Table of Contents

Overview

License and Warranty

Installation and Removal

Hints and Tips

New for This Release

New User Info

Purchase

Configuring PowerPro

Setup

GUI Control

Command Lists

Hot Key/Mouse Actions

Timers

Scheduler

Media


Overview

Windows PowerPro incorporates these features:

Any number of  small-footprint button bars

(e.g. fit over title bar of maximized window).

Use of any mouse button to launch commands.

Drag and drop files to start commands.

Up to 95 user-configurable command menus with submenus.

Floating button bar, choice of many resolution-independent standard

positions, or place in active window caption.

Direct access to start menu

Hot key, tap key, and mouse action activation of commands.

Hot keys which depend on the active program.

Activate commands by mouse actions including press and hold,

click caption, horizontal/vertical movements.

Show menus from hot keys, mouse actions.

Menu subsections and button bars which are displayed only if a given program is active.

Display menus built dynamically from folder contents.

Switch to or close any active task, from a button bar or a menu.

Text label, icon, clock, date, timer, or resource display on any button.

Built-in commands for screen saver,  windows exit/restart,

 browsing and running files (with history), moving the button bar,

 playing sounds, and others.

Control of Caps Lock/Shift and Scroll Lock.

Scrolling with the middle mouse.

Tray minimization.

Virtual desktops.

Alarms, regular chimes, and scheduled activation/termination of commands.

Wallpaper display and switcher/randomizer.

Save and restore desktop icon positions.

Screen saver switcher/randomizer.

Randomization and testing of system and application sounds.

Send a sequence of keys to a running program or

   to a program that you start with PowerPro.

Tool tip (balloon) help to display the commands for any button.

Windows PowerPro is intended to supplement the Win95/98/NT 4/5 shell by providing quick, minimal-mouse click access to your most used commands while taking up little desktop space, and to provide utilities related to Windows start-up and time, with one consistent interface.


PowerPro Built-In Commands

Windows PowerPro comes with a set of built-in commands which let you manipulate running programs and control the Windows configuration.  You find the built in commands in the Command drop down control of the Windows PowerPro command entry controls .

The command entry controls dialog automatically prompts you for the actions and information required for each built-in command.

Following are the built-in commands:

*Bar	Work with bars.

*Clip	Clipboard extender and history.

*Configure	Access configuration dialog.

*Desktop	Work with desktop icons, taskbar, resolution, windows.

*Exec	Miscellaneous commands

*File	Move, copy, delete files.

*Format	Change look and layout of menus and bars.

*Keys	Send keystrokes to other windows

*Menu	Display menus built from command lists, folder contents.

*Message	Display a message.

*Mouse	Send a series of mouse actions to another window.

*Screen	Start, stop, enable, disable, change the screen saver.

*Script	Runs a list of commands.

*Shutdown	Shutdown Windows or PowerPro

*Timer	Start, stop, clear, reset PowerPro timers.

*TrayIcon	Activate or hide tray icons of other programs.

*Vdesk	Work with virtual desktops.

*Wait	Wait for an event or a certain amount of time.

*Wallpaper	Change the wallpaper (desktop background).

*Window	Close, min, max, traymin, rollup, etc any window.


Command Entry Controls

Purpose

Windows PowerPro uses a standard set of configuration controls to enter commands to be run by a button, menu item, hot key, timer, scheduler, and so on.  A command is a file or program you want to launch or it is a built-in command used to manipulate windows or running programs or to change your Windows configuration.  Built-in commands start with an asterisk (*).

Configuration

To enter a command:  type the command into the edit box, select it from drop down, press the program files button to select a command from the start menu, press the file browse button to browse for a file, drag and drop a file from explorer or the desktop, or use the wizard button to select a command using wizard menus.

Use the Copy and Paste buttons to copy and paste commands between different sets of command entry controls.  Use the apply button, if present, to save the current configuration for testing; applied configurations will be removed if you use the cancel button.  Use the Test button to have PowerPro run the command after applying the current configuration.

If you execute a file or program: you can use the parameters edit box to enter command parameters.  You can set the starting window position (normal, minimized,maximized, tray minimized, hidden), the topmost status, and whether or not PowerPro switches to an existing window of the same program if it is already running. You can enter the initial working directory for the program.

You can prompt for input using the command prompt character from the advancedsetup dialog; this characters is often set to ?.  This prompt character can be used in the command parameters field.  For example,

Command	c:\windows\notepad.exe

Parameter	c:\path\?.txt

will prompt for input file name and then run notepad on file in the folder c:\path with extension .txt.  You can set the title for the prompt edit box by ??title here?; for example

Command:	*Script

Parameter	assign v "??enter the value?"

which will prompt for input to set the variable v (note the quotes) using a dialog box titled “enter the value”.  You can limit the length of input by putting =n, where n is a number <260, at the start of the title, eg

*message ??=25Enter message of up to 25 characters?

You can also display a menu of choices by using "filemenu" with this type of command line:

notepad ??filemenu c:\path\notefile.txt?

where notefile.txt contains a list of lines of the form

menutext=value

A menu consisting of all the menutext values will be shown; the value from the selected item will be inserted in the command line.  If you use only a relative path after filemenu, the menu file is assumed to be in the same folder as the PowerPro configuration file.

If you want to use the prompt character literally, precede if with a backwards single quote('), as in

*Message Is this the end'?

When configuring, if you select a built-in command, the command entry control dialog  prompts will automatically change to guide you through entry of correct information for the command.  As well, the help button will change after you select a built-in command to provide help on the selected command.

You can use the More Commands edit control to enter multiple commands.

To play a sound each time a command is run, enter the .wav file name for the sound in the More Commands edit box.  You'll also want to check "Play .wav files" on advanced dialog to have PowerPro play the sound (rather than the associated program for .wav).

See Also

item configuration, command lists, hot keys, timers, scheduler


Configuring a Command List Item

Name:  To set the item label, type a label of up to 127 characters into the label combo box or select a dynamic display (date/time/resource) label from the Info… button.  Leave the label edit control blank to omit a label (eg if you just want to show an icon).  For command lists displayed as menus, you can optionally precede any letter in the menu item name by an & to use that letter as a menu mnemonic to select that item from the keyboard.

Tool tip:  Enter tool tip text.  You can avoid a tool tip display for this item by setting the value to none.  You can create multi-line tool tips with the separating character specified on the tooltip setup (default is slash (/)).  You can display dynamic information on tool tips using *Info.  The multi-line character still applies within the information displayed by *Info.

Background and text color:  Check the box and use the Set button.  You can also change these with a *Format item command.

Hide:  check to hide this item when bar or menu or tray icon is displayed (does not apply to *Format commands).  Also de-activates items in *Macro or run when window first open command lists.

Hide icon:  Check to hide icon.  Can be set programmatically with *Format item.

Hover clicks:  If "Hover Clicks" is checked on command list properties, this drop down is used to select which bar button command is activated by hovering; you can also select none to disable hover this for button.

Width:  Leave 0 for default width, which is just wide enough to accommodate the text and icon.  Set to a positive number to specify a fixed width in pixels.  Set to a negative number to specify that the width should be the default width plus the specified width (negative sign removed).  Width is only used for buttons, not menu items.

Height:  Leave 0 for default height or for height set on command list properties; else set button height in pixels.

Icon: Choose the source for the icon from the drop down if you want the icon to be based on the Left, Middle, or Right Command.  For menu where other entries have icons, set to (none) to avoid icon.  Or browse for an icon file with the … button.  Use the spin box to choose a specific icon from a file.

Commands:  Items can have three associated commands:  use the left/middle/right buttons to access each set of command entry controls for each item.  Use the start menu  or find button or the command dropdown list to set a program or enter a builtin command.  You can also drag/drop files or desktop icons to the dialog to set the command.

See Also:  Command Lists, Bars, Menus, Bar and Menu Setup dialog, tray icons, command entry controls, *Format item


Command List Properties

Purpose

The Command List Properties dialog sets the menu/bar position for a command list, and the color, visibility, base height.

Configuration

To access the dialog, select the command list to be configured in the drop down of the Command List tab and press the Properties button.  You can use the tabbed dialog to access  command properties which apply whether the command list is a displayed as a bar or a menu, properties for bars only, and properties for active buttons and folder buttons on a bar.  Press the Apply button at any time to preview the effect of any formatting command on currently visible bars.

Bar and Menu Properties

You can change the command list Name, whether or not tool tips appear, and what size icons, if any, appear on the bar or menu when displayed (menus only display 16x16 or 32x32 icons).  PowerPro only reads true 48x48 and 64x64 icons from .ico files; from other files it uses stretched versions of the 32x32 icon.

You can also set a background color, a text color, and a font for this command list. You can set the maximum number of characters of text to be displayed (set to 127 to display all text specified in the item label).    You can also access tool tip setup.  Remember that these apply to bars and menus.

For situations where you are displaying a command list as a bar and a menu, you can use a checkbox to force 16x16 icons for the menu display,  you can use a checkbox to indicate that menu text should be taken from the tool tip (and so be different from the bar text), and you can use a checkbox to have the maximum text limit apply to bars only.

For both menus and bars, you can set a .bmp file to be tiled for bar background.  Use * to have PowerPro set the background bitmap to the wallpaper under the bar or menu.  For menus with backgrounds, you can set the horizontal offset in the bar section to indent the text and icons on the main menu to show a bit map pattern in the left (you may have to set the bar position to eg caption to enable the offset field for entry).  (Note;  if you experience aborts with some .bmp files:  this is a Windows bug; as a workaround, put an = in front of your .bmp file which should fix the problem although multi-column menus may not show the background as well).

The “hide after” feature shown under Bar properties applies to both bars and menus and can be used to hide a bar or menu after the mouse cursor is off of it for the specified time.

Bar Properties

Except for hide after, these apply only when the command list is displayed as a bar.

Use “Position” to set the bar position.

Use "height" to set button height in pixels.  All buttons must have same height.  A zero height uses the default but you may have to manually set height for vertical or rotated text.

Use “hide after” to set whether PowerPro should hide the bar or menu --  see visibility (hiding applies to both bars and menus).

You can specify a screen edge to be bumped to show the bar and the amount of time the mouse must be held at the edge to show the bar; this time is the same for all bars.  You can also specify that the bump must be within the boundaries of the bar at the screen edge.  If you prefer a different approach to showing bars, you can also show bars by defining a hotkey or bar or menu command to execute the *Bar showcommand.  Note that "showing" bars applies to two cases:  invisible bars and non-top most bars (which are hidden by other windows).

Use "marker" to create a small marker strip when bars are hidden.

For Win98/2000, you can choose how to use slide animation when hiding and showing the bar.  You must also check "Use slide animation" on command list|setup.

Use “offsets” to specify offsets for positioning in or near the active window and screen edge positions.

You can check the following format options for a bar

border	check to draw a thin black border around the bar

3d Frame	check to show white border at top of bar and dark border at bottom to give 3d look to bar; use to size and shape bar if "bar size to sum of buttons" unchecked and position is floating, fixed, or full screen edge.

no flicker: 	Eliminates bar flicker (but uses more memory to draw bar).

vertical bar	buttons are aligned beneath one another

hover clicks	if mouse hovers over button, that button is left clicked; set hover time on advancedsetup

flat	check for flat bar; gray check to avoid button border when mouse passes over

same size	check to force all buttons to width of first button

all desks	sets bar to be displayed on all virtual desktops; unchecked displays on  desktop when bar is first shown

topmost	check to display bar always on top

bar size	if checked, bar is automatically resized to accommodate all buttons; if unchecked, use 3D sizing frame to manually size and shape bar (floating or fixed position only).

right icon	icons are shown on the right of text

gradient	bar color varied specified number of steps with specified background color in middle of color range

transparent	(Win2000 only):  set 0 for standard opaque bar.  Set 1-254 for growing level of translucence.  Set to special value 255 to have background color of bar only made transparent.

vertical text	text is shown one letter per line running down button; set button height >0 too

rotate text	text is rotated and runs up the button; set button height >0 too.  Not all fonts can be rotated, you may have to also set font to (eg) Arial using "Own Font"

text under	check to display text under the icon on bar buttons

center text	centers text label

You can also ctrl+right click the bar to get the configuration menu and set format options from the Look submenu.

You can force new rows on non-vertical bars with the *Format NewBarRow command.  You can start a new row and show a horizontal separator line with *Format NewBarRowLine.  Finally, you can insert a vertical separator line with *Format BarVerticalLine.

If you gray-check "Hover left clicks", only *Menu commands are activated by hovering over a button.  After displaying a menu, if you move the mouse to a different button where left clicking shows a menu too, then the first menu is closed and the second menu is opened.

To change a bar size manually, make sure the position is Floating or Fixed, Sizing Border is checked (look configuration menu accessed by ctrl-right click), and “Bar size to sum of buttons” is unchecked:  then left-drag the bar border.

Active Buttons

Set the number of active buttons and tray icon buttons, and whether they should display icons only.  You can also specify that the last button in the command list should be used to set the middle and right commands and the colors for active buttons and you can specify whether the foreground window should be shown pressed.  You can specify a list of captions to control which windows/tray icons  appear as active buttons.  If you want this list to apply to tray icons only, put a # at the start.  You must install tray icon support before tray icons buttons will work; see tray icon buttons.

Folder Buttons

Specify a folder whose entries will appear as buttons at end of bar; see here for details.

See Also

caption position, drag/dropped,  bar visibility,  folder buttons, active buttons, tray icon buttons


Bar and Menu Setup Dialog

Purpose

This dialog controls general appearance of command lists displayed as bars or menus.  It is also used to specify the command lists used for  tray icon, auto run, active button icon, tray minimized icons.

Configuration

The Command List Setup Dialog is selected by clicking on the  Setup button from the Command Lists dialog.  A tabbed dialog will appear allowing you to select options for menus only, bars only, both bars and menus, and for command lists being used for special purposes such as tray icons.

All Menus

Cache Menu Icons:  check to store icons for menus in separate memory managed by PowerPro.  This will allow menus to be displayed more quickly but will require more memory.  Uncheck to use the Windows operating system icon cache.   Gray for caching large icons.

Force cursor over newly opened menus:  if checked, Windows PowerPro will force the mouse cursor over newly opened menus; especially useful if you autohide menus after the cursor is moved off of them.

Right selects command in menus:  if checked, selecting a menu item with right will execute the corresponding command from the command list.  (You may also use middle click to select the middle command, but this feature does not work on all systems and currently is not guaranteed to be reliable).  You must make sure "Display Menu on mouse down" is not gray-checked to use this feature.

Track new windows for *Menu RecentCommands:  you must check this to have PowerPro maintain the recent commands menu.

Default no icons  Check to specify no icons on newly configured command list properties.

Hide *Menu Folder  Will automatically hide *Menu Folder and *Clip menus when mouse moved off of the menu.

Icons on *Window and *Menu folder menus:  check to include icons on these menus.

All Bars

Less 3D effect:  Less pronounced outlines are used when drawing 3D borders on buttons. Gray check to make button height two pixels smaller by eliminating extra space used to draw this border.

Stop Alt-F4:  If checked, press Alt-F4 when a Bar is the foreground window will not close the bar.

Use timer:  If checked, a timer will be used to ensure refresh of active bars and caption-positioned bars.  Normally, should be left unchecked.

Hide caption bars if no active windows:  check to hide bars positioned in the captions when there is no active window.

Show tray iconized windows on active buttons:  check to show windows which PowerPro has tray minimized on active buttons.  Gray check to show all hidden windows.

Dynamically update text on active buttons:  check to have text dynamically updated on active buttons.  You must restart PowerPro after changing this option.  This option may cause the t

askbar to display blank buttons on some Windows systems.

Sort active bar buttons by caption:  If checked, active bar buttons are sorted by caption; if unchecked, buttons are not sorted.

Display menu on mouse down on bar button:  if checked, *Menu Show commands are executed as soon as you click down on a mouse button with this command.  Gray check to have the mouse up select the menu item.  Gray checking is not compatible with checking “Right selects commands in menus option” option (see above).

Include dialog windows for caption position:  check to include dialog windows when positioning bars in captions.

Move Bars to edge:  If checked, PowerPro automatically moves screen edge bar positions to the appropriate screen edge.

Drag to move:  If checked, left click and drag any button to move bar; if unchecked, you must ctrl-left click and drag to move.

Use slide animation:  Bars are shown and hidden using a slide animation (Win98/2000 only).

You can set the marker window size in pixels.  Marker windows can optionally be displayed for hidden bars.

You can set the time the mouse hovers over a button for the button to be clicked, assuming "Hover Clicks" is checked on the command list properties of the bar.

All Bars and Menus

You can set the default color, text color, and font for bars and menus.

Omit these strings :  insert a list of strings separated by commas; these will be removed from the window caption displayed in *Window menus and active buttons.

List of captions of hidden windows   Insert a list of captions for hidden windows to appear on active buttons.

Default background   If set, this background will be used for all bars and menus.  You can override for an individual bar or menu by setting the background for that bar or menu to none.

Special Command Lists

Run Monitor:  If checked, PowerPro will run the command list called Monitor once per second (gray check for once every two seconds).  This can be used to perform background processing, eg updating bar item format.  Make sure to debug your command list by manually *Script Running it before activating the repeated running.  You can also used the command *Exec Monitor reverse to set or clear the repeated running of the Monitor command list.

Use PowerPro tooltips:  If checked, PowerPro will draw tool tips for its tray icons; this allows multi-line tool tips.

Using the drop down boxes, you can specify that the commands on a command list should be used for:

to display tray icons

to provide a command list to control commands to be run when a specified  window first opens

to provide a command list control the icons assigned to tray minimized windows

to provide a command list control the icons assigned to active buttons


Command Lists Dialog

Samples

Purpose

The command list dialog is used to create the list of commands for:

display as a menu

display as a bar

displaying tray icons

running as a script

creating keyboard macros

creating commands to run when windows first open

creating items to put on explorer context menus

There are two steps involved with using these features:  use the Command Lists dialog to create the list of commands and then use a command like *Menu show or *Bar show to display the command list as a menu or a bar.

Configuration

Select the command list you want to work with from the drop down at the top of the dialog, or, to create a new one press New list.  Press Properties to control how the command list will be displayed as a menu or bar.

Select an item and use the controls at the right of the dialog to change it.  You can also right click on an item to access a popup menu of configuration options, or you can double click on the item to change it.  When you edit an item, Windows PowerPro takes note of which column (left, right, middle) you clicked on, and starts the command edit dialog with this column selected from the tabbed dialog.

You can edit item labels in place by clicking on them twice slowly enough to avoid double clicking.  You can see the complete contents of a field which does not fit in its column by holding the mouse over the field which causes a tool tip to appear; you may have to click on the field to update the tool tip.  You can also resize the configuration dialog by dragging any border to see more of the fields in the entries in the command list.

There are several ways to add new items:

By using Add Before and Add After to add an item and configure all commands and features. Click here for details on entering command items.

By dragging them from Explorer or a desktop icon:  Use "Programs" to open an explorer window or use any other explorer window and drag/drop to set the left command, icon, and label from the dropped item.  Or drag a desktop icon to the dialog.  Or, for Win98, you can also drag directly from the start menu.  The item is added after the current selection.

By using Quick Add to add a new item after a selected item and set the left command to a file or a Start Menu entry.  Only the left command and a subset of command features can be set with Quick Add.

Press Apply to immediately test changes using Windows PowerPro.  If you cancel the configuration dialog, applied changes will be removed.

You can also add items to a bar’s command list by right drag/dropping a file, desktop icon, or start menu entry (Win98 only) to a bar and selecting from the menu which results.

If you want Windows PowerPro to automatically display the command list as a bar, check the “Show as Bar” box at the right of the dialog.  You can also use the *Bar command to display bars.


Scheduler Setup

Purpose

Windows PowerPro has alarms to let you start commands at defined times.  The Scheduler Setup dialog provides control of these features.

Configuration

The Scheduler Setup dialog is displayed when the Setup button on the Scheduler dialog is clicked.  Set check boxes to:

Have Windows PowerPro ring alarms which occur when Windows PowerPro is not active.  Otherwise, missed alarms are not rung but are recycled or discarded according to the alarm setting. (However, alarms less than four minutes old are always rung).

Play the alarm sound  when an alarm displays a message box (gray check to loop sounds).

Play the alarm sound when a command is run by an alarm.

Keep an alarm log.

Specify that a ringing alarm should stop any running screen saver.

Specify whether captions for alarm message boxes should be set the to message.

Specify whether changes should be allowed to scheduled messages when they are first shown.

Specify whether or not alarm messages should be shown on top of the active window when the alarm rings.  Gray-check to specify messages to be shown "always on top".

Specify whether Escape should close alarm message boxes.

Specify whether the date picker or separate year/month/day edit boxes should be used to set the date for alamrs in the Scheduled item dialog.

The dialog also contains several drop down lists which you use to:

Set the format for dates in the alarm list.

Set the screen position for alarm message windows.

Set a chime at a regular time during the hour (eg every 15 minutes).

Set a resource warning level percentage to have Windows PowerPro display a message box whenever GDI or USER resources fall below this level.  You can also monitor resource usage with a button label set by the command list item dialog.

Use the Media dialog to set the sound associated with alarms and chiming.

See Also

timers, alarms


Scheduler

Purpose

Use the Scheduler dialog to set alarms to run commands or display messages at predefined times.  You can set alarms to repeat on a regular basis.  You can also set alarms to be run after your computer has been idle for a specified time, after an idle alarm,  and for when Windows PowerPro is initially started.

Configuration

The list box of the alarm contents dialog shows the list of alarms, sorted with the earliest at the top.  Use the New button to add a new alarm, the Delete button to remove an alarm, or use the Edit button or double click on an alarm to change it.  You can also right click on the list of alarms to access a popup menu.

You can see the complete contents of a field which does not fit in its column by holding the mouse over the field which causes a tool tip to appear; you may have to click on the field to update the tool tip. You can also resize the configuration dialog by dragging any border to see more of the fields in the entries in the command list.

Adding or changing an alarm activates the Edit Scheduled Command dialog.  Click here for information on entering information in this dialog.

Further Information

Alarms are usually used to start commands, but you can also use alarms to close running programs by running a *Window close command.

To quickly add a new message box (reminder) alarm, run the *Configure AddReminderMessage command.

To run a series of commands when an alarm is rung, use the alarm to execute a *Script run command.  To run a series of commands at a startup, associate a startup alarm with a script.

You can specify the year, month, day ordering for dates, and other aspects of alarms,  using the Setup dialog.

Windows PowerPro only checks to see if a scheduled event should occur once per minute.  If you set an event for now, it will not occur until the next minute.

PowerPro will not run scheduled events while the Configuration dialog is open.

If you use *Message for the command to show a reminder at the scheduled time, when the message box alarm rings, you can change the message text and re-schedule it, if you like.  Use an option on the scheduler setup dialog to control whether changes are initially allowed on this message dialog (disallowing changes prevents messages being changed accidentally).  You can also use the message dialog to select the time until the next alarm from a drop down box or by entering at as months:days:hours:minutes.  You can request that the message alarm be copied and shown again as well as being saved to be shown again after the interval time.

See Also

scheduler setup, idle


PowerPro Sounds

Windows PowerPro sounds are set from the Media dialog.

You must have a sound card and the appropriate drivers or the PC speaker driver to hear sounds in Windows.

Windows PowerPro supports access to many standard Windows sounds in the Registry plus these sounds:

Windows PowerPro Chime	Plays whenever Windows PowerPro chimes (see Scheduler Setup dialog)

Windows PowerPro Alarm	Plays whenever Windows PowerPro alarms (see Scheduler Setup dialog).  Use a single asterisk to have the PC Speaker beep for alarms.

Windows PowerPro Clip	Plays whenever Windows PowerPro captured a clipboard item.


Media Dialog

Purpose

The Media dialog is used to set sounds, screen saver, and wallpaper, and to control automatic changes of these files by Windows PowerPro.

Configuration

To change sound, wallpaper, or screen saver information, double click on an entry from the list or use the Edit button.

When you select an entry to be edited, you will be able to change the associated file and to select whether and how often PowerPro will automatically change the file.

If you let PowerPro automatically change wallpaper, you can specify that when PowerPro picks a new wallpaper, it should first pick a random folder from the parent of the current wallpaper's folder, then pick a new wallpaper from within that folder.  Check this option to have a random folder chosen only at PowerPro startup or gray check to have a random folder chosen for each automatic change.  You can also specify that wallpaper changes should not occur if a full screen program, like a game or screen saver, is running.

If you use PowerPro to change screen savers, you can select to have PowerPro change the saver each time it is started by PowerPro or the system.

Windows PowerPro allows you to use jpeg files as well as bmp files as wallpaper.

When Windows PowerPro changes the screen saver, you can set whether or not Windows PowerPro will stop any running saver and restart with the new saver using the Setup dialog.


Configuring PowerPro

Purpose

You configure Windows PowerPro buttons, menu contents, media, hot keys, and alarms with the Configure Windows PowerPro set of tabbed dialogs.

You start this dialog by right-clicking anywhere on the Windows PowerPro bar with the Ctrl key pressed, by pressing and holding down any button on a bar, by running the Windows PowerPro configure program pproconf.exe from the Accessories section of your Start menu, or by associating the *Configure built-in command with a button, menu item, or hot key.

Configuration

The command displays a set of tabbed dialogs as follows.  These tabs also correspond to the actions you can select with the *Configure command to control which tab is initially displayed.

Setup sets functions which customize your Windows interface and allow you to enter the code you obtained when you purchase Windows PowerPro.

GUI Control sets functions which customize your Windows interface.

Command Lists allows you to change the contents of command lists.

Key/Mouse allows you to assign commands to hot keys, mouse actions, or screen corners.

Scheduler allows you to add or change alarms.

Timers controls the value and commands of timers.

Media controls the sounds, wallpaper, and screen saver allows you to specify how Windows PowerPro should automatically change them.

Desktop specifies initial name, programs, and wallpaper for virtual desktops

The *Configure command lets you use the action NewReminderMessage to add a new scheduled message.

You can run a script called Reconfigure each time the Configuration dialog is closed with OK by checking "Run Reconfigure script …." on Configure tab of advancedsetup dialog.

Windows PowerPro can position the tabbed configuration dialog as always-on-top; you can change this with advanced dialog.


PowerPro License and Lack of Warranty

The Windows PowerPro program, DLL, Help File,  Word Document File, and readme file are all Copyright 1998 by Bruce Switzer.  All Rights Reserved.

The PowerPro icon was created by Jonas Hjortland.

The code to refresh environment variables was written by Vincent Fatica.

THIS SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.  GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT.  THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.

The 32 bit version of Windows PowerPro is freeware.

Windows PowerPro may not be sold nor be used in any profit-oriented endeavor without the express written permission of the author with the exception that Windows PowerPro may be distributed freely via media intended to make shareware available to the public for trial.  All files, including the Windows PowerPro program, DLL, help file, readme file, license file, and all others in the Windows PowerPro zip file, must be included.

All trademarks used in this Help File are the property of their respective owners and are used for explanatory purposes only.

The jpeg conversion routines in this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.


Installation and Removal

Installation

Double click on setup.exe after unzipping ppro12.zip to a temporary folder.

Removal

Use Control Panel|Add/Remove Programs to uninstall PowerPro.  Or run unwise.exe in PowerPro folder.

To manually remove, delete desktop icons, delete entries from Start Menu using Taskbar Properties|Start Menu programs, and finally delete the file folder containing PowerPro files.


Drag and Drop onto the PowerPro Button Bar

You can left or right drag and drop a set of one or more file names from the Explorer/File Manager or Explorer onto the Windows PowerPro bar to start a command with the file names as the parameters or to configure a new button.

Left drag and drop starts a command with dropped file(s) as the parameter.

Right-drag/dropping file(s) onto the bar activates a menu allowing you to select the button to receive the file or to be configured or to quickly add a new button using the dropped file/shrtocut as the left command. For Windows 98, you can right drag/drop directly from the start menu.

.

For left drag/drop, you may want to drag and drop files in the middle of the command line.  To do so, put the character "|" at the point where you want the dropped files to be placed.  The "|" will be replaced by the dropped files when the command is run and the text following the "|" will follow the dropped files.  Do not forget a space after the "|", if needed.

You can drag and drop files to Active Buttons, and they will be passed to the executing program (if the program does not accept dropped files, you will hear an error beep).

Windows PowerPro always attempts to start a new instance of a command when a file is dropped on a button.


Resource Usage Displays

Samples

Windows PowerPro can display Windows resources on bar button or menu item labels by using the *Info entry from the name field of the Command List Item dialog.

Use any combination of the following keywords in any order to display the resources.  Keywords must be in lower case.

gdi (95/98)	Displays the percentage of free GDI resources
user (95/98)	Displays the percentage of free USER resources.
pkmem	Displays free physical memory in Kilobytes.
pmem	Displays free physical memory in Megabytes.
ppmem	Displays percent free physical memory in Megabytes.
vkmem	Displays free page file plus physical  memory in Kilobytes.
vmem	Displays free page file plus physical  memory in Megabytes.
cpu (95/98)	Percent CPU in use (approximate).
swap (95/98)	Swap file size in megabytes.
swapinuse (95/98)	Swap file size in use in megabytes.
pswapinuse (95/98)	Percentage of swap file in use.
dunin (95/98)	Kilobytes received since DUN modem connected.
dunout (95/98)	Kilobytes sent since DUN modem connected.
dunrate (95/98)	Running average of kilobytes received per second.
battery (95/98/2000)	Percent of battery power remaining; 255% means no information available
allbattery (95/98/2000)	The display consists of these three fields: percent of battery power remaining (255% means no information available) character + if battery charging, - if discharging, ? if unknown charging status AC if ac connected, DC if battery power being used; ?? if unknown.

Any other text in the *info item label is displayed without change.  For example:

*Info gdi/user  "Virtual:" vmem

displays the GDI and User resources separated by a slash, then the word “Virtual”, then the free virtual memory in megabytes.

Resources displays are updated once per second.

If  you are running win95 and the dun modem displays are not working, try upgrading to at least DUN  driver 1.3 driver from Microsoft www.microsoft.com (Dun 1.3 comes with Win98).

Examples

*Info user/gdi pkmemK

shows user and gid resources separated by a slask, them physcial memory followed by "k"; sample output would be 78/80 123K


Caps Lock,  Scroll Lock, and Num Lock

The GUI Control dialog contains check boxes to permit you to control the behavior of the Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock keys.

You can specify that pressing shift always clears caps lock, to avoid reversed mixed case like Windows PowerPro.  Or you can disable the caps lock key completely.

By setting the "Shift Clears Cap Lock" check box to the gray-checked state, you specify that shift should clear caps lock only when a letter is pressed with shift.

You can also completely disable the caps lock key.

You can disable the Scroll Lock key.  This key is rarely used, and when activated unknowingly, causes irritating behavior from the arrow and other keys.

You can disable the Num Lock key.  Check the setting the set the key permanently off; gray check to set the key permanently on.


Active Window Switching with Buttons

Purpose

If you want to configure your own version of the task bar, you can create Windows PowerPro buttons which automatically track each top-level window on your system so you can quickly switch to a new active window by left clicking a button and activate a menu to close or minimize by right clicking the button.  This is an alternative to the list of active windows menu item which can also be used for active window switching.  The advantages of buttons are that all active windows are immediately visible on the button bar and that switching is done with a single click.  The disadvantage of the button bar is that extra desktop space is used.

You can configure active buttons to show icons only, to show the foreground window as a pressed button.  You can also specify that only minimized windows be included.  You can specify the color and commands for middle and right clicking an active button by configuring a special, hidden button at the end of the bar command list and specifying that active buttons should use it for setup.

Configuration

You set up active task buttons with the Command List Properties dialog.  To display active buttons, set the maximum number of buttons to a number greater than zero.  Windows PowerPro will display a button for each active task. You can have active buttons along with normal buttons, or you can have a bar of active buttons only (in which case the command list for the bar is empty).

To display text on active buttons, you must set a button width to accommodate text by configuring the final (or only) command list item to have the desired button width in pixels and by checking "Last for Setup" on the active button tab.

With the width set,  both button and text will be displayed on an active button.  To display the icon only, check Icons Only.

To display the foreground (active) window as a pressed button, check Foreground.

To display only minimized windows as active buttons, check Min Only.

To select which windows appear as active buttons, enter captions in the edit box of Active Button properties.

To ensure that active button text is dynamically updated, check "Dynamically update active button text" on Command List|Setup|All Bars.

You can control the look of active buttons and the right and middle click commands for all active buttons by checking Last  for setup.  In this case, include an extra item in the command list at the end.  This last item in the command list is not displayed as a button.  Instead its text and background colors and its right and middle commands are assigned to each active button.  If you assign a *Windows command to this last button, use the activebar target window to have the *Window action apply to the window selected by the active button.

Normally, the bar size is fixed and the buttons grow and shrink. Instead, you can cause the bar itself to set its size according to the number of active buttons by checking “Bar size set to sum of  buttons” on Bar Properties or the Look submenu shown by ctrl-right clicking the bar. Set the button width for on the “Last item for setup” button; otherwise the button width will be set to the width of an icon.

Further Information

When displaying the icon for a window on a button, Windows PowerPro normally uses the  window class icon.  You can specify your own icons for programs by creating a special command list and selecting this command list with the icon menu drop down on the Command List Setup dialog.  Create one entry in the list for each program with an icon that you want to specify.  Set the list item name to =exename, where exename is the name of the program exe file without the path and without the .exe extension (eg =winword for Microsoft Word).  Leave the item commands set to (none).  Set the item icon to the icon you wish to use for all windows from exename.

You can control whether hidden and tray minimized windows are displayed on active buttons with a check box on the Menu and Bar Setup dialog.  You can also use this dialog to select specific hidden windows to be displayed by including them in  a caption list.

You can use the omit list to cause any active window to be excluded from the active task buttons or to edit the name of text for the active task buttons. Or, you can use the *Exec Window built-in command to hide the window.

You can cause activated task windows to be centered using a switch on the GUI Control dialog.   Gray check to center the mouse cursor as well.

You can control whether or not active buttons are sorted by caption using Menu and Bar Setup dialog.  If sorted, you can control the sort order of active buttons by using the “Sort order for active buttons” edit box on the command list setup.  Enter a list of caption entries separated by commas and using *xxx* for captions containing xxx, xxx* for captions starting with xxx, *xxx for captions ending in xxx.  Then any active buttons with captions matching the first entry will sort to the start of the bar, followed by any matching the second, and so  on; captions not matched appear at the end.  For example, if this field was set to *explor*,*agent* then any windows containing explor in the caption would start, followed by any containing agent, followed by all others.  Note:  all spaces are used when matching, so avoid unwanted spaces when using the comma separator.

Some programs interfere with the hooks PowerPro uses to track active windows for the active bar.  If you find PowerPro active bars are not responsive, try checking "Use timer for active buttons" on advanced dialog.


Omitting Windows and Words from Active Window Lists

You can use the omit list edit box on the Menu and Bar Setup dialog dialog to omit either words from a window name or to omit windows completely from the list of active windows or the active task buttons.

To omit a word, type the word followed by a comma.  For example, you could use this technique to delete vendor names.

To omit an entire window, type the window name as it appears in the caption title of the window followed by a comma, e.g. Program Manager in the omit list will mean that no entry for Program Manager will appear.

If you include a string followed by an asterisk (*) and comma in the omit list, then any active window with caption text starting with that string will be deleted.  For example, 1MBFort* will delete any program name starting with 1MBFort.

You can also delete any window associated with the program filename.exe by including =filename in the omit list (no .exe, no path).

Examples

Specify

Microsoft,*Notepad

to remove Microsoft from all window titles and to remove any text entry ending in "notepad".


Hiding Windows

You can use the *Exec Hide Window built-in command to hide windows.  You might use this if you do not want a window to appear on the Wndows TaskBar, or the Windows PowerPro the list of active windows or the active task buttons.

When you execute a hide window command, the cursor changes to a cross.  Left click on the window you wish to hide.  This window, its top-level parent, and all the parent’s children will be hidden.

You cannot hide a Windows PowerPro window or the desktop window.  Some other programs will also refuse to be hidden.

If you execute hide window but then decide you do not want to hide a window, left click the mouse on the desktop or on a Windows PowerPro window to cancel the operation.

If you want to show a hidden window, configure a Windows PowerPro list of active windows to show hidden windows, assign this command to a menu, then execute the menu and select the hidden window from the list.

If you are hiding windows to remove them from the TaskBar, you may want to use tray minimization instead.


Hints and Tips

Following is a list of Windows PowerPro features you may be interested in trying.  Click on the o to see help information.  Also see New for This Release.

o screen bumps, mouse button press and hold, short mouse drags, mouse strokes, and other key/mouse actions to run commands or show menus

o showing and moving the PowerPro bar temporarily to the mouse cursor

o program-specific menu contents

o program-specific hot keys

o pressing bar buttons using the keyboard

o  minimize memory use for any program with MinMemory and *Window (NT only).  Put this command on an alarm to repeat periodically.

o automatically running commands when windows open (eg sending keys to push buttons on the new window)

o multiple commands in launched from one button, menu entry, or hot key.

o you can use the middle mouse button for several functions, including scrolling.

o wait for specific events or for a specified time

o working with explorer windows

o drag/drop files from Explorer/File Manager to a button to start the button command using that file.

o configuring a button by pressing and holding it.

o moving and sizing a window through a *Window command attached to any hot key

o using Ctrl for Enter and Shift for down arrow when displaying menus from hot keys to allow easier navigation of menus shown from hot keys including Ctrl of Shift.

o you can use the menu item name to configure mnemonic keys to select a menu item with one key stroke.  You can use these mnemonics as hot keys for applications (ie use hot key to bring up a menu, and then mnemonic key to select item).

o positioning the bar in the caption of or beside the active window.

o quickly exiting windows with "Quick Win Exit" built-in (no confirmation unless you have unsaved info).

o for command line fans, a tiny run box command.

o control of caps lock and scroll key behavior.

o prompting for command parameters by putting a ? after the command name.

o viewing mouse position and window size coordinates

o ou can use a command list of *Keys commands to have a list of favorite folders to select from for use in open/save dialogs.

o sending a sequence of mouse clicks and moves

o running programs after the system is idle for a specified time


Timers

Purpose

Windows PowerPro has 26 timers that you can control and optionally display as button labels.  The timers are identified by the single-letter labels a, b, c, ..., z.

Timers can be used to launch commands at three different times:  when the timer starts, when it stops, and at a specified reset interval.

Timers can also be used to track time spent online or using a specific program.  Windows PowerPro can produce a timer log to detail this tracking information.

Configuration

You can change timer settings using the dialog or using commands.

To access timers from a dialog, select the Timers tab from the configuration dialog.  Click here for information on using this dialog.

The following describes how to access timers from commands.

You can also start, stop, toggle, and clear any of the timers with built-in  *Timer commands.  This command allows the following actions:

Start	starts the indicated timers

Stop	stops in indicated timers

StartStop	start the timer if stopped; stops it if it is running.

Clear	zeros the timer

Set	sets and starts or stops the timer

For Start, Stop, StartStop and Clear, you also need to enter the single letter identifications of the timers to be affected.  You can enter more that one timer, but do not put blanks between the letter of the timers.

You can also use the Set Timer command to start, stop, or toggle timers and to set their value.

Using the item dialog, you can have Windows PowerPro place a timer as the label on any button.  Use the *Timer entry for the item name field in this dialog to indicate which timer is to be displayed.  You can also a label is to be shown with the timer value.

Examples

*Timer Clear a

clears timer a.

*Timer StartStop cg

starts timers c and g if they are running and stops them otherwise.

Further Information

A running timer is displayed in the form hhhh.mm (hours, then a period, then minutes).

A stopped timer is displayed in the form hhhhxmm.

To automatically clear a saved timers once per day, set up an alarm with these characteristics (using timers c and g for example):

Time:	12:01 AM

Interval	Alarm again in 1 day

Command: 	*Timer Clear cg

The "Ring Missed Alarms" checkbox on the Setup dialog must also be checked for this to work (unless you start Windows PowerPro each day at 12:01!).  You can use a similar technique to clear timers once per month (ring on first of month at 12:01)

You can ask Windows PowerPro to log all timer events in a file.  Check the “Timer Log” checkbox on the timers tab to log all timers.  To log only some timers, check the Log check box on the individual timer configuration dialog.


Positioning PowerPro Bars in the Foreground Window
Positioning PowerPro Bars in or beside the Foreground Window

You can position Windows PowerPro bars at the left, middle, or right of the foreground window caption or to the left, right, below or above the foreground window by selecting such a position in the Bar Properties.  You can also fine tune the resulting position by specifying an offset for the bar from the base position with this dialog.

Use Default Menu and Bar  to avoid putting Windows PowerPro bars in captions of or beside dialog boxes.

