[Note: If your printer does not print IBM graphics characters,
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PALRUN

Documentation, Version 2.0










Copyright (c) 1990
All Rights Reserved



PAL Software NY
51 Cedar Lane
Ossining, NY 10562
BBS: (914) 762-8055







(R)
o

Association of
Shareware
o Professionals


MEMBER


PALRUN is a trademark of PAL Software NY







TABLE OF CONTENTS





INTRODUCTION AND QUICK START . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER 1: BASIC TERMS AND PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1 Basic Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Palrun as a Transient Program . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 Palrun as a Permanent Shell . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 The Palhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 The Palrun Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 The Commandline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.7 The Commandline Separator . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.8 Pointing to a new Palhouse . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9 Alter Egos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.10 Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.11 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

CHAPTER 2: REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1 Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 The Benefits of Expanded Memory . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Required Palrun Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 Required Compression/Extraction Programs . . . 18
2.5 Optional Editing and Viewing Programs . . . . 19
2.6 Optional Timed Events With Pal and Palarm . . 20

CHAPTER 3: INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Basic Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Advanced Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

CHAPTER 4: THE LINE EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

CHAPTER 5: SELECTING FROM PICK LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.1 Choosing With the Cursor Keys . . . . . . . . 29
5.2 Choosing With Name Search . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.3 Exiting the Pick List . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.4 Using a Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.5 Activating Your Selection . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.5.1 PCKHOUSE Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.5.2 PCKDIR Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.5.3 Archive Pointer Pick Lists . . . . . . . 33
5.5.4 PCKALIAS Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.5.5 QUEUE Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.5.6 Custom Menu Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . 34
5.5.7 Setup's Aliases and Menus Pick Lists . . 34
5.5.8 CHDIR Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . 34




CHAPTER 6: OBTAINING A DIRECTORY (PCKHOUSE & PCKDIR) . . . . 35

CHAPTER 7: "RUNNING" A TARGET FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
7.1 Running Files From an Archive . . . . . . . . 38
7.2 Running Files From a Subdirectory . . . . . . 40
7.2.1 Selecting Executable Files . . . . . . . 41
7.2.2 Selecting Archives . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.3 Selecting Directories . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2.4 Selecting Other Files . . . . . . . . . . 42

CHAPTER 8: EDITING A TARGET FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.1 Editing Files From an Archive . . . . . . . . 43
8.2 Editing Files From a Subdirectory . . . . . . 44

CHAPTER 9: VIEWING A TARGET FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
9.1 Viewing a File From Within an Archive . . . . 46
9.2 Viewing a Target File From a Subdirectory . . 47

CHAPTER 10: DELETING A TARGET FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.1 Deleting a File From an Archive . . . . . . . 49
10.2 Deleting a File From a Subdirectory . . . . . 49
10.2.1 Deleting a Directory Entry . . . . . . . 50
10.2.2 Deleting Protected Files . . . . . . . . 50
10.2.3 Deleting Other Files . . . . . . . . . . 50

CHAPTER 11: SORT AND DISPLAY CONTROL FOR FILE PICK LISTS . . 51
11.1 Changing the Sort Order . . . . . . . . . . . 51
11.2 Changing the Level of Detail . . . . . . . . . 52
11.3 Changing the Filemask . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

CHAPTER 12: RETRIEVING A PRIOR COMMAND . . . . . . . . . . . 54
12.1 Using the Cursor Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
12.2 Choosing From a Pick List . . . . . . . . . . 54
12.3 Searching With . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

CHAPTER 13: POINTING TO A NEW ARCHIVE . . . . . . . . . . . 56
13.1 Specific Pointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
13.2 Nonspecific Pointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
13.3 Resolving a Potential Ambiguity . . . . . . . 59

CHAPTER 14: ALTER EGOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

CHAPTER 15: ALIASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
15.1 Introduction to Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . 64
15.2 Creating Your First Alias . . . . . . . . . . 64
15.3 Adding, Editing, Deleting and Renaming
Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
15.4 Batch-type Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
15.5 Nesting and Chaining Aliases . . . . . . . . . 66
15.6 The PCKALIAS Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
15.7 Selecting an Alias Name . . . . . . . . . . . 67


iii




CHAPTER 16: CREATING AND USING CUSTOM MENUS . . . . . . . . 68
16.1 Selecting From a Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
16.2 Creating Your First Menu Entry . . . . . . . . 69
16.3 Adding, Editing, Deleting and Renaming Menu
Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
16.4 Additional Customization of Menus . . . . . . 72
16.5 Supplying a Header for the Menu Window . . . . 72
16.6 Showing Palrun Internals . . . . . . . . . . . 73
16.7 Saving Your Customized Changes . . . . . . . . 73

CHAPTER 17: CUSTOMIZING PALRUN: SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . 74
17.1 Introduction to the Setup procedure . . . . . 74
17.2 Aliases and Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
17.3 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
17.3.1 Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
17.3.2 Message Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
17.3.3 Palrun Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
17.3.4 Pick Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
17.3.5 Standard Operations . . . . . . . . . . . 79
17.3.6 Border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
17.4 Extractor Information . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
17.4.1 Output Path for Extraction . . . . . . . 81
17.4.2 Customize Parameters for Extraction
Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
17.4.2.1 Extraction Parameters . . . . . . . 83
17.4.2.2 Compression Parameters . . . . . . . 84
17.4.3 Extraction Program to Use With ARC
Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
17.4.4 Extraction Program to Use With ZIP
Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
17.5 Miscellaneous Information . . . . . . . . . . 87
17.5.1 Character Substitutions . . . . . . . . . 88
17.5.1.1 DOS Redirection Characters . . . . . 88
17.5.1.2 Commandline Separator Character . . 89
17.5.2 Toggle Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
17.5.2.1 Use EMS for Swapping? . . . . . . . 89
17.5.2.2 Use EMS for Overlays? . . . . . . . 90
17.5.2.3 Quiet Down the Comments? . . . . . . 90
17.5.2.4 Force pause before return? . . . . . 90
17.5.2.5 Keep tree info on disk? . . . . . . 91
17.5.2.6 Storage Directory for Tree Info . . 92
17.5.3 Directory Sort and Display Control . . . 92
17.5.3.1 Sort Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
17.5.3.2 Level of Detail . . . . . . . . . . 93
17.5.4 3-Button Mouse Definitions . . . . . . . 93
17.6 Palhouse Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
17.6.1 Name of File for Palhouse . . . . . . . . 94
17.6.2 Path Where Palhouse is Located . . . . . 94
17.6.3 Search DOS Before Palhouse? . . . . . . . 95
17.7 Viewer Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
17.7.1 Name of File Viewing Program . . . . . . 96
17.7.2 Prefix Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

