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Text File | 2005-09-07 | 18.5 KB | 470 lines

CDStartDummy! v2.5 by k.soft www.dummysoftware.com For complete online and detailed help, please click HELP in the software. What does this do? ================== CDStartDummy! creates auto-playable CD-ROMs with the ability to launch any file type you wish using their default viewer. You can include your own graphic for a splash screen, CD-ROM icon, and sound effects. CDStartDummy! also includes features to create a time-limied and password protected CD. CDStartDummy! is the only utility which allows you to create an HTML menu for your autoplay presentation and include powerful action commands to bring your web page to life with the ability to copy files to the user's PC, display messages, launch programs right from the web page, and more. An auto-playable CD-ROM is a CD which you insert in your computer's CD drive. Upon inserting the CD, a program and/or images are automatically launched and displayed for the user. Typical uses are to display an install menu or other options for software on the CD. Auto-playable CD-ROMs are the standard for distributing CDs to users. What makes CDStartDummy! different is how easy it is to use. There is virtually no learning curve. You simply run the software, choose your settings and graphics, and with one click of a button, you create your autoplay CD-ROM files. CDStartDummy! gives you the ability to preview your autoplay before burning the CD to make sure everything is to your liking. After creating your autoplay CD files, there will be a folder on your desktop called "CD-ROM Distributable Files". Simply copy all the files within this folder, to your CD-ROM's root directory and your CD becomes auto-playable. The "root directory" is the first directory in the CD - that is, if you double-clicked on "My Computer" and "D:", this is where the files should be copied to D:\ Why should I register? ====================== - In the trial version, all auto-play CD-ROMs created will include an unregistered popup box that appears at the end of the auto-play. - You may NOT distribute any auto-play CD-ROMs created with the trial version of CDStartDummy!. - Registering removes the unregistered popup box from your auto-play CD-ROMs. - Registering gives you preferred customer support status. - Registering allows you distribute auto-play CD-ROMs to your end users. Take advantage of the power of this software package and register today by clicking the register button in the software. New in version 2.5 ================== - New wizard interface. - When creating CD, the software now copies all files and sub-folders within the target file's directory. This assures the presentation has all required user files. - When creating CD, the software now places all data files in a separate directory on the CD, for a clean look. - New checkboxes in Options allows user to disable the new copy features, listed above. - Minor feature enhancements. New in version 2.4 ================== - New feature to save presentation as ISO CD-ROM image file. Useful for burning your presentation at a later date from the ISO. - New demo included showing how to embed a movie in a web page. - New templates included in Menu Creator Generic CD Menu, High Tech, XPBlue. - Enhancements to main screen for quicker selection of files to autoplay and user interface hints. - ACTION_BROWSE now supports a parameter to indicate a specific folder to open on the CD instead of just the root folder. The new format is http://ACTION_BROWSE or http://ACTION_BROWSER=foldername - New action commands: ACTION_MINIMIZE - minimizes the window ACTION_MAXIMIZE - maximizes the window ACTION_RESTORESIZE - restores the original size of the window ACTION_EJECT - ejects CD disc and exits presentation. - ACTION_MESSAGEBOX has a new enhanced display. - New Menu Creator toolbar button to insert movies. - Menu Creator includes new image preview when selecting an image to insert. - New custom window sizes available. You may now set your own width and height. New in version 2.3 ================== - New CD Expiry feature to create CDs that expire after a number of days. - New CD Serial Code feature to password protect your CD. - CD Expiry and Serial Code features may be combined to create trial CDs which require a serial code be entered to continue using the CD beyond the trial days. - The ACTION_RUN command can now launch multiple files in one command. New in version 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 ============================ - New Menu Creator button on main screen allows you to build an interactive CD menu. Insert images, text boxes, and hyperlink them to run or open files, navigate URLs, display message boxes, copy files from the CD to the user's PC, and more! - New Menu Creator Template - Image Gallery Wizard One click, just select a directory containing images, CDStartDummy! builds a ready-for-CD, image gallery presentation. - New Menu Creator toolbar button "Insert Background Music" allows you to add music WAV, MP3, MID to your menu. - New Interactive Help System displays in main screen and provides tips. New in version 1.8 ================== - New demo template Fancy_Menu included. - Added NT 4.0 compatibility. Previous versions may have displayed an error message on non-updated NT 4.0 PCs. All other operating system versions were not affected. New in version 1.7 ================== - New Options button, allows changing splash screen display time, disabling right-click context menu in web browser, disabling title bar, and disabling resizing. - Web page links pointing to local files with pathnames are now copied properly by the software. - Sub-folders are now copied properly. - New feature to include additional files in project before previewing. - Windows batch files are now parsed and files copied properly. - Windows batch files are now launched with black screen hidden. - Added help button to error window. - Icon selected from EXE is now properly displayed in upper left corner of window. - Now supports Microsoft PowerPoint presentations saved as a