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Text File | 1992-09-23 | 16KB | 404 lines

************************************************************************ Statline Version 3.1 September 1992 ======================================================================== James Bell 7 Andover Court Brookfield, CT 06804-2715 (203) 740-2773 ************************************************************************ - See the WHATS.NEW file for a short list of the newer features - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ HOW TO REGISTER ~ ~ ~ ~ Just send me a check for $10 or $15, then I'll send you a ~ ~ License number and/or the latest version. ~ ~ ~ ~ Print out the ORDER.FRM file for all the details. ~ ~ ~ ~ Unregistered versions will display a short reminder every ~ ~ sixth time Statline is started. ~ ~ ~ ~ Thanks for trying Statline! ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Introduction ------------ Statline is a small utility for the Windows 3.x environment. Statline gives you the mode, day, date, time and amount of memory or disk space free all at once. With Statline you can also launch other Windows applications, keep a small notepad, exit Windows quickly and delete files. You can even keep a menu of your five favorite programs at your fingertips. Statline is designed to be light on your resources, usually using only a percentage point or less. The display is updated every 12 seconds. Experienced Windows users can probably just skim this manual and figure out most of Statline in a few moments using the help display. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%>>> Experienced Windows/Statline users <<<%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % % You may find the new "Maximizing Statline" section (at the end of % % this document) helpful. % % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ------------------- Installing Statline ------------------- Statline was written to be included on the "load=" line of your WIN.INI file, but you can just as easily add it to a group in Program Manager and click on it whenever you like. Automatic installation ---------------------- Just run the "INSTALL.EXE" program included with Statline. Be sure the STAT.EXE file is still in the same drive/directory as the INSTALL.EXE program. That's it. The Install program will copy STAT.EXE to a directory on your hard drive and even start up Statline for you. Once Statline is running, you can configure it and click the "install" button to load Statline when Windows starts. The Install program also doubles as an un-install program, so you don't have to manually remove lines from your WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files. If you're upgrading from a previous version of Statline, you can still use the Install program. It won't reset your settings, and it will overwrite the older STAT.EXE file. Don't forget that this file (STAT31.DOC), the WHATS.NEW file, the Install program, and the ORDER.FRM order form file aren't copied by the Install program, so don't delete them. Manual installation ------------------- If you'd like Statline to be loaded whenever you start Windows: --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Copy the STAT.EXE file to your Windows directory. 2. Start STAT.EXE using File Manager or Program Manager's "File, Run" menu choice. 3. Click the leftmost button on the Statline display and choose "Configure". 4. Click on the "Install" button in the configure dialog box. If you'd prefer to have Statline in one of Program Manager's groups: -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Copy the STAT.EXE file to your Windows directory. 2. Click on the Program Manager group you'd like Statline to be in. 3. Select "File" then "New..." from the menu, click OK for a new program item. 4. Give the Command Line as "STAT.EXE", click OK, and you're done. You can even use Statline as your Windows shell (instead of Program Manager), and save quite a bit of your system resources. When Statline is your shell however, any items on your WIN.INI's "load=" and "run=" lines (and in your "StartUp" group) won't be loaded when Windows starts. -------------- Using Statline -------------- The Statline display looks something like this: -------------------------------------------------------------- | 87% Fri Mar 5 12:34 am 7.08 megs [] [] [] [] [] | -------------------------------------------------------------- |-------------------------------------| |----------------| Display Area Function Buttons The Display Area **************** As you can see, the system above has 87% of system resources free. You can also configure Statline to display the current Windows mode instead of the percentage of system resources free. The day of the week, date and time are also displayed. Statline has an hourly chime you can turn off and on from the "Configure" button of the System Box. The amount of free memory is last. Note that this amount may seem to differ from the one reported by Program Manager, but they are the same when you consider that Statline's display is in "megs" (1 meg = 1048576 bytes) while Program Manager shows kilobytes (1024 bytes). EMS (expanded) memory isn't included. You can also configure Statline to show you the amount of free space on your hard drive, instead of free system memory. If you like, you can have Statline display the amount of memory used in a bar graph. Just choose the "Configure" button and check the button that says "Graphic Display". This shows the memory used since Statline was started. If you are displaying free hard drive space, the graph shows the amount free in green and the amount used in red. The entire Statline display is updated every 12 seconds, or when you click the left mouse button on the display area. Configuring Statline -------------------- Choose the System Box (the button on the far left) and click on "Configure". You'll see a series of check boxes you can use to setup Statline to your liking. This is also where you would enter your License Information after registering. Function Boxes ************** The buttons on Statline's display work differently when clicked with either the left or right mouse button. The following dialog boxes are brought up using the left mouse button. (The "Help" display in Statline gives a brief description of what the left AND right mouse buttons do.) The System Box ============== At the far right of the Statline display are five buttons, the first (left-most) is the System Box, click here to do one of the following: 1. CONFIGURE... - Configure Statline. 2. ARRANGE ICONS - Arrange your desktop's icons. 3. EXIT STATLINE - Close the Statline window. 