When there is no active window to use for the position, the bar will move to a default position on your desktop which you have previously determined by ctrl-left dragging the bar to that position.  Or, you can specify that the bar be hidden in this circumstance by checking the appropriate check box on the Default Menu and Bar dialog.

If you want to make the window visible only if certain windows are active, use *Format Context at the start of the bar command list.  For example, you could use this approach to create your own toolbar for a window (eg a toolbar of frequently used folders visible only for open/save dialogs).  You can have many bars with visibility dependent on the active window:  each positioned  in the caption of or beside windows but only visible if the specified *Format Context windows are active.

You can move bars positioned in or beside the foreground window by dragging them if they are overlapping part of the window.  These bars will be not be repositioned by PowerPro until a new window becomes active.


Timer Logs

You can ask Windows PowerPro to log timer events by using the Timer Log check box on the Timer dialog or the Log check box on the individual timer configuration.

The log file will have the same name as the configuration file used for Windows PowerPro, except that the file extension will be .timerlog.  For example, the log file for the default configuration is PowerPro.timerlog.  The log is always placed in the same directory as the Windows PowerPro .pcf file.

A log file entry will be written whenever a timer starts, stops, is cleared, or is re-set.  As well, when Windows PowerPro shuts down, a stop timer entry will be written for any running timers.  When Windows PowerPro starts up, a start timer entry will be written for any automatic start timers.

The logs have fixed-format records structured as follows

Column	Contents

 1	Always blank.

 2-8	Button of last timer command.

 9	Always blank.

 10	Timer id (single character).

 11	Always blank.

 12	Action:  "+" if timer started, "-" if timer stopped, "0” if cleared, “R” if reset

 13	Always blank.

 14-17	Year when event recorded.

18	Always blank.

19-20	Month.

21	Always blank.

22-23	Day.

24	Always blank.

25-26	Hour (military clock, ie 24 hour time)

27	Always blank.

28-29	Minute

30	Always blank.

31-32	Second

33	Always blank.

34-41	Total timer value in seconds.

42	Always blank.

43-47	Whole hours in the  timer.

48	Always blank.

49-50	Whole minutes in the timer.

51	Always blank.

52-53	Seconds in the timer.

To be clear:  the timer value is shown in two different formats:  columns 29-36 show the timer value in seconds.  Columns 38-48 show the timer value as hours, minutes, seconds.


Running Multiple Commands

There are two ways to run multiple commands:

put all the commands on a command list and use *Script,

or configure the commands to run from a single set of command entry controls.

Using a script is the most general way to specify multiple commands and works for any number of commands which you can store in either a command list or a file.

Using the command entry controls, you can avoid a command list or script file, and specify three or four commands in the More Commands edit box to enter the second and subsequent commands.  If there is only one command enter it directly or use the button to display an entry dialog.  If there is more than one command in this edit box, you must separate them by the command separator character you specify on the advanced dialog.

You can include the command separator character in a command (without it acting as a separator) by preceding it with a single ', e.g.

doscom '<input.txt

If you specify a file name with blanks as a command, you must put it in double quotations.

Examples

Command:	c:\windows\Notepad

More Commands	*wait 1<*keys hello

Starts notepad, waits for 1 second, then sends the keys “hello”.

Command:	c:\windows\write

More Commands	c:\sounds\hello.wav

Starts Textpad and plays the specified .wav file; check "Play .wavs files" on  advanced dialog to avoid any media player windows.


New Features

Following is a list of new Windows PowerPro features for each version.

Version 3.2  (May 2001)

o  select option on setup|advanced|other to replace %environment var% throughout command

o Added Skin *Bar option menusepcolorheight and menusepcolorbottom

o Use *Clip Capture to suspend and resume clip capture

Bug Fixes

Foreground window properly set with W2K *Menu Folder launch of .url

Active bar positioning now works with multiple monitors

W2K Windows installer shortcuts now handled

;+ hotkeys now work with MS Office

Improved handling of minimized windows

No longer shows ' when using 'prompt char

Fixed problem with traymin from menu in W2k

Version 3.1  (Feb 2001)

o  add revindex string operator, max, min operators, currentdir, deskempty keywords

o Use *Script run/runfile bbb =value to run bbb with x9 set to value

o You can have unsorted active bars using Command List|Setup|All Bars.

o Added *Window action MinRestore

Bug Fixes

You can now use chars >127 for command separator, prompt, script var (enter with alt+0xxx where xxx are numeric pad digits,  e.g. alt+0191 = ¿ on North American English keyboard)

Menu followed by More Commands now execute in sequence

Unset variables now start at 0 in arithmetic and empty string for string ops

Expression processor now reentrant to allow input operator and expression from timer

Mouse wheel  works for Notes

Script files no longer run .exes with "switch to if active" set

Fixed Wheel forward/back hot keys for W2K

*Window Position with now interprets negative x, y as absolute position; use +-x for relative

Timers logged at Windows shutdown

Version 2.9  (Jan 2001)

o Many changes to scripts, including expressions, local variables x0-x9, ifx-else-endif

o Added rollup and related features to notes.

o Syntax of *Exec ToFile has changed and you may have to modify your configuration; apologies for any inconvenience.

o Added *wait sleep for short waits which can be used in any script.

o Use time in *info for control panel, regional, time format

o Plugins programs can now be written for PowerPro.

o Use quote (') to remove special meaning for prompt or variable insertion character

o You can prompt for yes/no/cancel.

o You can set environment variables.

o Add *clip commands Copy, Cut, Paste; renamed clipto.

o You can run ClipCaptured command list when clips are captured.

o You can export or import timer information.

o You can export or import text configuration info using a command line.

o Insert lines into bars with *Format BarVerticalLine or *Format NewBarRowLine.

o You can control when tool tips are prepared after a button is pressed.

o You can display expressions in *Info labels and tool tips.

o You can specify that caption lists should not match dialogs.

o You can use mouse wheel forward/back and back/forward as hot keys (not for win95.)

Bug Fixes

*desktop Taskbarhide now reliable with W2K

Improved randomization in media tab

You can now import/export scheduled events to a text file

Press hold a button and right drag drop to configure now select proper tab in configure script item

PowerPro now always reshows open notes at startup

You can have multi-line tray text replacing clock by setting item height and width of *info item

modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt, win) now work with bump screen edge hot keys

Timers can be reset from configuration dialog

Folder buttons now treat shortcuts to folders like the underlying folder

Note titles can now contain non-English characters

Fixed problems with *Message n text cancellation

If configured on setup|advanced|other, play .Wav files internally from *File RunRandom

*Exec Explorer Control Panel improved for non-English

Fixed problem with *Clip CopyTo and renamed

Folder button bars now cache icons for greater stability and improved performance

PowerPro now assumes extension .powerpro or .txt on *Script runfile (both are tried)

Clip files not sorted alphabetically

Macros can now be used in notes

Version 2.8  (Nov 2000)

o Added *Note command for "virtual sticky notes".

o Use *Exec Explorer * to open explorer on working directory of foreground window

o Exec WindowInfo now shows edit box contents when cursor over edit box

o Added single level undelete to command lists configuration

o Added delay to clip history tracking which may help prevent aborts

o You can show a menu for command parameters with ??filemenu c:\path\info.txt?.

;+key hot keys no long cause key to become hotkey if key|setup "hot keys to dos box" checked

improved stability of *Exec NewConfiguration

PowerPro no longer puts .urls files into recent documents folder

Fixed option to prevent Alt-F4 from closing bar

*Exec ToFile now appends instead of overwriting

Fixed problem where timers lost 2-3 seconds per minute

Version 2.7  (June 2000)

Bug Fixes

Parameter entry dialogs no longer take focus

Startup alarms done before all other alarms

Parameter entry works with macros regardless of title

Size of *Format Context bars no longer corrupted by display change

More Commands now works after *Script RunFile

Version 2.6  (April 2000)

o You can position menus aligned with buttons they are shown from.

o Use *Bar SelectSubbarToButton to show a bar aligned to pressed button.

o Use format dialog to align *Menu Folder with last pressed button.

o You can specify run if missed separately for each alarm.

o Use *wallpaper change to either random or sequential wallpaper change.

o Use *ScreenSaver change to either random or sequential saver change.

o Added *Exec Print.

o You can specify hot key targets based on mouse position.

o You can set title for prompt dialog with ??title here? where ? is prompt character.

Improved handling of quotes for Context and ContextFolder.

Alarm messages “Allow changes” can no longer be changed from keyboard

Improved reliability of screen bump/corner mouse actions hot keys

Version 2.5  (March 2000)

o You can have active button text dynamically updated.

o  You can pack many menus into one command list by surrounding each menu with *Format Startsubbar/*Format Endsubbar and using *Menu Show with @xxx in second edit entry.

o PowerPro can show all tray icons as active buttons or on a menu (98/95/2000 only).

o Added *Exec LogKeys to log keystrokes to a file.

o Added post-idle alarms (scheduled events).

o Access default printer with *Info defaultprinter and *Script set p *defaultprinter

o Added *Exec Explorer2 for 2-pane explorer windows.

o Use *Exec FindFiles to show FindFiles dialog .

o Use *Exec NewFolder to create a new folder.

o You can use repeat counts up to 29 with *Keys special characters, eg {left 5}.

o Add more options for folder buttons display.

o Added soundshow, soundhide, maxmenuwidth options for skins.

o You can prefix clip names with a timestamp.

o Use *Script set v *xmouse, *ymouse, *xscreen, *yscreen

Bug Fixes

Fixed aborts which sometimes occurred when adding/removing new command list.

Fixed bold and weight keywords on *Font for skins.

Autohide bars now hide when Windows toolbars are used.

Max text length for *Menu Folder works and is increased to 126.

Locked position bars no longer move to accommodate the taskbar

Menu background improved for multi-column menus (98/2000 only)

Fixed problem with freezes in NT when using explorer folder tracking

*Menu Folder noext now works with single letter file names

Fixed intermitten problems with *keys {from …}

Version 2.4  (January 2000)

o PowerPro now supports skins to change bar/button shape and look.

o You can set height of individual buttons on bars.

o Put ^ at start of trayicon identifier to avoid error message.

o Use *Exec ChangeConfiguration to change to a new configuration file.

o Use *Desktop ShowTaskbarAutohide to help eliminate unwanted shows of autohide taskbar.

o *Bar Format changes bar background, autohide interval, or position.

o *Bar commands can specify slide animation.

o You can specify logging separately for each alarm.

o You can select which button command is activated by hover or deactivate hover for a button

o You can also resize the configuration dialog by dragging any border to see more of the fields in the entries in the command list (replaces wide configuration option).

o Documented how to share configurations.

o Backgrounds now work for menus.

o Full screen edge bar positions now supported.

o You can show current subbar name on button or menu with *Info subbarname.

o Use *Exec CD to access audio CD or to eject any C.

o Use *Info to display current CD track and last track.

o Use {pad0}…{pad9} to send numpad keys, eg {alt}{pad1}{pad5}{pad5}{alt} sends alt+155 = ¢

o Gray check "play sound for message" to loop sound until message box closed.

o Use advanced|setup to change not char ~ used in hot key targets and to match windows.

o Check "Recognize keyboard hotkeys…" on key|setup to allow PowerPro to recognized keyboard hotkeys if a console or Dos window is active.

o Use setmci to access multimedia devices with mci command strings

o Use test button to try entered command on configuration

o You can set a variable to *user, *gdi, *cpu, *SubbarName, *window left, top, width, height.

Bug Fixes

Buttons now hidden if "Hidden" checked on configuration

Hidden buttons no longer shown by subbars

"Cursor to default button" no longer responds to invisible windows

Mouse click hot keys with targets now more reliable

hover clicking at now sets "last button clicked" for *Format item

*Format Contextif &v now works for script variable v

For .bmp backgrounds, script files, icon files, and shortcuts run as commands:  if a relative path like shared\run.lnk or back.bmp is used for these types of files, PowerPro assumes the file resides in the same folder as the configuration file.

sorttime now works for embedded *Menu Folder

allow any valid file character in captured clip names

fix problems with  tray minimization for console apps

apply then cancel always reverts to original configuration

Version 2.3  (November  1999)

o You can set a variable to *volume and you can check for mounted disk volume with if mounted drive:

o Use {prevshort} and {nextshort} with *Keys to send previous day's and next day's dates

o For *Menu Folder, you can specify the command to use to explore file folders when "Add Explorer Entry" format option is checked

o You can use || in command for explorer right-click menu to indicate that the path to the selected file should be placed on the command line

o Use explorer, explorer1, explorer2 when matching windows (eg in autorun or hot key targets) to select explorer program single pane or dual pane windows

Bug Fixes

fixed problems with *Menu FavFolder and invalid file …_any.txt message

fixed problem with selecting large icons for bars

*Format ContextIf no longer blanks parameter field on initialization

Icons will be fetched from files on removable volumes if mounted (except drive a:)

Hidden bars which are not autoshow will not be shown when you reconfigure

You can use *Macro macros in PowerPro ? parameter entry and tiny run box

Improved *wait last/done and wait ready

Fixed reversal of interpretation of *Info fields h and hh

Version 2.2  (October 1999)

o PowerPro can track folders used in fileopen/save dialogs

o Improved favorite folders implementation; you will need to change your configuration if you used *Keys {to folder} from version 2.1.

o You can specify that double tapping is needed for functions keys used as hot keys

o You can include any *Info dynamic displays in tooltips for bars, menus, or tray icons

o *Exec VolumeWav and *Exec VolumeAll added and can set volume relative to current setting.

o Select keys to be sent from a menu with {filemenu c:\path\items.txt}.

o Use filedialog when matching windows (eg in autorun) to select file open save/as dialogs

o You can omit Script from *Script commands in script files (eg use *if instead of *Script if)

o  Renamed *Exec Movesize to *Exec WindowInfo

Bug Fixes

fixed problems with *File Move

fixed intermittent aborts with autohide menus

autohide bars now hide if interval less than 100 ms

fixed problems with script variables in if statements in script files

*Bar ToMouse no longer hides bars unless hide after is set on bar properties

improved drag drop in command list configuration

Version 2.1  (September 1999)

o *Exec CalcCalendar shows two dates/calendars along with day number, week number, differences between dates.

o you put a script of commands in a file.

o you can have PowerPro automatically create bar buttons from the entries in a file folder (like Windows toolbars).

o*Menu folder now displays shell folders like control panel as menus (use *Exec Explorer for explorer view)

o You can search and replace text in the configuration file

o You can use a command list of *Keys commands to have a list of favorite folders to select from for use in open/save dialogs.

o *Exec NewFolder creates new file folders

o *Exec explorer shows explorer window of file folders or special folders (like control panel); *Menu Folder no longer does this.

o You can run Reconfigure command list after OK is pressed on configure dialog to (eg) restart *waits or reset *Format Items.

o Buttons can be automatically left-clicked after the mouse has hovered over the button for a specified time

o Tool tips show full value of entries shorted with … in column lists in configuration dialog

o You can hide/show bars and tool tips using slide animation (win 98/2000 only)

o *Exec HotKeys enables or disables all hot keys.

o *Exec EmptyRecycleBin empties the recycle bin.

o *File Extchange adds, removes, or changes file extensions.

oyou can specify vertical and rotated text for buttons.

o you can use wildcards with *File Copy and *File Rename.

o You can change icons and tool tips with *Format Item, including icons of tray icons items.

o *Clip delete shows a menu of clips and deletes selected one.

o You can position bars beside or above or below the active window.

o You can set a variable to date, time, or day of week (*Date, *Time, *DayOfWeek).  You can check for greater and less than or equal relationships of variables.

o You can use timers to run commands scripts at an interval of 1 second or more using reset interval.

o Use *Keys {from c:\path\filename.txt} to send keystrokes contained in filename.txt (newlines in file are ignored).

Bug Fixes

*Window Close All and *Window - active no longer affect bars

Fixed problem with *Macro sometimes needing to be entered twice in IE

If command on context menu does not specify work directory, then directory of selected file used

Pressing both mouse buttons at once on bar button for middle now more reliable and less dependent on timing of presses

Fixed autosave on timer buttons; also timer values now automatically saved at shutdown even if autosave not checked

Fixed abort if *Bar Show executed in alarm at startup

Version 1.9 (June 1999)

o Changed implementation of dynamic labels.

o You can use if conditions in *Format ContextIf for menus.

o *File Copy and Rename can work with a folder as the target.

o You can display swap file info with *Resources.

o You can display modem received/sent info with *Resources (Win95/98 only).

o You can define your own entries for Explorer right click context menus for folders

o You can join a string to a variable with *Script setjoin.

o Add top not-ontop action for *window.

o You can repeatedly run a script called Monitor in background.

o Use *.as background bmp to refer to current wallpaper under bar

o You can eliminate bar flicker, especially useful for gradient and bitmap-background bars.

Bug Fixes

Fixed problems with sorting task bars when IE5 installed

Marker window now moves if showing when screen resolution changes

Version 1.8 (May 1999)

o You can initially disable changes to fields on scheduled messages.

o *Menu Explorer can now capture up to 95 most recent explorer folders.

o You can drag/drop files or desktop icons to command configuration dialogs.

o You can gray check “Track explorer folders” on setup dialog to capture all folders navigated when explorer windows are navigated.

o *Exec Tile tiles active windows.

o *Menu UnderMouse shows menu bar of window under the mouse (95/98 only)

o *Menu Folder desktop now includes non-shortcuts on desktop.

o  Added *Shutdown Standby to move to standby power mode.

o You can save column widths from configuration dialog (replaces “Wide left column” option)

o  You can specify a command list to be run before each time you switch to a new desktop.

o Added “process open-with extensions” check box to advanced dialog which also fixes problems with *wait ready.

Bug Fixes

Active buttons now show windows without captions (but with window text)

Fixed scroll problems with MS Excel split and frozen window

Manual scroll no longer starts autoscroll unless mouse is near edge of window

*Menu folder tool tip timer on advanced setup fixed and you can indicate tool tips for *Clip menu only

Improved initial configuration wizard

Removed mouse capture problem when gray checking middle scroll checkbox

Version 1.7 (March 1999)

o You can check for empty vdesks with *Script if vdeskempty.

o You can select substrings with setleft, setright, setmiddle.

o You can access desktop name with *Script set *desktop

o You can access foreground window caption and exe name with *Script set

o You can test if a variable contains a string *Script if contains

o You can expand folder shortcuts in *Menu Folder using format keyword foldershortcuts

o  You can specify a command list to be run after each time you switch to a new desktop.

Bug Fixes

Idle alarms now work when they are first alarm

Refresh environment now automatic and no longer required checking option

Fixed Word 97 aborts when using clip history

Explorer window tracking now handles Recycle Bin and My Computer

Fixed wallpaper change at timed interval

Improved reliability of caption window position

Version 1.6 (February 1999)

o You can set TaskBar button sizes and sort order.

o You can refresh environment variables with *Exec RefreshEnvironment or advanced setup.

o You can show a calendar with *Exec Calendar.

o Use *Vdesk MoveAutorun with autorun command list to move newly created windows to specified desktop.

Bug Fixes

Tray icon removed when tray minimized window closes while still in tray

Pick right icon for tray min icon set from command list

Fixed week number

Fixed *Wallpaper change with random parent

*Variable no longer displays variable id in label

Fixed aborts in NT when *Bar SelectSubbar selected in configuration

Fixed timer log to show 0 when cleared, R when reset

Version 1.5 (February 1999)

There was no version 1.5.

Version 1.4 (January 1999)

o *Menu Folder can handle up 13000 files and you can exclude folders.

o You can define your own entries for Explorer right click context menus

o You can specify commands lists for bars in vdesk initialization.

o You can drag drop items to command list configuration list of items.

o Added Quick Add for command list configure.

o Bars can have more icon sizes.

o Icons can be shown on the right of button text.

o You can stop wallpaper changes while a full screen program is running.

o You can save/restore mouse position.

o Use Alt+click to configure menu associated with Bar button.

o You can make the path to the configuration file depend on the current user.

o Reduce button height by gray-checking "Less 3D effect" on Command List|Setup.

o You can force all programs on a script closed.

o You can display different subsets of bar buttons.

o You can run built-in commands from a PowerPro command line.

o You can refresh active buttons using a timer if the normal refresh does not work.

o Added samples.

Bug Fixes

xxx* now matches caption consisting solely of xxx

*Exec movesize now always shows parent window information

Vertical orientation now works in vertical task bar position

Right clicking folders now works on *Menu Folder Nosubdir folders

Hidden items now hidden when command list displayed as menu

Version 1.3 (December 1998)

o You automatically restore desktop icon positions when display resolution changes.

o You can specify sort order for *Menu Explorer.

o You can specify that left click and drag moves floating bars (no Ctrl).

o You control num lock behavior.

o You can control maximum size of tracked clipboard entries.

o You can specify autoscroll by mouse click only.

o You can reduce width or height of windows with *Window position.

o Automatic configuration backups are created unless specified otherwise on Advanced setup.

Bug Fixes

Fixed caption position

*Dos now works for *Exec command list

Fixed *File Copy

Fixed problems *Menu Folder format configuration

Fixed problems with import

Menus items with command of (none) now are displayed

Fixed shortcut to folder in *menu Folder

Fixed open/save as window expand with certain programs (eg Agent newsreader).

Version 1.2 (November 1998)

o Add showhide command for *Bar.

o Add fixed positions to Bar Positions.

o You can widen configuration dialogs using advanced dialog.

o Use GUI to have PowerPro force new windows completely on screen.

o You can capture active window positions when configuring *Window Position.

o Put strings in quotes to prevent scanning in *DTFormat.

o Add volume command for *Exec.

o You can add or subtract values from timers.

o you can temporarily disable scheduled events.

o you can specify initial desktop names, wallpaper, and initial programs.

o you can show button for active virtual desktop as pressed.

o use *File DeleteNoRecycle to delete files without sending them to the recycle bin.

o you can pick a random folder from parent when automatically changing wallpaper

o *Exec browserun can now handle a starting folder

o You can stop alt-F4 from closing bars using advanced setup.

o Gradient bar coloring available.

Bug Fixes

Fixed Copy/Move for command lists

Command parameters entry now gets focus when activated by hot key command

Fixed Import from text comand on Setup tab

Fixed close when inactive of tiny type and run

shortened autohide intervals for menus

fixed *desktopnumber label

fixed Omit List with active button labels

fixed alarm date format drop down on scheduler setup

fixed aborts with *Macro keys

hot keys and mouse actions now more reliable when PowerPro stopped and restarted

improved reliability of bumping screen edge to show bar

fixed problems with Browse and Run

fixed problems with left-handed mouse configuration

empty command (none) no longer gives error message

fixed hang with taskbar position at NT shutdown

Version 1.1 (October 1998)

Initial release


Hot Keys and Mouse Action Commands

Samples

Purpose

Use Hot keys to expand the way you interact with Windows.

Use Hot/Keys and mouse actions to assign a hot key or a mouse movement to starting a program, changing the look of a window, changing your windows configuration, sending keys, showing a menu, or performing any other Windows PowerPro built-in (* command) function.

Configuration

The Keys/Mouse dialog is displayed when you click on the Keys/Mouse tab.  Press Add to add a new hot key, Delete to remove one, and Edit (or right or left doubleclick) to change a hot key.  Or you can right click on an item to access these functions from a menu.

Click the buttons at the top of the columns to change the sort order.

You can see the complete contents of a field which does not fit in its column by holding the mouse over the field which causes a tool tip to appear; you may have to click on the field to update the tool tip. You can also resize the configuration dialog by dragging any border to see more of the fields in the entries in the command list.

Click here for information on using this dialog to enter hot key data.

Further Information

Hotkeys normally do not function if a Dos or console windows is active.  But you can change this and many other aspects of hot key performance with the Setup dialog:

You can create global macro keys to paste text phrases or paragraphs by assigning the *Keys built-in command or the *Clip File command to a hot key.  Or create a menu of *Keys commands and *Menu Show the menu using a hot key/mouse action.

You can assign double click to middle clicking the mouse by associating the middle anywhere hot key with the *Mouse command *Mouse leftdouble.

By using mouse stroke hot keys which execute *Menu Show commands and which depend on which program is active, you can define menus which depend on the active program and which appear after a mouse stroke.

The Win modifier key is also used internally by Windows; you cannot redefine hot keys that Windows has already defined.

Note on chording:  some mouse drivers "miss" the second mouse up when two mouse keys are released at once leading to strange mouse behaviour; to clear, you may have to press and release each mouse key separately.


Features of NT and Win95 Versions of PowerPro

Windows PowerPro  is a 32 bit implementation:  there is one version of the program which runs in all 32 bit versions of Windows.

The following restrictions apply to the Windows NT version of Windows PowerPro, resulting from limitations in Windows NT as compared to Windows 95/98:

Windows GDI and user free resources are always 99

Windows PowerPro does not handle special font/color settings for console apps

The *Menu of Window under Mouse command is not supported in Windows NT.

Windows NT is capable of running 16 bit programs in separate Virtual Dos Machines (VDMs).  To do this in Windows PowerPro, set up the command and parameters as follows:

Command:  cmd

Parameter : /c start /separate c:/yourpath/win16.exe commandargs


Alarm Log

You can ask Windows PowerPro to log alarm events by using the Keep Alarm Log check box on the Scheduler Setup dialog.

The log file will have the same name as the configuration file used of Windows PowerPro, except that the file extension will be .alarmlog.  For example, the log file for the default configuration is PowerPro.pcfg.alarmlog.  The log is always placed in the same directory as the Windows PowerPro .pcfg file.

A log file entry will be written whenever an alarm rings.  It will consist of the following fields, separated by blanks:

Current Year

Current Month

Current Hour

Current Minute

Alarm Year

Alarm Month

Alarm Hour

Alarm Minute

Alarm command and parameters.

Alarm work directory/message.


PowerPro *File Commands

PowerPro has internal file manipulation commands for renaming, copying, and deleting files.  You can also select a file at random from a folder and copy it over a specified file.

The *File actions are

copy	copies one file path to a second path; you can use wildcards to copy many files

rename	renames one file path to another: can be used to move files to another folder; you can use wildcards to move/rename many files

move	same as rename

extchange	Change, remove, or add a file extension.

delete	deletes a file; you can use wildcards to delete a set of files

deletenorecycle	deletes a file without putting it in the recycle bin;

copyrandom	copies a randomly selected file to a specified file path

runrandom	runs a randomly selected file

commandrandom	runs a command with a randomly selected file as a parameter

Put double quotation marks around file paths which contain blanks.

For Copy and Rename, if the second path is a folder, then the file name for this target is taken from the file name of the first path.

If you check "Confirm" in configuration, then deletes or overwrites of a file or creation of a new directory will be confirmed first.  If you check "Folders", then folders will be included in *.* wild card operations.

Extchange works as follows:  First put a file path to be changed, possibly with wildcards, or use | as the first file name if the *File Extchange command is in a context menu.  After this first file path, put a single dash (-) to remove the extension, or +xxx to add .xxx as the extension, or yyy to replace current extension with yyy.  For example, if a context menu contained

*File Extchange

| +jpg

adds .jpg to the files selected in explorer when the context menu is clicked.

Click here for more information on copying and running commands with random files.

Examples

*File

Copy

c:\mypath\in.txt c:\output\out.txt

copies in.txt to out.txt.

*File

Rename

c:\mypath\in.txt c:\output

moves in.txt to folder c:\output.


Automatically Hiding Windows

You can specify that Windows PowerPro should automatically hide any windows, should they become visible.

Put the comma-separated captions of the windows you want to autohide in the Auto Hide edit box on Setup dialog.  For example,

*HideMe*

in this edit box will cause any windows with a caption containingHideMe to be hidden.


*Menu Folder

Samples

Purpose

Using the builtin *Menu Folder command, you can show a menu listing the files from a folder with subfolders shown in submenus.  Left clicking an entry runs the file; right clicking an entry shows the explorer context menu for that entry.

*Menu Folder can display all three types of folders:

ordinary file folders (either the whole folder or specified files using wild cards)

shell folders, like control panel, printers, my computer

special folders like start menu programs, recent files, desktop (these special folders are actually folders of shortcuts, usually under your c:\Windows folder)

Configuration

Select the *Menu command and the Folder action.  Then type the folder to be displayed or browse for it using the find button. You can select special folders from the drop down box. You can display more than one folder by listing the folders with a comma after each folder. You can use the word "Separator" to show a horizontal menu separator.  You can use the word "ColSep" to start a new column in the menu.  For example

c:\textfile,colsep,desktop

shows the files and folders in c:\textfile, starts a new column, then shows the desktop.

The Format Keywords edit box is used to hold keywords which control which files are displayed and how they are displayed; for example, you can change the sort order and you can change the number of entries per menu column.  You usually do not enter the keywords directly; instead use the find button beside the enter keywords edit box to set these keywords with a dialog.  Click here for details on this dialog.

If you include a *Menu Folder command in a command list to be displayed as part of a menu, and you want the *Menu Folder to be displayed as a submenu of the command list's menu, make sure you check "Embed *Menu Folder in outer menu" on format dialog.

You can use *Menu Folder to explore a large tree of files and folders, but if there are more than 1000 folders or 13000 files in the folder and its subfolders, you need to use a special approach.  You could exclude files or folders using the Format Keywords.  Or you can navigate one folder at a time;  click here for details on this approach

Examples

Command:	*Menu Folder

Folder:	Desktop

to display a menu of the shortcuts on your desktop.

Command:	*Menu Folder

Folder:	c:\work\monthly report

to display a menu of the files in c:\work\monthly report.

Command:	*Menu Folder

Folder:	c:\work\monthly report\new*.xl?.

display only files matching the wild card filename new*.xl?.

Command:	*Menu Folder

Folder	Control Panel, c:\ut\myfiles, Sep, Programs Startup

to display a menu of your Control Panel, all files in c:\ut\myfiles, programs file Start up, with menu separator after c:\ut\myfiles.

You can show a tool tip with the full path for a *Menu Folder entry by setting a non-zero value to “Milliseconds before tool tip appears for *Menu Folder on the advanced dialog option.

The command will try to calculate the appropriate number of entries per menu column based on screen resolution and menu font; if you are unhappy with the choice you can set it with an advanced dialog option.


Information for New Users of PowerPro

It appears this is the first time you have used Windows PowerPro; thanks for trying the program.

The initial Windows PowerPro button bar should be shown in the upper left of your screen.  Please click here to test drive the initial configuration and read about how to change it to suit you tastes.  Windows PowerPro has many features and taking this test drive will help explain them to you.

Why use Windows PowerPro?

Windows PowerPro provides many tools for running your programs.

Windows PowerPro offers many Windows configuration capabilities.

Windows PowerPro can replace many standalone utilities.

Windows PowerPro bars can be positioned, colored and sized in many ways.

Because it integrates

- running commands by bars, menus, hot keys, mouse actions, time

- Windows configuration and program window management

- utilties like virtual destktop, clipboard history, sending keys

Windows PowerPro gives you the power and flexibility to create your own ways to control your system and to run programs.

Read how one user has configured Windows PowerPro.

Review guidelines on how to configure Windows PowerPro.

You can also review the Help Contents and new for this release.  You can also click here to see the overview and from there use the >> buttons to browse through Windows PowerPro help.  You can print a manual from the file PowerPro.doc in the PowerPro folder.

To exit Windows PowerPro, use the Exit PowerPro entry under Menu  or Ctrl-right click on a bar and select the Exit menu entry.


Purchasing PowerPro

The 32 bit version of Windows PowerPro is now freeware.


Registration Help

Thanks for investigating how to purchaseWindows PowerPro.  PowerPro is now freeware.


Tiny Type and Run Dialog

Purpose

If you want an easily accessible but unobtrusive command line, use the built-in command *Exec CommandLine.  It creates a small window consisting of a single drop down edit box.  You can type any command into this box and press enter to have the command executed. Or, if you have a three-button mouse, you can execute the command by middle-clicking on the edit box.

Usage

You can select the command from the drop down which stores the last 25 commands entered.

Put the *Exec CommandLine command as a Windows PowerPro start up alarm if you want the run box to appear when Windows PowerPro starts.

If your command file name contains blanks, you must surround it by double quotation marks.

With NT4/Win98, or if you have installed IE3 or later (even if you no longer use it), you may be able to type World Wide Web URLs directly into a run box and have them executed.  Try this to see if you have this feature.  If not, then right click on the run box and select "Check for URL"; in this case, Windows PowerPro will send any command line starting with www. or containing //: to a running browser to be used as a URL (the browser must be Netscape or IE and must already be running).

You can execute a "Dos" command by specifying *Dos immediately followed by the command line.  The command is written to file ppro.bat file (.cmd in NT)  in the PowerPro folder and then this .bat file is executed.  Use explorer to set the properties of this .bat file to change its configuration (eg full screen versus window).  Precend the Dos command by *hide to run it in a hidden window.

Configuration

After you first start the Tiny Run Box, drag and resize its width to desired dimensions.  Windows PowerPro will remember the location and width the next time the run box is started.

You can further configure the run box by right-clicking on the edit box (not the caption). You can then:

specify that the run box should shrink when inactive (see below for details)

specify that the run box should close when inactive for ten seconds

specify that the run box should/should not be always on top

specify that all commands expect those starting with "win " should be prefixed by *dos (useful if you use the run box mainly for dos command line commands)

 or specify that all commands expect those starting with "win " should be prefixed by the ksh shell prefix *dos ksh -L -c; you can change the shell prefix with the shellprefix internal option

specify whether or not the caption and resizing window frame should be shown

pick a background color for the window

browse for a file to execute

execute the command in the run box

save the current size to be used as the shrunk size

specify whether the run command should switch to another instance, if it is active

specify whether Windows PowerPro should try to interpret the command as a URL to send to a running browser

To keep the run box out of the way when not in use, you can specify that it should shrink when not active.  Follow this sequence of steps in the order given:

1.	Set the caption on.

2.	Move to position so that left of window is at desired location.

3.	Resize the width to desired shrunk width.

4.	Select "save shrunk width" from configuration menu.

5.	Resize to desired large width.

6.	Select "shrink if inactive" from configuration menu.

7.	Turn caption off, if desired.

If you use the keyboard extensively, you may want to configure a hot key to activate the tiny run box (by setting the hot key command to the Tiny Run Box command).


Command Scripts

Purpose

You can run all the commands on a command list or a file with a single *Script command.  You can program scripts with *assign variables, *if, and jump commands to wait for some condition or to create loops and conditionally execute commands.

You can store scripts in command lists or in files, but you will usually find it easier to work with scripts stored in files.

The commands in a script can be

Windows commands, like c:\windows\explorer.exe

PowerPro built-in commands, like *Wallpaper

Script programming commands, like *script ifx

The actions associated with the *Script command as follows:

*Script Assign v expression	Assigns a string or number to a variable
*Script Run commandlist	Runs a script from command list (only left commands are used)
*Script RunFile	Runs a script from a file
*Script If	Test an expression to control whether next command is executed
*Script Ifx	Test an expression to control whether a block of commands is run
*Script Else	Used with *Script Ifx
*Script EndIf	Used with *Script Ifx
*Script Jump	Jumps to a label in a script.
*Script Quit	Ends execution of a script.  Use *script quit all to end any calling scripts too.
*Script Flag	Assign a value to a flag.
*Script Debug	Writes following text to a debug window
*Script Close commandlist	Ends all programs listed in command list
*Script CloseForce	Ends all programs listed in command list, forces them closed, possibly losing data.

Click programming for more on programming scripts using assign, if, ifx, else, endif, jump, quit, flag.

Click runfile for details of using files for scripts through *Script runfile.  You will usually find it more convenient to work with files when creating scripts of any complexity.  Files are easier to type.  You can use indenting to show program logic.  You can omit the *Script when entering *Script commands.  You can add comments.  However, scripts in files do have a restriction on the use of the *wait command as documented in runfile.

As documented in programming, you can use variables outside of scripts to insert text into commands by defining the variable insertion character using Setup|Advanced|Chars.  For example, if the insertion character is & and you executed

*Assign f "c:\thefolder\"

then running

Notepad &ffile1.txt

would cause Notepad to open c:\thefolder\file1.txt.

Once you define the insertion character, you can temporarily suspend its special meaning by preceding it with a single quote, e.g.

*Message put '& in message

displays

Put & in message.

Older versions of PowerPro includes many other Script statements which have now been replaced by expressions.

Windows PowerPro normally starts executing the script with the first command on the command list.  But if you put the command list item label of a command list item after the command list name (preceded by @), PowerPro will start at that entry:

Command	*Script run

Command List	mymenu @cmd2

runs all commands on mymenu starting at the one labeled cmd2. Put the command list name in double quotes if it contains spaces.

For either *Script run or *Script runfile, you can preset variable x9 for the script by putting the value for x9 after an equal sign (=);

Command	*Script run

Command List	mymenu =value for x9

This is often used in a cmd option for *Menu Folder or with an explorer context menu; for example

*Menu

Folder

c:\dir

cmd "*Script runfile aScript ="

which runs scriptfile aScript with whatever file is selected.

You can use the wait command in a script started with *Script call to wait for some condition.  For example, you could run a dialer, wait for the modem, then run a program which accesses the modem; click here for a sample of a script which does this.


Tray Icon Buttons

Purpose

You can display the items in a  Command List dialog as icons in the Win95/NT4 task bar.  Left, middle, or right clicking on the tray icon activates the corresponding command.

You can also use this feature to replace the text of the clock in the system tray by any dynamically varying text using a *Info label.

Configuration

First, configure a command list to contain the items you want as tray icons. If you want to replace the system clock by text, configure one of the icons with a text *Info label. Then, select that command list on the Command List Setup dialog beside the tray drop down.

You can include tool tips for any tray icon. These tool tips can contain dynamically varying text using a *Info labels; note however that Windows limits tray icon tool tips to at most 63 characters.

The icon displayed in the tray is the one chosen for the item.  If no icon is available, the Windows PowerPro icon is used.

The width of the text item replacing the clock is set from the width field.  If the width is zero, then the length of the initial value of the *Info field is used.  If the width is negative then the width is given by the initial width of the *Info field plus the absolute value of the width (i.e. the width provides a buffer beyond the initial field size).

Tray icon text is normally forced to one line.  But you can have multiple lines by setting positive values for both the height and width of the item associated with the *info field which replaces the clock.  In this case PowerPro will word wrap the text in a rectangle of the specified size.


Accessing commands and documents with PowerPro

With Windows PowerPro, you choose the most convenient way to access your programs and files.   Choose from:

bars

menus which are completely customized

menus built, like the Start Menu, from programs folders

virtual desktops

menus created on the fly from any file directory

menus built from system folders, like your desktop icons

tray icons

hot keys, which are always available to start or switch-to programs

clicking a mouse button or chording several mouse buttons

moving your mouse to a screen edge or corner,

typing the command into a tiny edit box

launching commands at regular times through alarms

launching commands through timers


New User Info:  Standalone Utilities which PowerPro Replaces

Beside providing command launching capability, Windows PowerPro can replace stand alone utilities.  For example:

Tray icons used to access desktop items:  use tray icon with *Menu Folder for desktop.

Internet session timers:  use timers, timer logs, and modem control.

Hiding desktop icons:  use built-in command *Desktop.

Hiding/showing desktop windows:  use built-in command *Desktop.

Control of Start Menu placement:  use builtin *Menu StartMenu command or Folder Contents Menu with start menu as parameter.

Start screen saver by placing mouse at screen corner:  use screen corner command and screen saver builtin commands.

Quick windows exit:  use builtin windows exit commands.

Virtual desktops:  available through menu.

Job scheduling:  use alarms or timers

By using mouse stroke hot keys which execute *Menu Show commands and which depend on which program is active, you can define tool bar menus which depend on the active program and which appear after a mouse stroke.

Reminder programs: use alarms or timers

Mouse middle for double click:  use middle mouse hot key and PowerPro Exec mouse left double

Save and restore desktop icon positions.

Hiding windows:  use the builtin Hide Window command


Setting Timers and Associated Commands

Purpose

PowerPro has a set of 26 timers.  You can configure them using the Timer dialog from the Timer tab on the configuration tabbed dialog.  Double click on a timer to configure it.

You can specify that the timer should start automatically when Windows PowerPro starts.  You can specify that the timer values should be saved and restored when Windows PowerPro starts and stops.  You can indicate that the timer should count down.

Configuration

Select the timers tab and double click on a timer in the list to be changed.  Use the check boxes at the top as follows:

Running	Start (checked) or stop (unchecked) the timer.

Down	The timer counts down and stops at zero (the reset command is executed at 0).

AutoStart	The timer is started as soon as PowerPro starts running.

AutoSave	The timer value is automatically saved periodically.

Log	The timer is logged.

You can specify that a timer should run only when a RAS connection is active or when a specified program is active (the foreground window).

To associate a timer with a RAS (dial-up) connection, check the "Run Timer when Dialup  Active" check box and set the timer name to the dial up name.  Windows PowerPro will automatically start and stop the timer according to the status of the RAS connection.  You can associate more than one timer with the same connection:  eg have a daily timer and a monthly timer.  (To create a daily/monthly timer, add an alarm which clears the timer daily/monthly). To have a timer which runs when any dial-up is active, set the timer label to “*any”.

