{ D E S Q }






_________________________________________________________________



{DESQ} version 1.20

A command-line utility for DESQview

by: William E. Allen



Copyright, 1989 by William E. Allen

P.O. Box 834, Howell, Michigan 48843



{DESQ} version 1.2 by William E. Allen [70150,547]
Copyright 1989 by William E. Allen, PO Box 834, Howell, MI 48843




SHAREWARE

{DESQ} version 1.20, is Shareware. If you find this program
valuable and useful, please consider registering it by sending
$15.00 to William E. Allen P.O. Box 834 Howell, Michigan 48843.


DISTRIBUTION

The {DESQ} program and auxiliary files are copyrighted, but you
are hereby granted permission to make and distribute copies for
personal, non-commercial use. Use them yourself, give copies to
friends and co-workers, or distribute them for a cost-based fee
(of $10.00 or less) as part of a user's group or bulletin board
service. If you wish to distribute these programs in connection
with any other product, or for use in commercial applications,
please contact me for a license agreement. All of the files that
make up this product must be distribute together, in an
UNMODIFIED form.

The files you should have on the diskette, or in the archive are:

{DESQ}.EXE Executable program

{DESQ}.DOC This documentation

{DESQ}.REG A registration form: COPY {DESQ}.REG PRN


$$-PIF.DVP Example autostart DVP file


QM-PIF.DVP Example DVP: executes {DESQ} Menu DVUTIL

DVUTIL.MNU Example menu file started by QM-PIF.DVP


QT-PIF.DVP Example DVP: executes {DESQ} Start TPC

TPC.DVP Example DVP started by QT-PIF.DVP

TPC.BAT Example batch invoked by TPC.DVP



INTRODUCTION

{DESQ} is, in a sense, a command-line version of your DESQview
{DESQ} key (usually your Alt key). It can do, from the DOS
command line, many of the things you would normally do by tapping
the {DESQ} key.

Among {DESQ}'s features are:

* Open a list of windows automatically

* Start a window with prompting for parameters and directory

* Submenu facility

* Beep for a specified frequency and duration (useful in a
background batch file to signal success or failure)

* Hide or Show (unhide) a window

* Set the window Frame on or off

* Set Justify mode on or off

* Wait for a specified amount of time

* Resize and position a window

* Make a window background or foreground

* Name mail boxes and check for a named mail box (useful for
making sure a program is started only once)

and more.


GETTING STARTED

To use {DESQ} just copy the file {DESQ}.EXE to your hard disk.
{DESQ} is easiest to use when it is in a subdirectory that is
included in your PATH, but you can specify the full path when you
invoke {DESQ} if its directory is not in your PATH.

Once installed, type {DESQ} HELP to see a one-screen overview of
its commands. Press any key to clear the screen and return to
your DOS prompt after you have finished reading the help.





{DESQ} COMMANDS

The format of the {DESQ} command line is:

{DESQ} COMMAND [optional] /switches

The first word following {DESQ} is the COMMAND. Some commands
have required parameters, some have optional parameters, and some
have both. Required parameters are represented in brackets> and optional parameters are represented in [square
brackets]. There are also a couple of switches that can be used
with any command.

Here are the {DESQ} commands. The format of each command is
shown, followed by a detailed description. Commands can be
entered in upper or lower case, but upper case letters, at the
beginning of the command names, are used here to show the
shortest abbreviation allowed for each command. An ellipsis is
used to show when parameters can be repeated.



Open [,nn] [,H] ...

Use the Open command to automatically open one or more
windows. You can optionally specify an amount of time to wait
before opening the next window, and you can specify that the
window be hidden after it is opened.

This command is useful to open a default set of windows every
time you start DESQview. To do this, set up a DVP using Change
a Program so that the program name starts with some characters
that will cause it to be placed at the beginning of your Open
menu. Then simply press your Enter Key twice after DESQview
starts and the DESQview menu is displayed. I use "$$AutoStart
Apps" as the program name. Set the program to "{DESQ}.EXE" and
put "OPEN ..." on the parameters line. See the example
$$-PIF.DVP file on the {DESQ} release disk (or archive).

Of course you can use the DESQview LEARN facility to establish
your default windows too, but the LEARN facility takes some
global memory, and doesn't give you the option NOT to start
your default windows.

Required Parameters:

is the name of the DESQview Program
Information File. Specify the full path for the file if it
is not in the current directory. If the DVP file name
follows the standard DESQview convention of xx-PIF.DVP,
where xx is the unique 2 letter code used on the Open
Program menu, you need specify only the first two letters.

