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Text File | 1991-06-26 | 13.8 KB | 375 lines

Launch 2.0 for Windows June 26, 1991 (C) 1991 David Stafford Distributed in the United States by: Summit Research, Inc. 3321 Lauren Way Lewisville, TX 75028 CompuServe 76336,1436 Launch is the popular Windows utility which lets you start programs directly from the desktop. Your favorite programs are only one mouse click away! ----------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 1. New in Launch 2.0 2. Distribution files 3. Installation 4. LSetup, the Launch configuration program 4.a Hotkeys 4.b Load Options 4.c Customizing your menu and startup list 4.d Display Options 5. The "Run" box 6. How do I register? 7. More information 8. Tips for advanced and networked users 9. Disclaimer ---------------------- 1. New in Launch 2.0 ---------------------- Version 2.0 is a major upgrade and adds many new features. > Sub-menus! > Hotkeys! > A setup utility is included. > The Run box now saves the history list. --------------------- 2. Distribution files --------------------- Launch is comprised of these four files: LAUNCH.TXT The file you are reading now. LAUNCH.EXE Launch. LSETUP.EXE The configuration program. LAUNCH.INV An invoice. If any of these files are missing you have an incomplete distribution. Please feel free to distribute Launch to others. Launch may be copied and distributed under these conditions. ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. The program and its documentation are not modified in any way. 2. All four files (LAUNCH.TXT, LAUNCH.EXE, LSETUP.EXE and LAUNCH.INV) are included in the distribution. 3. No charge other than a media and handling charge is made. This is limited to a maximum of $6.00 (US). 4. Launch is presented as Shareware. --------------- 3. Installation --------------- Installation is a snap- just copy Launch to your hard disk and run it from the Program Manager or File Manager. That's all there is to it! Launch will create a default configuration the first time you use it. Installation notes: All the files should go into the same directory. It is not necessary to put any of the files in the Windows directory. It is not necessary to put Launch on the PATH. The default hotkey is Ctrl Alt L. The default mouse button is the left button. Just press the hotkey or click anywhere over the empty desktop and your menu will pop up. If you are upgrading from a 1.X version of Launch you cannot use your old configuration file (LAUNCH.INI) with Launch 2.0. The file format is different from earlier versions so you must delete (or rename) your old LAUNCH.INI and let Launch build a new configuration file for you. You must exit and uninstall your old version before installing the upgrade. You may print this file. It has already been paginated for your convenience. ------------------------------------------- 4. LSetup, the Launch configuration program ------------------------------------------- You no longer need to edit your LAUNCH.INI by hand! Launch now includes a configuration program. Usage is generally self-explanatory. From the setup screen you can: o Change the mouse button or hotkey which pops up the Launch menu. o Select whether the Launch icon appears or is hidden. o Choose the Launch installation option. ----------- 4.a Hotkeys ----------- Hotkeys are entered in the natural manner. If you want Launch to pop up on "Ctrl Shift L" you would simply enter "Ctrl Shift L" for the hotkey. Launch supports "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Shift" as well as all the function keys (F1 through F16). The default hotkey for Launch is "Ctrl Alt L". Avoid specifying hotkeys which programs are already using. For example, "Alt F4" is a bad choice because Windows uses ALT F4 to close a window. You can bind any menu item to a hotkey. The default configuration assigns these hotkeys to these commands: Ctrl Alt L The Launch menu Ctrl Alt R The Run box Ctrl Alt C Calculator Ctrl Alt N Notepad Ctrl Alt T Terminal Ctrl Alt W Write Ctrl Alt P Paint Ctrl Alt X Exits Windows You may find that you rarely even see the Launch menu! Starting programs under Windows couldn't be faster. ---------------- 4.b Load Options ---------------- There are three load options available in the Installation section: "Not installed", "Load with Windows" and "Windows shell". The default is "Not installed". Launch will not install itself with Windows. You will have to start Launch from the Program Manager or File Manager. If you want Launch to load automatically when you start Windows you can select "Load with Windows". (This will install Launch in WIN.INI's LOAD= or RUN= line.) Select "Windows shell" to replace the Program Manager with Launch as your Windows shell. If you wish to continue using Program Manager you can install it in Launch's "Startup" list or put it in the Launch menu. (The file name for Program Manager is PROGMAN.EXE) Note that Launch must be the Windows shell for it to load the programs listed in your "Startup" list. The LSetup menu --------------- There are three options on the LSetup menu: Menu... The Launch menu. Startup... The programs loaded automatically with Windows. This feature is active when Launch is configured as the Windows shell. Registration... Your registration name and number. ------------------------------------------ 4.c Customizing your menu and startup list ------------------------------------------ Editing a menu (or startup) item is simple. The only two items you need to enter for a menu are the text which appears on the menu and a command-line to execute when the menu item is selected. A startup item is even easier to create since there is no menu (all it needs is a command-line). The menu text ------------- The menu text is the just the text as it will appear on the menu. If you wish to make a particular character within your menu "hot" (for faster menu picking) precede it with an ampersand. The character will appear underlined in your menu. For example, "Exit &Windows". The command-line ---------------- Put the program name (include the path if necessary) in the command-line section. You can also pass arguments to programs. For example, "D:\TOOLS\ZIP -p -r *.