Copyright: Copyright 1993,1996 Bardon Data Systems


Contents
SmilerShell Help

This helpfile contains information on 32-bit SmilerShell/95 for Windows 95 and NT, and 16-bit SmilerShell for Windows 3.1.  Choose a topic on which you'd like more information:

Keyboard Shortcuts

Quick Start / Hints And Tricks

How To Order SmilerShell

Introduction

Why Is This A Shell?

Installing SmilerShell

Uninstalling SmilerShell

What Happens When You Start SmilerShell

Right-Click The Button: The Apps Menu

Menu Items

The File Menu

The Edit Menu

The Options Menu

The Apps Menu

The 'How To Order' Menu Item

The Hide! Menu Item

The Help Menu

The System Resources Menu Item

Submitting Commands

Command Completion

Keep Explorer In Sync With SmilerShell/95 Automatically

Command History Button: Lists All Commands

Using Arrows To Retrieve Previous Commands

Editing Commands

The FindFile Dialog

Size Of Window

Getting Rid Of Inactive Windows

DOS Commands: Fullscreen Or Windowed

About Internal DOS Commands

Aliases

The Settings Dialog: Set Preferences

Command Stack Files

Choosing Fonts And Colors

The Initialization File

Using SmilerShell On A Network

The ONECMD Option: Set Up Custom Desktop Icons To Do Any Task

Built-In SmilerShell Commands

ALARM: Alarm Clock With Reminder Message

ALIAS and UNALIAS: Create, Change, Remove Aliases

DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way

FIND: Search For Files On Disk

HISTORY: Display Command History

PATH: Change The Search Path

SHOW: An Alternative To DIR

Using 4DOS/NDOS Internal Commands

Notices


Introduction

Windows is great, but sometimes it can be awkward.  Getting to the icon to launch an application isn't always easy.  There's no good way to keep an eye on important systemwide resources.  Navigating from one directory to another in Explorer is tedious, especially down a long path that isn't currently displayed.  And even when you have all the pieces, sometimes it'd be faster to just type a command -- but how?

That's what SmilerShell is for.

SmilerShell is a compact yet powerful Windows control center that takes NO space on your desktop.  It looks like a simple command line, but in reality it's more like a cross between Dashboard and 4DOS, without heavy memory requirements.  Its quick directory-change command DC lets you type the first few letters of any endpoint target directory, on any drive, and instantly switch to that directory.  And if you set SmilerShell/95's "Sync With Explorer" switch, it'll keep Explorer's current directory synchronized with SmilerShell/95.  Combine DC with Sync and you'll never again have to tediously click up and down a file manager tree!  If you use SmilerShell/95 ONLY as a navigation shortcut for Explorer, it's well worth it.

There's also a real-time memory/resources monitor, icon-menu "Apps" launcher (easier than Program Manager, more flexible than Start), multiple commands on one line, 4DOS-like aliases (type-in or on Function keys), command completion, even an alarm clock with a settable reminder message.

SmilerShell takes NO space on your desktop.  Usually it's just a tiny button that hops into the title bar of your currently-active application.  Left-click the button to reveal the SmilerShell/95 window, or right-click to see your Apps menu.

SmilerShell features Drag and Drop, command completion, full File Associations support, full control over "inactive" windows, built in FileFind.  Launch your word processor with the file to edit as a parameter, and avoid the File|Open dialog.  Fast!  There's much more than a "DOS command line."

Not to ignore the top-rated command line.  It's got command history, editing, and search.  It will handle anything you throw at it, including pipes and redirection, batch files, PIF and Win95 LNK files, filenames with embedded spaces, and file associations (just give the filename, no need to specify the program).  SmilerShell/95's built-in Show command works like a little Explorer window.  And it runs multiple commands on one line like 4DOS ... which, when combined with its parameterized aliases, gives you a built-in batch-like scripting language.

These are just a few of the features of SmilerShell. The Quick Start section has a description of each major feature.  And of course all features are documented in the individual sections of this manual.

So, welcome to SmilerShell!  You're going to like it here.

Related Topics:

Quick Start / Hints And Tricks

Why Is This A Shell?

The Initialization File

Menu Items

Submitting Commands

Using Arrows To Retrieve Previous Commands

Aliases

DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way

The Apps Menu

Command Stack Files


How To Order SmilerShell

Thank you for trying SmilerShell.  You are welcome to test the fully-functional evaluation version for 30 days.  That is, you can run the program on 30 different dates.  These dates do not have to be consecutive calendar days.  If you don't run SmilerShell on a particular date, it doesn't count against your 30 days.

The evaluation version of SmilerShell contains all the features found in the actual product.  You have plenty of time to try it under actual working conditions on your own system, to see if it meets your needs.  After the trial period, you must either purchase SmilerShell or remove it from your system.

Or purchase from distributors in:

AUSTRALIA: Budgetware

ENGLAND: The Thompson Partnership

FRANCE: WindowShare

GERMANY: Vogel Datentechnik

JAPAN: P & A Co. Ltd.

SmilerShell is available in two versions.  There's a 16-bit version for Windows 3.1, and a 32-bit version for Windows 95 and NT.  To order, send $29.95 (plus shipping) for either version, or $49.95 (plus shipping) for both versions, to:

Bardon Data Systems

1023 Key Route Blvd.

Albany, CA 94706-2321

Payment: You can pay with cash, check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa.

Shipping: Please enclose $5 for shipping and handling.

Outside North America: Please add an additional $6 overseas shipping surcharge (total $11 shipping)

More Ways To Order: With a MasterCard or Visa you can also order SmilerShell by phone, either directly from Bardon (510-526-8470 weekdays 9 to 5 California time) or through our toll-free telephone order-taking service (800-242-4775 weekdays  7 to 6 Central time ... ORDERS ONLY), or by fax (510-526-8470 24 hours a day).  On CompuServe email your order to Bardon at 72340,375 or GO SWREG to order item #1186 (SmilerShell 3.1) or #6903 (SmilerShell/95).  On the Internet email your order to Bardon at orders@bardon.com.  Or on the World Wide Web order on Bardon's website at http://www.bardon.com.  Include card number, expiration date, and name as it appears on the card.  When using a MasterCard or Visa, include card number, expiration date, and name as it appears on the card.

If ordering direct from Bardon by phone at 510-526-8470, you'll be given your registration number immediately so you can get rid of those reminder screens right away.

Multiple-copy registration discounts and site licenses are available.

When you order, you'll get a copy of the most recent version of SmilerShell, a registration number that will turn off the reminder screens, a printed manual, support, and update notices.

You'll also get a FREE copy of Reverend Lowell's Treasury of Humor, Volume 1: "He Who Laughs, Lasts!"  Reverend Lowell's Treasury contains thousands of humorous anecdotes collected by Reverend Lowell during his long career as an ordained minister.  After thirty years of public speaking from the pulpit, the podium, and on television, he has amassed over 200,000 items, and Reverend Lowell's Treasury represents the "cream of the crop."  These are Reverend Lowell's favorite funny stories, revealing quotes, interesting anecdotes, and zingy one-liners.  And there's nothing that would be unsuitable in any public setting.  There are plenty of items to choose from.  Each volume of the Treasury covers a different topic, and contains at least as many items as you'd find in a full-size book.  Many are illustrated in color or black-and-white.  You can search for any item by keyword or first line.  Or simply browse through every item page by page.


What Happens When You Start SmilerShell

When you start SmilerShell, it first reads its initialization file, which stores your SmilerShell preferences as you indicated in the Settings dialog and through menu switches.  By default this is the file "smishell.ini" in the same directory as the SmilerShell program.  However, you can specify a name and directory for this on the SmilerShell icon's 'Properties' command line.  This is especially useful on a network, where you might have one copy of the program on a server, and many users who want to maintain their own individual setup preferences.  See Using SmilerShell On A Network.

Values are set, based on the entries in the initialization file.  The list of commands you issued last time is restored (handy for searching instead of typing) as well as any command-stack file you have set up.

If you start SmilerShell without an initialization file, you'll be asked if you'd like SmilerShell to create one and fill it with reasonable initial values.  You can change these settings at any time with the Settings dialog on the Options menu.

Next, SmilerShell looks for DC information.  It will rescan your directory structure if you've set this in the Settings dialog.  If not, SmilerShell looks for the file it creates when you Scan Directories.  By default it is named "smishell.dir" and is in the same directory as the initialization file.  You can specify a different name and directory for it in the Settings dialog.

Then SmilerShell gets the current PATH from the operating system.  It uses this to run your commands.  If you like, you can change SmilerShell's copy of the PATH.  See PATH: Change The Search Path for details.

If you have set Save State in the Settings dialog, SmilerShell sets itself up the way you left it  last time, and changes to the directory you were in when you last used it.

If you have set SmilerShell/95 to Sync With Explorer, and if Explorer is running in Windows 95, SmilerShell changes Explorer's current directory to synchronize it with its own.

Finally, if you have set Hide SmilerShell in the Settings dialog, SmilerShell hides the command line window, and if you have set Show Button, it puts a little button into the title bar of your currently-active application.  This button will follow you around to whatever application you activate, so SmilerShell is always just a mouse click away.  (Note: occasionally a Windows window is set up to be  "always on top."  These "topmost" windows will set themselves on top of SmilerShell's button, hiding it.  The button will reappear when you switch to a non-topmost window.)

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way


Menu Items

SmilerShell has five top-level menu items: File, Edit, Options, Apps, and Help.  If the titlebar button is not disabled, there is a Hide! menu item, which hides the command line window.  Using the Options menu, you can also toggle another item onto the menu bar: a real-time report of available Windows memory and resources.

The evaluation version of SmilerShell has a How To Order menu item which provides ordering and purchase information.

Related Topics:

The File Menu

The Edit Menu

The Options Menu

The Apps Menu

The 'How To Order' Menu Item

The Hide! Menu Item

The Help Menu

The System Resources Menu Item

Keyboard Shortcuts


File Menu
The File Menu

The File menu starts with the traditional items New, Open, Save, and Save As.  These items let you manipulate your current command stack (list of stored commands).  Next on the File menu are the items DOS Box, Run, Aliases, Find File, Command History, Command Completion, Scan Directories, and of course Exit.  Here's what these commands do.

New clears the command stack.  That is, it makes your list of previously issued commands go away.  This lets you restart your command history.

Open lets you choose a command-stack file and read it in.  It optionally clears the current command history before it reads in a new command stack from the file.  SmilerShell assumes that it's an ASCII text command-stack file, with one command on each line.

Save saves your current command stack to a file using the command-stack file name specified in the Settings dialog.  The commands are saved in a plain text ASCII file, one command per line.  If you haven't explicitly set a name yet, the name "smishell.stk" is used.  By default it's assumed to be in the same directory as the ini file.

Save As asks for a filename, then saves the current command stack to that file.  The commands are saved in a plain text ASCII file, one command per line.

DOS Box gives you a DOS session, full screen or windowed depending on the Options menu item DOS In Window.  Type Exit at the DOS prompt to return to SmilerShell.

Run lets you choose a program from a file/directory dialog.  The filename you choose is placed on SmilerShell's command line, where you can add any needed parameters before submitting it.