Optional Parameters:

[,nn] is a number of 1/10th seconds to wait after opening the
window before continuing to process the command line. nn can
be a number in the range 1 through 3276. A value of 1 will
delay for one tenth of a second, while 3276 will delay for
nearly 55 minutes.

[,H] indicates that the window should be hidden after it is
opened.

Examples:

{DESQ} Open BR,50,H DA,H DO

This example will first open BR-PIF.DVP (Brief Text editor),
allow it to run in the foreground for 5 seconds, then hide
it. Next, DA, the DESQview companions date book, will be
opened and hidden, and finally DO, a full screen DOS shell,
will be opened and left as the foreground task.


Start [d:\path] [parameters]

The Start command will start (open) a single DVP giving you
the opportunity to specify, or be prompted for, the path and
parameters to be used.

If both of the optional command-line parameters, [d:\path] and
[parameters], are given, the DVP will be started using the
specified values. If either is missing, the following window
will open allowing you to supply the information.

+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Directory C:\TP\WORK |
| |
| Parameters WIZBANG |
| |
| F1 Run F3 Save & Run Esc Quit |
+------------------------------------------------------------+

Change the Directory and Parameters fields and press F1 to
start the DVP with the new values, or press F3 to save the new
values into the DVP and then start it. You can press ESCape to
quit without saving the new information, or starting the DVP.

The DVP file you start with this command would not usually be
one that you keep on your Open Window menu, and need not
follow the DESQview DVP file name conventions. Use Change a
Program to create the DVP and give it some dummy value, such
as XX for the Keys to Use on Open Menu question. Test it,
using the normal DESQview Open Window menu using any values
you like for the Directory and Parameters questions. When you
are satisfied that it is correct, rename it to another name
(or copy it to another directory), and use Delete a Program to
remove it from the DESQview Open Window menu.

Required Parameters:

is the name of the DESQview Program
Information File. Specify the full path for the file if it
is not in the current directory. If the DVP file name
follows the standard DESQview convention of xx-PIF.DVP,
where xx is the unique 2 letter code used on the Open
Program menu, you need specify only the first two letters.

Optional Parameters:

[d:\path] is the drive and path to be the default when your
program is started.

[parameters] are any parameters you want to pass to your
program when it runs. If you wish to pass any of the
following: Space, Tab, Equals sign, Comma, or Semicolon in
your parameters, enclose the entire string in double quotes
"Like This".

NOTE: The optional parameters are positional. If [parameters]
is specified then [d:\path] must be specified as well.



Examples:

{DESQ} Start TPC

This example will start TPC.DVP after prompting for
[d:\path] and [parameters]. The TPC.DVP, in this example, is
setup as follows:

============================================================
Change a Program

Program Name......: TP Command-Line compiler

Keys to Use on Open Menu: XX Memory Size (in K): 376
------------------------------------------------------------
Program...: C:\DV\TPC.BAT
Parameters: WIZBANG
Directory.: C:\TP\WORK
------------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Writes text directly to screen.......: [N]
Displays graphics information........: [N]
Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [N]
Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

Press F1 for advanced options Press <- when you are DONE
============================================================


This DVP invokes a batch file, TPC.BAT, to do Turbo Pascal
compiles in the background. TPC.BAT looks like this:

@echo off
cls
C:\DV\{DESQ} Hide
C:\TP\TPC %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
if errorlevel 1 goto Error
C:\DV\{DESQ} Beep 990,2 0,1 990,3 /Q
exit
:Error
C:\DV\{DESQ} Beep 330,4 180,12 /Q
C:\DV\{DESQ} Resize 1 1 23 78 /Q
pause
exit



Menu

The Menu command lets you extend the DESQview Open Window menu
giving it sub menu capabilities.

Required Parameters:

is the only parameter. It is the name of your
menu file and may contain a path. The file extension will be
assumed to be .MNU if omitted. Each line in the file will
represent one item on your sub menu. Use any pure ASCII text
editor to create your menu. Each line in your menu file can
have up to four parameters. The first two are required and
the last two are optional. The parameters are:

[d:\path] [parameters]

is the text that will be displayed on the menu.
It should be enclosed in double quotes if it contains any
of the following characters: Space, Tab, Equals sign,
Comma, or Semicolon. The first upper case letter or digit
found in the string will be highlighted and used as the
selector character. You may also select an item from the
menu using the cursor keys or your mouse.

is the name of the DESQview Program
Information File. Specify the full path for the file if it
is not in the current directory. If the DVP file name
follows the standard DESQview convention of xx-PIF.DVP,
where xx is the unique 2 letter code used on the Open
Program menu, you need specify only the first two letters.

