Copyright: Copyright © 1996, One Guy Coding


Introduction

Blanch is a simple, yet powerful, drag-n-drop button bar for Window 95 and Windows NT 4.0. Drag executable files or associated documents, folders and shortcuts (links) and drop them on blanch to create a new button.

This view shows blanch with several pages, the caption turned on as well as the clock.  Click on this picture to see details about the functions of the objects on blanch.


Blanch Pages

Blanch buttons are arranged on Pages. When blanch first starts there is one page called Default. When you add new pages they are shown on the Page Tabs at top or right depending on whether Blanch is being shown horizontally or vertically.

You can also create a special blanch page called StartUp (or whatever your StartUp menu is called under StartMenu/Programs.)  If this page exists and the Process Startup Page option is selected on the Options Tab of the Blanch Properties Dialog then blanch will launch each of those buttons when blanch starts up.  Holding down the Ctrl key while starting up blanch will prevent the StartUp page from being processed.


Blanch Buttons

To create a blanch button simply open Explorer (My Computer Icon) change to the directory where your program, shortcut or document is and drag that file drop it onto blanch.

Hint: Most programs install shortcuts under the Start Menu Programs, this is a good place to get shortcuts for Blanch buttons.  Right click on blanch and select the Buttons/Start Menu Programs … menu item to open explorer in that location.

Drag blanch buttons between pages to duplicate the button. Drag a button off the page to delete the button (you can still paste it back to the button bar at this point). Cut/Copy and Paste buttons from the Context menus.

Blanch buttons now have Cron capabilities, that is, they can be configured to launch automatically. See the Blanch Button Schedulingsection.


Blanch Clock

The clock on blanch can be shown or hidden on the More … page of the Blanch properties dialog box. You can also assign a sound event to 15,30 or hourly intervals. The hourly sound event can be tolled.


Blanch Button Scheduling

Blanch buttons can be scheduled to launch themselves. Click on the cron button of the Button Properties Context menu to setup a crontab for the button. Blanch buttons can be launched at any two minute interval during the hour.


Blanch Context Menu

Right click on blanch (but not on a button) to open the Blanch Context Menu.  Click on the picture below to learn about the Blanch Context Menu entries.


Adding Pages

To add a blanch page right click on Blanch anywhere where there is no button. From the context menu select Pages/New Page and type in a new page name and hit enter.  You can also add pages from the Blanch Pages Tab of the Properties dialog box.


Deleting Pages

To delete a page (and any buttons on that page) open the Blanch Pages Tab of the Properties dialog box, select that page in the page list and click on the delete button to the right of the page list.


Renaming Pages

To rename a page open the Blanch Pages Tab of the Properties dialog box.  Select the page to be renamed from the page list and type in a new page name in the edit control at the top of the page list. When you’re satisfied with your new page name click on the Rename button to the right of the page list.


Changing Page Order

To reorder your pages open the Blanch Pages Tab of the Properties dialog box. Select the page to be moved from the page list and click on the Up arrow (to move the page up in the list) or the Down arrow (to move the page down in the list).


Adding Buttons

To create a blanch button simply open Explorer (My Computer Icon) change to the directory where your program, shortcut or document is and drag that file drop it onto blanch.

Hint: Most programs install shortcuts under the Start Menu Programs, this is a good place to get shortcuts for Blanch buttons.  Right click on blanch and select the Buttons/Start Menu Programs … menu item to open explorer in that location.


Deleting Buttons

Right click on the button to be deleted and select Delete from the button context menu. You can also drag a button off the page to Copy the button to the button clipboard.  This is equivalent to Cutting the button to the clipboard.  Simply Paste the button back onto any other page to restore it.


Copying Buttons

Right click on the button and select Copy from the button context menu.  This button can now be pasted on any page.  You can also drag a button to another page tab to copy the button from its original location.  Note that you will have to delete the original if you want to move the button (moving a button to another page is most easily accomplished by dragging the button off the source page and pasting it onto the destination page.)


Pasting Buttons

Right click on a Blanch page to open the Blanch context menu and select Paste.  You can also paste using the keyboard accelerator Ctrl-V.

If you right click on a Blanch button and select paste the button will be replaced only if the Replace on Paste option in the Options Tab of the Properties dialog box is selected, otherwise the button will be added at the first available spot on the page.


Moving Buttons

Buttons can be dragged around on the page and reordered.  Simply left click on the button and drag (this implies that the button should remain down) the button to a new location on the page. Release the left mouse button at the location where you would like the button to be placed.  If a button already exists at that location the move is not performed.  You can also drag a button onto another page to make a copy of the button on the destination page.  Simply drag the button over top of the page tab where you’d like to duplicate the button and release the mouse button.

You can move a button between pages by selecting Cut from the Blanch Button context menu and pasting it on a new page or by dragging the button off the page and pasting it back on another page.


