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1991-04-13
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MOUSE MEISTER
A Graphical User Interface for
MS-DOS compatible systems
Version 1.0
4/13/91
Documentation
Copyright (c) 1990/1991
All Rights Reserved
Authors: Brad Coleman
Mark Blythe
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DISCLAIMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
WHAT EXACTLY IS MOUSE MEISTER? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
NOTE FOR NON-MOUSE USERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
SHAREWARE, AND FUTURE VERSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ABOUT THE AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
THE MOUSE ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CLICK: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
DOUBLE CLICK: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
DRAG: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
MOUSE MEISTER: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MOUSE MEISTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
GENERAL DESKTOP FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
ACTIVATING AN ITEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
INSTALLING A DRIVE ICON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
DELETING DRIVE ICONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
DRAGGING ITEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
OPERATIONS FROM THE FILE WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
OPENING A FILE WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
RUNNING A PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
THE FULL SCREEN BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
THE RE-SIZE BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
THE CLOSE WINDOW BUTTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
THE SCROLL BUTTONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
MOVING A FILE WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
CHANGING DIRECTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
SELECTING ITEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
To select multiple items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
To Unselect multiple files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
DRAGGING FILES OR DIRECTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
RENAMING A FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
DELETING A FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
COPYING A FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
MOVING A FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
EXECUTING A PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
FILE ICONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CREATING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
MOVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
DELETING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
EDITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
GOOD USE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
LIMITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
RELATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
DELETING/EDITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
SAVING THE DESKTOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
DROP-DOWN MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
THE "FILE" DROP-DOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
THE "VIEW" DROP-DOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
THE "SORT" DROP-DOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
THE "OPTIONS" DROP-DOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
THE MOUSE MEISTER SETUP PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
SETTING UP THE FILE WINDOW COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SETTING UP THE DROP-DOWN COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
SETTING UP THE FILE ICON COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
SETTING UP THE DRIVE AND TRASHCAN ICON COLORS . . . . . . . 38
THE CLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
SETTING MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CLICK DELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
DRAG DELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
CONFIRMING MOVES, COPIES, AND DELETES . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SCROLL DELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
SCREEN BLANK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
DEFAULT SORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
STOP CGA SNOW OPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
USE BIOS OPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
HOG MEMORY OPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
LIMITS FOR MOUSE MEISTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
DROP-DOWN MENU LAYOUTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
TROUBLE-SHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
DISCLAIMERS
The authors claim no responsibility for any damages caused by
the use or misuse of this product. This product is distributed "as
is" with no warranty expressed or implied. The authors will not be
responsible for any losses incurred, either directly or indirectly,
by the use of this product. The authors reserve the right to make
modifications at any time. Prices are subject to change without
notice.
All trademarks are registered to their respective companies.
We don't claim to be in line with the standards for Graphical
User Interfaces (GUI's) or any other standards for that matter. We
designed Mouse Meister to be as easy as possible to use, and to be
totally functional and didn't even worry about the "standards."
This doesn't mean Mouse Meister is totally different from certain
other interfaces, but it does mean you probably will find subtle
differences here and there.
As for a Graphical User Interface... "Graphical" is used
loosely here. We haven't gotten into any fancy graphics in this
version really. Just PC-ASCII-type graphics are used in Mouse
Meister, but we felt that this was sufficient for the task. It
came out looking pretty pleasing to the eye in our opinion and
works VERY similar to true graphic environments.
Mouse Meister was written in Borland's Turbo C++ with IDC's
TCXL library (V 5.5).
1
WHAT EXACTLY IS MOUSE MEISTER?
Good question. Kind of a DOS shell, kind of a GUI, kind of a
menu, kinder, gentler nation. Some of you may be saying, "Oh, just
what I need, another DOS shell." Well, just read a little further
and let us explain what Mouse Meister can do. We think you will
change your mind.
Mouse Meister was designed to fill a big gap that has
developed in the DOS world -- There are no easy, powerful, yet
easily affordable alternatives to using DOS (personal opinion
only). Those of you that have used computers based on a
Graphical User Interface (such as the Atari ST or Apple
MacIntosh) know exactly what we mean.
The mouse is a very powerful tool that very few DOS programs
fully utilize. Mouse Meister lets you practically "replace" DOS
with an easy to use, very powerful, very flexible Graphical User
Interface (GUI). You will see that familiar DOS prompt less and
less as you begin to realize what Mouse Meister can do.
You get the advantages of a GUI, with very little overhead
(in RAM or your pocketbook!)
As we started programming, we intended to add every feature we
could possibly want, including most popular DOS shell and menu
system features, along with a number of innovative additions. We
were more successful at including these features than we ever
expected, and are very happy with the final results.
2
FEATURES INCLUDE...
* Totally mouse driven. You will wish all programs were.
* True drop-down menus. You don't have to go CLICK on the
menu bar to pull down the one you want. Just move the
mouse to your selection, and the menu will drop down on
its own. Move the mouse up and down within the pulled-
down menu, and the options will highlight as the mouse
cursor passes over them. The ONLY time you CLICK is when
you SELECT an option. Ahhh, the way it was meant to be.
* File Icons let you quickly build a powerful custom menu
easier than you've ever seen.
* The ability to link data files with their parent
programs. This is a VERY POWERFUL feature we call
"Relations" that you won't want to miss out on.
* Moving and Copying files is a snap. Select anything
you want from a file window, including multiple files
AND/OR directories (yes, directories!), and they can
be copied or moved easier than you ever thought
was possible!
* The ability to delete EVERYTHING in a given path,
including everything contained in all sub-directories
under the selected path. Sub-directories are even
removed for you.
* Unlimited file windows, file icons, relations, and
drive icons! The only thing that limits you is your
available RAM.
* Hot-Key alternatives for all drop-down menu selections.
If you feel that hitting a key is easier or faster than
selecting from the menu, feel free!
* All file windows on the screen at any one time each
have independently selected items and scrollable
regions within them.
* Network compatible. (Only lightly tested on networks.
Test it on yours and let us know how it performs!)
* Mouse-sensitive screen blanker. You don't have to hit a
key to get your screen un-blanked (but you can if you
want), just move the mouse or CLICK a mouse button!
3
* Choose to have Mouse Meister unload itself from memory
before running your selected program, and Mouse Meister
will shrink itself to a 17K shell, saving your current
setup to disk and automatically reloading itself upon
exiting your application. Or you may choose the fastest
way possible - have Mouse Meister stay completely in
memory when you run a program from it (which takes a
minimum of 174K.)
* Virtually everything in Mouse Meister is configurable,
including screen colors, mouse sensitivity, memory
handling, snow suppression, window locations, and MUCH
more.
* There are many more features, but you'll have to read the
manual to discover them (well, at least skim it!)
4
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Anything from a PC to 486 or compatible computer.
DOS 3.00 or later
200+ K RAM - The '+' is determined by the number of windows
and icons you open. MMeister will let you know
if you try to go beyond your RAM limits.
(You will need this much to run Mouse Meister,
which will shrink itself to 17K when you run a
program from within Mouse Meister if you have the
"Hog Memory" option turned off.)
Hard Disk (highly recommended, not required)
HERC, CGA, EGA, MCGA, VGA, SUPER VGA, MEGA VGA (well, if there
was a MEGA it would work with Mouse Meister!)
Mouse (including Microsoft-compatible driver; either two or
three button is fine)
5
NOTE FOR NON-MOUSE USERS
If you don't have a working mouse installed on your system,
this program probably isn't for you. We have provided hot-keys for
shortcuts, but in order for Mouse Meister to be really useable, you
would want to use a mouse.
The reasoning for this is that Mouse Meister uses a graphical-
type interface. Even if it was totally keyboard-useable, it would
be a pain to use, which would defeat the whole purpose of the
program - SIMPLICITY! Future versions will most likely include
full keyboard support if we get any demand for it.
