Copyright: AUTOption Graphic 5.0


 AUTOption Graphic

Program Version: 5.0

Available Topics

Introduction

Introduction

Files

Package Contents

Optional Files

Menu Editor

Menu Editor Overview

Button Properties

Text Area Properties

Registration Entry & Key

Setup Wizard Overview

Instructions

Step-By-Step

Creating an Exit Button

Creating a Minimize and Exit Control

Creating Multi-level Menus

Creating Button Graphics

Commandline Arguments

Creating Automatic Viewer Installation Menus

Implementing Sound

Creating a “Browse CD” Button

Creating a Root Directory Link

Creating Interface Skins

Menu Enhancement Options

Testing AUTOption Graphic

Commands

Button Command Summary

Information

Contact Details and Further Information

More Help?

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Introduction

AUTOption Graphic is customizable Autorun menuing software which gives a highly professional touch to your CDs. With a fully graphical interface, you control the appearance of your menu! You can specify a background image (which the program will size itself too) as well as different images for button up, down and mouse over events. If you do not wish to supply these images, simply select one of three interface styles in the Set-up Wizard and AUTOption Graphic will create your graphics for you.

This program comes with a step by step wizard with assistance at every step for trouble free menu creation or you can make use of the menu editor where changes are previewed immediately. The menu can optionally be further enhanced by the inclusion of sound effects, menu start-up and button animations, sub-menus and viewer installation menus and more! AUTOption Graphic could be used to Autostart Internet Sites; directories; launch programs or sub-menus; open documents or files (or anything else that you could imagine placing on a CD/CDR) in the User’s viewer.


Package Contents

When you downloaded this package it should have contained the files listed below. If it did not contain these files, or you suspect the package may have become corrupted, please check our web site for the full software package.

AUTO_G.exe	The main Autorun program.

AGMenuEd.exe	This file is used to create your menu.

AGWizard.exe	Menu Setup Wizard. Use this to quickly create basic menus.

AUTO_G.hlp	This file. You’re reading it right now.

VB40032.dll	System File used by the software.

Back.bmp	Background image, create your own and replace this file with it.

Btn*.bmp	Images for Buttons, can be any size, create your own.

Mxbox_[x].bmp	Set of three images used in the Minimize and Exit Control. Delete to make this function invisible (but functional), or replace with your own images.

AUTO_G.ini	The default menu file, use AGMenuEd.exe to create your own version.

Auto_01.ini	This is a sample menu, you can delete this when you create your own menus.

Gen_CD.ico	This is an Icon that will represent your CD on the user’s machine, replace if you wish with one of your liking.

ReadMe.txt	Basic instructions, including information on the location of this file.

Uninstall.txt	Information on removing the software from your system.

Autorun.inf	Autorun setup file, copy this to the ROOT directory of your CD.

change.wav	This sound will be played when the program changes menus (i.e. goes to a sub-menu), optionally replace.

click.wav	A sound to play when a button is clicked, optionally replace.

exit.wav	A sound to play when a program exits, optionally replace.

select.wav	A sound to play when a new button is selected as the active button, optionally replace.

start.wav	This sound will play when the program starts, optionally replace.

Some of the files in the AUTOption Graphic package are used to create your Autorun program and as such are not required on the CDs you create (please note no harm will be caused by including all of the files on your CD). For your information the files not required on the CD are: AGMenuEd.exe, AGWizard.exe, AUTO_G.hlp, ReadMe.txt and uninstall.txt.


Optional Files

You can create and add any or all the following files as your needs dictate. If the files are not present then the features they represent will simply not be there (i.e. you are not required to have the files there, and no error will occur if they are missing). Therefore to take advantage of these features just place the files in the same directory as AUTOption Graphic. The sample menu’s files are included with the downloaded package. However, it is up to you to create your own as you will.

[button]d.bmp	Images for buttons in their Down Position.

[button]a.bmp	Images for buttons when they are the active button.

start.wav	A sound to play when the program starts.

exit.wav	A sound to play when a program exits.

click.wav	A sound to play when a button is clicked.

click[number].wav	A sound to play when a specified button is clicked. That is, Click0.wav would play when the first button of any menu was clicked, click1.wav would play (instead of click.wav) when the second button of any menu was clicked etc.

select.wav	A sound to play when a new button is selected as the active button (i.e. the mouse is held over the button).

select[number].wav 	Different buttons can play different sounds at mouse over by including the .wav files in the AUTOption Graphic directory and naming them sequentially. For example select0.wav plays for the first button, select1.wav for the second button etc.

change.wav	A sound to play when the menu is changed.

Tip: If you replace the default .wav files, it is recommended to use short .wav files as AUTOption Graphic will need to play the entire file before executing the command. Therefore if you have a long .wav used for the exit.wav AUTOption Graphic will stay open until it has finished playing.