To associate a timer with a program, check the "Run Timer Program Active" check box and set the timer name to the exe file name of the program to be timed; omit the path and the .exe from the name (eg netscape for Netscape Communicator).  Windows PowerPro will arrange for the timer to be running only when the specified program is the foreground (active) program.

You can also associate a command with starting, stopping, and resetting the timer using the command entry controls .  Use the find or start menu button to set the command or select a command from the drop down. You can also drag/drop files or desktop icons to the dialog to set the command.

The reset command is used in conjunction with the Reset Hour, Minute, and Second values.

For timers which count down, whenever the timer reaches zero, any associated reset command is executed.  If any of the Reset Hour,  Minute, or Second is greater than zero, the timer is reset to that value.  Otherwise, the timer is stopped.  For timers which count up, if any of the Reset Hour,  Minute, or Second is greater than zero, the associated command is executed whenever the timer reaches a multiple of the number of seconds represented by the Reset values.  For example, to execute a command every 5 seconds, set the reset second to 5 and the reset hour and minute to 0.  Or to run a script every 1 minute and 30 seconds, set the reset minute to 1, the reset second to 30, and the reset command to a *Script run command.

You can also use the *Timer Set built-in commandto set a timer value and state.


Setting Timer Value and State

Use the built-in *Timer Set command to set the value and state of one or more timers.  The parameters edit box of the command is structured as follows:

If it starts with +, the timer is started; with - the timer is stopped, and with * the timer is toggled. Use of one of these characters is optional:  if omitted, the timer state is unchanged.

Next, optionally, comes the single character @ or $ if you want to add or subtract the value, rather than setting the value.  Omit the @ and $ to set the timer.

Next come the single letter timer ids of the timers to be adjusted, with no blanks.

Finally, the new timer value is indicated as three numbers:  hours, minutes, seconds, separated by blanks.

Examples

+a 0 0 0	Clear timer a and start it.

+a 0 0 120	Start timer a at 120 seconds.

be 0 10 20	Reset timers b and e to 10 minutes, 20 seconds; leave their running/stopped state unchanged.

-c 1 0 0	Stop timer c and set its value to one hour.

@ q 2 3 0	Adds 2 hours and 3 minutes to timer q.


Special Folders for *Menu Folder

Using the built-in *Menu Folder command, you can display a menu of the special folders used by Win95/NT 4.  To access special folders, the parameters edit box for this command can contain one or more of the following (separated by commas).

start menu	start menu entries

desktop	shortcuts on your desktop

recent	recently accessed documents

templates	standard document templates

personal	personal favorites folder

programs	menu of all program folders (current user for NT4)

programs xxx	menu of programs folder xxx (eg Accessories)

Allprograms	menu of all program folders

Allprograms xxx	menu of programs folder xxx for All Users profile (NT4 only)

AllStart Menu	start menu for All Users profile (NT4 only; note no space after All)

AllDesktop	desktop for All Users profile (NT4 only; note no space after All)


Changing Screen Display Resolution

You can change the display resolution, color depth, and refresh frequency (NT only) with the built-in *Desktop Resolution command.

If you use this command with nothing in the parameters edit box, Windows PowerPro will present a menu of valid screen resolutions to choose from.  Select one to change and save the new setting in the registry (hold down shift while selecting to avoid saving the new setting).  For Win 95, if you change the color depth or refresh frequency, you will be asked if you want to restart windows for the settings to take effect.

To set a resolution without the menu, specify:

Command:	*Desktop Resolution

Parameters:	x1 y1 depth freq

where x1 gives the new horizontal pixels,  y1 gives the new vertical pixels, depth gives the new color depth (4, 8, 16, 24), and freq gives the new refresh frequency (NT only). Depth and freq are optional.  For example, to change to 1024 x 768:

Command:	*Desktop Resolution

Parameters:	1024 768

You can alternate between two settings by the following command format:

Command:	*Desktop Resolution

Parameters:	x1 y1 x2 y2

When this command is executed, the display resolution is set to x1 x y1 unless it is already that value; in this case it is set to x2 x y2.

Normally, the new settings are saved in the Registry; if you do no want this to happen put the word nosave after the settings in the parameter field.


Contact for Questions or Support

Find out about the latest Windows PowerPro version at

http://www.inforamp.net/~crs2086/index.htm


Test Driving the Default Button Bar

The default button bar should be shown in the upper left of your screen.  You may also have changed the bar configuration with the initial configuration wizard, but this test drive still covers important information.

Move your mouse over the bar without clicking.  A small tool tip help window will appear to show you which commands have been associated with each button.  There are three commands per button:  left mouse-click, right-click, and middle-click (if you have a two-button mouse,  you can simulate middle click with right+left at once or shift-left).

Notice that left clicking on the leftmost button will activate the configuration wizard and right clicking shows Windows PowerPro help (which you are viewing now).

Now try left clicking the button marked Edit.  Notepad should start.  Right click on the same button and System Editor will start.  Close both programs.

Left click on the button marked menu.  A menu of commands will appear.  At the top are four submenus for working with your active tasks:  select an entry from the appropriate submenu to switch to, put always on-top, take off on-top, or close any program currently running on your system.

Right click on the menu button to directly access your Programs Start menu items.

The initial configuration also puts a tray icon with the Windows PowerPro icon on your task bar.  Right click the icon to hide all your desktop windows.  Right click again to show them.  Left click to exit Windows (you will be asked to confirm).

Finally, the initial configuration will also let you set and change hot keys/mouse actions.  You should try some of these as this is a key PowerPro feature.  Left click the first button to run the configuration wizard again to access the initial configuration hot keys.

With the full configuration dialog, you can

add more bars or menus by creating command lists for them

change or remove the command list tray used to display tray icons

add new commands for hot key or mouse actions

add scheduled events

enhance the Windows interface using GUI Control or Setup tabs.

If you would like to start using the full configuration dialog, here is some more help on using it to configure the default bar to suit your tastes:

Changing the tray icon

Changing button label/icon

Changing bar look

Changing bar size and position

Adding a new button


GUI Control Configuration Options

Purpose

This dialog configures many options related to the way you interact with Windows.

Configuration

The GUI Control dialog is selected by clicking on the “GUI Control” tab from the Configuring  command.

There are check boxes for controlling Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock keys.

You can indicate that windows should be centered when switched-to from the active window list or the active task buttons.

You can indicate that Windows PowerPro should show more of windows which it activates and which are mainly off the screen.

You can specify that Windows PowerPro should disable the screen saver while a RAS connection is active.

You can specify that if an scheduled *ScreenSaver or media tab command changes the saver while it is running, then the running saver should be changed to the new one.

You can indicate that Windows PowerPro should show window size and position whenever any window is moved or sized.

You can have PowerPro force newly created windows to be completely on screen.

You can specify that Windows PowerPro should enlarge the file list windows use in file open and save dialogs (only works for programs that use standard Windows dialogs).

You can set the maximum width of taskbar buttons; for example, setting this to 22 produces a button consisting solely of the icon.

You can use the middle mouse button and mouse movement to scroll windows.

You can indicate that Windows PowerPro should pan (move) windows into view when the mouse is held over them at the screen edge;  you can set the speed of panning by setting the step size in pixels.

You can ask Windows PowerPro to press buttons, select combo box items, etc., if the mouse is stopped over the button for a specified time.

You can indicate that Windows PowerPro should activate windows when the mouse passes over them and set a delay in milliseconds for how long the mouse has to be over the window for it to be activated.  You can further specify that the active window should only be changed if the mouse is over a caption.

You can specify that Windows PowerPro automatically track text pasted to clipboards.

You can specify the sort order for the task bar.  Check “Sort taskbar” to sort entries alphabetically.  For further control, you can specify the exact order of windows by listing their captions.  Use xxx* to match any captions starting with xxx, *xxx to match any caption ending in xxx, and *xxx* to match any caption containing xxx.  Separate entries in the edit box with commas.  Put a dash (-) in front of an entry to force it to the right end of task bar.  For example, if you put *notepad, *agent*, -*explor* in the edit box, then all windows with captions ending in Notepad would be placed first on the task bar, followed by all windows with agent anywhere in their caption, followed by all other windows in alphabetical order, followed by all windows with explor in the caption.


Using the Middle Mouse Button with PowerPro

If you have three button mouse, you may want to use the middle mouse button as follows:

To send double left clicks, set the middle anywhere hot key to this command:

Command:	*Mouse

Parameter	leftdouble

You could also attach commands or  menus to middle anywhere or middle hold hot key.  You can set further hot keys with the middle mouse by using a modifier key like Ctrl.

In addition to the hot key, you may also want to use it either for scrolling or for moving a window by setting the option on the special configuration tab.


Saving and Restoring Desktop Icon Positions

Use the Built-in commands *Desktop SaveIcons,  *Desktop RestoreIcons, and *Desktop SaveIconsGrid save/restore the relative positions of desktop icons and to align icons according to a grid.  Assign the commands to a button or menu, and execute them to save/restore your desktop icons positions.

Positions are stored as numbers which are independent of screen resolution.  If you save positions under one resolution and restore under another, the relative positions of icons on your physical screen will not change.

You can align icons to a grid before saving  by using SaveIconsGrid n1 n2 in the parameters box of the *Desktop Icon commands, where n1 is horizontal grid spacing and n2 is vertical grid spacing.  The top left corners of icons are moved to the nearest grid point.  For example:

Command:	*Desktop SaveIconsGrid

Parameter	30 20

aligns icons so that horizontal pixel position is a multiple of 30 and vertical is a multiple of 20.

You can specify the name of the file used to save/restore the icons by putting the file name in the Parameters edit box (after the grid numbers, if you are using them).  Do not specify a path; all files must be in the Windows PowerPro folder.  Use the extension .iconpos.  This allows many different configurations to be kept.

You can use the advanced dialog to specify that PowerPro should always restore saved desktop icon positions when the screen resolution is changed; however, this option may cause Explorer aborts on some systems.


Suspending Alarms

You can suspend ringing of alarms by executing the following command (eg though a button or menu item):

Command	*Exec

Action	Alarms

Parameter:	off

To resume alarm ringing, use

Command	*Exec

Action	Alarms

Parameter:	on

To reverse the status, ie suspend alarm ringing if it is active, or resume alarm ringing if it is suspended, use

Command	*Exec

Action	Alarms

Parameter:	toggle

When alarm ringing is resumed, alarms which would have rung when alarm ringing was suspended are rung or discarded according to the setting of "Ring Missed Alarms" on the Setup configuration dialog.


Using the Clipboard Contents as the Command Parameter

You can use the contents of the clipboard in the command parameter field as follows:

Use the advanced option to set the clipboard character to c, where c is any non-alphanumeric character.  Then put the character c in the parameters edit box of the command entry controls.

Example:  if ClipboardChar=~ and the following command is assigned to a button:

Command:	c:\yourpath\notepad.exe

Parameter:	~

then pressing the button launches Notepad to edit the file name contained as text on the clipboard.

Command:	c:\yourpath\netscape.exe

Parameter:	~

launches Netscape.exe to view the URL stored as text on the clipboard.


Virtual Desktops

Samples

Purpose

Use virtual desktops if you run many programs at the same time and want to reduce desktop clutter. A virtual desktop is a collection of windows which you show and switch-to as a group using the *Vdesk command.  Only windows on the active virtual desktop are visible.

When you shutdown Windows PowerPro, all desktops are lost.  If you have a set of programs you always run as a group on a desktop, you can create a command list with those programs and then activate the desktop and these programs with the “CreateOrSwitchTo” or “ReplaceByList” actions or by using the initial desktop setup tab.

Configuration

You define and switch-to a virtual desktop in two ways: by activating the built-in command *Vdesk or through a menu that you access by Shift+right-clicking anywhere on a Windows PowerPro button bar.

Use the menu to switch desktops, create new desktops, lock/unlock windows on desktops, move windows between desktops, close and rename desktops. Click here for an explanation of the menu contents.

In addition to the menu, you can also use the *VDesk command to work with desktops, by associating this command with a button, menu item, hot key, and so on.  Use the action and parameter fields as follows:

Arrange	Displays a window showing all desktops; see below for more information.

Clear	Clears the selected virtual desktop.

Consolidate	Move all windows to current desktop.

ClearAllClose	Move all windows to current desktop and then closes them.

Menu	Displays the virtual desktop menu.

Next	Activates the next virtual desktop.

Previous	Activates the previous virtual desktop.

MoveActive	Moves active window to name desktop (which must already exist).

MoveAutorun	Moves last autorun match to named desktop

SwitchMenu	Show a menu of desktops and windows; select one to activate it.

ShowMenu	Shows a menu of desktops and windows; select a window to move it to this desktop

SwitchTo	Switches to the indicated desktop.

New	Creates a new desktop; you can specify its name.

CreateOrSwitchTo	Creates a new desktop named after a command list and runs the commands on the list to populate the desktop.  If the desktop already exists, switches to it.

NewFromList	Same as CreateOrSwitchTo

ReplaceByList	Clears the current desktop and renames it to the command list and runs the commands on the list to populate the desktop.

Note that if you want to add programs to the current desktop without renaming it, you can *Script run a command list.  ReplaceByList will rename the desktop.

Use *Vdesk MoveAutorun with autorun command lists to move windows of a specified type to a desktop when the windows first open.

The command *Vdesk Arrange shows all nine potential desktops and allows you to drag/drop windows among desktops, create/delete desktops, and lock/unlock windows.  You can access a control menu by right clicking on the Arrange window. The active desktop name is shown in bold; the active (foreground) window is also shown in bold.  You can also double click on the list of windows in a desktop to close the Arrange dialog and switch to that desktop or double click on the name of a desktop to switch desktops without closing the Arrange window. If you work with fewer than nine desktops, you can change the arrange dialog's height (but not its width).

Further Information

You can have up to 9 active desktops.

You can show the name of the current desktop as a button label.

You can show all windows on all desktops on the taskbar,; control subbars with virtual desktops; specify windows to be locked on all desktops; show a button for the active desktop with a special color, label, or as pressed; by using virtual desktop setup.

You can initialize the name of desktops, specify the wallpaper for desktops, and specify a command list to be run to initially populate a desktop using the desktop setup tab.

It is possible to show a different Windows PowerPro bar for each desktop.  Create new bars and start them with the desktop you want them to be associated with (use *Bar Show to show a bar). Make sure "All Vdesks" on the Bar Properties dialog is not checked.

If you like using desktop icons (instead of PowerPro menus or bars), here is how to create a different desktop icon configuration for each desktop  Use *Desktopsave/restore icons which lets you specify a file name to save the icon positions in.  Create the desired icon configuration for each desktop in a separate file; move icons you are not interested in for a desktop out of the way in a corner for that configuration.  Then write a command list script to load the icon positions you want.  This script should check which desktop is about to become active using variables and *Script assign  v desktop and *Script if statements to check for each desktop and then execute a *Desktop to restore the icon positions for that desktop.  Set this script name on setup (script executed after new desktop loaded).

You can define a command which will display a menu which depends on the currently active virtual desktop:

Command	*Menu Show

Parameter	*desk

will display the menu with the same name as the currently active virtual desktop.


Window-Specific Hot Keys

Samples

Purpose

You can define hot keys which function depending on whether or not windows you specify are active or on whether or not the mouse is at a screen corner or edge or quadrant.  This allows you to define hotkeys to have different actions depending on the active window.

Configuration

To define a hot key which only functions for specified programs, define a hot key as usual, but use the Target Window edit box on the hot key configuration to enter the list of windows for the hot key.

To define a hot key which functions for all but a specified list of programs, put a ~ at the start of the Target Window edit box and then list the windows for which the hot key is to be ignored.

Examples

For example, the following command definition sends the key sequence Alt-F S Alt-F4 to NotePad and Explorer only (this sequence saves the active file and then exits):

Command:	* Keys

Parameter:	"%fs%{f4}"

Target Window	=Notepad,Exploring*

For example, the following will only send keys if the mouse is at the left edge of the screen:

Command:	* Keys

Parameter:	"%fs%{f4}"

Target Window	@left

Further Information

You can define the same hot key several times if you want to use the same command for several programs or you can define the same hot key to mean different things in different programs.

You can define a hot key to have specific meaning for certain programs and other meanings for other programs by defining the hot key multiple times with different Commands and Target Window entries.

When you press a key which is a hot key, Windows PowerPro uses the following searches to select from the possibilities:

First, search to see if there are any hot keys defined solely for the currently active window.  If so use them.

If there are no hot keys specifically for this window, but there are hot keys for all windows or all but certain windows (and the active window is not excluded), execute them.

If the only hot keys which are defined are specific to other programs, then send the raw input key to the currently active program.


Window-Specific Menu and Bar Contents

Samples

Purpose

You can specify that portions of a menu or a whole bar should only appear if specified window or program is active.  Use the *Format Context/ContextIf and *Format EndContext built-in commands to do this.

This is useful, for example, to set up menu entries attached to hot keys where different parts of the menu appear depending on which program is active when the hotkey is pressed.  The menu could contain *Keys commands to send keys to activate program features;;*Format Context would be used to display the *Keys commands which were appropriate for the active program.

The *Format Context the function can also used on a button bar to show or hide the bar depending on the active program.  Such a bar could be attached to active window; different bars would then appear depending on which program is active.  Each could contain commands relevant to the active program.

Configuration

To create a program-specific portion of a menu, you insert a *Format Context command into the menu.  In the parameters edit box, put a list of window captions and exe file names.  Use *xxx for captions ending in xxx, yyy* for captions starting with yyy, and =exename for all windows from the program with .exe file exename (no path).   Follow this command by the program-specific menu entries.  End with the *Format EndContext command.

For menus only, you can also use an expression in the parameter edit box of the *Format ContextIf.  For example,

Command	*Format ContextIf

Parameter	(modem or a>0)

displays the menu portion only if the modem is connected or variable a is greater than 0.

To create program-specific bars, put the *Format Context command as the command for left clicking the first button and enter the list of window captions to control when the bar is visible with this command.  Do not use a *Format EndContext.

Examples

The following illustrates a set of menu entries to send control-I (view images) and Ctrl-arrow-left (go back) only if Netscape Navigator (netscape.exe) is active.

 Item Name:	Netscape only

Command	*Format Context

Parameter	=netscape

Item Name:	Images

Command	*Keys

Parameter	^i

Item Name:	Back

Command	*Keys

Parameter	%{al}

Menu Item Name:	End

Command	*Format EndContext

Parameter

You cannot use these commands in menus attached to clicking on the desktop as the desktop will be the active program in this case.


Changing a Label and an Icon on the Default Bar

Here is how to change the icon on the files button on the default bar.  While holding down the Ctrl key, right mouse click anywhere on the Windows PowerPro button bar and select configure.  This will activate the Windows PowerPro configuration tabbed dialog.

The command list tab will be activated and the drop down box will be set to the command list for the bar.

Since we want to change the files button, double click on the item labeled "files".  The item configuration dialog appears.  It has controls for changing the button label and icon along the top, and controls for entering the command to be run for each of left, middle, and right mouse clicks at the bottom.

Suppose we want to change the label to "docs".  To do so, overtype "files" in the Label edit box with "docs".  Press apply to see the effect.

You may want to eliminate the text label entirely.  Just delete all the characters in the edit box.

To change the icon to that used by File Manager, the middle command, use the drop down box under "Icon" to select Middle Icon.   Press Apply to see the effect on the button.

Press OK if you like the new label and icon  Press cancel to go back to the original ones.

After selecting OK or cancel from the button configuration dialog, press OK to exit from the tabbed configuration dialog.


Changing the Look of the Default Bar

You can move the bar by left clicking and then dragging with the mouse button down.

To change the bar look, hold down the Ctrl key and right mouse click anywhere on the Windows PowerPro button bar and select the look submenu.

Try experimenting with the  Flat and Text Under check boxes.  You can also change the look of the bar by adding or removing the border and 3D sizing frame.

Use the Positions submenu to select a position or to lock the bar into its current position and prevent accidental moves or resizing.

Perhaps you would prefer a different color or font for the bar.  Ctrl-right click the bar and select configure to see configuration dialog.  Make sure command list tab is showing and select Bar from drop down. Press Properties. Check the own color or font check box, and then use Set to change the color or font.  Use Apply to preview.  Try setting the gradient to a number between 10 and 150 to set a gradient look for the bar (set 0 for no gradient). Press OK when you find the look you want, or Cancel to return to default.


Changing the Size and Position of the Default Bar

Ctrl-right click the bar and make sure floating position is selected.  Then, you can position Windows PowerPro by left clicking and dragging the bar.

Ctrl-right click the bar and note setting of  Look, "Bar Size Set from Sum of Buttons".  If it is unchecked and 3D Frame is checked, you can change the size or orientation of the bar by left clicking the bar sizing border and dragging to the new size or shape.

If "Bar Size Set from Sum of Buttons is checked, PowerPro sets the size of the bar and arranges for the bar to be just big enough to accommodate all buttons.

You can also use select other positions.  Ctrl+right click bar to see menu and review Help on Bars, Bar Position.  Then use the Positions submenu.


Adding a New Button

While holding down the Ctrl key, right mouse click anywhere on the Windows PowerPro button bar and select configure.  This will activate the Windows PowerPro configuration tabbed dialog.

The command list tab will be activated and the drop down box will be set to the command list for the bar.

Select the last button in the last and Press Add New After.  Enter the new button label and commands on the resulting dialog.  Press OK to save and Press OK again to save the new configuration.

If you have set Bar Look (Properties) so that "Bar Size Set from Sum of Buttons" is checked, you may need to drag the left side of the bar to resize the bar and see the new button.


Special Labels for Buttons
Dynamic Text For Buttons, Menus, Tool Tips

Purpose

You can display dynamic text to monitor time, date, resources on your system, or other information.  This text can be displayed on button labels, as menu item labels, as tool tips on bars, menus or tray icons, or in the system tray replacing the clock.

Configuration

Set the start of the item label or tool tip to *Info and then use the Info button in the top left of the item configuration dialog to select a dynamic resource keyword to add to the end of the *Info display.  Keywords are replaced by the corresponding system value.  There are three types of keywords:

time/date

resources

other like clipboard contents, virtual desktop name, variable contents, free disk space, timer value

You can also put arbitrary text on a *Info display by putting it in quotes (e.g "any text").  Only alphanumerics need be put in quotes; special characters like % or / do not need to be put in quotes.

The case of keywords is important.  Most keywords are in lower case, except for a few time/date keywords (eg MMMM, HH).

For bar labels or tray clock text, use the width field on the command list item to make sure there is enough room to display the text as it is updated.  Use a positive large width or a negative width (which sets the buttons width to the initial *Info size plus the absolute value of the width).

For continuously displaying labels on bars, *Info displays are updated once per second.

Examples

*Info gdi/user dunrate

shows gdi and user resources separated by slash then current download rate on DUN connection.

*Info yyyy MMM dd HH:mm:ss swap ppmem%

shows year, short month name, day number (with leading zero), minutes, seconds, swap file size, percentage of free memory.  Could look like 1999 Sep 04 13:18:22 60 15%.  Note special characters : and %.

*Info "c:" disk c "d:" disk d

Shows free space on disks c and d.


Working with Invisible Bars

The  Bar Properties configure dialog contains options for hiding Windows PowerPro.  (Note:  these options always hide the bar; if you want to show the bar only if a certain program is active or a certain window is visible, use *Format Context).

Set the time “Hide After” to a value greater than zero to enable hiding.  When the mouse cursor is moved off the bar for this number of milliseconds, the bar will be automatically hidden.

You can also set the amount of time the mouse must be held at the edge to show the bar (this time is the same for all bars).

To show the bar, choose a screen edge from the drop down on the Properties dialog.  Bumping (moving the mouse to) this screen edge and holding the mouse at the edge for the time specified at the Hot Key setup dialog will show hidden bars.  If you want the screen bump to be limited to only showing the bar if the edge bumped is within the bar boundaries, check "Bump must be within bar size".

For Win98/2000, you can choose how to use slide animation when hiding and showing the bar.  You must also check "Use slide animation" on command list|setup.

If you want a small marker window to show at the screen edge of a hidden bar, check "Show Marker Window".

You can also show a bar by assigning the *Bar Show, *Bar ToMouse, or *Bar SelectS commands to a hotkey, another bar button, or menu item and then executing this command.

To avoid showing the bar if a full screen program or a DirectX program is running, check "Disable bump if full screen program running".

You can also show all hidden bars from the Setup tab of the configuration dialog.

If you cannot make your bar visible, run the PowerPro Configure program from the accessories pproconf.exe program and reset the bar properties to avoid hiding.


Scrolling with Mouse Movements

Purpose

You can scroll windows vertical or horizontally using mouse movements.  This avoids having to move the mouse to the scroll bar to scroll the window.  You can scroll either automatically or manually.  Automatic scrolling scrolls the window even when the mouse is not moving; manual scrolling requires mouse movement to scroll the window.

Click here for details of automatic scrolling and here for manual scrolling.


Entering Format Information for Folder Contents Command

See Folder Contents Menu for an introduction.  You can use the work directory edit box to control the files displayed in the menu.  Use the dialog accessed by … to set the format keywords or enter them directly as follows:

Columns	Use autocol n to automatically start a new column every n entries; this gives the menu a toolbar look (applies to top level menu only, not submenus).  Use autosoftcol n to automatically start a new column every n entries without including a bar between the columns (applies to top level menu only, not submenus). Use autocolall  n to automatically start a new column every n entries; this gives the menu a toolbar look (applies to top level menu and submenus).   Use autosoftcolall n to automatically start a new column every n entries without including a bar between the columns (applies to top level menu and submenus).
Text labels	Using maxtext n limits text labels to n characters. Using omit deletes the phrases in the "omit strings..." edit box on the special config tab; omit is applied before maxtext. Using mne in the menu box means Windows PowerPro will assign single character menu mnemonics to the first 36 items on the main menu to allow them to be easily selected with the keyboard. Using noext in the edit box means file extensions will be removed from menu item names. Place back in edit box to use default background from command list|setup.
Position	Placing offset n1 n2 shows the menu offset n1 characters to the right and n2 characters below the mouse cursor; n1 or n2 can be negative.
Sorting	Use nosort in the edit box so that the items will not be sorted.    Using sortext in the edit box means items to sort by file extension.   Put sorttime to sort most recently change files first.
Subfolders	Use folderdots in the edit box means "..." is added to folder names; this is useful with NoSubDir if you do not use icons in menus. Use folderstart in the edit box sorts menu entries with folders at start. Put folderback in edit box to add Back (previous folder) entry when NoSubDir specified. Use nofolders to omit all subfolders. Use foldershortcut to expand all folder shortcuts in the menu and foldershortcuts2 to expand only those foldershortcuts with names ending in _x. Use nosubmenu in the edit box means all files from subdirectories will be listed in the main menu. Use empty  in the edit box means empty folders will be included in the menu (normally, they are excluded). Use nosubdir in the edit box means no subdirectories will be included.  The names of subdirectories are still shown; if selected, a *Menu Folder is shown for that subdirectory.
Explorer	Use nofiles in the edit box means only folder will be shown and not files; useful with the explorer option to traverse large folder trees. Place explorer in the edit box to add a menu entry "Explore" to all submenus; left clicking on it will open a single-pane Explorer window on the selected directory and right clicking will show an *Menu Folder menu for the folder (useful with nofiles).   Uncheck "Switch to if active" to allow new Explorer window to open if explorer is already running. Place explorer2 in the edit box to add a menu entry "Explore2" to all submenus; left clicking on it will open a double-pane Explorer window on the selected directory and right clicking will show an *Menu Folder for the folder (useful with nofiles).
Icons	Place noicons in the edit box to omit menu icons (only works if the Folder Contents menu is not embedded in another menu).
Execution	Place *all in edit box to execute all commands, rather than displaying a menu. Place *allclose in edit box to close all commands, rather than displaying a menu. Place *allclosefoce in edit box to force closed all commands.
Embed	Place embed in the edit box is used if the *Menu Folder command appears in a menu:  it causes the menu entries to be embedded within that menu rather than appearing when the *Menu Folder command is selected (embed must be in lower case).
Position	Place center in edit box to center menu on screen. Place under in edit box to center menu under mouse.
File date	Putting a number n in the work directory edit box means that only files accessed more recently than n days ago will be included. Placing sortext in the edit box means items will be sorted by file extension.
Exclude	Follow this keyword by a list of folders, separated by commas, and enclosed in double quotes.  These folders will be excluded.  For example, Exclude "c:\window, c:\program files" excludes the Windows and Program Files folders.
Fileman	Follow this keyword by a a .exe file name to use instead of explorer when "Add Explorer Entry" is checked.
Extension	To include files with only certain extensions, list the extensions separated by blanks including the initial period. To exclude files with certain extensions, list the extensions to be excluded, separated by blanks, and include a - in front of the period of each extension.

Examples:

autosoftcol 2 offset -15 0 maxtext 5

Start a new column every 2 entries; limit labels to 5 characters, and offset 15 characters to the left of the cursor.

nosubdir .exe 15

Include .exe files accessed less than 15 days ago from main directory

.xls nosubmenu

Include Excel spreadsheets from all subdirectories on one menu.

-.dll -.bak

Exclude dll and bak files.


Specifying the Window to Receive the Keys

For the overview, see sending keys.

The *Keys command normally sends keys to the foreground (active) window.  You can reset the foreground window before sending the keys by putting {to xxx} at the start of the keys to be sent.  Here, xxx indicates the target window and can be:

*	sends keys to current active window

=File Path	sends keys to program run from that "File Path"

Title	sends keys to window with caption "Title"

PartTitle*	sends keys to window with caption starting with "Part Title" (Note asterisk at end)

*PartTitle	sends keys to window with caption end  with "Part Title" (Note asterisk at start)

*PartTitle*	sends keys to window with caption containing "Part Title" (Note asterisks at start and end)

autorun	sends keys to window of last window matched by autorun command list

activebar	sends keys to window of last window referenced by active bar button

If the {to xxx} window is not found, you will normally get an error message.  Precede the window id with the character ^ to avoid the error, eg

{to ^*notepad}

avoids the error message if no Notepad window is open.


Specifying the Keys to be Sent using *Keys

For the overview, see *Keys.

Send letters, numbers, and other keyboard characters by typing them as you want them to be sent.

Avoid using the multiple command command separation character (<); use {cs} instead.

To  specify an Alt-prefixed key, prefix it by %; similarly use ^ for Ctrl key, + for Shift, and combine as needed (eg %^ for both Ctrl and Alt).  Alternatively, you can use {alt} to toggle Alt up/down which allows multiple keys to be sent with Alt down:  eg {alt}ab{alt} sends Alt-Down, a, b, Alt-Up.  Similary for {ctrl} and {shift}.

Use {datelong}, {dateshort}, {time} for sending the current date and time.  To send the time without seconds, use {time}{back}{back}{back}.

You can change the either the { or the } or both to any non-alphanumeric using the Advanced dialog.  They can be set to the same character.

Use the following character pairs enclosed in {} for special characters.  You have a choice between the long form and a two-letter abbreviation.  You can repeat the character up to 29 times by placing the repeat count following a single space just before the closing brace, eg {left 5} for five left arrows:

{cmdsep}, {cs}	Insert the command separator character (default <).

{param}, {pp}	Insert the command line prompt character (default ?).

{clip}, {cc}	Insert the clipboard character.

{var}, {sv}	Insert the script variable character.

{plus}, {pl}	Plus (also can use {+})

{percent}, {pe}	Percent sign (also can use {%})

{caret}, {ca}	Caret (also can use {^})

{{}	Inserts the brace.

{brace}, {br}	Curly Brace (

{enter}, {en}	Enter

{space}, {sp}	Space

{quote}, {qu}	double quote

{question}, {qn}	question mark

{greater}, {gt}	greater than sign >

{less}, {lt}	less than sign <

{tab}, {ta}	Tab

{esc}, {es}	Escape

{up}, {au}	Up arrow

{down}, {ad}	Down arrow

{left}, {al}	Left Arrow

{right}, {ar}	Right Arrow

{ins}, {in}	Insert Key

{del}, {de}	Delete Key

{back}, {ba}	Backspace Key

{home}, {ho}	Home Key

{end}, {ed}	End Key

{pgup}, {pu}	Page Up

{pgdn}, {pd}	Page Down

{pad+},{p+}	Numeric Pad +

{pad-},{p-}	Numeric Pad -

{pad*},{p*}	Numeric Pad *

{pad/},{p/}	Numeric Pad /

{pad0},{p0}	Numeric Pad 0 (similar for pad 1 through 9)

(scrolllock},{sl}	Scroll lock ("use fast send keys" on advanced|setup must be unchecked

(capslock},{cl}	Caps lock ("use fast send keys" on advanced|setup must be unchecked

{dateshort},{ds}	date in Windows short format

{prevshort},{ps}	previous day's date in Windows short format

{nextshort},{ns}	next day's date in Windows short format

{datelong},{dl}	date in Windows long format

{time},{ti}	time in Windows format

{fn}	Function Key "n" (eg {f1} for function key 1; do not use the letter n)

{wn}	Wait n tenths of a second (eg {w1} to wait one tenth of a second).

{nnn}	Send character with decimal ascii code nnn (first n cannot be 0).

{alt},{at}	Toggle Alt down/up; use {at}ab{at} to send Alt-down, a, b, Alt-up.

{shift}, {sh}	Toggle Shift down/up; use {sh}def{sh} to send DEF.

{ctrl}, {co}	Toggle Ctrl down/up; use {co}{ta}{ta}{co} to send Ctrl-Down, tab, tab, Ctrl-up.

{win},{wi}	Toggle Win  down/up; use {wi}p{al} to open accessories.

{filemenu c:\path\items.txt}You can select keys to be sent from a menu

Example:  "%fnhello^v%{f4}" sends Alt-F, then n, then hello, then ctrl-v, then alt-f4.

If you have only one key to send,  the surrounding double quotes are not needed.  You can send at most 1000 keys.

To  send Alt+xxx keys (eg alt+0181 =µ), use {alt}{pad0}{pad1}{pad8}{pad1}{alt}; you may have to uncheck "Use fast send keys" on steup|advanced for this to work on your system.


Examples of Send Key Commands
Examples of Keys Commands

For the overview, *Keys.

Command	*Keys

Parameter	^{ed}

Sends Ctrl+End to the active window.  This key combination often tells the program to go to the end of the information being displayed.

Command	*Keys

Parameter	this text contains spaces

Sends this text contains spaces to the active window.

Command:	*Keys

Parameter	{to =prog}^{ho}abc

Sends Ctrl-Home followed by abc to window started from prog.exe.

Command:	*Keys

Parameter:	{to *Notepad}%fo

Sends Alt-f followed by o to the window with caption ending in Notepad.  This would select the open command from the menu.


Sending Keys to Programs When They Are Started

For the overview, see sending keys.

Since Windows is a multitasking system, starting programs and sending them keys requires care.  You must make sure the program you are starting is ready to receive them.

To start a program and send it keys at start up, use multiple commands.  For example, to start c:\ql\myprog and send alt-g n, specify

Command	c:\ql\myprog.exe

More Commmands	*wait ready<*keys "%gn"

The sequence *wait ready causes Windows PowerPro to wait until the program is ready to accept input before sending the keys.

If the *wait ready does not work for some reason, try *wait 2 (or some other digit) to wait 2 seconds.

You can also wait for up to 5 seconds until a window with a specified caption appears by preceding the caption with a + and using the {to xxx} option:

Command:	*Explorer

Parameter:	<*keys { to+*Exploring*}"%vl"

Start Explorer, then waits for up to 3 seconds for the window with a caption containing Exploring to appear, then sends Alt-v followed by l to the window with caption starting with Exploring.  This could set the list view for Explorer.  This is especially useful with Explorer, where the ! may not work (since Explorer is always running).  You must use the  *Keys command for this approach.


Automatically Moving the Mouse Cursor to a Dialog Button

Check the "Cursor to default button" checkbox on the Setup dialog to have Windows PowerPro automatically move the mouse cursor to default button on a dialog.

You can omit certain dialogs by including their captions in a caption list in the edit box beside the checkbox. You need not enter the whole caption:  enter xxx* for captions starting with xxx , enter *yyy for captions ending in yyy and enter *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.

You can have Windows PowerPro automatically push the default button by including the caption of the window in the "Press default button" edit box at the bottom of the dialog. You need not enter the whole caption:  enter xxx* for captions starting with xxx, *yyy for captions ending in yyy, and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  Windows PowerPro will wait for 1 second before pressing the button by default; you can change this wait time with the internal PressDelay option.

If you gray check the checkbox, Windows PowerPro only moves mouse cursor and presses the default button for captions specified in the "Press default button" edit box


Frequently Asked Questions (with Answers)

Where is my configuration stored?  How do I back it up?  How do I keep my configuration when upgrading?

The configuration is stored in file Pproconf.pcf.  Take a backup copy of this file to save your configuration.  Installation zips of Windows PowerPro do not include a Pproconf.pcf file so they do not overwrite any existing configuration when installed.

What are all the files in the Windows PowerPro folder?  Which can I delete?

See filelist.txt in the folder for an explanation.  In addition, Windows PowerPro creates

Where is my registration code stored?  Do I have to re-enter it for each upgrade?

The registration code is stored in the registry.  Windows PowerPro automatically reads it from there.  There is no need to re-enter when upgrading.

How can I start many Explorer windows at the same time?  How can I set the folder that Explorer starts with?

To start many windows from Explorer (or any other program), you much uncheck "Switch to If Active" at the bottom of the command entry controls for each button or menu item which is to start the command.  To learn how to use Explorer to start at any folder, see the file tips.txt that Microsoft includes in your Windows directory.  Put the command parameters described there into the Windows PowerPro Parameters edit box.

For win95 and NT4, what is the best way to show a menu by right-clicking the desktop?

If you use the menu setup tab to set a desktop menu, Windows PowerPro will attempt to show both the Windows PowerPro menu you set and the Windows desktop or desktop icon context menu.  This may not always work well;  eg in NT 4, one of the menus may not close properly.

Instead of using the menu setup tab, create a right-desk hot key which executes a *Show Menu for your desktop menu.  Include the following command in your menu:

Item Name:	Context

Command	*Mouse

Parameter	RightClick

If you click your mouse anywhere on the desktop, only the Windows PowerPro menu will be shown.  To access the Windows context menu for the item under the mouse, select the Context command.

You may also want to experiment with right-hold hot keys, chord left+right hot keys, and middle mouse hot keys.

How do I use middle mouse button to send left double click?  What else can I do with the middle mouse button?

To send middle double click, attach the command *Mouse leftdouble to the middle anywhere hotkey.

The middle mouse button can provide many other functions with Windows PowerPro:

You can attach hot keys to it: for example, a mouse-all hot key and a mouse-hold hot key.  Use these hot keys for direct commands, like sending a left double click with *Mouse, or for menus, such as menu of send key commands to send common shortcut keys or simulate picking menu entries.

In addition to the hot key, you can also use the middle mouse for either scrolling or for moving a window by setting the option on the special config tab.

How can I activate programs which are not files, such as printers or control panel applets?

Use Explorer to create shortcuts to these special programs and then run the shortcuts from Windows PowerPro.  You can create a folder of shortcuts to all your printers or other special programs, and display them all as a menu using *Menu Folder.

How do I create a bar in the caption so it looks like the icons of the bar are part of the caption?

On the Properties dialog for the commandlist of the bar, set the colors to the caption colors and uncheck the Border and Sizing checkboxes.


Minimizing a Window to the Tray

If you run many programs at once, you can reduce task bar clutter by minimizing a window to the tray.  When you minimize to the tray, Windows PowerPro creates a tray icon for the program and minimizes and hides the window.  Clicking on the tray icon restores and activates the program.  Right clicking on the icon shows a menu allowing the program to be restored, maximized, or closed.

There are three ways to minimize to the tray:  use a *Window traymin command attached to a hot key, bar button; or place the caption or exe file name in the "Automatically minimize to tray" edit box on the Setup configuration dialog; or menu item; or set the program to start initially as tray minned on the command entry controls.

Examples

The most command way to minimize to the tray is to assigned the command

Command:	*Window

Action:	traymin

Parameter	under

to a hot key.  A convenient way to manually access tray minimizing is to assign this command to a  hot key corresponding to right-clicking the minimize box.

You can replace normal minimization to the task bar by minimization to the tray by using the edit box on the Setup configuration dialog.  Separate entries by commas.  If the entry in the edit box ends with a *, then windows with captions starting with the characters before the * will be minimized to the tray; if the entry starts with a *, then windows ending with the characters following the * will be minimized to the tray.  Finally, you can also select windows to be minimized by using =filename to work with the program filename.exe (omit path and .exe).  For example, if

Exploring*,=notepad

is put in the edit box, then minimizing explorer windows or notepad will put them in the tray instead.