6
SHAREWARE, AND FUTURE VERSIONS
As mentioned earlier, this is our FIRST version of Mouse
Meister, and we are happy with the way it has turned out. Since
this program was written to satisfy a need (actually, it was a
really bad WANT, but almost a NEED) that we had, we feel there are
many people out there who would greatly enjoy using it also.
We considered releasing Mouse Meister commercially, but chose
the shareware route for our first version. This is because we
believe in the shareware concept when it is used correctly. Here
are some points about shareware, and why we chose it over a
commercial release.
1. Shareware will let us distribute our program
throughout a wide area at a very low cost.
2. People can try the program for free to see if it is
something they would use. Normally, you would have to
determine this from comments on the box (oh, like those
aren't biased at all), through software reviews, or
hearsay.
3. Shareware lets us receive bug reports, dislikes, and
suggestions for future additions from many, many people.
6. Our registered users will be able to receive free
technical support (well, you have to pay long-distance
charges in some cases), and upgrades to future versions
at a substantially discounted price.
NOTE: We sincerely HATE "Cripple-ware". We didn't
release a sub-standard version for shareware users.
This is the latest and greatest version as of the
given release date, with ALL features enabled.
You've got what we've got!
2nd NOTE: Mouse Meister contains no irritating screens when
you start the program that beg for shareware
donations or display lengthy author credits. If
you want info on how to register, it is in the
documentation, or you can select the "Info"
menu from within Mouse Meister. Yes, to be honest,
we DO want money, but we don't want to bug you
to death to get it! Enough said.
Please, use the program....see if you like it. Give it to all
of your friends, upload it to Bulletin Board Systems. If you
decide you want to keep it and use it, please take the time to
register it. If you don't want to use it, then delete it. No use
in wasting disk space on something you don't want, right?
7
Our registration fee is only $16, which we feel is quite fair
for the features Mouse Meister offers. We will, however, accept
large cashier's checks for hundred's of dollars and we will barter
for exotic sports cars. (Please no cash or cars in the mail - they
could get lost.)
While using Mouse Meister, if you find any bugs or have any
problems, PLEASE let us know. We have tested this program
extensively, and have fixed all KNOWN bugs, but it is very possible
that you could find one that we missed.
If you suddenly think, "Hmmm, I sure wish Mouse Meister
could do such-and-such...", then let us know! We will do our best
to see that your suggestions appear in our next version if they are
useful and feasible. If you just have gripes or comments, we would
love to hear those too.
To register, send $16 along with the following registration form.
You will then be sent your registered copy of the newest version
available. You will also be eligible for future upgrades at reduced
prices, plus free technical support.
8
R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M
Mouse Meister Version 1.0
(Registration Fee: $16.00)
Date: _____________
Name: _____________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
City: ___________________ State: ______ Zip: __________
Phone: (_______) _____ - ________
Amount enclosed: $ ________ (Please fill in)
What version of Mouse Meister do you have?
________________________
Where did you get Mouse Meister?
__________________________________
Comments _______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
(Continue on back if needed)
With your registration, you get your own personal Mouse Meister
disk with your own personal serial number on it! This is included
free with your registration (so is shipping.) Just circle ONE of
the types listed below (all disks are low-density):
Media: 5.25" 3.5"
9
Send this form, along with your $16 registration fee (check or
money order preferably) to:
Mouse Meister
3151 Briar Lane
Southlake, TX 76092
Make check or money order payable to: Mouse Meister
10
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The authors of this software (and this lengthy documentation)
are both students at Texas Tech University (go Red Raiders!). As
such, we are poor and starving and would greatly appreciate making
loads of money from this effort (or at least a little). So, by
registering this version you can kill two insects with one foot:
You can encourage the free-enterprise system, and you can help put
two needy students through school!
11
INSTALLATION
To install Mouse Meister, simply create a directory on your
hard disk for it, copy all the files into that directory, and
append that directory name to the PATH statement in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file (see your DOS reference manual if your are
unfamiliar with the AUTOEXEC file or the PATH statement). Here is
a step-by-step installation procedure:
(Insert the disk with the Mouse Meister files into drive A)
(Type the following commands, changing drive ID's to suit your
system. NOTE: The directory can be named anything you
like, and drive B can of course be substituted for drive A)
Command Explanation
====================== ===============================
C: Switches to drive C
MD \MMEISTER Makes a directory named MMEISTER
COPY A:*.* C:\MMEISTER Copies all files from drive A
PATH=C:\MMEISTER Simple path statement. Mouse
Meister must be able to find
it's child programs (i.e.,
MMsetup) in your path. If you
already have a path set, then
just add ";C:\MMEISTER" to the
end of it.
MMEISTER Runs Mouse Meister
12
TAKE A LOOK AT IT
Unless you are not PC/mouse comfortable, go play with Mouse
Meister. A lot of the program is very obvious and will make a
little more sense when we talk about it in here if you've already
gotten a little feel for the program.
You really should at least skim through this doc-file no
matter how comfortable you feel with the program just to make sure
you aren't missing some of the not-so-obvious features, like the
all-powerful "relations" for instance.
The best way would probably be to print these docs out and
have them at your side while you just work through it a page at a
time. This may sound ridiculous, but we feel that most people will
understand and remember the majority of the features the first time
through due to the simplicity of the program. Hopefully, if you use
this method, you will only need to refer back to the docs occasionally
for help on some feature that you don't use very often.
13
THE MOUSE ENVIRONMENT
If you're new to the mouse world, first of all WELCOME! Don't
be intimidated. A mouse may be a little tricky to maneuver at
first, but once you get the hang of it, a new world is opened. If
written correctly, a program can be made MUCH easier and more
POWERFUL through the use of a mouse. This is the way Mouse Meister
was written. If you are having problems with your mouse's
"accuracy", find a public domain game that uses a mouse. This is
the fastest (and most entertaining) way to build mouse skills.
There are a few terms you need to be familiar with to make
your way through this manual. These are:
CLICK: This simply means to quickly press and release
the mouse button. Your mouse may have two or
three buttons, but in Mouse Meister we only
use the LEFT button (with one exception) for
CLICKing, so always assume we are referring to
the left one.
DOUBLE CLICK: This means to CLICK quickly, twice in a row.
This is probably the most difficult operation
to master, but with a little practice, you
should have no problem. If you just can't
seem to get it to work, you can adjust the
sensitivity to your liking with the setup
program. Read the THE MOUSE MEISTER SETUP
PROGRAM section to see how to do this.
DRAG: This means to press down the mouse button and
KEEP IT PRESSED. Normally, something will be
selected and will follow your mouse cursor as
you move it around the screen.
MOUSE MEISTER: Your soon-to-be favorite program.
These are the most important terms you will be seeing
throughout this manual. The mouse may take a little getting used
to, but it really is easy once you master it.
14
GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MOUSE MEISTER
To run Mouse Meister, simply type MMEISTER at the DOS prompt.
This command can easily be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so
Mouse Meister will automatically be loaded every time you boot your
computer. You should now find yourself looking at the Mouse
Meister "desktop".
NOTE: If the MMEISTER directory is not in your PATH
statement, you will need to change to the MMEISTER directory before
running it.
You have now loaded the MMeister shell, which in turn loaded
the MMovrlay program for you. The shell will stay in memory
until you exit MMeister. Now, if you have "Hog Memory" turned
off and run a program from within MMeister, the following will
happen:
MMeister will save the current desktop info to a
temporary file.
MMovrlay will remove itself from memory and run your
program from the 17K shell.
When you exit your program, you will automatically be
returned to the shell (since that is what ran your
program to begin with), and the shell will instantly
re-load MMovrlay with the temporary desktop file.