Step-by-Step Instructions

Start the downloaded file to unzip the files into a directory named “Auto_G”. The downloaded package will automatically create this directory and place the software in it for your convenience. Once extracted you can move the directory anywhere you wish without affecting its operation. The program is ready to run. The program does NOT require any installation.

AUTOption Graphic offers two methods to set up a menu for your own purposes. If you are a first time user or prefer step-by-step assistance, we recommend you use the Wizard (AGWizard.exe). If you are familiar with AUTOption Graphic, or wish to make changes to a menu, we recommend you use the Menu Editor (AGMenuEd.exe). For assistance with the menu editor please see the Menu Editor Overview topic.

To create an Autorun CD follow these steps:

•	Create or select a bitmap for the background image. The size of the program screen will be the size of this image. Also create or select bitmaps to be used for the button images. If you do not wish to provide your own images, the AUTOption Graphic wizard can now generate a menu from 3 included styles.

•	Run the Setup Wizard (AGWizard.exe) to create your menu. The Wizard provides information at each step to assist you. If you would like sub-menus, simply run through the Wizard again to create each menu (or use the menu editor) and save the menu as a new name. If you need to make adjustments to a menu, simply open it in the Menu Editor (AGMenuEd.exe). See the Menu Editor Overview topic if you require assistance with the Menu Editor.

•	After creating your menu you may wish to take advantage of some of the features in which AUTOption Graphic allows you to further enhance your menu. For a list of these features and their instructions please view the Menu Enhancement Options topic.

•	Write the “Auto_G” folder to your CD, but move the provided Autorun.inf file out of the folder to the root directory (base level, not contained in any folders) of the CD. Congratulations! You have created your Autorun CD.

NOTE: Some of the files in the "Auto_G" folder are used to create your menu and are not required on the CD. If you would like to remove any unnecessary files remove the following files from the AUTOption Graphic folder: AGMenuEd.exe, AGWizard.exe, AUTO_G.hlp, Auto_01.ini (if you did not use this name for a submenu), ReadMe.txt and uninstall.txt.

NOTE: the software MUST be in a subdirectory, it has not been programmed to work from the root directory. The supplied Autorun.inf assumes you copied the program into a directory call  "Auto_G", and that you will use the "Gen_CD.ico" icon provided in the package to represent your CD. Open the Autorun.inf file to change these details if required, but ensure that the formatting remains exactly the same. Any format changes can make the INF not function, and as a result the CD not Autorun.


Registration Entry & Key

After you register AUTOption Graphic you will be emailed your registration details as well as a Registration Key. This file contains your registration name and number and should be placed in your computer’s root directory (the base level, not contained in any folders) on C: drive. There is no need to open the key file. DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THIS KEY OR INCLUDE IT ON YOUR CDS. The Menu Editor and Setup Wizard will retrieve these details as needed when creating your menus.

If this is unsuitable, then you can enter these details manually into either the Wizard (AGWizard.exe) or the Menu Editor (AGMenuEd.exe). However you will need to re-enter these details each time you create or make changes to a menu.

If you have created menus before you registered, once you have your key in place, remember to open them up in the Menu Editor and click “Save”. If you prefer to enter your details manually, click the “Enter Registration Details” button in the Menu Editor, copy your details and click the submit button to check your details were entered correctly, then remember to re-save your menu.


Implementing Sound

You can choose at what level you wish to implement sounds in AUTOption Graphic. You can choose to use the default sounds provided, replace them with your own sounds, or remove them altogether. You can also set unique sounds for specific buttons or menus. To implement your sounds place the .wav files in the AUTOption Graphic directory and name them in accordance with the following guide:

Start.wav	Sound to play when your menu system is started.
Exit.wav	Sound to play when your menu system is exited.
Change.wav	Sound to play when the user goes to a sub-menu.

[menu].wav	Sound to play when a specific menu is started, where [menu] is the name of the menu file (without extension). For example a sub-menu named “auto_01.ini” would play the sound named “auto_01.wav (if present, otherwise it will play the Change.wav).

Click.wav	Sound to play when a button is clicked.

Click[x].wav	Sound to play when the specified button is clicked in any menu. That is, Click0.wav would play when the first button of any menu was clicked, Click1.wav for the second button etc. If a .wav isn’t included for a particular button then the default Click.wav will play.

[Menu]c[x].wav	Sound to play when a specific button is clicked in the specific menu. That is auto_01c0.wav would play when the first button was clicked in a menu named as “auto_01.ini”, and auto_01c1 would play for the second button.

Select.wav	Sound to play when a menu button is selected or receives the focus (e.g. mouse is moved over it).