4. MOVING... - How to move Statline's default position 5. CANCEL - Cancel the System Box. 6. HELP - Display a help screen. The Minipad Box =============== The box just left of center gives you a small (about 700 characters) notepad for notes or whatever. You can cut and copy to the Windows clipboard, as well as paste from it. The contents of the Minipad are NOT saved when you exit Windows, though this is a possibility for future versions of Statline. The Quick Run Box ================= The middle box is the Quick Run box, from here you can quickly run any Windows application simply by double-clicking on its EXE file. You can also launch DOS by clicking on the DOS Window button. If you single-click on a file, you can delete that file by choosing the "delete file" button. Finally, you can edit a text file by clicking once on the file then clicking the "Edit File" button. The Quick Run feature comes in handy for trying out new programs (e.g. new downloads) without having to install them or run File Manager. I recommend you set the Quick Run initial directory (in the "Configure" box) to your download directory. The Quick Menu Box ================== When you click here (right of center) you get a menu of seven command lines. Simply click on the "RUN" button next to the program you wan to run and Statline will start that application. You can also select the "RUN ALL" button to launch all seven (or however many are filled in) programs at once. To edit the command lines, simply click on the box and type a valid path (e.g. "C:\WINDOWS\WINWORD\WINWORD.EXE"). If the program is in your Windows directory or DOS path, you only need to give the program name (e.g. "CARDFILE"). You can also give command line parameters such as: "WINHELP SDKWIN.HLP" (to launch Windows Help and load the Windows SDK help file) "NOTEPAD WIN.INI" (to launch Notepad and load WIN.INI for editing) When you select "CLOSE" or run a program, all of the current command lines are saved. The Exit Windows Box ==================== Click here to quit Windows fast, by default you will be prompted before exiting, but this can be turned off with the "Configure" option inside the System Box. A Few Tips and Notes ******************** 1. You can immediately update Statline's display by clicking on the window with the left button. 2. You can terminate Statline quickly by double clicking the right mouse button on the Statline window. 3. If you move Statline, it will remember where it was moved to and will load itself there from then on. 4. Windows won't let you end the session with a DOS window open. 5. If you get down to less than about 150k free, Statline's help bitmap won't load. 6. The "Edit File" choice of Quick Run could be used for any program that you'd like to pass a filename to. By setting the "Text Editor" program name to "pkunzip.exe" for example, you could use it to unzip ZIP files you click on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maximizing Statline --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I recommend and use the following setup for Statline. 1. Configuration settings: - Show System Resources free - Numeric memory display - The chime is set to play the "Asterisk" sound. I've defined the Asterisk sound (using Control Pannel) to be a WAV file. - Normal Size bar - Statline is set to be my shell, and I have checked the "Load Progman" box. - Statline is set to always be visible and sits at the lower right corner of the screen. - My "Quick Run Initial Directory" is my download directory, that way I can quickly test things I've downloaded via modem. 2. If Statline gets in the way, I just double-right-click on the display area and close Statline. But hey wait, wasn't Statline the shell?!? Even if Statline is the shell, Windows won't exit until the last window is closed. Handy eh? 3. I use the "Quick Menu" to run programs that are still in development, and for programs I run often (e.g. Notepad). This saves me from locating and waiting for Program Manager to come up. 4. I use the "Minipad" as an alternate clipboard for cutting and pasting text. That way I can cut two items (one in Windows' clipboard, the other in Minipad) and paste them both elsewhere. 5. I have the "Caption Messages" turned on so that if Statline isn't visible, I'll still know what time it is on the hour. About Statline -------------- Statline was created the old fashioned (read: "hard") way with "C" and the SDK. The original release took about 2 weeks and was a few hundred lines long. Now (September) Statline is about 1000 lines long. This release (3.1) was done in QuickC for Windows. Statline is the best type of program to write, because I wrote it partially for myself, I use it all the time. How and Why Should I Register? ------------------------------ (Other than to relieve your conscience...) 1. It's cheap! For $10, you can remove the occasional registration reminder with a License number. For $15 I'll send you the latest version of Statline. 2. Updates, Statline is constantly being improved, this version is probably already replaced! When major revisions are made, I'll send you an update for only $5. The license number you receive for registering will work for all minor upgrades to that version. 3. Those prices have stayed the same for 3 revisions now, how much longer can they last?!?! 4. You'll sleep MUCH better once that check's in the mail. So just print out the ORDER.FRM file, fill out a check with lots of zeros on it, and mail it to me. If the ORDER.FRM file is missing, or if you have questions/comments/suggestions, you can reach me at: James Bell 7 Andover Court Brookfield, CT 06804-2715 Phone: (203) 740-2773 Internet: jb1@cis.ufl.edu I also read the Fido-net Windows and Windows-Programming conferences, as well as "comp.windows.ms.programmer" on Internet. ========================================================================= Please be sure to include an extra $2 for postage if you live outside the US. And be sure your check or money order is in US dollars. BBS Support ----------- Statline enjoys having a couple of BBS "homes" for questions and new versions. BBS's come and go, but hopefully you'll be able to find it at: The 0ubliette BBS 9600-1200 baud, 8N1, 24 Hours ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phone: (904) 377-1996 Check the Windows Utilities and New Uploads file areas for the latest Statline versions and other Win*Net files. Many Thanks to Sysop Kurt Teare. New versions are also posted for FTP at: wuarchive.wustl.edu ////////////// / About Me / ////////////// I have a BS in CIS from the University of Florida: -------------------------------------------------------- >>>>>>>>>>>>> HIRE ME!!! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< -------------------------------------------------------- I also wrote the "I" series of icon tools (IEdit, IInject, IFix, etc.) for creating, and working with Windows icons. I've also written a stand- alone version of the Quick Run feature, and a program called Work Groups, to let you start several programs at once with a single mouse click. Drop me a line and I'd be happy to send you a resume. My latest project is "Surf", a toolbox for Windows 3.1 WAV audio files. The latest version of Surf is 0.9. Thanks for using Statline! James Bell September 1992 P.S. Statline is Copyright (C) 1991,1992 James Bell, All Rights Reserved & "Windows" and "QuickC" are TM Microsoft Corp.