Command Post Version 5.2 A Windows Environment Command Post is a MS Windows application designed to allow users to easily personalize the MS-DOS Executive control window. Command Post allows users to easily add menu and dropdown menu items to the main MS-DOS Executive menu bar, and to execute desired applications when a menu item is selected. A number of additional features, such as screen blanking and window arranging, are also made available. This version of Command Post requires Microsoft Windows, versions 2.03 or newer for proper operation. It is completely incompatible with the old Windows 1.x software. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment of any kind from Wilson WindowWare. The software described in this document is distributed free or at minimal charge for evaluation only. Users of this software are to license this software according to the instructions given in this document. Copies of this software may be made only in accordance with instructions given in this document. Copyright Morrie Wilson, 1988-1989 Command Post is a trademark of Wilson WindowWare. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PageMaker is a trademark of Aldus Corporation. In*A*Vision is a trademark of MICROGRAFX, Inc. Command Post 5.2 2 Table of Contents Licensing and Duplication Information Duplication Restrictions / Other Information... 5 General Licensing Information.................. 6 Payment with Order Licensing Information......................... 7 Purchase Orders Requiring Billing Licensing Information......................... 8 International Orders........................... 9 Command Post An Introduction............................... 10 Installing Command Post....................... 11 Using Command Post Getting Started with Command Post............. 13 Command Post Commands......................... 14 The Windows menu item...................... 15 The CmdPost menu item...................... 17 The Option Selection Dialog Box............ 18 System Menu Extensions........................ 19 Command Post HotKey........................... 20 Screen Blanking............................... 21 Time and Date Display......................... 22 Command Post 5.2 3 Table of Contents (continued) Command Post Menus Making Personalized Menus..................... 23 A Simple Sample Menu.......................... 25 An Ample Sample Menu.......................... 26 Command Post Keyboard Interface............... 27 Advanced Menus................................ 28 Command Post File Name Insertion.............. 29 Command Post Prompter Details................. 32 Notes Notes - Program Not in Path................... 33 Notes - Reloading Menus....................... 34 Notes - Automagic Directory Updates........... 35 Notes - MS-DOS View Menu selections........... 36 Notes - Exiting Command Post in Windows....... 37 Notes - System Information.................... 38 Appendices Appendix A - Special Thanks................... 39 Appendix B - Command Post Version Information. 40 Appendix C - Other Window Applications........ 43 Appendix D - Command Post Online Support...... 44 Appendix E - Patches for Non-English Windows.. 45 Appendix F - Command Post Licensing Reminders. 48 Command Post 5.2 4 Licensing and Duplication Information Duplication Restrictions / Other Information Command Post is a shareware product. It may be freely copied and distributed for evaluation as long as four basic rules are followed. These rules are: 1) The program and this documentation may not be modified in any way. 2) A copy of this documentation is provided with the program. 3) No charge, other than a media and handling charge, (not to exceed $8.00) is made. 4) Users of the program purchase a license for its use. One license per usable copy of Command Post is required. Archive and backup copies do not count. Please note that if you purchased a disk containing this software from a public domain/shareware software distributor you have paid the media and handling charges as permitted above. You have not purchased a license. Purchasing a license is required for continued use. The accuracy of the information supplied here and the fitness of the Command Post program for any purpose may change without notice, and should not be construed as any kind of a commitment. No responsibility is assumed for any errors or problems that may be encountered with use of this product. There are no warranties whatsoever associated with this product. Command Post 5.2 5 General Licensing Information Command Post must be licensed to be used other than for an initial evaluation. Two licensing rates are available, as given below: Rates for payment with order: $20 Single user license $ 5 Command Post software on diskette Please specify 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" diskette. $10 Printed documentation Rates for Purchase Order requiring billing, or for purchase via third party vendors: $50 Includes single user license, diskettes (5 1/4" and 3 1/2"), and printed documentation. Command Post 5.2 6 Payment with Order Licensing Information Under the "Payment with Order" plan we accept personal and business checks, along with Visa and MasterCard charges. Checks must be mailed, while we can accept Visa and MasterCard purchases over the phone. MailOrders For mailorder purchases, enclose the following items in an envelope and mail to the address given below: Enclose: 1) List of items desired --license(s), disk(s), number of copies of documentation 2) Payment (either check or charge card info) For charge card orders, include card number, expiration date and card billing address. 