The shell should be totally invisible to you. Therefore,
when we casually mention MMeister throughout the docs, we are
really talking about MMovrlay, since that is the true meat of the
program. Technically speaking though, MMEISTER.EXE is the shell.
The background of the screen is referred to as the "desktop"
for a good reason. It is very similar to an actual desk, in that
all of your tools are placed upon it and can be left in any
arrangement you like. Your "tools" in Mouse Meister are
represented as either "windows" or "icons".
Windows are areas of the screen (usually small boxes) that
contain some sort of information.
Icons are representations of an object or operation that are
used for convenience. For instance, when you run Mouse Meister
for the first time, you should see a number of small boxes at the
lower left corner of the desktop. These are "drive icons",
or representations of your system's disk drives. In the lower
right corner of the screen is a small trashcan labeled "DEL" for
the operation it represents - DELETE.
15
Icons make many operations simpler and more logical in the
way they are invoked, creating a very friendly atmosphere for computer
users. You will see many examples of windows and icons as you
continue to explore Mouse Meister.
Many functions can be invoked using the windows and icons on
the desktop, but others reside in Mouse Meister's "drop-down"
menus. These menus are located along the top row of the screen,
just above the desktop. They are labeled from left to right,
beginning with "Info" and ending with "Options".
To "drop-down" one of these menus, you simply move your mouse
cursor until it is over the menu title you want. The desired menu
will then drop itself down, revealing a number of different
options. Move your mouse cursor over these options, and they will
be highlighted as your cursor touches them (notice that you
haven't had to touch a mouse button or the keyboard yet!)
You may notice that some of the options are printed in a
lighter color than most and do not highlight when you pass over
them. These options are "unselectable" at the moment, because that
function is not available under the current circumstances. For
example, you cannot select "Close Window" if there is no window
open or selected.
When you have found the menu entry that you want, simply CLICK
on it to invoke that function. To close a menu without selecting
a function, you can either pull down another menu by touching it
with your mouse cursor, or you can move your cursor outside of the
menu area and CLICK your button. This will close the menu, and
return you to the desktop as it was before a menu was pulled down.
Now that you are familiar with the basic objects that sit on
your desktop, wouldn't it be nice to know how to use them? That's
what the next section starts explaining, so continue reading!
16
GENERAL DESKTOP FUNCTIONS
ACTIVATING AN ITEM
------------------
No matter if it's a file window, drive-icon, file icon, or the
trashcan, you activate it by moving the mouse over it and CLICKing
on it (that's a single CLICK remember).
You can always tell what is active because it will have one of
the following attributes:
OBJECT ACTIVATED ATTRIBUTE NORMAL ATTRIBUTE
============ =================== ================
File Window Double border Single border
Drive Icon Double border Single border
File Icon Inversed colors Regular colors
Trash Icon Inversed colors Regular colors
INSTALLING A DRIVE ICON
-----------------------
Upon loading Mouse Meister the first time, all your drive
icons will be automatically made for you. This includes 1 to 2
floppies and as many consecutive hard drives as your system has.
In other words, if you have an A:, C:, D:, and F: drives on your
system, the first three will be detected, but the F: drive will
not be because there was no E: drive (so F: is not consecutive.)
This may be the case for RAM drives or networked drives. If
this happens on your system, or if you just want more than one
reference to a particular drive, follow this procedure:
Activate anything but an existing drive or file icon (i.e.,
activating the trashcan will work), and select "Install Desktop
Icon" from the "Options" drop-down menu.
This will give you an empty drive-option window to either
cancel or edit. Pick the edit option and type in the drive
letter to install. MMeister will then look up the specified
drive to see if it is valid. If it is a valid drive, it will be
placed on the desktop for you. Otherwise you will be given an
error, which in short means that you cannot install an icon for a
drive that is not currently recognized.
If you are installing a floppy drive, you must have a
formatted disk (blank OR non-blank - it WON'T write anything to
the disk!) in the drive before attempting to install it.
17
DELETING DRIVE ICONS
--------------------
If at some point in time you no longer have a need for a
specific drive icon, you can easily delete it from the desktop.
Simply activate the desired drive icon, then select "Install
Desktop Icon" from the "Options" drop-down menu. You will be
given a drive-options window that shows the information for the
selected drive icon.
Pick the "Delete" button with your mouse to remove this drive
icon from the desktop.
You will then be returned to the desktop, which will have one
less drive icon than it did a second ago!
DRAGGING ITEMS
--------------
NOTE: When DRAGging an object, the only way to be sure of
where you are releasing it is to note where the
cursor is when you release it.
Drive icons and file icons: Just CLICK and hold anywhere on
the icon. When you start DRAGging the icon, it will move with you.
You are essentially picking it up off the desktop temporarily.
When you release the button, you lay it back down at the new
location on the desktop.
See the section on file icons to find out more about them.
Refer to "DRAGGING FILES OR DIRECTORIES" section for more
information on dragging items.
Most functions either involve or affect a file window in some
way, so let's discuss those next.
18
OPERATIONS FROM THE FILE WINDOW
OPENING A FILE WINDOW
---------------------
A file window displays the files that reside on a particular
drive. It also allows you access to those files, so that you can
perform operations on them, such as copying or running them. File
windows will probably be your most important tools, so lets open
one to experiment with.
Remember those little drive icons we talked about earlier?
One of them should be active (double border around it) when you
first start MMeister (the other drive icons will have only a
single border.) To activate other icons, you simply CLICK on them
with your mouse cursor. Activate the drive icon that you wish to
get a file window of, and then DOUBLE CLICK on it (or press the
INSert key.) A file window should now open, labeled with the
selected drive letter on the top border of the window.
If a file window does NOT open, try a couple more times.
Chances are, you are just not used to DOUBLE CLICKing with the
mouse button. If you still can't get the hang of it, refer to the
section entitled THE MOUSE MEISTER SETUP PROGRAM to find ways to
adjust mouse sensitivity and practice your CLICKing.
Examine the file window. The top border of the window is used
to display the drive, current directory, and file template. (Note
that file windows always initially open to the root directory.)
Inside the window are the directories and files that are contained
on that disk. Directories and files are displayed in different
colors, with directories always appearing first (EXCEPT when you
choose to have no sort performed on files - then they are in their
regular DOS order.) The bottom border displays the number of
items in the current directory and how many bytes of disk-space
they use.
RUNNING A PROGRAM
-----------------
See a program you want to run? Just DOUBLE CLICK on it! Mouse
Meister will run your program, and load itself back the way it was
when you're finished. Easy, isn't it? You can run anything you would
normally run from DOS: .EXE, .COM, or .BAT files. A powerful
function called "Relations" will let you "run" other types of files,
like pictures, but we will talk about that later.
A file window also has three buttons that perform important
functions. Look at the corners of the window, and you will see
that all but the lower left corner have markers, or buttons, on
them. We will discuss these buttons next.
19
THE FULL SCREEN BUTTON
----------------------
You may notice that not all of your files fit in the file
window because the window is too small. One way to solve this
problem is to CLICK on the "full screen" button, located at the
upper right corner of the file window. It looks like a circle with
an arrow pointing to the upper right. CLICK on it with your LEFT
mouse button, and the window should re-size itself to take up the
full screen, allowing you to see many more files. Notice that
Mouse Meister automatically displays the maximum number of columns
that will fit in the window, unless you have this feature
disabled. To get the file window back to its previous size,
simply CLICK on the full screen button again.
THE RE-SIZE BUTTON
------------------
If you don't want the file window to take up the full screen,
but you DO need it just a little bigger (or smaller), you can
adjust its size by using the "re-size" button. Position your
cursor over the lower right corner of the file window, and press
the left mouse button, but DON'T RELEASE THE BUTTON yet. While
still holding the button down, move your mouse around (this is
known as DRAGging.) See how the lower right corner of the window
follows your movement? This allows you to size the window as you
like (within the screen's limits, of course), up to full screen and
as small as one column of information. When you have the window at
the size you want, release the mouse button. Mouse Meister will
redraw the window at its new size, adjusting the number of columns
that can be displayed.