iv




17.7.3 Suffix Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
17.7.4 Minimum RAM Required . . . . . . . . . . 96
17.8 Wordprocessor Information . . . . . . . . . . 98
17.8.1 Name of Wordprocessing Program . . . . . 98
17.8.2 Prefix Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
17.8.3 Suffix Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
17.8.4 Backup Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
17.8.5 Minimum RAM Required . . . . . . . . . . 99
17.9 File Save and Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
17.9.1 Load Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 101
17.9.2 Save Configuration File . . . . . . . . . 101
17.10 Save Changes Into Palrun & Exit . . . . . 102
17.11 This Session Only . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

CHAPTER 18: DOS ENHANCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
18.1 CHDIR / CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
18.1.1 Changing Drive and Directory
Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
18.1.2 Picking From a List of Subdirectories on
a Single Logical Drive . . . . . . . . . 105
18.1.3 "Super" CHDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
18.2 ERASE / DEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
18.3 DIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

CHAPTER 19: DOS REDIRECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

CHAPTER 20: SWAP FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

CHAPTER 21: ON-LINE HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
21.1 The Help Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
21.2 Context-Sensitive Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
21.3 Cursor Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
21.4 Redisplaying Previous Topics . . . . . . . . . 117
21.5 Mouse Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

CHAPTER 22: SUMMARY OF INTERNAL COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . 119

CHAPTER 23: GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

CHAPTER 24: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131


CHAPTER 25: REGISTRATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

CHAPTER 26: LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

CHAPTER 27: USER SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

CHAPTER 28: ASP OMBUDSMAN PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143



v







INTRODUCTION AND QUICK START




FEATURES:


Palrun is a multi-purpose program. Among other things, it
permits you to:

Run executable files from within archives or from
a subdirectory

Edit or view files from within archives or
subdirectories using your favorite editor and file
viewer

Delete files from an archive or subdirectory

Inspect the contents of archives and
subdirectories

Save many megs of space on your hard disk by
placing your programs into a "Palhouse," which is
a designated archive from which Palrun can run
them

Recall and edit previously executed commands
either from a visible pick list, or by typing a
few keystrokes and asking Palrun to fill in the
rest from a prior command

Issue several commands with a single stroke of the
key, thereby creating a kind of on the fly
batch file

Change drives and directories quickly and easily,
letting Palrun help you guess at the entire
directory name after you supply just a few
keystrokes

Create a customized menu for executing common
tasks

Initiate a complex series of commands with a few
keystrokes using the Alias capability



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Use a mouse to help you make selections (with
special support for 3-button mice)



FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE TO READ DOCUMENTATION:


It's easy to get started quickly with Palrun, even without
reading through all the documentation. This section of the
introduction shows you how to do it. For more detailed
instructions, glance at the Summary of Documentation below.

Copy PALRUN.EXE, PALRUN.OVR and PALRUN.HLP to a subdirectory
that is named in your DOS Path statement.

If you now issue the command

PALRUN

from the DOS prompt, you will enter Palrun's context-sensitive,
cross-referenced, on-line help. You'll see a highlight bar
centered over the topic entitled "Help on Help." To read that
topic, so that you can find your way around the help system, just
tap the key. Then, for an overview, take a look at all
of the first set of topics that precede the double bar.

You may also find it useful to browse through the Glossary
(Chapter 23 starting at page 126) and the Summary of Internal
Commands (Chapter 22, page 119).

Once you've satisfied yourself with the preliminary look at
the help system, you can try actually using Palrun.



ARCHIVES:


An archive is a file which is itself comprised of one or
more subsidiary files which have been stored within the archive
in compressed form by an archiving program. The archiving
program sets up the archive with its own form of internal table
of contents so that the individual components of the archive can
be identified and retrieved.

The virtue of creating archives is that one can assemble
closely related files into a single package, while at the same

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time substantially decreasing the amount of required disk space
as the archiving program compresses the component files.

The main disadvantage of archives is that in order to access
the individual components within an archive, one must invoke the
archiving program to extract the component before it is possible
to do anything with it. An archive is, by its nature, opaque.
Its components are not accessible for viewing or editing, and a
program residing within an archive may not be executed until it
is first extracted.

Palrun makes archives more transparent. Palrun will handle
archives created by all the most popular, commonly available
compression programs. If an archive comes with the extension of
ARC, DWC, LZH, PAK, ZIP or ZOO, then Palrun can handle it.

Palrun's magic is performed by using the appropriate
extraction program to extract from the archive the program you
want to run or the file you want to view or edit. Once the
operation is completed, the extracted file is deleted from your
disk. In the case where you call on Palrun to assist you in
editing a component file, the archive will be freshened with the
edited file.



PALRUN AS A TRANSIENT PROGRAM:


To use Palrun just to run an executable program from within
an archive and then return to DOS, you would issue the command:

PALRUN @ARCHIVENAME COMMANDLINE

"ArchiveName" (don't forget to add the "@" before the name
of the archive, no spaces between them) is the name of the
archive in which the executable file resides. Remember to
include the extension of the archive. If you do not specify an
ArchiveName, then Palrun will look for a designated archive which
we refer to as the Palhouse.


"Commandline" is the full command you would have given to
DOS if you were executing the program from the DOS prompt.

For instance, if your WP.EXE file is in a WPSTUFF.ARC
archive, you can have Palrun extract and run it with the command:

PALRUN @WPSTUFF.ARC WP

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If you want to feed to WP the name of a file you want to
edit, you could have issued the command:

PALRUN @WPSTUFF.ARC WP MYFILE

You may execute almost any executable file (having an EXE,
COM or BAT extension) from within any archive. The only
exception is programs which terminate and stay resident, such as
SideKick.

