AutoRun by Typhoon Software - User Guide

The AutoRun program allows you to open files of any registered type automatically
when the CD is placed into the CD-ROM drive.

Note: The program cannot be run by double clicking on it. It requires parameters (passed to it from the autorun.inf file) in order to work. If you would like to test the program without burning a CD, please read further down in the section titled ‘How to Test AutoRun without burning a CD’.

The program takes one argument and up to two parameters.

AutoRun.exe filename [/verbose /noreg]

filename

This is the name of the file you wish to open (index.html, setup.pdf, etc). Note: If your path or filename has white space characters you must enclose them in a quote.

Example autorun.inf file:
	
[autorun]
open=AutoRun.exe “My Folder\my File.doc” /verbose
icon=AutoRun.exe

/verbose

Use this parameter if you wish for full errors to be reported in the dialog.
By default this option is turned off.

/noreg

Use this parameter to keep the program from searching the registry. The registry is
used to get a description of the file type (for example the description of .html files
is HTML document). The registry is also used to find the location of the program that
normally runs the file type.

/hide

Use this parameter to keep the AutoRun window from showing. Users will not see the AutoRun dialog window, only the app being launched. (Only available in the registered version)

/tryforce

This option tries to force the user’s computer to open the file in a specified application. Follow the /tryforce tag with the location of the application to use in double quotes. If the specified application cannot be launched, AutoRun will revert to the default application for the file type. Examples follow:

To force the user’s computer to use Internet explorer
/tryforce "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"

or

/tryforce "iexplore.exe"

To force the user’s computer to use myApp contained in the /bin directory on your CD

	/tryforce “bin/myApp.exe”

This parameter is only available in the registered version.

** NEW **

/tryforce now allows for 2 arguments and parameters for each!!
You can now supply an alternate program in the tryforce as well as a
parameter for each. Simply separate each with a comma. Examples follow:

To force the user’s computer to use Internet Explorer first, and Netscape second
	/tryforce “iexplore.exe, netscape.exe”

If you would like to invoke a parameter, such as kiosk mode
	/tryforce "iexplore.exe -k, netscape.exe -sk"

Examples

The examples below are the text that would make up the autorun.inf file in the root directory
of the CD. A sample autorun.inf file in included with this software.

To simply start index.html from the root directory of the CD

[autorun]
open=AutoRun.exe index.html
icon=AutoRun.exe

To start a PDF file, called intro.pdf from the root directory of the CD, with verbose errors

[autorun]
open=AutoRun.exe intro.pdf /verbose
icon=AutoRun.exe

To open a JPEG image without usng the registry

[autorun]
open=AutoRun.exe myImage.jpg /noreg
icon=AutoRun.exe

To open a Microsoft Word document in the /Docs directory of the CD

[autorun]
open=AutoRun.exe /Docs/manual.doc
icon=AutoRun.exe

Icons

In all of the above examples the icon is set to AutoRun.exe. This means that the icon displayed in "My Computer" will be shown as the AutoRun icon. To change this to a custom icon, simply place the icon file (.ico) in the CD root directory and have the 'icon=' tag point to it. For example, if your icon was named myIcon.ico the line would read:

icon=myIcon.ico

How to Test AutoRun without burning a CD

Included in this distribution is a sample html file named index.html. You can test AutoRun with this file by following these steps:

1)	Open the folder that contains AutoRun.exe and index.html
2)	Right click on AutoRun.exe and select ‘Create Shortcut’
3)	An icon labeled ‘Shortcut to AutoRun.exe’ should appear in your folder
4)	Right click on the shortcut and select ‘Properties’
5)	There should be a box labeled ‘Target’. In the box there should be the path to AutoRun.exe. It should look something like this “C:\…\AutoRun.exe”
6)	After the quotes leave a space and then type in you parameters. Some examples for opening the index.html page are listed below.

“C:\…\AutoRun.exe” index.html

“C:\…\AutoRun.exe” index.html /noreg
“C:\…\AutoRun.exe” index.html /verbose /noreg
“C:\…\AutoRun.exe” index.html /verbose
“C:\…\AutoRun.exe” index.html /hide

If everything works correctly index.html should be opened in your default browser.