3) Name and address Mail to: Wilson WindowWare 3377 59th SW Seattle WA 98116 Phone Orders For phone order purchases we will need your card number, expiration date, card billing address, and desired purchases. Our phone lines are open from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Pacific Time. East Coast residents will need to wait until after Noon Eastern Time before placing their calls. Our phone number is (206) 937-9335. Licensing materials will generally be sent to you within 24 hours. Command Post 5.2 7 Purchase Orders Requiring Billing Licensing Information Purchase orders are subject to acceptance. We generally reject purchase order requests that obligate us to your company's terms and conditions. As stated above there are no warranties whatsoever associated with the Command Post software product, and we are not responsible for its performance. You are the sole judge of the product's effectiveness and suitability for your application. To order Command Post, enclose the following items in an envelope and mail to the address given below: Enclose: 1) Purchase order stating Number of copies of desired Shipping address Billing address 2) Name, address and phone number of a knowledgeable individual whom we may contact should any question about this order arise. Mail to: Wilson WindowWare 3377 59th SW Seattle WA 98116 (206) 937-9335 Command Post 5.2 8 International Orders Wilson WindowWare recognizes the difficulties our international customers face in presenting payment for our products. These difficulties include excessive fees charged for international money orders, various postal delays, and currency conversion problems of various sorts. For this reason we recommend payment via MasterCard (EuroCard) or Visa. The credit companies will perform any necessary currency conversions, and eliminate possibility of the loss of the funds by the postal services. Although we do accept both mail-order and phone-order purchases, our phone operators generally only speak English, and are therefore limited in the amount of non- English assistance they can provide. In addition, because of the increased postal costs, we must charge additional postal fees for international orders. We mail all goods via airmail, thus avoiding unnecessarily long waits. The additional fees are as follows: Item Surcharge ___________________ License None Disk $2.00 Manual $8.00 International users not running the English or the International English version of Microsoft Windows may need to make special entries in the WIN.INI file. Please refer to Appendix E for more information. Foreign language versions of Command Post may be available. German and Norwegian versions are nearing completion. Command Post 5.2 9 Command Post An Introduction Command Post is a Microsoft Windows application designed to allow users to easily personalize the MS-DOS Executive control window. Command Post allows users to easily add Menu and Submenu items to the main MS-DOS Executive menu bar, and to execute one or more desired applications when the added menu items are selected. The MS-DOS Executive window may continue to be used as always, it just has a few new menu items on it now. With Command Post you may add any number of new menu items, and each of these menu items are only a single mouse click away! Command Post menu items are also accessible via keyboard commands just like any other menu item in Microsoft Windows. Command Post can take a high-lighted file name from its directory display and use the file name as a parameter for you application. Command Post can be instructed to prompt you for parameters for your applications. You can supply the prompting question, and even a default answer if you choose. Command Post menus are created using the Notepad Editor, or with any other text editor that can save a plain ASCII file. Special menu editors are not required. The Command Post menu file has an easy and straightforward syntax, and can be re-loaded into Command Post after modification. Command Post's window manager allows the user to automatically stack or arrange windows in a variety of formats. Command Post also provides for screen blanking and a special time and date display which gives you quick access back to Command Post. Command Post 5.2 10 Installing Command Post Command Post is easily installed. Simply copy the following three files to your windows directory (usually either \WIN, \WINDOWS, or \WIN386). Other directories may be used, but whatever directory is chosen, it MUST be defined in the MS- DOS PATH statement (which is usually in your autoexec.bat file). CMDPOST.EXE CMDLIB.EXE CMDPOST.MNU <--- Do not copy this file if you are updating from a previous version. If you do not have a COMMAND.PIF file, copy the COMMAND.286 or the COMMAND.386 (depending on what version of Windows you are running) file also. After copying the desired file, rename it to COMMAND.PIF. A COMMAND.PIF is required for the DOS C:> menu item under the CmdPost menu to work. COMMAND.286 \ > Copy one of these and rename to COMMAND.386 / COMMAND.PIF CMDPOST.EXE is the Command Post application file. When it is invoked, as discussed in a following section, it attempts to locate and load the Command Post menu file, CMDPOST.MNU. CMDLIB.EXE is not meant to be executed by the user. It contains window library routines that are invoked by CMDPOST.EXE. The sample CMDPOST.MNU file supplied with Command Post will get you started defining you very own Command Post menus. You WILL need to modify the CmdPOST.MNU file before it is fully functional on your system. Command Post 5.2 11 Installing Command Post (continued) Command Post, of course, assumes that your system is properly configured to run Windows. Of special interest is the CONFIG.SYS file, which is used to set some initial DOS parameters while the system is booting up. It is recommended that your CONFIG.SYS file contain the following items. The values given for these items are a minimum, and larger values may be used as your other applications warrant. FILES=25 BUFFERS=40 Command Post 5.2 12 Using Command Post Getting Started with Command Post Command Post may be invoked with any of the methods that follow: 1) Via the MS-DOS menu in Windows. If Command Post is invoked this way, it will take over the MS-DOS Executive window, modify the menu bar, install your personalized menu items, and then allow you to proceed. 