Make sure that the extraction program that you would

normally need in order to extract a file from the archive is
located in a subdirectory in your DOS path.

Remember that your programs must have access to all data and
overlay files, so those files cannot remain inside an archive.



PALRUN AS A PERMANENT SHELL:


To get to the Palrun Prompt, from which you can operate
Palrun as a permanent shell, issue the command:

PALRUN /P

You may optionally add a Commandline for Palrun to execute
before it comes to rest at the Palrun Prompt, and may designate a
particular archive:

PALRUN /P @ARCHIVENAME COMMANDLINE

The meanings of ArchiveName and Commandline are set forth
above in the discussion on using Palrun as a transient program.

While using Palrun as a permanent shell program, you can
summon the on-line help at just about any time by tapping or
by simultaneously clicking the buttons of your
mouse.

This quick guide to using Palrun as a permanent shell does
not begin to scratch the surface of the features that are
available in this mode. For that, you'll just have to read this
documentation, or else browse through the on-line help.




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SUMMARY OF DOCUMENTATION:


Here's a synopsis of the contents of this documentation.

Chapter 1 (page 7) describes the basic syntax for using
Palrun and some of the common terms used throughout this
documentation.

Chapter 2 (page 16) describes the hardware and software
requirements for using Palrun.

Chapter 3 (page 21) gives you simple installation
instructions for Palrun.

Chapter 4 (page 25) tells you how to use Palrun's line
editor when giving a command at the Palrun Prompt or when
providing input in other areas.

Chapter 5 (page 28) gives details on how to make a selection
from a pick list or a menu.

Chapter 6 (page 35) explains how to get a listing of files
in an archive or subdirectory so that you can pick from the list
in order to "run," edit, view or delete an entry.

Chapter 7 (page 38) tells you how to "run" a file from
within an archive or subdirectory.

Chapter 8 (page 43) tells you how to edit a file from within
an archive or subdirectory.

Chapter 9 (page 46) tells you how to view a file from within
an archive or subdirectory.

Chapter 10 (page 49) describes how to delete a file from
within an archive or subdirectory.

Chapter 11 (page 51) outlines how you can change the sort
order and level of display in the pick lists that you can get of
your archive contents and your subdirectory contents.

Chapter 12 (page 54) tells you how to recall a prior
Commandline for editing and re-execution.

Chapter 13 (page 56) describes how to point to a new
archive.


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Chapter 14 (page 61) describes Alter Egos, small programs
which substitute for a larger program which has been compressed
into your default Palhouse.

Chapter 15 (page 64) describes Palrun's Aliases, which are
like mini-batch files that you make Palrun memorize.

Chapter 16 (page 68) tells you how to create your own custom
menu with Palrun.

Chapter 17 (page 74) provides details on how to customize
Palrun's behavior.

Chapter 18 (page 104) describes the enhancements that Palrun
has made to the DOS commands of ERASE / DEL and CHDIR / CD.

Chapter 19 (page 110) tells you how to deal with DOS
redirection when using Palrun as a transient program.

Chapter 20 (page 113) describes how Palrun manages the
hidden Swap Files that Palrun sometimes uses.

Chapter 21 (page 116) tells you how to navigate the on-line,
context-sensitive help system.

Chapter 22 (page 119) summarizes all of the commands that
Palrun recognizes internally.

Chapter 23 (page 126) is a glossary of frequently used
terms.

Chapter 24 (page 131) contains common questions and answers
in operating Palrun.

Chapter 25 (page 138) describes how to register, and the
benefits thereof.

Chapter 26 (page 139) indicates the complete terms of your
license to use Palrun.

Chapter 27 (page 141) tells you how to obtain user support.

Chapter 28 (page 142) describes the Ombudsman procedures of
the Association of Shareware Professionals.





6







CHAPTER 1: BASIC TERMS AND PURPOSE




The main purpose of Palrun is to provide a simple user
interface through which you can navigate through your computer
usage, making archives almost as transparent as an ordinary
subdirectory. You can run a program or batch file located within
an archive or subdirectory. You can also view or edit a file
within an archive or subdirectory, using your favorite file
viewer or word processing program. Palrun will work with every
archive format in common usage.

By placing most of your commonly used programs and batch
files into an archive that you designate as your Palhouse (see
Section 17.6.1 at page 94), you can save huge amounts of space on
your hard disk at the cost of only a minor speed penalty when the
programs are invoked for execution.

Palrun provides a sophisticated shell which sits on top of
DOS, providing you with many enhancements to the DOS interface.



1.1 Basic Syntax


The basic syntax for using Palrun as a transient program is:

PALRUN [@ARCHIVENAME] COMMANDLINE

The basic syntax for using Palrun as a shell program is:

PALRUN /P [@ARCHIVENAME] [COMMANDLINE]

In both syntax descriptions above, the terms which are
surrounded by square brackets are optional. Do not type in the
brackets.



1.2 Palrun as a Transient Program


Running Palrun as a transient program is as simple as:

PALRUN [@ARCHIVENAME] COMMANDLINE


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"ArchiveName" (don't forget to add the "@" before the name
of the archive, no spaces between them) is the name of the
archive in which the executable file resides. Remember to
include the extension of the archive. The brackets above
indicate that specifying the archive is optional; don't type the
brackets when giving the command.

"Commandline" is the full command you would have given to
DOS if the executable file had been directly available to DOS.

For instance, if your WP.EXE file is in a WPSTUFF.ARC
archive, you can have Palrun extract and run it with the command:

PALRUN @WPSTUFF.ARC WP

If you want to feed to WP the name of a file you want to
edit, you could issue the command:

PALRUN @WPSTUFF.ARC WP MYFILE

Here's what happens after you give the command.

Palrun will search the designated archive -- or, if you do
not specify an archive, then Palrun will search the Palhouse
archive that you have previously designated in the Setup
procedure.

If Palrun finds in the archive the program you want to
execute, it will extract the program and run it with the
parameters that you specified on the Commandline. If Palrun
cannot find the program in the archive, then it will search your
DOS path. You can use the Setup procedure to tell Palrun to look
in your DOS path before looking in any archives.

At the completion of execution, Palrun will return you to
the DOS prompt after having deleted the program that it
temporarily extracted from the archive.