Further Information

Normally, Windows PowerPro uses the icon of the minimized program as the tray icon.  But you can change this behavior and select any icon by creating a special command list. Set up a command list  item in this special command list for each new icon you want to use.  Set the command list item name to match the caption of the window to be tray minimized, and set the command list item icon to the desired icon.  The command list item commands can be left at (none).  Use *xxx as a command list item name to match windows with captions ending in xxx, yyy* to match those starting in yyy, and =ExeName to match all programs called ExeName.  Finally, use the drop down box on the command list setup dialog to select the command list.

If you are using virtual desktops, showing a tray icon will also switch to the virtual desktop it was part of when it was tray-minimized.


Explanation of Virtual Desktop Menu

Click here for an introduction to virtual desktops.  The following items appear on the virtual desktop menu:

List of Defined Desktops

Select one of the desktop names on the menu to show the windows on that desktop.

New Desktop

Hides all the windows on the current desktop and creates a new one.  You can name the new desktop with the rename menu entry, if you want.

Arrange

Shows all nine potential desktops and allows you to drag/drop windows between desktops, create/delete desktops, rename desktops, lock windows on all desktops.

Unlock

Shows a list of locked windows.  Selecting one unlocks it.  The menu item is only enabled when there are locked windows.

Lock

Shows a list of windows on the current desktop.  Selecting a window locks it.  A locked window appears on all desktops. The menu item is only enabled when there are windows on the desktop which can be locked.  You can also pre-specify locked windows using the "Show on All Virtual Desktops" edit box on the Virtual Desktop Setup dialog.

Remove From Desktop

Shows a list of windows.  Selecting one removes it from the current desktop.

Move/Copy from this

Shows list of of windows.  Selecting one causes menu of desktops to be shown; selecting a desktop from this list moves the selected window to that desktop (hold down Ctrl to copy the window).  Only enabled if there is a windows which can be moved and there is more than one desktop.

Clear this Desktop

Closes all windows on the current desktop. If the windows only appear on this desktop, the corresponding programs are closed.

Clear All Desktops and Close

Moves all windows to the current desktop and then close all windows.

Move all Windows to Current Desktop

Moves all windows to the current desktop and closes other desktops.

Clear and relaunch from list

Closes all windows on the current desktop and restarts the programs in the command list of the same name.  When closing windows, if the windows only appear on this desktop, the corresponding programs are closed.

Close and move windows to

Closes current desktop and moves its windows to selected desktop.  Only enabled if there is another desktop besides the current one.

Rename Desktop

Allows you to assign new name to desktop while it is active.

See All/Move/Copy to this

Shows the names and window captions of other desktops and allows you to copy/move a window to the current desktop.

The active desktop name is show in round parentheses, eg (mydesk); other desktop names are shown in angle brackets, eg <otherdesk>. Select a window name to move that window to the current desktop or hold down the Ctrl key while selecting a window name to copy it.

See All/Switch To

Shows the names and window captions of other desktops and allows you to switch to another desktop and activate a window on that desktop.

The active desktop name is show in round parentheses, eg (mydesk); other desktop names are shown in angle brackets, eg <otherdesk>.  Select a desktop name to switch to that desktop and activate the last window which was active.  Select a window name to switch to that desktop and activate that window.

Start Desktop From List

If a desktop of the specified names exists, switches to it; otherwise creates a new desktop and runs command list of same name to populate the desktop.


Hot Key/Mouse Action Explanations

You can use these actions to activate commands with hotkeys.

prefix key then char	press and release the prefix key then press any key

screen top left	move mouse to top left screen corner

screen top right	move mouse to top right screen corner

screen bottom left	move mouse to bottom left screen corner

screen bottom right	move mouse to bottom right screen corner

bump screen	moving mouse to screen edge

left anywhere	left mouse click anywhere

middle anywhere	middle mouse click anywhere

right anywhere	right mouse click anywhere

left desk	left mouse click on desk top

middle desk	middle mouse click on desk top

right desk	right mouse click on desk top

left caption	left mouse click on anywhere caption; if no modifier keys, you must wait momentarily

middle caption	middle mouse click anywhere on caption

right caption	right mouse click anywhere on caption

right caption double	right mouse double click anywhere on caption

middle caption (left half)	middle click on left half of caption

middle caption (right half)	middle click on right half of caption

right caption (left half) 	right click on middle half of caption

right caption (right half) 	right click on right half of caption

middle sys menu	middle click on system menu icon in caption

right sys menu	right click on system menu icon in caption

middle minimize	middle click on minimize icon in caption

right minimize	right click on minimize icon in caption

left close box	left click on close box icon in caption

middle close box	middle click on close box icon in caption

right close box	right click on close box icon in caption

middle maximize	middle click on maximize/size icon in caption

right maximize	right click on maximize icon/size in caption

middle border	middle click on window border

right border	right click on window border

middle double anywhere	middle double click

right double anywhere	right double click

left hold	press and hold down left mouse button

middle hold	press and hold down middle mouse button

right hold	press and hold down right mouse button

left drags horizontal	press left mouse, drag less than 20 pixels horizontally, release

left drag vertical	press left mouse, drag less than 20 pixels vertically, release

middle drag horizontal	press middle mouse, drag less than 20 pixels horizontally, release

middle drag vertical	press middle mouse, drag less than 20 pixels vertically, release

right drag horizontal	press right mouse, drag less than 20 pixels horizontally, release

right drag vertical	press right mouse, drag less than 20 pixels vertically, release

while forward/back	move mouse wheel one position forward then quickly back; must be at least one second after any other mouse wheel movement to avoid inadvertent activation (not available in win95) .

chord l+m	chord (simultaneously press) left and middle button

chord l+r	chord (simultaneously press) left and right button

chord m+r	chord (simultaneously press) middle and right button

horizontal move	move mouse back and forth horizontally

vertical move	move mouse up and down vertically

tap shift	press and quickly release shift key

tap ctrl	press and quickly release ctrl key

tap alt	press and quickly release alt key

tap caps lock	press and quickly release caps lock key

tap apps	press and quickly release apps key (beside right ctrl)


Changing Explorer List and View Settings

You can affect the view (large icon, small icon, detail, list) and arrange (date, name, type, size) settings for Explorer in two ways:  you can force the settings for all cases using drop down boxes on the Setup configuration dialog, and you can change the settings for specific cases by sending keystrokes to Explorer windows.

To force the same settings for all newly-opened Explorer windows, use the drop-down boxes on the Setup configuration dialog   Set the first drop down to No, Single, Double, or All to select which types of Explorer Windows to force, then select the desired view and arrangement options.  These forced settings will normally override all folders, including the last 50 opened where Explorer also stores a setting,  but if you hold down the shift key while opening the new window, Windows PowerPro will not override the Explorer settings.

For a convenient way to change the settings for Explorer windows while you are working with them, send keys to the active window (of course, you can use the tool bar as well).  For example,

Command	*Keys

Parameter	* "a-v i d"

sends Alt-V, then i, then d to the active window which would set date sort arrangement for Explorer.  You could attach the above command to a hot key or a menu attached to a hot key.

You can also use start Explorer at a specific folder and with specific settings as follows:

Command:	c:\windows\explorer.exe

Parameters	/select,D:\Program Files\eudora 3\Attach\*.*<*keys  %vg

This command launches Explorer and uses the Explorer command parameters to select folder

D:\Program Files\eudora 3\Attach.  It then sends key strokes Alt-v g to select large icon settings.  The +**attach tells Windows PowerPro to wait until a window with caption ending in attach appears before sending the keys.

You could create a menu of commands like the above for favorite folders.

If you send keys to Explorer when it is launched from Windows PowerPro, the settings will replace any settings forced by the Setup dialog.


Setup Dialog

Purpose

The Setup dialog allows you to move the cursor to the default button of new dialogs and optionally press the button; to automatically tray minimize applications when they are minimized, to automatically hide new windows when they are opened, to track explorer windows as you open them, and to force explorer windows to a given view.  You can also access the Registration, virtual desktop setup , advanced setup dialogs, and import/export dialogs.  You can activate Explorer context menu support. If PowerPro is running, you can save and restore desktop icon positions with the corresponding buttons.  You can also show all hidden bars with "Show All Bars".

Configuration

This dialog is activated by clicking on the "Setup" tab of the configuration dialog.

Cursor to Default Button

You can have Windows PowerPro automatically move the mouse cursor to the default buttons of a dialog.

Automatic Hide

Enter a caption list windows to be hidden when created.

Automatic Tray Min

Enter a caption list windows to be minimized to the tray instead of the task bar.  Check “traymin if program starts minimized” to have PowerPro tray min windows which match the caption list and which start minimized or which are minimized when PowerPro starts.

Explorer Windows

You can specify that  Windows PowerPro track Explorer Windows for use with the *Menu Explorer command.  Gray check to include all folders examined while explorer is open; ordinary check to capture only the initial folder.  For gray check, you must keep folder open for at least 1 second for it to be captured.  Use advanced dialog to set size of history.

You can specify that Windows PowerPro should force settings for Explorer view and arrangement.

Find/Replace text

Shows a dialog allowing you to search for text throughout the configuration file and replace it by other text.  For example, if the folder path to many of your commands changes because you moved some files, you can use this dialog to search and replace the path throughout commands.  For more complex editing of your configuration, use import/export buttons to send configuration to a text file, then edit this text file, then re-import the text.

Restore Backup/Restore Previous

Unless you indicate otherwise on the advanced setup dialog, PowerPro keeps five generations of backup for your configuration file.  A copy of the current configuration is kept in "!auto backup of …", and a copies of the 5 previous configurations are kept is "!Previous auto backup of …".  You can restore either of these backups using buttons on the Setup dialog.


Examples of Bar Positions

The following graphic illustrates five bar positions (vertical, horizontal, multi-row, caption, Task Bar);  click on each or see Bar Dialog for information on how to configure them.  Also possible, but not shown (for obvious reasons),  is an invisible bar.


Window Configuration Features of PowerPro

Here are some of the windows configuration features that Windows PowerPro makes available:

Controlling the Windows Interface

Disable scroll lock and caps lock or use shift to clear caps lock

Disable screen saver when Dial-Up Networking connection is active

Scroll any window by dragging with middle mouse button held down

Pan windows which are partially off screen back onto screen

Active window by moving mouse over it

Move a window by clicking and dragging anywhere with a mouse and control key

Save and restore desktop icon positions

Window Configuration

Move cursor to default button of dialog and optionally press button

Track explorer windows as used and display on menu for easy recall

Close explorer windows after commands launched from them

Force any explorer window to list, details, small icon, or large icon view

Automatically run command when windows with given captions first appear

Automatically hide windows or minimize windows to tray

Others

setting or randomizing sounds, paper/saver

switching to minimizing, closing, on top, not on top, centering, to back any open window

starting and stopping timers according to dialup modem connection status or the active program

minimizing any window to the tray

hiding or showing any window

hiding or showing the icons on your desktop

starting, enabling, and disabling your screen saver

shutting down or restarting; the Windows system

instant access to any icon on your desktop by showing them in a menu


How One User has Configured PowerPro

I have the button bar positioned on the right side of my screen with 8 buttons showing. As small as its footprint is, when not in use, Windows PowerPro hides itself  conserving virtually all 'real estate.' When I place my mouse at the screen edge, Windows PowerPro appears.

Each button may be left-, right-, or middle-mouse button clicked to execute the 'command' for which that button selection is user-programmed.

My top button is set up to show the time on its face. When I left click it, it brings up a custom menu I have created. The menu contains various commands and sub-menus. When I middle click it, it launches a suite of apps I call my 'home page.' When I right click it, it brings up my 'Start Menu.'

When I press another button, it launches a menu that allows me to change screen resolutions on-the-fly using Windows PowerPro's built-in resolution switcher. I have one button set up to dial my ISP when I left click it, and hang up my connection when I right click it. The dial/hangup facilities are contained within Windows PowerPro (see dundial.txt in Windows PowerPro folder).

I have a button that shows me all running apps, another that lists the last several recent commands. I can set up a button or menu to 'launch' a directory or any subdirectory on any drive. I can task switch, kill apps, or switch to apps with a simple button click.

Windows PowerPro has a built-in scheduler. I use it to launch Net Attache at one time, Diskkeeper at another, etc. The scheduler is the only one I run continuously, so there is minimal cpu overhead when compared to running individual schedulers for each app. In addition to running specific apps, services, or batch files, the scheduler is easily programmed to play a sound of the user's choice when scheduled events are triggered (i.e., it may be used as an alarm).

I use Windows PowerPro's built-in Key/Mouse programming capabilities for all my hot keys and special mouse commands, including double left click when I press the middle mouse button. If I effect a control+left mouse button on my screen background, it launches my Start Menu. If I do a control+right click, it launches my custom main menu with its commands and submenus. If I do a control+left click on an app, it rolls the app up to show only the descriptor bar. If I control+right click on the apps descriptor, it unfolds. Although I haven't employed them, I can program my mouse to do whatever using the alt, shift, and 'Win' keys as well.

When I left click one of my buttons, it launches a menu with a list of text phrases/paragraphs I commonly use. Using the mouse to select on of the menu choices, I send the text to the active app. I happen to have two text strings I use a lot. These are sent to my active apps using a middle or right click on the same button.


Guildelines for Configuring PowerPro

Here are some ideas you may find useful when you think about how to configure Windows PowerPro to suit the way you want to organize your programs and desktop (see also one users setup).

With Windows PowerPro, you decide the way you find most convenient to run programs and Windows configuration commands.

First, you should decide how you want a Windows PowerPro bar to appear.  Most people use a bar to launch their most frequently used commands, either directly from buttons or from menus attached to buttons.  You can use buttons to show special labels, like time/date, timers, or resource usage.  For example, you could have one button that displays a timer associated with ISP usage; clicking on the button could show a menu of Internet-related commands.

Remember that you can also create menus from any folder or from special folders like your desktop icons.  The Start Menu and its sub-menus, desktop icons, and MS IE Explorer Favorites are really just folders of shortcuts which you can also access with the *Menu Folder command (look in your Windows  directory for Desktop, Favorites, and Start Menu).

After you have chosen a bar configuration and any associated menus, decide which commands you want to attach to hot keys.  If you are mainly a keyboard (as opposed to mouse) user, set up ordinary key strokes or tap keys to launch common commands or display menus.  If you mainly use the mouse, you may want to attach a menu to right hold, similar the window menu of the default starting bar, which gives you immediate access to commands or Windows configuration features.  Hot keys for clicking on portions of the window caption are also useful for commands like closing or tray minimizing or rolling up windows.

If you have one, the middle mouse button can serve many functions with Windows PowerPro.

If you want to regain the screen space used by the task bar, look into active buttons.

On the other hand, if you like the task bar, you can position Windows PowerPro there or set up commands to run from tray icons.

If you have scheduled tasks or like to use your computer to remind you of things you need to do, use alarms.

Lastly, investigate the special configuration tab:  it gives you many features for making Windows easier to work with, such as disabling the scroll lock key, automatically moving the mouse cursor to default buttons, and panning partially hidden windows into view when the mouse is over them.


Working with Explorer Windows

Use the built-in *Menu Explorer command to re-open a folder that you recently used with Explorer,.

You must check the Windows Explorer option "Display the full path in the title bar" on Explorer View|Options.

If you then check "Track Explorer" on the Setup configuration dialog, Windows PowerPro will remember the last 32 file folders that you open with Explorer.  Activating the command

Command	*Menu Explorer

displays a menu these folders sorted by path, last accessed, or drive.

Right clicking on the menu with shift or ctrl down will remove the selected entry from the recent explorer list.

To clear the list of explorer windows, use *Exec ClearRecentExplorer.

To create a menu of favorite folders, create a command list with a set of commands like this

Command:	*Exec Explorer

Parameter	c:\the\folder\path

Then display it with *Menu Show.  You can also add the *Menu Explorer command to this command list to combine the menu of favorite folders with the menu of recent folders.

Instead of *Exec Explorer, you may prefer

Command:	c:\windows\explorer

Parameter	/e,/select, c:\the\folder\path

` Omit the /e for a single pane window.  This will produce the same result as *exec explorer.


Automatically Running Commands when Windows Open

Samples

Purpose

You can automatically run commands when a window with a specified caption is first created.  A command could send keys to the window, or press a button, or set the window position, or move the window to an existing virtual desktop,  or execute any other Windows PowerPro command.

Configuration

Use a command list to do this.  Each item on the command list corresponds to a command you want to run when a window opens.  The command list item name specifies a caption list of the window.  Use xxx* as a command list item name to match any captions starting with xxx, *yyy to match any captions ending in yyy, and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  You can also specify a entry of =exename to match any window created by the program with .exe file name exename (no path, no .exe).  Finally, you can specify filedialog to match file open/save/save as windows, explorer to match single or dual pane explorer windows, explorer1 for single pane explorer windows, or explorer2 for dual-pane explorer windows.

Specify the command list name in the "Open" drop down box on the Command List Setup dialog.  Once this is done, each time a new window is opened and the caption matches a command list item name on that command list, Windows PowerPro will execute the corresponding command from the command list.

To press specific buttons on the windows, use send keys to send alt-x, when x is the button mnemonic letter, with {to autorun} at start of the *Keys keys sequence.

To position a newly opened window on the screen, use *PowerPro Window Control with autorun as the target window id of the command.  Click here for details on positioning windows at start.

To move the window to a specified desktop, use the command *Vdesk MoveAutoRun.

To show a menu, you can use *Menu Show.  However, you may have to put *wait 1 in command and *Menu Show in more commands if you find the menu disappearing as soon as it is shown due to other activity on your system when the window first opens.

If you only want to run commands if the new window is a dialog, precede the caption/path with a #.  If you only want to run the command if the new window is not a dialog, precede the caption/path with a  $.

If you want the command to apply to single pane explorer windows (folder windows) only, precede it by an !.  If you want the command to apply to 2-pane explorer windows only, precede it by an @.

Windows PowerPro normally executes all commands in the command list which match the caption.  However, if the caption matches a the command

Command	*Script

Parameter	quit

then no further command list entries are checked.

Examples

Suppose you create a command list with these entries and specify its name on the Command List Setup dialog

Name	$*notepad

Command	*Window Position 30 50 100 200 autorun

Name	*bothersome dialog*

Command	*Keys {to autorun}{en}

Name	*explor*

Command	**Vdesk MoveAutorun explorer

Then whenever a non-dialog window with caption ending in notepad was opened, it would be positioned to 30 50 and sized at 100 200.  Also, whenever a window with "bothersome dialog" in its caption was opened, the enter key would be sent to it.  If a window containing Explor in its caption appeared, it would be moved the desktop named explorer (this desktop must already exist).


Wait Command

Use the wait command in multiple commands or in when executing all commands on a script in order to wait for some condition before executing some of the commands.

(Programming note:  As an alternative to using *wait in a script with a loop, consider using the Monitor command list as set on Command list Setup.)

Except for *wait sleep, PowerPro can still be used while a wait is underway.  For *wait sleep, PowerPro will be unresponsive until the wait ends.  However, *wait sleep has two advantages:  it can be used with short waits of less than one second, and can be in any script (other waits are restricted to the outermost script; they cannot be used in a script called by another script).

Wait for m milliseconds:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	sleep m

where m is any number waits for that number of milliseconds.  PowerPro will be unresponsive during the wait.  Unlike all other *wait commands, *wait sleep can be used an any script.

Following are the wait options:

Wait for n seconds:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	n

where n is any number waits for that number of seconds.  If n is zero, waits for 1/3 of a second.

Wait until command is ready for input:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	ready captionlist

The caption_list is optional.  If omitted, PowerPro waits until the last file launched by PowerPro is ready for input up to a maximum of 10 seconds.  If the caption_list is present, PowerPro waits until any window selected by the caption list is ready to accept input up to a maximum of 10 seconds.

Wait until command exits

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	done captionlist

The caption_list is optional.  If omitted, PowerPro waits until the last file launched by PowerPro exits.  If the caption_list is present, then a windows which matches the list must be visible, and PowerPro waits until any program with a window which matches the list exits.

Wait for modem to be connected (Dial-Up Networking RAS connection only):

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	modem

You can also put a number ahead of the word modem; PowerPro will wait for either that number of seconds, or until the modem is connected, whichever is smaller.  For example, "8 modem" waits for up to 8 seconds or until the modem is connected.

Wait for modem to be disconnected (Dial-Up Networking RAS connection only):

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	nomodem

Wait until window with specified caption is active (foreground):

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	active xxx

waits until any program with caption xxx is active (foreground).  Put caption in double quotes if it contains blanks.  Use xxx* for captions starting with xxx, *yyy with captions ending with yyy, and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  You can use multiple captions separated by commas.  Use =progname for any window from program with exe file name progname (no path, no .exe).  You can put a number n ahead of the caption to limit wait to n seconds. .

Wait until window with specified caption is not active (foreground):

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	noactive xxx

waits until any program with caption xxx is not active.  Put caption in double quotes if it contains blanks.  Use xxx* for captions starting with xxx, and *yyy with captions ending with yyy and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  You can use multiple captions separated by commas. Use =progname for any window from program with exe file name progname (no path, no .exe).You can put a number n ahead of the caption to limit wait to n seconds.

Wait until window with specified caption is running:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	window  xxx

waits until any program with caption xxx is running.  Put caption in double quotes if it contains blanks.  Use xxx* for captions starting with xxx, *yyy with captions ending with yyy, and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  You can use multiple captions separated by commas.  (Note:  all spaces are used when matching, so avoid unwanted spaces when using the comma separator.)  Use =progname for any window from program with exe file name progname (no path, no .exe).  You can put a number n ahead of the caption to limit wait to n seconds. .  (You can use caption instead of window).  Use visiblewindow to ensure the window is visible.

Wait until window with specified caption exits:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	nowindow xxx

waits until any program with caption xxx exits.  Put caption in double quotes if it contains blanks.  Use xxx* for captions starting with xxx, and *yyy with captions ending with yyy and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  You can use multiple captions separated by commas. Use =progname for any window from program with exe file name progname (no path, no .exe).You can put a number n ahead of the caption to limit wait to n seconds.  (You can use nocaption instead of nowindow). Use novisiblewindow to omit invisible windows.

Wait until command with specified exe path is running:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	path c:\path\prog.exe

waits until any program executed from c:\path\prog.exe is running.  Put path in double quotes if it contains blanks. You can put a number n ahead of the path to limit wait to n seconds.

Wait until command with specified exe path exits:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	nopath c:\path\prog.exe

waits until any program executed from c:\path\prog.exe exits.  Put path in double quotes if it contains blanks. You can put a number n ahead of the path to limit wait to n seconds.

Wait with a message box and a count down timer:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	message n text

displays a message box containing text and a countdown timer which starts at n seconds.  If n reaches 0 or the "Start Now" button on the message box is pressed, then the wait ends and the next command is run;  if the cancel button is pressed, the wait ends and all following commands are ignored.  The position of the message box is set by the "Screen position for alarm message windows" on the time setup dialog.

Wait for mouse or keyboard activity

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	activity

Waits until mouse or keyboard activity.  Always waits at least 3 seconds to ignore activity associated with launching the command.

Wait for alt, ctrl, or shift key

Use ctrl, alt, or shift as command parameter in *wait command to wait until this key is pressed.  Use noshift, noalt, noctrl to wait until the key is not pressed.  You can optionally follow any of these by a number n of seconds to limit the wait to that time.

Click here for a sample of a script which uses *wait.

If you reconfigure  Windows PowerPro, all outstanding waits will be ended. If this is not what you want, you could also put the *waits in the Reconfigure command list, as set by the advanced setup dialog, so that they are restarted after you reocnfigure.

You can have at most eight outstanding waits.

You can terminate all outstanding waits by running the command:

Command:	*wait

Parameter:	quit


Running Programs After the System is Idle for a Specified Time

You can run a program after the system has been idle for a specified time and also after this idle period by using an alarm.  For Windows PowerPro, idle means that no keyboard or mouse input has been received.  Other programs may be running but as long as no keyboard or mouse actions occur then the system is considered to be idle.

Use the radio button to select an idle alarm.  Then set the time to the amount of idle time to elapse.  For example, set the time to 00:30 to indicate that the program should be run if the system is idle for 30 minutes.

For post-idle alarms, select the post idle radio button.  The post idle alarm command will be run after you move the mouse or press a key after an idle alarm has occurred. Note that you must use an idle alarm in order for the post-idle alarm to function; you can use an idle alarm with command set to (none) if necessary.  When a post-idle alarm occurs, the variable *lastidletime is set to the total number of seconds the computer was idle (including idle time before the idle alarm occurs).

For example, if you want to mute sound while you are away from the computer, use an idle alarm of *Exec VolumeAll 0 and a post-idle alarm of  *Exec VolumeAll 255.

The minimum idle time is one minute.

You can have many idle alarms each with different idle times.

The Interval setting for idle alarms is forced to be "Save for re-use".  If you want to remove an idle alarm, you must delete it with the configuration dialog.

If the program to be run by the idle alarm is already running, Windows PowerPro will not restart it.

Windows PowerPro only detects mouse or keyboard events which are directed at GUI programs.  It does not detect input to Dos or Console programs.  If you use such programs extensively, you may find Windows PowerPro activates idle alarms in error.


Changing the Tray Icon from the Initial Bar

You can use the initial configuration wizard to change the tray icon set up by the initial bar.  Or, if you prefer to start using the full configuration dialog, here is how to do it:

To remove the tray icon:

Ctrl+right button bar to see configuration dialog.

Show Command Lists tab.

Select Tray from dropdown.

Delete entries in list by selecting and then using Delete button (or keying Del).

Press OK to save new configuration.

To change the tray icon commands:

Ctrl+right button bar to see configuration dialog.

Show Command Lists tab.

Select Tray from dropdown.

Change the icon using the controls under icon info.

Change any of the commands using controls under left, right, middle.

Press OK to save item configuration dialog.

Press OK to save new configuration.


Short drags are small mouse movements (less than 20 pixels) made with a mouse key held down.  Separate horizontal and vertical short drag hot keys are supported.


Volume discounts:  PowerPro is free.


Sending a Sequence of Mouse Clicks and Moves

You can use the *Mouse command to send a sequence of mouse clicks, mouse positions, and mouse moves to the active window.  You can combine alt, win, shift, ctrl with these mouse clicks.  The parameters field of this command contains a series of two letter commands which indicate the mouse actions to perform.  The commands which move or position the mouse are followed by two numbers giving the move or position value in pixels.

Here are the commands.  You can use either the long form (eg leftclick) or two letter short forms (ll):

leftclick or lc	left click (both left down and left up)

leftdown or ld	left down

leftup or lu	left up

leftdouble or ll	double click left (note: lc lc will not work)

middleclick or mc	middle click (both middle down and middle up)

middledown or md	middle down

middleup or mu	middle up

middledouble or mm	double click middle (note: mc mc will not work)

rightclick or rc	right click (both right down and right up)

rightdown or rd	right down

rightup or ru	right up

rightdouble or rr	double click right (note: rc rc will not work)

save or sa	save current position position

alt or al	reverse alt key (ie press if up, release if down)

shift or sh	reverse shift key (ie press if up, release if down)

win or wi	reverse win key (ie press if up, release if down)

ctrl or ct	reverse ctrl key (ie press if up, release if down)

save 	save current mouse position

restore 	restore saved mouse position

mo x y	move mouse x pixels right, y down (x or y can be negative)

screen or ab x y	set mouse to absolute position x y (absolute means 0 0 is top left of screen)

relative or re x y	set mouse to relative position x y (relative means 0 0 is top left of active window)

Examples

Command	*mouse

Parameter	ll

sends double left click.

Command	*mouse

Parameter	ctrl leftdown leftup ctrl

sends ctrl-left click.

Command	*mouse

Parameter	re 20 50 rc

position mouse at 20 50 with respect to active window then sends right click

Command	*mouse

Parameter	ld mo 30 -40 lu

sends left down, move 30 right, 40 up, left up (eg will draw a line in MS Paint).

Command	*mouse

Parameter	ab 40 60 lc<*keys abc

moves mouse to absolute position 40 60, sends a left click, then sends letters abc


Using the keyboard to access the button bar

You can use the keyboard to access the commands on a Windows PowerPro button bar.

First, you need a way to activate the bar from the keyboard.  Set a hot key to the following command:

Command	*Bar

Action	Keys

Parameter	name of command list for bar

When you activate the hot key, the mouse cursor will be moved to the bar and the bar will be ready to receive any of the following keystrokes:

L	equivalent to left-clicking current button  (you can also use Enter)

M	equivalent to middle-clicking current button

R	equivalent to right-clicking current button

left arrow	move to next button

right arrow	move to previous button

end	move to last button

home	move to first button

up arrow	move to next row in multi-row bar

down arrow	move to previous row in multi-row bar

Ctrl+Enter	show configuration dialog

Esc	return the mouse cursor to position preceding *Bar Keys command


Working with a Randomly Selected File

Purpose

The *File RunRandom/CopyRandom/CommandRandom actions can be used to select a file at random using a file path with wild cards that you provide.  The selected file is then copied to a specified target file; or is run directly; or is used in a command line to execute a program or batch file that you specify.

One use of this command is to set up your own randomization routines for system files.  For example, you can randomize the Windows shutdown screens by creating .bmp files with the appropriate size and color depth, putting the files into a folder, and using the command to copy a randomly selected file over c:\windows\logow.sys.  Take a backup copy of logow.sys before experimenting with this.

To implement randomization on a schedule, put the command as a scheduled command.

Configuration

CopyRandom:	Parameters:	 filepath outfile

selects a file at random from the filepath (which must contain wildcards like *.bmp) and copies it over outfile.

RunRandom:	Parameters:	 filepath

selects a file at random from the filepath (which must contain wildcards like *.bmp) and runs it using the program associated with the file extension.

CommandRandom	Parameters:	commandpath filepath args

selects a file at random file filepath (which must contain wildcards like *.*), then runs the command given by commandpath using a command line consisting of the commandname, the selected file, and finally the args.  If you want the command to be run invisibly, put *hide after the args at the end of the parameters edit box.  If the command being run is a .bat file, you may want to use explorer to set its properties to include close on exit.  This is especially important for commands run invisibly.

Examples:

Command	*File CopyRandom

Parameters:	"c:\my logo files\*.bmp" c:\windows\logow.sys

copies a random bmp file from c:\my logo files over the logow.sys file.

Command	*File RunRandom

Parameters:	"c:\zounds\*.wav"

plays a random wav file from c:\zounds.

Command	*File RandomCommand

Parameters:	"c:\program files\bat\exec.bat" "c:\random\*.*" arg2 arg3 *hide

selects a random file from c:\random, then executes the exec.bat file with the selected file as the first argument, then arguments arg2 and arg3.  The command is run in an invisible window.


Advanced configuration options

Using the Setup dialog, you can press the button to access the Advanced configuration dialog which lets you set many less-used Windows PowerPro options.  There are four tabs:  configuration lets you change options controlling the configuration dialog, Other controls miscellaneous features, characters let you define or change special characters used in commands, and limits set timer and count limits.

For information on the Note tab, see *Note help.

Configuration

Include desk icons	If checked, desktop icons will be included on the Start Menu shown by pressing the Capture button on command configuration controls.
No Auto backup	Check to prevent PowerPro tasking automatic backups of configuratino files.
Run reconfigure	If checked, any command list called Reconfigure will be run after the configuration dialog is closed with OK.  The could be used to restart *waits or to reset *Format Items.
Config on top	Check to display configuration dialog as topmost
Remember column widths	Check to have PowerPro store column widths set in configuration dialog lists.
Icons on configuration	Check to display item icons on command lists in the configuration dialog.  (This will slow display of these lists.).   Gray check to display icons only for command lists marked "Show as Bar".
Location of command list click	Use to control which tab is displayed initially when you double click command list item.  Check to display tab of clicked item (left or middle or right).  Gray check to only display left/middle/right for auto show as bar command list.  Uncheck to always display left.

Other

Show all windows	If checked, all windows for a task are shown whenever any window for that task is activated.
Show tray min	Shows windows which PowerPro has tray minimized if they are activated, eg by launching a document which the window program is associated with.
Play .wav files	Check to have PowerPro play .wav files used as commands; uncheck to use standard associated program for .wav (eg Media Player).
Stop Alt-F4	Prevent alt-F4 from closing bars.
Use timer for active	Check to have active bars refreshed every 2 seconds.  Gray check for refresh every 1 second.  Only needed if active bars are non-responsive due to interference of another program.
Fast Send Key	Uses a faster engine to send keys but does not work for some very rare ctrl-key combinations (eg ctrl-tab)
Allow only alphas	Allows only alphanumerics in file names formed from captured clipboard items
User internal folder	Check to use folder icon in PowerPro.exe file; uncheck uses system folder icon (which may fail in NT).
Parameter dialog	Check to center parameter entry dialog displayed by ?; gray check to move dialog to mouse cursor
Restore desktop	PowerPro restores saved desktop icon positions when the screen resolution is changed; however, this option may cause Explorer aborts on some systems.
No restart	If checked, PowerPro will never prompt for a restart after execution of *Exec Resolution.
Replace %env%	If checked, PowerPro will replace any environment variables found in command line or directory work area (must be %environment var%).

Characters

Start and end char	Specify characters to replace {} for specifying special keys when sending keystrokes.
Command separator	Use this character to separate multiple commands; leave blank for none. You can include the command separator character in a command (without it acting as a separator) by preceding it with a single quotation mark (').
Script var character	Use this character to insert script variables a - z and x0-x9. To remove special meaning in a command line, precede by single quote (').  Also insert expressions with &(expression), assuming & is the character.
Clipboard character	Use this character to insert clipboard contents in parameters of commands.
Prompt character	Use this character to prompt for command line parameters.  To remove special meaning in a command line, precede by single quote (').
Quote must precede	Affects how the quote is used with script var char and prompt char.  If checked, then the quote must precede either of this for the script insertion or prompting to occur.  If unchecked, then a preceding quote stops the script insertion and prompting.
Reverse results	Use at the start of hot key targets in window caption matching strings to select windows which do not match the following strings.
File name character	Used with open/save file tracking, this is the underlined character in the title beside the file name edit box.

Limits

Max menu row	Sets maximum number of rows in *Menu Folder and *Menu Explorer
Explorer Windows	Sets maximum number of entries in *Menu Explorer; you may need to restart PowerPro if you change this value.
Button held down	Button configuration dialog shown after button held down for this number of milliseconds; set to a large number to disable.
Scroll interval	Sets time in milliseconds between scroll steps when automatic mouse scroll is activated.
*Menu Folder interval	Sets time in milliseconds before tool tip appears for *Menu Folder and *Clip menu.  Set 0 to disable tool tip.
Marker Window	Sets the number of pixels used in the marker  for hidden bars.
Time mouse hovers	hover time in milliseconds for cases when bars are set to activate left click after mouse hovers over button.
Send keys delay	Set delay in milliseconds for first key and subsequent keys
Hook disable	Set non-zero to disable internal hooks.  Only needed in rare configurations.


Invalid Ppro.dll Version

Windows PowerPro uses a dll file called ppro.dll which you will find in the same file folder as the PowerPro.exe program.

When installing a new version of Windows PowerPro, it is possible for this file not to be properly installed and an older version of ppro.dll to remain.  If this happens, Windows PowerPro will display an error message and refuse to start.

To correct this error, shutdown Windows PowerPro, wait one minute, and retry.

If the error repeats, try the following:

Remove Windows PowerPro from your Start Up group using the Info configuration tab so that Windows PowerPro does not start when you boot.

Shutdown Windows PowerPro.

Reboot your system.

Re-install Windows PowerPro

Start Windows PowerPro and use Info configuration tab to put it back in your Start Up group.


Writing Entries to a File

You can use the following command to write a line of text to a file:

Command	*Exec

Action	ToFile

Parameter	“filepath” text

writes the text to the end of the file given by filepath.  Enclose the filepath in quotes if it contains blanks. A single blank after the filepath is ignored and then the text after this blank is written.

Use a file name of log to write the text to a currently open key logging file.

Examples

*Exec ToFile

c:\logs\log1.txt this is the text

writes this is the text to c:\logs\log1.txt

*Exec ToFile

“c:\logs path\log1.txt” &(date) date included

writes the date then the phrase date included (assuming & is variable insertion character) to c:\logs pth\log1.txt


Sample Script

Here is a sample of a script which uses *wait to wait on the status of both the modem and a program and uses *Windowto terminate a program.

Starting the script uses the Dundial program, described in dundial.txt in the Windows PowerPro directory, to dial a DUN connection.  When the connection is completed, both Microsoft Internet Explorer and a communications optimization program called Speedup are started.  The script then waits until the user terminates Microsoft Internet Explorer; then the modem connection and the Speedup program are also terminated.

To configure this script, create a new command list called (say) internet.  Then enter the items shown below.  Once them menu is created and saved, the script can be run with the command:

Command	*Script

Parameter	run internet

Here are the entries for menu internet.

Item Name	Dial connection

Item Command	c:/program files/PowerPro/dundial.exe

Item Parameters	DunName UserName Password

Item Name	Wait for connection

Item Command	*wait

Item Parameters	modem

Item Name	Start SpeedUp program

Item Command	c:/program files/speedup/speedup.exe

Item Parameters

Item Name	Start explorer

Item Command	c:/program files/Internet Explorer/IExplorer.exe

Item Parameters

Item Name	Wait for explorer to be terminated

Item Command	*wait

Item Parameters	nopath c:/program files/Internet Explorer/IExplorer.exe

Item Name	Hangup connection

Item Command	c:/program files/PowerPro/dunhang.exe

Item Parameters	*

Item Name	End SpeedUp program

Item Command	*Window

Item Parameters	close =c:/program files/speedup/speedup.exe

In a file, the script would look like this:

"c c:/program files/PowerPro/dundial.exe" DunName UserName Password

*wait modem

"c:/program files/speedup/speedup.exe"

"c:/program files/Internet Explorer/IExplorer.exe"

*wait nopath c:/program files/Internet Explorer/IExplorer.exe

"c:/program files/PowerPro/dunhang.exe"

*window close =c:/program files/speedup/speedup.exe

A problem with this script is that, since a *wait executes in the background, you will not be able to run another script file (due to PowerPro restriction that script files cannot be run while another script file is doing a *wait).  Another approach which avoids this problems is to remove the *wait.  Replace it by *Timer Start a, which starts a timer (say) a with a reset of (say) 2 seconds; the reset command should be

Command:	*script

Action:	if

Parameter:	(not visiblewindow "*internet explorer*")

More:	*Timer stop a<"c:/program files/PowerPro/dunhang.exe"<*window close =c:/program files/speedup/speedup.exe

This uses the ability of the *Script if to control the More Commands.


See Mouse Cursor Position and Window Information

You can have Windows PowerPro display a small window with the mouse screen position and the size and position of the window under the mouse as well as the caption, window class, and exe name of the window under the mouse.  This display can be activated manually or it can be automatically shown whenever you move or size a window.

To manually show the information window, execute this command:

Command:	*Exec

Action:	WindowInfo

The window will be displayed until you execute the command again (ie to stop display, execute the command again).

To show the information automatically whenever a window is moved or sized, use the check box on the GUI Control dialog.

The information window has six lines of text:

mouse screen coordinates, both Absolute (point 0,0 is top-left of screen) and Relative (point 0,0 is top-left of window under mouse)

window coordinates: (left,top) - (right, bottom) of window under mouse

total window size: width x height

client window size and aspect ratio

window caption

window class and exe name

The client window excludes the border, caption, menu bar, tool bars, and status bar.  The aspect ratio is the width of the client window divided by its height.

If the mouse cursor is over an Edit box, the contents of that box are shown are the caption.  This can be useful to see password fields.

The display window uses the same colors and font as the tool tip window.

For the automatic display, to have the information in the display updated dynamically as you move or size a window, you must have the Windows option “Show Window Contents While Dragging” activated; this option is available in NT4 and Win 98 or in Win95 with MS Plus!.


Keyboard Macros

Samples

Purpose

Keyboard macros let you replace one set of typed characters by others.  You can also use keyboard macros to run Windows programs or to execute Windows PowerPro Windows configuration features or built-in commands.

For example, you could define .me to be replaced with Your Name.  Or you could define Alt-tm to minimize the current window.

Configuration

To define a set of keyboard macros, you need to do two things:  define the macros and define the macro signal character.

You define the macros and the corresponding actions by creating a command list.  Enter the macro as the item name and enter the macro command as the corresponding left command.  Use only letters, digits, and spaces in the item name (you can use digits from the numeric keypad too).  Use the *Keys command to send keystrokes if you want to define a macro abbreviation for the corresponding keystrokes.

After defining the macros, you need to define a hot key character which is used to signal that a macro may follow. You do this by defining any hot key with the command *Macro in the command entry edit box.   Put the name of the command list with the macros in the parameter edit box of the command.

You can temporarily disable an macro in the command list by checking the hidden check box.

