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Monster Media 1994 #2
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OPTIBAR.ENG
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1994-06-12
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OptiBar v1.02
=============
OVERVIEW
--------
Optibar is a multi-iconbar for Windows 3.1. From the four bars
that are available in Optibar, three are customizable and allow you
to quickly launch your favorite applications. The fourth bar is a
dynamic TaskManager which permanently displays the icons of the
currently running applications.
My main goal when writing OptiBar was to create a tool that
would be easy to use and able to make as little consumption of screen
space and system resources as possible. To keep the internal design
of Optibar as simple as possible, I just implemented the most
important functionalities. Any enhancement suggestion will be welcome
although I will implement only those that are interesting enough to
overhaul the above statements.
HOW TO REGISTER ?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
OptiBar is a shareware. You are allowed to use OptiBar for
evaluation purposes free of charge for a 60-day period. Afterwards,
you'll have to send your registration fee to the author to support
the creation of such lovely utilities and to allow enhancement of
this one. The registration fee is $10 or 50 French Francs. This fee
give you the right to use all future versions of OptiBar on one
computer only.
Your payment has to be sent to :
PASCAL DE OLIVEIRA
ECOLE PASTEUR
AVENUE DE CHENNEVIERES
95310 SAINT-OUEN L'AUMONE
FRANCE
Upon reception of your registration I'll mail you back a
beautiful postcard of Paris which will be your registration card.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Shareware could not exist without the beta-testers who give some
of their time to stabilize the product on a variety of configurations
as well as the author's. They are often the source of excellent ideas
and must always remain obstinate in overcoming the lazyness of the
author in order to see the bugs corrected and good ideas implemented.
This is why I'd like to thank all the beta testers whose help I
called upon. Thanks to them, OptiBar has become a usable tool. As for
the bugs that may remain, I assume, of course, full responsability
for them.
SETUP
-----
Copy OPTIBAR.EXE and OPTIBAR.DLL to any directory. Then copy
CTL3D.DLL to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory if another application has
not already done so or if the version provided with OPTIBAR is newer.
To uninstall OptiBar, merely delete the OPTIBAR.INI file which
has been created in your WINDOWS directory.
Launching OptiBar
-----------------
As soon as it's launched, OptiBar reads the iCountry parameter
in the "intl" section of the WIN.INI file. Depending on this value,
OptiBar chooses between the english and french languages to display
messages and dialog boxes. The choosen language can be modified in
the About box.
Afterward, OptiBar looks for maximized application main windows
to adjust their size with the OptiFit technology.
TIP: if you regularly use OptiBar, add it to your Windows
StartUp group.
OptiBar User's Guide
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1) How to select an icon bar ?
To select one of the four iconbars, just click on one of the
four small buttons located under the clock. The small button marked
"T" selects the "Dynamic TaskManager" bar.
2) "Dynamic TaskManager" bar
In this mode, OptiBar tries to dynamically list all current
application icons. Amongst all the possible methods to achieve this
goal, OptiBar uses the one which consumes as few system ressources as
possible. As a drawback of this small appetite, OptiBar isn't able to
detect all windows that are opened and closed during a Windows
session. To force a list refresh, just click on the clock.
3) How to add icons ?
This option doesn't work with the "Dynamic Task Manager" bar.
To add an icon to a bar, just drag a file from the Windows File
Manager and drop it on OptiBar. You can then set parameters, initial
directory and choose the icon in a dialog box.
If the dragged filename doesn't point to an executable, OptiBar
uses the File Manager associations to select a program according to
the file extension.
4) How to move an icon ?
This option doesn't work with the "Dynamic Task Manager" bar.
To move an icon within the iconbar, just drag it to another icon
slot. If this location is already used, OptiBar shifts other icons to
make space available to the moved icon.
5) How to remove an icon ?
This option doesn't work with "Dynamic Task Manager" bar.
To remove an icon, drag it out of OptiBar.
6) How to launch an application
To launch an application, just double-click on the relevant
icon.
Furthermore, in all bars except in the "Dynamic Task Manager",
when you drag and drop files from the File Manager and drop them onto
an icon, the corresponding application will be launched with the
dropped files as parameters.
7) How to modify icon parameters?
This option doesn't work with the "Dynamic Task Manager" bar.
To modify the parameters defining an icon, click on it with the
mouse right button.
8) The "About OptiBar" dialog box
If you click with the right button on the clock, the "About
OptiBar" box will open. It displays information about memory and
system ressources usage. With the "English version" checkbox, you can
change the language automatically selected by OptiBar at launch time.
Finally, the three buttons located at the bottom of the dialog box
allow you to close the "About OptiBar" box and to quit OptiBar or
Windows.