Select[x].wav	Sound to play when the specified button is selected in any menu. That is, Select0.wav would play when the first button of any menu was clicked, Select1.wav for the second button etc. If a .wav isn’t included for a particular button then the default Select.wav will play.

[Menu]s[x].wav	Sound to play when the specified button is selected in the specified menu. That is auto_01s0.wav would play when the first button was selected in a menu named as “auto_01.ini”, and auto_01s1 would play for the second button.


Setup Wizard Overview

The AUTOption Graphic Setup Wizard (AGWizard.exe) is provided to allow you to quickly and easily create your menu.

Before going through the Wizard, it is best to prepare your graphics. You will need a large image for the background to your menu, and you will need a small graphic to use as the image for each button. If you are not very good at creating images yourself you may wish to consider using the assistance of StyleSkin (Website link) or for help with creating buttons try our Button Puncher (Website link).

Once you have prepared your graphics, just move through the Wizard, filling out the fields. If you do not wish to create your own graphics, the wizard can generate graphics for you from a choice of 3 styles. When the necessary information has been collected the Wizard will automatically create your menu. It will copy any image files needed for the menu to the current directory if you specify them in another directory.

Wizard Considerations

The Wizard will place your buttons and text automatically. If you find the positioning does not suit your menu, you can then open the menu in the Menu Editor to move the buttons and text on your form.

The Wizard is provided for ease of setup only. Please use the Menu Editor for an easy to use, dynamic what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSISYG) interface. It may be helpful to setup your menu initially with the Setup Wizard, and then edit the resulting menu with the Menu Editor.

The Setup Wizard will automatically create your commands with path information. If you are going to move the files when you write the CD, you will have to change these paths accordingly. For example, if the file on the Hard Drive is: “C:\CDStuff\MyDirectory\MyDocument.ext”, the command would be “\CDStuff\MyDirectory\MyDocument.ext”, but if you plan to move all the files out of the “CDStuff” Directory when you write the CD then you must remember to change the command to “\MyDirectory\MyDocument.ext”.


Menu Editor Overview

AUTOption Graphic menus can be created with either the Wizard (AGWizard.exe) or the Menu Editor (AGMenuEd.exe). As the Wizard provides step-by-step information, the information below is focused towards the Menu Editor. The Menu Editor allows you to dynamically create and edit your Autorun menu in real time. Here you can set up your menu, add buttons and text and create sub-menus and Viewer Installation Menus.

When opening the Menu Editor, two forms will appear. The left form allows you to set up the menu’s main properties. The right form will take on the appearance of your menu and allows you to change item placements and properties.

Opening and Saving Menus: Click the down arrow under the “Menu File” heading to select the menu to be opened. Menus need to be in the same folder as the program to be listed and operate correctly. To save a menu click the “Save” button. To save as a new menu simply click the “Save As” button and enter a new menu name. Please note that a default menu must be named Auto_G.ini and any submenus must conform to a "auto*.ini" mask in order to operate correctly, e.g. auto_01.ini or autosubmenu.ini. The only exception  to this naming mask is a Viewer Installation menu (see Creating Automatic Viewer Installation Menus for information on this topic).

Form Caption: Enter the name you want to appear for the menu in the task bar. Tick “Animate” if you would like the name to scroll in the task bar button.

Background Image: Background bitmaps must to be placed in the AUTOption Graphic directory folder to appear in the drop down list as well as to operate correctly. Use the drop down list to choose the graphic that will appear as the background for your menu.

Button Properties: Adjust the sliders to show the required number of buttons and desired gap between buttons. To set a button's properties right click on a button (on the displayed menu form) for a button dialog to appear. The fields in this dialog are explained in detail under the topic Button Properties. Please note that AUTOption Graphic also enables you to display different images for button up, active (mouse over), and down as well as allow you to have your buttons animated on mouse over (see Creating Button Graphics for more information).

You can move the buttons on the form directly by clicking on the top button (for vertical buttons) or left button (for horizontal buttons) and dragging them to the new location, or for pixel by pixel movement use the orange "arrowed" area. The middle button in the orange area will reset the location of the button and the text area. To change the order of the buttons, hold down the SHIFT key, left click on a button and drag the button. A red bar will appear to show where the button will be moved to once the mouse button is released.

Button Orientation and Animation: Here you can select whether you would like your buttons to appear in either a vertical or horizontal column. To enable you to add extra interest to your menu, AUTOption Graphic also includes some automatic animations that can occur when the menu is first loaded. To see how these will appear simply click on an animation style to see the animation take place. If you wish to remind yourself what your chosen animation style looks like, you can click on the same style in the list again (i.e. you do not have to change your animation style to see the animation). For no animation to appear simply select the first option “Do Not Animate Buttons”.