Examples

For example, suppose you define a command list mymacros with these four entries:

Item Name	me

Item Command	*Keys

Item Parameters	yourname@yourdomain.com

Item Name	new

Item Command	*Keys

Item Parameters	%fn

Item Name	sq

Item Command	*Keys

Item Parameters	{sp}{ba}²

Item Name	xp

Item Command	c:\windows\explorer.exe

Item Parameters

Also suppose that the period is defined as a hot key as follows

Hot Key	.

Hot Key Command	*Macro

Hot Key Parameters	mymacros

When you type .me, Windows PowerPro would replace the .me by yourname@yourdomain.com.  Similarly, .new would be replaced by Alt-fn, and .sq would be replaced by the superscript 2 (²).  Finally, typing .xp would cause Windows Explorer to be started.

If you type period followed by any other sequence of characters, nothing will happen – the typed characters will not be changed.

Further Information

Be careful when you define macros:  Windows PowerPro will execute the shortest macro that applies.  For example, if you define one macro ab and another one called abc, then the abc macro would never be executed since the ab macro would always be matched first.  To help avoid this, you can put spaces in macros, including spaces at the end.  The space then has to be typed for the macro to be executed.

You can have as many combinations of macro signal characters and menu tables for macros as you want.

You can use program-specific hot keys to limit macro expansion to certain windows or to avoid checking for a macro with certain windows.

The *Macro command can only be used with hot keys.  You will get an error message if you use it in any other context (eg as a button command).


Sending Keys to Other Windows

Samples

Use the *Keys command to send keystrokes to other windows.  Sending keys can be used to send text to the receiving window or to automate functions of the receiving window. For example, functions on menus can often be accessed by Alt-ab where a is the first character of the menu name and b selects an item on that menu.

Configuration

The keystrokes entered in the parameters edit box are sent to the currently active window.  You can use the find button to select a special key or to record keys.

Type letters, digits, special characters in the parameters edit box.  Special characters like function keys or the date/time can be entered using {xx} abbreviations.  Click here for the full list of {xx} commands.

To  specify an Alt-prefixed key, prefix it by %; similarly use ^ for Ctrl key, + for Shift, and combine as needed (eg %^ for both Ctrl and Alt).  Note that you can often simulate menu selections by sending % followed by a set of characters; eg %fn sends Alt-fn which does a File|New menu selection in many programs.

Beware of these characters which could have a special meaning for Windows PowerPro:

?	use {pp} or {qn} instead (? Is default command line prompt character)

<	use {cs} or {lt} instead (< is command separation character)

“	use {qu} instead of “ at start of keys

%	use {pe}  or {%} (% alone signals Alt)

^	use {ca} or {^}(^ alone signals Ctrl)

+	use {pl} or {+} (+ alone signals Shift)

Example

Command	*Keys

Parameter	hello, world

Sends hello, world to active window.

Click here for other examples.

Normally keys are sent to the currently active window.  But you can switch to another windows first by preceding the sequence of keys with {to xxx} where xxx selects the new target window; click here for information.

If your sequence of keys causes the window receiving the keys to open a new window or menu to receive subsequent keys, you may need to insert a wait in your key sequence to allow the new window to open and be readied to receive the keys.  Use {w1} to insert a wait on one tenth of a second.

If you have a large number of keys to send, you can store them in a file (say c:\path\filename.txt) and then use *Keys {from c:\path\filename.txt} to send the keys.  You can use many lines in the file to make it easier to enter and check the keys; all line ends are ignored.  You can also put a comment at the start of the file by putting ** at the start of the file, then any number of lines of comment text, then ** at the end of a line.  For example, **One line comment** or

**

Multi-line

Comment

**

If you specify a file name without a path, then the file is assumed to be in the same folder as the PowerPro configuration file.

Starting a program and then sending it keys requires special care; click here for information.

You can use a command list of *Keys commands to have a list of favorite folders to select from for use in open/save dialogs.

You can select keys to be sent from a menu with {filemenu c:\path\items.txt}.

To send mouse clicks, use *mouse.

You can control the delay between sent keys with the advanced options.


Manipulating Windows of Running Programs

Samples

Purpose

Use the *Window command to ask Windows PowerPro to close, minimize, tray minimize, rollup to caption and perform many other actions with the windows on your system.  You can specify the windows to be controlled by selecting the active window, the window under the mouse, a window from a menu of active windows that Windows PowerPro shows, a list of window captions, or all windows on your system.

Configuration

The command has this format:

Command	*Window

Action	action

Parameter	windowID

The action specifies what to do; click here for details.  The windowID species which windows to perform the action on; click here for details.

Examples

Command	*Window

Parameter	min active

minimizes the active window.

Command	*Window

Parameter	rollup menu

displays a menu of active windows; the selected one is rolled up to the caption.

Command	*Window

Parameter	show menu hidden

displays a menu of active windows including hidden windows; the selected one is shown and activated.

Command	*Window

Parameter	close all

closes all windows on your desktop.

Command	* Window

Parameter	Position 10 30 100 200 autorun

positions lasts window selected on autorun command list.

Command	*Window

Parameter	minmemory “*Netscape,*Internet Explorer”

swaps Netscape or Internet Explorer out to disk (NT only).


Specifying the Action for *Window Command

Following are the possible values for the action of the *Window command:

close	closes window

closeforce	forces the window to close; you may lose unsaved information

min	minimizes the window

max	maximizes the window

normal	displays as non-minimized, non-maximized

move	move the window by moving mouse; click any mouse button to stop move

size	size the window by moving mouse; click any mouse button to stop size

hide	makes window invisible

ontop	displays always on top (ontop is one word)

nottop	removes always on top setting (nottop is one word)

topnottop	reverses always on top setting (nottop is one word)

show	activates the window and shows it if hidden

back	sends window to bottom of stack of displayed windows

backshow	sends window to back if it is foremost; activates if it is not

center	centers within full screen

rollup	rolls up the window to just caption; shows if it is already rolled-up

maxnormal	maximizes normal window; makes maximized window normal

minrestore	restores minimized window; minimizes otherwise

traymin	minimizes window to tray

automin	minimizes window to tray if window matches autotraymin on Window Control tab; ordinary minimize otherwise

minmemory	setting memory working set (NT only).

Position x y w h	sets a window position

For the Position command, you must type four numbers before the target window.  The four numbers provide the window horizontal and vertical position (positive or negative) and the window width and height.  You can capture these numbers from an active window using the find button.  Alternatively, you can replace the four numbers by center (to center), wmax to maximize width, or hmax to maximize height.  You can use = for any of the four to keep the current value.  You can precede the number by a plus sign to set relative to current position:

*Window Position +-50 = +-100 = active

moves 50 positions to the left reduces the width of the active window by 100 pixels.

*Window Position = = +50 +50 = under

increase width and height of window under mouse by 50 pixels.

If you use the MinMemory command, you can optionally follow the WindowId with two decimal integers giving the minimumum and maximum working set sizes in bytes.  The virtual memory manager attempts to keep at least the minimum working set size resident in the process whenever the process is active and to keep no more than the maximum memory resident in the process whenever the process is active and memory is in short supply.  If you omit these values, or if you specify -1 for both,  the function temporarily trims the working set of the specified process to zero. This essentially swaps the process out of physical RAM memory.


Specifying the WindowID for the*Window Command

Select one of the following options for the WindowID of the *Window command.

active	Selects the active window.
*	Selects the active window.
autorun	Last window matched by autorun command list.  Use this for commands in autorun command lists.
activebar	Window corresponding to last active bar button pushed.
under	Selects the window under the mouse.  For applications which use the Multiple Document Interface, the commands close, min, max, rollup will operate on the MDI child only; put Parent after under to avoid this and ensure the command always runs on the parent window.
menu	Displays a menu of active windows; select one for the action.  Put hidden after menu to include hidden and tray minimized windows. Put traymin after menu to include tray-minimized windows. If the *Window menu command is included in a Windows PowerPro menu, the generated menu will be embedded in the outer menu.  To ensure all items appear on screen you could put the *Window command as the sole entry in a submenu.  Or to activate the *Window command when the menu item is clicked on, put noembed in lower case in the work directory of the *Window command
all	Selects all visible windows, including minimized windows.
window_list	Selects the windows specified in the list.  Enter one or more window captions, separated by commas.  Enter xxx* for captions starting with xxx,  *yyy for captions ending in yyy, and *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.  Or you can enter =exename to select all windows shown by the program with file name exename (you must only enter the file name:  not the path and not the .exe extension). Put ~ at the start of the window list to avoid an error message if no matching window is found.  Put the window_list in double quotation marks if it contains blanks.  Example:  “*Notepad,*Internet Explorer, =calc” selects notepad windows, Internet Explorer windows, and Calculator windows.


Working with Tray Icons from Other Programs

Purpose

You can use the *TrayIcon command to simulate mouse clicks on the tray icons from any other program.  You can also use this command to hide these tray icons and still access the commands by simulated mouse clicks.

This lets you decide how to access tray icon functions and which tray icons should appear in the tray window on your taskbar.

(You can also access tray icons with *Menu Tray or active buttons).

Configuration

Before you can access a tray icon, you must train Windows PowerPro on how to access the icon. Click here for information on how to do this.  You have to train Windows PowerPro once for each icon you want to access.

Once you have trained Windows PowerPro, you send mouse clicks to the icon with the following command:

Command	*TrayIcon

Acton	click

Parameters	icon_name keystrokes

click is one of leftclick (left click), leftdouble (left double click), etc.

icon_name is the name you assigned to the icon when you trained Windows PowerPro; put it in quotes if it contains blanks.

keystrokes is optional; if present, it is a set of keystrokes to send to a menu resulting from the click (if a normal window results from the click, use *Keys with multiple commands instead).

You can also hide the tray icon with the command:

Command	*TrayIcon

Action	hide

Parameters	icon_name

You can still send mouse clicks to a hidden icon.

Examples

Command	*TrayIcon

Action	leftclick

Parameters	modem {ad}{ad}{en}

sends a left click to the tray icon named modem, and then sends two arrow downs and an enter to the resulting menu.

If the icon_name is not found, you will normally get an error message.  Precede the icon name with ^ to avoid the error.

Command	*TrayIcon

Action	hide

Parameters	^icon_name


Training PowerPro to Recognize Tray Icons from Other Programs

To access tray icons from other programs, you must first train Windows PowerPro to recognize the hidden window and internal codes that this icon uses.  Follow these steps:

1.	Make sure the tray icon to be accessed is visible in your tray.  It is helpful to shut down other windows, but this is not necessary.

2.	Start the configuration dialog and activate the command entry controls for the command list, hot key, alarm, or timer that you are configuring.  Select the *TrayIcon command.

3.	Press the search button and select add from the resulting menu.

4	You will get a message box prompting you to left click on the tray icon.  Press OK on this message box and then left click on the tray icon.

5.	If Windows PowerPro is able to capture the information, you will get another message box reporting success and asking you to help confirm that the information was correctly captured.  Press OK and Windows PowerPro will simulate a right click on the icon as a test.

6.	If the right click test succeeds, Windows PowerPro will ask you to enter a name for the icon information.  This is the icon_name field used in the *Tray Icon command or selected from the drop down in the command wizard.

If Windows PowerPro cannot capture the left click on the icon, or if the right click test is not successful, try again once or twice to ensure that this was not just a transient problem.


Power and Flexibility of PowerPro

Windows PowerPro gives you the power to control your system and how you access programs because it allows you to choose the combination of how to activate and what to activate.

The following table lists all the techniques for activation and all the things you can activate. You can combine any entry from the first column with any entry from the second column.

How to Activate	What to Activate
Button Bars • left, middle, right click  • keyboard access to bar  Menu • pick item and dismiss menu  • show all files in folder and run one  Tray Icon • left, middle, right click  Hot Key • alt, ctrl, win plus any key  • tap ctrl, alt, shift, win, caps lock  • specified key (like ;) then any key  • can depend on active program  Keyboard Macros • any string of characters  Mouse Actions (any mouse button) • click window  • click desktop  • click caption  • click left or right of caption  • click system, min, or close box  • press and hold mouse button  • short horizontal or vertical drag  • horizontal or vertical stroke  • move mouse to screen corner  • bump edge of screen  • chord two mouse buttons  • can depend on active program  When A Specified Window First Appears • based on caption or exe name  At a Scheduled Time • any time/date with repeat interval  • after system idle for specified time  • at PowerPro start up  Based on a Timer • timer start or stop  • after a countdown  • at a repeating interval    With explorer menus	Run any program, shortcut, or document  • specify parameters  • specify keys to send at start  • specify window configuration at start  • browse files and select file to run  Virtual desktop • create new desktop  • switch to existing desktop  • drag/drop windows between desktops  Control any Window on your Desktop • select by caption, or under mouse, or all windows, or from menu of active windows • select main window or MDI window  • activate, close  • topmost, not topmost  • hide, show, minimize, maximize, normal  • minimize to the tray  • rollup so only caption is visible  • send to back (underneath all windows)  Show a Menu • pre-built with optional submenus  • portions shown can depend on active program  • show Start Menu at any location Run a Script of Many Commands • script can contain any command in this column  • program logic with flags, variables, if, jump, wait  Work with Tray Icons of Other Programs • simulate left, middle, or right click  • hide icon  Show Contents of Folder as a Menu • select a file and run it or show its properties  • access special folders like desktop, start menu  Send Keystrokes to a Running Program • insert text  • control the program by sending Alt+ or Ctrl+ keys  Send Mouse Actions to Running Program 0 Control Look of Your Desktop • change wallpaper/saver  • change any sound  • all changes can be random, sequential, or to specific file  • hide/show desktop icons or task bar • save and restore desktop icon positions  Shut Down or Restart Windows


Using *Menu Folder with a Large Folder Tree

PowerPro limits the menu and submenus shown by *Menu Folder to at most 13000 files and 1000 folders.

To access folder trees with more files, use one of the following approaches.

To show an entire disk, select in work directory:

Command:	*Menu Folder

Parameter:	c:\

Format	nosubdir autocol 16 folderback

The nosubdir keyword is also selected by checking “Show subdirectory only when parent entry clicked” on *Menu Folder format keyword dialog.  Shows a menu of all files/folders for top level of drive C; selecting one folder shows that folder as menu.  Or, if Shift key held down when selecting from menu, shows entire folder as explorer Window.  (Autocol 16 automatically starts a new column in the menu every 16 entries).  Also shows a back entry in each menu to allow you to go back up the folder tree.

Another approach for large directory tree:

Command:	*Menu Folder

Parameter:	c:\

Format	explorer nofiles

Shows a menu of all folders for drive C with single explore entry in menu for each folder.  Left click on this entry to show files for that folder in Explorer window.  Right click to show files in *FolderContents Menu.

The first technique shows the menu faster, but requires clicks to go up or down the folder tree.


Manual Scrolling with Mouse

You can start manual scrolling in one of two ways:  by attaching a command to a hot key/mouse action or by the middle mouse button.

To start scrolling with a hot key, attach this command to the key:

Command	*Exec

Parameter	scroll

Scrolling only occurs for the window which the mouse is over when the hot key is activated.  Scrolling continues until the left mouse button is clicked.

To set up middle mouse scrolling, use the GUI Control configuration dialog.  Check  the Scroll checkbox there to scroll only while middle mouse down; gray-check to scroll with middle mouse up until left button clicked.

To scroll a window, activate the *Exec scroll hot key or hold down middle mouse and move in desired direction.  For ordinary check, scrolling will continue even if the mouse stops.  For gray check or the scroll command, scrolling will pause unless the mouse is near the top or bottom of the window.  You can control or disable speed of automatic scrolling with Scroll interval advanced option.

To scroll pages (instead of single lines), click the right mouse button while the window is scrolling.

To quickly move to the start or end of the file, hold the Alt key down and move the mouse in the desired direction.

Mouse scrolling only works with applications that use standard windows scroll bars.

Some applications, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, already support mouse scrolling.  You can disable Windows PowerPro scrolling for these or any window by typing the caption of the window in the edit box beside the middle scrolling check box.  Separate captions of different programs by commas.  Normally, you will not type the whole caption, but rather only a part.  Use *xxx to match all captions ending in xxx.  Use xxx* to match all captions starting with xxx.  Use *zzz* for captions containing zzz anywhere.   For example, *Internet Explorer will match MS IE windows.

See also automatic scrolling.


Automatic Scrolling with the Mouse

To scroll windows automatically, execute this command from a hot key or mouse action:

Command	*Exec

Parameter	autoscroll

A small gray rectangle with the letter “s” will appear in the current window.  Move the mouse above it to scroll up; the further the mouse is from the gray rectangle, the faster the window is scrolled. Move the mouse below the rectangle to scroll down; the further the mouse is from the gray rectangle, the faster the window is scrolled.  The slowest scrolling speed is set by the scroll interval on the advanced dialog.

Right click to scroll a page.  Middle click to scroll 5 lines.  Left click to stop scrolling.

You can optionally set the scroll speed by including the number of milliseconds between auto scroll steps with the *Exec autoscroll command.  Use 0 to disable automatic scrolling; in this case scrolling is accomplished solely with middle click (5 lines) and right click (page).

Many newer programs support autoscrolling internally if you middle click on one of their windows.  To automatically take advantage of them, define a hot key (say tap shift) which sends a middle mouse click to the programs which support autoscroll and executes the Windows PowerPro command otherwise.  To do this, define the hot key twice, and use the target window feature on the second definition.

Examples

For example, to use native autoscroll in Internet Explorer:

Hot Key:	tap shift

Command	*Mouse

Parameter	middle

Target	*Internet Explorer

Hot Key:	tap shift

Command	*Exec

Action	autoscroll

Target

See also manual scrolling.


Automatically Pressing Buttons when Mouse is Stopped over Them

You can ask Windows PowerPro to automatically press buttons when the mouse is stopped over them for a specified time.

Use the check box on the GUI Control tab to do this.  You can also set the stop time with the spin box.  If you want Windows PowerPro to automatically select standard menu items too, gray check the box.

You can use the "except" edit box to specify a caption list of windows where the automatic press is not to occur.

By default, Windows PowerPro will automatically press buttons (including radio buttons and check boxes), combo boxes, combo box list items, standard toolbars, and tabs in standard tabbed dialogs.  Windows PowerPro also will automatically press the minimize, maximize, close, help, and system menu buttons in captions and will automatically open standard menus in menu bars.

You can add  or remove window types to this list as follows:  Assign the command

*Exec

autopress

to any hot key.  (Avoid using Alt as a modifier key for the hot key as this will close open menus.)

Move the mouse over the window of interest and activate the hot key.  If the window type is not currently one that is automatically pressed, Windows PowerPro will add it to its list.  If it is one that is automatically pressed, Windows PowerPro will remove it.  In both cases Windows PowerPro notifies you of the results with a message box.

If you use “Cursor to default button” from Window Control tab, Windows PowerPro will not press the button moved-to by this features unless you move the mouse from where Windows PowerPro positions it.


Programming Scripts with If, Jump, Variables, Flags

You can program scripts with loops, if statements, variables.  These scripts can reside in command lists but you may find it more convenient to edit them from files and run the file with *Script runfile.

You may find it helpful to print this help section out for study.

Variables

PowerPro has 36 variables:  a, b, c, …, z, and x0, x1, … x9.  You can use lower or upper case letters to refer to the variables.  Variables store strings, but PowerPro will automatically interpret the strings as numbers when appropriate (.e.g "-5" + "3" is "-2").

You assign a value to a variable using the *assign statement and an expression:

*Assign v expression.

For example

*Assign v "abc"

*assign w length v + 5

*assign l v le "def" and w >3

assigns the variable v the string "abc", the variable w the string "8", and the variable l the string "1" (representing true).  Note that the *Script has been omitted from these samples as you can do in script files (but not with command lists).

You can use variables outside of scripts to insert text into commands by defining the variable insertion character using Setup|Advanced|Chars.  For example, if you used the insertion character & and you executed

*Assign p "c:\thefolder"

then running

Notepad &p\file1.txt

would cause Notepad to open c:\thefolder\file1.txt.

You can also use the insertion character to insert an expression directly into a command with the insertion character by putting the expression in parentheses:

Notepad &(date select -6).txt

opens a file with the same name as the last 6 digits of the current date.

The insertion character is only used in some circumstances.  The rules, assuming & is variable character:

1.  In script commands and expressions, put a space after all keywords and variable names and operators.

2.  In expressions, *assign, and *Exec Prompt, no & with variables.

3.  In all other cases, use & in front of variables.

The variables x0-x9 have a special function with respect to scripts.  There is a set of variables x0-x9 that you can use outside of scripts.  In addition, each time you call a new script, a new set of variables x0-x9 gets created and initialized to the previous x0-x9 (up to maximum of three new sets).  This set of variables can then be used locally by the script.  When it returns, the variables x0 and x1 are set to the values of these variables in the called script.  But the variables x2-x9 are left at their previous values in the calling script.  This means you can use variables x0-x9 in scripts as follows:

x0-x9 are always passed to a called script

x0-x1 are set to the values they had at end of called script (results of script)

x2-x9 are not affected by any use of them in called script.

You can prompt for a variable using the prompt character from the advanced dialog which is often set to ?; for example,

*Script assign v ??enter the value?

which will prompt for input to set the variable v using a dialog box titled "enter the value". You can also use the input or inputcancel operators to do the same thing, e.g.

*Assign v input "Enter value for v"

You can also display a menu of choices by using "filemenu" with this type of command line:

notepad ??filemenu c:\path\notefile.txt?

where notefile.txt contains a list of lines of the form

menutext=value

A menu consisting of all the menutext values will be shown; the value from the selected item will be inserted in the command line.  If you use only a relative path after filemenu, the menu file is assumed to be in the same folder as the PowerPro configuration file.  You can also use *Exec prompt to display a yes/no/cancel dialog box and store the result in a variable.

Conditional Statement If and Ifx/Else/Endif

Use conditional statements if and ifx to control which part of a script gets executed.  For

*If (expression)

the statement following the if is skipped if the expression evaluates to 0 or the empty string "".  Or if the *Script if is followed by More Commands, these commands are skipped rather than the next statement if the if is false.  Note that the expression must in parentheses.

To control more than one statement, use

*Ifx (expression)

statements

*else

statements

*endif

The expression must be in parentheses.  The one or more statements following the *Ifx are skipped if the value of the (expression) is 0 or "" and the statements following the else are executed instead.  Otherwise, the statements following the ifx are executed then the statements between the else and endif are skipped.  You can omit the else and its statements.  You can nest other ifx-else-endifs within the statements follow the ifx or the else.  For example

*ifx (ctrl or v>3)

*Message ctrl is down or v is greater than 3

*assign x 12

*else

*Message ctrl is not down or v is le 3

*endif

Shows the first message when the expression is true (evaluates to non-zero) and assigns x the value 12.  Otherwise the second message is shown.

Quitting Scripts

Windows PowerPro normally executes all commands until the end of the script, but you can stop execution by the command:

Command	*Script

Action	quit

Follow by the keyword all to quit any calling scripts too.

Jump

To jump or loop, use

Command	*Script

Action	jump

Parameters	xxx

to go to label xxx of the currently executing script for the next command.  For command lists, the label xxx is put in the menu item field.  For files run as scripts, the label is put as @xxx at the start of a line.  The rest of the line can be blank or it can include a command.

Flags

To help with Script programming, Windows PowerPro has a set of 32 flags which you can manipulate and test.  To set a flags n1 through n2:

Command	*Script

Action	flag

Parameters	set n1 n2

where n1 and n2 are any numbers between 0 and 31.  You can omit n2 if you only want to access one flag.  To clear flags, use flag clear n1 n2; to toggle (reverse) the setting, use flag toggle n1 n2.  Use 0 31 for n1 n2 to access all flags.

You can test the flag with the if command; use

Command	*Script

Action	if

Parameters	(f4)

to check to see if flag number 4 is set; use (not f4) to check to see if it is clear.

You can set a flag with input via *Exec prompt.  For example, this set of commands will prompt and close the window under the mouse if you answer yes to the prompt:

Command	*Exec

Action	Prompt

Parameters	0 Close?

More Cmds	`	*if (f0)<*Window Close under parent

You can reference flags in any expression as fn, where n is a number between 0 and 31;  if the flag is set, then the value is 1, else it is 0.

You can set flags at start up with the command line.


Clipboard Manipulation, Tracking and Copying

Purpose

The *Clip command is used to work with the clipboard.  Windows PowerPro has commands to copy text or file to the clipboard, to copy the clipboard to a file, and to clear the clipboard.

Furthermore, Windows PowerPro has a clipboard history function:  it can track text as you put it to the clipboard and can subsequently display a list of such text items on a menu.  If you select an item from this menu, the selected item is recopied to the clipboard and optionally pasted.  Click here for more details on clipboard history tracking.

*Clip Actions

MenuPaste	Show menu of recently captured clips history; select an entry to put on clipboard and then automatically paste selected entry using Ctrl-V.

MenuIPaste	Show menu then paste selected entry using Ctrl-Ins.

Menu	Show menu ; select an entry to put on clipboard.

Delete	Delete selected entry from clipboard history.

File:	Copy file to clipboard.

FilePaste	Copy file to clipboard then paste using Ctrl-V.

FileIPaste	Copy file to clipboard then paste using Ctrl-Ins

CopyThenToFile	Send Ctrl-C then copy clipboard to file.  See Manual Copy below for more

ToFile	Copy clipboard to text file.

ToFileAppend	Appendclipboard to text file.

ClearClip	Clears clip board.

ClearRecent	Clear recent list of captured clips.

ShortDate	Put date on clipboard in short format.  (put *Keys ^v in More Commands to paste).

LongDate	Put date on clipboard in long format.

Time	Put time on clipboard.

Text	Put following text on clipboard.

TextAppend	Append following text to clipboard.  If no text, newline appended.

TextPaste	Put entered text on clipboard and then automatically paste with Ctrl-V.

Copy	Sends Ctrl-C to foreground window for copy.

Cut	Sends Ctrl-X to foreground window for cut.

Paste	Sends Ctrl-V to foreground window for paste.

Capture	Turn capture off, on, or reverse current state

TextPaste will often be faster then *Keys for long text.

Click here for more details on clipboard history tracking.

Manual Copy to Clipboard

You can manually copy selected text to the clipboard and then to a specified file with

Command	*Clip

Parameter	CopyThenToFile filepath

Windows PowerPro will send the keystroke Ctrl-c to copy selected text to the clipboard, and then will copy the clipboard text to the filepath.  Provide the full filepath with the extension .   PowerPro will always copy plain text format.

To implement multiple clipboards, create a set of hot key pairs with a manual copy attached to one hot key and a filepaste and the same file name assigned to the other hot key.


Clip Filters

You have Windows PowerPro place captured clipboard items in subfolders of the clip folder by entering filter strings in the filter edit box on the GUI Control dialog.  Filter strings take this form

String=subfolder

String is xxx*, *xxx, or *xxx* to match xxx at start, end, or middle of clipped item; subfolder is the name of the subfolder of the clip folder in your Windows PowerPro directory where you want to put any item matching the String. For example

*.zip=”zip files”

puts any captured item ending in .zip into the subfolder “zip files”.  Note that you must put the subfolder name in double quotes if it contains blanks.

You can separate multiple matching strings by commas:

*.gif,*.jpg,*.jpeg=Pictures

puts strings ending in .jpg, .jpeg, or .gif into the pictures folder.  Avoid blanks in the matching String.

The strings in the clip filter edit box on the GUI Control dialog are processed in sequence:

try*=tryfiles *.zip=”zip files”

would put any strings starting with try in tryfiles and then any other strings ending in .zip in “zip files”.

If the captured item is longer than 250 characters, only the first and last 125 characters are used when checking filter strings.

You can control whether or not items which match a filter are also placed in the active list with a checkbox on the GUI Control dialog.


Windows PowerPro Command Line

Windows PowerPro normally uses the configuration file pproconf.pcf found in the same folder as the Windows PowerPro .exe file.

You can use a different file name or a different folder by putting the path to the configuration file on the Windows PowerPro command line.  If the configuration file is in the same folder as the .exe, omit the path.  For example:

“c:\program files\PowerPro\PowerPro.exe”  “C:\My Documents\PowerPro\PowerPro.pcf”

If you use a shortcut to start Windows PowerPro, the command line can be found in the shortcut properties.  Note that you must put double quotes around file paths which contain blanks.

You can make the folder depend on the current user by putting a % in the path to the configuration file; the % will be replaced by the current user name.  For example, if ralph was signed on:

“C:\My Documents\PowerPro\%\PowerPro.pcf”

would be interpreted by PowerPro as:

“C:\My Documents\PowerPro\ralph\PowerPro.pcf”

As well as pcf files, Windows PowerPro puts all files which it can change into this folder:  the timer log, alarm log, clip folder, tray icon info, saved desktop icon positions, saved explorer windows (from explorer tracking option).  So if you want to move your current configuration and other data files from the Windows PowerPro folder, you must move all .pcf files, all .iconpos files, all .ini files, all .timerlog files, all .alarmlog files and the explorer.windows file.

For .bmp backgrounds, script files, icon files, and shortcuts run as commands:  if a relative path like shared\run.lnk or back.bmp is used for these types of files, PowerPro assumes the file resides in the same folder as the configuration file.  This can be used to collect files associated with a configuration in the configuration files folder.

You can also use the command line to set flags at start up.  Precede the pcf file (if present) by -fn, where n is the flag number to set.  The letter f must be in lower case.  Repeat -fn to set multiple flags.  For example, the following sets flag 6 with the standard pcf file:

“c:\program files\PowerPro\PowerPro.exe” -f6

You can also use the command line to run built-in PowerPro commands.


Sound Volume

You can mute sound volume with this command

Command	*Exec

Parameter	mute

Each time this command is executed, the mute setting is reversed.

You can set the volume for .wav files only with *Exec VolumeWav n, where n is a number between 0 and 15.  Use +n or -n to adjust volume relative to current setting.  You can set the volume for all playback with *Exec VolumeAll, where n is a number between 0 and 255.  Use +n or -n to adjust volume relative to current setting


Caption lists are used to specify target windows for hot keys, to specify window lists for *Window commands,  to specify the active program context for active windows, and so on.

A caption list is single string or a list of strings separated by commas.  Each string in the list is used to try to match a window.  Either the window caption or the window exename can be matched.  To match a caption, use yyy to match a whole caption, yyy* to match captions starting with yyy, *yyy to match captions ending in yyy, and *yyy* to match captions containing yyy anywhere.  Use =exename (no path, no .exe) to match any window from program exename.  Use +exename to match any window except dialogs from program exename. Note:  all spaces are used when matching, so avoid unwanted spaces when using the comma separator.

There are also special values for the list.  You can specify filedialog to match file open/save/save as windows, explorer to match single or dual pane explorer windows, explorer1 for single pane explorer windows, or explorer2 for dual-pane explorer windows.

You can avoid matching configuration dialogs by using +exename or by putting ,nodialog at the end of the caption list.

You can specify that the mouse must be at a screen corner or screen edge or quadrant with @topleft, @topright, @bottomleft, @bottomright, @top, @bottom, @left, @right, @quadtopleft, @quadtopright, @quadbottomleft, @quadbottomright.

For example, *notepad*,=winword,explorer2 selects any window containing “notepad” in caption or any window started by winword.exe or dual pane explorer windows.  For example, @bottomright ensures that the mouse is at the bottom right corner.

To select all but the specified windows or mouse positions, start the list with a tilde (~); for example, ~*text.txt selects any window except those with captions ending in text.txt.


Virtual Desktop Setup

Use Virtual Desktop Setup dialog which you access from the desktop setup tab to specify characteristics of virtual desktops.

Normally, Windows PowerPro only shows windows from the current virtual desktop on the taskbar.  If you prefer, you can arrange to show all windows on the taskbar and use the taskbar to switch among desktops by checking the "Show all windows from virtual desktops on task bar" Shutdown and restart PowerPro after changing this option.

If you activate a window which is on a hidden desktop (eg via tray icon), Windows PowerPro can be configured to show and switch to the hidden desktop.  If you want this feature, check "Show Virtual Desktop if any of its windows is activated".

You can specify that PowerPro should move a window activated which is activated by the “switch to if active feature” by checking “Switch to if Active moves window to current desktop”.  If you leave this unchecked, then the windows will be copied to the current desktop as well as remaining on hidden ones.

If Rerun script with desktop name each time desktop is activated is checked, each time you switch to a virtual desktop which is already running, Windows PowerPro will execute the script of the same name for the desktop.

Check Press bar button with *VDesk SwitchTo xxx as command when xxx is active to have PowerPro show a button corresponding to the active desktop as pressed.  Assign the command *Vdesk SwitchTo xxx *Vdesk NewFromList xxx to any mouse click on a button to have that button shown as pressed whenever the virtual desktop named xxx is active.  You can set checkboxes to use this approach to show the icon only from the button corresponding to the active desktop or the own color only from the button for the active desktop.

You can show subbars with the same name as the active virtual desktop on bars which are shown on all desktops by checking Show subbar of same name as vdesk.

You can specify the name of a command list to be run before and after each time you switch to a new desktop.  The command list can access the desktop name, if desired, with *Script if (veskdname=="string") or *Script set v desktop.  This list is not run when PowerPro starts; use a startup up scheduled event to run the list at startup if you want to do this.

You can specify a caption list of windows to be locked on all desktops.


Date and Time Format

Use the *Info labels of the command item dialog to specify date or time display. Use these sequences of letters.  The case of the letters is important:

offset n	Add n minutes to current time before processing following date/time items; the number n can be positive or negative.

shortdate	Short date format (as set on Control Panel|regional)

longdate	Long date format (as set on Control Panel|regional)

d 	Day of month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit days.

dd 	Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days.

ddd 	Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation.

dddd 	Day of week as its full name.

M	Month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit months.

MM 	Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months.

MMM 	Month as a three-letter abbreviation.

MMMM	Month as its full name.

yy 	Year as last two digits, but with leading zero for years less than 10.

yyyy 	Year represented by full four digits.

w	week number with no leading zero.

ww	week number with leading zero if less than 10.

daynum	day number of year

time	time format (as set on Control Panel|regional)

h 	Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock

hh 	Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock

H 	Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock

HH 	Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock

m 	Minutes with no leading zero for single-digit minutes

mm 	Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes

s 	Seconds with no leading zero for single-digit seconds

ss 	Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds

t 	One character time marker string, such as A or P

tt 	Multicharacter time marker string, such as AM or PM

Put characters in double quotes to avoid being scanned for date/time codes.

Examples

*Info "London" offset +360 ddd yy/MMM/dd h:mm:ss t

could show

London Sun 98/Sep/19 7:53:01 P


*Desktop Command

Use the *Desktop command to control various aspects of your desktop layout.  Use these action keywords:

HideIcons	Hides all icons on desktop

ShowIcons	Show desktop icons.

HideShowIcons	Hides icons if visible; shows them if hidden.

HideTaskBar	Hides all TaskBar on desktop

ShowTaskBar	Show desktop TaskBar.

ShowTaskBarautohide	Shows taskbar; re-hides when mouse is moved off taskbar and taskbar is not foreground window.  Assign this command to screen bump hot key to show autohide taskbar but prevent inadvertent shows by movements near screen bottom.  You may also need *Desktop hidetaskbar as startup scheduled event.

HideShowTaskBar	Hides TaskBar if visible; shows them if hidden.

HideShowWindows	Hides all desktop windows; show them when next executed.

SaveIcons	Save desktop icon positions

RestoreIcons	Restore desktop icon positions

SaveIconsGrid	Align desktop icon positions to a grid and then save them.

Resolution	Change resolution


Bars and the *Bar Command

Samples

Purpose

You can access the commands on a command list through a bar .  Some features of toolbars:

You can use left, middle, and right clicking to execute different commands.

Configure bar positions and other features by Ctrl-right clicking the bar.

Move bars by left dragging (position must be floating or caption/beside active)

Bar size can be set to sum of buttons or can be manually set using a sizing border (“Bar size to sum of buttons” must be unchecked to use border).

Bars can be automatically hidden

Bars can use skins.

Bars can be positioned in the caption of or beside/above/below the active window

Bars can be positioned as screen bars which reserve screen space like the Windows Taskbar.

One bar can be positioned on the Windows Taskbar.

Bar buttons can be pressed using the keyboard

Bar visibility can be based on the active window

Files can be drag/dropped on bar buttons from explorer; left drag/drop starts a button command and right drag/drop allows buttons to be configured.

Different parts of bars can be shown using subbars.

Bars are configured using command lists and their look is set using Bar Properties.  You can also ctrl-right click on a bar to access many of the configuration options. To show bars automatically, check “Auto Show as Bar” on the Command Lists dialog; bars can also be  shown manually using the *Bar show command as well.

Click here to see how to configure a bar so that clicking on a button displays other bars; click here to see how to configure a bar so that it consists of different sections which are selected by pressing a bar button.

You can put buttons on bars in three ways: entries in a command list, files and folders in a folder on your disk, and currently active windows on your system.

If the bar has a floating or caption or near active window position, you can move the bar by clicking and dragging any button.  If you find that you are moving the bar when you do not want to, you can set use the bar setup dialog to require that ctrl be down for dragging a bar to move it.  In this case, you can also position bars by assigning the *Format Drag command to any button and then clicking and dragging that button.  After moving a fixed position bar, you can return to the fixed position quickly by Ctrl-right clicking bar and selecting "Last Fixed".

You can force new rows on non-vertical bars with the *Format NewBarRow command.  You can start a new row and show a horizontal separator line with *Format NewBarRowLine.  Finally, you can insert a vertical separator line with *Format BarVerticalLine.

See here for more information on bar positions.

Configuring the *Bar Command

Use the following actions with *Bar:

Show	Shows a bar.

Hide	Hide a bar but keeps it in memory (for faster reshow).

HideShow	Hide a bar if visible; shows it otherwise.

Close	Closes a bar and removes it from memory.

ToMouse	Temporarily moves bar to mouse and shows it if hidden.  Usually used with hotkey.  Floating position only.

Keys	Readies bar to receive keys.

SelectSubBar	Shows a subbar.

SelectSubBarToMouse	Shows a subbar.at the mouse

SelectSubBarToButton	Shows a subbar. aligned to a bar

Format	Changes bar background, hide interval, or position.

For Win98/2000, when showing a hidden bar, you can specify that slide animation be used by preceding the bar name with one of *vertical, *horizontal, *fromtop, *frombottom, *fromleft, or *fromright.  For *vertical and *horizontal, Powerpro will select the direction depending on which half of the screen the mouse is positioned. The Command List|setup checkbox "use slide animation" does not have to be checked.  If it is, you can also use *none to override any default slide animation.  For example

*Bar

Show

*vertical MyBar

For *Bar Show and *Bar HideShow, you can also request that the mouse be moved to be position over the bar by preceding the bar name with *move, eg

*Bar

Show

*move mycommandlist

This can be used to prevent an autohide bar from disappearing when it is shown if the mouse is not over it.

You can combine slide hints like *fromtop and *move using the words in either order.

See Also

Adding a button, Changing a button, Moving bar, Size and Position bar, Autohide bar, Bar look, Create a Bar, Remove a Bar, Subbars, Sections/Subbars, Bars Showing Bars


Formating Menus and Bars with *Format

Samples

Purpose

Use the *Format command to control the look of menus and bars.  You can  use *Format Context, *Format Separator, and *Format Item with menus and bars.  Other *Format commands can only be used in command lists displayed as menus except for *Format Drag, which is used only with bars.

Configuration

Use the following actions with *Format:

Separator	Inserts a horizontal separator in a menu

NewBarRow	starts a new row in a bar.

NewBarRowLine	starts a new row in a bar and draw separator line.

BarVerticalLine	draws a vertical line in a bar.

NewColumn	Start a new column in a menu.

NewColumnLine	Start a new column with a separating vertical line.

StartSubMenu	The following items in the list appear in a submenu.

EndSubMenu	Ends the submenu.  You can nest submenus up to 4 deep.

Context/ContextIf	Starts a menu section or shows a bar depending on the active window.

EndContext	Ends portion of menu depending on active window.

Item	Changes colors and text associated with menu or bar item.

Drag	Assign to a bar button and then click-drag that button to move bar.


Changing the Look of an Item with *Format Item

Samples

Execute the *Format Item command to change the look or text of an item on a command list used for a bar, menu, or tray icon item.

When you configure this command, use the button beside the format keywords edit control to access a dialog which will set the keywords needed to change item text or color and to specify whether or not the item should be visible and should use its own colors.  You also specify the command list and starting and ending item number (starting at 1) of the item to be changed.  Instead of specifying a bar and item number, you can specify an item number of 0 to indicate the last button pressed on any bar.

There are restrictions on changing the text associated with special  labels  You cannot change the text from an ordinary label to a *Info special label or the reverse.  You cannot change tool tips which use *Info at all.