web page. - More selections for window size added. - New action command ACTION_USER_SELECT_COPY added to allow copying files from CD to user's PC, while letting the user choose the destination folder. - Minor enhancements. New in version 1.6 ================== - Fail safe file to launch has been added. If the initial autoplay fails to open, you can instead open a different file type or display your own error web page. New in version 1.5 ================== - Presentation title is now obtained from the web page <TITLE> tags. Your CD burner software now sets the actual CD label in explorer. - Internal browser window now displays user-selected program icon in upper left corner. - Added feature to change size of built-in browser. - Added minimize button to built-in web browser. - Added new internal command ACTION_COPY to copy files from CD to computer. - Powerpoint presentation files are now launched in slide-show view. - Media videos can now be played in internal viewer. - Fix for Windows XP custom icon not displaying properly. - Fix for WAV files being cut off too soon, now plays entire length of WAV. - Fix for selecting files containing spaces in their filename. New in version 1.4 ================== - Includes built-in commands when using internal web browser. - Selecting a web page file also parses and copies linked images and files. - Other minor fixes. New in version 1.0 ================== - Software officially released. CDStartDummy! Settings ====================== The CDStartDummy! settings screen allows you to change the design of your auto-play CD-ROM. File to Open When User Places CD-ROM into Drive - This is the file, graphic, or program you wish to be launched when the CD-ROM is placed in the drive. You can select any type of file including Web Pages (HTML), Scripts, Microsoft Word Documents, Adobe PDF, Graphics (GIF, JPG, BMP), Executables. You can also choose to simply have the CD-ROM Explorer open to a particular directory on the CD. To have the Explorer open, simply enter a single backslash '\' to open the root directory of the CD-ROM. Enter a further path '\Program\Setup' to open a specific directory. File to Open if Initial File Above Fails - If a user does not have the appropriate software installed on their computer to open your initial autoplay file, then the file will fail to load. This field gives you the option to select a file, graphic, or program you wish to be launched if the initial autoplay file fails to open. Examples may include an error web page, a different document type, or simply opening the Windows Explorer to the CD-ROM. You can leave this field blank if you wish to have Windows display the standard "Open With.." dialog. Enable Splash Screen Upon CD-ROM Startup - This allows you to select a graphic JPG, GIF, or BMP to use as a splash screen when the user places the CD-ROM in the drive. A splash screen is a window containing your graphic, which displays for about 4 seconds before disappearing and then launching your designated File (see above). The splash screen window will auto-size to the size of your graphic and center itself on the screen, so choose a graphic with the size you would like the splash screen to be. Enable Custom Icon for CD-ROM - This is the desktop icon that will be displayed for the CD-ROM. If the user places the CD-ROM in his drive, and double-clicks on "My Computer", he will see this icon representing your CD-ROM. You can choose any icon you like, or create your own. Valid icon files include .ICO, .BMP, and .EXE files. Enable Sound Effect upon CD-ROM Startup - This will play the selected sound effect when the CD-ROM is placed in the drive. This makes a nice option when combined with the splash screen. You can choose any .WAV file for the sound effect. Create CD - This is the button that makes it all happen. After selecting your options, click this button to create your CD-ROM auto-play files. All files will be placed on your desktop in a folder called "CD-ROM Distributable Files". You can preview the auto-play by running the autoplay.exe located within this folder. You will need to copy all files within this folder to your CD-ROM root directory to enable auto-play on the CD-ROM. Menu Creator - This button brings up the CDStartDummy! Menu Creator. The menu creator allows you to quickly design a CD front-end menu which can launch files, display message boxes, navigate to URLs, copy files, and more. Options - The options button brings up advanced options for your auto-playable CD. Security - This set of options includes a CD Expiry for creating time-limited CDs and a Serial Code feature for creating password-protected CDs. Combining the two options allows you to create a trial CD which requires a serial code in order to continue using the CD beyond the trial period. Using an HTML Page for Autorun ============================== You may select any type of document to use as your main autorun file, including a web page document. CDStartDummy! will parse your web page and save all referenced images to the "CD-ROM Distributable Files" desktop folder. There are several important items to note when creating the web page to be used on a CD-ROM. 1. Test your web page locally before selecting it for use in CDStartDummy! - After you save your web page locally to your PC, test it out and make sure everything looks correct before using it in CDStartDummy!. To test your web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer, just double-click the starting page (usually index.html) and verify your web page is saved correctly on your PC. 2. Copy additionally linked web pages or files to CD Distributable Files folder - When you select your starting web page in CDStartDummy! and click Create CD, the software will save that file, linked images, linked sub-directories, and all other local web pages referenced in it to the desktop folder "CD-ROM Distributable Files". If you link to additional web pages that the user will be navigating through and the software is not able to locate these files, you may need to copy those files to the folder yourself. That is, all web page referenced files that are part of your presentation should be copied to the distributable files folder on your desktop - while the software will try to locate and copy these on its own, you may need to copy some files yourself and place them in the desktop folder created so your web page appears correctly. Creating CD-ROM Tutorial ======================== Creating an auto-play CD-ROM with CDStartDummy! is easy. Just follow these steps: 1. Choose a Document/Program to Launch - Determine what kind of file you wish launched when the user places the CD-ROM in his drive. If you want a web page to display you can click the Menu Creator button or use your own web page menu. If you choose a PDF or other document, keep in mind you may also need to copy the viewer for that document to the CD-ROM as well. If you want to open the CD-ROM Explorer to a directory on the CD, just enter a backslash '\' or path '\Setup\MySetup.exe'. 