Button Image Animation: AUTOption Graphic enables you to optionally include extra button images to be animated when a button is selected (i.e. at mouse over). See the Creating Button Graphics topic for more information. Once you have created your images to be animated simply include them in the AUTOption Graphic directory and under the “Button Image Animation” heading choose the method and rate you would like your images to be animated.

Text Area: The text area can be moved by left clicking on it and dragging it to a new location. You can size the area by left clicking the text area and dragging the handles (the small squares at the corners and in the middles of each side). By right-clicking on the text area, a dialog will appear that will allow you to change the text that will show as default as well as the text’s properties. If you do not wish to use the text area simply blank the “Default Text”, and any descriptive text for the buttons (right click on each button to remove descriptive text). If a button does not have a description attached to it, then the default text will be shown (if there is any). For more information see the Text Area Properties topic. If you would like to pick your text color from a color shown on your background image, click the “Pick Text Color” on the Menu Editor and click on the appropriate area on the image that appears.

Enter Registration: If you are a registered user and placed the key file sent to you in your C: drive’s root directory, your registration details will automatically be filled out for you. Otherwise you will need to click the “Enter Registration” button to manually enter your details each time you make changes to a menu. The Submit button in the Registration Information section simply checks your registration information to confirm it has been entered correctly. See Registration Entry & Key for more information.

Menu Placement: Select where on the screen you would like your menu to appear under the “Where” heading on the Menu Editor.

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you have lost your buttons, your text area or your minimize/ exit control, you can selectively reset these by clicking on the middle button with the target shaped symbol on it in the orange arrowed area! You will be given the choice of returning your buttons to home (0,0) as well as the choice of resetting your minimize/ exit control and text area. The text area will be set at home (0,0) at 64 pixels square. This will allow you to reposition the elements again.


Button Properties

You enter the button properties by right-clicking (and not dragging) on the individual buttons in the Menu Editor (AGMenuEd.exe). This will bring up a dialog with all the button’s properties. Here you can set which image should be displayed for the button, what command to carry out when the user clicks the button, as well as more advanced properties such as commandline argument, descriptive text and whether to exit the menu when the button is clicked.

For how to change the placement of buttons on the menu see the “Button Properties” heading under the Menu Editor Overview topic.

Note: Your button bitmap images should be copied into the AUTOption Graphic folder (AUTO_G). If you are not very good at creating button images yourself you may wish to consider using the assistance of StyleSkin (Website link) or our Button Puncher (Website link) to help you.

Available settings on the button Properties’ form are:

Name of Image for This Button (e.g. btn001u.bmp)

You can type the name of the image you wish to use for this button in this field. For your convenience a “Browse” button has been added. By clicking on this button, you will be presented with a scrollable pictorial list of all the images in the AUTOption Graphic directory. The red-bordered image is the currently set button image. You can set the button image of your choice by clicking on the image in the list. The relevant text and red border will then change, you will see your new selection when you click “OK” on the dialog.

Remember that images for the active button and down states are derived from the default image name. You can learn more on how to implement image schemes in Creating Button Graphics.

Enter the Command or link for this button

This is essentially a link to the item you wish to open. This could be a document you wish to open on the user’s computer, a program to start, even a sub-menu. You can learn about the available commands in the Button Command Summary.

Commandline argument (programs only)

If you are opening a program, and wish to pass a commandline argument to the program you are opening, then type the commandline argument here. Remember to use the %CD% variable when referring to the CD drive. Full details of this feature can be found in Commandline Arguments.

Enter any Descriptive Text for this button

You can set descriptive text for the button by typing it in this box. This text will then be displayed in the Accessory Text area when the user positions the mouse over the button, or selects a new active button via the keyboard. This can be useful for providing further information to the user about this particular function. Please note that if no text is supplied in this box then the program will show any default text entered in the Text Area dialog.

Exit AUTOption Graphic when this button is clicked

By checking this checkbox, AUTOption Graphic will close when the user clicks the button. This setting is only used if the command is to a document, program, a directory, or Internet site, not if it is an exit button (i.e. no command) or if it is to another sub-menu (i.e. another INI file).

There may be times when you wish to keep the menu open after the user has executed a command, such as reading a “ReadMe” file. Other times you will want to terminate the menu, such as when you start an installation process. If the checkbox is not checked then the menu will remain open (until the user clicks an Exit button, or a button that has been set to exit when clicked)

(Graphic Controls)

There are a number of items on the form which relate to displaying graphics for button image selection. These are:

Browse
This will display the graphic selection features.

Hide
This will hide the graphic selection features, returning you to the smaller version of the dialog.

