Contents
What's New in Instant File Access (tm) 3.00

Copyright © 1993, 1994 Alexoft

All Rights Reserved

The following features have been added to Instant File Access since version 2.01.  To see an explanation of each feature, simply click the left mouse button over the text.

Special New Features:

Add Common Dialogs to ALL Your Applications

Works with Word and Excel for Windows

Enhancements:

Toolbar for IFA Functions

Associate Profiles with Dialogs

Default Configuration

Right Mouse Button Configuration

File Copy/Move

Context Sensitive Help

File Preview (Text only)

New User Interface (Looks better)

File Lists

Single Data File

Copy Files Found in Search to Many Destinations

Fast Tracking of Mini-Windows

File Properties

Status Bar

Environment Variable for Startup Parameters

Setup Creates Progman Group

For Help on how to use Help, Press F1.


Toolbar for IFA Functions

All functions of Instant File Access can be accessed from a Toolbar which can appear inside the Open or Save As dialogs, or can float outside the dialogs.  When floating, it can be sized like a regular window.


Profile/Dialog associations
Associate Profiles with Dialogs

Instant File Access can be configured to behave differently for each application.  Now, you can attach a different behavior to each dialog within the application.  This is useful when used with an application such as WinZip1.  The Open dialog can be configured to always open on the C:\DOWNLOAD.  The Extract dialog can be setup to open on the C:\DOWNLOAD\TRY directory.  With this option, each dialog can also have its own set of Floaters and Permanents as well.

1 WinZip is a trademark of Niko Mak Computing, Inc.


File Copy/Move

Files and be copied and moved by selecting the file in the Files Listbox, then clicking on the [image] buttons in the Toolbar.


Context Sensitive Help

When you need help, simply click the [image] button.  A brief help screen will appear at the right of your screen, and the mouse pointer will turn into a special [image] help pointer.  Click over a field of the dialog to see the help text on that field.  Once finished, click on the [image] again and you return to regular mode.


File Preview (Text only)

You can view the first 15 lines of a text file by selecting it within the Files Listbox and clicking on it while holding the Alt key.  When the mouse button is released, the view window disappears.  This feature is extendible by adding new viewers for other file types, and placing them into the startup directory of Instant File Access.  By default, the application associated with the selected file is started when the file is selected while the Alt key is pressed.


New User Interface (Looks better)
New User Interface

A new user interface makes navigating within Instant File Access a simpler process.  The number of levels needed to access information has been reduced.  Also, drop down menus are available on some Toolbar buttons.  To activate, click and hold the left mouse button over the Toolbar button.  The drop down menu will appear.  Select the item by dragging the mouse down to the item and releasing.


File Lists

You can now create Floaters and Permanents showing files within a directory.  This is done by creating a File Database and adding a File List entry which specifies the directory name and a wild card file specification.  When the Floater or Permanent appears, it will display the specified files within that directory.


Single Data File

The internal data storage of Instant File Access is now within one indexed database file.  This means faster access to internal data, which translates to faster operation of Instant File Access.


Copy Files Found in Search to Many Destinations

After a file find is performed, the file names found in the search can be copied to the Main Popup Menu, Clipboard, or a File Database.  In fact, the file names can be copied to all of those places.  A Floater can be created showing the files.  When copying to the Main Popup Menu, the [image] button turns into a [image] button.  Click and hold the left mouse button over this Toolbar button to see the files list appear after 1/4 second.  Simply clicking on this button (without holding) will display the Find Files dialog.  This is another feature of the new user interface.


Fast Tracking of Mini-Windows

When Fast Tracking is selected in the Instant File Access Main Configuration, moving the Toolbar or Floater will move the entire window, not just a tracking rectangle.  This is only effective on systems with fast graphics.  Otherwise, the regular tracking rectangle should be used.


File Properties

The properties of a file or directory can be shown by clicking on the [image] button.  Then attributes of the file can be changed by checking or un-checking one or more of the Attributes buttons.  The Age of the file is also shown.


Status Bar

An area at the bottom of the Open dialog displays information about the currently selected file, directory, or disk drive.


Environment Variable for Startup Parameters

An environment variable called IFA can be used to specify command line parameters when starting IFA in the LOAD= line of the WIN.INI file.  To start IFA in hidden mode, simply add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file...

SET IFA=/HIDE


Setup Creates Progman Group

The new setup program of Instant File Access creates a Program Manager group called Instant File Access.


Works with Word for Windows

Instant File Access now works with Word for Windows 2 and 6, plus Excel 5.  To use the original dialogs supplied by these applications, simply hold down the SHIFT key while selecting Open.


Add Common Dialogs to ALL your applications!

Yes, you can now have all the features of the Common Open File dialog, as well as Instant File Access, in ALL YOUR OLD APPLICATIONS!  Using the All to Common (tm) feature, you can attach the Common Open File dialog to any application that uses old style file dialogs.  This automatically gives you all features of IFA as well.

Preview All to Common!


All to Common
Preview of All to Common (tm)

To attach the Common Open File dialog to your application, select File/Open in your old application...

Click on the New Open Dialog... menu item in the IFA icon menu...

Follow the instructions in the dialog box...

And there you have it!  The Common Open File dialog will appear next time you select File/Open in this application.  If you wish to use the original dialog box, simply hold down the SHIFT key while selecting Open.


Default Configuration

You can now create a default configuration which will be used for each new application profile.  Once set, you never have to change parameters for each new application.


Right Mouse Button Configuration

Some programs or utilities conflict with the way in which the Right mouse button is used by Instant File Access uses.  If problems exist with a utility, you can now turn off the mouse button processing in the Main Configuration dialog.