2. Choose a Document/Program to Launch if the inital file fails to open. Examples would include an error web page to display, a different type of file to open, or just enter a backslash \ to open Windows Explorer to the CD-ROM directory. 3. Choose your Options in CDStartDummy! - Select your choices of splash screen image, icon, and sound effects. 4. Click CREATE CD - This creates the needed auto-play files to a folder on your desktop called "CD-ROM Distributable Files". You have the option of previewing your auto-play before copying to the CD-ROM. 5. Copy Files to CD-ROM - Copy all files within the distributable folder to the root directory of your CD-ROM. The root directory is simply the first directory 'D:\' on the CD. You should not copy the "CD-ROM Distributable Files" folder itself - you should only copy the files within this folder. See illustration below. 6. Place the CD-ROM in your Drive - After copying the necessary files, places the CD-ROM in your drive to watch the auto-play you created. Note, if you disabled CD-ROM Autoplay in Windows, you will need to turn this back on in order to view the auto-play. Using CDStartDummy! Action Commands =================================== When selecting the option ENABLE BUILT-IN WEB BROWSER and using a web page as your autoplay file, you can take advantage of several CDStartDummy! Action Commands to perform tasks such as launching files on the CD, displaying message boxes, copying files, and exiting the presentation. For a demonstration on what the action commands can do, select the file "1_Demo_General_Menu.html" in the software and click CREATE CD to view it. Of course, you can simply create your own web page without using any action commands and still use the built-in browser. The commands are only a way for advanced users to achieve more functionality. List of action commands ACTION_MESSAGEBOX=message goes here This command displays a standard message box containing the message text. This is useful for quick dialog messages for the user. ACTION_RUN=file_to_run parameters This command allows you to launch a file from the CD including parameters if needed. Of course, there are other ways to launch files from a CD without using this command. For example, you could use the file://\\myfile.exe to execute myfile.exe in the root directory of the CD-ROM. This command is a shortcut. Further, this command allows you to open the Windows Explorer on the CD-ROM to different directories by specifying "explorer \path" as the file to run. For example, ACTION_RUN=explorer \myfiles will open the Explorer to the CD-ROM for browsing in the specified directory. ACTION_BROWSE This command opens the CD-ROM for browsing at the root directory. The command automatically detects the CD-ROM drive letter, and opens that folder. This is the same as issuing "explorer D:\" using the action_run command, but the drive letter is automatically named. ACTION_COPY=file,destination This command copies files from the CD-ROM to the user's PC. This command is helpful if you only need to copy a few files and do not have your own installer. This command allows for several variables to indicate locations on the user's PC such as the System, Program Files, Root (C:\), and Desktop directories. If a sub-folder is specified in the destination path and the sub-folder does not already exist, the folder will be created, and the file copied. For example, if you specified the path {PROGRAMFILES}/MyFiles/myfile.exe, the software would create the directory "MyFiles" inside C:\Program Files\ and copy the file there. You can include multiple files to copy on one line. The fourth example below shows how to copy three files from the CD-ROM to a folder called "MyFiles" on the user's desktop. ACTION_COPY=myfile.exe,C:\myfile.exe ACTION_COPY=myfile.exe,{DESKTOP}/myfile.exe ACTION_COPY=myfile.exe,{PROGRAMFILES}/MyFiles/myfile.exe ACTION_COPY=myfile1.exe,{DESKTOP}/MyFiles/myfile1.exe,myfile2.exe,{DESKTOP}/MyFiles/myfile2.exe,myfile3.exe,{DESKTOP}/MyFiles/myfile3.exe ACTION_USER_SELECT_COPY=file This command copies files from the CD-ROM to the user's PC, but allows the user to select the remote directory to store files at. Multiple files to copy may be included on the same line seperated by commas. ACTION_USER_SELECT_COPY=MyPicture.gif,MyPicture2.gif,MorePictures.gif ACTION_QUIT This command gives a way to specify a quit button to exit the autoplay. This is the same as if the user clicked the 'X' button in the upper right corner of the dialog. How to Use Action Commands in HTML ================================== To use these action commands, you specify them in an A HREF string. Commands should be preceded by an http:// Here is an example: <A HREF="http://ACTION_MESSAGEBOX=Hello World!">Click Here for a Message</A> This would display "Click Here for a Message" to the user. When clicked, a message box will popup displaying "Hello World!". <A HREF="http://ACTION_RUN=setup.exe">Install Setup</A> This would display "Install Setup" to the user. When clicked, the file setup.exe on your CD-ROM would be launched. Support ======= For further support, questions, comments, contact: cdstart@dummysoftware.com http://www.dummysoftware.com/cdstart.html