Button Context Menu

Right click on any blanch button to open the button context menu.  From here you can open explorer in the directory where that blanch points, create a desktop shortcut, Cut, Copy, Paste or Delete the button or set Properties for the button.


Button Properties

Right click on any Blanch button and select Properties to open the Button Properties dialog box.  Click on any of the items below for a description.

For help on a control in the Properties dialog box click on the little question mark icon [image] and then click on the control for further help.


Registering Blanch
All in One Guy Coding Registration

Registering for Blanch or Vern means you are automatically registered for all One Guy Coding shareware applications. This is the essence of the All in One Guy Coding Registartion Code. If you register for Blanch you’re automatically registered for Vern and vice versa.

A single copy cost 20$ US to register.  See http://www.cam.org/~oneguy/registration for the latest registration information.  Multiple copy and site license information can also be found at this address.

•	Credit Card Registrations

•	Cash Cheque Money Order Registrations


Credit Card Registrations

Secure Online Credit Card Registrations can now be made at

http://newts.kagi.com/cgi-bin/register1.cgi?LV

Once you arrive at that link, be sure to select the Secure page!

To register by Credit Card you can also use the register.exe program that comes with Blanch or Vern (or any other One Guy Coding shareware application). Since all One Guy Coding applications are covered by one registration code (the so-called All in One Guy Coding Registration Code) any of my versions of register.exe will do. If you don’t have the register.exe program you can download register.zip from http://www.cam.org/~oneguy/registration. I can also attach the register.exe program and eMail it to you if you’re having trouble downloading it from that site.

The register.exe program prompts you for the necessary information for submitting your registration to kagi,

•	Registration Name

•	eMail address

•	Postal Address

•	Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard or AmEx) info

This information is then encoded in a format suitable for sending securely via eMail, Fax or postal mail. The output can be copied to the clipboard (or saved to an ASCII file) and pasted into an email message addressed to sales@kagi.com or it can be printed and faxed or postal mailed.

The Register program was written by Greg Kochaniak who can be found at http://www.nb.net/~gregko/winregis.htm


Cash/Cheque/Money Order Registrations

To recieve your All in One Guy Coding Registration Code send a Cheque or Money Order for 20$ US payable to One Guy Coding to,

One Guy Coding

4112 Hotel-de-Ville

Montreal, Quebec

H2W 2H1

Canada

If you are sending cash, be sure to conceal it well in the envelope. Note:Canadian customers should send a cheque or money order for 20$ in Canadian Dollars.

Be sure to include your eMail address so that I can send you your code.

Registration Form for Cheque or Money Order Registrations

Full Name	_________________________________________________
Address	_________________________________________________
	_________________________________________________
	_________________________________________________
City	_______________	State / Province	______________
Country	_______________	Zip/Postal Code	______________
eMail	_________________________________________________
#Copies @ 20$ per	_______________
Total	_______________


eMail: sales@kagi.com


Fax: 1 510 652 6589


Postal Mail

Kagi

1442A Walnut St. #392-LV

Berkeley, CA

94709-1405

USA


One Guy Coding
One Guy Coding is

Author	Steeve McCauley
eMail	oneguy@cam.org
Web:	http://www.cam.org/~oneguy


If Blanch is autohiding you can use this button to lock blanch in place while adding new buttons to Blanch.  When you’re done click the button again and blanch will go back to autohiding.


The currently selected page is highlighted with the reverse colours of the system caption bar.


Click on any of the pages to select a new page.  To add pages right click on one of the button tabs and select Pages/New from the context menu.


Create a page called StartUp (or whatever your system StartUp group is called in the Start Menu Programs Menu) and add buttons that you would like to be run when blanch starts up.  This can be much faster than allowing Windows to perform this function.  You also have to turn on the Process Startup Page option in the Blanch Properties/Options tab.


The clock can be toggled on or off from the Blanch Properties/More … tab or in the Blanch Context Menu under Options


Blanch buttons can be dragged and dropped to add new buttons to the page.  You can setup blanch to require single or double clicks to launch the programs associated with a button.


This menu entry allows you to add new pages or navigate amoung existing pages.


This menu entry allows you to open explorer.exe and add new buttons to Blanch.  You can also add some predefined Virtual folders to blanch from this menu (Control Panel, Printers, Dialup Networking)


If a button is available for pasting this menu entry will be enabled.  Click on paste to have the button added to the current page at the first available button index.


Click on the Options menu entry to change various program options. For a description of program options open the Blanch properties dialog and click the little question mark icon [image] then click a control for further help.


Opens the Properties dialog box About Tab so you can find out alll about One Guy Coding!


Opens this help file!


Closes blanch and saves all buttons to the registry.


Blanch Properties Dialog

Opens the blanch properties dialog box.