THE CLOSE WINDOW BUTTON
-----------------------
If you are finished with a file window, and don't want it
taking up space on your desktop anymore, you can simply close it by
CLICKing on the upper left corner of the window. The file window
will disappear, revealing whatever was beneath it (probably just
the desktop at this point.)
NOTE: The DELete key performs the same function as the Close
Window button. (All window actions take place in whichever window
is currently active.)
20
THE SCROLL BUTTONS
------------------
I know we said there were only three buttons on a file window,
but two of them have dual functions. The upper-right and lower-
right buttons also allow you to scroll through a file window,
viewing files that lay above or below its boundaries.
To see files that are below the bottom of the window, CLICK on
the lower right corner with your RIGHT mouse button. A new row of
files should scroll onto the screen, pushing the top row out of
view. To bring that top line of files back into the window, CLICK
with your RIGHT button on the top right corner of the window. The
files should scroll back down to their original positions. You can
hold your right button down to scroll more than one line, and
release it when you want to stop scrolling. If the files scroll
too slowly or too quickly for your liking, this speed can be set
with Mouse Meister's "Set Preferences" option.
MOVING A FILE WINDOW
--------------------
You can also relocate the entire file window to a new position
on the desktop. CLICK anywhere on the top border of the file
window (between the two buttons), and keep the button held down.
Notice that the top border now contains the message "MOVING...".
Continue holding your button down, and DRAG the file window to its
new position. Release the button, when you have it at the desired
location.
21
CHANGING DIRECTORIES
--------------------
When a file window is active, you can change directories by
DOUBLE-CLICKing on the directory name you wish to switch to. To
go back one directory, just DOUBLE-CLICK on the ".." directory name
on the first or second line of the file window.
NOTE: Pushing the '-' key is the same as DOUBLE-CLICKing on
the ".." symbol.
SELECTING ITEMS
---------------
File windows, drive icons, file icons: Just CLICK anywhere on
the icon or window. That object will immediately show it's
selected attribute (double-border for drive icons and file windows,
inverse colors for file icons and the trashcan.)
Items within a file window: For files and directories within
a file window, follow these steps:
To select multiple items:
1. Use the SHIFT key. If you wanted to select 3 files
for instance, you would press and hold the SHIFT
key, single CLICK on each of the 3 files, then
release the SHIFT key. If you don't hold down the
SHIFT key, the previously, non-SHIFT-selected file
will be automatically unselected. It sounds
confusing, but you'll quickly understand it once
you play with it a little.
2. Use the SHIFT-DRAG combination. If you wanted to
select all the files in the left column of the file
window, you would press and hold the SHIFT key,
position the mouse cursor over the first file to be
selected, press and hold the mouse button, DRAG the
mouse cursor down the window to the last file to be
selected, release the mouse button, release the
SHIFT key. If you do this, then every file your
mouse cursor passes over in the active file window
will get selected.
3. Use the SPACE bar. The SPACE bar will toggle all
currently selected files to unselected mode, and at
the same time, it will toggle all unselected files
to selected mode. Say you wanted to select all but
2 files. You would SHIFT select those 2 files, let
off the mouse button and SHIFT key, press SPACE
22
bar. At that point it would unselect those 2 files
and select everything else.
To Unselect multiple files:
1. Follow the same methods as above (except number 2),
but do it to already selected files. (i.e., CLICKing
on a selected file will unselect it.)
2. Use the BACKSPACE key. Hitting the BACKSPACE key
will unselect ALL currently selected files within
the active file window.
DRAGGING FILES OR DIRECTORIES
-----------------------------
For files and directories within a file window, follow these
steps:
1. Select the items as you normally would (see
SELECTING ITEMS.)
2. CLICK and hold on an already-selected item. A box
will appear reminding you how many items you are
DRAGging, and the cursor will be positioned in the
upper-left corner of this box. This cursor
position is the focal point of everything you are
DRAGging. (i.e., when you release the DRAG, the
program will see if that cursor was on top of the
trashcan, another file window, etc. It doesn't
care about any other part of the box!!)
To CANCEL a DRAG, just release the files onto the desktop,
making sure that the cursor is not on top of the trashcan or
another file window. This will cancel the DRAG unless you are
DRAGging one file. In that case it is assumed that you want to
create a file icon, but if you just want to cancel the DRAG with a
one-file DRAG, release it right back to where you picked it up from
(in the same file window and on the same file).
NOTE: You must make a window active (by single CLICKing
on it), if it is not already, before SELECTS and
DRAGS will work!
23
RENAMING A FILE
---------------
Renaming a file is a breeze. Just select the filename that you
want to change, then select "Show Info" from the "File" drop-down
menu. A small window should pop up containing the filename, size,
date, and time information for that file. Simply click on the
filename, and a text cursor should appear. You can now edit the
filename. Hit return when you are finished typing, then select "Save"
if you are satisfied with the name you typed. If not, you may select
"Cancel" to exit without renaming the file.
DELETING A FILE
---------------
No problem. First, select all the files and/or directories
within a file window that you wish to delete. Second, put the
mouse cursor on top of one of the selected items and DRAG it out.
Just DRAG the items to the trashcan icon, then release the
button (the cursor, not just any portion of the DRAG box, must be
positioned somewhere over the trashcan icon.) You will then be
asked to confirm the delete (unless you have disabled this
feature.)
REMEMBER, if you DRAG a directory to the trashcan, it will
delete everything in that directory - including any directories
that are under that one, and it will remove the directory name.
This makes our delete option very powerful (and oh so nice!), but
it is also a little dangerous in that Mouse Meister assumes you
know what you are doing. You will only be questioned if you
haven't disabled confirms!
ALSO REMEMBER that if you are holding the CTRL-key down when
you release the button on the trashcan, YOU WILL NOT be prompted to
confirm, even if you haven't disabled confirms! Another handy
shortcut, but use the force wisely Luke.
24
COPYING A FILE
--------------
First, open a window that will be the source, and a second
file window that you want to copy the files to (i.e., To copy some
files/directories from C: to B:, open a window for C:, then open
another one for B:.) If you want to copy the items into a
directory that is on the same disk, you don't necessarily have to
open a second file window - see two paragraphs down.
Just select all the files and/or directories within a window
that you want to copy, put the cursor on one of the selected items,
and DRAG the items over to the other file window.
Where you DRAG the items is the key thing here. Releasing the
files on top of a directory will copy all items INTO that
directory. Just releasing the items on top of another file window
(either in blank space, or on top of a file) will copy all the
items into that file window's current directory.
NOTE: If you DRAG the items to the same window that you
picked them up from, Mouse Meister will do one of
two things:
1. If you released the items on top of a file or blank
space in the same window, the action is canceled.
2. If you release the items on top of a directory in
the same window, Mouse Meister will attempt to copy
all selected items into that directory.
Mouse Meister will always check for cyclic or impossible
copies. In other words, if you try to copy a directory into
itself, you will be shown a message that says "Can't copy a
directory into itself!". Similarly, if you try to copy a
directory to somewhere that already contains a directory with
that name, your attempt will fail. This is not true for files
however. You can copy files with the same names on top of each
other. If that was confusing, just remember that these rules are
exactly the same ones that DOS uses.
25
MOVING A FILE
-------------
Ahhh, the ease of Mouse Meister. "Move" is almost EXACTLY
like "copy". The only difference is that you need to be holding
the CTRL-key down when the button is released at the desired
location.
