alien.png Settings screen -- General tab
[Previous] [Main] [Next]

general (settings).png
Figure 3. The general tab of the settings screen


The general tab is the first out of five tab sheets in which you can set all your preferences for CA3. There are pretty much options, so let's not waste any space on introducing the tabs, I'll head straight on to the explanation of all settings!


Locations

 
Default project directory  
Click on the little folder on the right hand side of the location box to specify a 'default' project directory. The default project directory will be used for your convenience. When you e.g. for the first time save a file, CA3 will automatically jump to this directory so you won't have to search it every time. This can come in quite handy when you e.g. have a directory where you save all your source files under.This could be e.g. C:\Programming\CA3\Projects.  
 
TASM Location  
As CA3 is a so called wrapper (see Introduction chapter), CA3 needs to know which compiler to use. CA3 can use two different compilers. The 16-bit version of TASM and the 32-bit version of TASM. The difference between these two is that Windows NT (and thus also Windows 2000) cannot execute the 16-bit version of TASM pretty well. Mostly it crashes. That's why the 32-bit version is supported too. On the other hand, because the 32-bit version has to be called quite differently by CA3 than the 16-bit version, sometimes Windows 9x can't handle the 32-bit version that well... If you have any problems compiling your source, please refer to the trouble shooting section of this help file.  

Other
 
Automatically save modified files on compile / build  
This option is HIGHLY recommended and should only be turned off when you are sure you want it. This option (when enabled) saves all modified files of the project / assembly file (projects will be explained later) before calling the external TASM compiler. Why is this so necessary? Well, if you don't do this, TASM will used the last saved file to compile, even if you modified the file already. But because the file wasn't saved, TASM will compile the file you already had saved before, because it's an external compiler.  
 
Automatically insert default header at top of new files  
CA3 supports default headers. This will be explained later. A default header is a piece of text (code) that's pasted in a file when a new file is created. With this version you can enable or disable it. When disabled, the default header won't be inserted at the top of a new file...  
This option is recommended.  
 
Number of files to list at 'Reopen'  
CA3 remembers all files you've ever opened, detailed information about this will follow later on in this document, and CA3 can 'reopen' these files again. This is done so you won't have to search for all the most recent file you've opened the last time you started CA3. This option let's you decide how many recent files will be shown. If you fill in 8 (default) this will mean that the 8 most recent files will be listed.  
 
Default number system for sprite patterns  
The WYSIWYG sprite editor (explained later) allows you to convert the sprites you make to Z80 ASM data structures so you can easily use the sprite in your source. A sprite of course consists of two parts. The first part is the pattern data and that data can be copied to the clipboard in three formats. First the binary, which is recommended, so you can actually see a pattern in your sprite.  
 
Default number system for sprite colors  
The second one of the data structures is the color data. The recommended use is decimal or hexadecimal, whatever you prefer. The binary system is not recommended because of two reasons, first of all it makes your code NOT readable and secondly, it's not natural to have color data in binary mode, cause changing the data is inviting for mistakes!  



Startup
 
Open project manager  
When enabled, the project manager will automatically show the minute you start CA3. The project manager will be explained later on in this help file.  
 
Open Chaotic Media Player  
When enabled, the Chaotic Media Player (CMP) will automatically show the minute you start CA3. The CMP will be explained later on in this help file.  
 
Show tips on startup  
When enabled, CA3 will show little 'Did you know' sentences when you start CA3. This is a nice feature and is recommended for those who just start with CA3. You can learn some neat things about CA3 in this way without having to browse through this help file.