Windows Expert/Windows Expert.iso/utility/qs.zip/QS.DOC

Text File | 1992-04-13 | 8KB | 207 lines

Quick Switch V1.01                                April 13, 1992


1. General introduction

Have you ever had a hard time in finding a desired window buried
under many windows?  Quick Switch (QS) is designed to simplify
the MS-Windows operation in switching windows effortlessly.  By
simply holding down the right mouse button, you will get a list
of all windows currently open, or you can make all of them
minimized at once on the desktop (screen).  The list will show
you icons and associated window names in a clear fashion.  You
can double-click an icon in the list to activate the
corresponding window.

V1.01 contains fixes for minor bugs found under Windows 3.1.

2. How to use it.

Once QS is run, operation is very easy; simply hold down the
right mouse button for a short period of time (the default is 500
milliseconds).  Then the QS listing will show up.  Again, hold
down the right mouse button.  Then QS will minimize itself to an
icon.

While you are displaying the QS listing, double-click a desired
application's icon.  Then you can switch to that application.
Once you select an application in this way, QS will minimize
itself until you hold down the right mouse button to re-activate
QS.

You can display in the QS listing top level windows only or with
child windows.  The relationship between a parent window and its
child windows will be clearly indicated by connecting lines
showing the structure.  By single-clicking the QS window's client
area with the right mouse button, display level (top level only
or including child windows) can be instantly changed.

If the application which you are running supports multiple
documents as child windows, then double-click the icon of an
child window in the QS listing.  You will be activating the
parent window for the corresponding application with a selected
document in the active child window.  Since the Program Groups in
the Windows Program Manager are handled in a form of multiple
documents, this is very useful to switch the Program Groups
within the Windows Program Manager.  This feature is also useful
in switching documents if you are working on multiple documents
in a wordprocessing or similar application which supports the
multiple documents as child windows.

If the QS mode is set to minimizing all windows at QS activation
time, holding down the right mouse button will minimize all
windows currently open and arrange them on the desktop at once.
Once all windows are minimized and arranged on the desktop,
activating a desired window can be done in a regular way of
double-clicking an icon.

When the right mouse button is held down while all windows are
minimized, QS will be activated and show the QS listing with all
windows currently running.  Double-clicking an icon in the list
will activate the corresponding window.

In many cases, if a dialog box is shown on the screen, its parent
window is locked and it is not easy, if not impossible, to switch
to other application.  If you hold down the right mouse button in
the dialog box area, then QS will be activated and you can switch
applications.  This is useful, for example, to switch to other
application while the application you have been working on is
suspended for printing, or some other reason.


3. Installation

To fully appreciate the handiness of QS, it should be running all
the time as a background task so that it is ready for activation
in response to holding down the right mouse button.  To easily
accomplish this, it is suggested to load QS as an icon at the
start up time of Windows by editing WIN.INI file as follows:

     [windows]
     load=drive:\subdirectory\QS.EXE


4. Option setting.

If you select Option in the menu, you will see a dialog box in
which you have a couple of option setting selections:

(1) QS mode.
     This option is to select either QS should, at its
     activation, list the currently open windows or make all of
     them minimized.

(2) Display level.
     This option is to tell QS weather child windows should be
     displayed along with their parent windows.  Whichever is
     setup in the option selection, single-clicking of the right
     mouse button toggles this setting.  The new setting changed
     by single-clicking is only valid until QS is terminated,
     unless you save the option setting, .

(3) Do not display initial help screen.
     If checked, the help screen will not be displayed when QS is
     activated first time.

(4) Disable QS activation temporarily.
     If checked, QS will not be activated even if the right mouse
     button is held down for a specified period of time.

(5) QS Activation timer.
     QS will activate itself after detecting that the right mouse
     button is held down for certain period of time specified by
     this parameter.  The timer value should be in milliseconds.

(6) Make the changes permanent.
     If Yes is selected, then QS.INI profile will be updated.  If
     No is selected, the changes will be temporary.


5. QS profile

All the setup options in the Option screen will be kept in the QS
profile, QS.INI.  The format of QS.INI is similar to other .INI
files, like WIN.INI.  With QS.INI, you can have a primary profile
and a secondary profile, whereby the secondary profile is
optional.  The primary profile should be stored in the same
subdirectory with the QS program file QS.EXE.  If the primary
profile contains IniDir= keyword parameter with valid
drive/subdirectory name, QS gets all setup parameters from the
secondary profile stored in the subdirectory specified by IniDir=
keyword in the primary profile by superseding the setups in the
primary profile.  The IniDir keyword in the secondary profile
will be ignored, if any.  This feature is useful in LAN
environment so that individual users can maintain their own
profile while they can share the QS program file on a file
server.

Keyword in the profile:

     [QuickSwitch]
          This is the section name for QS.

     Mode: QS mode
          Mode=List
          Mode=Icon

     TopLevelOnly: Display level
          TopLevelOnly=Yes
          TopLevelOnly=No

     InitHelp: Weather to display the help screen at the
               beginning.
          InitHelp=Yes
          Inithelp=No

     Disable: Weather to disable QS activation temporarily.
          Disable=Yes
          Disable=No

     ActivationTimer: QS activation timer in milliseconds
          example: ActivationTimer=500

     IniDir: The secondary profile drive/subdirectory
          example: IniDir=H:\INI\QS



6. Irregularity

In some cases, an icon in the QS listing may not exactly be the
one assigned for that application.  Such application includes,
for example, a DOS session or Clock in Accessaries of Windows
3.1.  This is because these applications may be drawing icons on
its own and QS could not identify the icons.

In some cases, when a child window's icon is double-clicked in
the QS listing, other child window may come up as an active
window in the parent window.  This is because the activated child
window is in a special status, thus switching to the double-
clicked window is not desirable.  For example, while a
WordPerfect document is in Print Preview mode or Figure Edit
mode, and if other document's icon is double clicked in the QS
listing, the document in Print Preview mode or Figure Edit mode
will be activated as a child window in the WordPerfect parent
window.  This is done by QS to reflect the actual behavior seen
in the manual operations of WordPerfect.


7. History

     V1.0      April 1, 1992       Original
     V1.01     April 13, 1992      Minor bug fix


8. Registration

This is a shareware program.  If you think Quick Switch is useful
for you please register it for $5 per copy.


     K. Yoshimura
     18 Somerstown Rd
     Ossining, NY 10562

     CompuServe: 72371,3237