It does not matter when you hit the control key, as long as
it is being held while the button is released. In other words,
just hit the CTRL-key at any time during the item DRAGging and
keep it held during the release of the mouse button, and if you
want to be safe, keep that CTRL held until the confirm MOVE box
appears.
You will notice that while you're DRAGging, any time you hit
the CTRL-key, the cursor changes to an 'M' to alert you that you
are in MOVE mode. If you release the CTRL-key, but not the mouse
button, the cursor will change back to normal. Try it out by
DRAGging some files around and tap on the CTRL-key two or three
times.
As noted earlier "moving" an item(s) to the trashcan will
perform a full delete of the selected items WITHOUT a confirm.
The move function simply copies the selected items, and if
successful at that, it will delete the originally selected items.
The following paragraph describes the built-in safety feature of
the move command.
If for any reason Mouse Meister cannot complete the initial
copy of a move with 100 percent accuracy, the originals will NOT be
automatically deleted and you will be informed that something went
wrong.
EXECUTING A PROGRAM
-------------------
Running your favorite programs is quite easily done from within
Mouse Meister. If, while looking through your file window, you see a
particular program you would like to run, just double click on it.
The program will load up just as if you had run it from DOS. When you
exit your application, you will be returned to Mouse Meister, with the
desktop just as you left it.
If you want Mouse Meister to pause immediately after your program
has run, just select the "Pause after File Runs" option from the
"Options" drop-down menu (or [Alt] P if you prefer to use the hotkey.)
Selecting this will pause after all files that you run (except file
icons and relations, which have their own individual settings for
pausing.) File icons are also a great way to run your programs, so we
will cover those next.
26
FILE ICONS
Essentially, a file icon is one of the quickest, easiest, most
natural menu systems you've ever seen! We will now go through an
example of setting up a file icon, which we feel better illustrates
how they work and what they do.
Let's say I have a word processor with the filename,
"PROCESS.EXE" that I use quite often. I decide to make it a file
icon because I heard that those are really great.
First I open a file window for whatever drive PROCESS.EXE is
on. Next I change to the directory that the word processor is in
by DOUBLE-CLICKing on the directory name. Now I scroll down, if I
need to, until I see PROCESS.EXE. I then position the mouse
cursor over the filename PROCESS.EXE and DRAG it out over the
desktop.
CREATING I DRAG the file to an open area of the desktop
A FILE ICON (where no file windows, or icons presently are) and
release the mouse button, making double-sure that
the cursor is not over the trashcan. I now see the
filename sitting on the desktop and say to myself,
"Hmmm."
If I DOUBLE-CLICK on this newly created file icon, it will run
my word processor, but I don't feel like doing that right now.
If I CLICK-and-hold on the file icon, I can DRAG it
MOVING OR around to any place I want. If I release it when
DELETING A the cursor is on the trashcan, it will DELETE this
FILE ICON file icon - not the actual file, just the
representation of it that lays on the desktop.
I get tired of moving it around and decide to give
EDITING A it a label. To do this, I make sure the file icon is
FILE ICON selected, then move the mouse cursor to the menu item
"Options" and select "Install Desktop Icon..." from
that drop-down menu. I then see three options and pick
the one that says "Edit". I can now keep any options I
want by hitting ENTER on a line, or I can change any
line by BACKSPACING over text and typing in the change
and hitting ENTER. I also notice that MMeister set up
the correct drive, path, and runfile automatically and
this will never need to be changed except to add
runfile paramaters. The pause value is initialized to
be the same as the current setting that is in the
"Options" drop-down menu, but I can change it if I so
desire. Wow, am I impressed.
27
I backspace over the current label, which is just the
filename by default, and type in "My Processor". I am
allowed 16 characters for this label. I hit ENTER on
the last field and am returned to the desktop to see my
file icon with its brand new label.
Now, no matter what file windows are open or what
ONE GOOD drive I am currently on, anytime I want to use my
USE OF A word processor I can just DOUBLE-CLICK on it, and
FILE ICON Mouse Meister knows where to find it. The only time
this won't work is if I delete, rename, or move
PROCESS.EXE.
But wait, there's more! Let's say that I would sure
AND ANOTHER like to read up on that file called "MMEISTER.DOC".
GOOD USE I can just go to that directory in my file window,
OF A grab MMEISTER.DOC, DRAG it over until my cursor is
FILE ICON on top of the file icon "My Processor", release it,
and hold on to my shorts! Assuming my word
processor allows filenames to be passed to it on the
command line, then my word processor will load up
and automatically pull MMEISTER.DOC in for my
viewing pleasure.
Incredible? Maybe. Does it work? Definitely!! File icons
are a very powerful feature which we are sure you will use
constantly once you get the hang of them.
FILE ICON LIMITS
----------------
The number of file icons you can have on your desktop is
limited only by available RAM (and of course by how many will
fit on the desktop.)
Mouse Meister assumes you want to cancel the action if you
drop more than one item on the desktop. In other words, to make a
file icon, only the desired filename may be selected. If more than
one file is selected, or if the selected item is a directory, the
action is canceled.
You will also notice that if you DRAG more than one item TO a
file icon, nothing happens. This would be like running a file and
passing it more than one filename (you would rarely need to do that
anyway), or passing it a directory. If you need to add run-time
options, just edit the file icon (See "EDITING A FILE ICON") and
add the desired options to the filename. Almost any application
that allows command line options will want the options before any
filenames that are passed to it, so this should not generally be a
problem.
28
RELATIONS
Relations are one of Mouse Meister's most powerful and
convenient features. It is, in essence, establishing a
relationship or link between certain types of data files and
their parent programs. For example, if you wanted all files
with an extension of .DOC to be automatically loaded into your
favorite word processor when you double-clicked on them, all
you need to do is Establish a Relation.
To do this, you need to go into the directory that
contains your word processor, and select its .EXE or .COM file.
(i.e., for Word Perfect, you would highlight WP.EXE.) Then,
select the "Establish Relation..." item under the "Options" drop-
down menu.
You should now be prompted to enter two file extensions that
are to be "related" with your word processor. Type DOC for the
first extension, and just hit enter for the second extension.
NOTE: If you wanted another type of file to be related to
your word processor, such as .TXT, you could put it
in the second position.
NOTE2: You may have as many relations associated with one
file name as you desire. For instance, if you wanted
4 file extensions related to one application name, you
would just set up 2 relations for that application.
That's all there is to it! Now, if you see an interesting
.DOC file in your directory that you would like to look at (for
example, let's say the ever-popular MMEISTER.DOC), all you have
to do is go double click on it, and it will be loaded right into
your word processor.
Files can be related to either .EXE, .COM, and even batch
files, providing you with high flexibility. The possible uses
for Relations are endless! Another very useful example would be
relating .ARC files to a batch file containing the line:
@PKXARC -v %1
This would allow you to just click on a .ARC file, and have its
contents displayed to you on the screen! If you wanted to pause after
displaying these contents, all you have to do is edit the relation,
which is discussed on the next page. This tiny batch file
assumes that the directory containing PKXARC.EXE is contained in
your path. You could, of course, supply the full path for PKXARC
in the batch file. Play around with Relations, and you will soon
have many favorites.
29
Suppose you wanted to have a specific documentation file
(.DOC file) as a file icon so that when you DOUBLE CLICKed on that
file icon, you would see this DOC file load into a text editor or
word processor, but you only wanted THAT SPECIFIC doc file to
work that way. In this case, you wouldn't want a relation.
Just DRAG the desired text editor, word processor, or batch file to
the desktop to make it a file icon. Next, edit that icon and
append the name of the doc file to the end of the run-file name
(i.e., "PROCESS.EXE C:\DATA\README.DOC" may be the new runfile name.)
You can of course change the label to whatever you want also.
NOTE: The run-file name of a file icon is limited to 40
characters in length, including any switches or
filenames passed on the command line.