*". You can enter the command just as you would enter it on the DOS command-line. Launch understands the WIN.INI Extensions. You can launch data files from the menu too! For example- you could put "WIN.INI" in the command-line section. This applies uniformly to the menu, startup section and Run box. Launch supports eight special built-in commands for this section. Users of earlier launch versions will remember putting these commands in the menu text section. They have been moved to the command section so you can customize the menu text. (About) The "About" box. Includes free memory and system resources statistics. (Run) The "Run" box. (See section 5) (Arrange) Arranges the icons on your desktop. (Cascade) Cascades the windows on your desktop. (Tile) Tiles the windows on your desktop. (Close) Exits Launch. (ExitWin) Pops up an "Exit Windows" box. (ExitWin2) Exits Windows immediately (without confirmation). Don't forget to enclose them in parenthesis. The working directory --------------------- This is optional. Launch will change to this directory just before executing the command-line. Some programs (fortunately not many) expect to be executed from their own directory and will not find their configuration or data files if they are run from another directory. Toolbook is an example of such a program. If you get this message when you try to Launch a program... "Cannot find XXXXXX.DLL, insert in drive A" ...you need to specify the working directory. It should be the same directory which contains the program you wish to execute. The working directory can also be handy if you keep your data files in one directory and the program in another. For example, you could specify "C:\WORD\WINWORD.EXE" as the command-line and "D:\REPORTS" as the working directory. ------------------- 4.d Display Options ------------------- The "Display Options" section gives you the ability to specify how the program is to appear. It can be a specific location and size, normal, minimized, maximized or even hidden. Be careful when selecting hidden as you won't be able to see your window! (This option is useful for small programs which require no input and exit quickly.) To select a specific size and location I recommend using the "Easy Sizing" button rather than entering the screen coordinates by hand. MS-Windows provides no clear-cut method to predetermine how a window will be displayed (if it's not your own window). Launch does the best it can to make this work but you should be aware that there are some programs which may ignore the initial size request or even display incorrectly. If you have trouble with a particular program you can always fall back on selecting "Normal" for the display option. ---------------- 5. The "Run" box ---------------- The "Run" box can not only launch programs but data files too! Launch will even search your PATH (and the Windows directories) for the program or data file. Launch supports the [Extensions] section of WIN.INI. If you enter "SYSTEM.INI" in the Run box NotePad will be launched with your SYSTEM.INI file. You can enter a command in the Run box similar to the way you would enter it on the DOS command line. The Run box will keep track of the last 25 commands. Use the arrow keys to scroll through past commands or click on the down-arrow button with the mouse. The Run box supports multiple wildcards. You can enter "*.TXT *.DOC" for example. --------------------- 6. How do I register? --------------------- Launch is Shareware. That means you can try it for a reasonable evaluation period (about one month) before you decide to register. Please support our efforts and the efforts of all Shareware authors by registering the software you use. A registration form is available in the file LAUNCH.INV. You will receive the latest 2.X version of Launch, a registration number (which will disable the reminder box which appears when Launch is started) and a set of Windows utilities which work well with Launch. Your registration will be valid for all minor upgrades. The single-user price is $39.95. Substantial quantity discounts are available for site-licenses. If you registered any earlier version of Launch you are entitled to a generous discount on Launch 2.0. Support is available via mail and CompuServe. If you have comments or ideas you would like to share about Launch we would like to hear from you (even if you haven't registered). ------------------- 7. More information ------------------- Launch follows the small-is-beautiful principle. It stays out of your way when you are not using it and requires very little computing resources. This is carefully crafted software. A great deal of effort has gone into improving Launch since its inception while avoiding "bloating" the product with unnecessary baggage and dubious features. We hope you will enjoy using Launch as much as we do. Launch requires about 15k to 18k while running depending upon the size of the menu, storage for the Run history and the selected options. If you have chosen to hide the Launch icon you should be aware of a problem in the Windows Task Manager. If there are no windows present on the desktop and Task Manager is selected (either from the Launch menu or by pressing CTRL-ESC) Task Manager will very likely crash. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to just leave the Launch icon visible. Otherwise you should avoid popping up the Task Manager when no windows are present. Launch is written in a combination of 286 assembler and 'C'. The majority of Launch itself is assembler in order to keep the program size and run-time memory requirements to a minimum. The majority of LSetup is 'C'. Borland's language tools were used to create Launch. You can get in touch with the author, David Stafford, via CompuServe (72411,2670) or through Summit Research. I would like to thank the following people for their generous assistance in testing Launch 2.0: Scott Dunn, Chuck Jazdzewski, Brad Kozak, Sidney Markowitz, Richard Reppert, Dan Schless, Carl Sturmer and Paul Weissler. I would also like to thank the people who have registered Launch. Your support made this major upgrade possible. ---------------------------------------- 8. Tips for advanced and networked users ---------------------------------------- You can put the configuration file (LAUNCH.INI) in the Windows directory rather than the Launch directory if you prefer. The Run history is automatically saved in the same directory as LAUNCH.INI. This way, you can put Launch into a network subdirectory which everyone can share. Each user's configuration file and Run history can be located in his own Windows directory. We recommend setting the MenuShowDelay and MenuHideDelay settings to zero to make submenus feel more responsive. These are Windows, not Launch, settings and go in the WIN.INI "windows" section. You can experiment with these settings to find a comfortable level for your own use. ------------- 9. Disclaimer ------------- This program comes with no warranty. Neither David Stafford nor Summit Research, Inc. can assume any liability for its use. No guarantee is made nor should be implied regarding the use or fitness of this software for any purpose. If you have any trouble please let us know and if it turns out to be a problem with Launch we will do our best to correct it.