Refresh List
This will reset and reload the image list. If you wish to add images to the available list, then simply copy the image/s into the AUTOption Graphic directory, and then click this button. The new image should then be displayed in the list and be available to set as a button image.

Stretch to Fit
This stretches (or compresses) all the images to fit into the available display area. This can be used if your buttons are too big to fit in the area given. All images will then appear in total and equally sized. This effect is only for image selection and the image will appear normally in the main program area.

Available Images (framed area)
This is a scrollable list of all the available images in the AUTOption Graphic directory. You can scroll through the list by adjusting the slider to the right of the images.


Text Area Properties

You enter the Text Area properties dialog box by right-clicking on the text area on the main form (in the Menu Editor). Here you can set the color, size and style of the text. You also set the default text to display in this dialog. All changes are reflected in the sample text, and will be committed to the main text area on clicking of the OK button.

Available settings on this form are:

Default Text

This is the Text the user will first see when the program starts. This text will also be displayed when the user’s mouse is not over a button that has descriptive text associated with it.

This text is best for welcome messages (e.g. Welcome to AUTOption Graphic!), Thank-you’s (e.g. Thank You for purchasing the Aliens Guide to Earth Control), as well as for initial information (e.g. This software requires DirectX to be installed, please click “Install DirectX” now to make sure you have the latest drivers)

Size

This represents the size to display the text (in points).

Style

Here you can set whether you want the text to be displayed in Normal, Bold, Italic or Both (Bold and Italic).

Underline

If this checkbox is checked then the text will be displayed underlined.

Text Color

Here you can set the color of your text by adjusting the Red, Green and Blue components. You can drag the sliders to get the color you want, or for setting an exact color simply click the button immediately to the right of the slider. Here you can type an exact value for the Red/ Green/ Blue components.


Creating an Exit Button

When creating your Menu in AGMenuEd, the buttons have no commands associated with them by default. Buttons that have no command associated with them function as EXIT buttons, that is when you click them in AUTOption Graphic they will cause the program to close (without executing any commands). To create an Exit button, simply click one of the buttons (without dragging) and enter your button image (you might have an image called, say, "exit.bmp"), then delete any command (or "link") information so that the text entry area is blank.

Your button should now appear with your exit button image. Now when your user clicks the "EXIT" button, the program will exit without executing any commands.


Creating a Minimize and Exit Control

In the Upper right corner of most Windows programs you will find buttons to control basic program functions. This usually includes three buttons, one to minimize the window, one the maximize/ restore the window, and one to exit the program. They provide a universally recognized way of performing these tasks. In AUTOption Graphic you can create your own window controls, if you so wish.

To create your minimize and exit control, design your background image with some kind of identifiable markings. This could be simply your image with two adjoining boxes, the first with a lower line, and the second with an “X”. Or you could do something else, say text that spells out the words, or more detailed symbols. After you have created your background graphic to show where the controls are, start the Menu Editor and place the minimize/ exit control area over the area of the background you want to designate as the control. This box DOES NOT VISIBLY APPEAR in the menu. If the user clicks in the left side of this area, then the program will minimize. If they click on the right, the program will exit. The control area in the Menu Editor shows you where the minimize and exit areas will be, and you can see through the control to allow accurate placement.

If you wish to include more advanced controls, this can be achieved with independent bitmaps like in our sample, the control has the ability to load up graphical images to identify itself. There are three possible images:

mxbox_u.bmp	minimize and exit control normal
mxbox_m.bmp	minimize and exit control - minimize down
mxbox_x.bmp	minimize and exit control - exit down

The images will be loaded if the program finds them present in the same directory. Obviously any height and width setting for the area is ignored if the images are provided.

If you do not want the control, simply drag it off the form and it will not appear in your menu. If you cannot find your box, click the orange circle in the center of the orange arrowed area. When prompted click yes to "Would you like to send your Minimize/ Exit Control Area to home (0, 0)?”


Creating Multi-level Menus

With AUTOption Graphic you can create multi-level menu systems. This means you can have buttons which will open sub-menus, simply by entering the menu filename as the command. Each menu can have a different background image, buttons, commands etc.

To build multi-level menus you simply run through the Wizard or Menu Editor to build separate menu files and save them with different names. They must conform to an "auto*.ini" mask. In other words, must be something like "auto001.ini" or "auto_util.ini". Your default menu must be named AUTO_G.ini. Include a button on each menu to link to the sub-menu or back to the main menu. For the button command just refer to the menu name you wish to load (do not enter any path information, just the filename e.g. autosub-menu.ini). You must place all the menus in the AUTOption Graphic directory.

 If your sub-menus are similar then it is often helpful to open an existing menu in the Menu Editor, make changes to it, and then save it under a new filename.