DELETING/EDITING A RELATION
---------------------------
If you wish to change or delete an existing relation, you must
first pick "Edit Relation" from the "Options" drop-down menu. You
will then be given a list of all existing relations. Now just choose
the one you wish to edit or delete and another window will come up
that shows you what is currently in that relation, including the
current pause status for it. You may choose "Edit" to change these,
or "Delete" to remove this relation. Choosing "Cancel" will return
you to the desktop with no changes made.
Choosing "Edit" will allow you to change what extensions are
related and whether or not to pause after this relation has been run.
NOTE: "Edit Relation" will be unselectable if there are no
existing relations.
30
SAVING THE DESKTOP
Once you have your desktop set up exactly to your liking,
including relations, file icons, file windows opened and all of the
corresponding screen locations, you will want to save that puppy! To
do this, just select "Save Desktop" from the "Options" drop-down menu.
If a saved desktop already exists, you will be asked if you want to
overwrite it. Select "Yes" to save your newer desktop.
Next time you run Mouse Meister, your desktop will be returned to
you exactly how you saved it (except all file windows will be scrolled
to the top of the directory they were in when you selected the save
desktop feature.)
31
DROP-DOWN MENUS
The following pages give a quick overview of the various
drop-downs available. The bracketed ([ ]) options to the left of
some selections represent hot-key combinations. They act exactly
the same as pulling the menu down and selecting the option.
Hot-keys will only work in the same situations that their corre-
sponding menu options will, of course. If you are not comfortable
with operating Mouse Meister's drop-down menus, refer back to the
section entitled "GETTING FAMILIAR WITH MOUSE MEISTER."
NOTE: The notation "[Alt] R", as an example, means push
and hold the 'Alt' key on your keyboard and tap the
'R' key.
THE "FILE" DROP-DOWN
--------------------
Info File View Sort Options
+-"--------------------------+
| Open [Ins] | ----> Opens a file window for
| Show Info [Alt] N | ---. the highlighted file icon
|============================| |
| Close Directory [-] | -. `---> Shows information for
.--- | Close Window [Del] | `--. the currently selected
| |============================| `. file window or
| | Make a Directory [Alt] M | ---. `. drive icon
| | Format Floppy [Alt] F | -. | `-.
| |============================| | `-. `--> Backs up one
| ,- | Quit the Meister [Alt] X | | | directory from the
| | +----------------------------+ | `-. current one
| | | |
| | ,--' |
| `--> Quits Mouse Meister .--' |
| | `--.
| \|/ |
| ` |
`-----. Format the selected |
`. drive \|/
`--. `
`-----> Closes the currently Prompts for a new
active file window directory name. The
new directory will be
placed in the current
directory of the
selected file window
NOTE: For the "Format Floppy" option to work, you must have
the DOS program FORMAT.COM in your path.
32
THE "VIEW" DROP-DOWN
--------------------
Info File View Sort Options
+-"---------------------------+
| Single Columns [Alt] C | --> Toggles between
.-------- | Show Size [Alt] S | showing single or
| .---- | Show Date [Alt] D | multiple columns for
| | |=============================| the currently
| | | Update Window [ESC] | --. active file window
| | +-----------------------------+ |
| | |
| `--> Toggles ON/OFF whether |
| the date is shown for files `--> Re-reads the
| in the currently active file currently active
| window file window,
| resetting it
| to the root, but
`---------> Toggles ON/OFF whether keeping the
the size is shown for template intact
files in the currently
active file window
33
THE "SORT" DROP-DOWN
--------------------
Info File View Sort Options
+-"--------------------------+
,-- | Sort By Name F1 |
,---- | Sort by Date F2 |
.--------------- | Sort by Size F3 | .-> View files in
| `-- | Sort by Type F4 | | the order DOS
| | No Sort F5 | -' thinks they
| |============================| are in.
| | Select Template F10 | -.
| +----------------------------+ |
| |
| |
`----> Toggles between sorting files \|/
by name, date, size, or type `
for the currently active file Prompts for a temp-
window. late to be applied
to the current file
window. (i.e., "*.C"
would show only files
that have ".C" as an
extension.) This
remains intact until
the template is reset
(Default template is
always "*.*")
34
THE "OPTIONS" DROP-DOWN
-----------------------
Info File View Sort Options
+-"----------------------------------+
.--------------------- | Install Desktop Icon... [Alt] I |
| | Establish Relation... [Alt] R | ---.
| | Edit Relation... [Alt] E | --.|
| |====================================| ||
| .---------------- | Pause after File Runs [Alt] P | ||
| | | Set Preferences... F6 | -.||
| | .----------- | Save Desktop F7 | |||
| | | +------------------------------------+ |||
| | | |||
| | \|/ .----------------'||
| | ` \|/ ||
| | Saves the current ` ||
| | desktop configuration Loads the setup ||
| | (including coordinates program (for colors, ||
| | for windows and all miscellaneous startup ||
| | icons and all the infor- options) ||
| | mation associated with ||
| | them) ||
| | ||
| `-----> Toggles between "Pause..." and "No Pause..." ||
| which refers to the way MMeister returns from ||
| a program that you run by double-clicking on. ||
| If this option is set to "Pause..." then you ||
| will be prompted to hit a key after your ||
| program runs. This does not affect file icons ||
| or relations because they have their own settings ||
| ||
`------> Creates a new or edits an existing icon, ||
depending on what is highlighted ||
(default is a drive icon.) It does not ||
create file icons, only lets you edit .-'|
pre-existing ones. See FILE ICONS for | |
information on how to create file icons. | |
| |
Let's you pick from a list of previously <-' |
established relations and change them or |
delete them. (This option is only |
selectable if at least one relation |
has already been installed) .----'
\|/
`
Prompts for up to two extensions that may
be run with the selected file. When a file
with either of these two extensions is
DOUBLE-CLICKed on, its related program will
be run with that file being passed to it as
the last thing on the command line.
35
THE MOUSE MEISTER SETUP PROGRAM
The setup program may be run from within Mouse Meister via the
"Set Preferences..." option from the Options drop-down, or it can
be run from DOS by typing MMSETUP at the DOS prompt. If loaded
from Mouse Meister, you will automatically re-enter the program
upon exiting the setup facility, and any changes to Mouse Meister
that were made in the setup will be in effect.
When you enter the setup program, you will notice a desktop,
a file window, a drop-down menu, some sample icons, a clock, and
an options window. Something like this:
(Forgive the ASCII translations, but some printers don't like
the extended ASCII codes.)
9:33 PM
+========File Window========+ +------Drop Downs-------+
# # | | File Icon
# # | Highlighted option |
# DIRECTORY # | Regular option | Selected Icon
# SELECTED DIRECTORY # | Unselectable option |
# # | | +====+ =+===+=
# FILENAME # | Other | # C: # |DEL|
# SELECTED FILENAME # +-----------------------+ +====+ +---+
# #
# # +=================+
# # # Other Options #
# (Dead-space) # # - and - #
# # # EXIT MMSETUP #
+===========================+ +=================+
36
SETTING UP THE FILE WINDOW COLORS
---------------------------------
CLICKing anywhere on the file window will let you set up the
colors for it. The important thing is where you CLICK on it! If
you CLICK anywhere other than one of the 4 names inside the window,
nothing will happen. When you CLICK on one of the names, you will
be given a color menu - one set of colors for the foreground, one
for the background, and an OK and Cancel box.
In some instances, you are changing a little more than JUST what
you selected. For instance, if you change the directory color, the
border will change to the same thing. Obviously this should tell you
that the border will always be the same color as that of the
directories. Here is a list to help you out:
I CHANGE THIS... THIS WILL CHANGE TO MATCH!