Right click on blanch anywhere other than a button to open the Blanch context menu and select Properties to open the properties dialog box.

For help on a control in the Properties dialog box click on the little question mark icon [image] and then click on the control for further help.


On Top
Keeps Blanch above all other running programs.  Note that if blanch is auto hiding this option has little effect.


Auto Hide
When auto hide is selected Blanch will hide itself into any of the four edges of the screen when losing focus.  Note that you must push Blanch against the edge to have the program actually hide itself.  See also Auto Hide Delay.


Caption
Toggle the caption bar on and off with this option.  Note that if blanch is auto hiding you will rarely need to use this option.  You can quickly toggle the caption on and off by double clicking on the Blanch Button Tab bar.  This is convenient if you wish to quickly show the caption bar to move blanch around on screen.


Tab Snap
When this option is on the mouse cursor snaps between the button tabs.


Double Click
When selected you must double click on the buttons when launching a Blanch button.


Lock Position
The screen position of Blanch is locked when toggled on.  This option can be used in conjunction with Freeze Settings to newbie proof the current Blanch setup.

To Freeze your settings hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z to save the current setup to the registry and prevent further changes. Blanch will save all current settings and buttons pages to the registry before freezing the setup. To change the setup you’ll have to hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z to unfreeze the settings. This is handy for admins who have to try to maintain a fairly consistant setup for their users.


Freeze Settings
Hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z to save the current setup to the registry and prevent further changes. Blanch will save all current settings and buttons pages to the registry before freezing the setup. To change the setup you’ll have to hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Z to unfreeze the settings. This is handy for admins who have to try to maintain a fairly consistant setup for their users.


Big Icons
Show the large style icons when toggled on.  If off, Blanch displays half size buttons.


Show Flyouts
When selected Blanch displays the text in the Description field of the button when the mouse cursor moves over the cursor.


Show Systray Icon
Toggles the display of a Blanch System Tray Icon.


Flat Style
When selected the blanch buttons have a flat style without a grid on the pages.  Turn off this option to display the button grid.


Show Vertical
If the option is Show Vertical then Blanch is currently horizontally arrayed.  Click this option to show blanch vertically and swap the button indices.  Likewise if the option reads Show Horizontal.


Show Clock
Hides or displays the clock on the tab bar.


Save to Registry
Select this option to save the current setup to the registry.


Export Registry Settings
Save the current registry settings to a file.  Note that this option relies on certain version of regedit that are able to save registry settings via the command line.


Replace on Paste
Replaces buttons when pasting if selected.  Otherwise buttons are pasted in the first available button index.


Forget Files
If this option is selected then files dropped on a blanch for launching are forgotten after the program has launched the file.  For example, if you have a file called readme that is not associated with any program you could drop the file on a notepad Blanch to have notepad load the file.  If this option is selected the dropped file is not retained in the Options field of the Button properties dialog, otherwise it is retained.


Resolve Links
If this option is selected then links (shortcuts) are resolved to the actual file or executable when adding new buttons.  You can toggle this behaviour dynamically by holding down the Ctrl key when dropping the file on Blanch.  Resolved links tend to load more quickly since the OS must resolve the path each time the button is clicked.


Process StartUp Page
If this option is selected and you have a page called StartUp, then all buttons on the startup page are launched when Blanch is started.  This is similar to the Windows StartUp menu (in fact the actual name of the page should be the same as your Windows StartUp folder name, this will vary in non-English versions of Windows).  Holding down the Ctrl key when starting will prevent the StartUp page from being processed if this option has been selected.


Auto Hide Delay
This is the number of milliseconds (1000 ms / second) that Blanch waits before opening when auto hidden.


Toll on Hour
If selected Blanch will toll the sound specified by the 60 Minute chime.  For example, if the time is 10pm the sound is played 10 time consecutively.


Chime
Select which interval you wish to set the sound for.  If a sound is selected for 15 minutes then it is played at 15, 30, 45 minutes as well as hourly, unless a sound is specifed for 30 minutes or 60 minutes.


Sound
This is the sound that is played at the specified interval above.


Font
This is the font that is used for flyouts as well as for the Page tabs.


Current Page
This is the currently selected page.  Select any of the pages in the Page List below to change the current page.


Page List
This list box shows all currently defined pages.


Up Down Pages
Click the Up arrow to move the current page up in the page list.  Similarly for the Down arrow.


New Page
Click on this button to create a new page.  Type in the new page name when prompted.


Delete Page
Click this button to delete the current page.  You will be prompted before deleting the page.  Note that this will permanently delete the page and all of its buttons.


Rename Page
Type in a new name for the page in the Current Page Edit Control and click this button to rename the page.


Description
This is the description for the button.  This text is also displayed in the flyout window if you are showing flyouts.


Executable
This is the full path to the executable, link (shortcut) or document file that is launched when the button is clicked.