[d:\path] is the drive and path to be the default when your
program is started.

[parameters] are any parameters you want to pass to your
program when it runs. If you wish to pass any of the
following: Space, Tab, Equals sign, Comma, or Semicolon in
your parameters, enclose the entire string in double
quotes "Like This".

Examples:

{DESQ} Menu DVUTIL

This command will use a file named DVUTIL.MNU to display a
sub menu. DVUTIL.MNU is an ASCII text file as follows:

"C Calculator" CA
"D Datebook" DA
"M Memory Status" MS
"P Palette" PL
"S Setup" SE

The first item on each line is the text to display in the
menu. The items are enclosed in double quotes because they
contain spaces. There is room on the menu to display up to
22 characters.



Create the DVP files you invoke with your sub menus using
Change a Program as you usually would. Test them using your
DESQview Open Window Menu. When you are sure the DVP's work
properly, move them to another directory and use Delete a
Program to remove them from your DESQview Open Window Menu.

To invoke your sub menu using the {DESQ} program, setup a
DESQview Program Information File as follows:

============================================================
Change a Program

Program Name......: {DESQ} Menu DVUTIL

Keys to Use on Open Menu: QM Memory Size (in K): 64
------------------------------------------------------------
Program...: {DESQ}.EXE
Parameters: Menu DVMENU
Directory.: C:\DV
------------------------------------------------------------
Options:
Writes text directly to screen.......: [N]
Displays graphics information........: [N]
Virtualize text/graphics (Y,N,T).....: [N]
Uses serial ports (Y,N,1,2)..........: [N]
Requires floppy diskette.............: [N]

Press F1 for advanced options Press <- when you are DONE
============================================================
Change a Program Advanced Options

System Memory (in K)..: 1 Max Program Memory Size....: ___
Script Buffer Size....: 0 Max Expanded Memory Size...: ___
Text Pages: 1 Graph Pages: 0 Init Mode: ___ Ints: 00 to FF
------------------------------------------------------------
Window Position:
Max Height: 25 Starting Height: 0 Starting Row...: 0
Max Width.: 80 Starting Width.: 0 Starting Column: 80
------------------------------------------------------------
Shared Program
Pathname..:
Data......:
------------------------------------------------------------
Close on exit.........: [Y] Uses its own colors.......: [N]
Allow Close Window....: [Y] Runs in background .......: [ ]
Uses math coproc......: [N] Keyboard conflict (0-4)...: [0]
Share CPU when FG.....: [Y] Share EGA.................: [Y]
Can be swapped out....: [ ] Protection level (0-3)....: [0]

Press F1 for standard options Press <- when you are DONE
============================================================



Beep [freq] , [duration] ... /R=n

Use the Beep command to generate a tone of the specified fre-
quency and duration. The frequency is given in Hertz and the
duration is in clock ticks (approximately 18 per second).

This command is useful in a batch file that is running in the
background to signal success or failure. The advantage to using
this DESQview specific program rather than another utility,
like Nortons BE, is that {DESQ} uses the DESQview API to create
the sounds and is not dependent upon the timing of the machine.

Optional Parameters:

[freq] is the frequency in Hertz. The default is 900hz.

[duration] is the number of clock ticks to generate the sound.
There are 18.2 clock ticks per second. The default is 7.

Switches:

/R=n n specifies the number of times to repeat all of the tones
given on the command line.

Examples:

{DESQ} Beep 900,1 600,1 /R=10

This example produces a 900 Hertz tone for one clock tick
(1/18th of a second) and then a 600 Hertz tone for one clock
tick. The entire sequence is repeated 10 times. The result
sounds like a telephone ringing.



Hide (no parameters)

The Hide command will cause the window where it is executed to
be hidden. The task will continue to execute if it is allow to
to run in the background.

Examples:

{DESQ} Hide



SHow (no parameters)

SHow is the opposite of the Hide command. It will unhide the
window in which it is executed. This will not make the window
suddenly pop up on top of the foreground window, but it will
make it visible in the background if there are no other windows
covering it.

Examples:

{DESQ} SHow



Frame ON | OFF

The Frame command lets you turn the frame on and off for a
window.

Examples:

{DESQ} Frame off

This example will remove the frame from the window where it
is executed. To restore the frame type:

{DESQ} Frame on



Justify ON | OFF

The Justify command lets you set automatic justification mode
on or off for a window. Normally, with justify mode on,
DESQview will automatically scroll your window to keep the
hardware cursor visible. If you set justify mode off, DESQview
will not scroll your window.