Aliases brings up a dialog that shows you what command substitutions are currently in effect.  It shows both your command-line aliases and your function-key aliases.  If you don't like the way they look, there's a button to open the Settings dialog, where you can change them.  You can run an aliased command from the Aliases list by clicking on it, or fetch its name into the main window for editing.  You can also bring up the Aliases dialog by typing ALIAS on the command line.

Find File brings up a dialog box that lets you search for files by name or contents.  You can also bring up this same dialog box by typing FIND on the command line, optionally with parameters giving the target filename and file contents.  But to type the command, you must first clear the command line.  The advantage of the Find File menu item is that it lets you add a 'found' file's name to existing command line text, perhaps as a parameter to a command you are building.

Command History shows a list of every command you ran from the command line during this session, plus the restored list of commands you issued during the last session, plus any commands preloaded from a command-stack file at startup.  This is the same dialog you get by clicking on the Command History Button.  You can submit a command from here by clicking on it, or fetch it into the main window for editing.  There's also a Settings pushbutton.

Command Completion will find any commands that match what you type.  Just type the first few letters of a command name, with wildcard characters (* and ?) if you like.  Then click this menu item or hit the Tab key.  SmilerShell will search your PATH for any commands that match.  It'll even find matching files with runnable File Association extensions.

Scan Directories generates an internal list of all directories on each 'Drive To Scan For DC Data' you've listed in the Settings dialog (default is to just scan drive C).  It saves this internal list to the DC info file, either a filename you specify or the default "smishell.dir" in the SmilerShell ini file's directory.  The DC "/r" parameter can also generate this list on the fly when you use the DC command.

Finally, the File menu has an Exit item which terminates SmilerShell.


Edit Menu
The Edit Menu

The Edit menu starts with the standard Windows features Undo, Cut, Copy, and Paste for sending information to and from the Windows clipboard, and Clear to delete selected text in the input window.

Remove Inactives searches out and closes all the inactive windows (those with "Finished..." or "[Inactive..." or "(Inactive..." in the title) on your desktop.  If you've toggled the Options menu item Inactives Stay Visible to display inactive DOS windows after their command terminates, you'll find that these windows accumulate quite rapidly.  Remove Inactives (or its keyboard equivalent Alt+R) makes them all go away.

Button Exceptions is how you tell SmilerShell what to do about a single application with an unusual screen layout.  Usually SmilerShell can figure out where to place its titlebar button.  But if one of your other applications has a non-standard layout where its titlebar ought to be, the button may be placed over something important.  To place the button somewhere else in this one window, select Button Exceptions.  The cursor changes to the crosshairs style.  Click the mouse anywhere in the problem app's window, at the point where you'd like the button to be placed (that is, the distance from the upper left corner of the app's window).  If you change your mind, press Escape to abort.  This information is saved in SmilerShell's ini file from session to session.  To change a Button Exceptions entry, select the menu item again and click on a new location in the same problem application.  You can remove an entry entirely from the Settings dialog.

In Windows 95, you can also set a Button Exception to completely hide the button in your chosen window, so the button won't show up in that window at all.  In this case, when this window has the focus the button shows up in the Taskbar's "tray" area instead.

Button Offset moves the button left or right within the titlebar of all apps.  Unlike Button Exceptions, setting Button Offset affects the button's location in every app, not just the one app you click on.  This is handy if you have another program that also puts something in every active app's titlebar.  To set this up, select the Button Offset item, and choose whether you want to offset from the left or the right side of the window.  The cursor changes to the crosshairs style.  Click the mouse in any app's window.  From then on, the titlebar button will be displayed that distance from the chosen (left or right) border in every app not listed as a Button Exception.  If you change your mind, press Escape to abort.  This information is saved in SmilerShell's ini file from session to session.  To change the Button Offset, select the menu item again and click on a new location in any application.  To remove it entirely, choose Button Offset and click on the Default Offset menu item.

Related Topics:

 The Options Menu

The Settings Dialog


Options Menu
The Options Menu

The Options menu items toggle on and off various SmilerShell features.  Heavily-used features have individual menu items under the Options menu.  Less-used or 'startup' features are listed together in the Settings dialog, at the bottom of the Options menu.

Date/Time Clock (Alt+C) puts a date/time clock in the title bar.  You can set the date and time format with the Options menu's Settings dialog.  You can also set an alarm and have it display a message when it goes off.  See ALARM: Alarm Clock With Reminder Message.

System Resources (Alt+S) shows available system resources in the menu bar.  If System Resources is toggled on, and the menu is toggled off, the resources report will be displayed in the command line window.  Press any key and the command line comes back just as you left it.  The cursor is where you left it, selections are still selected, and the key you pressed is typed into place in the command text.

Directory (Alt+D) show the current directory in the SmilerShell title bar.

Overtype (Alt+O) toggles the command line between insert mode and overtype mode.  When it's in overtype mode a flag appears in the title bar, over the second 'e' in 'SmilerShell'.

Topmost (Alt+T) makes SmilerShell a topmost window, so even when inactive, it sits on top of other windows.

Title Bar (Alt+L) hides the title bar.  This saves screen space.  To move SmilerShell on the screen without a title bar, click the right mouse button in the edit area and hold it down while moving the window.

Menu (Alt+M) hides the menu bar, making SmilerShell even smaller.  When the menu bar is hidden, a "Show SmilerShell Menu" item is added to the System menu.  Click it  to get the menu bar back.  Or type Alt+M from the keyboard.  The keyboard accelerators (Alt+C, Alt+D, etc.) continue to work properly when the menu is hidden.

Inactives Stay Visible (Alt+I) controls whether, after SmilerShell runs a DOS command, the command's inactive window sticks around or goes away.  Keeping those inactive windows around can be quite handy, letting you see the results of previous commands, but they do eventually clutter your screen.  True, you can make them all go away using the Remove Inactives item on the Edit menu (or simply type Alt+R).  But if you don't want to see them in the first place, you can simply toggle Inactives Stay Visible off.  Or to run one command as if Inactives Stay Visible is set to the opposite of its current value, start that command with an asterisk (for example *dir).  See Submitting Commands.

DOS In Window (Alt+W) controls whether  SmilerShell's DOS commands run fullscreen or in a window.  Or to run one command as if DOS In Window is set to the opposite of its current value, start that command with a right-bracket (for example >copy foo.bat b:).  See Submitting Commands.

Sync With Explorer (Alt+E) will automatically change Explorer's current directory whenever you change SmilerShell/95's directory.  This is especially handy when using DC or DCB.  With just a few keystrokes you can instantly navigate throughout your system, even across drives.  Toggle this switch and Explorer tags along behind.  No more clicking through directory trees!  You won't believe how convenient this is.

Foreground Color This lets you set the color of the edit control's text.  Pick a standard color, or create a custom color, but note that if you pick a dithered color, Windows uses the nearest solid color instead.  See Choosing Font And Colors.

Background Color This lets you set thebackground color.  Pick a standard color, or create a custom color.  You can get a very interesting effect by choosing a dithered background color.  As with Foreground Color, if you pick a dithered color, Windows uses the nearest solid color behind actual text characters.  But it uses your chosen dithered color in the rest of the edit area.  This creates an unusual raised effect as you type.  Try it!  See Choosing Font And Colors.

Font  You can set the command line font to any available style and size.  Because of Windows limitations, italic fonts don't look as good as bold or normal fonts.  See Choosing Font And Colors.

Settings This brings up SmilerShell's Settings dialog.  There are check boxes to set up startup options, titlebar button behavior, confirmation and save-state at exit, command processor usage, the date and time format in the titlebar clock, and other preferences.  All your Button Exceptions are listed, and can be deleted if desired.  You can also add, edit, or delete aliases (or you can do this with the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands), set restore time, list the drives DC should scan, and give startup filenames.  See The Settings Dialog for full details.


Help Menu
The Help Menu

The Help menu has three items: Help, Popup Hints, and About SmilerShell.

Use the Help item (or press F1) to get on-line help about SmilerShell.

Choose Popup Hints (or press Alt+F1) to learn interesting and useful ways of using SmilerShell.

The other item, About SmilerShell, is a typical About box.  It gives the SmilerShell version number and contact information.


System Resource Menu Item
The System Resources Menu Item

When you toggle this on, using the Options menu item System Resources, the System Resources Menu Item provides a report on key Windows resources.  It changes in real time to show your currently available resources.  Although it is on the menu bar, it has no menu associated with it.

If System Resources is toggled on and the menu is toggled off, the resources report will be displayed in the command line window.  Press any key and the command line comes back just as you left it.  The cursor is where you left it, selections are still selected, and the key you pressed is typed into place in the command text.

The 16- and 32-bit versions of SmilerShell display different resources which are important in their respective environments.  SmilerShell/95 (for Win95 and NT) displays:

•  K: kilobytes of free virtual memory (physical memory plus swapfile)

•  M: memory load percent free

•  D: disk space percent free on the current drive

SmilerShell for Windows 3.1 displays:

•  K: kilobytes of free virtual memory (physical memory plus swapfile)

•  G: GDI resources percent free

•  U: User resources percent free

GDI and User resources are fixed-size dedicated heaps of memory which Windows uses for specific purposes.  The Windows 3 GDI and User heaps are not large, and adding more RAM to your system will not make them bigger.  SmilerShell's real-time resources monitor can help you keep an eye on them.  In Windows 95, these two heaps have been enlarged and are no longer critical, so SmilerShell/95 tracks memory load and disk space, resources which can be bottlenecks in that environment.

You may wonder why the 16-bit SmilerShell doesn't display System resources, as displayed in Program Manager's About box and other places.  It turns out that "System resources" is just Windows shorthand for "the smaller of User and GDI resources."  Why take up screen space with information you've already got?


Submitting Commands

If SmilerShell is hidden, click the titlebar button with the left mouse button.  The command line window will pop up and will be given the input focus.  (If you right-click, the Apps menu will pop up next to the button, ready for you to click on an app and run it.)  You can also double-click the SmilerShell startup icon at any time to reveal the command line window.

When SmilerShell has the input focus, simply type any command, just as you would at the DOS prompt.  You can run Windows programs, DOS programs, or DOS internal commands like DIR or TYPE.  You can use CD or CHDIR to change SmilerShell's current directory.  (Or you can change directory a lot faster with the built-in SmilerShell commands DC and DCB.)  You can also use the built-in SmilerShell commands FIND (find files by name or contents), SHOW (display filenames and select one into the command line), ALARM (alarm clock with reminder message), ALIAS (list or change aliases), UNALIAS (remove aliases), and HISTORY (list full command history).

SmilerShell supports the 4DOS/NDOS enhanced command processor.  You can use the Settings dialog to have SmilerShell handle all the 4DOS/NDOS commands that might be useful from a Windows command line.  In those cases where a supported 4DOS or NDOS command is the same as a SmilerShell command (alias, history, unalias), start the command with an equals sign to pass it to the command processor unchanged (for example, =history).  That is, treat it like a SmilerShell alias.

