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Icon Chooser v1.2
Released July 17, 1991
_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Written by Keith Ledbetter
4240 Ketcham Drive
Chesterfield, VA 23832
(804) 674-0780
(6:00pm - 10:00pm Eastern Time)
Tech Support BBS: Blue Ridge Express
804-790-1675
30 Phone Lines (2400 bd)
Sub-board KEITHL
("J KEITHL")
Electronic mail on GEnie : ORION.MICRO
CompuServe: 72240,1221
BIX : kledbetter
Program and Documentation are Copyright (c) 1991 by Keith Ledbetter.
All rights reserved.
Portions (c) Microsoft Corporation. Chooser was written with Visual BASIC.
Icon Chooser Page 1
About the Program
If you are a regular Windows user, then you have no doubt had to struggle
to keep up with the multitude of icons (.ICO files) available today. The
Icon Chooser is my solution to the problem. The Chooser makes manipulation
of icons easy; you can easily categorize, delete, and choose icons from up to
twelve different categories with intuitive drag-and-drop operations.
The Chooser works by keeping a master directory on your hard drive named
\CHOOSER\. There are twelve subdirectories under \CHOOSER\ which are
named as followed:
APPS application icons
BUSINESS business icons
BUTTONS buttons (for programmers)
CARTOONS cartoons (how many Bart Simpsons do you have?)
COMM communications
DOCS documents
DOS DOS-based icons
GAMES the all-important games!
HARDWARE hardware icons
SPORTS sports icons
TOOLS tools, utilities, etc.
OTHERS a catch-all for all other icons
Icon Chooser Page 2
Installing the Chooser
To use the Icon Chooser, you MUST have a copy of the Visual BASIC runtime
library, which is named VBRUN100.DLL. This file is readily available on
most BBS's. If you can't find it on your favorite BBS system, you can
download it from CompuServe's MSLANG forum, Library #6. Once you download
the VB runtime library, simply copy the VBRUN100.DLL file to your \WINDOWS\
directory.
To install the Icon Chooser, copy the ICO-CHZ.EXE file to the directory
of your choice (I keep it in the \WINDOWS\ directory). Then, install it
into the program manager like you would any other Windows program. Next,
double-click on the Icon Chooser icon to load the program.
The first time you execute the Icon Chooser, you will be presented with
an "installation" screen. All you need to do here is to tell the Chooser
which drive you'd like it to create the above directory structure on. Once
you choose the drive letter and press the "Continue" button, the Chooser
will do two things:
1) It will create the CHOOSER directory structure on
the drive you selected.
2) It will modify your WIN.INI file to add the
[Icon Chooser] section to the system.
At this point, you will be presented with the Chooser's main screen.
But, we can't do much at this point because none of your .ICO files are
located in the new directory structure. You need to exit the Chooser
and go to DOS so we can move your icon files to where the Chooser expects
them to be.
The easiest way to get going with the Chooser is to copy all of your
.ICO files into one of the Chooser directories. I normally use the
"business" directory. Once all of your icons are in this directory, you
can then easily move them to the other categories with the Chooser. If
all of your .ICO files are currently in one directory, you can accomplish
this with the command:
COPY *.ICO x:\CHOOSER\BUSINESS
where x: is the drive letter you told the Icon Chooser when you installed.
If your .ICO files are straying around all over your hard drive, then you
could use my SST (Supersonic Search Tool) program to hunt them down and
move them into the business directory.
Icon Chooser Page 3
Using the Icon Chooser
Now we're ready to get down to business! After you've moved all of your
.ICO files into the \business\ subdirectory, re-run Windows and open up the
Icon Chooser. Double-click on the "Business" folder and you'll now see all
of your icon files in the scrollable display area (I told you this would be
fun!).
The "Options" menu
------------------
Before we get started, let's cover the "Options" menu. You find two
important items under this menu: "Check Icon Integrity" and "Verify
Deletes".