When you set new item features with the dialog, you can use a checkbox to indicate whether the new item values are to be written into the configuration file.  If they are not written, then the values will be reset if you use the configuration dialog and save the new configuration.  If this is not what you want, you could put the *Format Item to reset the desired values in the Reconfigure command list, as set by the advanced setup dialog.  This command list will be run after you reconfigure so you need to program it to run the appropriate *Format Item values.


Displaying Menus with *Menu

Samples

Purpose

Use *Menu to display a menu. It can be built from a command list (*Menu Show), the files in a folder (*Menu Folder), recently executed commands (*Menu RecentCommands), captured Explorer folders (*Menu Explorer), or the Windows Start menu.

Configuration

Use the following actions with *Menu

Show	Show a command list. as a menu.  Use *Format to insert submenus and separators.  See here for details

ShowAtButton	Show a command list. as a menu aligned to last button pressed.  Use *Format to insert submenus and separators.  See here for details

Folder	Create a menu from a folder.

Recent	Shows a menu of recently executed commands.  You must check “Track recent commands” on Command List setup.

Explorer	Show folders recently accessed with Explorer.  You must check “Track explorer” on Setup dialog.  Set maximum number of entries and set number of entries per menu column using the advanceddialog.

StartMenu	Show Windows start menu at mouse cursor.  Alternatively, you can assign *Menu Folder StartMenu to a hotkey.

Tray	Show tray icons as menu; see here for details.

UnderMouse	Show menu bar of the window under the mouse.  Only works in Win95/98 and only shows standard menus (not toolbars like the menu tool bar in Explorer).  Must be assigned to hot key or as part of menu shown by hot key.

Note that there are two steps to showing a command list as a menu:  defining the command list, say xxx,  and then executing a *Menu show xxx command.  For example, to show a menu by pressing a button, assign *Menu Show to a bar button command; see the default bar menu button for an illustration.  To show a menu by activating a hot key, assign the *Menu Show command to a hot key

If you have a bar configured to show a menu with *Menu Show xxx, you can quickly configure menu xxx by Alt+clicking the bar button with the *Menu Show command.

Tips

To create a menu of favorite folders, create a command list with a set of commands like this

Command:	*Exec

Action	Explorer2

Parameter	c:\the\folder\path

Then display it with *Menu Show.  Use *Exec Explorer a single pane window.

To create a menu of text clips, create a command list of *Key or *Clip TextPaste commands.


Displaying a Message with *Message

Use the *Message command to display a message.  If you assign this command to a scheduled alarm, the message will appear as a reminder at the specified time.  You will be able to update the interval until the message is shown again, or discard the message, or create a copy of the message to be shown again after 5/15 minutes while the original message is reset to be shown again at the standard interval.

You can automatically close the message box after n seconds by including the number n with the command.

Be careful with *Message xxxx; if xxx starts with a number, PowerPro will use the number as the number of seconds to keep the message box open rather than as the message.


Accessing the Screen Saver with *ScreenSaver

Use the *ScreenSaver command to start, stop, enable, disable, or change the screen saver.  You can also change the saver from the media dialog.

The *ScreenSaver actions are:

Enable	enables the saver

Disable	disable the saver

TempDisable	disables the saver until the mouse is moved (see below)

Start	starts the saver

Stop	stops a running saver

Change	changes saver to a saver (.scr file) in same folder, either random or sequential

ChangeTo	changes saver to specified file

ChangeTimeout	changes saver timeout to specied value (in minutes)

ChangeRestart	set, clear, or reverse setting of restart saver when changed setting on GUI Control dialog

The TempDisable command is normally used with a screen corner hotkey.  Moving the mouse to the hotkey screen corner which activates the command will disable the saver until the mouse is moved again.


Shutdown Windows or PowerPro

Use the *Shutrdown command to exit PowerPro or Windows.  When you configure this command, you can also use checkboxes to specify whether an confirmation dialog should be shown, and whether open programs should be forced to close (possibly losing information) for a Windows shutdown.

The *Shutdown actions are:

PowerPro	PowerPro exits

Dialog	Shows the windows exit dialog

Reboot	Shuts down window and reboots system

Restart	Shuts down system with warm windows restart

Logoff	Logs off current user

Windows	Shuts down windows

Standby	Put computer in standby power mode.


Changing the Wallpaper with *Wallpaper

Use *Wallpaper to change the wallpaper. You can also change the saver from the media dialog.

Windows PowerPro allows you to use .jpeg and .jpg files as wallpaper.

These are the *Wallpaper actions:

Show	changes wallpaper to indicated file but does not store the file name

Change	changes paper to file in same folder; you can specify random or sequential change

ChangeTo	changes paper to indicated file

Style	Enter center, tile, or stretch as parameter to set wallpaper style.  Stretch may not work on your system


Hot Key and Mouse Action Setup

Purpose

Use the Setup tab to fine tune Hot Key/Mouse Action command execution.

Configuration

You can use the check boxes to specify that double tapping is needed for the tap ctrl/alt/shift hot keys or for function key hot keys (this only applies to function keys used without Alt, Ctrl, Shift, Win).

You can use the check box to specify that Windows PowerPro will wait for up to 1.5 seconds for all modifier keys (alt, ctrl, shift, win) to be up before executing any hot key command.  If unchecked, Windows PowerPro only waits for commands which send keys.

To avoid activating the hot key action if a full screen program or a DirectX program is running, check "Disable bump or screen corner if full screen program running".

You can use the checkbox to disable screen edge bump and screen corner hot keys while a menu is showing to prevent accidentally closing the menu when selecting an item near the screen edge or corner.

To make it easy to navigate menus shown by hot keys involving Ctrl or Shift, you can use a check box to specify that Ctrl is Enter and Shift is down arrow while a menu shown by a hot key is open.  Note that you can assign a *Show Menu hot key to Ctrl+down (arrow) or Ctrl+up arrow as well, and then use the arrow and Ctrl keys to navigate the menu.  Use Alt or Esc to dismiss a menu.

You can specify the PowerPro should ensure the list of hot keys on the configuration dialog reflects the local keyboard.

You can specify that PowerPro should recognize keyboard hotkeys entered when a Dos or console window is active, except for tap keys and *Macro keys.  Gray check if you find slow performance with *Keys commands; however, if you gray check you may have problems if you send hot key characters with *Keys.

You can specify the character to be used for char then key hot keys.  The character cannot be a letter or a digit, and you cannot use the shift key with the character.

You can specify a delay in milliseconds for the screen corner and screen bump commands; the command will only be executed if you leave the mouse cursor in the corner or at the edge for at least the specified delay.

You can specify the minimum distance in pixels from the screen corner needed to activate screen corner hot keys.

You can specify a delay in milliseconds for the tap key commands; the command will only be executed if the tap key is held down for less than the specified delay time.

You can specify a minimum hold time for mouse press and hold hot keys,

You can fine tune the mouse stroke hot keys by adjusting the the minimum length of the stroke in pixels,  the maximum deviation from horizontal/vertical, and maximum time allowed to complete the stroke.   You can also specify a stop time; if the stop time is greater then 0 then the mouse must stop after that number of milliseconds after the completion of the stroke for the hot key to be activated.


Using *Exec

Use the *Exec command to access various functions; the *Exec keywords are:

Autoscroll	Starts automatic scrolling.

AutoPress	Used to learn new types of windows for mouse stop/press

Alarms	Suspend or re-activate checks for scheduled programs.

BrowseRun:	Shows a file open dialog; the select file is immediately executed.

Calendar	Shows a calendar.  Use mouse or arrow keys to navigate.  Unavailable on early Win95 versions unless IE3 or later has been installed.

CalcCalendar	Shows two dates/calendars along with day number, week number, and differences between dates.  Changing any value updates the others. Unavailable on early Win95 versions unless IE3 or later has been installed.  Click here for more details.

CD	play play CD track or eject any CD.

ChangeConfiguration	changes to configuration stored in new pcf file; the new file path can be entered in the command or it will be prompted for if no path is provided.

ClearRecent	Clears recent command folder on Start Menu.

ClearRecentExplorer	Clears list of windows shown by *Menu Explorer.

CommandLine	Shows a tiny command line to enter a command to run.

Dos	Starts Dos, runs a command line, restarts Windows (not for NT).

EmptyRecycleBin	Empty recycle bin.  Use checkboxes to control confirmation and whether sound is played and animation shown. Unavailable on early Win95 versions unless IE4 or later has been installed.

Disable	Disables PowerPro until mouse moved over a bar or hot key used.

Explorer	shows the contents of the specified folder in explorer; both file folders and special folders like control panel may be used.  Use find button to browse for folder when configuring. Use * for current working folder of active program.

Explorer2	shows the contents of the specified folder in explorer in 2-pane window; both file folders and special folders like control panel may be used.  Use find button to browse for folder when configuring.  Use * for current working folder of active program.

FindFiles	shows the Windows find files dialog.  You can use the edit box to enter a single starting folder.  Or use *Keys in More Commands to initialize dialog fields; for example, *Keys %lc:\path;d:\p2%n*.txt sets Look In to c:\path;d:\p2 and Named to *.txt.

FindComputer	Shows find computer dialog.

HideWindow	Shows a dialog allowing you to pick a window to hide.

HotKeys	Suspend or re-activate hotkeys.  Note:  even if you suspend hot keys, a hot key which runs this command will still work so you can tie *Exec HotKey reverse to a hot key to control whether hotkeys are enabled.

LogKeys	Log keystrokes to file.

Monitor	Suspend or re-activate repeated running of monitor command list.

Mute	Mutes sounds; run again to reverse.

NewFolder	Creates a new file folder.

Plugin	Runs a plugin

Print	Print file using associated program.

Prompt	Sets a flag according to a prompt

RefreshEnvironment	Refreshes all environment variables from registry (NT only).

RestoreLastMin	Restores last minimized window.

Scroll	Starts manual scrolling.

SetEnv	Set environment variable to provided text.  Use env operator in expressions to read environment variables.

Tile	Tiles active windows.

ToFile	Writes a line of text to a log file.

VolumeAll	Set volume for all playback; enter number 0 (mute) to 255 (loudest). Use + or - in front of number to adjust relative to current setting.

VolumeWav	Set .wav volume; enter number 0 (mute) to 15 (loudest). Use + or - in front of number to adjust relative to current setting.

WindowInfo	Shows/hides a small window showing mouse position and window size.


Bar is sized and oriented vertically.


Bar is sized and oriented horizontally


Bar positioned in caption of active window.


Bar with many rows.


Bar positioned on Windows Taskbar.


keyboard keys with optional modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl, win)

a prefix key followed by another keystroke

tapping ctrl, alt, shift, caps lock, win

moving the mouse to a screen corner or bumping the screen edge

clicking, double clicking, or chording mouse buttons with optional modifier keys (shift, alt, ctrl,win)

moving the mouse back and forth horizontally or up and down vertically

clicking on desktop

pressing and holding a mouse button.

clicking on the window caption: anywhere, left half, right half, system menu box, minimze, maximize/show, close box

clicking on a window border

short mouse drags


Entering Information for A Scheduled Command

Type:  Select from an  idle, post-idle, start-up, or normal alarm.  Idle alarms are rung after the specified number of hours and minutes of no keyboard or mouse action, start-up alarms are rung when Windows PowerPro starts, and normal alarms are rung at a specified time.

Date and Time:  Set the scheduled time for normal alarms using the date, hour, and minute controls.  This is the time the alarm command or message will be run next.  Use the interval drop down to control repeated display or the message or running of the command.

Interval:  Scheduled commands can be configured to repeat:  use the interval drop down to control whether and when the alarm is repeated.  The alarm is first executed at the set date and time.  Then the recycle interval is added to that date and time to obtain the next date and time that the alarm will be executed.  You can select a standard recycle interval from the drop down box or you can enter a specific interval as up to four numbers separated by colons:  months:days:hours:minutes.

Command:  Enter the command to be run in the command entry controls at the bottom using the start menu or find buttons or by selecting a command from the drop down.  Use the builtin (*) command *Message to enter a reminder message. You can also drag/drop files or desktop icons to the dialog to set the command.

Run if missed:  Check to have command run if it occurs when PowerPro is not running:  missed events will be run once when PowerPro next starts.  This setting gives individual control of whether missed events are run.  You must uncheck the setting on Scheduler|setup which applies to all alarms for if it is checked all missed events are always run.

No sounds:  Check to disable any sound for this event regardless of sounds set on scheduler setup.

Log:  Check to have alarm actual time and command written to the log file pproconf.alarmlog each time the alarm is activated.  You can also check "Keep Log File" on Scheduler|Setup dialog to have all alarms logged, regardless of whether the Log item is checked for any individual alarm.

Note:  if you want the ability to quickly configure a new reminder message, then assign the command *Configure NewReminderMessage to any button or menu or hot key.

See also: scheduled commands,  idle alarms,  builtin (*) commands, command entry controls,  scheduler setup


Entering Hot Key/Mouse Action Information

Key/Mouse:  At the top of the hot key edit dialog is a set of check boxes and a drop down used to select hot keys/mouse actions and modifier keys for the hot key/mouse action.  Click here for a more-detailed explanation of the hot key/mouse actions.

Disable:  Check “Disable” to disable a key without removing it from the list. Disabled keys are prefxed by X- in the list of hot keys.

Target:  You can assign hot keys/mouse actions which run only when a specified windows are active or when the mouse is at a specified position by using the Target Window edit box.  Leave this edit box blank to have the hot key apply to any window.  Enter a captionlist to have the hot key apply only to the windows or mouse positions matched by that list.

(To help you remember the purpose of the hot key, you can record a comment in the Target Window edit box by putting a semi-colon (;) ahead of the comment.)

The command entry controls at the bottom of the edit hot key dialog are used to change the command or  builtin (*) command run when the hot key is activated.  Use the start menu or find buttons or select a command from the drop down.  You can also drag/drop files or desktop icons to the dialog to set the command.

See also: hotkeys,  hot key defintions, builtin (*) commands, command entry controls, target windows for hot keys


Tool Tip Setup

Use the Tool Tip setup button on the Bar and Menu Properties or the Command List Setup dialogs to access a dialog which controls the look of tool tips.  With this dialog, you can set:

Background and text color for tool tips.

A character used to create multi-line tool tips.  Whenever this character is found in tool tip text, a new line is started.  For ecample, you could create one line per command for buttons or menu items which have left, middle, and right commands.

Whether slide animation is used to show the tooltip (Win98/2000 only).

Whether PowerPro will draw tool tips for its tray icons; this allows multi-line tool tips.

Whether or not PowerPro will stop showing tool tips after you click a button (and not star showing them again until the mouse is moved off the bar and back).

The delay until tool tips appear for bars.

The delay until tool tips appear for *Menu Folder and *Window menus (zero means no tool tip).


Prompting for Yes/No

Use *Exec Prompt to prompt for a Yes/No answer an set a flag with the result.  For example:

Command	*Exec

Action:	Prompt

Parameter	14 Any text

displays a message box with “Any Text” and sets flag 14 according to whether the result is yes or no.

You can also prompt for a yes/no/cancel result by using a variable instead of a number:

Command	*Exec

Action:	Prompt

Parameter	c  Any text

Displays a yes/no/cancel dialog and sets c to 0 for no, 1 for yes, 2 for cancel.


Exporting and Importing Configurations Using Text Files

You can use the Import from Text and Export to Text buttons on the Setup dialog to write parts of the configuration file to a text file or to read text back into a configuration file.  You might find this useful to make mass changes to a configuration. The configuration information that can be read or written is limited to command lists, scheduled events,  timers, and hot keys.

PowerPro has a special file format used for exporting and importing script runfile which you select by checking "Export left command only" on export dialog.  If this is unchecked, exporting to a text file produces a file with this format:

A line [*Hot] signals the start of the hot keys.  Each hot key is then written on one line as follows:

hotkey “target” switches command!`work

where

hotkey is an integer giving the hot or mouse action

target is the target, always in double quotes

switches is an integer encoding the how to start, switch to, and on top settings

command is the command text; if the exe name contains blanks, it is followed by a þ

!` is a separator between the command and work strings

work is the starting folder or formatting keywords for certain built-in commands.

A similar structure is used to export scheduled events under [*Scheduler] and timers under [*timer].

For command lists, there are two options which  are selected by theEach command list in the text file is started by a line [name], where name is the command list name.  There are five lines for each command list entry:

“name” icon*tooltip

L switches command!`work

M switches command!`work

R switches command!`work

F flag width textcolor backgroundcolor

where

“name” is the item name, always in quotes

icon gives the number and file for the icon

* separates the icon from the tool tip

tooltip is the tool tip text

L starts the left command; see hot key for command format

M starts the middle command; see hot key for command format

R starts the right command; see hot key for command format

F gives the own text and own background flags, the width, and the text and background colors as RGB integers.

When you import files, you only need to include the command lists you want to import.  If a command list of the same name already exists, it is overwritten.  The [*hot] section is also optional.  If present, it overwrites existing hot keys.  Scheduling is cumulative, however; imported events are added to existing events (but duplicates are ignored).

The import file must follow the above format.  However, for command lists, you only need to include the L, M, R, F values where the command is not (none) or the F values are not all zero.

Command Line Operations

If you want to read text into an existing or empty configuration file, start the pproconf.exe program as follows:

c:\yourpath\pproconf.exe c:\anypath\newconfig.pcf

If newconfig.pcf exists, it is read and then can be modified by importing text.  If it does not exist, Windows PowerPro will create an empty configuration (after prompting to confirm).

You can import or export using only the command line.

c:\yourpath\pproconf.exe /i:"c:\path\import.txt"

imports into the standard configuration.  Note the colon (:) and double quotes which follow the /i.  Both must be included and without spaces.  You must put the full path to the import text file within the double quotes.  Also, the configuration program pproconf.exe cannot already be open.

To export the whole configuration, use

c:\yourpath\pproconf.exe /x:"c:\path\exportall.txt"

To export just scheduled events, use

c:\yourpath\pproconf.exe /s:"c:\path\exportsched.txt"

To export just command lists using the Left command only format, use

c:\yourpath\pproconf.exe /L:"c:\path\exportleft.txt"

The character following the / is the letter L.

You can precede the / by a .pcf path if you are not using the standard pproconf.pcf in order to import or export from another .pcf file.


Information for Stiletto Users

PowerPro is not backwards compatible with Stiletto.  You will need to manually re-enter your configuration.


Adding a Button

Quick Add:  Ctrl-right click bar and select browse and add button; new button with browsed file as left command is added to end of bar.  Press added button and hold for further configuration.

Or:

1. Ctrl-right click bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab.

3. Select bar name from drop down.

4. Select current item to precede or to follow new button.

5. Press Add New After or Add New Before.

6. Enter new name, icon, command on edit item dialog.

7. Press OK.

8. Press OK to close configure.

9. If “Bar size to sum of buttons” is unchecked, resize bar using sizing border to see new button.

Tip:  Use right drag and drop from explorer to add new button with dropped file.


Changing a Button

1. Ctrl-right click bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab.

3. Select bar name from drop down.

4. Double click on item to be changed.

5. Enter new name, icon, command on edit item dialog.

6. Press OK.

7. Press OK to close configure.

8. If “Bar size to sum of buttons” is unchecked, resize bar using sizing border to see new button if needed.

Tip:  Use right drag and drop from explorer to reconfigure button with dropped file.

Tip:  Press and hold a button to quickly configure it.


Deleting a Button

Quick Delete:  Ctrl-right click bar over button to be deleted; select delete button from menu and submenu.

Or:

1. Ctrl-right click any bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab.

3. Select bar name from drop down.

4. Click item to be deleted.

5. Click delete button or key Del.


Moving Bar

1. Ctrl-right click bar, select look submenu, make sure Floating or active/caption position is selected.

2. Hold down Ctrl, left click anywhere on bar and drag to new position (you only need to hold down Ctrl if this option is set on Command List setup dialog, tab all bars).

Tip:  You can assign *Format Drag command to any button; then click and drag on that button to move bar even if you have set Command List setup to require Ctrl key.

Tip:  Use submenu of Floating entry to quickly align bar on screen.


Positioning the Bar

Set the bar position by Ctrl-right clicking the bar and selecting an entry from the Position submenu.

Floating:  Bar can be moved by left click and drag, or by clicking and dragging on a button which is assigned the *Format Drag command.  Bar can be resized if “3d sizing border” is checked and "Bar size to sum of buttons" is unchecked.

Locked:  Bar cannot be moved or resized.

Caption/Above/Below/Right/Left:  Bar moved to caption of or near active window. Size bar before selecting this option by unchecking “bar size to sum of buttons” and checking 3d sizing frame and then dragging the frame to size the bar.  You can uncheck 3d sizing from after you have sized the bar if you want.  You can move bars positioned in or beside the foreground window by dragging them.  They will be repositioned when a new window becomes active.

Screen Edge:  Bar reserves screen space like Windows Taskbar (unless it is autohide).  You can select two types of screen edge bars:  full screen and current size.

For current size, set the bar orientation and size first.  PowerPro will automatically move the bar to the appropriate screen edge if "Move Bar to Edge for Screen Positions" is checked on Command List setup.  You cannot change the bar size once you select this position.  Change the position back to floating if you want to change the size.

For full screen, PowerPro will move the bar to the selected edge and set the bar height or width to the full screen.  You can change the size of the other dimension of the bar by dragging the bar border.

Task Bar:  One bar can be placed on Windows Taskbar.

Fixed:  Bar will stay in same position independent of screen resolution.  .  It can be sized with sizing border if "Bar size to sum of buttons" is unchecked.

You can move a floating or active position bar by clicking and dragging any button.  If you find that you are moving the bar when you do not want to, you can set use the bar setup dialog to require that ctrl be down for dragging a bar to move it.  You can return to the fixed position quickly by Ctrl-right clicking bar and selecting "Last Fixed".


Creating an Autohide Bar

1. Ctrl-right click bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab.

3. Select bar name from drop down.

4. Press Properties button.

5. Select autohide delay from “Hide After” drop down.

6. Select screen edige to bump from “Show if Bump” drop down.

7. Press OK to save properties and OK again to close configure.

Tip:  If you cannot make a bar appear, use ctrl-alt-del to shut down PowerPro and restart.  Bars will appear at start up.  Or execute Pproconf.exe program to reconfigure.

Tip:  If you prefer another technique for showing the bar, configure a hot key or button or menu (from another bar) with the *Bar Show command.


Creating a New Bar

1. Ctrl-right click bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab.

3. Press New List and enter name for bar’s command list then press OK.

4. Add items buttons for bar using Add New After or Add New Before.

5. Press Properties and set look for bar: icons, maximum text label, tool tips, etc.

6. Check “Auto Show as Bar" on Command Lists tab to automatically show the bar at PowerPro start.  Or use the *Bar Show command to show the bar when desired.

7. Press Apply to preview (if Show as Bar checked).

8. Press OK to save.


Removing a Bar

1. Ctrl-right click bar and select configure.

2. Select command lists tab and select bar to be removed from drop down.

3. To stop showing bar while keeping its configuration: uncheck Show as bar.  Ctrl-right click bar and select Close bar

4. To remove bar and its configuration information:  Press Delete List and then press OK to confirm.

5. Press OK to save.


Bar Look

Set the bar look by Ctrl-right clicking the bar and selecting an entry from the Look submenu.

Flat:  If checked, buttons are shown flush with bar unless mouse cursor is over them.  To keep buttons flat even with mouse cursor is over them, gray-check flag on Properties for bar's command list.

Topmost:  Bar is shown on top of all other windows.

3d/Sizing Frame:  a 3D border is drawn around the bar.  If the Position is floating or fixed or full screen edge and "Bar size is sum of all buttons" is unchecked, then left clicking on this border and dragging will change the shape and size of the bar.  The label "Sizing Frame" will appear only if you can use the frame for sizing; otherwise it will be called 3D Frame.

Border:  a black border is drawn around the bar.

Text under icons:  text is drawn under icons.

Buttons same size:  button width is set by width of first button.

Vertical:  Buttons are aligned beneath each other.

Center text:  center text label on button.

Right icons:  icons on right of text for buttons.

No flicker: Eliminates bar flicker (but uses more memory to draw bar).

Bar size from sum of buttons:  If checked, the bar size is set by PowerPro and the bar cannot be resized with the sizing border.  The size will be changed if there are active buttons as the number of active tasks changes.  It will be one row or one column unless *Format NewBarRow is used to force new rows on non-vertical bars. This setting cannot be used for taskbar-positioned bars.


Clipboard History Tracking

To enable automatic tracking of plain text as you paste it to the clipboard, you must check “Keep clips” on the GUI Control dialog.  When this is done, Windows PowerPro will automatically track the most recent items pasted to the clipboard.  Gray check to capture rich text format as well as plain text.

Use the *Clip MenuPaste command to display a menu of recent clips that have been tracked; selecting one puts the clip on the clipboard and pastes it to the current program.  If you set a non-zero value for “milliseconds mouse hovers over *Menu Folder” on advanced dialog, PowerPro will show the first few lines of the stored clip as a tool tip for the *Clip Menu display.

You can also ask Windows PowerPro to automatically copy selected items to subfolders of your clip folder with filter strings; click here for details.

You can prefix the clip name with a time stamp hhmmss by checking this option on the GUI control tab; this will ensure that clips starting with the same text have a different clip name and do not overwrite each other.

You can play a sound file each time an item is captured by setting the PowerPro Clip sound on the sound tab.  You can run a command list called "ClipCaptured" by checking the "Run ClipCaptured" checkbox.

To conserve memory, PowerPro normally only captures clips less than 63K in size.  You can increase this to 250K by checking "Large Clips" and to 1000K by gray checking "Large Clips" on the GUI Control dialog.

Clipboard tracking may produce occasional aborts with some programs.  You may be able to correct this by setting the delay value on the GUI Control dialog.  If the delay is greater than 0, PowerPro will wait for (delay value)* 333 milliseconds before capture the clip.  This may prevent aborts.  Note that if you capture more than one item during the delay, only the last item is processed by PowerPro, so use a small a delay as possible.

Further Information

Clipboard plain text is actually stored in a .txt file in the clip subfolder of your main Windows PowerPro folder.  You can edit it with your standard editor.  You can access that editor from the *Clip menu by right-clicking the menu item.  Clipped rich format text is stored in .clprtf files which only Windows PowerPro can read.

Using Explorer, you can create subfolders of the clip folder and use these subfolders to permanently store text snippets you want to access.  Create the snippets by copying them from the main clip folder, by using clip filters, or by entering them directly by saving files from Notepad or any other editor which can save plain .txt files.  You can then access these snippets from the *Clip menu.

You can access only the clips in one folder xxx with

Command	*Clip

Parameter	menu xxx

You can show only the automatically tracked text items with:

Command	*Clip

Parameter	menu active

Clip Menu Layout

The *Clip menu command is actually implemented by a *Menu Folder similar to the following:

Command	*Menu Folder

Parameter	c:\program files\PowerPro\clip

Format	noext noicons sorttime folderstart folderdot cmd “*Clip filepaste”

If you would like a different display of the clip menu, create your own *Menu Folder command using the above as a model.  Note the cmd field which runs a *Clip filepaste on the selected  item.


Screen Bar Positions
Screen Edge Positions

You can position a PowerPro bar at a screen edge and have it reserve a strip screen space like the Windows taskbar by selecting the Top, Bottom, Right, or Left Screen Edge position on the Bar Properties dialog or on the Position submenu of the configuration menu shown when the bar is Ctrl-right clicked.

There are two types of screen edge bars:  current size and full screen.

For current size, set the bar orientation and size first.  PowerPro will automatically move the bar to the appropriate screen edge if "Move Bar to Edge for Screen Positions" is checked on Command List setup.  You cannot change the bar size once you select this position.  Change the position back to floating if you want to change the size.  PowerPro will try to set the reserved desktop space to be just large enough to accommodate the bar.  But you can fine tune the size of the reserved space using the vertical (for top/bottom edge) or horizontal (for right/left edge) offsets on the Bar Properties dialog.

For full screen, PowerPro will move the bar to the selected edge and set the bar height or width to the full screen.  You can change the size of the other dimension of the bar by dragging the bar border.

If the bar is not an autohide bar, it will reserve screen space.  In this case, the Windows system will automatically move desktop icons and windows out of the area reserved for the bar.


Printing a Manual

The file PowerPro.doc in the PowerPro folder contains a printable manual.  Use MS Word version 6 or later to process this file.  If you do not have MS Word, you can find a free viewer at

http://www.microsoft.com/word/internet/viewer/default.htm


Positioning Windows with PowerPro

To position the window of any program when the program starts, use a combination of the *Window Position command and the autorun command list.  The idea is to create an autorun command list with entries for each window you want to position; execute the *Window Position command to position the window when it firsts opens.

For example, suppose we wanted to position notepad at position 10 20 with size 300 400 and to position Exploring of c\setup at position 100 200 with size 300 300.

Create a command list called AutoRun or edit any existing autorun command list you have.  Add these two entries to the command list

Name	*- Notepad

Command	*Window

Action	Position

Parameters	10 20 300 400 autorun

Name	Exploring - C:\setup

Command	*Window

Action	Position

Parameters	100 200 300 300 autorun

The name fields are used to indicate the window to be positioned by identifying a caption that will match the desired window(s).  Note how asterisk is used with Notepad example to match any notepad main window.

The parameters give the position and size of the window.  The keyword "autorun" indicates the *Window Position command should operate on the last window matched by the autorun command list.

When configuring the position command, you can capture the window position and size of the window is active by pressing the find button beside the parameters edit box.


Initializing Virtual Desktops

Use the Desktop tab on the configuration dialog to initialize virtual desktops.  You can specify an initial name, an initial command list to populate the desktop, a command list to be shown as a bar for the desktop, and a wallpaper file for the desktop.

If you specify a name or an initial command list, the desktop will be created and the command list (if specified) will be run to initially populate the desktop.  This only happens when PowerPro starts.

If you specify a command list to be shown as a bar, the bar will be shown each time the desktop is activated.  Make sure "Show as bar"  on the command list configuration is not checked, and make sure "Show on all Vdesks" of Command list | Properties is not checked.

If you specify a wallpaper file, each time you switch to the desktop, PowerPro will set the wallpaper to the specified file.  Use a .bmp file for best performance.


Displaying Different Subsets of Bars

Samples

Purpose

With subbars, you can display some buttons on a bar and hide others.  You use either a *Bar command or the virtual desktop name to indicate which parts of the bar should be displayed.

Configuration

There are two steps to creating these subbars.

First, you edit the command list for the bar to put a *Format StartSubBar at the start of each subbar and a *Format EndSubBar at the end.  These must be Left commands.  Use the list item name of  the *FormatStart SubBar to set the name of the subbar.

Second, you run the command

*Bar

SelectSubBar

xxx @PartBar

to show the subbar called PartBar on bar xxx.  All other subbars are hidden.  Note that you have to specify the bar name, then an @ sign, then the subbar name.  You can omit the bar name (but not the @) if  the *Bar SelectSubBar command is on the same bar as the *Format SubBar.

There are many ways to configure the command:  you could put the *Bar SelectSubBar command on an always-shown button on bar xxx, or on another bar, or on a hot key, etc.  You can show that current subbar name on a button using *info;  one approach would be used attach a *Menu Show to such a button with the shown menu consisting of a series of *Bar SelectSubbar commands.

Skins often use the section/subbar approach to configuration.  This configuration consists of a series of *Bar SelectSubbar commands to select subbars; each subbar is meant to consist of a series of command buttons belonging to some category named by the selection button.  For more on this type of subbar usage, click here.

You can quickly create a subbar and a button for selecting that subbar from the command list configuration dialog by clicking Quick Add, or right clicking the list box and selecting Quick Add, and then selecting "Selector and new subbar" from the menu.  The selector is added after any currently selected button in the list, and the subbar is added to the end of the list.l

A special version of this command, *Bar SelectSubbarToButton, can be used with bars that show other bars at the mouse when a button is clicked; see here for more details. You can omit @PartBar for SelectSubbarAtButton to show the whole bar.

Buttons which are not within subbars are always displayed.  You cannot nest subbars.  You can repeat the same name on different *FormatSubBar commands (ie the subbar does not have to be a contiguous set of buttons).

When a bar is first displayed, the first subbar in the command list is shown.

In addition to using the SelectSubBar command, you can also show a subbar when you switch to a virtual desktop.  Give the subbar the same name as the virtual desktop.  Check "Show subbar of same name as vdesk" on virtual desktop setup.

Example

Suppose a bar called mybar is configured as follows (middle button omitted for clarity):

Item Name	Left	Right
Select	*Bar SelectSubBar mybar @edit	*Bar SelectSubBar @misc
edit	*Format StartSubBar
edit1	c:\windows\notepad.exe
edit2	c:\windows\wordpad.exe
	*Format EndSubBar
all	c:\windows\explorer.exe
misc	*Format StartSubBar
m1	c:\windows\calc.exe
m2	c:\windows\paint.exe
	*Format EndSubBar

Then left clicking the select button would show the edit1 and edit2 buttons; right clicking select shows m1 and m2 buttons.  The all and select buttons would always be shown.  Note that the bar name is omitted on the right command for Select; this will work since the *Bar SelectSubBar command is on the same bar as the *Format SubBar.


Running Built-In Commands from the Command Line

You can run built-in (*) commands from a command line.  This could be used to execute PowerPro commands from shortcuts or batch command files.

PowerPro must already be running. Type the built-in command, action, and parameters on the command line.  For example

    C:\program files\PowerPro\PowerPro.exe *Menu Show MyMenu

shows menu MyMenu from the running PowerPro program.


Adding Items to the Explorer Right Click Menu

Purpose

When you right click a file or a folder in Explorer, a context menu is displayed.  Actually, two different menus are displayed: one for files and one for folders.  PowerPro lets you add entries to either or both of these menus.  You can configure to display menu items for all files/folders and you can also configure to selectively display other items for selected file names or types.

Configuration

First, you must install PowerPro context menu support by pressing the button on the Setup dialog tab of the configuration dialog.  Then you need to create a command list to hold the items you want to add to the menus.  If you want to add to the menu for files, you must create a command list called Context.  If you want to display menu items beside folders, you must create a command list called ContextFolder.  The command list names must be Context for files and ContextFolder for folders.

The Context/ContextFolder item names and associated commands will be added to the right click menu for all explorer files or folders.  If you select one of the items, the left command will be executed with the selected path added at the end of the command line.  For example, if you had an item command *Wallpaper ChangeTo, and you selected file c:\path\mypaper.jpg, then the command executed would be *Wallpaper ChangeTo c:\path\mypaper.jpg.  If you select several files, the command is executed separately for each one.

If you want the selected file name to be placed in the midst of the command, put a | where you want the file name; for example

*File Copy | c:\standard\output.txt

will copy the selected file to c:\standard\output.txt.

If you are using multiple commands, always use a | to control placement; otherwise the file name will go at the end of the final command.

Note that PowerPro will automatically put quotation marks around file names for compatibility with .exe commands and *File.  However, if you use | and you put characters before or after the | without intervening spaces, then those characters will be moved inside of the quotes.  For example, to create a new folder by right clicking on a folder in Explorer, add the following to ContextFolder:

*Exec

NewFolder

|\?

This assumes that ? is the prompt character set on setup|advanced|characters.  The ? will cause a prompt to enter the new folder name, and then the folder that was clicked on will replace the |.  Quotes will be placed before that folder and after the prompted-for text which replaces the ?.

If you want the command to work on the folder path only, instead of the file, use ||.  For example,

c:\prog\salamand.exe ||

as a command will run salamand.exe with the folder path on the command line.

If you right click to select a shortcut, the file pointed at by the shortcut will be used.

You can use *Format to insert separators, columns, and submenus in the menu.

The command list will be inserted directly into the main menu displayed by explorer.  Start with a *Format StartSubmenu if you want to insert the items on a submenu.

Displaying Different Items for Different Files/Folders

You can use *Format Context to make the items displayed depend on the file or folder selected.  The file name is matched against the *Format text; for example, if the *Format Context text is *.txt, then the items after the *Format Context will only be displayed if the file selected ends in .txt.  If you select several files, the first one determines the text matched against *Format Context.

You can use multiple *Format Context commands to match different types of files.  You can use any of the *xxx*, *xxx, and xxx* patterns to match file names:  *xxx* matches a file name containing xxx, *xxx matches a name ending in xxx, xxx* matches a name starting with xxx.

Restrictions

You can display at most 128 items.  You can display at most 9 submenus.  You cannot embed *Window menu or *Menu Folder commands.

Example

Suppose the Context command list is set to the following items.

Item Name	Command, Action, Parameters
Purge	*Exec Prompt 1 Purge<*Script if flag 1<*File DeleteNoRecycle
Edit	*Format StartSubmenu
WordPad	C:\windows\wordpad.exe
NotePad	C:\Windows\notepad.exe
Myeditor	C:\Program Files\Myeditor\myeditor.exe
	*Format EndSubmenu
	*Format Context *.bmp, *.jpg
Wallpaper	*Wallpaper ChangeTo
Edit	C:\program files\image\image.exe
	*Format EndContext

Clicking on a file will display a file purge item and a submenu of editor selections.  If the selected file is a .bmp or .jpg file, then items for wallpaper changes or processing with the image program will also be displayed.


Demonstrations and Samples

There is a demonstration configuration of PowerPro which illustrates many features.  To start this demo, Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

The demo bar will appear in the top left of your screen.  Click on one of the following topics for more information:

When you are finished with the demo, ctrl-right click on the bar and select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "pproconf" from the resulting submenu to restart your configuration. Make sure "Command List|Setup|Special Lists|Run Monitor List" is unchecked before switching back.

Since the location of command files will be different for each computer, many of the demonstrations use standard Windows commands like notepad.exe or internal commands like *Message.  Or course, you can replace these by any file or command on your system when you use the feature.

Menus and Context Menus

Subbars and Manually Shown Bars (*Bar Show)

*Window

Sending Keystrokes

Hot Keys and Mouse Actions

Menus of File Folders

Keyboard Macros

Run Commands when a New Window First Opens

*Info and *Format Item

Bar Showing Other Bars when Button Clicked

Bar Sections and Subbars

Virtual Desktops


Demonstration of Menus
Demonstration of Menus and Context Menus

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

Left click the menu button to see the command list MenuSample displayed as a menu.  This menu illustrates submenus and context menus.  Note the Wallpaper and screensaver commands in the submenu.  To see a context menu, start notepad with the NotePad button on the bar.  Press the menu button when notepad is running and is the foreground window (dark blue caption) and note that these entries appear to send keys and to show a message.  Try again with notepad running but not active (eg click on desktop) and you will see a different menu.

To see how this menu is configured, ctrl-right click bar, select configure, and select command list MenuSample from the dropdown on the Command List tab of the configuration dialog.  You will see on the command list MenuSample  that the Paper/Saver submenu is started by *Format StartSubmenu and ended by *Format EndSubmenu in the command list.  The context submenu starts with *Format Context *NotePad* and ends with *Format EndContext.  The *Keys and *Message commands between these two commands will only be displayed if Notepad is the active window.

You can also display the MenuSample command list as a menu by pressing key ctrl+alt+m or by shift+ctrl+right clicking the mouse.  See the Key/Mouse tab of the configuration dialog and note the *Show Menu command associated with both these hot keys.  This illustrates that the menu structure (ie the command list) is separate from how it a menu is shown (clicking a button or using a hot key, for example)

Right click the menu button to see the SubbarMenu displayed.  Selecting an entry displays a different subbar; click here for more information.

Middle click (shift+left click for two button mouse) the Menu button to see the WindowMenu which displays active programs and allows you to switch to, close, on top, or not on top the windows.  Access the configuration dialog with ctrl-right click on the bar, and note command list WindowMenu.  See how the *Window commands are placed within *Format StartSubmenu/*Format EndSubmenu commands so that the lists of active windows do not follow each other on the main menu.  Click here for more information.

You can activate the snippets menu by using the hot key alt+ctrl+s. Click here for more information.

Right click on the system icon in the upper left caption of any window to see the ControlWin menu.   Click here for more information.


Demonstration of Subbars and Manually Show Bars
Demonstration of Subbars and Manually Shown Bars

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

Ctrl-right click the bar, select configure, and view the command list Bar.  It shows three subbars:  edit, util, and none.  You will see these names on the *Format StartSubbar Commands.  To see these subbars in action,  right click the menu button and selecting a subbar name from the menu.  This will execute the corresponding *Bar SelectSubbar command; these commands are on the command list SubbarSelect.

Tip:  do not forget the @ sign on your SelectSubbar commands!

You can also manually show whole bars.  For example, the command list ManualBar can be shown as a bar by right clicking the notepad button.  View the configuration for the  command list bar and note the *Bar Show ManualBar for the right command for the notepad button.  Also note that “Auto show as bar” is not checked for this command list in the configuration of command list ManualBar.  Finally, the Properties for the ManualBar command list select own colors and font.  When you are finished with the demo, close the ManualBar bar by ctrl-right clicking it and selecting Close Bar from the menu.


