Quit-To
=======

    Quit-To is a "program switcher" for the Apple IIgs. It is a Classic Desk Accessory which allows you to jump directly from any application (either ProDOS 8 or GS/OS) to any other application (ProDOS 8 or GS/OS) without going back to the Finder (or other launcher). That is, it lets you "quit to" another application, rather than quitting to the Finder and launching the other application from there. Naturally, if you do much switching between applications, this will save you a lot a time. Quit-To is the first and ONLY universal program switcher for the IIgs; Quit-To works with virtually ALL ProDOS 8 and GS/OS programs. Other IIgs program switchers only work from within GS/OS desktop applications.

    Quit-To is is freeware. You are welcome to keep it, use it, and to distribute it freely to anyone. Don't expect much in the way of user support, however. No further updates to Quit-To are planned.

New Stuff
=========
    For those familiar with earlier versions of Quit-To, here is a list of the features added since version 1.0:

1.1: Applesoft BASIC programs can now be selected for launching.
1.2: "Run-List" feature added. Memory allocation improved. Upper/lower case filenames supported. Letter keypress hops to next file beginning with that letter. OA-1/OA-9 hop to beginning/end of file list.
2.0: Works from within GS/OS applications as well as ProDOS 8. Run-List Sort option added. System 6 supported (but not required). Other technical changes.
2.01: Reports error if attempt is made to quit to an application in the Run-List and that application has been moved, renamed or deleted. New information in docs.
2.02: First-letter keypress file selection now cycles around to the start of the list. The number of volumes Quit-To can display is no longer limited to seven.

Using Quit-To
=============
    As with all CDA's, Quit-To is installed by copying it to your SYSTEM/DESK.ACCS folder, and rebooting. Quit-To requires that you boot your system with GS/OS; you can't use the utility "P8CDA" to install Quit-To on a ProDOS-booted system. (Note to beginners: to access the CDAs installed in your system, press OpenApple, <control> and <esc> simultaneously.) 
    Quit-To gives you two different methods for selecting the program that will be launched when you quit from your current program. I'll refer to these as Selector mode and Run-List mode. When you use Quit-To for the first time, you will be in Selector mode. I'll explain this mode first, and Run-List mode later.
    When you choose Quit-To from the CDA menu, you will see a title screen with a file-selection dialog box. This dialog box is used to select the application which you would like to go to when you quit from the program you are currently using. As the prompt "buttons" note, this dialog uses the standard key-commands for text based file selectors: The arrow keys move the highlight bar, <esc> closes the current folder, <return> opens a highlighted folder, <tab> allows you to select a different disk, and OpenApple-period cancels the selection, exiting you from Quit-To. Only SYS (ProDOS application), BAS (Applesoft BASIC programs), S16 (GS/OS application) and DIR (folder) files are shown in the file dialog's list. Press <return> with the application you want highlighted, and you will be returned to the IIgs' CDA menu. Exit from this menu to return to the program you were using, and go on about your business. Everything will appear to be the same.
     However, when you quit from that application (exactly HOW you quit depends on the application, of course), Quit-To will do its thing. Instead of going back to your launcher, you will go directly to the application you selected in Quit-To. When you quit from THIS program, you will go back to your launcher as usual, unless you use Quit-To a second time to select yet another application.

Run-List Mode
=============
    It's likely that you have a few favorite applications that you use most of the time. With Quit-To's Run-List feature, you can create and access a list of these favorite programs. Rather than navigating through disks and folders to locate the application you want to quit to, you can simply select that application's title from the Run-List.
    While in Selector mode, you will see two prompts, one on each side of the screen, in addition to the file-dialog prompts described above. These two prompts are (where "OA" means the OpenApple, or Command key):
"Switch to Run-List: OA-R"
and
"Add file to Run-List: OA-A"