Default Directory
This is the directory in which the Executable is started when launched.  Note that this entry is optional.


Options
These are command line options which are passed to the Executable.  Note that it is up to the Executable to process these options.  You may need to enclose options in double quotes if they specify a path to a file which contains spaces.  For example, if the option specifies a file in the directory c:\Program Files called myfile.txt, you might find that you have to specify the file as “c:\Program Files\myfile.txt”.


Icon
You can change the path to the icon here.  Note that this field may be empty if the icon is the same as that of the executable or associated file (eg., a Word document will point to a Word icon by default).


Icon Index
Scroll through the list of icons contained in the exe, dll or icon file.


Show normal, minimised or maximised
When your application launches you can specify whether to have the window minimised, maximised or normal.


Prompt
You can have the Button Properties dialog box prompt you for further input before launching the executable by selecting this button.  If you do, and you select Cancel when the button is pressed the launch is aborted.


Crons & Scheduling
A Blanch button can be scheduled to launch itself automatically.  Click the Cron ... button in any button properties dialog box to change or install cron settings for any given button.  Programs can be scheduled to launch based on the following criteria, in order of increasing priority,

Minute	One or more 2 minute intervals (required)
Hour	Zero or more hours during the course of the day
Day	Zero or more month days (1-31)
Week Day	Zero or more week days (Sunday, Monday, ..., Saturday)
Month	Zero or more month days

Note: Only the minute setting is required.  All other criteria are enabled by default.

For example.  If you setup a cron with 0 and 30 minutes selected the Blanch will launch every month, every week day, every day and every hour at 0 and 30 minutes.  If you turned on a given hour, say 8, the program would only be launched at 8:00  and 8:30 (every day for all eternity or until 2038, which ever comes first).

Note that Week Day settings take priority over Month Day settings, that is if you select Monday but deselect Monday the 1st, 8th and 22nd the program would still launch on those days.

To destroy settings for a button click the Destroy button. To clear settings, click Clear. To disable the current settings, click Disable on. To launch the button only one time, click One Time only.


Unix systems employ something called a crontab (from Gk. chronos meaning time, with tab for table, I would guess) for launching applications at a specified time and/or date.  Blanch runs its own internal cron routine that checks to see whether any of the buttons are registered and if so checks to see whether it is time for one to launch.  This action is performed every two minutes (this being the self-imposed limitation of the cron tab – I chose a two minute interval so that all of the crons in a 1 hour period would fit into a 32 bit unsigned integer value, each bit representing a successive two minute period.)


Explore
Click on this menu entry to open explorer in the folder where this buttons Executable resides.


Shortcut
Click on this menu item to create a shortcut on the Desktop with the same properties as the current button.


Cut button
Copy the current button to the Blanch button clipboard and delete the button from the current page.


Copy button
Copy the current button to the Blanch button clipboard.  It can be pasted to any blanch page after being copied.


Paste button
Pastes the button settings residing in the Blanch button clipboard onto a new button or page.  If the Replace on Paste option has been selected the current button will be replaced, otherwise the button will be added to the current page.


Delete button
Deletes the current button.


Button properties
Opens the Button Properties dialog box.  Help is available for each item in this dialog box by selecting the little question mark [image] icon and then clicking on the item you need further help on.


New button
Opens explorer so you can add new buttons to blanch.


Start Menu
Opens explorer in the Windows Start Menu programs folder.  This is probably the best place to add links to blanch.


Control Panel
Adds a Control Panel button to Blanch.

Hint: you can add individual control panel applets.  For example,

Desc:	TweakUI

Exe:	control.exe

Opts:	tweakui.cpl

Icon:	tweakui.cpl

Note that the cpl files are kept in the Windows System directory (normally c:\windows\system).


Printers
Adds a Printers folder button to Blanch.


Dialup Networking
Adds a Dialup Networking button to Blanch.

Hint: you can add an individual Dialup entry as follows.

Desc:	My ISP Connection

Exe:	rundll32.exe

Opts:	rnaui.dll,RnaDial My ISP Connection

Icon:	rnaui.dll

Note that the text My ISP Connection should match the entry in your Dialup networking folder exactly.


Pages new …
Opens a dialog box in which you can enter the name of a new page.


Scan pages …
This menu entry opens a dialog box which allows you to Scan a directory and create buttons for all buttons found in that directory onto the specified page.  Select a page; decide whether you want Shortcuts, Executables, Directories or Pif files included in the scan and click the Scan button.

I use this feature most often when setting up new computers.  For example, normally I create a page called Accessories and scan for Shortcuts in that Start Menu folder.

Caution: you could end up with one heck of a lot of buttons on the selected page if you scan a directory with many files.


Pages list
Select the page from this list to change to that page.  You can also use the shortcut keystrokes for the first ten pages Ctrl-1 to Ctrl-0.