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STARTUP.HLP
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1992-05-25
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Runner -- A Desktop Alternative
STARTUP
Starting Runner and the Menu Screen
Copyright (C) 1993 by Dave Thorson
Version 1.61 November 18, 1993
Be sure to read SETUP.HLP before reading this file. SETUP.HLP
describes how to install Runner on your system.
$$ Starting Runner
Double-click on RUNNER.PRG to start the program. Hold down the
Control key as Runner starts if you do not want it to load a
picture file. Runner will determine where its "home" directory
is (see SETUP.HLP), and load a RUNNER.CFG file and background
picture as appropriate.
If you have a picture or list file named "RUNNERA.PIx" (or .PCx,
.PLx, where x=1, 2 or 3), then you can load it on startup by
pressing the "a" key as soon as you see the initial Runner
copyright message. For "RUNNERB.PIx", press the "b" key, and so
on. All letter and number keys can be used this way as Runner
starts.
$$ The Menu Screen
A typical Runner menu screen might look like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------
| Desk File Menus Colors 09:44:32|
|==============================================================|
| |
| Mr. Dave's Runner |
| |
| ^ Exit Runner |
| * Communications |
| * Games |
| * Graphics |
| * Music |
| * Programming |
| * Word Processing |
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------
When you first start Runner you will see a screen such as this,
with the title line, "Mr. Dave's Runner" (don't worry, you can
change it!) and an exit line that reads "Exit Runner". The GEM
menu bar at the top of the screen (hopefully) acts as you would
expect; for more information see MENU_BAR.HLP. The time display
in the upper right can be changed (see KEYBOARD.HLP for
details). If you don't see a date or time, press the Backspace
key to change it from none to time to date to time+date and back
to none. The "[" and "]" keys change the time and date formats.
Left-clicking the mouse on the title line is one way to call up
a file selector to view files or run programs not in your menus
or any of the standard things a file selector lets you do (see
FILSELCT.HLP for details).
Left-click on the exit line to exit Runner; an alert box will
pop up asking you if you do indeed wish to exit. If you make
any changes to your menus that you want to save, or to picture
configuration information (menu location, colors, Regions
stuff), remember to SAVE these before exiting -- Runner will
warn you that changes may be lost.
$$ That leaves the menu list area itself, those lines below the
exit line. In the example above, the lines all contain menu
names as indicated by the asterisks (*). Runner uses the same
symbol found in desktop windows and file selectors to denote
folders, but the "*" will have to do in this documentation. Up
to fifteen items can appear in the menu area, and they can be
menu names, programs, or document/data files. All menu items
can be set to appear only in certain screen resolutions (for
example, Word Writer cannot be used in Low Res so you can set it
to appear in menus only in Medium and Hi Res).
Left-clicking the mouse on a menu item selects it. For the menu
names show above, a new menu is opened; Runner moves one level
deeper into the menu structure. If Graphics were selected, the
new menu might look like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------
| Desk File Menus Colors 09:46:27|
|==============================================================|
| |
| Graphics |
| |
| ^ Up One Level |
| * Conversions |
| * Slide Shows |
| Art Director |
| Degas |
| Plans for Movie |
| Spectrum 512 |
| |
--------------------------------------------------------------
A few things have changed on this menu. The title line now has
the name of the menu choice (Graphics) selected to get here. It
becomes the name of this menu. You can still Left-click on this
new title line to call a file selector. The exit line now says
"Up One Level" instead of "Exit Runner". Left-clicking on the
exit line now exits to the next higher menu level instead of
exiting Runner. At the highest menu level it changes back to
"Exit Runner".
Clicking the right mouse button takes you back to the top level
menu, no matter how many levels deep you have wandered.
There are still two menu names in the menu list, and Left-
clicking on either of these would take you to a still deeper
menu level. There are also several programs listed. Left-
clicking on a program will run it. When the program exits, the
menu screen reappears and you can select another program.
There is also a document called "Plans for Movie". Depending on
how this document file has been defined to Runner, a left-click
on this line might display the file with Runner's File View
feature, or it might load the file into a word processor. You
decide what actions should be taken, what menu and program names
to use in menu lists, and how to organize your menus.
$$ Feel free to "tour" through the sample RUNNER.CFG file
provided by loading it into Runner. See how I structure my
menus. I try to avoid going more than two levels deep (too much
like opening folder after folder after folder to get to the
program I want), and I try to group similar programs together.
I don't have document/data files in my example menus (but then,
I didn't have that feature before) but a lot of people have
requested that capability. One person said he wanted to place
".DO" files for Flash (a communications program) in menus so he
could select a .DO file to be loaded into Flash when it starts.
The .DO files could be set to connect him to GEnie, Compuserve
or other bulletin board services, or to one or more computers
where he works. One mouse click within Runner and the .DO file
will cause Flash to be loaded, configured, and even logged into
the system of his choice. Automation is here!
You should take the time to read through the other .HLP files
provided with Runner learn how to use the GEM menu bar functions
(MENU_BAR.HLP), the add/change dialog box which lets you set up
Quickkeys, install applications, set resolutions and force Mini-
Run to be used for selected programs (DIALOG.HLP), keyboard
equivalents and additional Runner commands (KEYBOARD.HLP) and
how to use the companion programs Mini-Run, Regions, Rpicname,
Rpicsel and Rconvert (OTHERS.HLP).
Runner's help files can also be added to a menu as document
files so they'll only be a mouse-click or two away. "Create a
Help" menu and add each help file just like you would add a
program. For flopyy disk users, you could put the help files
all on one floppy disk; just be sure to insert it in the disk
drive before selecting a help file from the menu!
$$ NOTE: Many of the functions in Runner have an alternate way to
use them. To access these alternate functions (as described in
lots of places below), hold down the Control key when pressing
the appropriate key or mouse button. Then release the Control
key. [Users of prior versions: the Alternate key used to work
this way, but has now been disabled when selecting pull-down
menu choices -- Pressing Alt-N now shows a file selector for
drive N: instead of selecting "iNitial" screen colors to be
active for the current picture].
The Shift keys are NEVER needed or used except when accessing
the "shifted" set of QuickKeys or when loading a picture file
(as defined within Regions) by using Shift-0 through Shift-9.
Don't worry, all this is explained as needed in the other .HLP
files. For now, just remember that Control causes many
functions to behave differently.
[end of STARTUP.HLP]