1.3 Palrun as a Permanent Shell


A more sophisticated method of using Palrun is to invoke it
so that you call up Palrun's very own command line interface with
the command:

PALRUN /P

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This brings you to what we call the Palrun Prompt. The "P"
is a mnemonic for Prompt.

An alternative to the above syntax is:

PALRUN /P [@ARCHIVENAME] COMMANDLINE

which will first run your Commandline before returning you to the
Palrun Prompt.

The terms ArchiveName and Commandline have the same meaning
as described in section 1.2 above.

To get back to DOS from the Palrun Prompt, just type

QUIT

and tap the key.

It is from the Palrun Prompt that you will be able not only
to run a program from within an archive but also to view, edit or
delete a component file of an archive.

In addition to making archives transparent in this way,
Palrun provides you with a host of DOS enhancements. These
include, for instance:

Easy editing of your Commandline

Up to several commands on a Commandline

Recall any of your 20 most recent Commandlines to edit
and/or invoke once again

Simple navigation through your subdirectories,
including point and shoot operation

Memorize a series of commands for playback at a later
date with Palrun's Alias facility

Create your own custom menu of up to 50 entries

Use an enhanced version of the ERASE / DEL command

Use an enhanced version of the CHDIR / CD command




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1.4 The Palhouse


The term "Palhouse" refers to an archive that Palrun will
look into to determine whether it can find a program that you
want to run.

You specify a default Palhouse in the Setup procedure, as
described in section 17.6.1 on page 94. You may change your
Palhouse at any time, as outlined in section 1.8 below.



1.5 The Palrun Prompt


The Palrun Prompt consists of two lines --

(1) a status line

(2) an entry line


Here's a picture of what you might see:


PALRUN E:\WP E:\UTIL\PALHOUSE.ZIP 12:17
>


The status line is divided into four boxes. The first box
displays the program name. The second box displays your current
drive and subdirectory. The third box displays the name of your
Palhouse, which is the currently active archive. Lastly, the
fourth box displays the current time, which continues to be
updated while Palrun awaits your input on the entry line.

The entry line begins with the ">" character, our old friend
from the DOS prompt. The rest of the line is a work area for you
to enter and edit your Commandline. You may enter as many as 255
characters for your Commandline. The text of your Commandline
will shift as the visible portion (79 characters) gets filled up
and more characters are typed.

Palrun provides you with a powerful line editor. The
commands for the line editor should be self-evident for anyone
familiar with either WordStar or WordPerfect commands. See


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Chapter 4 starting on page 25 for details about the Palrun Line
Editor.

The Palrun Prompt will always present you with the
Commandline that you most recently executed (with DOS, you would
have had to hit to get your prior command). From the Palrun
Prompt, you have a few simple choices:

1. Entering a New Commandline

Just start typing your new Commandline. Hitting any normal
character key (other than the space bar) will cause the old
Commandline to disappear and to be replaced by what you choose to
type. As you prepare your new Commandline, you may edit it with
the line editor.

2. Editing the Most Recently Executed Commandline

You can edit the Commandline that Palrun shows you. This is
done by means of the line editor that Palrun provides for your
convenience.

3. Recalling Prior Commandlines

Palrun remembers your 20 most recently executed
Commandlines. These prior Commandlines are held in what we refer
to as the Commandline Queue. For details on how to recall the
Commandline Queue, see Chapter 12 starting at page 54. Once you
have recalled a prior Commandline, you may then edit it and re-
execute.



1.6 The Commandline


The term Commandline refers to any normal command that you
could execute at the DOS system prompt. But Palrun provides a
tremendous enhancement beyond DOS's meager capabilities, in that
you can pass several commands at a time, each separated by a
Commandline Separator. This is described in greater detail in
section 1.7 at page 12.

With each command on your Commandline, Palrun goes through
the following sequence of tests, and initiates action based on
whichever test is first satisfied:

1. Is this an Alias that the user has created?

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



2. Is this one of Palrun's internal commands?

3. Is this a DOS command?

4. Is this an executable file found within the
Palhouse?

5. Is this an executable file found on the DOS path?


Steps #4 and #5 can be reversed with a customizable
parameter available in the Setup procedure (See section 17.6.3 at
page 95).

HINT: The fact that Palrun checks for internal Aliases
before anything else provides you with a convenient mechanism for
overriding DOS commands and Palrun's internal commands.

For instance, Palrun uses "F" as an abbreviation for its
FRESHEN command, but you may prefer to use "F" to mean something
else. You can do this by creating a new Alias with that name and
define it to initiate the series of steps that you desire.
Similarly, you can create an Alias by the name of "DIR" which
will invoke a program or initiate a series of commands quite
different from what DOS would do.



1.7 The Commandline Separator


One very special improvement that Palrun offers compared to
DOS is that your Commandline may consist of many subcommands,
joined together by a '^' character. We refer to the '^' as the
Commandline Separator.

How many subcommands can you pass in a single Commandline?
As many as you can fit in the space allotted. When editing a
Commandline at the Palrun Prompt, you have 255 characters to play
with, which means that you can have well over a hundred commands.
Commandlines issued from the DOS prompt have a bit less than half
the capacity of Commandlines issued from the Palrun Prompt.

Each instance of the Commandline Separator acts as if you
have hit the key and sends the previous command off for
execution while the remaining commands wait their turn.



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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



This feature allows you to issue several commands at once
from the DOS prompt, initiating all of the commands with a single
press of the key.

For instance, you could issue the command

PALRUN CD \ ^ DEL *.BAK ^ CD \COMM

and Palrun will complete three operations for you in quick
succession without your intervention. This is a convenient
method for you to create an on-the-fly batch file.

Each and every command on a Commandline can use the "@"
pointer operator to point Palrun to a new Palhouse. Thus, the
following would be a legal Commandline:

@THISSTUF.ARC DOTHIS ^ @THATSTUF.ZIP DOTHAT ^ FRESHEN

If you need to use the "^" character for other purposes
which conflict with its employment as the Commandline Separator,
you may designate a different character for this purpose in the
Setup procedure.