SmilerShell supports "drag and drop," so you can drop files onto its window from File Manager, Explorer, or any other drag-and-drop server.  The filenames will be added at the end of the current command line.  SmilerShell adds them in the form that takes up the least amount of space on the line.  So, for example, files in the current directory will have a filename but no path.

Because SmilerShell supports File Associations, often you only have to give the filename, without naming the program to run it.  SmilerShell can in these cases tell what program to run, just  by looking at the filename.   For example give "FILENAME.WRI" and SmilerShell knows to run Windows Write on this file.  This works very nicely with SHOW or FIND: use them to pick a file, fetch the filename into the commandline, then just press Enter to run the proper program with that file.

SmilerShell supports command completion.  You can give the first few letters of a command name (with wildcards * and ? if you like) and hit Tab to have it search your Path for matching runnable commands and files with registered File Association extensions.

Windows NT and Windows 95 allow long filenames with embedded spaces.  To have SmilerShell/95 see such a name as one indivisible unit, enclose it in double-quotes.  For example, you could give the command

"This is a file name.exe" param1 param2 param3

As with all SmilerShell commands, you don't need to give the file extension of executable programs (com, bat, exe, pif, lnk).  And SmilerShell/95 will correctly handle PIF and LNK "Shortcut to..." files.  You can type them in, or simply drop them onto the command line.

DOS commands will run fullscreen or in a window, depending on how you have set  the DOS In Window menu item.

Or you can start any command with a right-bracket to toggle DOS In Window for just that one command (for example >copy foo.bat b:).

If you have toggled Inactives Stay Visible to allow it, then after SmilerShell runs a submitted DOS command, the final results are displayed in an inactive window.  That is, a window with "Finished..." or "[Inactive..." or "(Inactive..." in the title.

When an inactive window gets the focus as a result of  running a command, SmilerShell actively takes the focus back again, so you can continue running commands from SmilerShell.  Because Windows requires it, SmilerShell pauses briefly before attempting to take back the focus.  By default this pause is 1000 milliseconds (1 second), but you can set it by using the Restore Time option in the Settings dialog.  How fast can you get away with on your system?

You can use the Edit menu option Remove Inactives (or simply press Alt+R) to destroy all the inactive windows on your desktop.

Or you can start a command with an asterisk (for example *copy foo.bat b:) to toggle Inactives Stay Visible for just this one command.

Every command you submit is tested to see if it matches anything on your list of aliases.  If the first word of your command matches an alias, the replacement for that alias is substituted for the first word of the command you typed.  Your aliases can have parameters (%1, %2, etc, like batch files) which are substituted into them.

Or to skip alias testing for this one command, start it with a equals sign (for example =list).  The command line will be run just as you typed it, with no alias substitution.

An easy way to remember what each of the three command line flags does is:

*  Flash! It's gone! (or, Flash!  A window appears!)

>  Moves from larger to smaller, or smaller to larger

=  Does just what it says (no alias substitution)

The three flags (* > =) can be in any order.  For example, ">*=dir *.exe" could be run.

You can type multiple commands on one command line.  Hit Enter and they are submitted in order.  Unlike most things in Windows, they are run synchronously -- the next command is submitted only after the previous one completes.  Since the first of your multiple commands will always finish before the second one starts, you can write sequential multi-command aliases that act like batch files.  They can even have parameters (%1, %2, etc) like batch files.

For example, you could run this from the command line:

d: ^ cd \dos ^ *dir *.exe /w ^ dc fle ^ >myprog param1 param2 param3

Or you could set up this alias with % parameters:

foo = d: ^ cd \dos ^ *dir *.%1 /w ^ dc %2 ^ >myprog param1 param2 %3

These commands both change drive, change directory, do a DIR, change directory again, and run a program.  The first might be typed on the fly from the command line.  The second is an alias you set up ahead of time.  Notice the use of % parameters.  Here is how they'd work.  If you gave the command foo bat mydir otherParam it would be turned into d: ^ cd \dos ^ *dir *.bat /w ^ dc mydir ^ >myprog param1 param2 otherParam.  See Aliases for more on this.

By default these multi-commands are separated with a caret [^] but you can use the Settings dialog to select any other character you want.

The three command line flags can be used with any of the individual commands.   Since each command is separate, each can have its own flags.  Aliases and parameters can be used in the usual way in each individual command.

When SmilerShell finds a PIF for any program, it uses the PIF’s Inactives Stay Visible and DOS In Window settings instead of its own, assuming that if you set up a PIF you did so for a reason.

SmilerShell uses the command processor listed in the COMSPEC environment variable.  This is usually DOS’s COMMAND.COM, but some people use alternate processors such as 4DOS or NDOS.  Sometimes the alternate processor has its own PIF file, for example 4DOS.COM may have a 4DOS.PIF file.  This PIF will prevent SmilerShell from controlling the Inactives Stay Visible and DOS In Window settings itself, since SmilerShell will defer to the settings given in the PIF.  To change this, delete the PIF.

As mentioned above, SmilerShell recognizes all standard DOS internal commands, such as DIR, COPY, or REN.  And you can use the Settings dialog to tell it to recognize many of the extended set of internal commands used by 4DOS and NDOS.  To tell SmilerShell how to handle any other internal commands, set up a SmilerShell alias for any command you want to be recognized.  For example, to use the 4DOS command DELAY, set up this alias:

delay =4dos /c delay

If you have renamed 4DOS.COM to COMMAND.COM you’d use this SmilerShell alias:

delay =command /c delay

Set up similar aliases if you need to explicitly call the command processor to execute them.  You can also use the 4DOS /C (or COMMAND /C) format right from SmilerShell’s command line to run any extended internal command.

Related Topics:

Using Arrows To Retrieve Previous Commands

Editing Commands

DOS Commands: Fullscreen Or Windowed

The Settings Dialog

DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way

SHOW: An Alternative To DIR

FIND: Search For Files On Disk

Command Completion


Using Arrows To Retrieve Previous Commands

When you submit a command by pressing Enter, SmilerShell stores it internally in a command stack.  To retrieve a command, press the up/down arrow keys until the command you seek is displayed.  Press the up-arrow to see the previous command, or the down-arrow to see the next command.

You can search for a particular previous command to be displayed.  Let's say you want to find the command "dir \windows\system\*.ini /p" that you ran some time before.  Just type D before you press the up-arrow.  SmilerShell will find the most recent command that started with D.  You are not limited to just the first letter; you can type as much of the previous command as you need to specify the match you want.  If the first match isn't the command you are looking for, press that arrow key again until the command you want comes up.  The same match-string is used until you type something that changes a displayed command.  Matches are not case-sensitive.  The command-line flags (* > =) are ignored when checking for a match.

To simply retrieve all commands in order, just make sure the command line is blank when you first press the arrow key.  You can clear the command line by pressing Escape.

You can also click the Command History button, or give the command HISTORY, or use the File menu's List Commands item to gain access to your entire command history.  This includes the restored list of commands you issued during the last session, plus any commands preloaded from a command-stack file at startup

Related Topics:

Submitting Commands

Editing Commands


Editing Commands

The normal editing keys allow you to move within the command line.  Use Home, End, left-arrow and right-arrow to move within the command line.  Ctrl+left-arrow move one word to the left, and Ctrl+right-arrow move one word to the right.  You can clear the command line by pressing Escape.

SmilerShell's command line can be in either insert mode or overtype mode.  Toggle this with the Options menu item Overtype, or just type Alt+O.  In overtype mode, a flag appears in the title bar, above the second 'e' in 'SmilerShell'.

Related Topics:

Using Arrows To Retrieve Previous Commands

Submitting Commands

The Options Menu


Size Of Window

 You can make the command line window as wide as you like.  However, there is never any need to make it more than one line high!  If you try, it snaps back.

When maximized, SmilerShell takes up only the top line of your screen.  You can set up a very useful configuration by setting SmilerShell as a topmost window, then maximizing it.

For a smaller SmilerShell window, use the Options menu to toggle off the menu and title bar, then mouse the window as small as you like.  You can make it as small as an icon, or even smaller.

Of course for the smallest window of all, click the Hide! item in SmilerShell's menu.  The command line will vanish, and take up no screen space at all.  To get it back, left-click the SmilerShell button that hops into the title bar of whichever application you've currently got activated.

Related Topics:

The Hide! Menu Item


Getting Rid Of Inactive Windows

The Options menu item Inactives Stay Visible controls whether, after SmilerShell runs a DOS command, the command's inactive window sticks around or goes away.  Use the Options menu to set this to your preference.

If you've toggled Inactives Stay Visible to allow it, each DOS command ends by firing up its own "inactive" window.  That is, a window with "Finished..." or "[Inactive..." or "(Inactive..." in the title.  This is handy, letting you see the results of previous commands, but it does eventually clutter your screen.  To make them all go away, use the Remove Inactives item on the Edit menu, or simply type Alt+R.

To change Inactives Stay Visible to its opposite value for just one command, start the command line with an asterisk (*list foo.txt for example).  You can use this with the equals sign or right-bracket flags if you want to (for example =*>dir).


Internal DOS Commands
About Internal DOS Commands

SmilerShell runs most DOS commands in a subshell. The subshell starts up with a copy of the parent's environment, things like current directory, environment variables, settable DOS version, etc. If you alter an environment variable or change directory in a subshell, the parent shell's information does not change.  SmilerShell can support all the internal DOS (and 4DOS/NDOS) commands you're likely to want.  It supports CD/CHDIR and PATH itself (see below), and for the rest calls the system's command processor.  In addition, there are three "semi-supported" internal DOS commands: CHCP, SET, and VER.  In DOS, these can both set and show environment values.  If you enter one of these, SmilerShell will show their current value.  However, because you are in a subshell, not your actual environment, you can't change these values in your actual working area through SmilerShell (or through any Windows program, generally).

SmilerShell handles CD/CHDIR and PATH by itself.  For CD/CHDIR it changes the current directory on the specified drive, or its own current directory if no drive letter is given.  CD or CHDIR with no parameter shows the current directory, handy when the title bar is toggled off.

For PATH, the behavior depends on the command's parameters.  PATH by itself shows the current path in SmilerShell's edit window.  PATH=TEXT sets SmilerShell's copy of the path to theTEXT you specified.  PATH= (with nothing after the equals sign) sets SmilerShell's path to be the same as the current systemwide path.  For more information on this, see PATH: Change The Search Path.

If you use the 4DOS (or NDOS, same thing) command processor, you can use the Settings dialog to set up SmilerShell to correctly handle 4DOS/NDOS internal commands.  For more information on this, see Using 4DOS/NDOS Internal Commands.

To summarize:

Supported Internal DOS Commands: CD, CHDIR, COPY, DATE, DEL, DIR, ERASE, FOR, MD, MKDIR, PATH, REN, RENAME, RD, RMDIR, TIME, TYPE, VOL

"Semi-supported" Internal DOS Commands: CHCP, SET, VER

Unsupported Internal DOS Commands: CLS, CTTY, EXIT, PROMPT, VERIFY and the batch file commands.