2) You may modify your WIN.INI file, adding CMDPOST.EXE to either the RUN= or the LOAD= sections. This will automatically start Command Post whenever you start Windows. Special Note: Command Post does not follow the standard definitions of the RUN= and LOAD= lines. Only by having the RUN= line blank can Command Post be started as a window, otherwise Command Post will be started as an Icon. 3) You may also type WIN CMDPOST at the MS-DOS prompt. Command Post will be started as an icon. Initially, when you start Command Post you will see a simple extension to the MS-DOS Executive window, as defined by the CMDPOST.MNU file that is shipped with Command Post. This simple menu allows you access to the desktop accessories and other applications shipped with the standard version of MIcrosoft Windows. After reading the section on defining your own menus, you can edit CMDPOST.MNU to add you own menu items. You may have up to four Command Post windows at one time, (although I can't see any reason for more than two). Each Command Post Window will have its number in the window title bar (e.g. <#1 Command Post> ). Command Post 5.2 13 Command Post Commands Command Post adds a number of menu items to the normal set of MS-DOS menu items. Command Post installs two of its own menu items onto the normal set of MS-DOS menu items. These menu items are Windows and CmdPost. In addition any (reasonable) number of user-defined menu items may be added. The Windows menuitem, as described later, assists the user in locating and viewing windows. It can find any application window, and re-arrange up to twelve application windows. The CmdPost menu item, as described later, contains the Command Post control functions, and Windows accessories that support the control functions (such as Clipboard and the Control Panel). The user menu items are the reason for Command Post's existence. User menu items may be easily added to the normal set of MS-DOS menu items through a file named CMDPOST.MNU. These menu items can change directories and start applications as defined by the user. Command Post 5.2 14 The Windows menu item The Windows menu item is used to navigate through your various windows. There are two types of menuitems shown on the Windows submenu. The eight on the left are normal, permanent menu items, and are used to arrange your open windows. The arrange commands will arrange up to 12 open windows. You have your choice of including Command Post in the arrangement, or excluding it and causing it to be minimized. To the right of the first eight menu items will appear a list of top-level application windows that can be jumped to by merely selecting the menu item from the list. The item may be selected either with a mouse or by the letter code provided. Command Post will immediately transfer you to that window. These commands are particularly handy for handling overlapped windows because a small window can easily get lost beneath a multitude of other windows and become difficult to find. Note: Command Post will not arrange minimized (iconized) windows. Be sure that the windows you want arranged are not minimized. Command Post will arrange the windows with the most recently used window in the top left hand corner (or at the top of the stack), followed by the remaining windows, in the order that they were last used. Command Post 5.2 15 The Windows Menu item (continued) The Windows menu item has eight normal dropdown menu items, as follows: Stack This item will arrange the open windows into a stack, with the window caption lines peeking out from behind the previous window. Arrange This item will arrange windows in a Command Post defined pattern. Arrange Rows This item will arrange windows into rows. Enabled for 2 to 4 windows. Arrange Columns This item will arrange windows into columns. Enabled for 2 or 3 windows. Stack w/o CP Arrange w/o CP Arrange Rows w/o CP Arrange Cols w/o CP Same as above, except that Command Post is minimized instead of being included in the arrangement. Following the normal menu items is a list of all named top-level windows. Selecting a member of this list will transfer control to the selected window. Command Post 5.2 16 The CmdPost menu item The CmdPost menu item has nine dropdown menu items, as discussed below: Command Post Starts another Command Post Window Control Panel Starts the Control Panel Window Clipboard Starts the Clipboard Window DOS C:> Starts COMMAND.COM, via COMMAND.PIF, thus providing a DOS prompt. Use the EXIT command to close the window. Confirm Selections This item is a toggle. If it is checked, then any selection from the user's personalized menu will appear in a dialog box. The user may modify any of the fields and then run it. Option... Selection of this menu item will cause an option dialog box to be displayed. See Option Selection Dialog box section below. Reload CmdPost Menus This command is used to reload the Command Post menu after modifying CMDPOST.MNU with with an editor. If more than one Command Post window is used, see the Notes section below. System Information Displays Windows version, DOS version, LIM Driver version and various interesting memory usage numbers. About Command Post... Displays Command Post copyright notice and additional information. Command Post 5.2 17 The Option Selection Dialog Box The Option Selection Dialog box allows specification of the Command Post options. These are: 1) The automatic directory display update. When checked, the MS-DOS directory display will be updated when Command Post becomes active. If not checked, the user must select one of the Disk Drive icons in order to update the directory display. 2) Return to original directory. When checked, menu selections will not change the current directory displayed in the MS-DOS/Command Post window. 3) Blanked Screen [Press Any Key] box. The small box on a blanked display may be disabled with this menu item. 4) Screen Blanking Delay Time. Command Post will blank the screen after a period of inactivity (no key hits or mouse movement). Specify time desired before screen blanking occurs. Enter zero to disable screen blanking. 