!Help file for Multirun v0.6 19/9/2002 - Freeware
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!Multirun allows you to group files and run them with a single click. 

It acts a bit like a file jukebox or playlist, allowing you to sort files into categories and then 'play' them. e.g. you might want to group all your jpegs showing sunsets into a category called "Sunsets", others into a category called "Landscapes" and so on. One click will then dispay all the jpegs in that category, using whichever application currently has control of that filetype (runtype).

Note that the files stay where they are on your hard disc, the grouping is only in Multirun, but it allows you to do the equivalent of dragging selections from multiple directories at once onto the iconbar.

Categories
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The categories can be named and the contents saved or cleared. 
Filetypes can be mixed and matched within a category.

How to use it
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Double-click to load it and then click on the iconbar icon. This opens the main window displaying several rows of icons. The leftmost icons are the categories. On first run these are all empty. Clicking the middle mouse button over a category icon allows you to name/rename the category or save it.

To add files to a category simply select them in a filer window and drag the selection onto the category icon. The middle icon will be updated to show how many files are in that directory and the rightmost icon will change to show the filetype of the last file recorded.

To play/view/run the category just click on the category or filetype icon. What happens next depends on which application has control of the particular filetype.

To reset/empty a category simply click with the right hand mouse button on the middle file count icon.

Editing saved categories
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Choosing 'Edit list' from the iconbar menu will load the saved file into a text editor, to allow manual editing of the categories and files within them.

Format of saved categories
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The first line of the list file is the number of categories. This is followed by the information for each category. The format of the category data is:

Category name
Row number
Number of files
Full pathname for file 1
Full pathname for file 2
etc.
Filetype

e.g.
Sunsets
1
3
ADFS::HardDisc4.$.Images.Photos.001/jpg
ADFS::HardDisc4.$.Images.Photos.005/jpg
ADFS::HardDisc4.$.Images.Olympus.sky/jpg
file_C85

Note:
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* If you delete any of the file pathnames don't leave a blank where the line was. Also you must remember to change the value of the 'Number of files' line.
* It's possible to add additional categories manually, but again be sure you update the value of the first line of the list file if you do.
* You can only edit information that's been saved, so remember to save before trying to edit. Saving one category saves them all, so don't worry about having to save each one.

mattlb@angelfire.com