User manual
1. Installation
1.1 Windows
Windows users can just use the executive installer with a complicated binary, or extract a portable archive and run the application.
1.2 Linux
On the Linux operating systems, we suggest compilation from source codes. In order to make it easier, there is a script called eco-build. Use:
go to the directory with ECO source folder and plugins source folder and run:
./eco-build --release.
You need to have QT development libraries installed (v4.6 or later).
There is also a Linux binary package compiled for i386. In the future versions of the program we intend to provide .deb and .rpm packages for popular distros.
The latest version of the source code can also be downloaded from SVN:
svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/open-eco/code/trunk
1.3 Plugins installation.
Downloaded .plug (or .pin) and .dll (or .so) files put into 'plugins' directory, it will be automatically recognized by application and ready to activate in plugins manager.
2. Minimum requirements.
Program only needs QT runtime libraries, which are already distributed with application in Windows version. Linux users have to install at least binary libraries for running apps using QT v4.6 or later. Resources consumption depends on active extensions and way of use ECO itself. The lower limit of operating memory is 128MB.
3. Basic features
When program starts, an ECO icon appears in system tray. Activation of this icon displays main menu witch such buttons:
- Clear history - removes all entries in clipboard history
- Settings - shows application configuration window
- Plugin manager - shows plugin manager window
- About ECO - shows information window
- Exit - quits application
Beside above, there is also a variable amount of buttons visible. Those contains clipboard history entries called slots. Depending on active plugins, some extra buttons may appear in main menu.
4. Configuration.
4.1 General settings
General settings lets you to decide about behavior and data presenting. Most important settings:
- Checkbox: 'delete chosen slot' - when this is checked, the clicked slot in menu will be moved to the top of the list and removed from current position. If it's not checked, the slot will be duplicated and its copy will be placed at the top of the list.
- Checkbox: 'show slot contents in tips' - when checked, tips for slots are displayed. They contains short presentation of stored data. It is especially handy when working with many similar texts.
- 'Language' - selects interface language, there are two default languages available: polish and english. The user can also load custom translation file by selecting 'other'.
- Fonts settings - you can edit different fonts for slots and menu buttons using edit window available by clicking 'select' button. Text form of font is shown in text box and it's also editable.
- 'save history' - If checked, all visible history will be saved to hard disk and restored with next application run.
- 'Number of slots' - this defines the maximum number of history entries in the main menu. In the current version there is no upper limit, but there is no possibility to scroll the list when it exceeds the screen size.
- 'Label size' - sets maximum character number in history slot label.
4.2 Appearance
Appearance settings applies to ECO themes selection. Skins can be added or removed from 'themes' directory. Chosen theme has influence not only on main menu, but also system tray icon and slots width. Advanced configuration of themes can be found below.
4.3. Plugins configuration
Plugins do not need to have separate configuration windows. There is a possibility to integrate the forms with ECO main configuration window. After a plugin is activated, its configuration form is visible as an additional section in settings window. The name of a section is determined by the plugin and it is usually the plugin's name.
4.4 Advanced themes configuration
Graphical themes for ECO are stored in 'themes' director and its files can be edited. Beside graphical files (*.png), the 'palette.cfg' file can be found. This file contains additional information about theme's look. There is no handy editor yet, but it can be edited manually. Syntax of the file looks like this:
- hover_color=00F00032; - highlight color when mouse is over button.
- active_slot_color=EEF0EE30; - active slot color
- pressed_color=00550032; - button highlight color when its pressed
- bgcolor=111111FF; - main menu background color
- scroll_color=00FF00FF; - scrollbar slider color
- slot_font_color=CCCCCCFF; - font color for slots
- button_font_color=BBBBBBFF; - font color for buttons
- button_edge_width=5; - button edge width (this will not be scaled)
- separator_height=5; - gap between buttons and slots
- initial_width=350; - width of main popup after theme is loaded
- button_height=-1; - height of single button, when set to -1 the height of png file will be applied
- shaped=0; - if set to 1, the transparency mask from png files will be applied to the window
- bgstyle=none; - set "tile", "scale" or "none". If tiled or scaled style is set, the background.png file will be used as background
- logo_left=1; - distance between logo and left edge
- logo_top=1; - distance between logo and top edge
- author=unknown; - information about theme author
- name=ECO SKIN for KDE4; - theme's name
- version=1.0; - version of theme
The notation of colors used in palette.cfg is hexadecimal RGBA where R - red, G - green, B - blue, A - alpha (opacity). Color values must be in range of 0 - 255.
The buttons highlights are defined by 'hover_color' variable, however there is a possibility to set custom highlight patterns. If in the theme directory the file 'button_mask.png' cannot be found, it will be used as a replacement for regular highlight.
More information about PNG files and theme configuration can be found in theme.etcf comments.