The "Check Icon Integrity" is the most important thing to cover. There
is a serious problem with Windows in that attempting to load an "illegal"
icon normally results in the program terminating with a UAE ("Unrecoverable
Application Error"). If you turn on the "Check Icon Integrity" option, the
Chooser will actually read in EVERY SINGLE ICON and check its header to make
sure that it looks like a valid icon. Any icon that the Chooser thinks is
invalid will be displayed as a totally black box. When you first start
using the Chooser, you should keep this option turned ON until you've
deleted all of the "totally black" icons. Once you're assured that all of
your icon files are valid, you should turn off the "Check Icon Integrity"
switch. Turning this switch off greatly speeds up the Chooser's performance.
If you ever get an "Unrecoverable Application Error" while paging through
your icons, simply run the Chooser again with the integrity check turned
on and look for the all-black icons, and then drag them to the trash can.
The "Verify Deletes" option does exactly what it says -- when you drag
an Icon to the trash can, the Chooser will ask you to verify the deletion if
this menu item is checked.
To move an Icon
---------------
To start categorizing your Icons, you'll want to use the Chooser "move"
function. All you need to do to move an icon to another category is to
grab (click and hold the left mouse button) and then drag it on top of the
folder you want to move it into. When you are "over" a valid target folder,
you'll notice that the target folder is outlined and highlighted.
To "Paste" an Icon
------------------
You're probably saying to yourself "OK, so what does this buy me?".
If you think about it, how does Windows 3 normally ask you for an Icon?
That's right -- by the FILENAME. That's where the Chooser really shines.
Icon Chooser Page 4
Using the Icon Chooser
Any time you are asked for an Icon name (for example, in the "Change icon"
dialog box in the Program Manager), you can simply open up the Chooser,
find the icon you want, and the drag it to the "Clipboard" icon. This will
copy the FILENAME of the icon to the Windows Clipboard. Then you just
return to your text input box, press SHIFT-INSERT, and the full filename of
the icon will be pasted into the text box.
Let's take a normal example -- changing the icon of a Program Manager
item. Here's the steps you'd take:
1. Start the Icon Chooser, and then "minimize" it to
an Icon.
2. Single click on the item you want to change the icon
for in the Program Mangager.
3. Choose "File / Properties" from the Program Manager
menu bar.
4. Click on the "Change Icon" button. (Notice here that
the icon's filename is already highlighted).
5. Double-click on the Icon Chooser icon to bring it
back to life.
6. Find the Icon you want to select, and then drag and
drop it on the "Clipboard" icon. The Chooser will
beep once to let you know the name has been copied
into the clipboard.
7. Minimize the Icon Chooser again; this will return
you to the Program Manager "change icon" dialog box.
8. Press SHIFT-INSERT to paste the icon's name into the
dialog box.
9. Press OK twice -- all done!
Moving Your CHOOSER to a Different Hard Drive
----------------------------------------------
If you ever need to move your \CHOOSER\ directory to another hard drive,
there's only a little work involved. In this example, we'll assume that
you're moving it from drive C: to drive E:. You would perform these steps:
1. Exit Windows.
2. XCOPY c:\chooser\*.* e:\chooser\*.* /s /e
3. Delete the c:\CHOOSER directory.
Icon Chooser Page 5
Using the Icon Chooser
4. Edit the WIN.INI file in your \WINDOWS\ directory.
5. In the [Icon Chooser] section, change
Path=C:\CHOOSER
to
Path=E:\CHOOSER
Icon Chooser Page 6
Keith Ledbetter's Software Catalog
Keith Ledbetter's Software Catalog
----------------------------------
Listed below is a chart of my other shareware and freeware utilities,
along with the current version number of each. Also listed is the
filename that you will find them under on BBS systems (please note that
they may be different on your favorite BBS's, but it should help you at
least get close to locating them). When you register one of my Shareware
programs, you will receive a disk with all of these utilities on it.
