be included in the Ursula disc build.
13.0 Future Enhancements
None planned.
14.0 Glossary
N/A
15.0 References
1. 1309,213/FS Ursula Window Manager Changes
2. 1309,214/FS Ursula !Configure Changes
16.0 History
N/A.