SnoopDos -- System and application monitor Copyright © Eddy Carroll, September 1994. Freely distributable. SnoopDos is a utility that allows you to monitor a variety of system operations carried out by programs on your Amiga. This includes what files a program is trying to open, what fonts, libraries, devices and environment variables it is looking for, and so on. INTRODUCTION TO SNOOPDOS How many times have you tried to install some big application program, only to find out when you run it that it doesn't seem to work properly? Often, it's looking for some configuration file, library, environment variable, or font which you've forgotten to install. Version 1 of SnoopDos provided a simple no-frills approach to spying on a program's activities. Since its release, other programs have appeared which perform a similar task, including DosTrace by Peter Stuer, Snoopy by Gerson Kurz, and Woodward by Tomas Rokiki. However, good as these programs are, I felt that they made it unnecessarily difficult for the user to view the information of interest. SnoopDos 3.0 aims to bring the original SnoopDos into the 90's by adding a full style guide compliant GUI and a host of powerful new features, whilst retaining the simplicity of its ancestor. To get going with SnoopDos, simply double-click on the SnoopDos icon or type "Run SnoopDos" in a Shell window. The first thing you'll see is the main SnoopDos window, which features a variety of buttons. At this point, SnoopDos is active, and monitoring a range of system operations. If you now run another application, you should see some lines of output displayed in the SnoopDos window. When there are too many lines to fit in the window, some will scroll off the top; you can use the scroll bar to bring them back into view. In most cases, this is all you need to do to identify a problem. The SnoopDos window will list any files that can't be opened, fonts that can't be found, and so on, as well as all those operations that were successful. However, you can customise SnoopDos to better suit your Amiga environment. By clicking on the Setup and Function gadgets in the main window, you can open two additional windows. The Settings window lets you change various preferences settings, such as the fonts used for the SnoopDos window, while the Function window lets you choose which events you want SnoopDos to display in the main window. If you're unsure of the meaning of any of the buttons, check out the Function window help for more details. An important feature of SnoopDos is that you can choose exactly how much or how little information about events you want to see. Select "Show Format" from the Windows menu to open up the format editor. This contains the current event format which controls how the information in the main window is displayed. To change this, simply pick up fields using the left mouse button and drag them to a new position. For example, if you want to see what time each event occurred at, simply drag the Time field from the "Available" box into the "Current Format" box. As soon as you release it, the main window updates to show the time associated with each event in the window. SnoopDos always records all possible information about an event, even if it isn't all being displayed at the moment. You can also modify the format directly in the main window, by clicking on a column title with the mouse and dragging it to a new position. Usually, dragging a title repositions it independently of those on either side; if you hold down shift as you drag, then all the columns to the right will move as well. If you make any changes to the default SnoopDos configuration, you may wish to save the changes so that they will take effect the next time you run it. Simply click on the Save Settings button in the main window, and they will be saved to a text file called ENVARC:SnoopDos.prefs. You can view this file with any text reader. Now go and play with SnoopDos a bit. At any time within SnoopDos, you can press the HELP key to call up context-sensitive help from this document. After this, you might like to return and read the help pages dealing with the main window, function window, and settings window. HOW TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR I can be contacted via Internet at: ecarroll@maths.tcd.ie ecarroll@cix.compulink.co.uk If you have any bug reports, suggestions or just general comments about SnoopDos, I would like to hear from you. If you think you could do a better job designing an icon for SnoopDos than I did (which wouldn't be hard!) then I would also like to hear from you. You can obtain my PGP public key by sending mail to ecarroll@maths.tcd.ie with the subject line "PGPKEY". If you have an account on Bix or Cix, you can check my online resume instead (user name ecarroll). I can also be reached by snail mail at this address: Eddy Carroll The Old Rectory Delgany Co. Wicklow Ireland I regret that due to the volume of mail received, I cannot always reply to every letter. This is further compounded by the fact that I travel quite frequently. Please use email if possible.