HANDY HINT

If you wish to start AUTOption Graphic with a particular sub-menu loaded (say through another program), you can pass the sub-menu as a commandline argument to AUTOption Graphic. AUTOption Graphic will then start and display that particular submenu.

You can also open a sub-menu by dragging its menu file into the AUTOption Graphic program file (AUTO_G.exe). This can be handy when you are editing, if you want to look at a sub-menu you have not linked to yet, or do not wish to navigate through the menus to look at the particular sub-menu.


Creating Button Graphics

AUTOption Graphic has the ability (if the user so chooses) to incorporate 3 separate images for each button. One image for the default (Up) button, one is used for when the button is pushed (Down) and the 3rd is used for highlighting the currently active button (Active). The only image that must be present is the default (Up) image, the rest can be present as desired, and not all buttons must have the same options present (please see Handy Hint below). The application looks for the other images as set names, which enables a simple naming scheme.

The Up Button is whatever you specify in the Settings. However the Other button names are derived from this one. For the Down button the last character is replaced with a "d” and the last character is replaced with an "a" for the Active Button. This allows you to easily implement a scheme by naming your buttons accordingly. One example file set might be:

button1_u.bmp
button1_d.bmp
button1_a.bmp

You would then specify the button image to be "button1_u.bmp", and the software would load up the others as necessary. Remember you do not HAVE to have all images, just the one you specify (in this case the "button1_u.bmp" image). This means you could just have two, say one for the Up position, and one for the Down position.

Please note we have implemented all three button graphics for all the buttons in the supplied package. If you are not very good at creating images yourself you may wish to consider using the assistance of StyleSkin (Website link) or our Button Puncher (Website link) to help you.

Creating Animated Button Graphics

If you want your buttons to animate when they are selected all you need to do is create your images and then save them as the correct filenames. The program looks for the first selected button image as [button]a.bmp. It will then look for images used to animate that button as [button]a[button no.].bmp  This means that it will look for new images based on the normal “Active” image’s name. It will then sort these images into a list alphanumerically and animate them at the Rate (fps) and style that you have specified in the Menu Editor. So, in order to animate a button called btn1u.bmp, I would first create my standard “Active” button image, which would be named by default as btn1a.bmp. I then name my animation images as logical extensions of this, say btn1a01.bmp, btn1a02.bmp, btn1a03.bmp, btn1a04.bmp, btn1a05.bmp,etc…

Please note that we have provided an eight frame animation for the first button in the supplied package. This consists of con1a.bmp, con1a01.bmp, con1a02.bmp etc.

HANDY HINT

If you want the user to have keyboard access to your menu, then you need to supply “Active Button” images for your buttons. The user can press the TAB key (or the arrow buttons) to cycle through your buttons, but the only visible sign of the current button is the active button image. If these images are available then the software will load them up accordingly to show which button is the currently selected button. The user can then press Enter to actuate the command. This is as per MS Windows conventions.


Creating Interface Skins

Creating Skins

For most, creating the interface to their program is a very personal affair. There are as many methods to create skins, and as many resulting styles, as there are people who create skins. Most however do not wish to spend too much time on skin production, as it is only one facet of a very large project - creating their CD. Today there are many programs that exist to create skins, many choosing to use programs like Adobe PhotoShop with the various professional Plug-Ins available for the product.

Pollen software distributes dedicated skinning software called StyleSkin, which can assist you in creating very attractive interfaces for your menu. If you would like more information please be sure to check out our Internet site! You can find a link in Contact Details and Further Information.


Menu Enhancement Options

AUTOption Graphic offers you the option to further enhance the menus you create with the following features:

•	Button Enhancements

Buttons can be given the effect of being pressed, as well as change or even animate when the mouse is moved over them!  To do this you simply need to include a slightly altered button image for these states. For further information on button enhancements please see the Creating Button Graphics topic.

•	Sub-Menus

AUTOption Graphic enables you to produce as many sub-menus as you would like. Each menu can have a different background and button images as required. For further information on sub-menus please see the Creating Multi-level Menus topic.

•	Installation Menus

When a button is clicked, AUTOption Graphic will open the required file in the Windows designated viewer. This means that AUTOption Graphic can be set to launch any file you can image placing on a CD. If the end user does not have a program installed that can view your file, AUTOption Graphic will detect this and, if you chose to create an installation menu, it will display the menu offering the user the option of installing a required program. If an installation menu is not included AUTOption Graphic will inform the user they do not have a program capable of viewing the file. If you would like to offer an installation menu please see the Creating Multi-level Menus topic.

•	Sound Enhancements

The sounds that are played for any actions in AUTOption Graphic can be optionally replaced with your own .wav files. Sounds can be played for the following actions: menu start and sub-menu start, button click, active button and menu exit. You can even have different mouse over and click sounds for each individual button and menu. For further information on menu sounds please see the Implementing Sound topic.

