User Manual

From ProxiPedia

acelol getmonda basdomlet aldomdomacdr domoloz

Contents 1 What is Proxi? 2 Proxi Overview by Casey Fleser 3 The Proxi Interface 4 Setting up a Blueprint 5 Blueprint Sets 6 Screen Messages 7 The Blueprint Browser

[edit] What is Proxi?

Proxi allows applications, system events, and devices to communicate with other applications, system events, and devices. Proxi is a messenger whose job it is to pass information from one part of your system (even from your network) to another. The basic components of Proxi are Triggers and Tasks. Roughly speaking, Triggers are the input, and Tasks are the output. Triggers may be anything from an RSS Feed Monitor to Griffin's AirClick remote control. Tasks can be anything from Screen Messages to Skype (the popular VOIP application). Proxi allows you to associate particulars Triggers with particular Tasks, and to specify how they will behave. A particular Trigger and Task pairing is called a Blueprint. For any Blueprint, you can configure what information is passed from Trigger to Task, what form it will take, and what effects it will have.

[edit] Proxi Overview by Casey Fleser

4/19/05 - An interview on Your Mac Life with lead Griffin developer Casey Fleser :

Download MP3

Download AAC

[edit] The Proxi Interface

In the Proxi main window you'll find, from left to right, a Triggers Pane, a Tasks Pane, and a Configuration Pane. There are also two secondary windows, the Components Palette and the Values Palette. To show or hide the Components Palette click the Components Palette Button once. To show or hide the Values Palette click the Values Palette Button once. Both buttons are located in the Proxi Main Window to the right of the Triggers Search Field and below the Tasks Popup Menu.

Proxi is designed to be set up and subsequently run in the background. The option to automatically hide the Proxi application and dock icon upon launch is available in Proxi Preferences, accessible from the Proxi menu on the Proxi Menu Bar. Alternatively, you can simply close the Proxi main window and the application will continue to run in the background.

1. Proxi Main Window: The Proxi Main Window contains three panes: a Triggers Pane, a Tasks Pane, and a Configuration Pane, as well as controls for each of these.

2. Components Palette: The Components Palette is a window containing the list of all available Tasks and Triggers.

3. Values Palette: The Values Palette is a window containing a list of types of information associated with a selected Trigger and available to certain Tasks.

4. Triggers: Triggers enable devices, applications, system events, and network events to send messages to Tasks.

5. Tasks: Tasks process messages received from Triggers on behalf of devices, applications, system events, and network events.

6. Blueprints: Blueprints are concatenations of user-associated Triggers and Tasks. A Blueprint is composed of one Trigger only, but may contain several Tasks.

7. Blueprint Sets: Blueprints Sets are groups of Blueprints that can be activated and deactivated all together.

8. Triggers Popup Menu: From the Triggers Popup Menu you may insert, rename, or delete Triggers. You may also change the size of Trigger icons, and show and hide "Enables" (checkboxes that activate and deactivate Blueprints and Blueprint Sets).

9. Tasks Popup Menu: From the Tasks Popup Menu you may insert, rename, or delete Tasks.

10. Triggers Search Field: From the Triggers Search Field you may search for particular Triggers by name or by description.

11. Components Palette Button: The Components Palette Button allows you to show or hide the Components Palette window.

12. Values Palette Button: The Values Palette Button allows you to show or hide the Values Palette window.

13. Blueprint Files: Blueprint files are files, available from the Blueprint Browser, that contain pre-configured Blueprints. You can also export any Blueprints you make as Blueprint Files to share with others.

[edit] Setting up a Blueprint

In the Components Palette you will find a list of Triggers and Tasks to choose from. At the bottom of the Components Palette, click the Triggers button to see a list of available Triggers. Click the Tasks button to see a list of available Tasks. To set up a new Blueprint, simply click-and-drag a Trigger icon from the Components Palette to the Triggers Pane in the main window (alternatively, you may select the Insert Trigger option from the Triggers Popup menu below the Trigger Pane. Next, to complete the Blueprint, click-and-drag a Task icon from the Components Palette to the Tasks Pane in the main window (alternatively, you may select the Insert Task option from the Tasks Popup menu below the Tasks Pane).

After you have created a Blueprint, you may configure that Blueprint by setting options for both the Trigger and its associated Task. To configure the Blueprint, click once on the Trigger in the Triggers Pane to highlight it. You will see a configuration box under "settings" in the Configuration Pane. Click on the triangles in the Configuration Pane next to "extra values," and "filters," to see options for further configuring the Trigger (for many Blueprints, you may only find it necessary to customize the "settings" option). With the same Trigger still highlighted, Click once on the associated Task in the Tasks Pane to highlight it as well.

You may now configure the Task in the Configuration Pane. (It may be necessary to click on the triangle in the Configuration Pane next to "settings" to see the configuration options). In addition, certain Tasks (e.g., the Screen Message and Speak Message Tasks) require you to choose from a list of Values to configure the Task. To select these Values, click once on a Task to highlight it. Then click-and-drag a Value item from the Values Palette into the Message section of the Tasks Pane. (Note: When you make changes to Triggers, Tasks, and Configurations, Proxi automatically saves those changes.)

[edit] Blueprint Sets

You can store Blueprint Sets in folders. To make a new Blueprint Set folder, choose the option in the Triggers Popup Menu. You can also insert, delete, and rename Blueprints from the Triggers Popup Menu. Similarly, you can insert or delete Tasks from the Tasks Popup Menu. Alternatively, you may delete Triggers, Tasks, and Blueprints, by clicking once on the appropriate item to highlight it and then pressing the "delete" key on your keyboard. Note: A Blueprint is composed of one Trigger only, but may contain several Tasks. It is also possible to activate and deactivate both Blueprints and whole Blueprint Sets by selecting or deselecting the checkboxes to the left of a Blueprint or Blueprint Set folder (These checkboxes are called "Enables," and you may show or hide them by selecting the appropriate option from the Triggers Popup Menu.)

[edit] Screen Messages

When you click on a Screen Message Task in the Tasks Pane, you are presented with an empty Message box in the Configuration Pane. The Message box behaves like any basic text editor (e.g., Apple's TextEdit). You can type text into the box, paste text into the box, or drag-and-drop text into the box. You can also drag-and-drop text items from the Values Palette into the Message box. It is also possible to drag-and-drop images into the Message box. Text in the Message box can be formatted in familiar ways. From the Proxi Menu Bar you can access Mac OS X's standard font and text tools from the "Format" menu.

The Values Palette contains a list of variables, visible as text pills, that can be dropped into the Message box. In the Message box, text pills can be rearranged with keyboard commands or by dragging them around. Some text pills contain popup menus (indicated by a small triangle) that allow you to further specify such things as time-and-date display formats and hyper-linked text.

To create a compelling Screen Message, feel free to combine your own text (even an image) with the text pills available from the Values Palette. Customize your Screen Messages by taking full advantage of font and text controls, which allow you to specify the font type, color, size, etc., and also to center text, change the line spacing, and insert lists and tables. Proxi also allows you to specify the background color and transparency of any Screen Message.

[edit] The Blueprint Browser

The Blueprint Browser gives you access to a list of pre-configured Trigger-Task pairings, called Blueprints. You can install a variety of Blueprints by accessing the Blueprint Browser from the Window menu on the Proxi Menu Bar.

Proxi is designed to be extensible. We encourage you to create new Blueprints and share them with others. If you know Cocoa and are willing to dig a bit deeper, we encourage you to "roll your own" Triggers and Tasks, and to share those as well. We hope to see uses for Proxi that we never imagined!