    In order to access the Run-List, you must first put some files in it. Otherwise, when you press OpenApple-R to switch to Run-List mode, you will see the message "No Run-List found". Adding files to the Run-List is simple. While in Selector mode, just press OpenApple-A (rather than <return>) with an application file highlighted. If you then press OpenApple-R, Quit-To will switch to Run-List mode, and you will see the application you just added in the displayed list. Creating a Run-List will cause a new file named "QUIT.TO.LIST" to appear in your SYSTEM/DESK.ACCS folder.
    In Run-List mode, there are two different prompts on either side of the screen:
"Switch to Selector: OA-S"
and
"Delete from Run-List: OA-D"
OpenApple-S, of course, returns you to Selector mode. OpenApple-D will remove the currently highlighted file from the Run-List. While in Run-List mode, a file is selected for quitting-to as you would expect: just highlight the file and press <return>.
    As you add applications to the Run-List, you will probably want to change their order of appearance in the list. (Initially, they are listed in the order they were added.) For quickest access, you'll want your most-used applications to be near the top of the list. To sort the Run-List to your liking, just hold down the Option key and use the up/down arrow keys. The highlighted file will be moved up or down in the list, and the change will be permanent. This option is noted in Quit-To's screen with a prompt for "Sort:" followed by the SolidApple-UpArrow and SolidApple-DownArrow symbols. (For historical reasons, the Option key is commonly signified by the SolidApple symbol.)
    Once you have the Run-List configured with your favorite applications, you will probably want to use this mode most of the time. Quit-To will continue to open with either Selector or Run-List mode active until you specifically select the other with OpenApple-S or OpenApple-R.

Miscellaneous
=============
    In both Selector mode and Run-List mode, you can move the highlight bar through the list of files quickly by pressing OpenApple together with the UpArrow or DownArrow keys. If you press a letter key (without OpenApple), the highlight bar will hop down to the next file (or volume, if you are selecting volumes) that begins with that letter. Pressing OpenApple-1 will send you to the beginning of the list, and OpenApple-9 to the end.

    After using Quit-To to select an application to be quitted to, you might change your mind and decide you want to quit back to your launcher after all. There is a simple solution. Just call up Quit-To again, and then press OpenApple-period. This will tell Quit-To not to interfere with your quit.

    The current version of Quit-To allows you to select and quit to applications that are on ProDOS-formatted volumes only. Macintosh HFS volumes and AppleShare volumes are currently not supported. Also, Quit-To only supports prefixes up to 64 characters long.

ProDOS 8 quirks
===============
    There are a couple of very minor quirks to the way Quit-To behaves when you use it from within a ProDOS 8 application. These are due to limitations of ProDOS 8 itself:
1) Quit-To supports disk-swapping, so you can be running a program that is on one disk in a drive, and select a program to quit to by swapping that program's disk into the same drive. The only case in which this won't work is if you are running a ProDOS 8 program that has an open file on the disk you're swapping out. If this is the case, the new disk you swap in won't appear in Quit-To's "Volumes" list. This is due to the way ProDOS 8 handles open files. Most programs don't keep files open for any length of time, so this shouldn't be a problem.
2) Occasionally, you may call up Quit-To and see the message: "ProDOS is busy right now; press a key to exit, and try again in a moment." If this happens, it's typically because you are in a program that has a frequently-updated time display. Usually, you can "get through" to Quit-To by just trying again, but sometimes you may have to go to another part of the application you are using for Quit-To to work. For example, I've found that calling Quit-To while the main menu of the 8-bit ShrinkIt is on screen almost always produces a "ProDOS busy", but going to any of ShrinkIt's sub-menus fixes this.


Incompatibilities, etc.
=======================
    When an application has bugs, or behaves in some non-standard manner, this can sometimes cause problems for Quit-To. The following are some of the compatibility problems I've discovered or heard of since Quit-To's release:
Cool Cursor ("CCCP"), published by GS+ magazine, versions 1.0 and 1.01 cause system crashes on some systems when Quit-To is used to switch between applications. My tests indicate this is caused by a bug in Cool Cursor.
With some systems there is an intermittent problem when switching from AppleWorks 3.0 to Copy II Plus 9.0 or 9.1.
Because PublishIt 4 (and perhaps other versions) doesn't properly dispose of the memory it allocates, a system crash or other error may occur if you use Quit-To to switch from PublishIt 4 to AppleWorks 3.0.


    I hope that Quit-To adds to the value and usefulness of your IIgs for years to come. If you have any problems or comments, please get in touch through one of these addresses:


Karl Bunker
59 Parkman St.
Brookline, MA 02146

GEnie: K.BUNKER
America Online: KarlBunker
CIS: 71540,1767