Examples:

{DESQ} Justify off



FOreonly ON | OFF

The FOreonly command lets you select whether the window will
run only when it is in the foreground, or if it will continue
to run when it is switched into the background. The default for
a given window is specified in its DVP.

Examples:

{DESQ} FOreonly on

This example will set the window so it runs only when it is
in the foreground. To allow it to run in the background type:

{DESQ} FOreonly off



Name

The Name command assigns a name to the default mailbox associa-
ted with the window where it is executed. This is handy when
used in conjunction with the /ONLYIF and /NOTIF command line
switches (defined later) to keep from opening a particular
window more than once.

Required Parameters:

is the name you want to assign to the default
mail box.

Examples:

{DESQ} Name Fred

In this example {DESQ} will attempt to name the default
mailbox "Fred". If there is already a mailbox with the same
name, {DESQ} will display an error message and terminate with
an error code of 1. The error code can be tested in a batch
file:

{DESQ} Name Fred
if errorlevel 1 exit
rem continue with batch file...


SUspend (no parameters)

Use the SUspend command to hide a window and suspend it so that
it does not continue to execute in the background.

Examples:

{DESQ} SUspend



Resize , , ,

The Resize command is used to change the location and size of a
window.

Required Parameters:

The top row where the window will start. The number can
be in the range 0 through 25 which will allow you to position
part or all of the window off of the physical screen!

The left-most column where the window will start. It can
be in the range 0 through 80 and can also result in part of
the window being positioned off of the physical screen.

is the new length of the window.

is the new width of the window.

Examples:

{DESQ} Resize 4,17,20,60


Wait [10th secs]

The Wait command will suspend the window where it is executed
for the specified amount of time.

Optional Parameters:

[10th secs] The amount of time to wait. The default is 10 which
is one second.



Goback (no parameters)

The Goback command will make the window where it is executed
the bottommost in the system. If the window is the foreground
window, the next window in the list becomes the foreground
window.

Examples:

{DESQ} Goback



GOFore (no parameters)

The GOFore command will make the window where it is executed
the foreground window. Use this command with caution as it may
disrupt the window currently running in the foreground.

Examples:

{DESQ} GOFore


Top (no parameters)

This command will make a window the top most window within an
application. This is of little value since any task that has
multiple windows associated with it would have to be DESQview
specific anyway.

Examples:

{DESQ} Top



TOPSys (no parameters)

The TOPSys command makes the window where it is executed the
topmost window in the system. This should only be used when a
background application has to report something to the user but
does not want to become the foreground window.

Examples:

{DESQ} TOPSys



COMMAND LINE SWITCHES



/Q

Use the "Quiet" switch to supress the signon message and error
message windows. Most errors will still generate messages when
this switch is in effect, but they will simply be displayed on
the console rather than pop up in a DESQview error window.


/ONLYIF=

With this switch in effect the {DESQ} command will only be
execute if exists.


/NOTIF=

This switch will prevent the {DESQ} command from being executed
if exists. You can use this in conjunction with
the Name command to prevent a window from being opened more
than once.



SOME OTHER INFORMATION

* Curly braces are legal DOS filename characters and I used them
in the {DESQ} file name because that is the way the {DESQ} key
is represented in the DESQview documentation. Since {DESQ}.EXE
will usually be invoked from a batch file, or from a
xx-PIF.DVP file, I don't think typing the braces will bother
many people. Some people are irritated by such things though,
and if you are, please feel free to rename {DESQ}.EXE to
DESQ.EXE or any other name you like.

* If you wish to use the {DESQ} Open command to open a DVP name
in the current directory that begins with a digit, (e.g. 4D
for 4DOS) you will need to preface it with ".\" This is
because the {DESQ} command parser will treat the digit as a
delay parameter rather than a DVP file name. Using the form
".\4D" (without the quotes) references the DVP in the current
directory and works around the problem. Perhaps the next
version will be a little smarter!

* I have another program in the works called DVPEDIT. As its
name implies, DVPEDIT is, like Change a Program, an editor for
DESQview Program Information Files. But, unlike CP, DVPEDIT
can edit DVPs with any filename and in any directory (the
extension must still be DVP). And, DVPEDIT does not alter your
DESQview Open Window menu in any way. This makes it an ideal
companion to {DESQ}. DVPEDIT is also beneficial because it
comfortably combines both the standard and advanced options
screens of Change a Program into a single easy to edit screen.

Those who choose to register {DESQ} will receive DVPEDIT
automatically when it is available.


Please send comments to: Bill Allen, CompuServe ID [70150,547],
or at P.O. Box 834, Howell, Michigan 48843.

Thank You.