5) Window Personalization. In licensed copies of Command Post, a short (20 chars) text string may be appended to the Command Post window title. E.G. the following window title is possible: <#1 Command Post - John Smith> All the Command Post options are Global. This means that the option selections apply to all Command Post windows, not just the current window. If an option is enabled or disabled for one Command Post window, it is also enabled or disabled for ALL of them. Command Post 5.2 18 System Menu Extensions One item has been added to the system (ALT-SPACEBAR) menu. It is the "End Windows Session" command. The "End Windows Session" menu item is identical the the END SESSION menu item in the MS-DOS Executive SPECIAL menu. They both first ask the user to confirm the request, and if confirmed, then all running applications are given a chance to indicate as to whether or not this is a good idea. E.G. Editors with unsaved data may ask the user to indicate whether the data should be saved or discarded. Command Post 5.2 19 Command Post HotKey The Command Post HotKey, CONTROL-SHIFT-ESCAPE, will transfer control to Command Post from any other application window. If multiple Command Post windows are running, control will be transferred to the lowest numbered Command Post available. In addition, double clicking the Command Post clock display with the left mouse button will also transfer control to Command Post. There are some applications inside of which the Command Post HotKey does not function. These applications include old (non-window) applications which grab the keyboard interrupts for themselves, rather than letting DOS pass keyboard info to them, and, for Windows/386 users, applications running in DOS partitions. Note: The HotKey is disabled if you run the Microsoft Excel tutorial or feature guide. If you try using the hotkey when in the feature guide or the tutorial, Command Post will respond with a beep and not activate itself. Command Post 5.2 20 Screen Blanking Command Post has a built in screen blanker. After a specified period of inactivity, Command Post will blank the screen. If enabled, via the CmdPost Options... box, a small display of the current personalization text, if any, and a "Press any key to continue." message will move about the screen. To return to Windows simply press any key or move the mouse. The screen will not blank if an "Old Application" is currently in control. The screen blanking may be enabled and disabled, or the delay period may be modified using the Options... menu item under the CmdPost menu. Command Post 5.2 21 Time and Date Display Command Post maintains a small window, located initially in the lower right corner of the display. This window has three different displays. They are: Command Post Version Number Day, Date and Time (in seconds) Day, Date and Time (in minutes) The display may be changed by clicking it with the right mouse button, or (only for users currently uninfested by rodents) by selecting the CmdPost Clock from the Command Post Windows menu and typing characters at it. If the date/time display is counting time in seconds, Command Post will attempt to maintain the window on the surface of the screen at all times. If the display is not counting in seconds, the display window will behave like most other windows and will disappear behind windows that move in front of it. The display may be moved by either dragging it with the left mouse button or using Alt-F7 to get the standard Windows Move Cursor, and using the arrow keys followed by an Enter. Doubleclicking the display with the left mouse button will cause control to be transferred to the Command Post window, much in the same manner as the Command Post HotKey. Doubleclicking the display with the right mouse button will cause the Command Post System Information box to appear. Command Post 5.2 22 Command Post Menus Making Personalized Menus Command Post uses a file called CMDPOST.MNU to build personalized menus. The CMDPOST.MNU file normally resides in your Windows directory next to the CMDPOST.EXE file. In order to modify the default menu shipped with Command Post, or to modify the menu as requirements change, simply edit the CMDPOST.MNU file with the Notepad editor (or any other plain ASCII editor). Take a moment to examine the contents of CMDPOST.MNU. Its structure is actually very simple. There are only 4 types of entries. These types are: 1) Comments. Blank lines and any line with a single quote mark in the first column (column 1) is considered a comment and is ignored by Command Post. 2) The Main Menu Titles. Main menu titles are the menu headings displayed on the menu bar. These main menu titles MUST start in the first column (col 1). Although Command Post allows these main menu titles to be rather long, it is advised, for aesthetic reasons, to keep the main menu titles short. One word should be sufficient. 3) The DropDown Menu Titles. DropDown menu titles comprise the menus that drop down every time a main menu title is selected. The DropDown menu titles MUST start in the second column (col 2) and may be long, although, for aesthetic reasons again, should be limited to about 25 characters or less. Note that for DropDown menu titles, the first character of the line MUST be a space, with the first letter of the drop down menu title starting in column 2. Command Post 5.2 23 Making Personalized Menus (Continued) 4) The menu action lines. For each DropDown menu title, there are one or more pairs of menu action lines. The first line of each pair specifies the initial directory (or path), and the second line specifies the application and any parameters that may be required. These lines MUST BE PRECEDED BY AT LEAST TWO SPACES, or a TAB character. (All these spaces, or lack of them, are used by Command Post to tell these various kinds of lines apart.) Initial Directory Specification: The first line of each pair specifies the initial directory, and may be preceded by a disk drive identifier. If the currently logged directory is desired, use a period "." for the directory specification. Application Specification: The second line of each pair is used to specify the desired application, and any parameters that may be desired. This line can get pretty fancy, but we will keep it simple for a bit more. One thing to remember though, is that the application's name MUST include the three letter suffix (.EXE, .COM, .PIF, or .BAT). Command Post 5.2 24 A Simple Sample Menu Now that we got the basic menu formats defined, lets look at a sample menu to see what all these specifications really mean. Examine the simple menu below: Desktop Get Clock and Calendar . clock.exe . calendar.exe Get Cardfile . cardfile.exe Word Processing Get Notepad Editor . notepad.exe Get Windows Write . write.exe This simple menu has two main menu headings, "Desktop" and "Word Processing". If the user selects the "Desktop" menu heading, a dropdown menu containing two items "Get Clock and Calendar" and "Get Cardfile" will appear. On the other hand, if the user selects "Word Processing" instead, a different dropdown menu containing "Get Notepad Editor" and "Get Windows Write" appears instead. If the user were to select the "Get Notepad Editor" entry, Command Post would go to work. Since the subdirectory line consists solely of a period, this indicates to Command Post that the current subdirectory is to be used and no change of subdirectories is to occur. The application line has the filename of the Notepad Editor application, NOTEPAD.EXE, with no parameters. Command Post will issue the commands to load and execute the NOTEPAD.EXE file. In a few seconds, the Notepad Editor appears on the screen. Command Post 5.2 25 An Ample Sample Menu Now that we have seen the basic structure of a Command Post menu, let's explore them some more. In this example we will just use a single main menu heading, but fully flesh out the subdirectory and parameter possibilities. Edit Various Things Edit Command Post Menu c:\windows notepad.exe cmdpost.mnu Edit Highlighted File . notepad.exe @^.^ Write a letter to Home c:\letters write.exe ?Filename for letter?Mom.wri The first of the dropdown menu options above shows a simple way to add in a command to allow easy editing of the Command Post menu file. First of all, the initial directory is set to C:\WINDOWS, which is the suggested home for the CMDPOST.MNU file, and then the Notepad Editor is invoked to edit the menu file. The second example shows an example of Command Post using a highlighted filename from the directory display. If this item is selected, Command Post will obtain the highlighted file from the directory display and insert it into the notepad.exe parameter string. The third example shows an example of a Command Post Prompter. The user will be prompted with a dialog box which states: Please Enter: Filename for letter And is followed by an input box with the suggested default answer already set to "Mom.wri". Command Post 5.2 26 Command Post Keyboard Interface If a keyboard interface (i.e. the underlined characters Windows uses to assist those without mice) to the menus is desired, it is quite simple to add. Just put an ampersand (&) in front of the letter in the menu name to be used for the keyboard interface. The letters will appear in the menus as underlined characters, and thus may be used with ALT key combinations to access the menu items. In order to keep things simple, try (very hard) not to have duplicate underlined letters in the main Bar Menu. In addition, also try not to have duplicate underlined letters within a dropdown menu. (If there are duplicate letters identifying menu items, then Windows will toggle between them, and Enter must be hit in order to select the desired one) P.S. In the Bar Menu, do not use F, V, S, W, or C as the keyboard interface characters, as those letters are used either by the MS-DOS executive or by Command Post itself. Below is a sample menu with the keyboard interface defined: &Desktop Get Windows Cloc&k . clock.exe Get &Calendar . calendar.exe Word &Processing Get &Notepad Editor . notepad.exe Get Windows &Write . write.exe Command Post 5.2 27 Advanced Menus Command Post also has certain advanced features that allow control of the menu display on the screen. It is done by simply putting one of two special characters as the first character of the menu name. The special characters are the underline character '_' and the vertical bar '|'. (The vertical bar sometimes has a white space in the middle, and is known as the broken vertical bar.) The effects are as follows: On Bar Menu Items | Causes the item to appear on a new line. _ Ignored. Becomes part of the item name. On Dropdown Menu Items | Causes following menu items to begin in a new column, separated with a vertical bar. _ Causes a horizontal line to be drawn that separates the following menu items from the previous ones. Example: |&Desktop ... Starts on a new line Get Windows Cloc&k . clock.exe _Get &Calendar ... Is preceded by a . horizontal separator. calendar.exe |Word &Processing ... Starts on a new line. Get &Notepad Editor . notepad.exe |Get Windows &Write ... Starts in a new column. . write.exe Command Post 5.2 28 Command Post File Name Insertion The Command Post File Name Inserter becomes activated if the parameter string contains any at-sign ( @ ) symbols. There are several special character combinations that Command Post uses to insert files. Along with the following possibilities listed below, is the result if the file C:\WIN\NOTES.TXT is the currently highlighted file: @ Not changed Result = @ @: Provides current disk name Result = C: @:\ Provides disk and path Result = C:\WIN\ @:\^ Provides disk, path and filename root Result = C:\WIN\NOTES @:\^.^ Provides disk, path and full filename Result = C:\WIN\NOTES.TXT @\ Provides path Result = \WIN\ @\^ Provides path and filename root Result = \WIN\NOTES @\^.^ Provides path and full filename Result = \WIN\NOTES.TXT @^ Provides filename root Result = NOTES @^.^ Provides full filename Result = NOTES.TXT Command Post 5.2 29 Command Post File Name Insertion (Continued) Examples: Assume the the the filename README.1ST is currently highlighted in the directory display. The following menu will show results of using various combinations of these caret symbols. EditFiles Edit Highlighted file . notepad.exe @^.