1.8 Pointing to a new Palhouse


The term ArchiveName, as used in the syntax diagrams in this
chapter, refers to an archive to which you may explicitly point
using the "@" character. The method of describing a pointer to
an archive is to use the "@" character (think: pointing "at")
followed by the specification of some archive or archives. The
archive to which you point will become your new Palhouse until
you point to another archive or until you use the FRESHEN
command. This is described in greater detail in Chapter 13 at
page 56.

If you do not specify an ArchiveName, then Palrun will use
the default Palhouse which you have specified in the Setup
procedure (see section 17.6 at page 94).








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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



1.9 Alter Egos


An Alter Ego is a small program that substitutes for a
larger program that you have placed into your default Palhouse.
We supply you with the program PALTER.EXE for this purpose. If
you move a program (e.g., HELPER.EXE) into your Palhouse and then
copy PALTER.EXE to a new file named the same as that program, the
renamed PALTER.EXE will serve as an alter ego for HELPER.EXE. If
you now invoke HELPER from the DOS prompt, it will in turn summon
Palrun in its transient mode to extract the real HELPER.EXE out
of your default Palhouse and then run it.

Alter Egos are helpful in at least two situations.

First, if you find yourself rarely using Palrun in its
permanent shell mode and would like to utilize its transient
features simply by typing the name of the program to be executed,
then Alter Egos are for you.

Second, many applications delegate some of their tasks by
calling on other programs. An Alter Ego will hide from the
application program the fact that its helper program resides in
compressed form in your Palhouse.

For details on working with Alter Egos, see Chapter 14 below
at page 61.



1.10 Aliases


An Alias is a Commandline which you make Palrun memorize and
which may be invoked with a short name of not more than 8
letters. Aliases are described in detail in Chapter 15 at page
64.












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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



1.11 Examples


PALRUN WP MYFILE

-- Executes WordPerfect, with WordPerfect
retrieving MYFILE from your disk to edit, then
Palrun returns to the DOS prompt. If WordPerfect
had been found in your Palhouse, Palrun would have
extracted it and run it from there; otherwise,
Palrun would have looked in your DOS path for
WordPerfect.

PALRUN /P WP MYFILE

-- Same as the foregoing, except that Palrun comes
to rest at the Palrun Prompt for continued
operation.


PALRUN /P

-- Palrun loads and stops at the Palrun Prompt,
without executing any program.


PALRUN @\WP\WPFILES.LZH WP MYFILE

-- Same as the first example, except that instead
of looking in your Palhouse, Palrun looks in the
archive with the specification of \WP\WPFILES.LZH.


PALRUN WP MYFILE ^ DEL *.BK!

-- Palrun looks in your Palhouse or DOS to execute
WordPerfect to edit MYFILE. Then, after you leave
WordPerfect, Palrun will delete your backup files
and return to DOS.


PALRUN MYALIAS FIRSTPARAMETER SECONDPARAMETER

-- Assuming that MYALIAS is one of your Aliases,
Palrun will run the commands in MYALIAS, passing
FIRSTPARAMETER and SECONDPARAMETER to those places
in your definition in which you inserted "%1" and
"%2," then returning to DOS.

15







CHAPTER 2: REQUIREMENTS




One requirement which you should observe immediately is to
look among your distribution files for one which is named
PALRREAD.ME. This file will include any changes to this
documentation that may require your attention.



2.1 Hardware Requirements


Any IBM-PC or compatible computer running DOS 2.0 or higher
will work fine with Palrun. If you want to use Alter Egos (see
Chapter 14 below at page 61) you will need DOS 3.0 or higher.

The amount of RAM in your computer is not ordinarily a
consideration, since Palrun requires less memory to load itself
than most application programs. Palrun needs about 215K of free
RAM in order to load. When running another program from Palrun,
Palrun swaps most of itself out of memory, leaving only a small
kernel behind, so Palrun takes up only a few kilobytes at that
time.

If you're thinking about loading Palrun into a window of
multitasking or task-switching software, the size of your window
ought to be (1) the largest size requirement of any program that
you intend to run from Palrun, plus (2) about 4K for the kernel
that Palrun leaves behind, plus (3) whatever overhead your
multitasking software needs to do its own work.

A hard disk is very highly recommended. Even though using
Palrun on a floppy-only system is possible, it is very
impractical given Palrun's temporary disk space requirements.
For instance, whenever Palrun performs an operation to extract
from an archive or to run any program, it requires about 170K of
free disk space for its swap file on the current drive, unless
you have EMS and have instructed Palrun to swap itself to EMS.
If you do not have sufficient free disk space on the current
drive, Palrun will warn you that it cannot proceed.







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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



2.2 The Benefits of Expanded Memory


Expanded memory (EMS) is not required, but if your system
does contain EMS, Palrun can take advantage of it in three ways.

First, when Palrun executes a program, it removes most of
itself from memory to free up RAM. If EMS is available, Palrun
will automatically swap itself to EMS. Otherwise, the swap will
go to a swap file on your disk. Using EMS will substantially
speed the process. A customizable parameter in the Setup
procedure (see section 17.5.2 at page 89) permits you to instruct
Palrun NOT to use EMS for swapping if you want to retain the
greatest amount of EMS for other programs. At this writing,
swapping to EMS will take up about 180K of EMS, while swapping to
disk will create a swap file of about 170K.

Second, much of Palrun's activity requires extraction of
files so that you can run them, edit them or view them. Another
customizable parameter (see section 17.4.1 at page 81) is the
ability to specify an output path for the extraction process. If
you create a RAM-disk of sufficient size to accommodate the
largest file that you might extract, then operations will proceed
much faster than if the extractions are made directly to your
hard disk. To create a RAM-disk, you need either EMS or extended
memory and appropriate software (not furnished with Palrun).

Third, in order to reduce Palrun's memory requirements and
the amount of code which needs to be swapped to disk or EMS, we
have compiled Palrun with a separate overlay file. Palrun dips
into the overlay file from time to time as it picks up portions
of code that it needs in different circumstances. If you have
EMS, the entire overlay file will be brought into EMS so that
fetching the overlaid code does not require any disk access at
all. At this writing, the overlay code will take up about 213K
of EMS. Another customizable parameter in the Setup procedure
(see section 17.5.2 at page 89) allows you to disable loading the
overlay code into EMS if you desire to reserve EMS for other
purposes.