Supported Internal 4DOS/NDOS Commands: ?, ALIAS, BEEP, CDD, DESCRIBE, DIRS, ESET, FFIND, FREE, GLOBAL, HISTORY, LIST, LOADBTM, LOG, MEMORY, MOVE, POPD, PUSHD, REBOOT, SELECT, SETDOS, SWAPPING, TEE, TIMER, TRUENAME, UNALIAS, Y


Aliases

An alias is a short command that is replaced with a longer command.  There are two kinds of aliases in SmilerShell.  In the first kind of alias, you type a (typically, short) command line and press Enter, and the first word of the line is replaced with another (typically, long) string.  The rest of the original command line is tacked on after the replacement string.  You can define up to about 100 of these type-in aliases.  In the second kind, you press a function key and a predefined command is submitted.  You can define one of these function-key aliases for each of F2 through F12 (F1 is reserved for Help).

Type-in Aliases: Let's look at the first kind.  Say you set up the alias:

dirprog=dir c:\develop\source\*.*

Whenever you enter the command "dirprog", SmilerShell will replace it with, and actually submit, the command "dir c:\develop\source\*.*" to be run.  This saves wear and tear on your typing fingers.

You can put parameters on this kind of alias.  In our example, you could enter

dirprog /o /p

and SmilerShell would run the command

dir c:\develop\source\*.* /o /p

by adding the original parameters after the substituted alias.

A typed alias is used just like any other command; type it in (with parameters if any) and press Enter.  SmilerShell looks at the first word on each command line to see if it's an alias.

To avoid alias checking for a particular command, start it with an equals sign.  For example, if you actually had a program called "dirprog" that you wanted to run instead of the alias defined above, you could submit this:

=dirprog

Because the command line starts with an equals sign, SmilerShell skips the alias testing for this command.

You can use the equals sign flag with the right-bracket or asterisk flags if you want to.  In this example, you could type *>=dirprog and press Enter.

SmilerShell allows multiple commands on one line.  You can alias such multi-command lines.  For example:

bigcmd =  cd \dos ^ *dir *.exe /w ^ dc fle ^ >=myprog param1 param2 param3

Notice the use of  equals, right-bracket, and asterisk flags on the multi-command line.  Since each command is separate, each can have its own flags.

Type-in aliases can have runtime parameters %0 through %9, similar to DOS batch file parameters.  %0 is the alias-part itself, and %1-9 are the first nine arguments.  Here's a simple example that changes a file’s extension from ASC to anything else:

newextn=ren %1.asc %1.%2

To change filename.asc to filename.txt you'd use it like this:

newextn  filename  txt

Runtime parameters really shine in multi-command aliases.  For example, to implement your own "move" (copy and delete) command you could do this:

move=copy %1 %2 ^ del %1

Now, to move a file or group of files, you could give the command "move *.exe b:" and SmilerShell would copy the files, then delete the originals.

Any command line arguments that are not used up by % parameters are left at the end of the command line.  So "move *.exe b: fee foo" would turn into "copy *.exe b: ^ del *.exe fee foo".

How about an alias like "move=copy %1 %3 ^ del %1" that doesn't use an argument? If you wrote an alias to use %1 and %3 but never refer to %2, the first and third argument would be used in the command, and the second argument would be put at the end of the command line.

Function Key Aliases: The second kind of alias is where you attach a command to a function key.  Just press the function key and the command is submitted.  You don't need to press Enter to submit it.  Function keys F2 through F12 can be set up this way.

For example, let's say you have set up the alias:

(F5)=copy c:\develop\source\*.* b:\

Now, whenever you press F5 in SmilerShell, the command "copy c:\develop\source\*.* b:\" will be submitted.  It's very handy, no need to press Enter.

Function key aliases can be a multi-command line (see above) but they cannot have parameters.

In General: You can define or change aliases from the command line one at a time with the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands.  Or use the Aliases section of the Settings dialog to work with them all at once.  In the Settings dialog, list aliases one per line, in the form alias=replacement.  The left side of a function-key alias has the key name in parentheses, as in the example above.  The left side of a type-in aliases can be whatever you like, as long as the alias-part has no embedded spaces.  The replacement-part can be whatever you like.

By default, alias testing is case-sensitive.  You can change this in the Aliases section of the Settings dialog.

Aliases can reference other aliases, but be careful to avoid self-referencing infinite loops (alias 1 defined in terms of alias 2 which is defined in terms of alias 1 which is ...).

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

ALIAS and UNALIAS: Create, Change, Remove Aliases


DC and DCB Commands
DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way

DC (Directory Change) and DCB (Directory Change Back) are built-in aliases that let you change directory very quickly.  If you have set  the Sync With Explorer toggle switch, then Explorer will change directory, too.

DCB is the fast way to return to the directory you were just in.  To use it, just type DCB on the command line and hit Enter.  You'll go back to your last directory.

DC is the fast way to go to a new directory.  Instead of having to type in the entire pathname, you only need to give it the first few letters of the endpoint (leaf-node) directory you want.  For example, instead of typing "cd \c8\mfc\samples\fileview" you could type "dc fi" and press Enter.  If "fi" is enough to unambiguously specify one directory, DC takes you right there.  If what you typed is ambiguous (maybe there's more than one directory whose name starts with "fi") a window pops up, showing all your possible matches in alphabetical order.  The first possible match is highlighted.  If there was no possible match, nothing is highlighted.  Double-click on your choice, or single-click and press OK.

At the top of the box is the number of directories DC knows about.  There's a button to re-scan the directory list as well.

To re-scan the list and change directory all at once, use the /r parameter.  For example "dc /r fi" would first re-scan, and only then look for that fi directory (in the new list) as described above.  You can use a dash ("-r" instead of "/r") if you prefer.

If the endpoint directory is on a different drive, DC will first change drives, then change to the desired directory.  There's no need for you to manually change drives first.  DC does it for you.

By default, the DC data is stored in the file "smishell.dir" in the same directory as the initialization file (you can specify another name and location for this file in the Settings dialog).  SmilerShell creates this file the first time you use DC (with your permission), or whenever you use the File menu item Scan Directories.  It contains the name of every directory on each drive that was scanned.  These are the directories that DC can change to.  To indicate what drives you want scanned, set Drives To Scan For DC Data in the Settings dialog.  For example, if this is in Settings:

Drives To Scan For DC Data   [cdm  ]

then SmilerShell will generate a list of all directories on your c, d, and m drives.  (The list of drives can be separated by commas or spaces [ c, d, m ], or bunched together as in the example above.)

If the directory layout of your system is constantly in flux, you may want to check the Settings box Startup DC Scan so SmilerShell rescans your DC information every time it starts.

Maybe you have some other program called DC or DCB that you'd like to run?  Since SmilerShell's DC and DCB acts like aliases, you can bypass them by starting the command line with an equals sign.

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

Keep Explorer In Sync With SmilerShell/95 Automatically


Command Stack Files

If you have a set of commands you'd like to load into SmilerShell, create a command stack file.  This is a plain-text file with one command per line.  Here's a sample command stack file:

cd \dos

cd \smishell

>type readme.txt

smishell.wri

dc wi

find *.exe

dc smi ^ smishell.hlp ^ notepad readme.txt

By default, SmilerShell looks for a command stack file named "smishell.stk" in the same directory as the ini file.  If this file exists, its commands are preloaded at startup.

You can use any filename, location, or extension you like for this file.  Give your preferred filaname in the Settings dialog.

Command stack files can also be loaded or saved at any time from the File menu.

A preloaded command-stack is read before the command history from the most recent SmilerShell session.  That is, the previous-session commands will look more "recent" in the history list than command-stack commands.

Related Topics:

What Happens When You Start SmilerShell


The Initialization File

The Settings dialog, on the Options menu, displays the current values of most SmilerShell parameters.  (All the other values are also readily available, shown as menu item checkmarks, button offset, etc).  SmilerShell initializes itself at startup by reading these parameters from an initialization file.

If you started SmilerShell without an initialization file, you'll be asked if you'd like to create one, filled with reasonable defaults, before proceeding.  When convenient you can change these values with the Settings dialog and menu toggles.

If you don't specify otherwise in the Settings dialog, SmilerShell looks for its DC information file and any startup command stack file in the same directory as the initialization file.

If you want, you can specify that SmilerShell's initialization file be named something other than "smishell.ini" or be somewhere other than the same directory as the SmilerShell program.  Here are two different ways to do this, depending on whether you are in Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

In Windows 3.1:

Give that information on the SmilerShell icon's 'Properties' command line.  To do this, highlight the SmilerShell icon and bring up Program Manager's Properties dialog (it's under the File menu).  In the Command Line item, add a space after "smishell.exe", then the flag /ini= (lower case) and the drive and directory in which to find the ini file, with no embedded spaces, as in the following example:

    Command Line:  [c:\smishell\smishell.exe /ini=c:\dir1\subdir2\myfile.ini     ]

In Windows 95:

Open Explorer to the directory containing the SmilerShell/95 executable program file.  Right-click on that file to bring up its context menu.  Choose the menu item “Create Shortcut.”  Windows 95 will create a shortcut to SmilerShell elsewhere in the same directory.  Right-click on that shortcut file entry to bring up its context menu, and in that menu choose the menu item “Properties.”  The shortcut’s Properties dialog will appear.  In that dialog, click on the Shortcut tab.  You’ll see that the “target” has been set to the actual filename and directory of SmilerShell/95.  Add a space after "smishell.exe", then the flag /ini= (lower case) and the drive and directory in which to find the ini file, with no embedded spaces, as in the following example:

    Target:  [c:\smishl32\smishell.exe /ini=c:\dir1\subdir2\myfile.ini     ]

In either operating system:

You’re done.  Close the dialog and save your work.  In Windows 3.1 you use the new setup just like before: start SmilerShell by clicking on the same old icon.  In Windows 95, to use the new setup you must start SmilerShell by clicking on the shortcut, not the original icon.  By the way, you can also modify an existing SmilerShell shortcut as described above (perhaps one already on your Start menu) instead of creating a new one.

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

Aliases

Command Stack Files

The Apps Menu


Why Is This A Shell?

The word shell is sometimes used for a wrapper that surrounds other applications and hides them.  SmilerShell does that.  You can set up its Apps menu to run anything you want, quickly and easily, from anywhere.  No muss, no fuss.

But SmilerShell also does the opposite of that.  SmilerShell's commandline lets you "shell out," making all the power of the command line available from an environment in which that power is not otherwise accessible.

One word, two meanings.  Faster, easier, more powerful. That's what SmilerShell is, and that's why it's a shell.


Notices

VERSION: SmilerShell version 3.14159 or SmilerShell/95 version 1.4

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: The 16-bit version of SmilerShell requires Microsoft Windows 3.1.  The 32-bit version, SmilerShell/95, requires Windows 95 or Windows NT 3.51 or later.

SOFTWARE LICENSE: Anyone is welcome to distribute unregistered evaluation copies of SmilerShell, in its entirety as distributed with this file, subject to these conditions:

1) None of the files in this package may be modified or deleted.

2) Vendors or distributors who generally pay royalties must notify the author that they are distributing SmilerShell.

3) Vendors or distributors must stop distributing SmilerShell if asked to do so by the author or author's representative.

