═══ 1. About CLIP ═══ CLIP is a Command Line Interface Program that will organize your command line programs. It allows you to create a 'library' of entries which list the command line program, arguments for that program, and any required switches that are needed. It also allows you to create entries for normal programs. You may then select an entry and run it with the touch of a button. ═══ 2. Menu ═══ Use the choices on the Menu to: Help Index Display the Help Index. General Help Display the 'About' help panel. Options Display the Options dialog box. Product Info Display the Product Information dialog box. Shareware Info Display the Shareware Information dialog box. Quit Exits the program. ═══ 3. Options ═══ The options available in clip are explained below. Start Minimized This option causes CLIP to minimize itself when first run. This is handy if you wish to place CLIP in your 'Startup' folder when you use the 'Auto-Entries' option. Error Checking This option causes CLIP to wait for the selected entry to complete before you may select another entry to run. If the entry generates an error, CLIP will notify you of the error with this option enabled. You should turn this off to run normal programs (i.e. wordprocessor, etc.) and leave it on for command line programs which run and then quit when they are finished. Save Position This option causes CLIP to save the screen position it is at when you tell it to quit. When you run CLIP again, it will open in the position that was saved. Auto-Entries This option causes CLIP to automatically run all entries in the data file with the 'Auto' checkmark when CLIP is started. This would be used if you wished to run certain entries (i.e. backup, screen saver, etc.) if CLIP is added to your startup folder. Note: Error checking is turned off for all auto entries. SAVE Push this button to close the dialog box and save the selected options. CANCEL Push this button to close the dialog box without saving the selected options. ═══ 4. Shareware Information ═══ CLIP was started in June of 95' and took around a month to write in my spare time. It was created to streamline the use of frequently run command line programs and normal programs without creating templates or extra *.cmd files. This is a fully operational version of CLIP and is not 'disabled' while I wait on your check. I always found that annoying in the shareware that I was currently trying. The shareware concept is pretty easy to understand. If you like the program, contribute to the author. If you don't like it, don't use it. This way you get the satisfaction of knowing what a program is going to do without hearing 'you opened the box, you can't return it even if it doesn't do what it advertised'. Anyway, I hope that you find this program as useful as I do and if you have any questions, comments, or contributions, feel free to contact me through the information in the shareware dialog box. ═══ 5. Product Information ═══ This is version 1.0 of CLIP. If you would like to contribute to future releases, feel free to contact me through the information in the shareware dialog box. ═══ 6. Requirements and Limitations ═══ Before you run this application, you should read the following notes concerning the execution of CLIP. Files The following files comprise the entire CLIP application and should be installed into their own folder. CLIP.EXE (Main program) CLIP.INI (INI file for options. Created by CLIP) CLIP.HLP (Help file) CLIP.ICO (Icon file) CLIP.DAT (Data file for entries. Created by CLIP) Limits on Data Field Size The maximum COMBINED length of the file, argument, and switch fields is 1024 characters. Program Types CLIP only supports OS/2 command line programs and OS/2 presentation manager programs. ═══ 7. Definitions ═══ This is an alphabetical list of all the unique definitions and terms used in this application. Arguments (Arg) This is normally a file which is passed to the program you wish to run. This field is optional for each entry. Auto Entry This is an entry which will be automatically run when CLIP is started if the 'Run Auto-Entries' option is selected. File This is the file that you wish to run. This will normally be a *.exe, *.cmd, or any type of executable file. This field is mandatory for each entry. Name This is a unique description which you assign to an entry. This field is mandatory for each entry. Switches (Sw) These are specific commands that are passed to the executable program to tell it to perform a certain action. This field is optional for each entry. ═══ 8. Author's Comments ═══ CLIP is a basic program which I put together to make my computing life easier. It combines the raw power of simple command line programs with the convenience of point and click. It allows you to store the hard to remember formatting parameters for your CLPs and just browse through a list of names when you wish to perform an operation. CLIP also enables you to run your normal programs such as a wordprocessor or spreadsheet with the required data file passed as an argument. This part of CLIP is essentially the same as creating a 'template' for the program but does not clutter up a folder or your desktop. Thank you for trying CLIP and if you have any questions, comments, or contributions, please feel free to contact me through the information in the shareware dialog box. Note: Be sure to check out my Free Advertising help panel. ═══ 9. Free Advertising ═══ Here is a list of all the shareware programs that I have written as of when this program was released. IMP is a Install Management Program that will create a list of the files that were installed on your