Filename Version Description
----------- ------- -------------------------------
SST_53a.ZIP 5.2a The ultimate file-finder program. Until
recently this was simply called "WhereIs".
It's now been renamed to "Supersonic Search
Tool" to avoid confusion with other programs.
Shareware: $15
LCD_31a.ZIP 2.1a "Led's Change Directory" is an intelligent
directory changing program. This program was
voted one of "the 10 best utilities of 1990"
by the "Public (software) Library" magazine.
Shareware: $15
ICOCHZ12.ZIP 1.0 The ultimate Windows Icon Manager. Mangage
all of your .ICO files with the Chooser's
intuitive drag-and-drop design.
Freeware: $0
AV_12.ZIP 1.2 "Archive Viewer" is used to display the names
of members of all of the popular archiving
programs (ZIP, ARC, LHARC, PKARC, ZOO, PAK).
No longer do you have to struggle remembering
the syntax to 6 different archiving programs.
Freeware: $0
X_30.ZIP 3.0 "X: The Executioner" can save you a lot of
disk space. X allows you to ZIP down those
seldom-used-but-hard-to-delete .COM, .EXE,
and .BAT files into one system "Command
Library". You can then execute them easily
by simply typing an "x" in front of the
command line (eg: "x chkdsk c:").
Freeware: $0
ADMENU30.ZIP 3.0 If you own an Adlib Music card, you need this
program. It allows you to ZIP down all of
those .ROL song files you've accumulated, yet
still play them with no extra effort! Uses
a mouse-able, easy-on-the-eyes window system.
Freeware: $0
Icon Chooser Page 7
Keith Ledbetter's Software Catalog
DELDIR12.ZIP 1.2 "Delete Directory" allows you to delete an
entire directory (and all directories under
it) with one quick command. You will be
shown totals of what you are about to delete
and then be asked to confirm (the confirm
process can be over-ridden from the command
line).
Freeware: $0
DIRSIZ11.ZIP 1.1 "Directory Size Information" allows you to
easily determine the total size (in both
files and bytes) of any directory.
Freeware: $0
DUPICO10.ZIP 1.0 "Duplicate Icon Deleter" is for any Windows
3.0 user who has accumulated tons of icons.
It will go through a directory and delete all
duplicate icon images, regardless of what they
are named.
Freeware: $0
TIMER10.ZIP 1.0 This program allows you to easily time the
execution of any program. Simply use TIMER
to invoke the command (eg: "timer chkdsk C:")
and you will be shown, at the completion of
the command, the elapsed time.
Freeware: $0
UNTAB10.ZIP 1.0 One of the fastest "un-tab" programs you will
find. It takes the specified input file and
copies it to the specified output file,
replacing all tab characters with hard blanks
(you specify the "tab size").
Freeware: $0
You can download all of these files from the Blue Ridge Express in
Richmond, VA. This is the official tech support board for all of my
software, and there's a special "Keith Ledbetter" message section where
you can quickly get your questions answered. Once you log on, just do
a "J KEITHL" to join my sub-board. First-time callers have access to
both my message base and all of my download files. The Blue Ridge Express
is a first-class BBS, with 30 phone lines; no need to worry about getting
a busy signal! The number is:
The Blue Ridge Express BBS
804-790-1675
Icon Chooser Page 8
Keith Ledbetter's Software Catalog
All of my software can also be obtained from the following places:
Alternative Personal Software
269 Springside Drive Suite C
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L9B 1P8
Tel: (416) 577-4068
PC Assist Limited
4 Carruber's Close
135 High Street
Edinburgh, EH1 1SJ
Scotland
Tel: 031-557-6432
BroCo Software
P. O. Box 446
3760 AK SOEST
Holland
Tel: 31-2155-26650
EURO BOARD
John Warren
Postfach
3920 ZERMATT, VS
Switzerland
BBS: (0228) / 476-111-06 (Swiss Telepac)
End of document.