^ ... will edit README.1ST Edit file corresponding to root of highlighted file . notepad.exe @^ ... will edit README Edit TXT file associated with highlighted file . notepad.exe @^.TXT ... will edit README.TXT Command Post 5.2 30 Command Post File Name Insertion (continued) Note: Command Post obtains the filenames by performing an Optical Character Read (OCR) of the directory display. For this reason, it is important that the highlighted file name be COMPLETELY visible and unobscured by other windows or the edges of the window. It is also important that the colors chosen for your Window Text and your Window Background have a lot of contrast. The Window's default black text on a white screen works very well. Non-contrasting color combinations, such as light green text on a light blue background will not work correctly. If Command Post is unable to decipher the highlighted file name, the user will be prompted for it via the Command Post Prompter. A short beep will sound, alerting the user that the OCR read failed. Command Post 5.2 31 Command Post Prompter Details The Command Post Prompter becomes activated if the first character of the parameter string is a question mark "?". Everything following the question mark, up to the next question mark, if any, is assumed to be part of the question. If a second question mark is found, everything after the second question mark is used for the default answer. If there is nothing after the first question mark, a stock question is used. See below for examples of all the possibilities and the results they provide. Prompt String : ? Question : Please Enter: : Parameters for selected application Default : Prompt String : ?? Question : Please Enter: : Parameters for selected application Default : Prompt String : ?Info for this application Question : Please Enter: : Info for this application Default : Prompt String : ?Data for the other application?1 2 3 4 5 Question : Please Enter: : Data for the other application Default : 1 2 3 4 5 Prompt String : ??Jack and Jill Question : Please Enter: : Parameters for selected application Default : Jack and Jill Command Post 5.2 32 Notes Notes - Program Not in Path The examples so far have assumed that the selected application can be found either in the initially selected subdirectory, or someplace defined in the MS-DOS PATH statement. Although this does tend to make things easier, it is not required. The application may be preceded with the complete path specification to it if desired. E.G. &Run Various Things Run &Obscure Program Not In Path \set\desired\path c:\obscure\subdir\obscure.exe assorted parameters Command Post 5.2 33 Notes - Reloading Menus A modified CMDPOST.MNU may be reloaded by simply selecting the Reload menu item in the CmdPost dropdown menu. All Command Post windows use the same menu. If there are several Command Post windows active, and the user selects the Reload menu item on one of them to reload the menu, the menu on the current Command Post window will change immediately. The menus on the other Command Post windows will not change immediately, but will update when the window is activated (e.g. mouse click). This may be disconcerting at first, but really is not too bad because: 1) The menus will stabilize after a while and will not need to be reloaded very often 2) Simply Clicking (or Alt-Tab'ing) each Command Post window after reloading the menu will reset all the menu bars. Command Post 5.2 34 Notes - Automagic Directory Updates Command Post has an automatic directory display update feature that allows the directory display to be updated anytime the Command Post menu is selected. The standard MS-DOS Executive window directory display does not update until the user selects one of the disk drive icons in the upper left of the window. If a file is added or deleted outside of the MS-DOS window (e.g. Notepad adds a file), this fact is not displayed on the MS-DOS window until the disk drive icon is selected. Command Post will, if the Automatic Update Directory Display option has been selected, update the directory display any time the Command Post window is selected. This causes a "blink" after the selection of the Command Post window. If this is overly disconcerting, the feature may be turned off. Command Post 5.2 35 Notes - MS-DOS View Menu selections Command Post will notice and save any selections made to the MS-DOS View dropdown menu. If, for example, it is preferred that the directory display only display executable files (i.e .EXE, .COM, .BAT, and maybe .PIF) the "Programs" View menu subitem would be selected. However, previously, this operation had to be performed every time that MS-DOS was started. With Command Post, this is automatic. Command Post will reset the MS-DOS View dropdown menu items to the previous state whenever Command Post is started. Command Post 5.2 36 Notes - Exiting Command Post in Windows From time to time it may become desirable to exit from Command Post and remain in a Windows environment, such as when running memory intensive applications such as Aldus Pagemaker. To exit Command Post and remain in Windows, simply select the EXIT COMMAND POST item under the FILE menu. This will exit Command Post, and restore the MS-DOS Executive window. Command Post 5.2 37 Notes - System Information The Command Post System Information display does require some additional explanation, especially for users of "Large- Frame EMS" equipped computers. Most 386 type computers running Windows/386 are "Large-Frame EMS" computers for this discussion. The Command Post System Information display reports on the amount of available memory as seen by the application requesting it. The memory display in the MS-DOS about box, and the memory display that appears when the CmdPost System Information _ menuitem is selected are usually fairly close (and close is good enough when dealing with Windows memory management). If the computer is not equipped with "Large-Frame EMS" or Windows/386, then the System Information display that appears when you right-doubleclick the Command Post Clock Display will also agree with the previous numbers. However, if the computer has "Large-Frame EMS" or Windows/386, then the System Information display that results from the right-doubleclick of the Clock Display will differ significantly from the other displays. More conventional