2.3 Required Palrun Files


Palrun comes distributed with the following files:

PALRUN.EXE The program file

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



PALRUN.OVR The overlay file
PALRUN.HLP The help file
PALRUN.DOC This documentation
PALRREAD.ME Updates PALRUN.DOC
PALWP.BAT Sample BAT file referred to in
Chapter 7
ORDER.FRM Order form to register Palrun and
to order Pal and Palarm
VENDOR.DOC Disk vendors must read this file
SYSOP.DOC Special offer to BBS Sysops
PAL21.INF Info file on PAL version 2.1
PALRUN20.INF Info file on Palrun version 2.0
PALTER.EXE Program to create Alter Egos
NOIBMPRN.EXE Program to print documentation
w/o IBM graphics characters

Only the EXE, OVR and HLP files are needed to use all the
capabilities of Palrun. Place them in a subdirectory which
resides in your DOS path. It is not absolutely necessary to use
the HLP file, but in its absence you will not be able to access
the on-line, context-sensitive help.



2.4 Required Compression/Extraction Programs


Palrun does not accomplish the extraction of files from
archives all by itself. Instead, it relies on the original
extraction and compression programs which pertain to the type of
archive with which you are dealing.

Thus, in order to work effectively with a particular type of
archive, you will need the original extraction program that is
designed for that archive. For instance, if you want to run,
view, edit or delete a file from inside a ZOO archive, then you
must have ZOO.EXE available on your system.

Make sure that the compression/extraction programs that you
will be using are located in a subdirectory which resides in your
DOS path. Palrun will do all the rest of the work.

It is important to note that there is no requirement that
you have access to ALL the archiving programs referred to here.
You only need the archiving program or programs that work with
the type of archive or archives that you intend to use.



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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



The programs for which Palrun is preconfigured to extract
from archives include the following:


Normal
Program Archive
Name Extension Author

ARC ARC Systems Enhancement Associates
ARCE ARC Vern Buerg
DWC DWC Dean W. Cooper
LHARC LZH Haruyasu Yoshizaki
PAK PAK,ARC,ZIP NoGate Consulting
PKUNPAK/PKPAKARC PKWare
PKUNZIP/PKZIPZIP PKWare
ZOO ZOO Rahul Dhesi


Since a number of different programs can extract from ARC-
type archives, you may specify any of four different extraction
programs for this purpose. They are ARC.EXE (the original ARC-
type compression program), ARCE.EXE, PAK.EXE and PKUNPAK.EXE.
Palrun's Setup procedure permits you to choose any of these four
to handle ARC archives (see section 17.4.3 at page 87). Although
PKWare ceased marketing PKPAK and PKUNPAK in January, 1989,
pursuant to an agreement with the authors of ARC, many users may
still own these programs.

PAK, from NoGate Consulting, will handle ZIP archives
starting with PAK version 2.5. Therefore, we give you the option
of using either PKZIP or PAK (See section 17.4.4 at page 87) for
ZIP archives.

ARCE.COM is a bit of an anomaly in that its normal companion
compression program, ARCA.COM, is not suitable for everyday use
to freshen an existing archive. Thus, you will have to select
one of the three other ARC compression programs if you select

ARCE.COM as your extractor of choice. This selection is made in
the Setup procedure (see section 17.4.2.2 at page 84).



2.5 Optional Editing and Viewing Programs


Palrun gives you the chance to edit or view files from
within an archive using your favorite word processor and/or file
viewing programs.

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



If you want to activate Palrun's ability to edit or view a
file from within an archive, you must use the Setup procedure to
designate each program that you want to use for those two
purposes.

See section 17.7 at page 95 for information on setting your
file viewing program. See section 17.8 at page 98 for guidance
on specifying your editor.

In addition to specifying the name of the word processor
and/or file viewer within the Setup procedure, you must make sure
that the designated program resides in a subdirectory in your DOS
path.



2.6 Optional Timed Events With Pal and Palarm


PAL (the Personal Appointment Locator) in conjunction with
its companion resident program Palarm allows you to create an
infinite variety of alarms, and these alarms may be created for a
once-in-a-lifetime occurrence or to repeat in a pattern of your
design.

Each alarm has the ability to set in motion an event on your
computer. In particular, if your computer is resting at the
Palrun Prompt (or the DOS prompt) you can issue a command with an
alarm. Furthermore, if your computer is resting within an
application program at the time of the alarm, Palarm can test
whether conditions are right for the event to commence. In all
cases, you can have keystrokes issued as if you were sitting
right there at the keyboard, even though you may be continents
away at that moment.

This timed event capability is available only with PAL and
Palarm versions 2.1 and above. PAL and Palarm are products of
PAL Software NY. You may order them by printing out the
ORDER.FRM file which is included with the distribution files of
Palrun. For more details about PAL, see the file PAL21.INF
included with the distribution files.








20







CHAPTER 3: INSTALLATION





3.1 Basic Installation


Installation of Palrun is extremely simple.

Take the following three files:

PALRUN.EXE
PALRUN.OVR
PALRUN.HLP

and copy them to a subdirectory in your DOS path.

Next, if you intend to utilize a Palhouse (see section 1.4
at page 10, above) so that Palrun can automatically run programs
that have been compressed into an archive, you must specify your
default Palhouse. If you choose not to utilize a Palhouse, you
can still use the other features of Palrun, but you will be
missing out on one of the features that makes Palrun so powerful.

To set up a Palhouse, the first thing you need to do is
create an archive for this purpose in a subdirectory in your DOS
path. For instance, on distribution Palrun assumes that the name
of your Palhouse is PALHOUSE.ZIP. Use your favorite compression
program to create such an archive. You might wind up with
MYHOUSE.ARC or ARCHIVE.LZH depending on what program you use and
what your whims tell you to call the base name of the archive.

The actual process of creating an archive with your program
is beyond the scope of this documentation; please consult the
documentation of your compression program if you are unsure of
the process.