•	Minimize and Exit Controls

The AUTOption Graphic sample menu comes with small graphic images for both the minimize and exit controls to show how these images can be changed to suit your background graphic. You can optionally create your own graphic images for these controls, or have a background image that includes an area for these controls. Alternatively, you can leave the controls invisible on the menu or remove them altogether. For further information on the minimize and exit controls please see the Creating a Minimize and Exit Control topic.

•	CD Icon

While AUTOption Graphic comes with an icon to represent your CD, you may wish to provide your own image. This icon is the image that will appear beside the CD drive when viewing the CD’s contents in Windows Explorer or a similar program. To have your own icon appear simply replace the Gen_CD.ico file contained in the AUTOption Graphic directory with your own image.


Commandline Arguments

Commandline arguments are strings which you pass to programs to instruct them in their operation. In its most basic form, a program will often open a file that is passed as a commandline argument. An Example of this might be the following string passed to MS Windows NotePad:

C:\Windows\Readme.txt

which is simply instructing NotePad to open the Windows Readme file. Commandline arguments are often referred to as "slash codes", as the string of text passed to the program often starts with a slash. An example would be passing “/C” to a screensaver requests the screensaver to show its configuration screen. One real use in CD Authoring is when you wish to include a viewer for documents you are distributing on the CD. In this way you can open a document on the CD in a program on the CD.

To pass commandline switches ("slash codes") to programs with AUTOption Graphic just add your commandline argument in the configurations box titled "Any Commandline Arguments (programs only)”

In many instances you will want to refer to the CD-Drive when passing commandline arguments to your program. Some programs (very few) will allow a relative path as a commandline argument, but most require you put the full path to the file you wish to open. If an absolute path is given, problems will occur when the user places the CD in a drive with a different Drive Letter (Your CD Drive might be E: drive, but theirs may be D:, or F: or...). To overcome this problem we have included a variable (%CD%) which replaces the drive letter in your commandline argument. Then our software replaces this variable with the drive letter the CD is currently being run from. In this way your commandline argument, and your CD, will work in any drive, regardless of the CD drive letter.

Therefore the above string, as a commandline argument to pass to another program, would be:

%CD%:\Windows\Readme.txt

Please note the retention of the colon [:] in the above statement. PLEASE NOTE that this is NOT the format to simply open a document or start a program, IT IS FOR COMMANDLINE ARGUMENTS ONLY. If you want to simply open a document or start a program please see Button Command Summary.


Creating Document INIs (For Viewer Installation)

Creating Automatic Viewer Installation Menus

In AUTOption Graphic you can create menus for installing viewers, in case the user does not have a viewer capable of viewing the document you tried to open. If the user does not have a viewer for a document you have tried to open, AUTOption Graphic can automatically load a new menu to offer installable viewers, information and options to the user. This works as in the following case scenario:

•	The user clicks on your button, which you have set to open a document on your CD (say a HTML page: index.html)

•	However the user does not have a viewer installed, in this case s/he does not have a Web Browser. Normally the program will give an error message to the effect, "You do not appear to have a program able to open the file: [Your File]", but now...

•	The program looks for a new menu, which is based on the document extension of the file you tried to open, in this case it will look for a menu named HTML.INI. Having found the menu HTML.INI you created (where you added buttons with links to the browser packages available on the CD), the software redefines its interface according to your menu, letting the user click on the "Install Internet Explorer" or "Install Netscape Navigator" (or whatever) button so that they can view your document.

•	If the program does not find the menu (e.g. HTML.INI), then the user will still receive the message that they do not have a viewer capable of viewing the document.

This allows you to easily set up viewers for any of the documents on your CD, and the user will automatically be prompted to install a viewer only if they do not have a viewer installed. You can do this for as many document types as you like. You may wish to have menu files for such documents as Adobe Acrobat files (PDF.INI), ZIP Files (ZIP.INI), you name it. You can also link back to the default menu by including a button on your viewer installation menu that points to the default menu file (i.e. "AUTO_G.ini") or provide an exit button, in case the user does not wish to install software at this time. You may wish to also create a background that reflects the reason the user has been taken to this screen, "Please install a Web Browser to view this CD". All this provides you with a very powerful, yet simple method of offering viewers on your CD, for any software you choose.

If you wish to test your installation menu see Testing AUTOption Graphic for the best method.