In addition, the attached VENDINFO data record is hereby incorporated by reference.  Any distribution satisfying all the distribution requirements expressed in that data record is hereby authorized.

After purchasing, copies of SmilerShell may not be distributed.  Only one user is authorized to use the program, on one computer.  It may not be used in a multi-user setting without first obtaining a site license.  It may be duplicated only for the purpose of making a reasonable number of backup copies.

DISCLAIMER: The author of this software package, Barry Smiler, has used his best efforts in producing this software and documentation.  These efforts include the research, development, and testing of the software, and production of the documentation.

WARRANTY: The author makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regards to the software or the documentation.  The author shall not be liable in any event for incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of this software package.

COPYRIGHT: All SmilerShell software and documentation copyright 1993,1996 Barry Smiler.

CONTACTING THE AUTHOR:  Barry Smiler, the author of SmilerShell, can be contacted through Internet email (bsmiler@bardon.com), CompuServe email (72340,375), U.S. mail (Bardon Data Systems, 1023 Key Route Blvd., Albany CA 94706), or phone (510-526-8470, voice/fax).


Uninstalling SmilerShell

To uninstall in Windows 95, simply run the included uninstall program.  You can run it from the Start menu group, or from the Add/Remove Programs dialog, or by double-clicking on it in Explorer.

Here's how to uninstall in Windows 3.1.  First, delete the SmilerShell files from the directory into which you installed them.  If you installed SmilerShell into its own directory (the usual case) just delete that directory, and the files will go away with it.  If you installed into a directory with other files, delete each SmilerShell file individually.  The installed files are listed under Installing SmilerShell.

There are two files in other locations: 1) In use, SmilerShell often needs to create the file smishell.pif in your Windows directory.  Delete it.  2) The Windows 3.1 version of SmilerShell installs Microsoft's ctl3dv2.dll to your Windows system directory if it's not already there.  Many programs use this Microsoft systemwide tool on Windows 3.1.  If it is not needed by any other program, delete it.

Next, delete the SmilerShell group in Program Manager by selecting it and choosing Delete (or just press the DEL key).  If you installed SmilerShell to run at startup, open the Startup group, select the SmilerShell icon, and delete it too.

Don't forget to delete the SmilerShell ini file and the DC info file if you put them in another directory.

Related Topics:

Installing SmilerShell


Installing SmilerShell

SmilerShell includes the following files:

install.exe	the installer

smishell.exe	the program

smishell.hlp	the documentation

smishell.cnt	the documentation contents, in Windows help file format (SmilerShell/95 only)

uninsmi.exe	the uninstaller (SmilerShell/95 only)

readme.txt	overview and installation instructions

whatsnew.txt	new features and revision history

If installing the 16-bit version of SmilerShell, this file is put into the Windows system directory if not there already:

ctl3dv2.dll	Microsoft-supplied system file to give SmilerShell a 3-D look

To install SmilerShell, run install.exe from within Windows.  The installer will make no changes to your system set-up or to any systemwide files.  It copies the SmilerShell files to the directory you specify, and puts its icons in the Program Manager or Start button group you choose.

Only one file is placed in another location.  The SmilerShell/16 installer puts Microsoft's ctl3dv2.dll to your Windows system directory if not already there (many programs use this Microsoft systemwide tool).  SmilerShell/95 does not install this file.

Related Topics:

Uninstalling SmilerShell


Quick Start
Quick Start / Hints And Tricks

Windows is great, but sometimes it can be awkward.  Getting to the icon to launch an application isn't always easy.  Finding files is difficult at best.  There's no good way to keep an eye on important systemwide resources.  Navigating from one directory to another in Explorer is tedious, especially down a long path that isn't currently displayed.  And even when you have all the pieces, sometimes it'd be faster to just type a command -- but how?

That's what SmilerShell is for.

SmilerShell is a compact yet powerful Windows control center that takes NO space on your desktop.  Until you need it, SmilerShell is just a tiny button that hops into the titlebar of whichever app you're working in.  Right-click the button to see your configurable Apps list and launch a new program, or switch to a currently-running task.  Or left-click the button to reveal the ultimate Windows command line.

Here's how to get the most out of SmilerShell.

PRESS THE BUTTON: SmilerShell takes no space on your screen.  Its activation button hops into the title bar of whichever application is currently active.  Right-click the button and the Apps menu appears, ready for you to launch one of your listed apps or switch to a currently-running program.  Or left-click the button to reveal the command line window.  Then later, click the SmilerShell menubar's "Hide!" item and the window vanishes again.

BUTTON EXCEPTIONS: Have a non-standard Windows application with an unusual titlebar setup?  Use the Button Exceptions menu item to tell SmilerShell where in that window you'd prefer the button to go.  Or completely hide the button in that window if you prefer.

BUTTON OFFSET: If you have another utility that uses every active app's titlebar, tell SmilerShell how to move its button out of the way by setting up a Button Offset.

FAVORITE APPLICATIONS:  List your favorite applications on the Apps menu.  Then just click on one to either select its name into the command line, or run it straight off (you can set it up either way).  The Apps menu also lists all currently-running programs.  Click on one to switch to it.

BUILD YOUR OWN COMMANDS: You can list all sorts of things on the Apps menu.  All Windows or DOS commands and programs, of course.  But also SmilerShell aliases, multiple commands on one line, DOS internal commands, pipes and redirection.  Your commands can have parameters, too.  Want to have a special command to start your spreadsheet program, pre-loaded with specific data, from anywhere in your system, with one click?  Here's how to do it!

QUICK DIRECTORY CHANGE: Type DC and the first few letters of the directory you want to be in.  If it's unambiguous, boom, you're there, otherwise a list box pops up with the first possible match highlighted.  If you haven't used DC yet, you'll be asked for permission to scan the drives listed in the Options menu's Settings dialog.  If you scan more than one drive, DC can change drive as well as directory to get you where you want to go.  DCB (Directory Change Back) is even easier.  Just type DCB and hit Enter to return to the most recent directory.

SYNC WITH EXPLORER: Automatically change Explorer's current directory whenever you change SmilerShell/95's directory with CD or DC or DCB.  This is especially handy when using DC or DCB.   With just a few keystrokes you can instantly navigate through your system, even across drives.  Toggle this switch and Explorer tags along behind.  No more clicking through directory trees!  You won't believe how convenient this is.

COMMAND HISTORY AND SEARCH: Every time you run a command from the commandline, it is saved.  To find a previous command of interest, type the first letter or two of that command, then press the up-arrow (search back) or down-arrow (search forward) key.  The last command is connected to the first, so you can search in either direction.  Arrows on a blank line show all commands in order. If you've checked Save State in the Settings dialog, all the commands you gave this time will be in the command history when you start next time, handy for searching.  To see the full command history list, click the Command History button, or type HISTORY on the commandline.  The full history list is also available from the File menu.

COMMAND LINE EDITOR: A retrieved previous command, or anything else you type, can be edited to suit.  Think of SmilerShell as a one-line word processor.  It supports insert mode, overtype mode, and clipboard cut/paste.

ALIASES: When you press Enter, the first word of the command is compared to the alias list.  If it matches, the alias is substituted for that first word. You can skip the alias testing by starting the command with an equals sign.  You can also hang aliases off the function keys F2 through F12; hit the key and the command runs.  Both kinds of aliases are set up in the Options menu's Settings dialog, or from the commandline with the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands.  A full alias list is also available on the File menu.

RUNTIME PARAMETERS IN ALIASES: Runtime parameters (%1, %2, etc.) make it easier to tell aliases what to do when you run them.  And if you alias multiple commands on one line, the alias acts almost like a batch file, all within SmilerShell!

PERSONALIZE YOUR SHELL: You can set the command line's font and colors any way you like.

HELP: Of course there's full Windows Help.  But in addition, you can use the Popup Hints (Alt+F1) to get tips on interesting ways to use SmilerShell. Popup Hints are especially handy for new users.

ALTERNATE COMMAND PROCESSORS: Do you use 4DOS or NDOS?  Tell SmilerShell to recognize 4DOS/NDOS commands, and set SmilerShell to use the 4DOS/NDOS command processor instead of plain old COMMAND.COM.  It's in the Settings dialog.

GET SMALL: SmilerShell has a very small window, but you can make it even smaller.  Use the Options menu to get rid of the menu and title bar.  Or type Alt+M to toggle the menu, Alt+L to toggle the title bar.  Then mouse SmilerShell as small as you like.  It'll go smaller than an icon!

SMILERSHELL NEVER FORGETS:  Check a box in the Settings dialog and SmilerShell will start up next time in the same directory, same screen position, and with the same settings, as when you shut it down this time.

DOS IN A WINDOW: Do you prefer to have DOS commands run fullscreen or in a window?  Toggle this on the fly with the DOS In Window menu item.  Or to run one command as if DOS In Window is set to the opposite of its current value, start that command with a right-bracket (for example >dir).

INACTIVES STAY VISIBLE:  After you run a DOS command, do you want the command's inactive window to stick around, or immediately vanish?  Toggle this flag, called Inactives Stay Visible, from the Options menu.  Or to run one command as if Inactives Stay Visible is set to the opposite of its current value, start that command with an asterisk (for example *dir).

REMOVE INACTIVES: Too many inactive windows cluttering your screen?  Get rid of 'em with this Edit menu item, or just type Alt+R from the keyboard.

DATE AND TIME:  Toggle the titlebar date/time clock from the Options menu, or just type Alt+C.  Prefer 12-hour or 24-hour time?  Various date formats? Set it the way you like it with the Options menu's Settings dialog.

ALARM CLOCK AND REMINDER:  Use the built-in ALARM command to set the alarm clock.  You can even give it a message to display when the alarm goes off.

WORK WITH FILES: The built-in command SHOW is often a useful alternative to DIR, since SHOW's file list lets you click on a filename to select it into the command line.

COMMAND COMPLETION: Type the first few letters of a command name, with wildcard characters (* and ?) if you like.  Then hit the Tab key. SmilerShell will search your PATH for any commands that match.  It'll even find matching files with runnable File Association extensions.

FIND FILES: Use the FindFile dialog to search for files by name or contents, anywhere in your system. It accepts wildcards and can look for files containing specific data.  When you find the file you want, you can go to its directory or fetch its full name into the commandline.  You can get to this dialog from the Find File item on the File menu, or by typing in the built-in FIND command

LONG FILE NAMES: SmilerShell/95 for Win95 and NT lets you work with long filenames with embedded spaces.  To use one, enclose the long filename in double-quotes so it'll be seen as a single item (example: "long file name.exe" param1 param2 param3)

FILE ASSOCIATIONS: With File Associations simply type in the filename without the program name, and quite often SmilerShell will know which program to run.  For example give "FILENAME.WRI" and SmilerShell knows to run Windows Write on this file.  This works very nicely with SHOW or FIND: use SHOW or FIND to pick a file, then press Enter to automatically run the proper program with that file.

DRAG AND DROP:  SmilerShell supports drag and drop, so you can drop files onto its window from File Manager, Explorer, or any other drag-and-drop server. The filenames will be added at the end of the current command line.