Now that you have created an archive, you need to tell
Palrun its name and where to find it. For this purpose, you will
need to enter the Setup procedure. From the DOS prompt, issue
the command:

PALRUN SETUP





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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



Palrun will load and bring you to the main Setup menu, which
will look like this:


Palrun Setup
Aliases and Menu
Colors
Extractor information
Miscellaneous information
Palhouse information
Viewer information
Wordprocessor information

File Save and Load
Restore distribution defaults
Save changes into Palrun & exit
This session only



Use the cursor keys to highlight the entry that says
"Palhouse information" and then strike the key. You will
be presented with a new menu similar to the following:


Palhouse Information
Name of file for Palhouse:
PALHOUSE.ZIP

Path where Palhouse is located:
Anywhere in the DOS path

Search DOS before Palhouse?:
NO


If the archive that you created to act as your Palhouse is
named other than PALHOUSE.ZIP, then make sure the phrase "Name of
file for Palhouse:" is highlighted and then press . You
may then provide the name of the archive that you created, Press
for your input to be accepted. You will return to the
above menu and see that the name has changed.

You may also change the second entry on the menu to indicate
a specific location of your Palhouse. This is not necessary so
long as your Palhouse is in the DOS path, but specifying a
particular directory will increase the speed of Palrun's
operation by a fraction of a second.

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



For now, leave the third entry on the menu as it is.

When you have completed your changes to the "Palhouse
Information" menu, press to exit back to the main Setup
menu. Move the highlight bar to the entry on the menu that reads
"Save changes into Palrun & exit" and press once again.
You will be asked whether you want to save to a file of a
different name -- just strike the key once more to bypass
the question. The PALRUN.EXE file will now be physically changed
to include the information that you supplied.

The very last step in your basic installation is to make
sure that the compression and extraction programs that you need
(see section 2.4 at page 18, above) can also be found in your DOS
path.



3.2 Advanced Installation


Section 3.1 describes all you need to do for basic operation
of Palrun, but if you want to be able to edit or view a file from
a PCKHOUSE or PCKDIR pick list, you will have to enter the Setup
procedure to specify the editor and/or file viewer that you
prefer to use. See section 17.7 at page 95 for information on
setting your file viewing program. See section 17.8 at page 98
for guidance on specifying your editor.

To utilize the "Super" CHDIR feature, Palrun needs to have
stored all your subdirectory information to disk. If you would
like to initialize that information, see the hint at page 108.

Other than that, there's no additional installation for you
to utilize all of Palrun's features.

You may wish to browse through the Setup Chapter (Chapter 17
beginning at page 74) to see the extensive possibilities for
customization, but no other changes are required.



3.3 Colors


A note about color -- on distribution of Palrun, you will
witness that colors are set in basic black and white. Although
this is clearly the most boring choice, it is also the safest,

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



particularly for persons with laptop computers that do not
produce color distinctions well.

You may change the colors in the Colors section of Setup.
If you happen to have reset the colors to something that makes
your screen difficult to read, you can always return the colors
to black and white in the Colors section, or you can use the
Restore command from the Setup menu to return everything to its
state upon original program distribution.

HINT: If you have received this program for evaluation
from another user, and the colors set by the prior user are so
unreadable on your machine that you cannot even understand how to
make it through the Setup procedure to restore the original black
and white colors, here's the sequence that you need to follow
from the DOS prompt (Don't type the "" -- that just means
to press the "Enter" key, which might be described on your
keyboard as the "Return" key):

PALRUN S
R
S



























24







CHAPTER 4: THE LINE EDITOR




Palrun's line editor permits you to enter and edit commands
easily at the Palrun Prompt as well as to provide input in
creating Aliases, menus and answering questions posed to you in
the Setup procedure.

Ordinarily the line editor will present you with text that
it has guessed that you want to start with. For instance, at the
Palrun Prompt you will usually be presented with the most
recently executed Commandline. For text entry in the Setup
procedure, the line editor will present you with the choice which
had previously been selected for that parameter.

You will see the cursor resting at the end of the line of
text that the line editor shows you.

If what you want to do is add to what has been presented to
you, then press or to add the characters.

If you want to type in something entirely new, then touching
any normal character key (other than ) will erase the
guessed-at text and permit you to enter your new information.

If you want to retain much of the guessed-at text but want
to make modifications, then the line editor gives you a very
flexible means to do this, as described below.

You can get by very well with the line editor without
reading this Chapter simply by relying on the cursor keys, ,
and . The line editor behaves just as you
intuitively would expect. However, if you want to make use of
more flexible editing commands, read on.

All the possible editing commands are shown in the table
below. Many of the commands in the line editor have more than
one possible way to execute them. When this is the case, the
alternatives in the table are separated by a comma.

Some keys need to be pressed in combination with the
key. For instance, the indication of means that you must
first press the key, and then, while still holding the
key down, you must also press the key.

A very few commands require not only a control key
combination, but also a third key. For instance, the indication

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



of means that you must press the key plus
combination, and then press the key.


TABLE OF LINE EDITOR COMMANDS
-----------------------------

Accept the line --

, or, if using a mouse, you may click the
button.


Quit without changing line --

, , or if using a mouse, you may click the
button.


Cursor Movement --

Left: ,
Right: ,
Left One Word: ,
Right One Word: ,
Start of Line: ,
End of Line: ,


Insert vs. Overwrite --

The line editor almost always starts in overwrite mode (For
the one case in which the line editor starts in insert mode,
see Section 5.5.2 at page 32). If you move the cursor to a
position already occupied by a character, any new key that
you type will overwrite the pre-existing character.

If you would like to insert a character or characters, then
you can change from overwrite mode to insert mode by
striking the key. Your cursor will change to a large
block cursor to signify that you have entered insert mode.
Now, any key that you type will be inserted at the position
of the cursor, without overwriting the existing character.

You may toggle back and forth between overwrite mode and
insert mode with successive presses of the key. You
can always tell which mode you are in by looking at the
cursor. A fat block cursor signifies insert mode, while a

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



thin line cursor below the characters signifies overwrite
mode.


Deletions --

Delete Char at Cursor: ,
Delete Char before Cursor: , ,

Delete Word:
Delete to end of line: ,
Delete entire line: , ,


Restore original contents of line --

,


Pop up on-line, context-sensitive help --

, or, if using a mouse, click the buttons
simultaneously.


