Play a game

Press this button, if enabled, to load a rom you have just selected in the list of games.When you select a game, Romeo performs any operations before enabling this button: first of all, the proggy verifies if the game is available on your computer, then it asks to mame if the romset is correct and finally it verifies if the selected game needs extra files (neogeo.zip, cvs.zip etc.). If all conditions are verified the button is enabled. You can also run a game with a double mouse click on its name in the list of games.


Settings

Press this button to invoke the "Settings window". Click here for more detailed informations.


Updating the list of games

Press this button to update the list of games. You have to configure Romeo before performing this operation.


Exiting

Press this button to exit. Romeo performs different operations on exit: it saves the size and the location of the main window, the list of keywords you have searched in the list of games, etc.


Read the source code

Click this button to invoke the "source code viewer". The source code has been enclosed in Romeo.jar but it' s possible to extract it where you want clicking the related button in the viewer' s tool bar.


Contact the author

Click this button to invoke an enclosed "mail" module to send bug reports, whish lists, patches, translations, etc. to the author. This module is based on JavaMail Api.


Visit the home page

Click this button to invoke a simple "html browser" redirected to the Romeo home page. It' s possible to use another browser: you can set the path to your preferred browser in the Settings window.


Search a game

It' s possible to search a game description or a game name in the list. A few options have been added to the search engine: a lot of descriptions or names start or end in the same way. If more results match your search keyword, Romeo will give you the possibility to highlight them pressing the key F3. This feature can be useful if you don' t remember the exact game description/name, or to list clones...


Support for multiple M.A.M.E. executables

Since version 0.1.3pre1 Romeo supports multiple mame executables. Set the paths to your mame executables in the Setting window. Next select them in the specific combo box you can see in the main window. Romeo will create a list of games for each executable found.


Selection tree

Click on the nodes to have different lists of games. Pay attention to the "Top Rated Games" category: Romeo will list the best rated games at www.mame.dk but you need a connection to the internet.


List of games

This list of games has got two fixed external tables (ROMs names, availability) and a scrollable internal one. A mouse listener has been added to the list to trigger a tables sort when a column heading is clicked in the tables. A single rigth click on a row shows a popup menu. You can run a game with a double click on its name. A few options are available for the list of games: you can change the background color, modify the inter-cell spacing, the row height, it' s possible to show/hide horizontal and vertical lines. These options are available in the Settings window.


An X-like desktop environment

This is a "desktop": here you can see snap, flyer, marquee, cabinet photo for each selected game. It' s possible to read the game history and the informations retrieved fom www.mame.dk.

Some X windows systems (specifically fvwm, Panorama (SCO), and TED (TriTeal)) provide what is referred to as a pager. This is a small window that sits in the desktop (usually at the top of the screen) and shows the positions of all windows contained in the desktop. By clicking or dragging the mouse inside the pager the user' s view is moved to the associated location within the desktop. This is very helpful to X windows users because these systems often support very large desktops. Often they are larger than four times the actual size of the screen.

There 's a partial implementation of a pager for use with JDesktopPane and its JInternalFrame children here. It' s in use with a fairly large JDesktopPane (1600x1200). This desktop is scrollable and the pager will always stay in the user' s current view, even when scrolling.