## Mame32 Toolbar / Status Bar / Windows

The Mame32 toolbar extends the width of the application at the top and can be toggled on by using the View Toolbar menu item, or the Alt-T keyboard shortcut. The buttons on the toolbar from left to right are : toggle folder list, toggle screenshot, large icons view, small icons view, list view, details view, help about, and help file. Click the items to toggle them on or off.

The Mame32 status bar extends the width of the application at the bottom and can be toggled on by using the View Status Bar menu item, or the Alt-S keyboard shortcut. The status bar indicates the full name of the game highlighted, and gives its internal status flag as to whether its working or if there are some issues with the emulation. The status bar also indicates the game count for the particular view used.

Mame32 can be divided into three windowed sections:

The first section on the far left is the folder view, toggled on by using the View Folder List menu item, or the Alt-D keyboard shortcut. This contains a tree style list that expands for certain items like year, manufacturer, and custom. By selecting one of these items, Mame32 will display the games that meet that criterion. For example: selecting year / 1978, Mame32 will display all the supported games manufactured in 1978.

- Mame32 will display user created folders based on *.ini files located in the \mame32\folders directory. See files in that location for examples. This location also houses the favorites.ini, where favorite games can be added to the text file and easily moved to other computers.

- Mame32 supports dragging and dropping games from the middle section game list into a custom folder in the left pane. Mame32 supports the same procedure by secondary clicking on the game in the game list and choosing the 'add to custom folder' option.

- Mame32 also supports secondary clicking on a custom folder and renaming it, editing the custom folder name can also be accomplished by clicking the name of the folder three times quickly.

- Secondary clicking on any of the folders also allows selectively displaying or hiding them in the tree.

- Secondary clicking the vector folders and the \source\gamedriver folder allows for customizing away from default the games in that folder. Secondary click on the vector folder properties in the folder pane to set options for that group of games. To alter global settings for game families, drill down into the source folder in the folder pane, and secondary click on a driver's properties i.e. 1942.c. This will change options for all games based on that driver. The different levels of alteration are color coded, vector.ini changes are red, driver.ini changes are green, and individual game settings are blue. Thus there is the possibility to have four color/levels of alterations when a game's individual properties are viewed in All Games or any folder. The changes can be backed out of hierarchically with reset to default on each respective properties, or by deleting the .ini files in the \ini directory.

The second, middle section of Mame32 is the game list, always toggled on. This is where Mame32 lists all of the games chosen in the left folder view. Mame32 has the option to display the games as large icons, small icons, a list icons view, or details. Choosing details allows Mame32 to display, in columnar mode, the game name as well as additional informational fields, chosen in the View Customize Fields menu item.

The third section, on the far right, is the screenshot/art area, toggled on by using the View Screenshot menu item, or the Alt-P keyboard shortcut. This area of the GUI will display the optional artwork for each game selected, the artwork modes are toggled through by clicking on the picture area. The modes are: screenshot, flyer, cabinet, marquees, title shots, control panels, and history. Alt-B will toggle the screenshot tabs which give a visual selection method besides clicking the artwork area. Secondary clicking on the screenshot area will also bring up a shortcut dialogue with the file types available and allow toggling on or off individual tabs. The area under the screenshot mode will also display the history.dat information if that file is present [it will not display in the screenshot area if the history tab is enabled]. Each of the tabs can be navigated to by their accelerator keys, Alt-1, Alt-2, Alt-3, etc. Further information about these files is in Art and Support Files.

2003-10-23 12:15 PM -0700 / john iv