CURRENT DRIVE/DIRECTORY IN THE TITLE BAR:  It's handy to always know what directory you're in.  Toggle this from the Options menu, or just type Alt+D.

SYSTEM RESOURCES:  Toggle the System Resources display onto the menu bar from the Options menu, or just type Alt+S, to see a real-time running report of your available Windows memory and resources.  If you toggle off the menu, the resources report will appear in the command line.  Don't worry, nothing you type will be overwritten by the resources report!  Just type, your text will reappear exactly as you left it.

INSERT OR OVERTYPE MODE: Toggle insert or overtype mode from the Options menu, or just type Alt+O.  In overtype mode a flag appears in the title bar.

TOPMOST WINDOW: Make SmilerShell a "topmost" window from the Options menu, or just type Alt+T.  That way, it's always visible and ready for use, even when you're working in another window.

GET RID OF THE MENU:  Hit Alt+M to make SmilerShell even smaller.  Hit Alt+M again to bring the menu back, or use the Show SmilerShell Menu item on the System menu (the dash thing in the upper left corner).

SAVE YOUR STACK: You can save the current command stack to a file and reload it automatically at startup, or at any other time.  This gives you a preloaded batch of commands you can search on.  The startup loading is set up in the Settings dialog.


DOS Commands Fullscreen Or Windowed
DOS Commands: Fullscreen Or Windowed

The Options menu item DOS In Window (Alt+W) controls whether active DOS commands called from SmilerShell run fullscreen or in a window.

To toggle DOS In Window for just one command, start the command line with a right-bracket (example: >dir \dos). You can use this with the equals or asterisk flags if you want to (for example =*>dir).

Related Topics:

Submitting Commands

The Options Menu


Hide! Menu Item
The Hide! Menu Item

If you have not disabled the titlebar-button feature, there is a Hide! menu item, which hides the command line window.  Alt+H works too, handy if the menu has been toggled away.

The exclamation point is a standard Windows flag.  It means that there is no actual menu associated with this item, and clicking it will cause immediate action.

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

Submitting Commands


SHOW Command
SHOW: An Alternative To DIR

The built-in alias SHOW is sometimes more useful than DIR.  Like DIR, you could issue, say, the command SHOW *.WRI to display all Windows Write files in a list.  But unlike DIR, SHOW lets you choose one of the files from its list.  Click on a filename, then press the OK button, or just double-click on the filename.  Either way, the filename you choose is placed on SmilerShell's command line, where it becomes the current in-process command.  You can add parameters or edit the command before submitting it.

In Windows 95, SHOW displays a mini-Explorer window.  With it, you can see and set properties, change file names, drag and drop, use QuickView, create and delete files and folders, look at file dates and sizes in a list view or a detailed view, and more.  Of course you can use the command line to SHOW directories other than the one you're in, which makes SHOW a convenient way to display a directory you want to move files into or out of.  This is both smaller and faster than invoking a second copy of Explorer for this purpose.

SHOW works nicely with File Associations.  Because SmilerShell supports File Associations, quite often you only have to give the filename, without naming the program to run it.  SmilerShell can often tell what program to run, just  by looking at the filename.   So, for example, you could use SHOW to locate "FILENAME.WRI", then select it into the command line and just press Enter.  SmilerShell knows to run Windows Write on this file.

Maybe you have some other program called SHOW that you'd like to run?  Since SmilerShell's SHOW acts like an alias, you can bypass it by starting the command line with an equals sign.


Keyboard Shortcuts

These SmilerShell commands work immediately, without going through a menu.

Alt+C	Date/time clock in titlebar

Alt+S	System Resources report in menubar

Alt+D	Current directory in titlebar

Alt+O	Overtype/insert mode

Alt+T	Topmost window

Alt+L	Show/hide titlebar

Alt+M	Show/hide menubar

Alt+I	Inactive windows stay visible

Alt+W	DOS commands windowed/fullscreen

Alt+F1	Popup Hints

Tab	Command Completion: find all matching commands

You can display any menu, or use any menu item, from the keyboard.  To display a menu press its Alt key combination.  When in a menu, press any item's underlined key to run that item.

Alt+F	File menu

Alt+E	Edit menu

Alt+N	Options menu

Alt+A	Favorite Apps menu

Alt+H	Hide the commandline window

Alt+P	Help menu

These standard Windows commands are available in SmilerShell.

F1	Help

ALT+F4	Exit

Alt+Bksp	Undo last action

Ctrl+Z	Undo last action

Shift+Del	Cut selected text, send to the Clipboard

Ctrl+X	Cut selected text, send to the Clipboard

Ctrl+Ins	Copy selected text, send to the Clipboard

Ctrl+C	Copy selected text, send to the Clipboard

Shift+Ins	Paste contents of Clipboard into commandline

Ctrl+V	Paste contents of Clipboard into commandline

Del	Clear selected text

Esc	Clear entire commandline


Apps Menu
The Apps Menu

The Apps menu is displayed either when you right-click on the roving titlebar button, or when you select Apps from SmilerShell's own menu bar.

The Apps menu is divided into three parts, divided by separator lines.  The first part lists five SmilerShell commands.  The second part lists all the "favorite applications" you've set up.  The third part lists all currently-running tasks.  Icons are displayed with menu items when they are available.

The three parts all work the same way.  Use your mouse or keyboard to select a line, and that function is executed.  It either runs a SmilerShell internal function, or starts the "favorite application," or switches to the chosen currently-running task.

The five SmilerShell commands at the top of the Apps list are Edit Apps List, Find File, Command Line, SmilerShell Settings, and Help.   Just as you'd expect, Help displays the SmilerShell Help information.  Command Line reveals the command line.  It's just like left-clicking on the button. but can save you a step in some cases.  SmilerShell Settings brings up the Settings dialog with which you configure SmilerShell.  Find File brings up SmilerShell's Find File dialog so you can search for a file.  It also displays the command line if it was previously hidden, making it easier to use the results of your file search.

Finally, Edit Apps List lets you modify your "favorite applications" list.  You can use Edit Apps List to list up to 199 "favorite applications."

To add a new  "favorite application," give information for it and click the Add App button.  Give the text for the Apps menu item, and the filename of the program to run.  Choose whether, when its menu item is clicked, this command should be fetched into the SmilerShell window for editing (perhaps to add parameters), or run immediately.   Then click on Add App.  Your new item will be added after the currently-selected command, or at the end of the list if no command is currently selected.

Hints: 1) You can "drag and drop" a program from File Manager or Explorer onto the Apps dialog.  The name will appear in the "Command to run or fetch" area.  2) Put the program's filename in quotes if it contains embedded spaces.  For example to run Pinball.exe which is in the Program Files directory, the command "C:\Program Files\Plus\Pinball\Pinball.exe" might be entered.  Note that this filename is enclosed in quotes.  3) If a program must be run from within its own directory, you can give a multi-command line that first changes drive and directory.  For example, if "myprog.exe" needs to run from within its own directory, you might set up the "Command to run or fetch" as: c: ^ cd \games\progdir ^ myprog.exe

To edit an existing item, select it from the list.  The command’s information appears in the editing area.  Click the Delete App button to delete it, or edit the information and press Change App to change it.  There are also buttons to move it up or down in the list.

Programs listed here can use parameters, aliases, commandline flags (*>=), multiple commands on one line, pipes, redirection, or any other valid options.  Anything that works from the SmilerShell command line will work here.

Can't remember a program's filename?  Click the Browse button to display a dialog box with which you can navigate through your system and find the program name to be used on the command line.  In that box, click on a filename to select it into the Command to run or fetch line.

Or press Find All Apps to search every hard disk or attached network drive (not floppy drives, CDs, Bernoulli boxes, etc.) and create a list of every program on your system.  You can then browse this list and select programs to add onto the Apps menu.

Related Topics:

The Options Menu

The FindFile Dialog


The 'How To Order' Menu Item

Until you order, SmilerShell 's menu bar includes a How To Order menu item, which provides information on how to order.  Of course, after you purchase SmilerShell, this menu item is superfluous, and goes away.

Related Topics:

How To Order SmilerShell


The FindFile Dialog

Can't find a file?  Use SmilerShell's built-in FindFile dialog to search by name or contents.

There are two ways to bring up the FindFile dialog.  The fastest way is to type the FIND command on the command line, optionally with the target filespec (wildcards are OK) and contents to search for.  But to do it this way, you of course must first clear the command line and type the FIND command.  What if you don't want to delete what's on the line?  In that case you could bring up the FindFile dialog from the File menu.  This is useful if your goal is to find a filename and add its name to a command you are in the process of building.

Here are examples of the three ways you might do it from the commandline:

find

find *.txt

find *.txt The quick brown fox

The first way just brings up the FindFile dialog, with the cursor in its Filename box ready for you to type in a filespec.

In the second way, you have already given a filespec on the command line.  It is put into the Filename box for you, and the focus is placed on the Begin Search button.  Just hit Enter and off it goes.

The third way is much like the second, but any text after the filespec is placed into the Containing box.  Only files that match the filespec and contain your text will be shown in the results list.  The matching text can be case-sensitive or not, as you choose. Use FindFile's checkbox to indicate your preference.

To use a long filename with embedded blank spaces as the filespec, enclose it in double-quotes:

find "a long file name*.exe" The quick brown fox

If the long file name doesn't have embedded spaces, you don't need the quotes.

Of course, after the dialog box appears, you can change the imported commandline text before starting the search.

The target filename can use the wildcard characters ? (any one character) and * (any number of characters).  If nothing is given, *.* is assumed.  The Containing text can be anythingat all.  There are a number of radio buttons to specify where you want to search.  You can restrict the search to the current directory, current directory and all its subdirectories, or all drives whose letters you type in the dialog's drive-list box.

All matching files are listed, with name, size, date, time and attributes.  Double-click on a line to change to that directory, or use the buttons to fetch a name into the command line.  It will be added at the end of any text already on the line.

Related Topics:

FIND: Search For Files On Disk


The ALIAS and UNALIAS Commands
ALIAS and UNALIAS: Create, Change, Remove Aliases

The ALIAS and UNALIAS commands can create, change, or remove type-in or function-key aliases from the command line, one at a time.  To work with all your aliases at once, use the Settings dialog where they are all listed together.  To learn what aliases can do, and how to construct them, see the Aliases section.

You can use these forms of the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands from the commandline:

ALIAS (alone) -- shows the same Aliases dialog available from the File menu.  It lists both your command-line aliases and your function-key aliases.  You can run an aliased command from this dialog box by clicking on it, or fetch the replacement-part into the main window for editing.

To add, change, or delete an alias, use one of the forms shown below.  If it's a function-key alias, the alias-part is the letter F plus the key number, all in parentheses, as in the examples below.

To add an alias to the list, or change an existing alias, use this form:

ALIAS theAlias=replacement text to run when you enter the Alias

ALIAS (F12)=replacement to run when you press the key

To see what a particular alias will be replaced with, give an alias with no equals sign.