================== ==========================
Directory color File window's border color
Selected dir color Top border path info color
Directory background File background
Directory foreground Selected directory foreground
File/Dir background File window's main color
Once you are through playing around with this, if your new
colors suit you, just hit OK. Otherwise, hit Cancel to revert to
the existing colors. You can also exit the program without saving to
cancel all changes.
SETTING UP THE DROP-DOWN COLORS
-------------------------------
This works exactly the same as the file window in that you
CLICK on the specific option you want to set the colors for.
In the drop-down area, if you CLICK anywhere on the border,
you will be able to set the colors for the border (remember that
the file window's borders are set automatically depending on the
directory color.)
The only non-obvious color change comes when you change the
colors for "Regular Options". Doing so will also change the top
line of the screen's colors (including the clock's.)
37
SETTING UP THE FILE ICON COLORS
-------------------------------
To set the file icon colors, just CLICK on the file icon.
Changing the colors of the file icon will automatically change the
colors of the selected file icon. The change is an inverse of the
colors, which is sometimes not too pretty, but if you play with it
a little bit you will come up with a good combination.
SETTING UP THE DRIVE AND TRASHCAN ICON COLORS
---------------------------------------------
Just CLICK on whichever one of these you want to set colors
for. There is just one foreground and one background to worry
about. The trashcan does inverse when selected, but this does not
show up in the setup program. This is because the only time the
trashcan needs to be selected is when it is being moved, which
isn't all that common once you've got it where you like it.
THE CLOCK
---------
If you don't like the clock showing all the time, just
CLICK on it. CLICKing on that area of the screen in MMSETUP will
toggle the clock's status (either off or on.) If it is toggled
off, you will see the words "NO CLOCK" where the clock normally
is. This is just to remind you of the current status; the area
where the clock normally is will be blank in Mouse Meister if the
clock is turned off.
38
SETTING MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
-----------------------------
Selecting "Other Options and EXIT MMSETUP" will bring up
the following window:
+==================OPTIONS=================+
# #
# Click Delay: 3 Confirm Move: Y #
# Drag Delay: 3 Confirm Copy: Y #
# Scroll Delay: 2 Confirm Delete: Y #
# #
# Click here to test delays #
# #
# Screen Blank: 5 Hog Memory: N #
# Sort By: NAME Stop CGA Snow: N #
# Show Name &: Direct Video Wrts #
# #
# Exit Save #
# #
+==========================================+
Any line you CLICK on in this window will allow you to change
the given option, with the exception of blank lines, the test line,
and the Exit/Save line. There are 12 changeable options in this
window. The following is what happens when you select the given
item:
CLICK DELAY
-----------
Prompts for a new CLICK delay. This action will affect single
CLICKs and double CLICKs only. A larger number means you can
wait longer between clicks on a double click, so set this number
a little higher if you are having trouble double clicking.
A time of zero, for instance, would disable double CLICKs and
everything would be treated as a single CLICK. In the same respect, a
time of 50 would mean that you could wait for quite a long time before
clicking a second time, and a double click would still be detected.
Single clicks would take a long time to register, though, since Mouse
Meister would wait the full 50 ticks to see if you pressed the button
a second time.
After changing a value, always test it on the test bar given in
the middle of the window. This will give you a good feel of how the
change will affect your mouse.
NOTE: All numbers are relative. They do NOT represent
seconds (actually, closer to a tenth of a second.)
39
DRAG DELAY
----------
The DRAG delay is how long you have to hold the button down
before it is detected as a drag. The longer the DRAG time, the
longer you must hold down the button to do a DRAG. A very short
DRAG delay may make it difficult to single or double click since
you would only have to hold the button down a short time for a
DRAG to be detected.
After playing with the CLICK and DRAG delay values for a
little while you will become comfortable with these two options
and the above paragraphs will actually make sense. Remember to
use the test bar every time you change a value so that you can
"feel" the change better.
CONFIRMING MOVES, COPIES, AND DELETES
-------------------------------------
CLICKing on any of these three fields will toggle that field
between a Yes or a No. This just means, "Do you want Mouse Meister
to ask you if you are sure about the Move/Copy/Delete that you
picked?" We strongly suggest keeping all three of these set to
Yes, simply because it is very nice to have a second chance to back
out.
SCROLL DELAY
------------
This option will allow you to change the speed that your file
windows scroll when you push one of the scroll buttons (see "THE
SCROLL BUTTONS" section.)
Decrease this value if you want a faster scroll. Again, the
numbers are not in seconds, but fractions of a second. The only
way to test the speed is to save the setup, exit back to Mouse
Meister, and test it by scrolling through a file window.
40
SCREEN BLANK
------------
This is how many minutes of inactivity to allow before blanking
out the screen. A value of zero here will disable screen blanking.
This is NOT a memory resident screen blanker, and will
therefore only work in Mouse Meister (won't work in the setup
program either.) It does have one powerful feature over 99% of
the screen blankers on the market - Mouse sensitive screen
blanking and un-blanking! This means that the screen won't blank
if there has been keyboard OR mouse activity in the last X amount
of minutes. Likewise, it will unblank with the touch of a key OR
with mouse activity of any type (movement or button press.)
We strongly suggest the use of the screen blanker, especially
for a monochrome system. If an image stays on your screen too
long, it will become a permanent part of the scenery for you, and
there is no way to get rid of it once it is there. Our screen
blanker or any memory resident one will protect you from this
terrible fate while you are in MMeister.
NOTE: The number in the "Screen Blank" field IS in
minutes.
NOTE 2: MMeister's screen blanker is totally compatible
with all display types!!
DEFAULT SORT
------------
Selecting this field will toggle you sequentially through 5
different options: Name, Size, Date, Type, None (meaning no
sort.)
These options are what your default will be when you open any
file window in Mouse Meister. This will not affect windows that
are currently open or saved in your desktop file.
STOP CGA SNOW OPTION
--------------------
This is for those of you with old CGA cards. If your screen
is having a blizzard while running Mouse Meister, then turn snow
suppression on. If that still doesn't fix it, try changing the "Use
Bios?" option also.
41
USE BIOS OPTION
---------------
If your CGA monitor still has snow, even with the "Stop CGA Snow"
option set to "Yes", you can choose to have Mouse Meister use your
BIOS to write to the screen. Click on the entry that says "Direct
Video Wrts", and it will change to "Use BIOS for updates". Clicking
on it again will change it back to direct video writes. Setting this
to use your BIOS will slow down your screen updates incredibly, but
will get rid of all traces of snow. Only set it this way if you
prefer a clean screen to speed.
HOG MEMORY OPTION
-----------------
We've saved the best for last. The name was just a filler at
first, but we decided it fit so well that it should stay in. This
option controls whether or not Mouse Meister shrinks itself to a
small shell before running a program.
Mouse Meister initially takes up about 174K of RAM. This
number will grow as the number of file windows and icons that you
have on the screen increases.
If you are running anything that requires more RAM than is
available when MMeister is in memory, you will want this option
set to off. This is what most people will want to use since most
popular applications require large amounts of RAM.
So what does Mouse Meister do if you set this option to off?
It does NOT make you wait while it builds a batch file. Here
is the process:
The "Hog Memory" option is set to off.
A program or file icon is DOUBLE-CLICKed on.
Your desktop configuration is saved to a temporary
file.
Mouse Meister throws itself into a 17K shell.
Your program is run.
You exit your program and the shell immediately reloads
Mouse Meister from disk, supplying it with the pre-exit
configuration that was saved to a temporary file.
42
SUMMARY: The built-in shell keeps all your
configuration options for you, including placement
of all icons, opened file windows, sort options,
etc. This eliminates the need for you to build a
batch file every time you run a program or
manually saving your current configuration. At
the same time, it takes up only 17K of RAM, which
is almost nothing these days.