Demonstration of *Window Commands

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

*Window commands let you manipulate active windows. Ctrl+right click the bar, select configure,  and view the keys/mouse tab.  You will see many *Window commands among the hot keys.

Start notepad using the button on the demo. Right click on the minimize box in the caption and the window is minimized to the tray; click the icon in the tray on the task bar to restore.  The right-minimize hot key function in the configuration performs this function.  Right click the caption to close; the right caption anywhere hot key does this.  Restart notepad and right click the maximize button to rollup the window to its caption.  Right click maximize again to restore.

You can also execute *Window commands from keystrokes:  for example ctrl+alt+k closes any window with *Notepad* in its caption.  It will produce an error message if notepad is not running because “error if no such window” is checked on the configuration for the command.  Try ctrl-alt-k both with and without Notepad running.

You can also execute *Window commands from menus.  Right click the system menu icon in upper left of caption to see a menu of *Window commands; this is command list control win activated by hot key right sys menu.

*Window can also display menus of active tasks; selecting one performs the specified action.  Middle click (shift+left) the menu button to see window WindowMenu which allows you to switch, close, put on top or put not on top any of your running programs.  Start notepad using the demo bar to try these on if you have no other programs running.

You can also use the *Window menu command directly from a button or a hot key.  Right clicking folder executes a *Window show menu (for switching among windows) and tapping ctrl twice quickly shows the *Window close menu (select an entry to close that window).


Demonstration of Sending Keys with *Keys

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

You can use *Keys to send keys to windows in order to save typing.  You can also use this command to automate a program function, often by sending alt-key to open a menu and then another keystroke to choose a menu option.

The snippets menu illustrates both capabilities of *Keys.  One way to activate it is with ctrl-alt-s.  Or, if you prefer a mouse, you can double click the right mouse button.

Start notepad and ensure it is the active window.  Then use ctrl-alt-s or right double click to show the menu.  You can select a menu item to send keys by clicking on it, by using the underlined menu mnemonic (created with & in snippets command list item), or by using down arrow and enter.

The last two menu items show automation of Notepad functions print preview and select all/copy to clipboard through the use of sending keystrokes.  These have been placed on a context menu which only appears when notepad is the active window.  You would often place a series of such context menus for automating different functions in the same command list.  For example, if you activate snippets when explorer is active, a different set of commands will be shown.

To view how the snippets menu is configured, ctrl-right click bar, select configure, and select snippets from drop down on command list tab.


Demonstration of Hot Keys and Mouse Actions

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

The sample bar illustrates many different ways to use hot keys/mouse actions.  Ctrl-right click the bar, select configure,  and select the Key/Mouse tab.  Remember as you review these samples that you can use whatever key/mouse combination you find convenient to perform any of the sample actions or in fact to run any Windows file or perform any PowerPro built-in command.

A basic use of hot keys is to start Windows programs.  For example, the hot key shift-ctrl-x starts explorer.  Use it now to open Explorer.

Now position your mouse over explorer and make sure the window is the active window by clicking on it if needed.  Hot key ctrl-d will sort file names by date; it works by sending keys to explorer to select the appropriate menu item.  Hot key ctrl-n sorts by name.  Both of these hot keys will only operate if explorer is the active window as indicated by *Exploring* which appears in the target window of the hot key configuration and which selects only windows with Exploring appearing somewhere in their caption.  You can achieve the same results as the keystrokes with mouse actions:  right click and drag horizontally and vertically for about 10 pixels for the name sort and about 10 pixels for the date sort.  It may take a bit of practice to get the short drag needed to activate the hot key.

Hot keys also work well with *Window actions; click here for details.

Hot keys can be used to show menus of choices by running a *Menu Show commands; there are samples here and here.


Demonstration of *Menu Folder

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

The following examples use names of standard folders on your computer.  You may have different names for some of them or your file names may not be in English.  If so, you’ll need to change the folder names to those of your computer before the sample will work for you.

For an example of *Menu Folder, press the button market folder and a list of all folder and files on your c drive will appear.  Click any folder or file to activate it.  To see the command which generates this menu, ctrl-right click bar, select configure, ensure the bar entry is selected on the command list tab, and double click on the folder item in this command list.  Note the format keywords associated with the *Menu Folder command.  These are set by pressing the small find button beside the edit box.

With this first example which shows all of drive c, you have to click on a folder to see the files in that folder.  PowerPro can display at most 13000 files and many people have more than this on their c drive.  You can also ask PowerPro to display files in a cascading menu.  Middle or shift+left click the Folder button to see an example.  You will have to wait for a few moments for the menu to appear.  It will show all .exe files under c:\program files.  If you view the command configuration, you will see how format keywords are used to select just .exe files.

You can also use *Menu Folder with hot keys.  For example, ctrl+space show c:\my documents.  And if you bump your mouse against the left screen edge and hold it at the edge for half a second, the shortcuts in c:\windows\start menu\programs will be shown.


Demonstration *Keyboard Macros
Demonstration of Keyboard Macros

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

Keyboard macros let you use abbreviations for text you commonly type.  You create a command list where the item name is the abbreviation (letters, digits, spaces only) and the left command is a *Keys command or a *Clip textpaste command to send the keys.  The *Clip command is faster for longer text but it will overwrite the clipboard.

Ctrl-right click the bar, select configure,  and view the command list tab.  The command list MyMacros shows sample abbreviations for me, test, ad and ac.  Ad and ac send the same text but ac uses the clipboard.

You can use macros to execute any command, not just to send keystrokes.  In the sample xx starts explorer and min minimizes the current window.

To use the Macros command list, you must define a macro signal character with hot keys.  If you view the key/mouse tab, you will see the = is defined as a hot key to execute the *Macro MyMacro command.  This makes = the macro signal character.

To test, use the button to start notepad.  Try =me, =test, =ac, =ad and note the results.  Try =null and note that the text is unchanged since this is not a macro.  Then try =xx and =min.


Demonstration of Running Commands when a Window First Opens

If you have not already done so, start the demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demo" from the resulting submenu.

You can configure PowerPro to check each new window that is opened on your system and run a PowerPro command for specified windows.  Any command can be used, but often this feature is used to press a button on the window, to send text to the window, or to position the window on the screen.

You use a command list to specify the windows to be matched and the corresponding command.  Ctrl-right click the sample bar, select configure,  and view command list NewWindow.

To activate the feature, you must first press the command list|setup button and select the command list “NewWindow”  in the drop down “use this command list to run commands when a new window first opens”.  Press OK to save the configuration when you have done this then re-open the configuration dialog with ctrl-right click.  View list NewWindow.

The command item names are used to matched newly opened windows.  The item *exploring* matches any new explorer window and positions the window in the center of the screen.  Start explorer to see the effect.  (You can start explorer from the Start Menu or by shift-left clicking the notepad button).  The Untitled – Notepad item matches newly opened notepad window and sends text abc to it.  Try running notepad from the button.  Finally, the command associated with About Notepad presses the OK button as soon as this window is opens; try selecting about notepad from the notepad help to see the effect.  You can press the default button of dialogs by sending the {enter} key stroke and you can press other buttons by sending alt-x (%x), where x is the underlined character on a button name.

You can temporarily disable a item in the command list by checking the hidden check box.

When you are finished with the demo, be sure to go back to command list|setup and set the drop down box back to (none) so that this NewWindow sample does not interfere with other samples.


Virtual Desktop Demonstration
Virtual Desktop Sample

Start the virtual desktop demonstration configuration:   Ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "demodesk" from the resulting submenu.

The sample shows many different approaches to desktops; you would not likely want to use all of these at the same time on your configuration.  In addition, since every computer has exe files at different locations, the example uses only standard utilities like notepad and regedit.

After starting the sample, there should be a bar in the upper left of your desktop.  Click on different gray buttons to show to different desktops.  Note how the active desktop has a pressed button.  This is because the command for the button is set to *Vdesk switchto deskname and because the option “Show button with *Vdesk … as pressed” is selected on desktop|setup configuration.  Note how desktop Manual is started with the CreateOrSwitchTo command; this command runs the list manual to create the desktop when it does not exist and switches to the desktop when it does exist.

Selecting desktop edit shows a bar which only appears on that desktop in the top center of your screen.  Note that when you select desktop explore, extra buttons on the subbar explore are shown.  This also requires the option “Show subbar of same name as vdesk” on the desktop|setup tab.

You can use hot keys ctrl-left arrow and ctrl-right arrow to switch desktops.

You can also switch desktops by left clicking the leftmost button (the one with the desktop name) and selecting a desktop from the menu.

Ctrl-right click on the bar, select configure,  and view the configuration of the bar, label on the first item, and the menu desks to see how the above features have been implemented.

The initial contents of the desktop are set by the entries on the desktop tab.  Note the explore and edit command lists used to populate these desktops.  Note also the bar baredit for the edit desktop.

You can use the *Vdesk arrange command to see the contents of all desktops.  In the sample this can be activated by moving the mouse to the top right screen momentarily, or by right clicking the leftmost button on the bar.  You can make this window smaller by using the resizing border at the bottom or by right clicking on the window and selecting the Use Small Window option.

Yet another way to access desktop features is to shift+right click a bar.  You can use this menu to switch desktops or to create new desktops.  You can also use the menu to lock windows on all desktops.  Middle (or shift-left) click the left most button to start calculator.  Shift-right click a bar and select Lock|Calculator.  Calculator will be part of all desktops:  try all of the desktop buttons to see this.  You could have also prespecifed that calculator be locked by entering the caption Calculator in the “Windows to be shown on all desktops” edit box on the Desktop|setup configuration dialog.

You can repopulate desktops by running the desktop command list as a script.  There is a sample on the explore button.  Left click this button to switch to desktop explorer.  Close the File Manager and Explorer windows.  Now right-click the explore button and the explore command list is used to populate the desktop.


Tiling Windows

You can tile active, top-level windows with the *Exec Tile command.  It re-arranges active windows as follows:

If the Parameters edit box starts with the letter c or the Control Key is held down, windows are arranged in equal-sized columns.

If the Parameters edit box starts with the letter t or the Shift Key is held down, windows are arranged in equal-sized rectangles.

Otherwise, windows are arranged in equal-sized rows.

You can restrict the affected windows to only those containing "text" in their window captions by putting *text in the Parameters edit box.  For example, *explor means that only Explorer windows are affected.

To start two instances of Explorer and tile them use the following:

Command:	Explorer.exe

More Commands:	explorer.exe<*wait 1<*Exec Tile *explor

You also need to ensure the "Switch To If Active" box is unchecked.


Demonstration of *Info and *Format Item
Demonstration of *Format Item and *Info

Start the demonstration configuration if you have not already done so using the Shutdown and Start Demo buttons.

This demonstration illustrates *Info and other special item usage labels, *Format Item, and Script programming.

The demonstration shows how to display a bar or menu of resources and other information.  The command list Resources displays the information.  View it by ctrl-right clicking the bar, selecting configure, and selecting drop down Resources on the command list tab.

To view the resource display as a menu, use the hot key Ctrl-Shift-R.  The menu could be tidied up by removing icons from the command list properties and by removing the last five command list items.  But these are used for the bar and so have been left in the command list.

To display the resources as a bar, press Ctrl-alt-r.  Press it again to hide the bar.

Press Ctrl-alt-r and note how the resource displays:

top row shows gdi/user, physical memory free, percent physical free.

second row shows Windows uptime in hours:minutes and in days.

third row shows free space on the C drive in megabytes.

fourth row shows swap file size and percent of swap file in use

fifth row shows characters received and rate of characters received on DUN connection.

To see the fifth row resources change, dial a DUN connection and download a small file or news item.

The sample also illustrates updating an item with the *Format item command.  Ctrl-right click the bar, select configure,  and view command list monitor.  We will be arranging for this command list to run repeatedly once per second to update the item 9 (the DUN displays) and items 11 through 15, which will be a small bar graph of download rate.

The first two lines in the script use *Format item to hide the icon on the ninth item in Resources command list only if there is no modem connection.  (Note:  Resources script item 9 assumes there is an icon in c:\windows\notepad.exe).

The next three lines set the color of the ninth item if there has been no download activity on the modem for more than 5 seconds.  A variable v is set to the number of seconds of idleness (*dunidle) and then used to control which *Format Item is executed to set or clear background color.  Note that the & is set as the variable character on Setup|Advanced.

The last statements of the Monitor command list create a small bar graph which shows the download rate.  This is meant as a fun illustration of what *Format Item and programming can do:  other tools such as Microsoft System Monitor are better suited to producing graphics.

To see the icon and bar graph in action, right click the Recd/rate button, which will *Exec Monitor Reverse and start the repeated execution of the monitor command list.  Then try downloading on a DUN connection.

When you are down with the menu, ctrl-right click a bar and select quit.


Other Dynamic Labels

You can use the following dynamic *Info button labels (all keywords must be in lower case)

clip n	Shows text on clipboard; use n to limit to first n characters.

var v	Show variable v (only variables a-z can be used, not x0-x9)

subbarname	Current subbar name.

deskname	Current desktop name.

desknum	Current desktop number 1-9.

disk x	Free space for disk x; x is any letter.

timer x	Value of timer x in hours and minutes; x is any letter.

timerdays x	Value of timer x in days, hours, and minutes.

timersec x	Value of timer x in hours, minutes, seconds.

uptime	shows time since Windows started in hours:minutes

uptimesec	shows time since Windows started in days or hours:minutes:seconds

uptimedhm	shows time since Windows started in days:hours:minutes.

uptimedhms	shows time since Windows started in days:hours:minutes:seconds.

uptimedays	shows time since Windows started in days.

cdcurtrack	current cd track number

cdlasttrack	last cd track number

defaultprinter 	name of default printer.

keylog 	X if logging keys, empty otherwise.

keylogfile 	name of currently open key key logging file, empty otherwise.

expr (ex)	Evaluates the expression ex, e.g. expr (dunrate/10).

Although expr () can be used to mimic most of the other *info labels, you will save CPU time on your system if you use the *info label when it exists.  One appropriate use of expr is a more convenient replacement of var v where v is set by a complex expression in a script.

Set the default printer via *Menu Folder Printers; right click on resulting menu.


Sending Folder Names to Open/Save Dialogs

You can create menus or bars to send favorite folders to file open/save dialogs.  PowerPro has built-in commands to make this easier for you; see here for more information.  If you want more control of the format of these bars or if you want to understand how these built-in commands work, then you will want to review the following information.

Use

*Keys

{to folder}c:\path

to send the folder path c:\path to an open/file save dialog.  The {to folder} tells PowerPro to automatically select the file edit box to receive the keys, save the contents of that box, send the keys to change to c:\path, and then restore the previous contents of the file edit box.

If you are not using English Windows, you must set the letter beside "Folder" on advanced setup to the underlined letter in the title beside the file edit box on your open/save dialogs.

To create a bar or menu of favorite folders, put a series of *Keys commands in a command list and show them as a bar or a menu with (eg) a hot key that runs a *Bar or *Menu.  If you use a bar, you can make the bar appear only if a file open/save dialog is open by putting

*Format Context

filedialog

as the first command in the list, and positioning the bar in the caption or beside the active window (use a vertical bar).  Don't forget to check "auto-show as bar".


Date Calculator

Use *Exec CalcCalendar to show a dialog with two calendars and with calculations for day number, week number, and difference between dates in days, weekdays, and weeks.  As detailed below, changing any field on the dialog refreshes all the others.

The dialog is shown at the current mouse position.  To center it instead, put *Window Center Active in More Commands of command entry controls.

To change either of the dates, you can click on the day, month, or year subfield within the date and then use the arrow or number keys to enter a new value.  Or you can click on the drop down arrow, and then select day, month, or year by clicking on that field.

Use the dialog as follows:

To display week number or day number of a date:  set the top date and read the day and week number.

To display difference in dates in days, weekdays or weeks:  set both dates and read the difference.  The difference excludes the day of the later date (eg  two day difference between July 2 and July 4).  Differences will be negative if the second date precedes the first date.

To show the date for a given week number or day number:  set the week number or day number and read the first date.

To find the date a given number of days, weekdays, or weeks before or after a given date:  set the first date and set the difference (which can be negative for before) then read the second date.  Remember that the day of the later date is excluded from difference calculations.

The week number definition follows the ISO standard:  Week 1 of any year is the week that contains 4 January, or equivalently Week 1 of any year is the week that contains the first Thursday in January.

To just display a calendar, you can also use *Exec Calendar.


Buttons from files in Folders
Creating Bar Buttons from the Files and Subfolders of a Folder

You can add buttons to the end of a bar based on the files and folders in a subfolder.  Left clicking on a button on such a bar runs the associated file or opens the associated subfolder with *Menu Folder.  Right clicking on a button shows an explorer view of the folder (if a file is clicked) or the subfolder (if a subfolder is clicked).

To create folder buttons, create a command list and make sure you check "Auto show as bar".   You can create ordinary buttons with the command list or you can leave the command list empty to have only buttons from the folder.  Then use the Command List | Properties dialog and set the name of the folder in the edit box "Show Entries in this Folder as Left-Click Buttons at end of Bar" at the bottom of the dialog. Use a wildcard file name to select the files to display (eg *.* or *.txt) or you can omit the wildcard file name which is the same as specifying all files with *.*.  When the bar is shown all entries in this folder will be shown as buttons.

Check "Show text" to have the file name shown as text beside the icon.  You can set the maximum number of characters in the label with Maximum Text Label on Properties.

Check "Auto refresh" to have PowerPro automatically update the bar any time a file is added or removed from the folder.  Or you can manually refresh the bar by ctrl-right clicking on the bar and selecting Refresh Folder Buttons.

Check "Show hidden to show hidden files.  Check "Sort folders to start" to put buttons representing folders at the start of the set of buttons.  Check "2- pane explorer window" to show a 2-pane explorer window when a folder button is right clicked.  Select sort method from drop down.

Use the Menu Format button to set the *Menu Folder format of the menu displayed when you left click a button assigned to a subfolder.

You can set the look of the buttons, whether tool tips are displayed, the size of the icons, and so on using the Properties of the command list.

You cannot use active buttons and folder buttons on the same bar.


Run a file as a script
Running a File as a Script

You can create a command script and store it in a file and the run the file with

*Script

RunFile

c\path\filename.txt

If you specify a file name without a path, then the file is assumed to be in a subfolder scripts of the folder of the PowerPro configuration file.  If the file name has no extension, then .txt is used.

Each line in filename.txt is a PowerPro command or Windows program/document to run. For example:

c:\windows\notepad.exe

*wait visiblewindow *notepad*

*keys abc

would run notepad, wait for a notepad window to be visible, and then send the keys abc.

Any line starting with a semi-colon is ignored and can be used as a comment.  Blanks at the start of a line are ignored and can be used to indent to show structure.

If the file name of the program you want to run from a script contains blanks, put it in double quotes:

"c:\program files\editor\editme.exe"  param

You can put a label on a line by preceding the label with an @

c:\windows\notepad.exe

*wait visiblewindow =notepad

@loop *keys a{enter}

       *script if (not ctrl)

*script jump loop

*keys b

This file starts notepad, waits till its window is visible, and then sends the letter a until the ctrl key is pressed.  The letter b is sent and the script file exists.

You can include work directory information for a command by preceding it by the characters !`

C:\windows\notepad.exe !`c:\mytext

starts notepad with work directory c:\mytext.  Also use this approach to enter format keywords for *Menu commands.

You can omit the Script from if, jump, set and other script commands in script files (you still need the * immediately before the keyword); for example,

@loop *keys a{enter}

*if (not ctrl)

*jump loop

*keys b

You can run other scripts by *Script Runfile within a script file.

Except for *wait sleep, you can only use *wait commands in the outermost script; if a script is called from another script, then the only type of *wait it can contain is a *wait sleep.

You cannot put multiple commands on one line in a script file.

In general, how do you put PowerPro commands into Script files? There are two cases: running Windows files/programs and running PowerPro asterisk commands (like*Menu or *Keys).

For files and programs, the PowerPro command entry controls generally appear as

Command:	c:\program file\cccc\cccc.exe

Show at Start	Normal

Parameters	xxxx /switch

Initial Dir	c:\thedir

You enter this on one text line in a script file as

"c:\program file\cccc\cccc.exe" xxxx /switch   `!c:\thedir

Explanation:  put the command in double quotes, then a space, then the command parameters.  If you need to specify an initial directory, put `! then the directory information.   You cannot specify show at start information (it is forced to be normal).  (The double quotes around the command are unneeded if the path does not contain spaces).

For PowerPro asterisk (*) commands, the command entry controls will be something like

Command	*Menu

Action:	Show

Edit	mymenu

Second Edit	centerScreen

This is entered in a script file as the line

*Menu Show mymenu `!centerScreen

A few commands (eg Keys) have no action; for them, just put the command followed by the edit info (e.g *Keys abc).  Most commands do _not_ have the second edit in which case the `! and the following text are omitted.

PowerPro has an an approach to importing and exporting command lists which works well with scripts.  When exporting, if you check "Export left command only"  Powerpro will export a file with one line for command list item which can be easily edited.  You can also import scripts using this format; to do so you must precede the command list items by

[**name]

where name is the command list name.  Note that two asterisks must precede the command list name.

Note:  if labels or commands contains blanks, they must be enclosed in double quotes.  Also, PowerPro will automatically remove *Script when exporting these files and insert it when importing these files.


Formatting *Menu Folder
Setting Format of *Menu Folder Command

Use the *Menu Folder command to display the contents of one or more file folders or special folders as a menu with submenus for subfolders.  You can control the look of the menu, how subfolders are processed, the contents of the menu, sorting, and the command executed by using the dialog which is accessed by pressing the find button beside the edit box “enter format keywords or use find button for dialog”.  Although you can edit the keywords directly, (see here), its simpler and safer to always use the dialog accessed by pressing the find button.

Controlling Look of Menu

Exclude icons:  check to avoid icons on menu.  You may also want to check “Add … to folders to easily distinguish folders in this case.  Note:  You must check "Show icons for *Menu Folder" on Command List|Setup|All Menus to show icons on *Menu Folder menus.

Add … to folders:  adds … to folder names making it easier to distinguish them from files if icons are not used.

No file extensions:  Removes .xxx extensions from files shown in the menu

Exclude files:  Only includes folders in menu; useful with "Add explorer entry" to navigate folders and then explore one.

Exclude folders:  Shows only files; no submenus or subfolders appear.

Add explorer entry:  Add an entry to start of each menu and submenu

Assign menu mnemonics:  Adds up to 36 menu mnemonics 0, 1, …a, …z to top level menu entries to allow them to be easily selected from the keyboard.

Menu position alignment:  Select position for menu:  at mouse, centered on screen, centered under mouse, aligned with last pressed button (beneath or on top), aligned with last pressed button (to the left or right).  Alignment with last pressed button left/right or bottom/top depends on which half of screen bar is in.

Start new column after this number of entries (middle of dialog):  starts a new column each time this number of entries is placed in a menu.  Use checkboxes to determine whether this applies to the main menu only or all submenus and to control whether a line is drawn between columns. Set to 999 for a single column menu which will scroll under Win98/2000.

List text to this number of characters:  use to limit file names to keep the menus a reasonable width.  Use Setup|advanced to specify that tool tips will be shown; the tool tip shows the entire file name.

Default background: Use default background from command list|setup.

Submenus and Subfolders

Show subdirectories only when entry clicked:  Submenus will not be created for subfolders; instead, clicking on a subfolder displays its entries in a menu.  Often used with "Add Back Entry" to allow navigation back up the folder tree.  This option is useful for navigating large menu trees which take a long time to load into memory if all submenus are loaded at once.

Add back etnry:  Useful with previous "Show subdirectories" option to provide for navigation back up the folder tree.

Embed items in outer menu:  If you create a command list to display as a menu and put a *Menu Folder in that command list, then the *Menu Folder menu is not generated until you lcick on the command when the command list is displayed.  If you prefer that the *Menu Folder be generated and displayed as part of the command list manual menu, then check this option.

Make submenus from folders:  Useful when you have several folders listed in *Menu Folder command.  Normally, the entries in the folders listed in the *Menu Folder command are placed in the main menu.  If you prefer, submenus can be created for each entry by checking this option.

Expand folder shortcuts:  Normally shortcuts to folders which appear in the folders scanned by *Menu Folder are not expanded into submenus and clicking on them displays the folder contents using explorer.  Check this option to expand the shortcut instead as a submenu.

Sorting

Use the dropdown to select the sort order and the check box to specify that all folders should be sorted to the start.

Specifying Files and Folder to Include

You can limit to files with certain extensions by including these extensions separated by blanks in the edit box; for example

.xls .doc .ppt

includes Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations.  Alternatively, you can omit files by preceding extensions with a dash, eg

-.exe -.dll

omits exe and dll files.

You can omit certain folders by listing names separate by commas in the edit box.

Specifying File Manager to use Instead of Explorer.

You can enter the path to a .exe to use instead of explorer when "Add Explorer Entry" is checked.  The selected folder is added in quotes after the .exe file name.

Specifying command to execute

Windows PowerPro normally runs the file selected from the menu by running the associated command; you can instead specify the command and any parameters by putting the command and parameters in the edit box:

c:\windows\notepad

would cause the file to be read into notepad.  PowerPro will create a command line consisting of the command you specify followed by the selected file.  You can use PowerPro built-in commands too:

*File Delete

in the edit box would delete the selected file.


Selecting Keys to be Sent from a Menu

When sending keys with *Keys, you can display a menu of selections to determine some of the keys to be sent.  The selections are stored in a file which specifies the menu item text and the corresponding characters to be sent.

Use

*Keys {filemenu c:\path\items.txt}

for this feature.  Each line in c:\path\items.txt is of this form

name=keys

There may be many lines in the file.  Each line will display a menu item with the menu text set to name.  If you select a menu item, the corresponding keys will be used.  If you do not select a menu item, then no keys will be sent at all.

The keys can contain special sequences like {tab} or modifier keys alt or ctrl (% or ^).  You can also use name= with no following keys to allow a selection of nothing without canceling the entire *Keys command.

The name field may contain an & which will cause the following character in the name to be a menu mnemonic selecting that menu item from the keyboard.

You can put blank lines in the file.  You can put a line consisting of the word sep in the file for a horizontal menu separator and a line of colsep to start a new menu column.

You can have other keys to be sent beside the {filemenu}; for example:

*Keys abc{filemenu key.txt}yz

will send abc, then the selection from key.txt, then yz.

You can use more than one filemenu.

If you specify a file name without a path or with a relative path, then the file is assumed to be in the same folder as the PowerPro configuration file.  If the filename contains a *, the * is replaced by the exe filename of the foreground window, which allows the selected file to depend on the active window.  Finally, you can use two file names with {filemenu} by separating the file names with a comma.  For example

{filemenu keys\_common.txt,keys\*.txt}

with Microsoft Word in the foreground would create a single menu from the entries of

c:\program files\powerpro\keys\_common.txt

followed by

c:\program files\powerpro\keys\winword.txt

Use a semi-colon (;) instead of a comma to separate the file entries with a column separator.


Favorite folders;folders, favorite;file open/save;open/save
Favorite Folders Lists for File Open/Save Dialogs

PowerPro can help you maintain and use lists of favorite folders for standard open/save dialogs.  You can manually maintain a list of favorite folders, you can have PowerPro capture folders as you use them in open/save dialogs, and you can combine these two approaches to have an integrated list of manually set favorite folders and recently used favorite folders.

You can display favorite folders in a menu or a bar (or both); see bottom of this help topic for more on bars.

MS Office does not use standard open/save dialogs.  PowerPro can recognize these dialogs and send favorite folders to them for your favorite list, but it cannot capture the folder used from these dialogs.

If you are not using English Windows, you must set the letter beside "Folder" on advanced setup to the underlined letter in the title beside the file edit box on your open/save dialogs.

Display Favorite Folders in a Menu

To have PowerPro track folders as you select them in standard file/open save dialogs, check "Combined Menu" or "Separate Menu" (or both) on the configuration setup tab.  For combined menu, PowerPro creates a file called c:\program files\powerpro\favfolder\_any.txt and places an entry in this file for each folder you access.  For separate menu, PowerPro creates a separate file in the same folder named after the .exe file of the program with the open/save dialog; for example, for MS Wordpad, the file is called wordpad.txt since the exe file name is wordpad.exe.

To view the resulting folders in a menu, assign the command *Menu Favfolder to a hot key or bar button and activate the command when the open/save dialog is open.  A menu will be displayed of favorite folders; select one to send it to the dialog.  If you have checked both combined and separate, the menu will have a column for combined recent folders and a separate column for favorite folders from the active program.

To manually add entries to the menu which will always appear, edit the file and add a line "sep" (for horizontal separator) or "colsep" (for new column) to the end of the file.  Then list your folders on separate lines after this entry.  You can edit either the _any.txt file or the .txt file for a specific program, or both.  You can precede file folder paths by myname= to have "myname" to appear in the menu to represent the folder path.

To use a menu of only manually entered files, make sure the "Combined Menu" and "Separate Menu" checkboxes are unchecked on the setup tab.  Edit the files for manual entry.  Omit the sep or colsep at the start.

The *Menu Favfolder command is equivalent to the command *Keys {to folder}{filemenu favfolder\_any.txt;*.txt}; click here for more information on {filemenu} and here  for more information on {to folder}.  You can use variations of these commands for greater control of the menu layout and contents.

Display Favorite Folder on a Bar

To track folders as you use them for display on a bar, start by checking "Shortcuts" on the setup tab.  This causes PowerPro to create a shortcut in c:\program files\powerpro\favfolder\_anyshort folder for each folder as you access it.  The shortcut command will cause PowerPro to run *Keys {to folder}c:\path which is used to set the folder; click here for information on {to folder}.

Then you need to create a bar to display these shortcuts.

To do so, create a new command list and make sure you check "Autoshow as bar".  Set Properties as follows:  check tool tips, set max text to 32, set icons to none, check vertical bar (not vertical text), check bar size from sum of buttons, set position to "to right of active window".  Set the edit "Use this folder …" at the bottom of properties to c:\program files\powerpro\favfolder\_anyshort (or change as appropriate if you installed PowerPro in another folder).  Check "Show text" and "Auto-refresh".  Then create a single entry in command list for the bar

*Format

Context

filedialog

This will cause a vertical bar to appear beside open/save dialogs when you use them with a list of recent folders; press a button to copy the folder to the dialog.

To add manually set folders to the bar, create command list entries after the *Format Context with the left command *Keys {to folder}c:\path.

If want a bar with only manually entries, uncheck "Shortcuts" on setup tab or leave the "Use this folder…" edit box on Properties blank.

Of course, you can use other settings on Properties to get a different look for the bar.


*Bar Format Command

Use *Bar format to change the background, autohide interval, or position of a bar.

To configure the command, select *Bar command, Format action, and set the command list drop down to the bar to be changed.  Then enter format keywords to specify the new bar attributes.  Use the button at the right of the format keywords dialog to select the keywords.  The keywords are:

back "file.bmp": changes the background to file.bmp or use back none to remove background; put file name in double quotes if it contains blanks.

back2 "file.bmp": changes the background to file.bmp or use back none to remove background; put file path in blanks if it contains blanks.

Use both back and back2 to alternate between two backgrounds each time the command is executed.

autohide n:  changes the interval before automatic hiding to the number n.  Use 0 for no autohide.  Use -n to alternate between no autohide and autohide after n milliseconds.  For example, autohide -1000 alternatives between no autohide and hiding after 1000 milliseconds.

position n.  Set the bar position to the nth position.  Use the menu accessible from the button beside the keyword edit box to set the number.  Use a negative number to alternate between floating position and the nth position.

refresh  Closes and reopens bar.  Could be used, for example, to manually refresh folder buttons.

The resulting new bar configuration is always saved in the .pcf file.

Example:

*Bar Format xxx

back2 "*" back none position -1

alternates bar xxx between wallpaper and no background and between floating and locked position.


Sharing PowerPro Configurations

You can share your PowerPro configuration with another user by sending the pproconf.pcf file to that user.  The receiver can rename the file to say sharing.pcf (for safety) and put the file in a new folder and then run the configuration in any one of these three ways: by ctrl-right clicking any bar and selecting New Configuration File, by using *Exec ChangeConfiguration, or by running the command line

c:\program files\powerPro\powerpro.exe c:\path\to\shared\sharing.pcf

assuming the shared .pcf configuration file is in folder c:\path\to\shared.

If the folder references .bmp, icon, or shortcut files, it is possible to include these in your shared information tool. The best way is to put these files either in the same folder as your powerpro configuration or a subfolder of your powerpro configuration folder.  When you reference the files in your configuration, use only the relative path; for example, a .bmp file back.bmp stored in the theme subfolder of your powerpro configuration folder would be referenced as

theme\back.bmp

To share your pcf and related files, zip them together.  The person you are sharing with then unzips the configuration files into a new folder and can then proceed as above to try the configuration.

If you want to use command lists or hot keys from a shared configuration in your working configuration, use the export as text feature to export the command lists or hot keys of interest. Then import these into your configuration.  You may also need to set features from the shared configuration command list|setup dialog.


Working with CDs

Use *Exec CD to control your audio CD player.  Enter one of the following commands in the parameters box.

Play n	Plays tracks start an number n.  Omit n to play starting with track 1.

Next	Plan next track.

Previous	Play previous track.

Stop	Stop CD.

Eject	Ejects (opens door for) default audio CD.

Close	closes door for default audio CD.

You can display the current CD track and maximum track with *Info.


Creating Skins

The following section tells you how to create a skin; see here if you want to learn about how to use skins and about how to install the samples.

You may find it convenient to print this section for study.

General Structure of Skins

A skin consists of a skin .txt file and associated bmp, cursor (.cur or .ani), font (.ttf or .fon), and wav files.  All these should be installed into the same folder.

The skin text file consists of a series of lines of the form:

name	keyword value keyword value keyword value

The name is one of the words *Skin, *Bar, *Font, *Buttondefault, or *Button.  The first line in a skin .txt file must start with *Skin.  The keywords depend on the name.  Keywords can appear in any order. The values depend on the keyword.  Some keywords are not followed by values. If a value contains blanks, the value must be enclosed in double quotation marks.  You can extend a name entry to the next line by ending a line with a dash (-).  For example,

*Bar height 200 width 150 -

shape "background for panache.bmp"

sets the bar with keyword height, value 200, keyword width value 150, and shape to background for panache.bmp.

Blank lines and any lines in the .txt file starting with a semi colon (;) are ignored.

The case of letters in keywords is ignored:  eg, *SKIN or *Skin or *skin are all the same.

Many keywords are followed by numbers, including numbers used for colors.  These numbers are assumed to be based 10 unless preceded by the letter x, in which case they are assumed to be hexadecimal. For example 254 is the same as xfe.

Some keywords use a color value.  Colors are specified as either one integer or as three integers between 0 and 255.  The three number format color has Red, Green, and Blue components, each between 0 and 255.  Or you can use any HTML color values as a single integer.  If you use three integers, the list of three numbers must be in double quotations:  eg, "244 0 0" is bright red. You can use the Paint program, Colors|Edit Colors|Custom colors dialog, to see various colors and their Red Green Blue components.  Or you can use many available HTML-support programs to find the single integer.  Remember to put the letter x in front of any hexadecimal values.  For example, "255 255 255", "xff xff xff", and xffffff all specify white.

Skins files will often refer to other files:  bmp files, wav files, font files (.fon or .ttf), cursor (.cur or .ani) files.  These should be located in the same folder as the skin and be referred to by filename only, without any path.  You must always include the file extension (eg .bmp).

When building or modifying a skin, you can quickly re-apply a new skin text file by ctrl-right clicking a bar and selecting "Re-apply Skin" from the menu.

Layout of Skin .txt Files

Skin .txt files follow this structure

*Skin keywords values

usage notes structured as any number of lines with any text

this lines describe the usage of the skin

they are reproduced in the Set Skin dialog in the list box at the bottom of the dialog

*Bar keywords values

*Font 1 keywords values

*ButtonDefault keywords values

*Button id 0 repeat "count columns h.gap v.gap" keywords values

The *Skin line must be the first line.  It is followed by a usage notes.  Next comes the *Bar line to give the overall shape of the skin.  Up to 4 *Font lines can optionally provided to define fonts for use on buttons.  *ButtonDefault lines can optionally be used to set default characteristics for buttons.  Finally, a series of *Button lines appear to define position, size, shape, cursors, sounds, etc of buttons.  Often (but not always) a single *Button line will be used to create an array of buttons by using the repeat keyword.  *Button lines refer to the corresponding command list items in the pcf file through the id keyword. You should make sure there is a button command for each item in the command list, usually by using a large repeat value on the last *Button command.

When you build your skin .txt file, you must have a model of the corresponding configuration (pcf file) in mind.  Two common models are the button array model and the section/subbar model.

The button array model consists of an *Info button (optional), followed by an array of buttons which are used to run commands.  Its skin .txt file would look like this example:

*Skin

This skin file uses the button array approach.

The first command list item should have a *Info label.

*Bar

*Button id 0

*Button id 1 repeat "1000 6 2 3"

The first *Button command gives a special layout used to display information (using *Info).  The next example *Button command using the repeat keyword to create an array of buttons with 6 buttons per row, 2 pixels between buttons horizontally, and 3 pixels between buttons vertically.  The repeat count of 1000 is a large number chosen to process all remaining buttons on the command list.  See file SkinTemplate1.txt in PowerPro folder for a template of this skin .txt file structure.

The section/subbar model is used to create a series of section buttons; pressing any section button displays a set of command launch buttons.  Subbars are used on the pcf file for the button in each section. using subbars.  See here for more information on configuration the section/subbar model in the pcf file.  The *Skin .txt file has this structure:

*Skin

This skin file uses the section/subbar approach.

The first command list item should have a *Info label.

The next command list items should provide subbar selection buttons.

A series of subbars corresponding to the selection buttons should appear at the end of the command list.

*Bar

*Button id 0

*Button id 1 repeat "toSubbar 1 2 0"

*Button id next repeat "1000 1 2 0"

The first *Button command gives the layout for a *Info button.  The next *Button command gives the layout for the selector buttons; the command list items corresponding to these buttons should either be ordinary command buttons or buttons which select subbars.  The repeat "toSubbar…" keyword says that this *Button layout should apply until a *Format Subbar is encountered.  Then the *Button id next line will be processed, and it will apply to the subbars which end the command list.  PowerPro automatically arranges to format the subbars so that they all start at the button position given by this *Button command.  See file SkinTemplate2.txt in PowerPro folder for a template of this skin .txt file structure.  (LaunchKaos skins use the section/subbar approach).

*Skin Line Details

The *Skin line must be the first line in all skins text files and can include these keywords and associated values:

Keyword	Purpose and Value	Default
author	Followed by author name (in double quotes if it contains blanks)	none
created	Followed by created date.	none
title	Followed by any text for title.	none
thumb	Followed by name of .bmp file to use as thumbnail display in skins configuration dialog.	none

The *Skin line is followed by a set of text lines with any text which gives usage notes for the skin.

*Bar Line Details

The *Bar line follows the usage notes.

If you want to bar to take on the shape of the background bit map, you specify the shape keyword followed by the .bmp file name as the value.  In addition, when drawing the bitmap for non-rectangular shapes, you must use the transparent color magenta "255 0 255" for the portions of the bitmap which you do not want to appear on the screen.  Be careful to use a pure color for the transparent portions; many advanced painting programs will use anti-aliasing which will mix colors together.  MS Paint uses only pure colors.

Bars using "shape" are never resizable.  Use the "background" keyword instead of shape to allow resizing (depending of course of the pcf settings).

PowerPro shape bmps are compatible with the bmps created for the LaunchKaos program; you can find many such bmps at www.skinz.org.

The following table summarizes the keywords and values for bar.  The default value gives the value used if the keyword is not present.

Keyword	Purpose and Value	Default
shape	The shape keyword is followed the filename of the bmp which determines the shape, size, and look of the skin.	none
background	Followed by file name for .bmp for background.  Does not affect the bar size or shape.  Use either Shape keyword or Background keyword, but not both.	none
marker	Followed by a bmp file to show when the bar is hidden if the pcf file includes the option "Marker" for autohide bar.	none
width	Width of bar in pixels. Ignored if shape specified.	none
height	Height of bar in pixels.  Ignored if shape specified.	none
sound	sound file to play when bar is first shown.	none
soundshow	sound file to play when bar shown after autohide.	none
soundhide	sound file to play when bar hides.	none
cursor	Cursor to use if no button cursor applies (following value must be .cur or .ani file).	none
backcolor	Background color.  Ignored if background bmp specified.	gray
otherback	Default background bitmap file for menus and other bars (to give menus and other bars compatible look to skinned bar); followed by .bmp file name.	none
othertext	Default text color for menus and other bars.	none
minmenuwidth	Minimum menu column width in pixels.	none
maxmenuwidth	Maximum menu column width in pixels.	none
menuwidth	Fixed menu column width in pixels.	none
menuheight	Fixed menu item height in pixels.	none
menuindent	Fixed menu item indent in pixels.	none
menusepcolortop	Color of top line of separator.	system color
menusepcolorbottom	Color of bottom line of separator.	system color

Example:

*Bar shape "fancy shape.bmp" marker mymarker.bmp cursor mycursor.cur

creates a bar with shape given by  "fancy shape.bmp", a background for the marker window given by mymarker.bmp, and the default cursor mycursor.

