  Personal Desktop Help Index

How To ...

Use the Control Panel

Use the Keystroke Setup window

Use the Movie Setup window

Use the Sound Setup window

Use the Add Clip window

Use the Add Application window


Using the Control Panel

The Personal Desktop control panel allows you to attach sound and movie files to various system events.  You can also use it to temporarily turn off Personal Desktop and set various other options.

For more information, select the section name:

Applications	Using the "Applications" drop down and controls
Events	Using the "Events" list box and controls
Canceling a clip	Using the "Clip Cancel" key
Master Switch	Using the "PDesk On" checkbox
Save Settings	Using the "Auto Save" option
Clip Files	Clip files overview


Clip Files

To add sound or movie files to Personal Desktop, click on the "Add..." button in the Clips section of the control panel and select the file you wish to add. Personal Desktop supports wave audio files (.wav) and Video for Windows movie files (.avi).  Note that you can select more than one clip at a time when adding files.

Once a clip has been added to the list, you can attach it to an event as follows:

 Select an event (such as "Window Move") in the Events section of the control panel.

 Place a check mark next to the clip in the Clips section.

You can attach multiple clips to a single event. The clips will play in alphabetic order or, if the "Randomize" checkbox is selected, in random order from among the checked clips.

To change the descriptive name of a clip or the location of where movie files should play, select the clip and then "Setup...".

To find the next selected clip for an event, click the mouse over the check mark button above the clip list. You can also use the ALT+C keyboard combination to push the check mark. If you are working in the clips list, the CTRL+Up Arrow and CTRL+Down Arrow combinations will also move the selection to the previous or next selected clip


Applications

Personal Desktop can be configured to behave differently depending on what application you are using. For example, the system beep in WordPerfect can be different than the system beep in Lotus 123.

To add an application to the application list, select the "Add App..." button.  When this application is the currently selected one, all event settings will apply only to this one application.  When <Windows> is the current application, the event settings will apply to all applications except those with their own superseding settings.

To disable Personal Desktop for a single application:

 Add the application to the list using the "Add App..." button

 Select the "Disabled" checkbox


Events

Personal Desktop can play clip files in response to various actions or events. You can configure Personal Desktop to:

 Play a clip from a selected group whenever an event occurs

 Play a clip from a selected group when an event occurs within a specified application only

 Never play clips within a particular application

 (and many other combinations!)

Note: If you want a clip to play for all applications, be sure that "<Windows>" is the selected app.

Clips play at the following events:

Windows Startup

A clip will play when Personal Desktop is run. Note that this will be at Windows Startup only when Personal Desktop is present in your Startup Group.

Windows Exit

A clip will play when Personal Desktop is closed. This will be when Microsoft Windows is closed unless you close Personal Desktop by hand earlier.

Application Startup

A clip will play whenever a Windows application is started. You can choose specific clips for different applications by adding applications to the Personal Desktop list using the "Add App..." button.

Application Exit

A clip will play when a Windows application is exited.

Window Move

A clip will play when you move a window.

Window Moving

A sound will play while you are moving a window (try a short sound).

Window Size

A clip will play when you re-size a window.

Window Sizing

A sound will play while you are re-sizing a window (try a short sound).

Window Minimize/Maximize

A clip will play when you minimize or maximize an application (using the icons at the top-right corner of a window).

Window Restore

A clip will play whenever you restore an application from the iconized state.

Critical Stop, Question, Exclamation, Asterisk

These correspond to the same clips as in Window's Sound Control Panel. Certain applications use these clips when an error or notification occurs, or when opening standard dialogs.

Chime

A clip will play at :00, :15, :30, and :45 minutes past each hour.

Hourly Chime Count

The selected clip will play once for each hour, at the top of the hour (like a grandfather clock).

Keystrokes

You can configure up to 5 special keystrokes that cause clips to play. For example, you can set a clip to play whenever Shift-F1 is hit. To change a keystroke, select the keystroke event and then click on "Keystroke Setup...". Note that certain keystrokes (such as F1) are reserved by Windows, and cannot be used to trigger a clip.


 Using the Keystroke Setup window

The Keystroke Setup window allows you to define a keystroke combination to:

 Trigger a movie or sound file

 Cancel a playing clip

To set a new keystroke combination:

 Push the "Define Keystroke" button

 Press the desired key combination, optionally using the SHIFT, ALT, and CTRL keys

 Push the "OK" button

Pushing the "Clear Keystroke" button deletes any defined keystroke for this event.

To keep any changes, press "OK". Otherwise, press "Cancel".


Using the Sound Setup window

Type a new description for the sound in the "Description" field and select "OK". This option is used to give a more appropriate name to a sound than possible with an 8 character filename.


Using the Movie Setup window

Type in a new description for the movie in the "Description" field.  This option is used to give a more appropriate name to a movie than possible with an 8 character filename.

Select where on the screen the movie file should play, or choose "Random" and the computer will choose the location.

Select "Preload Movie" to load the movie into memory before playing the file. This can make the clip appear on the screen faster, at the expense of some additional memory.

When you are finished, select "OK" to keep your changes.


Using the Add Clips window

The Add Clips window allows you to browse a disk for sound and movie files, preview those files, and add those files to Personal Desktop's clip list.

To change directories, click on the folder icon (for example, "C:\" or "Windows").

To change drives, click on the "Drive" popup menu.

"Add" adds the selected file(s) to Personal Desktop's clip list.

"Play" can be used for previewing a clip before adding it to Personal Desktop's list.

Personal Desktop supports standard Windows wave (.wav) files and Video for Windows (.avi) files. It does not currently support MIDI files.

To add multiple files:

 Drag the mouse or use the SHIFT key to select a range of files.

 Use the Control (CTRL) key to select multiple, discontinuous, files.


Using the Add Application window

The Add Application window allows you to browse a disk for application files and add those files to Personal Desktop's application list.  This allows you to customize Personal Desktop for specific applications.

To change directories, click on the folder icon (for example, "C:\" or "Windows").

To change drives, click on the "Drive" popup menu.

"Add" adds the selected file to Personal Desktop's application list and makes it the current application.


Canceling a clip

You can set any key as the "Clip Cancel" key by pushing the "Define" button in the Clip Cancel section of the control panel.  Pressing the cancel key while a movie or sound is playing will immediately stop the clip.


Master Switch

The "PDesk On" checkbox is an easy way to temporarily turn Personal Desktop on and off.  You might turn Personal Desktop off when your boss is in the room, for example (unless you have a really cool boss).


Save Settings

Normally, Personal Desktop automatically saves all setting changes. If you want to experiment with a new setup but don't want your changes to be saved, de-select the "Auto Save" checkbox. You can then save the changes manually using the "Save" button.  If you turn "Auto Save" off, don't forget to save your settings before closing Personal Desktop or exiting Windows.