If you do want to hog the memory, then Mouse Meister will
remain in memory while your program runs. This will take up
178+ K, depending on how many icons and windows are open. You
will get a slight speed advantage with this method however since
there is no disk saves or reads to perform.
All it boils down to is that you are not going to be slowed
down that much if you can't afford to hog the memory. We typically
just keep memory hogging off and let the Meister do all the work.
LIMITS FOR MOUSE MEISTER
Version 1.0
Item Limit Description
================= ===============================================
Drive Icons Unlimited!!! ^
File Windows Unlimited!!! ^
File Icons Unlimited!!! ^
Relations Unlimited!!! ^
Extensions within
a Relation 2 (meaning that each installed relation may
have up to two extensions associated with it)
Files within a
file window Unlimited!!! ^
Mice 1 (Must have a Microsoft compatible driver
installed to work properly)
===================================================================
^ Up to available RAM
43
DROP-DOWN MENU LAYOUTS
Info File View Sort Options
+----"-------------------+
| Talk To Me! |
+------------------------+
Info File View Sort Options
+-"--------------------------+
| Open [Ins] |
| Show Info [Alt] N |
|============================|
| Close Directory [-] |
| Close Window [Del] |
|============================|
| Make a Directory [Alt] M |
| Format Floppy [Alt] F |
|============================|
| Quit [Alt] X |
+----------------------------+
Info File View Sort Options
+-"---------------------------+
| Single Columns [Alt] C |
| Show Size [Alt] S |
| Show Date [Alt] D |
|=============================|
| Update Window [ESC] |
+-----------------------------+
Info File View Sort Options
+-"--------------------------+
| Sort By Name F1 |
| Sort by Date F2 |
| Sort by Size F3 |
| Sort by Type F4 |
| No Sort F5 |
|============================|
| Select Template F10 |
+----------------------------+
Info File View Sort Options
+-"----------------------------------+
| Install Desktop Icon... [Alt] I |
| Establish Relation... [Alt] R |
| Edit Applications... [Alt] E |
|====================================|
| Pause after File Runs [Alt] P |
| Set Preferences... F6 |
| Save Desktop F7 |
+------------------------------------+
44
TROUBLE-SHOOTING
Q: I load up Mouse Meister and everything looks fine except
that I get the message, "No mouse was detected..."
A: Mouse Meister didn't detect a mouse and is just letting you
know that fact. All that you can use without a mouse is
the hot-keys (including ALT-X for exiting.)
Check your mouse connections and make sure you have installed
your Microsoft-compatible mouse driver.
Q: Every time I run a certain file(s), the screen flashes black
for a second, then comes right back in to Mouse Meister!
A: You probably didn't have enough memory to run the program.
Try going into Options -> Set Preferences -> EXIT MMSETUP...
-> Hog Memory and CLICKing on it until it switches to 'N'.
Q: I run a file and the messages go by too quickly for me to
read.
A: This will happen if you run an information-only program (i.e.,
CHKDSK). The cure is to set the pause option on the drop-down
menu to say "Pause after File Runs" before running this file.
When this option is set, you will be asked to hit a key or
mouse button before returning to MMeister.
Q: I think $16 is way too cheap for this great program!
A: Feel free to send in more.
45
Q: I did something in error (i.e., tried to copy a file to an empty
drive A:, etc.), and I got this ugly DOS error on my screen
that I can't get rid of!
A: Yes, this is a minor bug that we came across and fixed where
we could find it, but it MAY crop up on you. This doesn't
affect the program except for the ugly message.
The cause for it varies, but it is usually an open drive door
or data error on a disk. We are intercepting all of these
messages that we know of and prettied them up to a MMeister
window. But please let us know if you ever find one of
these.
To get rid of the message, just run "Set Preferences" from the
Options drop-down, exit out of it, and when you re-enter Mouse
Meister, all should look normal. Or you can leave it on the
screen - it's ugly, but it doesn't affect the program at all.
Q: I want my unsolicited testimonial to appear in your docs.
A: Send it to us and we'll see!
Q: I found this bug that you didn't even bring up in the docs!
A: Write us and tell us about it!
46
UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS
(Yeah, right)
"Wow! What a concept! I use it constantly!!!"
Mark Blythe, MOUSE MEISTER author
"Not since Gone With the Wind has there been such a masterpiece.
Powerful, yet simple! Simple, yet elegant!"
Brad Coleman, MOUSE MEISTER author
"Gurgle blaphhht ga ga spittle!"
Some little kid
"Most excellent!"
Bill S. Preston
47
INDEX
activating an item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 47
backspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 27
batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 30, 42, 45
bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41, 42
bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 46
changing directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
click delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
click: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-38
close directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 44
close window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 20, 32, 44
close window button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 37
confirm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 26, 39
copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 12, 25, 26, 39, 40, 46
copying a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ctrl-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 26
death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
delete . . . . . . . . . 3, 7, 15, 18, 20, 24, 26-28, 30, 35, 39, 40
deleting a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
deleting a file icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
deleting a drive icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
direct video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
directory . . . . . 12, 15, 19, 22, 24, 25, 27-29, 31, 32, 36, 37, 44
dos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 2, 5, 12, 15, 19, 25, 34, 36, 45, 46
double click: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
drag delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 40
drag: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
dragging files or directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 23
dragging items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
drive icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-19, 32, 35
drop-down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 16-18, 27, 30-37, 44, 46
drop-down menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 32
edit a file icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
edit relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30, 35
establish relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 35, 44
executing a program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
exotic sports cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4, 7, 8, 13, 29
file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 12, 13, 15, 17-38, 40-46
file icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 23, 27, 28, 30, 32, 36, 38, 42
file icon limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
format floppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 44
full screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
future versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7
hog memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 15, 39, 42, 45
hot-key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 32
48
icon . . . . . . . . 17-19, 22-24, 27, 28, 30, 32, 35, 36, 38, 42, 44
important terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 15, 16, 32-35, 37, 44
install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 17, 18, 27, 35, 44
install desktop icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 18, 35, 44
installing a drive icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 20, 28, 43
make a directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 44
memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5, 15, 39, 41-43, 45
menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3, 7, 16-18, 27, 29-32, 36, 37, 44
mmovrlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
mmsetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 36, 38, 39, 45
money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 10, 11
mouse driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
mouse meister: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 14, 16, 18, 20, 26-28, 39, 40
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 17, 21, 26, 27
moving a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 26
moving a file window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
no sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19, 34, 41, 44
open . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 16, 19, 25, 27, 28, 32, 41, 43, 44, 46
opening a file window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
operations from the file window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 16-18, 27-37, 39-42, 44-46
path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 12, 15, 27, 29, 37
pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27, 29, 30, 35, 44, 45
pkxarc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 44
ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3, 5, 17, 28, 42, 43
ram drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
re-size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 8, 39
registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-10
relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29, 30, 35, 43, 44
remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 18, 24, 30
renaming a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
running a program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
save desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 35, 44
screen blank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 41
scroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 27, 39, 40
scroll delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39, 40
select template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 44
selecting items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 23
set preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 35, 36, 44-46
setting miscellaneous options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 14, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41
shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4, 15, 42
shift key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
shift-drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
49
show date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 44
show info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 44
show name & . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
show size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 44
single columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 44
snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 39, 41, 42
sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 19, 32-35, 39, 41, 42, 44
sort by date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 44
sort by name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 44
sort by size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 44
sort by type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 44
space bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 17, 41
toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 38, 40, 41
trashcan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 17, 22-24, 26, 27, 38
trouble-shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
unselect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
unsolicited testimonials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
update window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33, 44
view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 32-35, 44
window . . 3, 4, 16-25, 27, 28, 30, 32-34, 36, 37, 39-41, 43, 44, 46
50