memory available will be reported, but the total EMS memory available and the conventional memory NON- EMS portion will be nearly the same. The reason for the difference in the conventional memory display and the EMS portion of the conventional memory display is that these numbers are from the viewpoint of the application that wants to know, and each application in you machine has a different conventional EMS memory bank. Command Post and MS-DOS share one of these memory banks, and the Command Post Clock resides in a separate one. As the Command Post Clock is a very small (but required) application, it reports a lot more memory available as it inspects its memory bank. The upshot of all this is that for users of "Large-Frame EMS" or Windows/386, The only numbers that are valid for basing decisions about memory are the amount of EMS memory available, and the amount of conventional NON-EMS memory. When you run out of either one then you cannot start any more applications, and applications already running may have errors due to lack of sufficient memory to operate in. Command Post 5.2 38 Command Post 5.2 39 Appendices Appendix A - Special Thanks The home base of Command Post, and all Wilson WindowWare software, is the Compuserve Microsoft MSSYS forum. A multitude of individuals on the forum have given hints, comments and suggestions that have helped make Command Post the powerful and unique Windows application that it is. The SYSOPS of the MSSYS forum have, as a group, been extremely helpful in pointing out possible approaches to solving a number of problems that were encountered in the development of this program. I would also like to mention Charles Petzold (who does not have the faintest idea who I am). He is the author of the book "Programming Windows" (the best book on Windows programming available at any price) from which I gained deeper insights into the workings of Windows and lifted several ideas and code fragments. And while I am at it, I should mention Mike Geary (who is as well acquainted with me as Charles Petzold is). He has written articles for the Microsoft Systems Journal, and has made various pieces of source code available on the Compuserve forums. Several of these were incorporated into Command Post. There is also Art Metz, who keyed me in on the undocumented secrets that allow Command Post to maintain its clock window on the surface of the screen and allow the clock window to be moved with the mouse button. (And thus obsoleting his rather nice clock application.) I am especially grateful for the assistance given by Noel Bergman, who has patiently pointed out various bugs, particularly in the LIM 4.0 environment, and has detailed fixes required to make Command Post a fully functional Windows 2.0 application. And finally extra special thanks go to the licensees of Wilson WindowWare software, as they are the people who are footing the bill for the continuing development of new and existing WindowWare applications. Command Post 5.2 40 Appendix B - Command Post Version Information Version Information for Command Post 5.2 Immediately below is a list of differences that this version of Command Post has when compared to major previous releases of Command Post. This is generally only of interest when updating to a new version of Command Post from a previous release. Version 5.2 - New Features 1) The highlighted filename in the directory display may be copied into the parameter string of an application on startup. 2) Multiple applications may be started from a single menu item. Just put in pairs of the dir/app menu lines. 3) The size and placement of the Command Post window is saved on exit. When Command Post is restarted, the window will return to its former size and place. 4) The System Information display now also reports screen resolution. 5) Doubleclicking the Clock Display with the right mouse button will make the System Information Box appear. 6) If the clock display is counting in minutes, it will NOT pop to the top of the display. 7) The [Press Any Key] box during the blanked display is now optional. If displayed, it is smaller, remains blue and only moves one a minute. Command Post 5.2 41 Version Information (continued) 8) Numerous bug fixes. Major fixes are: Hot-Key disabled from Excel Tutorial and Feature Guide. Screen Blanker works with Excel Tutorial and Feature Guide. Bug where some full screen oldapps would hang after a while fixed. Full-Screen oldapps started correctly from CmdPost Windows Menu. Screen Stacker/Arranger problem where it would cover the icon area on VGA displays has been fixed. Bug where Command Post sometimes hangs the system when the reminder messages appear on un-licensed copies has been fixed. Bug where clock would slowly move to the lower right of the screen has been fixed. Work-around implemented to a bug in Windows 2.1 running on large-frame EMS systems where dialog boxes sometimes fail to appear due to a memory shortage. Command Post 5.2 42 Version Information (continued) Version 5.0 - New Features 1) Greatly modified clock display 2) Added a System Information menu item to the CmdPost menu. It provides memory usage information. 3) Animation added to the blanked screen display. 4) Added Visa and MasterCard displays to opening screens (as required by my bank) 5) Modified payment structure (but not prices) 6) Reduced Command Post memory usage by about 1000 bytes. Version 4.9 - New Features 1) Removed option that forces user menu to start on a new line, as the | character at the beginning of CMDPOST.MNU does the same thing. 2) Dropdown menu modified to allow single mouse click operation. 3) Clock display can be moved. 4) Doubleclicking the clock display causes Command Post to appear (much like the HotKey) 5) Memory display updated immediately after starting new apps. 6) Screen blanking in some old apps fixed. 7) MinimizeMSDos flag checked to see if CmdPost should be minimized after starting apps. 8) Added Window Title personalization via the Option... dialog and removed the "w/Confirm" from the title. Licensed copies only!!! 9) Modified the Command Post clock and memory display to show all 3 types memory on systems with LIM 4.0 10) Fixed a windows selection bug which could cause users without a mouse to simply hang in a window that would not accept input. 