DSTLaunch Online Manual - Technical Information



This section is currently under construction.



WARNING

The following information is not for those that are feight of heart, it is assumed that you have some technical knowledge of NT/95.


The Registry

DSTLaunch stores all of it's configuration information in the NT/95 Registry under the following keys.

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DarkStar\Launch

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\DarkStar\Launch

The uninstall routine can be found in:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\DSTLaunch


Subkeys under \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DarkStar\Launch

This key has several subkeys, as follows:

Key Description
Aliases This is a list of aliases that the current user has defined. NOTE: Global aliases always outway user aliases.
CommandHistory The command history for this user.
Config The configuration settings for this user.
NetworkConnections The network connections for this user.

Each connection is a subkey to this key and is labed as the drive letter/port name that is to be reconnected.


Subkeys under \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\DarkStar\Launch

This key has several subkeys, as follows:

Key Description
Aliases This is a list of global aliases for all users.
Config The global configuration settings.
Registration Registration information.


Subkeys & Values under \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DarkStar\Launch\NetworkConnections

This key stores all network connections that DSTLaunch has been asked to keep track of.

Each connection has a subkey with three entries in it:

Key Name Description
PassWord The password to use when reconnecting to the service. NOTE: Passwords are stored as clear text.
Path What network path to reconnect to.
UserName The username to use when reconnecting to the service.


Values under \HKEY_*\Software\DarkStar\Launch\Config

HKEY_* refers to both HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

These values are used to configure the program, values are used in the following order: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, programmed default.

Programmed defaults are hard coded at compile time.
Value Name Value Type Default Values Description
AlwaysOnTop DWORD 1 0 or 1 This is where the Always On Top value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
AutoHide DWORD 0 0 or 1 This is where the Auto Hide value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
CommandHistory DWORD 40 0 to 32767 This is where the Command History Size value from the configuration dialog is stored.
ExecuteOnRightClick DWORD 1 0 or 1 This is where the Execute on Right Click value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
FastAutoHide DWORD 1 0 or 1 This is where the Fast Auto Hide value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
SaveConfigOnExit DWORD 1 0 or 1 This is where the Save Settings on Exit value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
ScreenEdge DWORD 1 0 or 3 This is where the Screen Edge value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is Top Edge and 3 is Bottom Edge.
StartingDirectory String . 0 or 1 This is where the Starting Directory value from the configuration dialog is stored.
TaskBarVisible DWORD 1 0 or 1 This is where the Task Bar Visible value from the configuration dialog is stored, 0 is unchecked and 1 is checked.
WebBrwoserDDEName String NETSCAPE ANY This is where the Web Browser DDE Name value from the configuration dialog is stored.
WebBrowserName String C:\Program Files\
Netscape\Navigator\
Program\Netscape.exe
ANY This is where the Web Brwoser Name value from the configuration dialog is stored.



Real Commands

DSTLaunch uses a 'trick' to make processing internal commands faster, all commands are prefixed with a colon.

However having to type :SET instead of set would be a real pain in the neck, so every system command has at least one alias assosiated with it.

These system level aliases are defined in the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\DarkStar\Launch\Aliases key and should not be altered.

Alias Command
ALIAS :ALIAS
CD :CD
CMD %COMSPEC%
CONFIG :CONFIG
EXIT :EXIT
LOGOFF :LOGOFF
MAP :MAP
RESET :RESET
RESETHISTORY :RESETHISTORY
SET :SET
SHUTDOWN :SHUTDOWN
STARTSS :STARTSS
URL :URL
WWW :URL

If you are building your own aliases that use internal commands, you might consider using the :[COMMAND] version instead simply for speed, one less pass through the alias code.