NewDeal Hot Tip 1530
General UseThe NewDeal desktop and NewManager display an icon for every file. A folder or subdirectory is just a special kind of file. If you are using a color video driver, then you will see colored icons and if you have a black and white display, you will see black and white icons. The data for each of the icon pictures lives inside the NewDeal application, driver, and library file itself. Icons for NewDeal document files are also stored within the application that created the document.
Subsequently, when NewDeal wants to display the same file again, it does not need to open the individual file, but can read the icon data for all known files from the Token Database. This speeds up the display of file icons. If your Token Database is deleted, or if NewDeal encounters a new file for which it has no icon stored in Token Database, you will notice a slight delay in the appearance of the icon as NewDeal reads the data for the first time and adds it to the Token Database file.
A few special icons, such as the default icon for DOS files and the default icon for system files, are stored within NewManager and NewDesk and are added to the Token Database automatically any time a new Token Database is created.
When NewManager encounters these little applications, it adds their icon data to the Token Database. By editing your GEOS.INI file, you may tell NewDeal to assign specific icons to DOS files.
[fileManager] filenameTokens = { PROCOMM.BAT = "TERM",0 *.EXE = "gDOS",0 *.COM = "gDOS",0 *.BAT = "gDOS",0 *.TXT = "FILE",0,"TeEd",0 *.DOC = "FILE",0,"TeEd",0 *.HLP = "FILE",0,"TeEd",0 * = "FILE",0,"TeEd",0 }
Notice that we have placed the filename before the wildcards--this is important. The more specific assignments must be listed first, and the more generic ones later. If PROCOMM.BAT was at the end of the list, then the *.BAT assignment would override it and the file would be assigned the gDOS icon. Also note that the four letter token for NewComm is TERM and its Mfg ID is zero. Here are some other common tokens, which all have the Mfg ID of zero:
*.TXT = "FILE",0,"TeEd",0the "FILE",0 tells NewDeal to display the icon whose token is FILE and whose Mfg ID is zero. The extra "TeEd",0 tells NewDeal to launch Text File Editor whenever you double click on a file that has the file name extension .TXT.
NewDeal offers collections of icons for sale or for download from the NewDeal web site. NewDeal also sells an application called Folder Editor which can be used to change the icons displayed by NewDeal for folders or subdirectories.
If you don't have Token deleter, you can use a disk editor to examine any NewDeal file. The token is contained in the bytes at offsets 38h, 39h, 3Ah, and 3Bh (the 57th through 60th bytes of the file). The next two bytes contain the Mfg ID in low-byte/high-byte format (you must convert the hex value to decimal in order to use it in the GEOS.INI file).
You will note that some NewDeal icons have letters in them, like the font icon, but none have the actual application name. In general, icons are best as simple visual keys or clues to the application's function. If a program has a logo, that's often appropriate.
Most icons supplied by NewDeal have a 3-D effect with the light coming from the upper left and the shadow pointing to the lower right. Shadows are always in the light gray color, not that this is required, but it maintains a consistent look.
Last Modified 9 Mar 1999