ALIAS anAlias

ALIAS (F5)

To delete an alias, use an equals sign but no replacement:

ALIAS anAlias=

ALIAS (F2)=

Or you can delete an alias with the UNALIAS command:

UNALIAS anAlias

UNALIAS (F11)

In all these cases, you'll be asked if you want the changed alias information to be effective for only the current session, or saved permanently to the ini file (if any).

Related Topics:

The Settings Dialog

Aliases


The FIND Command
FIND: Search For Files On Disk

The FIND command is one of the three ways to bring up SmilerShell's built-in FindFile dialog.  To use it, type the FIND command on the command line, optionally with the target filespec (wildcards are OK) and contents to search for.  Here are examples of the three ways you might do it from the commandline:

find

find *.txt

find *.txt The quick brown fox

The first way just brings up the FindFile dialog, with the cursor in its Filename box ready for you to type in a filespec.  In the second way, you have already given a filespec on the command line.  It is put into the Filename box for you, and the focus is placed on the Begin Search button.  Just hit Enter and off it goes.  The third way is much like the second, but any text after the filespec is placed into the Containing box.  Only files that match the filespec and contain your text will be shown in the results list.  The matching text can be case-sensitive or not, as you choose. Use FindFile's checkbox to indicate your preference.

To use a long filename with embedded blank spaces as the filespec, enclose it in double-quotes:

find "a long file name*.exe" The quick brown fox

If the long file name doesn't have embedded spaces, you don't need the quotes.

Of course, after the dialog box appears, you can change the imported commandline text before starting the search.

The target filename can use the usual wildcard characters ? (match one character) and * (match any number of characters).  If nothing is given, *.* is assumed.  The Containing text can be anything you want.

You can also bring up the FindFile dialog with the Find File item on the File menu, or the Find File item on the Apps menu (from the titlebar button or the SmilerShell main menu).

.

Related Topics:

The FindFile Dialog


The HISTORY Command
HISTORY: Display Command History

Type the command HISTORY to display the command-history list.  This is the same list that comes up if you click on the Command History Button, or select the Command History menu item on the File menu.  It shows all commands issued during this session, plus (if you've checked Save State in the Settings dialog) all the commands you issued during the last session.  It also displays any command-stack commands you read at startup or from the File menu.

The dialog box that appears has buttons to fetch the text of a command into the edit area, or to submit it to be run again as is.  Double-clicking on a command also sends it to be re-run.


The PATH Command
PATH: Change The Search Path

The PATH environment variable is a systemwide value listing the directories to search for a program you want to run.  Unlike DOS applications, Windows programs cannot usually change the PATH environment variable.  However, SmilerShell provides you with some measure of ability to do this.

At startup, SmilerShell reads the systemwide search path.  You can then use the SmilerShell PATH command to change the list of directories listed there.  SmilerShell will then search your designated PATH for the programs you ask it to run, instead of the systemwide one.

There are three ways to use SmilerShell's PATH command:

PATH by itself shows the current path in SmilerShell's edit window.

PATH=something sets SmilerShell's copy of the path to the "something" you specified.

PATH= (with nothing after the equals sign) sets SmilerShell's path to be the same as the current systemwide path.

So, an easy way to edit your path is to do a PATH (no parameters) to get the current path into the edit window, then edit it, then just hit Enter to submit the modified path.  You can go back to the systemwide path at any time, by doing a PATH=.

You can change SmilerShell's PATH, but not the PATH of any programs called from SmilerShell.  These will still have only the original systemwide PATH.

Related Topics:

Submitting Commands

About Internal DOS Commands


Built-In SmilerShell Commands

These enhanced commands are built into SmilerShell:

ALARM: Alarm Clock With Reminder Message

ALIAS and UNALIAS: Create, Change, Remove Aliases

DC and DCB: Directory Change The Fast Way

FIND: Search For Files On Disk

HISTORY: Display Command History

PATH: Change The Search Path

SHOW: An Alternative To DIR

Using 4DOS/NDOS Internal Commands


Using 4DOS/NDOS Internal Commands

If you use the 4DOS or NDOS command processor, you can use the Settings dialog to set up SmilerShell to correctly handle all the 4DOS/NDOS internal commands that might be useful from a Windows command line.  The supported 4DOS commands are shown below.

In some cases, a 4DOS command is the same as a SmilerShell command (alias, history, unalias).  For these, start the command with an equals sign to pass it to the command processor unchanged (for example, =history), as if it were a SmilerShell alias.  In other cases, the 4DOS command has only marginal use under Windows.  Any command, however, that just might possibly be useful has been made legitimate under SmilerShell.

To add a command not on this list, set up a SmilerShell alias that tells the command processor to run your command.  For example, if you want SmilerShell to send the command DELAY to the NDOS.COM command processor, set up this alias:

delay = ndos.com /c delay

The /c switch tells the command processor to run this one command.  Similarly, if you only want to use some of the 4DOS/NDOS commands, turn off SmilerShell's internal support in the Settings dialog, and set up your own "/c" aliases for the commands you want to use.

Supported Internal 4DOS/NDOS Commands: ?, ALIAS, BEEP, CDD, DESCRIBE, DIRS, ESET, FFIND, FREE, GLOBAL, HISTORY, LIST, LOADBTM, LOG, MEMORY, MOVE, POPD, PUSHD, REBOOT, SELECT, SETDOS, SWAPPING, TEE, TIMER, TRUENAME, UNALIAS, Y


The Settings Dialog
The Settings Dialog: Set Preferences

The Settings dialog allows you to customize SmilerShell in a number of ways.  You can alter its behavior at startup and exit, how it processes commands, its clock formats, aliases, data files, button exceptions, and other options.  Let's take it section by section.

Startup:  By default, at startup SmilerShell puts its titlebar button into the currently-active application and hides its command line.  If you'd rather not have a roving titlebar button, un-check the Show Button box.  This will also eliminate SmilerShell's Hide! menu item. After all, if there's no button and you Hide! SmilerShell, how would you get it back?  For the same reason, if you un-check Show Button you must also un-check Hide SmilerShell.

Select Startup DC Scan if you want SmilerShell to re-scan your Drives To Scan For DC Data (see below) whenever you launch it.  This is handy if your system's directory configuration changes a lot.  It keeps DC current with your system.

Exit:   Check Confirm if you want a dialog to pop up to confirm that you really do want to exit SmilerShell.  Check Save State to have SmilerShell remember from session to session its current directory, current switch settings, the command history for all commands you gave in the current session, and other information.

Command Processing:   Do you want SmilerShell to send 4DOS/NDOS internal commands to your command processor?

Time And Date Formats:  These are used by the clock in SmilerShell's titlebar.  Choose your preferred format.

Miscellaneous:   Three otherwise-unrelated options.  Restore Time tells SmilerShell how many milliseconds to pause before trying to regain the focus from an inactive window.  Windows needs a little pause here.  How little can your system get away with?  Default is one second (1000 milliseconds).  Multi-Command Separator lets you select the character that divides multiple commands on one line.  Drives To Scan For DC Data is a list of drive letters, separated by spaces, commas, or nothing, as you prefer.  These drives will be scanned, and the names of all their directories saved, whenever you do a DC scan.  These will be the directories you can change to with DC.

Files:   The DC Data File is where SmilerShell stores the results of doing a DC scan.  By default it is called smishell.dir and is in the same directory as the SmilerShell ini file.  If the Startup Commands File exists at startup, its commands are preloaded into SmilerShell's command history list, available to be searched for.  By default this is called smishell.stk and is in the same directory as the SmilerShell ini file.  If the filenames listed here are left blank, the default names are used.  If you list a name with no path, the files are assumed to be in the same directory as the SmilerShell ini file.  Both of these files have a Browse button, allowing you to navigate through your system to find the files you need.

Button Exceptions (List):  These are apps that you designated with the Button Exceptions menu item.  You can change one by simply using the Button Exceptions menu item on the same app again, but if you need to delete an exception entirely, you'd do it here.  This is just a list, it can't be edited.

Aliases (Can Be Edited):   These are all your aliases, one per line.  You can edit or delete an existing alias,  or add new ones.  (You can also do this from the command line with the ALIAS and UNALIAS commands.)  Do you want your aliases to be case-sensitive?  Here's where you indicate it.

Related Topics:

The Initialization File


Choosing Fonts And Colors

SmilerShell lets you choose the command line's font, foreground (text) color and background color.  These can be chosen from the Options menu.

Foreground Color brings up the standard Windows color dialog.  You can set the color of the edit control's text.  Pick a standard color, or create a custom color, but note that if you pick a dithered color, Windows uses the nearest solid color instead.

Background Color also brings up the standard Windows color dialog, allowing you to set the edit control's background color.  Pick a standard color, or create a custom color.

You can get a very interesting effect by choosing a dithered background color.  As with Foreground Color, if you pick a dithered color, Windows uses the nearest solid color behind actual text characters.  But it uses your chosen dithered color in the rest of the edit area.  This creates an unusual raised effect as you type.  Try it!

Font brings up the standard Windows font dialog.  You can set the command line font to any available style and size.  However, because of Windows limitations, italic fonts don't look as good as bold or normal fonts.


Using SmilerShell On A Network

SmilerShell will run well in a networked environment.  The software can be installed on a server, and every user can have an individual initialization file on their local machines.  To set this up, use Program Manager's Properties dialog to give each user a SmilerShell icon that calls the executable program on the server, with a parameter on the Properties command line that uses the /ini= parameter to point to an initialization file on user's own machine.  For example, if the server is drive M: the icon's Properties command line might look like this:

Description:	[Fred's SmilerShell

Command Line:	[M:\programs\smishell.exe /ini=c:\smishell.ini

Working Directory:	[c:\smishell

Shortcut Key:	[None

The working directory won't make a lot of difference, since SmilerShell is usually configured to start up in the same directory it was in last time it was run.

Of course each network user must have a separate license to use SmilerShell.

Another way to use SmilerShell on a network is to use its ONECMD option to perform synchronous network connect/task/disconnect sequences.  See The ONECMD Option for more information on this.

Related Topics:

The Initialization File


Command History Button Lists All Commands
Command History Button: Lists All Commands

Click on the Command History Button, at the right side of the SmilerShell window, to display the command-history list.  This is the same list that comes up if you type the command HISTORY, or select the Command History menu item on the File menu.  It shows all commands issued during this session, plus (if you've set this up) all the commands you issued during the last session and any command-stack file you read at startup or from the File menu.

The dialog box that appears has buttons to fetch the text of a command into the edit area, or to submit it to be run again as is.  Double-clicking on a command also sends it to be re-run.


The ONECMD Option
The ONECMD Option:

Set Up Custom Desktop Icons To Do Any Task

Have you ever wanted to set up icons to run collections of commands under Windows?  Sort of like a batch file, but in Windows, with any assortment of DOS or Windows commands?  And to make things interesting, would you like those commands to run synchronously -- the next one doesn't start until the previous one completes?

SmilerShell makes it easy to set up a second (or third, or fourth) SmilerShell icon with a batch of commands that will run whenever you click on it.  And don't worry, you can have your regular copy of SmilerShell running at the same time with no side effects.