Button Command Summary

The button commands can be to a file, program, directory or Internet site as follows:

File:

"\directory\file.doc" (on the CD), or "C:\windows\readme.txt"

Program:

"\directory\program.exe" (on the CD), or "C:\windows\Notepad.exe"

Directory:

"\directory\directory\" (on the CD), or "C:\windows\", even "C:\windows"

Internet Site:

http://www.pollensoftware.com/register.html

or website on CD enter the path to the main page, “\directory\index.html”

Email:

"mailto:admin@pollensoftware.com"

EXIT Buttons:

Remember to leave the command blank for an Exit Button.

Sub-Menus:

Must conform to a "auto*.ini" mask, e.g. auto_01.ini, auto002.ini, or autoprog.ini
The sub-menu file must be in the application’s directory, DO NOT enter any path information in the command.

Do not include the inverted commas (") when entering commands.

The absence of the drive (eg C:) means that the link is to the CD.

Slash directions above should be followed. These are Operating System "backslashes" not Internet style "forward slashes".

Trailing slashes on directory links do not matter.


Creating a Browse CD Button

Creating a “Browse CD” Button

If you wish to create a "Browse CD" button, as many CDs feature, simply create a button (named something like "Browse CD") and use a single backslash (\) as the command. Then, when the user clicks the "Browse CD" button, the CD will be opened in the root directory in Windows Explorer.

To open a particular directory for the user to view, simply enter the path to the directory eg “\directory\my directory\” (without the inverted commas). Note: if the path and directory are not entered with the correct location for the CD, AUTOption Graphic will be unable to find the directory and will open the AUTOption Graphic directory.


Creating a Root Directory Link

Many CD authors like to provide a link to the software from the root directory of the CD, in case the user has auto-insert notification turned off. If you wish to add a link, the best way is to create a batch file. A Windows Shortcut will not function correctly as it contains drive information, therefore if the user's CD drive is a different letter to yours (highly probable), then the link will not work. Create a batch file which has a single line, something like:

directory\program.exe

You may also wish to add a note to the user that the window can be closed after the menu comes up.


Testing AUTOption Graphic

When entering button commands in AUTOption Graphic, the file’s path information should have been entered according to its location once on CD. Therefore it is always best to test AUTOption Graphic on CD. When writing test CDs it is recommended to write the CD as an “Open CD”. By doing this you should never need to use more than one CD for testing. With an Open CD you can simply rewrite any changed files to the CD.

AUTOption Graphic now includes a search feature. This means that if you enter the file’s path information incorrectly, AUTOption Graphic will now conduct a search of the drive for the File. This also means it is possible to test AUTOption Graphic while it is on your computer, although we do not recommend this. When testing on your computer it is likely the file’s path entered in the button command will be incorrect (as the file’s path will be as per its intended CD location). This will cause AUTOption Graphic to search the entire drive it is running from for the file. Depending on the hard drive size this is very likely to result in a long delay before the file is opened. Please note that this delay will not occur on the CD even if you enter an incorrect file path, as the directory structure will be much simpler. Therefore we recommend testing AUTOption Graphic on a CD for actual results.

AUTOption Graphic will open any files in the Windows default viewer for that file type. For users that do not have a program installed which can view a particular file, AUTOption Graphic can optionally offer an installation menu. For more information on how to create an Installation menu see Creating Automatic Viewer Installation Menus.

If you would like to view or test an installation menu rename your file to an extension that is unassociated with a viewer (say, *.ZZZ) then setup AUTOption Graphic to open this new document. It will not be able to find a viewer for a ZZZ file and will bring up your installation menu.

PLEASE NOTE: It is not sufficient to delete, rename or remove an installed viewer to test an installation menu. You must fully uninstall the software, such that it is removed completely and unassociated with the file type. If you simply hide the program, then Windows will give an error. This is because the software knows what type of file it is, and knows where the viewer should be, but cannot find the program. This is not a function of our software, and will not occur on machines that do not have a viewer installed. To test the software use the method above.


Other Information

This program is shareware and may be used for testing purposes in its shareware state. For full information on what usage you are authorized for please see our site.

This program, makes no modifications to your system. It does not add files, it does not make registry entries. To completely remove the program, simply delete the directory which you unzipped it into.

PLEASE NOTE: the program is a 32-bit application, and as such will not run on anything previous to Windows 95.

This program was written by Sean C Flanagan, and is copyrighted 1999-2003, by Pollen Software.

To register this program (for personal use or for distribution for commercial or non-commercial applications), please see our site:

You can find us on the Internet at:

Autorun Software Central (http://www.pollensoftware.com/)

Registration Details can be found on our Online Registration Page

Program Information and Updates can be found at the Homepage for AUTOption Graphic

You can contact us at admin@pollensoftware.com

Our mailing Address is:	Pollen Software Pty Ltd
PO Box 314
Morningside, QLD 4170
AUSTRALIA

This package, its files and programs are © Pollen Software Pty Ltd, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003.