11) Various other minor bug fixes. Command Post 5.2 43 Appendix C - Other Window Applications Currently (2/1/89) Wilson WindowWare has the following shareware applications. For more information on these applications call, or send a SASE to: Wilson WindowWare 3377 59th SW Seattle WA 98116 (206) 937-9335 Applets 1.0 Applets are a collection of tiny applications for the Microsoft Windows environment. They are primarily designed to operate with Windows menuing environments, such as Command Post 5.2 and newer, which allow you to initiate a series of applications from a single menu selection. These tiny applications include file manipulation tools (COPY, MOVE, RENAME, DELETE), Window manipulation tools (ZOOM, ICONIZE, HIDE, SHOW, CLOSE, PLACE), and miscellaneous tools (SAY, BEEP, SAYBEEP). Browser 3.1 Browser is a MS Windows application designed to allow users to browse files in a MS Windows environment. In addition to the browse capability, it supports printing, clipboarding, and a hex dump display. Browser also features the new and unusual Hide & Seek information extraction technique. Command Post 5.2 Command Post is a MS Windows application designed to allow users to easily personalize the MS-DOS Executive control window. Command Post allows users to easily add menu and dropdown menu items to the main MS-DOS Executive menu bar, and to execute desired applications when a menu item is selected. Command Post 5.2 44 Appendix D - Command Post Online Support Online support for Command Post is provided on Compuserve Information Service (CIS). If assistance with Command Post is required, please leave an Easyplex message for Morrie Wilson using the CIS identifier 73260,2535 A response will generally be posted by the next day. The MSAPP forum on Compuserve is also checked on a regular basis. The MSAPP forum is a good place to ask questions about Windows in general, or to interface with other Windows users. Command Post 5.2 45 Appendix E - Patches for Non-English Windows Command Post is designed to work with the United States and the International English versions of Windows. Various foreign language versions are under development. In order to run this version of Command Post with non- English versions of Microsoft Windows, you must add a three lines of text to the bottom of your WIN.INI file, and make copies of certain executable files as explained below. The lines added to the WIN.INI file allow Command Post to locate certain critical WIndows and functions whose identify vary with the different language versions of Windows. The copies of the executable files allow Command Post to access certain standard items using the English Windows filenames. First - Modify the WIN.INI file. Add the following lines: [CmdPost] WinTitle=xxx ... WinInfo Parent Window Title WinSession=yyy ... WinInfo Parent Window Class xxx represents the title of the MS-DOS Executive Window. Just type in the exact title of the MS-DOS Window. yyy represents the window class name of the MS-DOS Executive Window. The proper value of this string is much harder to determine, but fortunately it is usually "Session". Supplied with Command Post is a simple utility, WININFO.EXE which should help in determining the correct parameters for your version of WIndows. Simply start WININFO.EXE and move your mouse over the title bar of the MS-DOS Executive window. The parent window title and class parameters are just what is required for the WinTitle and WinSession parameters. The examples on the following page show the required additions for a few languages. Command Post 5.2 46 Patches for Non-English Windows (Continued) Examples: English (default) [CmdPost] WinTitle=MS-DOS Executive WinSession=Session German [CmdPost] WinTitle=MS-DOS-Fenster WinSession=Session French [CmdPost] WinTitle=Executif MS-DOS WinSession=Session Norwegian [CmdPost] WinTitle=MS-DOS-Sentralen WinSession=Session Command Post 5.2 47 Patches for Non-English Windows (Continued) In addition you must make copies of some of your files. Command Post will attempt to startup certain applications using the names they have in the English version of Windows. The table below shows the English names of these files, and a few non-English names. Copy the files as they are called in your version of Windows to the names they are called in the English version of Windows. The files are: Function English German Norwegian_____ _________________________________________________________ Clipboard CLIPBRD.EXE ABLAGE.EXE KLIPBRD.EXE Control Panel CONTROL.EXE SYSTEMST.EXE KONTROL.EXE Command Post has been designed to be translated into various languages. If you are interested in translating Command Post into a language you are familiar with -- A task that takes about 5 hours of your time -- please write us. We will supply you with a file containing all the text strings in Command Post, our gratitude, and the first copy of Command Post in your language. In some cases we will be unable to do this because of prior contractual agreements, but we should then be able to supply you with the name of a contact from whom you may purchase Command Post directly. Command Post 5.2 48 Appendix F - Command Post Licensing Reminders Command Post, being a shareware product, is distributed to users free, or at low cost, for their evaluation. In order to assist users in remembering that they are using an unlicensed version of a shareware product, Command Post reminds users of this fact on a regular basis. The reminders built into this version of Command Post are only somewhat obtrusive. They consist of: 1) The word "Unlicensed" in the title of the Command Post window. 2) Two windows of initial reminders when Command Post is initially invoked. 3) Two windows of reminders every 25 Command Post menu selections. In licensed versions of Command Post, the title of the Command Post window can be modified by adding a company or user name, as desired. This is accomplished via the Options... dialog box. Command Post 5.2 49