*Font Line

The *font line can be used to create up to four fonts to be referenced in *Button and *Buttondefault lines.  The word *Font must always be followed by a space then a single digit 0, 1, 2, 3 to specify which font is being defined.  Note that font 0 is predefined to the font set for the command list by the .pcf file, but you can override this font, if you want.

Keyword	Purpose and Value	Default
name	Font name, as it appears in a font dialog.	Arial
size	Followed size, as it appears in a font dialog.	10
install	Followed by name of .fon or .ttf file to install; only needed if you are not using a standard Windows font and you include a font file with your skin.	10
weight	A number in the range 0 through 1000. For example, 400 is normal and 700 is bold.	400
charset	Need for some non-English fonts; followed by a number between 3 and 255.	400
bold	Same as specifying weight 700.	N/A
italics	Selects italics font.	N/A
underline	Selects underlined font.	N/A

Some charset values are:   128 for JIS, 129 for HANGEFUL, 177 for Hebrew, 178 for Arabic, 161 for Greek, 162 for Turkish, 163 for Vietnamese, 222 for Thai, 238 for East European, 204 for Russian, 186 for Baltic.

For example

Font 1 name "Times New Roman" size 12 italics

sets font 1.

*ButtonDefault Line

The *Buttondefault line uses the same keywords and values as the *Button line, described below.  It provides default values for all keywords for any button commands which appear after the *Buttondefault line in the skin .txt file.  You can use many *Buttondefault commands throughout the skin file to change the defaults.  For example:

*ButtonDefault textcolor "0 0 0" Facebmp buttonback.bmp pressbmp "button pressed.bmp" height 20 font 1

sets the default background and pressed bitmaps, default font number and the default height.  If these keywords are omitted from following Button lines, the defaults will be used.

If you want to stop using defaults from *ButtonDefault, use

*ButtonDefault reset

to remove all defaults.

*Button Line

*Button lines give the size, position, and appearance of the button.  A *Button line can refer to one or more items in the command list.

Keyword	Purpose and Value	Default Value
id	Must always be the first keyword to specify the button to work with from the command list; the keyword can be followed by one of these three types of values: a number specifying the item number in the command list; the first item is item 0.  Hidden items and *Format items are included when determining the item number. the word "next" for the next button, skipping any buttons with left command *format any other string which specifies the first item in the command list which has an item name beginning with the same characters as the string	next
left	Position of left of button, relative to top left of bar, in pixels.  Use 0 for top left of bar.	right of previous
top	Position of top of button in pixels relative to top of bar; top of bar is 0 and lower positions have higher numbers.	none
width	Width of button in pixels	use pcf width or text+icon width
height	Height of button in pixels.	pcf height or icon height
no3d	No special drawing effects are used when the mouse hovers or the button or when the button is pressed (not followed by a value).  You would normally specify this keyword if you specified the pressbmp or hoverbmp keywords.	N/A
notext	The item name text is not shown.  This could be used, for example, to relate the button to the pcf using the item name and idname but not show the item name text.	N/A
textover	Text is only shown if mouse over button (no following value).	N/A
iconover	Icon is only shown if mouse over button (no following value).	N/A
soundhover	sound file to play when mouse moves over button	none
soundpress	sound file to play when button is clicked	none
cursor	cursor to use when mouse over button (following value must be .cur or .ani file, or a standard name Ibeam, cross, help, wait, no)	none
font	Number of font (0 to 3).	0
text	Text color when mouse is not over button.	pcf setup
texthover	Text color when mouse is over button	none
textpress	Text color when button is pressed	none
textall	Sets all of above three text colors	none
textpos	Follow by right for right justify or center for centering, or top for top-alignment, or multi for multi-line text broken at end of words, or bottom for bottom-aligned text.  You can use textpos most than once to specify both horizontal and vertical justification, eg textpos right textpos bottom.	none (left, vertical center)
textleft	Followed by number giving the offset to the text rectangle from the left of the button. Note:  textpos setting gives the justification of text within this rectangle.	0
textwidth	Followed by number giving the width of the text rectangle. Note:  textpos setting gives the justification of text within this rectangle.	width of text
texttop	Followed by number giving the offset to the text rectangle from the top of the button. Note:  textpos setting gives the justification of text within this rectangle.
textheight	Followed by number giving the height of the text rectangle. Note:  textpos setting gives the justification of text within this rectangle.	height of text single line
iconpos	Follow by right for right of text, center for center if no text,  or above for above text	none (left of text)
icontop	Offset to icon from top of button; overrides iconpos.
iconleft	Offset to icon from left of button; overrides iconpos.
face	Background color when mouse is not on button.  Omit to let base bmp from bar show through for button.	pcf setup
facehover	Background color when mouse over button	none
facepress	Background color when button is pressed	none
faceall	Background color for button for all cases	none
facebmp	Background bmp file when mouse is not on button.	none
hoverbmp	Background bmp file when mouse is over button	none
pressbmp	Background bmp file when button is pressed	none
allbmp	Sets face, hover, and  press to same bmp file	none
repeat	Creates an array of evenly spaced buttons.  Must be followed by four numbers in quotes:  the first number is the repeat count, the second gives the number of columns, and the third and fourth give gap in pixels between buttons horizontally and vertically.  Use ToSubbar for first number to repeat until *Format StartSubbar encountered in pcf	none

The first keyword must always be id.  If a string is specified as the following value,  the *Button line refers to the first item in the command list with a name which start with the text characters.  If ia number is specified, then the *Button line refers to the item number given by the value.  If next is specified, the *Button line refers to the item following the item used by the previous Button line.  (The first *Button line defaults to item 0).  *Format commands are skipped by Button lines.  But note that when counting items for id followed by a number, all command list items are included.

You should always specify top, left, width, and height.

You can make the same *Button line refer to multiple command list items by using repeat.  The id specifies the first item; subsequent items in the command list for the repeat follow this initial item in the command list.  The repeat value must be at least 1 or use ToSubbar to make repeat apply until *Format Subbar encountered.

There can be more button commands than items in the command list; such button commands (or repeats) are ignored but this is not an error.  Also, if the id refers to a command list item which does not exist, the Button command is ignored but again this is not an error.

If you specify both a color and a bmp for background, hover, or press, the bmp takes priority.

To let the base background from the bar show through, omit both face color and facebmp.

See the sample skins for examples of *Button usage.


Using skins
Skins

Purpose of Skins

If you want more options and flexibility in specifying the look of a bar, you can use skins.  Skins give you more control than the formatting options in the configuration file:   skins let specify that a bar uses a background bmp drawing of any shape and they let you specify the size, position, font, text/icon position, and look of any button.  You can also use skins to specify cursors and sounds for buttons.

Skins are defined by files which you keep separate from your pproconf.pcf file (which is in your Powerpro folder and stores configuration data).  The pcf file specifies what you want buttons to do.  The skin files specify the look of bars and buttons.  But there is still an interaction between look and configuration meaning that some skins expect certain features in your pcf file and that not all skins work with all pcf files.  For example, many skins display time, date or other data and expect you to define a *Info button at the top of your command list.  Or if you use subbars, you will usually need to have all the subbars defined in a series at the end of the command list.  Certain skins works best with the section/subbar configuration, described below.  The usage notes on the skins configuration dialog will describe constraints on the pcf configuration for the skin.

Installing Skins (including the sample skins)

Before installing your first skin, make sure that you create a folder called Skins under your main powerpro folder.  For example, if PowerPro is stored in C:\Program Files\Powerpro, create a folder called C:\Program Files\PowerPro\Skins using explorer.

Skins are distributed as zip files.  To install any skin, create a subfolder of your skins folder with the same name as the zip file (or anything else if that name is already in use).  Then unzip the skins .zip file into that subfolder.  You will find sample files SkinSample Kaos1, SkinSamplezlk, SkinSampleNewbie, and SkinSampleKaos in your PowerPro folder and can unzip these to create sample skins to experiment with.

Note:  you should be able to use Kaos1 and zlk on your current bar, but before using sample Kaos or Newbie, please review the help on section/subbar configurations below.

Sample skins are based on those created for the LaunchKaos program; see www.PocketKaos.com for more information on this program and www.skinz.org for skins which can be used at as basis for creating PowerPro skins.

Click here to learn about how to create new skins for yourself.

Using a Skin

To configure a skin, Ctrl-right click any bar and select "Configure Skin for Bar" from the resulting menu.  You can also access this dialog by pressing the "Set Skin" button on the command list configuration dialog.

Then select the skin file you want to use from the drop down at the top of the dialog.  Review the usage notes at the bottom of the dialog for information on how to set up the command list items in your bar for best use of the skin.  You will also be able to use the checkboxes to enable or disable the sound, menu/other bar background, font, and marker bitmap features of the skin, if the skin uses these features. If you check "use menu/otherbar background" to use the skin's background for other bars and menus, you can still override the background for individual bars or menus by putting none in the command list|properties background for these bars or menus.

Although skins control the overall look of your bar and buttons, you still set the bar position and the autohide approach using Command List|Properties.

The "last for setup" feature of active buttons does not apply if you use a skin; the settings provided by the skin take priority.

Each time you reconfigure a skinned bar, it will take a few seconds for the bar to reappear.

Section/Subbar Configuration

Some skins work best with a section/subbar structure in your pcf file.  This will be indicated in the usage notes.  The Kaos and Newbie samples use this structure.

This skin structure is meant to show a command list which has a series of subbar selection buttons at the start and a series of subbars at the end.  The idea is to use each subbar for a category of commands or documents and to use a subbar for each category.  You can find more information on this type of subbar usage here.

To see a sample of this type of configuration and to test Kaos and Newbie, ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "subbars" from the resulting submenu.

This will display a new bar with subbar selection buttons at the start and subbars at the end.  To see its layout, Ctrl-right click bar and select configure from menu.  For best effect, you should view this bar with a skin by pressing Set Skin from command list configuration and selecting Sample Kaos or Newbie.

When you are finished with the demo, ctrl-right click on the bar and select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "pproconf" from the resulting submenu to restart your configuration.


Section/subbars for skins
Section and Subbar Configuration Model

Some skins configurations require a section/subbar approach to the pproconf.pcf file.  This type of bar has a set of (so called) section buttons to select a subbars and each subbar consists of a set of launch items.  For example, the LaunchKaos program and its skins use this approach.  The idea is to use a subbar to group launch items with a common purpose, eg editors or internet, and use the subbar selection button to select that category.  In general the list of items in a command list for this type of bar will look like this:

Editors	*Bar	SelectSubbar	@editors_

Internet	*Bar	SelectSubbar	@Internet_

Utilities	*Bar	SelectSubbar	@Utilities_

Editors_	*Format	StartSubbar

items for editors subbar here

*Format	EndSubbar

Internet_	*Format	StartSubbar

items for internet subbar here

*Format	EndSubbar

Utilities_	*Format	StartSubbar

items for utilities subbar here

*Format	EndSubbar

For convenience, the subbar name in the above example has been chosen to be the bar category label followed by an underline.

You will likely want to check "Show *Bar SelectSubbar as pressed" on Command List|setup which will cause PowerPro to show the selector button corresponding as the visible subbar as pressed.

You can quickly create a subbar and a button for selecting that subbar from the command list configuration dialog by clicking Quick Add, or right clicking the list box and selecting Quick Add, and then selecting "Selector and new subbar" from the menu.  The selector is added after any currently selected button in the list, and the subbar is added to the end of the list.

For a sample of such a bar, ctrl-right click on any bar, select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "subbars" from the resulting submenu.  If you have installed the sample skins, you can see how Skin Sample Kaos and Skin Sample Newbie display this pcf configuration.  When you are finished with the demo, ctrl-right click on the bar and select "Change configuration" menu item, and then select "pproconf" from the resulting submenu to restart your configuration.

This approach to configuration can take a lot of screen space.  If you prefer to use less screen space, you may wish to replace the *Bar selector buttons with a button or hot key which displays a menu of *Bar Selector commands.


Bars Showing Other Bars when a Button is Clickec
Bars Showing Other Bars when a Button is Clicked

You can configure a bar to show other bars at your mouse when you click a button.  For an example, try the BarShowsBars configuration which you should find installed in your Powerpro folder and which you can access by ctrl-right clicking a bar, selecting Change Configuration from the resulting menu, and then selecting BarShowBars from the resulting submenu.

Click any button.  Another bar will appear with commands to be launched.

This effect is configured by creating a separate command list for the bars which appear when you click the main bar.  Each of these other bars are autohide bars with "Auto Show as Bar" checked.

Ctrl-right click the bar and note the configuration of Bar command list.  The Saver buttons shows the command list ShowOne at the mouse.  The other buttons use the *Bar SelectSubbarToButton command to show a subbar of the ShowBar command list aligned with the clicked button.  The advantage of the subbar approach is the only one command list (beside the main bar) needs to be maintained.

Note how the ShowAll and Showone bars use the vertical slide setting on the Command List Properties to control slide animation (win98/2000 only).

To show the vertical bars when the mouse hovers of the main bar without clicking a button, select Properties for Command List Bar and check "hover clicks".

To return to your standard configuration, ctrl-right click bar, select Change Configuration menu, submenu item pproconf.


Working with Tray Icons

You can access all icons in the system tray with a *Menu Tray or with active buttons.  For the menu or a button, left or right click to activate the correspond tray icon function; middle click (or left+shift) to access the double click function of the tray icon. You must also check Command List|Setup|"Right selects its own entry on menus" for right clicking the menu to work.

The text on the menu or button is set from the tool tip of the tray icon.

This feature may not function if you are using NT.  It does work in Windows 2000.

Before using this feature, you must install tray support.  To do so in Windows 98/95, activate the configuration dialog (for example by ctrl-right clicking a bar and selecting configure), select the setup tab, and press the "Install Tray Support" button.  You will need to reboot your system to start this feature (this allows PowerPro to capture all tray icons as they are created).  To install PowerPro tray support in Windows 2000 or NT, see here.

You can also use the *TrayIcon command to access or hide individual tray icons.

If you want to display only certain tray icons, you can use the edit box on the Command List Properties|Active Buttons tab to specify the exe file name or window caption for the tray icon.  To find out the exe file name, you can use the Windows 98 program "System Information" or you can use *Exec WindowInfo over a window displayed by the tray icon.  To find the window caption, try running the command *Menu Show menu hidden which will show all windows and their captions.  For example, the Windows 98 dial-up tray icon shown when a dial-up is active is shown by the program rnaapp.exe, so putting

#=rnaapp

will show this tray icon only (the # means display of active windows is not affected).

If you logoff, you will lose tray icon support.  You must reboot to restore it.


Installing PproTray in Windows 2000

To using the tray icon active buttons or *Menu Tray in Windows 2000 or NT, you must ensure the program pprotray.exe in the PowerPro folder is started before any other program which shows a tray icon. Depending on your configuration, you may be able to do this with the startup group or by installing pprotray.exe as a service.

If you are comfortable using registry editor, one technique that seems to work is to  load PPROTRAY.EXE from the registry by setting as key as follows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit=C:\WINNT\system32 \userinit.exe,C:\Progra~1\PowerPro\pprotray.exe,

For it to work correctly you have to add the Powerpro directory to the path statement in Environment Variables.

Or you may want to try the technique from the following article from the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The information in this article applies to:

· Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server

· Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

· Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

· Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SUMMARY

Windows 2000 can be configured to run a startup script that is a batch file, VB script or Jscript by using Group Policies. These policies can be either domain wide or computer-specific local policies. The AutoExnt utility is included in the Resource Kit so that this functionality is available when running a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-based workstation in either a Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 domain.

The AutoExNT service permits an administrator to configure a Windows 2000-based computer to run a custom batch file when first starting the computer. Also, a user or administrator is not required to be logged on at the time this custom batch file runs. This article explains how you can accomplish this task.

Also, this service may be used when you are not implementing policies. Either a group policy or an individual computer policy can be used to implement a computer based startup script.

MORE INFORMATION

Installing the AutoExNT Service

1. Using a text editor (such as Notepad), create a batch file named Autoexnt.bat and include the commands you want to run at startup in this file.

2. Copy the Autoexnt.bat file you just created, in addition to the Autoexnt.exe, Servmess.dll, and Instexnt.exe files located in the Resource Kit CD-ROM to the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder on your computer.

3. At a command prompt, type instexnt install, and then press ENTER.

You should then receive the following message:

CreateService AutoExNT SUCCESS with InterActive Flag turned OFF

To view the installation processes running on the desktop, you must install the AutoExNT service using the /interactive switch. For example, instead of typing instexnt install, you would type instexnt install /interactive at a command prompt, and then press ENTER.

NOTE: If you use the /interactive switch, any users who log on locally are able to stop the processes from running.

Testing the AutoExNT Service

To test the AutoExNT service, log on to your computer with an account that has administrator credentials, type net start autoexnt at a command prompt, and then press ENTER. The Autoexnt.bat file should run in an MS-DOS window.

NOTE: The AutoExNT service includes a /interactive switch, analogous to the /interactive switch of the AT command. This switch permits you to view the status of processes as they run. Because no user environment variables have yet been declared when AutoExNT runs at system startup, you must use full path names.

Also, if you need a service to be running before you start running a dependent process, you may include a command to start this service at the beginning of your Autoexnt.bat file. For example, if your batch file has commands that require the Server service to be running, include a net start server command at the beginning of your Autoexnt.bat file.

Configuring the AutoExNT Service to Run at Startup

To configure the AutoExNT service to run at startup:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.

2. Double-click the Services and Applications branch to expand it, and then click Services.

3. Double-click the AutoExNT service, click Automatic in the Startup type box, and then click OK.

REFERENCES

This tool is included in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit Toolbox.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbtool

Version : WINDOWS:2000

Platform : WINDOWS

Issue type : kbhowto


Logging Keystrokes

You can log keystrokes into a file with *Exec LogKeys.

To start logging keys to file c:\path\mylog.txt, use

*Exec

Logkeys

c:\path\mylog.txt

To stop logging, set the file name blank.  To switch between logging and non logging, put an = in front of the file name:

*Exec

Logkeys

=c:\path\mylog.txt

will start logging the first time the command is run, stop it the next time, and so on.

You can write a heading to the logging file by checking that option on the *Exec Logkeys configuration.  You can also write a heading using *Exec ToFile with filename set to log to refer to the currently open logging file.

If you omit the path, the key logging file is assumed to be in the same folder as the PowerPro configuration file (.pcf).

The configuration checkbox option "All Keys" lets you determine how invisible keys like Alt and PageDown are handled.  If All Keys is not checked, then only visible keys, spaces, tabs, and Enters are written to the file.  If All Keys is checked, then all keystrokes are written to the file using the *Keys notation for special keys, eg {alt} or {pgdn}.  In addition, {alt}, {ctrl}, {shift}, and {apps} (Win key) will be written twice:  once for key press and again for key release.  Files logged with "All Keys" checked can be played back using *Keys {from …}.

You can use the *Info keyword keylog to display an X on a button label if logging is active or the keyword keylogfile to view the file name of a logging file.  You can also access this information in *Script variables with *keylog and *keylogfile.


Showing Menus

You can use *Menu Show or ShowAtButton to show a command list as a menu.

*Menu ShowAtButton is meant for use on bar buttons and shows the menu aligned with the button used to display it.  For horizontal bars, the menu is shown below or above the button, depending on which half of the screen the bar is in; for vertical bars, the menu is shown to the left or right of the button.

*Menu Show gives more control of the menu position.  Use the edit box “Blank or enter position” to enter a keyword specifying the menu position; the find button displays a menu of valid keywords:

centerundermouse	centers the menu under the mouse

centerscreen	center the menu on the screen

offset n1 n2	shows menu n1 pixels to left and n2 above the mouse (n1 or n2 can be negative)

screen n1 n2	shows menu at screen position n1 (from left), n2 (from top)

horbutton	shows menu aligned under/above last button pressed on horizontal bar

horbuttoncenter	shows menu centered under/above last button pressed on horizontal bar

verbutton	shows menu aligned right/left with last button pressed on vertical bar

The keywords horbutton and verbutton perform the same alignment as *Menu ShowAtButton, except that by using *Menu Show, you can choose whether horizontal or vertical bar alignment is used.

With *Menu Show, you can display a subset of a command list as a menu as follows.  Start display at named item xxx by putting @xxx in the edit box under the one used to select the name of the command list in the *Menu Show command.  In the command list, insert an item *Format Subbar labeled xxx at the start of the menu subset and end the subset by putting a *Format Endsubbar at the end. This allows a command list to be used for both a bar with subbars and to contain a packed series of submenus.

information in *Script variables with *keylog and *keylogfile.


Notes

Purpose

Use notes to capture any type of text:  reminders, scripts, text for copying into other documents, and so on.  Notes can be placed in categories.  Notes can be assigned a date and will be shown automatically by PowerPro  on that date.  You  can set the color and font of notes, you can resize and hide notes, and  you can drag and drop selected text or files from notes to other windows from windows to notes.

Configuration

The *Note command is used to work with notes.  Create new notes or open existing notes with *Note Open.  Hide or show open notes with *Note ShowHideOpen, open all notes in a category with *Note OpenCategory, open one note in a category with OpenOneFromMenu, close and save all notes in a category with *Note CloseCategory.  You can see a menu of all open notes and show and bring the selected one to the top with  *Note OpenMenu.   You can show notes with date categories today or before with *Note ShowToday. You can delete open notes from a given category with *Note DeleteOpenCategory.

When you create a new note by executing *Note Open, you can optionally set its colors, text, source file, and category.  To access these features, use the “find” button to the right of the edit box when configuring the *Note command.

Right click on a note text or use the Win key to see a configuration menu which lets you set the note category, set note color, close the note, run the entire note as a PowerPro script, and perform other functions.

If the option is selected on Setup|advanced|notes, double click anywhere in the note to run the double clicked line as a command (else double click selects word).

Resize a note by dragging its border and move a note by dragging the caption.

Hide a note by clicking on the H in the caption or by showing menu with Apps key (beside right ctrl) and pressing H.  Show hidden notes with *Note OpenMenu or *Note OpenShow.

Close the note by left clicking the X at the right of the caption.  Left clicking the X closes and saves; right clicking the X closes and deletes.  You can also close with Alt-F4.  Use Setup|Advanced|Note to control whether PowerPro prompts before deleting notes.

Select all text in a note by clicking the A.  Left click and drag from the A to drag-and-drop all note text.

Rollup a note to its caption by clicking R or using Rollup selection from right-click menu.  Reverse rollup status by using R again.  Rolled up notes normally show only the caption, but you can show more by setting height using setup|advanced|notes   You can reverse the rollup state of all open notes in a category with *Note RollupCategory.  You can also use this command to unroll all notes in a category by preceding category name with a plus (+) and to rollup all notes by preceding the category name with a dash (-).

You can control the default size and position, color, and font  of newly opened notes with the Configuration tabbed dialog, setup tab,  advanced button, note tab. This dialog also controls whether PowerPro closes open notes when it is shut down and  whether PowerPro shows notes assigned a date category before today.  In addition, this dialog lets you control whether R or H are shown in the caption, whether the caption shows the first line of text or the category, and whether rolled up notes are temporarily unrolled with the mouse stops over them for more then half a second.

You can capture clipboard entries or automatically create notes for drag/dropped text by using the autoclone note category; click here for details.

Saved notes are stored in a file named by the first line of the note followed by the date and time to make the note file name unique.  The files are stored in the note folder under your PowerPro folder, with a subfolder equal to the category name.    If PowerPro is running, you can double click on a note file in Explorer to show the note.  You can also open a given note in category "MyCat" with first line starting with "first line of text" by running the command

*Note

OpenCategory

MyCat\first line of text*

Where Cat is the note category and “first line of text*” is the start of the first line of the note’s text.

You can use notes for future ToDo’s by assigning a date category to them and configuring PowerPro to show notes from today or before when it starts (using Configuration|Setup|Advanced|Note) or by running *Note ShowToday (eg in a StartUp alarm).

Notes can hold up to 64K of text.

Summary of Usage

The following table summarizes the user interface to notes and how to use it:

Desired Action	How to Perform Action
Create new note	Execute *Note Open from bar, menu, hot key, tray icon, etc
Create notes in different categories each with own color	Configure a *Note Open for each category, using “find” button to assign color and category.
Copy note text to/from other windows.	Select text and drag and drop.  Or use right click menu for copy/paste.
Select and copy all text.	Left click A button at upper left of note.  Drag to copy all text.
Open a note at an exact time.	Use scheduler to open a specific note at a specific time by scheduling the command *Note OpenCategory cat\start of note* where cat is the note category and "start of note" are the initial characters of the first line (up to 63 characters).
Close note and save it	Left click X at upper right of note or right click note text and select close from menu.
Close note and delete it	Right click X at upper right of note, or right click note and select delete, or use explorer to locate note in its category folder and delete.
Set category of note	Specify initial category in *Note Open, or right click note and select Category entry.
Create new category	Right click note and use Category|New or use explorer to create new subfolder of Notes folder (under PowerPro main folder).
Resize note.	Drag border or corner.
Hide note	Hide note with H button; reshow with *Note OpenMenu or *Note ShowCategory, or show menu with Apps key and press H.
Show hidden note	Execute *Note MenuOpen and select note or use *Note ShowOpen.
Delete note	Open note and right click X or use explorer or right click any note and select "Delete from Menu ".


Plug-Ins

PowerPro allows programmers to add new features by writing plug-ins.  A plug-in is a .dll file that you must place in the same folder as your PowerPro .exe file (usually c:\program files\powerpro).  The plugin will offer one or more services.  Use the *Exec Plugin command to activate a service.  For example, to activate a service RunIt from plugin myplug, use

*Exec

Plugin

myplug RunIt

The plugin service will often access and possibly change variables a-z or x0-x9.  The plugin author will provide documentation on uses of variables.

The remainder of this help section is intended only for programmers of plug-ins.

A plugin is a dll which PowerPro loads dynamically.  The services are the exported routines.  Within the dll, the service names must be in lower case.  Neither the plug-in name nor the service name can contain blanks. The PowerPro zip contains a sample plug-in plugsamp.c.

The service declarations should be

_declspec(dllexport) void showmenu(LPSTR szv, LPSTR szx)

(assuming chars are one byte).  Remember that lower case must be used for service names.

The strings szv and szx are used to access alphabetic variables a-z and the x variables x0-x9.  Each variable occupies 264 bytes and is stored as a null terminated string within that fixed-length 264 byte buffer. To access an alphabetic variable given by the upper case character stored in c, use

szv + (c - 'A') * VAR_SIZE

where

#define VAR_SIZE 264

To access the x variable where the following digit is stored as a character in d, use

szx + (d - '0')*VAR_SIZE

You can access or change any variable to any string up to 264 characters (including terminating '\0'.)

You can send commands back to PowerPro using two methods:  One is to create a full command line, including a full path to PowerPro, and WinExec it.  The other is to create the PowerPro command only (without the path to PowerPro) and using a special SendMessage WM_COPYDATA.  The advantage of the WM_COPYDATA is speed and the fact that the command is executed synchronously, that is you know it is done when the SendMessage returns.  (Note:  PowerPro uses a WM_COPYDATA message, rather than a plain WM_USER+xxx, because this message is sometimes needed to cross process boundaries).

The following code shows how to use the WM_COPYDATA message by running a *menu Show command on the menu name stored in variable M.

#define VAR_SIZE 264

char szCommand[VAR_SIZE+24];

COPYDATASTRUCT cd;

strcpy(szCommand, "*Menu Show ");

strcat(szCommand, szv + ('M'-'A')*VAR_SIZE);

cd.dwData = 1;

cd.cbData = strlen(szCommand)+1;

cd.lpData=szCommand;

SendMessage(g_hwndPowerPro, WM_COPYDATA, 0, (LPARAM)&cd);

Here g_hwndPowerPro has been set to the PowerPro hidden control window:	g_hwndPowerPro = FindWindow("PowerProMain",NULL);

PowerPro normally does not free a loaded plug-in until PowerPro exits.  This can be awkward when debugging.  So you can force PowerPro to unload using FreeLibrary by using a service name of "*":

*Exec

Plugin

myplug *


Expressions

Purpose

Use expressions in PowerPro to compute a number or a string.

You can use an expression to assign a value to a variable with *Script assign.  You can also use an expression as the condition in a *Script Ifx statement or a *Format ContextIf.  Finally, you can insert an expression into a command line with the variable insertion character.  For example,

*script assign x 5 + 2 *length "abc"

assigns 11 to variable x (i.e. 5 + 2*3).

*script assign s "abcdef" select 3 join "123"

assigns "abc123" to variable s.

*script ifx  (a >= 5 or (b select 2 == "ab"))

executes the statements following the ifx if the expression is true (value 1).

*Script RunFile &("x_" join deskname)

runs a script with name given by x_ followed by the current virtual desktop name.

Structure of Expressions

As can be seen in the examples, an expression is a series of values and operators.  The expression is evaluated from left to right taking into account any parentheses as well as the relative priority of operators (e.g. multiplication before addition so that 1+2*3 is 7).

PowerPro can work with either strings or numbers in expressions and will try to use whatever is appropriate to the operator.  For example, "-12" + 9 yields the number 3.  "-12" join "ab" yields the string "-12ab".

Values

In PowerPro, a value in an expression can be one of the following

a string literal enclosed in double quotation marks,  like "abcd"

a number, like 15 or -22; only whole numbers can be used (integers)

a variable, like a or x4; see programming for more on variables

a flag (f0-f31); see programming for more on flags

a special keyword, like date; see below for keyword details

To use a variable you use the variable name without any preceding insertion character.  For example, if v has the value "yy", then v join "xx"  yields the value "yyxx".    If you do use the insertion character, then PowerPro acts as if you typed the characters stored in the variable as part of the expression.  For example, if & is the insertion character and if variable s has the string value "(5+6)", then s join "ab" is "(5+6)ab" whereas &s join ab is "11ab".

If you want to put a double quotation mark in a string, type two in a row:  """" is the string consisting of a one double quotation mark.

Note to users of previous versions of PowerPro:  unlike the Set statement, with Assign and expressions, you must put strings in double quotes and there is no asterisk before keywords.

Keyword Values

Powerpro lets you use any of the following keywords in an expression to get at system values:

date	Todays date as 8 digit string yyyymmdd (e.g. 2000 12 31)
shortdate	Todays date in control panel|regional short date format
longdate	Todays date in control panel|regional long date format
xtime	Time in control panel|regional time format
time	Time as 6 digit string hhmmss, 24 hour clock, eg. 140515.
timesec	number of seconds since midnight January 1, 1970
dayofweek	Day of week as single digit (Sunday is 0, Monday 1, etc.)
dayofyear	Day of year (eg 35 is Feb 4).
uptime	Number of seconds Windows has been running
ctrl	Value 1 if ctrl key id down, 0 otherwise.
shift	Value 1 if shift key is down, 0 otherwise.
alt	Value1 if alt key is down, 0 otherwise.
win	Value 1 if windows key is down, 0 otherwise.
pprofolder	Folder of PowerPro configuration (including terminating \)
disk	Letter of disk where PowerPro as run from  (e.g. c)
deskname	Name of current virtual desktop
desknum	Number 1-9 or current virtual desktop.
deskempty	1 if current vdesk empty; 0 otherwise
currentdir	path to working folder of current foreground window
Subbarname	Name of current subbar
caption	Caption of current foreground window
captionunder	Caption of window under the mouse
exefullpath	Full path to exe name for current foreground window
exefilename	File name (no path, no .exe) to exe file for current foreground window
dunidle (95/98)	Number of seconds since last characterreceived over dial-up
dunrate (95/98)	Dial up rate in characters per second
pmem	Percent free memory
cpu	Cpu usage (98 only)
gdi	Gdi resources (95/98 only)
user	User resources (95/98 only)
timer	Value of timer  in seconds; first letter of following string determines timer, e.g. timer "c" for timer c.  You can also use number 1 - 26, e.g. timer 14.
cdcurtrack	Current CD track
cdlasttrack	Last CD track
defaultprinter	Name of default printer
keylog	"X" if logging; zero otherwise
keylogfile	Name of currently open key log file; empty string "" otherwise
lastidletime	Length of last idle period in which an alarm occurred
clip	First line of clipboard
lastclippath	Full path to last captured clipboard item
lastclipname	File name of last captured clipboard item
xmouse	Horizontal mouse position in pixels (0 for extreme left of screen)
ymouse	Vertical mouse position in pixels (0 for extreme left of screen)
xscreen	Screen width in pixels.
yscreen	Screen height in pixels.
paper	Wallpaper file name
saver	Screen saver file name
saveractive	Value 1 if screen saver active; 0 otherwise.
batterypercent	Percent battery power left
volume	Current master volume (0 - 255); can be set by *Exec VolumeAll
muted	Set 1 if muted sound; set 0 otherwise.
acdc	"A" if running on ac power; "D" otherwise
browserURL	URL in current browser window
browserDomain	Domain in current browser window
browserSubdomain	Domain and subdomain in current browser window

For example,

*script assign x browserDomain replacechars "_."

assigns x the Browser Domain with dots repalced by underscores.

*Script assign m (time /100)%100

assigns m the current number of minutes in the time.

Operators

Powerpro has arithmetic, comparison, string, and special operators.  The following table describes all operators:

mci	Execute mci command; see section on mci below for details
not	Result is 1 if following expression is zero or empty string; 0 otherwise.
mounted	Result is 1 is following string's first letter is removable disk and is mounted; 0 otherwise.
length	Compute length of following string; see section on strings below for details.
anywindow	Result is 1 if following string is a caption list which matches any open window (visible or not); 0 otherwise.
visiblewindow	Result is 1 if following string caption list matches any open visible window; 0 otherwise.
activewindow	Result is 1 if following string caption list matches the foreground window; 0 otherwise.
validpath	Value is 1 if following string is validpath to file and 0 otherwise.  String may contain wildcards (* and ?).
env	Value of environment variable named by following string.
input	Prompts for input using title for input dialog given by following string.  To limit input length, start title with =n, e.g. input "=15Enter up to 15 chars".  Result is entered input.  If Cancel pressed, result is "".
inputcancel	Same as input, except that if cancel is pressed then a running script and any calling script are immediately ended.
*	Multiple two numbers.  5*2 is 10.
/	Divide; result is truncated to nearest integer.  12/5 is 2.
%	Remainder after division; 15 % 4 is 3.
+	Addition.  2 + 2 is 4.
-	Subtraction.  15 - 8 is 7.
join	Join two strings.  "abc" join "defg" is "abcdefg"
remove	Remove characters from string; see section on strings below for details.
select	Select characters from string; see below for details.
index	Index of second string within first; see below for details.
revindex	Index of lsat occurrence of second string within first; see below.
fill	Combines strings; see below for details.
replacechars	Replaces character(s) by specified replacement character.
window	Determine window coordinates; see below for details.
== eq	Result is 1 if values are equal; 0 otherwise.  Case of letters strings is ignored in all comparisons, e.g. "abc" is equal to "AbC".
!= ne	Result is 1 if values are not equal; 0 otherwise.
< lt	Result is 1 if first value less than second value; 0 otherwise.
<= le	Result is 1 if value less than or second equal to value 2; 0 otherwise.
>  gt	Result is 1 if first value greater than second value ; 0 otherwise.
>=  ge	Result is 1 if first value greater than or equal to second value; 0 otherwise.
max	Maximum of two values (e.g. x0 max -7)
min	Minimum of two values (e.g. "abcd" min v)
& and	Result is 1 if both values are 1; result is 0 otherwise
| or	Result is 1 if either value is 1; result is 0 otherwise

The grouping in the above table shows the priority of operators.  For example, *, /, % have equal priority which is higher than + and -; in turn + and - have higher priority than the string operators which have higher priority than the relational operators like ==.  The operator or has the lowest priority.

Note that you have a choice of symbol or keyword for the relational and logical operators (e.g. == or eq, & or and).  For example, this is helpful if you have set one of the special characters to have another meaning to PowerPro, e.g. if you have set & to insertion character or < to command separator.

Operators consisting solely of alphabetics, like join or not, must be preceded and followed by a blank when used.

String Operators

PowerPro has operators to help you work with strings of characters.  PowerPro supports strings of up to 263 characters; longer strings are truncated to this length.

Length returns a number representing the length of a string:  length "abc" is 3.

Join is used to join one string to the end of  another:  "ab" join" 1" is "ab1"

Remove is used to remove characters from a string.  Specify  string remove number. For example, "abcd" remove 2 is "cd".  Use a negative number of remove characters from the end of a string.  For example, "abcd" remove -3 is "a".

Select is used to select characters from the start, end, or middle of a string.  Specify as string select number.  If number is positive, characters are selected from the start:  "abcde" select 3 is "abc".  If number is negative, characters are selected from the end: "abcde" select -1 is "e’.  Finally, to select characters from the middle of a string, form a single number 1000*first+second.  For example, to select the 2nd through 4th character, use "abcde" select 2004 which yields "bcd".

Index is used to find one string in another, ignoring case of letters.  The operator index  returns 0 if the second string is not found.  If it is found starting at the nth position, index returns n.   For example, "to be or not to be" index "be" returns 4.

RevIndex is used to find last occurrence one string in another, ignoring case of letters.  The operator index  returns 0 if the second string is not found.  If it is last found starting at the nth position, revindex returns n.   For example, "c:\path\to\filname.txt" revindex "\" returns 11 (index of last backslash).

Fill is used to pad a number or string using a padding string.  The expression string fill number creates a string of length no less than the first string with the ending characters set by the second number or string.  For example, "0000" fill 12 yields "0012" and "***///" fill "a" yields "***//a".

ReplaceChars is used to replace character(s) by a given replacement character.  Characters in the first string are replaced according to the second string.  The second string must be at least two characters for replacement to occur.  The final character in the second string is the replacing characters.  All occurrences of any other characters in the second string which occur in the first string are replaced by this final character.  For example, the result of "xx.x.abc=* replacechars ".=_" is "xx_x_abc_*".  The _ has replaced all occurrences of  . or =.  Unlike other string operators, ReplaceChars is case sensitive.

VisibleWindow, AnyWindow, ActiveWindow Operators

These three operators must be followed by a string which is interpreted as a caption list.  For visiblewindow, the result is 1 only if a matching, visible window exists.  For anywindow, the matching window can be hidden.  For activewindow, the matching window must be the foreground window.  For example,

*if (activewindow "=explorer")

checks to see if explorer is the active window.  Another example:

*assign v not visiblewindow "*notepad*,*internet explorer"

assigns v 1 only if neither notepad nor internet explorer is running in a visible window.

Window Operator

The window operator lets you get at the position and size of any window on the screen.  Use

pos window caption where pos is one of "left", "top", "bottom", "right", "height", "width", and caption is a caption list string that matches the caption of the window (e.g. *notepad* for notepad).  You can also use "active" as the caption to select the foreground window, "under" to select the window under the mouse,  and "taskbar" to access the TaskBar.  For example,  "right" window "*explorer*" returns the coordinate of the right side of the first window PowerPro finds with explorer in its caption.

MCI operator

This operator submits an mci string to Windows and returns the result as a string.  Mci strings control multimedia devices.  Search for MCI on www.Microsoft.com for more information.


AutoCloning Notes

You can use the autoclone category with *Note to automatically capture clipboard text in new notes or to create cloned notes for text which is drag/dropped onto a note.  This lets you create a set of notes with one piece of text per note so that you can easily rearrange or copy a set of captured pieces of text.

To use either for these features, you must check the appropriate checkbox on the configuration tabbed dialog, Setup tab, Advanced|Notes.  For automatic clip capturing you must also enable clip capture on the Special GUI tab.  Finally, there must be a visible note with category "autoclone":  you could use a hot key, bar button etc to create this initial note using a *Note Open command with category "autoclone" and desired position, size, colors.

If you drag/drop text to a note with category autoclone, PowerPro will check to see if the note is empty.  If it is, the text is pasted into the note.  If it is not, PowerPro will clone a new note and put the dropped text in that new note.

If you activate autoclone of notes for clip capture and you put text on the clipboard when an autoclone note is visible, PowerPro will check to see if this note is empty.  If it is, the clipboard text is pasted into the note.  If it is not, a new note is cloned and the clipboard is pasted to this new note.

Each cloned note is placed directly beneath the preceding one so for best viewing you should consider setting a small height and initial top right or left position on the first *Note command.  You may also want set as "always on top".

You can use the A box at the upper left of the note to drag drop the text from autocloned notes.  You can also use standard copy operations by right clicking the note.

When you are finished with a set of autoclone operations, you can delete all open autoclone notes with *Note DeleteOpenCategory or by right clicking a note and selecting Delete Open this Category.