system by an application. This gives you the ability to know exactly what files the application installed and where they are. IMP will also delete these files from your system if you wish to remove the application. Available as imp.zip STRIP is a command line program that will remove the formatting codes from various types of ASCII data files such as *.ipf for help files and *.html for World Wide Web home pages. This enables you to read the text without trying to decipher the formatting codes and also enables you to use your wordprocessor to spell check the file. Available as strip.zip ═══ 10. Buttons ═══ Use the buttons in the main window to: Edit Display the Edit CLIP Entries dialog box. Run Run the currently selected entry. ═══ 11. Edit Button ═══ This help panel describes how to add a new entry, select an entry, and how to remove an entry from the CLIP data file. Add a New Entry See the Examples section for some tips on how to format your entries. 1. Run CLIP 2. Push the Edit... button. The 'Edit CLIP Entries' dialog box will open. Note: All further steps are referenced to the 'Add Entry' group box. Note: The format which CLIP uses in building the command line is shown below: [file] [arg] [sw] 3. Push the File... button. You will be presented with a file dialog box with which to select the command line program or other executable file. You may also type in the complete path and filename in the edit field. 4. Push the Arg... button. You will be presented with a file dialog box with which to select a file to be passed to the executable file. You may also type in any required arguments in the edit field if a file name is not required. Note: If the command line program does not require an argument then place the switches in the [arg] field and leave the [sw] field blank. 5. Push the Sw... button. You will be presented with a file dialog box with which to select a file to be passed to the executable file. You may also type in any required switches in the edit field if a file name is not required. Note: If the command line program does not require any switches then leave the [sw] field blank. 6. Type a unique description into the 'Name' edit field. Note: If you use the same name as a previous entry that entry will be overwritten with the new information. 7. Push the Auto-Entry checkmark button to make the entry an auto entry. 8. Push the ADD button to create the entry. After the entry is added the edit fields will be cleared for another entry. Note: The combined length of file, arg, and sw fields may not exceed 1024 characters. Select an Entry 1. Run CLIP 2. Push the Edit... button. The 'Edit CLIP Entries' dialog box will open. Note: All further steps are referenced to the 'Select/Remove Entry' group box. 3. Use the 'Name' drop down list box to review your entries. When you have selected an entry in the 'Name' drop down list box the 'File', 'Arg', and 'Sw' fields will be filled in with the stored parameters for that entry. 4. Push the SELECT button to select the currently shown entry. The dialog box will close and the CLIP title bar will show the name of your selection. Remove an Entry 1. Run CLIP 2. Push the Edit... button. The 'Edit CLIP Entries' dialog box will open. Note: All further steps are referenced to the 'Select/Remove Entry' group box. 3. Use the 'Name' drop down list box to review your entries. When you have selected an entry in the 'Name' drop down list box the 'File', 'Arg', and 'Sw' fields will be filled in with the stored parameters for that entry. 4. Push the REMOVE button to remove the entry in the 'Name' drop down list box. You will be presented with an 'Are you Sure?' message box. Select 'Yes' or 'No'. ═══ 12. Run Button ═══ This help panel describes how to run your selected entry. 1. Run CLIP 2. You must select an entry from the Edit CLIP Entries dialog box before you may proceed. 3. Push the Run button to run your selection. The 'Run' button will be disabled while the selected entry is run. Note: If the 'Error Checking' option is enabled CLIP will beep if the entry executes without an error and will display an error message if the entry returns an error. You should disable the error checking option to run normal programs since CLIP will wait for the return code from the program. This will prevent you from running other entries until you quit the current entry. It is a good idea to 'pre-test' your entry from the command line to ensure that your arguments and switches are all valid. ═══ 13. Examples ═══ This help panel contains a few sample entries which show the format required by CLIP for some of the command line and presentation manager programs included with OS/2. The paths assume that your OS/2 directory is on drive C. This entry will set the read only and archive attributes of all files on drive C. [file] C:\OS2\ATTRIB.EXE [arg] +r +a [sw] C:\*.* [Name] Protect This entry will run the OS/2 editor and automatically load your config.sys file. [file] C:\OS2\E.EXE [arg] C:\CONFIG.SYS [sw] [Name] Edit Config.Sys This entry copies all files and folders in a folder to a backup directory and verifies the copy. [file] C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE [arg] C:\FOLDER\*.* C:\BACKUP\*.* [sw] /V /S [Name] Backup This entry uses my own command line program to remove the formatting code from the 'ipf' file which was used to create this help file. [file] F:\STRIP\STRIP.EXE [arg] F:\CLIP\CLIP.ipf F:\CLIP\CLIP_IPF.txt [sw] : . [Name] CLIP ipf->txt Notice that it is possible to specify multiple arguments and switches. This is handy when creating archives of files or performing the same action on numerous files.