You might use this on a network to set up synchronous connect/command/disconnect tasks, each on their own icon.  The connect can use a network drive letter,  the command can be a multi-command SmilerShell alias, and the disconnect can free the drive letter again.  Because it's SmilerShell, you are guaranteed that the tasks will be done in order -- the next one won't start until the previous one completes.  That's just one example of the power of this option.

Here's how to do it.

In Windows 3.1:

First, make a second copy of SmilerShell's Program Manager icon.  Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to pick up the icon with the mouse (click and hold) while pressing down the Control key, then "drag and drop" this second copy of the icon.  You can drop the copy back into the same Program Manager group, or into another group.

Next, highlight the second copy of the icon and bring up Program Manager's Properties dialog.  It's on the File menu.  Use the /ini= commandline option to give this new icon a different ini file.  Let's call it c:\somefile.ini in this example.  You'd set it up like this:

Description:	[OneCommand Sample SmilerShell Setup

Command Line:	[c:\smishell\smishell.exe  /ini=c:\somefile.ini

Working Directory:	[c:\smishell

Shortcut Key:	[None

Exit from any other copy of SmilerShell currently running, and start SmilerShell from the new icon.  It will (with your permission) create the new ini file.  In this copy of SmilerShell, set up the assortment of commands as a "multiple commands on one line" SmilerShell alias.  Let's call the new alias mybatch.  Then exit from SmilerShell.

Bring up the Properties dialog again, and add the /onecmd= flag to the commandline, so it looks like this:

Description:	[OneCommand Sample SmilerShell Setup

Command Line:	[c:\smishell\smishell.exe  /ini=c:\somefile.ini  /onecmd=mybatch

Working Directory:	[c:\smishell

Shortcut Key:	[None

That's it, you're finished.  Whenever you click on the new icon your mybatch commands will be run.

In Windows 95:

First, make a Shortcut to SmilerShell/95.  Open Explorer to the directory containing the SmilerShell/95 executable program file.  Right-click on that file to bring up its context menu.  Choose the menu item “Create Shortcut.”  Windows 95 will create a shortcut to SmilerShell elsewhere in the same directory.  Right-click on that shortcut file entry to bring up its context menu, and in that menu choose the menu item “Properties.”  The shortcut’s Properties dialog will appear.  In that dialog, click on the Shortcut tab.  You’ll see that the “target” has been set to the actual filename and directory of SmilerShell/95. Use the /ini= commandline option to give this new icon a different ini file.  Let's call it c:\somefile.ini in this example.  You'd set it up like this:

    Target:  [c:\smishl32\smishell.exe /ini=c:\somefile.ini     ]

Exit from any other copy of SmilerShell currently running, and start SmilerShell from the new Shortcut.  It will (with your permission) create the new ini file.  In this copy of SmilerShell, set up the assortment of commands as a "multiple commands on one line" SmilerShell alias.  Let's call the new alias mybatch.  Then exit from SmilerShell.

Bring up the Shortcut's context menu again, and again choose "Properties," and again in the dialog click on the Shortcut tab.  Add the /onecmd= flag to the commandline, so it looks like this:

   Target:  [c:\smishell\smishell.exe  /ini=c:\somefile.ini  /onecmd=mybatch

That's it.  Now whenever you launch that icon, SmilerShell will run all the mybatch commands, then immediately exit.

You can, by the way, set it up to run any legal SmilerShell command, not just aliases.


The ALARM Command
ALARM: Alarm Clock With Reminder Message

SmilerShell's clock includes a companion alarm and reminder system.  You can set the alarm for any time in the next 24 hours, and to display any message when it goes off.  To set the alarm enter the command alarm  followed by the time you want it to go off, followed by the message it should display.  You can use 12-hour time (12:00 through 11:59 with am or pm), or 24-hour time (00:00 through 23:59).  If you like, you can put an equals-sign between the word alarm and the time.  Here are some examples of setting the alarm:

alarm=3:25 pm Call Bill before he leaves

alarm 11:30 lunch with Peter, Wendy, and the boys

alarm 23:30 ring Fred and Barney in California

alarm  =  1:30 pm

Remember that 12:00 by itself (without am or pm) is noon!  To specify midnight, use 12:00 am.  Or use 0:00 to specify midnight using 24-hour time.

When the alarm is set, an exclamation point will appear in SmilerShell's titlebar.  To turn off the alarm, enter the command alarm= (an equals sign with nothing after it).  To see what the alarm is set to, enter the command alarm all by itself.

Since the alarm is part of SmilerShell's titlebar clock, if you turn off the titlebar clock you will turn off any pending alarm too.   Toggling off the titlebar itself (and with it the titlebar clock) will also deactivate the alarm.  And alarms are not saved from session to session.  But minimizing or hiding SmilerShell's commandline will not bother the alarm.  As long as SmilerShell (and its clock) is running, the alarm will go off on schedule.

Maybe you have some other program called ALARM that you'd like to run?  Since SmilerShell's ALARM acts like an alias, you can bypass it by starting the command line with an equals sign.


Command Completion

Maybe you can't remember exactly what that command's called.  Or maybe you'd just rather have SmilerShell type it for you.

Type a few letters of a command name, then hit the Tab key.  SmilerShell will search your current directory and your PATH for any commands that match.  It'll even find matching files with runnable File Association extensions.

For example, if you type ar and press Tab, SmilerShell looks for any runnable program files starting with "ar" that have the file extensions com, exe, bat, pif, and (in Windows 95) lnk.  It also looks for any "ar" files whose file extensions are registered as a File Association, since these files can be submitted "as is" and will run the associated program.

You can use wildcard characters.  For example, you could type a?r  or *a?r and hit Tab.

If one match is found, that filename is place on the SmilerShell commandline.  If more than one match is found, all the matches are displayed in a list.  You can fetch one name into the commandline (perhaps to add parameters) or simply run it right from the list.

Related Topics:

Submitting Commands


Keep Explorer In Sync
Keep Explorer In Sync With SmilerShell/95 Automatically

You can set the Sync With Explorer toggle switch to keep Explorer's current directory synchronized with SmilerShell/95.  You won't believe how convenient this is.   Instead of clicking all up and down the file manager's directory tree, you can issue a quick DC or DCB command.  Not only will SmilerShell/95 change its own current directory, it will change Explorer's displayed current directory, too (the top instance of Explorer if more than one is running).  Explorer will flash for a moment on the screen to remind you that the synchronization hook is in place.  Toggle this feature with the Options menu item Sync With Explorer, or just type Alt+E.

It also works fine when you change directory with CD.  And to allow complete flexibility, you can change Explorer's directory in the usual way without affecting SmilerShell/95.  That is, SmilerShell/95 will change Explorer, but Explorer won't change SmilerShell/95.

Related Topics:

The DC and DCB Commands

The Options Menu


Order Form
Order Form /  Invoice for SmilerShell 3.1 or SmilerShell/95

Send Orders To:	From:

Bardon Data Systems	Name:

1023 Key Route Blvd.	Address:

Albany, CA  94706-2321

(510) 526-8470	Phone:

CompuServe 72340,375	Email:

Make check or money order payable to Bardon Data Systems.

MasterCard / Visa: Phone credit card orders to Bardon Data Systems or mail this order form:

Sign here to bill credit card for this purchase:   ________________________________

1) Print Name As It Appears On Credit Card:

2) MasterCard / Visa Number:

3) Expiration Date: ___/___

4) Check if this is: a MasterCard [   ] or a Visa [   ]

Quantity	Amount Enclosed

______	SmilerShell 3.1 for Windows 3.1	$29.95

 	Full program, latest version

______	SmilerShell/95 for Windows 95 or NT	$29.95

Full program, latest version

______	Both SmilerShell/95 and SmilerShell 3.1	$49.95

______	Bonus Software, Free Gifts, Discounts	FREE

______ 	Shipping and Handling:	$5.00

Outside North America  add an

additional $6 for shipping (total $11).

Sales Tax: California residents please add 8.25% sales tax.

Total Amount Enclosed:

Where did you obtain SmilerShell/95 1.4?

Comments or suggestions?


Orders UK - Thompson
In ENGLAND, SmilerShell is distributed by The Thompson Partnership.  Price for either SmilerShell or SmilerShell/95 is £19.95 + £3.00 P&P + VAT (17.5%, EC customers only; or provide Non UK VAT Number if you are VAT-registered outside UK), total  £26.44.  Payment may be made by cheque, Eurocheque, money order, or credit card.  VAT is applicable to orders from any European Union country.

    The Thompson Partnership	Voice:	+44 (0)1889 564 601

    Lion Buildings	Fax:  	+44 (0)1889 563 219

    Market Place	BBS:  	+44 (0)1889 568 625

    Uttoxeter	Internet Orders: 	sales@ttp.co.uk

    Staffordshire	Internet Support: 	support@ttp.co.uk

    ST14 8HP

    ENGLAND

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£______________                     ______Copies of SmilerShell @ £19.95

£______________                    VAT @ 17.5% EC customers only

                                                      Or provide Non UK VAT Number if VAT-registered outside UK

£__3.00________                     Shipping and Handling

£_____________                      TOTAL

(Please make cheques payable to "The Thompson Partnership", and ensure your cheque card number is written on the reverse of the cheque.)


Orders Germany - Vogel

In GERMANY, FancyFax is distributed by Vogel Datentechnik.  Contact them for current pricing information.

    Vogel Datentechnik	Voice: (+49) 089 60 83 842

    Edition Zensor	Fax:   (+49) 089 60 92 184

    Masurenweg 1

    D-85521 Ottobrunn

    GERMANY

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Orders France - WindowShare

In FRANCE, SmilerShell is distributed by WindowShare.  Price for either SmilerShell or SmilerShell/95 is 300 F which includes shipping and VAT.  Payment by cheque, Eurocheque, money order, or bank card.  WindowShare customers outside France should contact WindowShare for price information.

    WindowShare SARL	Vox: (+33) 87 30 85 57

    46-48 route de Thionville	Fax: (+33) 87 32 37 75

    57140 WOIPPY	Minitel 3615 WinShare

    FRANCE

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Orders Japan - P&A

In JAPAN, SmilerShell is distributed by P. & A. Co., Ltd.  Price for either SmilerShell or SmilerShell/95 is 5,000 Yen (includes tax and shipping).  Payment by credit card [MasterCard, Visa, Amex, DC], bank transfer [Ginko furikomi], postal transfer [Yubin furikae/Genkin kakitome], or COD -- call for details.

P. & A. Co., Ltd.	Voice: (Jap/Eng)	0425-35-9901

1-3-6-2 Kamisunacho	Fax:	0425-35-9902

Tachikawa	NIFTY-Serve:	PAF02461

Tokyo 190

Japan

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Orders Australia - Budgetware

In AUSTRALIA, SmilerShell is distributed by Budgetware.  Price for either SmilerShell or SmilerShell/95 is $70 AUS within Australia, $75 AUS elsewhere.  Payment by cheque, money order, Bankcard, MasterCard, or Visa.

Budgetware	Voice:	(02) 519-4233

PO Box 496	Fax:	(02) 516-4236

Newtown NSW 2042

AUSTRALIA

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