Summary of mouse control --

Accept Entry -- same as
Make No Change -- same as
Help -- same as

In general, throughout Palrun, the button on your
mouse will be the equivalent of , while the button
is equivalent to , and is equivalent to .

For 3-button mice, the following commands are initially
defined for the additional button combinations. You may change
these definitions in the Setup procedure.

MENU
QUEUE
PCKDIR
PCKHOUSE






27







CHAPTER 5: SELECTING FROM PICK LISTS




There are several circumstances in which Palrun will present
you with the opportunity to select from a group of choices set
forth in a pop-up window. These circumstances include:

1. Selecting a target file from within an archive for
running, editing, viewing or deleting (the PCKHOUSE or
PH commands). See Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

2. Selecting a target file from a subdirectory for
running, editing, viewing or deleting (the PCKDIR or PD
commands). See Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

3. Selecting a previously executed Commandline from your
Commandline Queue (the QUEUE or Q commands). See
Chapter 12.

4. Selecting among a group of archives to choose one to be
your current Palhouse after having used a nonspecific
pointer on your Commandline, such as "@\COMM\DOWN\*".
See Chapter 13.

5. Selecting an Alias to be placed on your Commandline
(the PCKALIAS or PA commands). See Chapter 15.

6. Selecting an action from your custom menu. See Chapter
16.

7. Selecting an Alias to edit within Setup. See Chapter
15.

8. Selecting a menu item to edit within Setup. See
Chapter 16.

9. Selecting a subdirectory to change to when using the
CHDIR / CD command in a nonspecific way or when using
"Super" CHDIR. See Section 18.1 at page 104.

In all the pick lists, you use the same methods for placing
the highlight bar over your selection. Striking will
initiate a default action in each instance. In some
circumstances, the window header will set forth function key
definitions for additional actions that may be taken.



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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



When the pick list pops up, you will be presented with a
sequence of choices. In all but one of the possible pick lists,
Palrun is set up to display your choices in alphabetical order;
you can change the sort order in your PCKDIR and PCKHOUSE pick
lists. When examining the Commandline Queue, your choices will
always be presented in the order in which your Commandlines were
previously executed.

If there are more choices available than can comfortably fit
in the current window, then the window will let you know.

You have three methods of making a selection from a pick
list. One is using the cursor keys. The second is using a name
search technique. If you have a mouse, then you have a third
method of selecting, as described in Section 5.4 at the end of
this Chapter.



5.1 Choosing With the Cursor Keys


One of the choices will be highlighted when the pick list
pops up.

The highlight bar will move around the window as you press
any cursor key. When the highlight bar is resting on the entry
that you would like to select, you are ready to initiate the
action, usually with the key.



5.2 Choosing With Name Search


Besides using the cursor keys to move through the list, you
can also move the highlight bar to a specific choice by using
your keyboard to begin typing the name of the choice. Usually,
you will move the highlight bar to your choice with a minimum of
keystrokes in this fashion.

When the first alphabetic character is entered, the
highlight bar moves to the next item which starts with that
character. Another alpha character moves the highlight bar to
the next item that starts with the two characters entered, and so
on. As you type, a record of your keystrokes will be displayed
at the lower left corner of the window.


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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



Character matching is not case sensitive, and searching is
performed in a circular fashion -- if no item beyond the current
one matches, the search continues at the start of the list.

When the highlight bar is placed on the item that you want,
you can then initiate your action, usually by pressing .



5.3 Exiting the Pick List


You can always exit the pick list, without making any
choice, by pressing .



5.4 Using a Mouse


If you use a mouse, selecting a file takes two clicks.
First, you move the highlight bar by placing the mouse cursor
over a choice and pressing .

Once the highlight bar has moved to the position of the
mouse cursor, to activate the choice hit a second time.

When function keys other than are set forth at the top
of the pick list window (e.g. through ), you may select
those functions by moving the mouse cursor to the "chicklet"
corresponding to that function at the top of the window, then
clicking with the button. Alternatively, if you have a
three-button mouse, the following button combinations are the
equivalent of through :






The is used as the equivalent of . It will
drop you out of the pick list without making any selection.

Hitting the buttons simultaneously is the
equivalent of , which calls up the on-line, context-sensitive
help.



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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



If there are more items available for selection than can fit
in the window, a scroll bar will appear within the right hand
frame of the window. The scroll bar has several capabilities.
At the upper and lower corners of the frame, vertical arrows are
displayed. The list will scroll by one row whenever the mouse
cursor has been positioned over one of these arrows and is
pressed.

The scroll bar will also display a block character within
the vertical frame to indicate the approximate position of the
current item within the overall list. If you place the mouse
cursor at a different position within the scroll bar and press
then Palrun will display a different set of items
corresponding to the range at which you placed the mouse cursor.



5.5 Activating Your Selection


Once you have placed the highlight bar on the selection of
your choice, you may activate the selection, usually by pressing
.

The effect of making a selection will vary depending on the
particular pick list:



5.5.1 PCKHOUSE Pick Lists


When you select a target file from within an archive for
running (using the PCKHOUSE or PH commands) the name of that file
will be placed at the Palrun Prompt. You can execute that
program immediately with a second strike of , or you may
wish to add some parameters with the line editor before
executing.

You have three additional actions that may be taken with a
selected file. will permit you to edit the file, will
permit you to view it, and will permit you to delete it.
Striking permits you to control the sort order and level of
detail of the pick list display and also change the filemask.

With editing and viewing, the action is initiated as soon as
you press those keys. There is no interim placement of the


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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



target file onto the Commandline as there is when you select a
program or batch file for execution.

With the delete function, you are requested for confirmation
before deletion is accomplished.



5.5.2 PCKDIR Pick Lists


When you select a target file from within a subdirectory
pick list (the PCKDIR or PD commands), what happens with that
file will depend on its nature.

If the file is an executable file (COM, EXE or BAT
extension), then the name of that file will be placed at the
Palrun Prompt. You can execute that program immediately with a
second strike of , or you may wish to add some parameters
with the line editor before executing.

If the file is a subdirectory name, then Palrun will present
you with a new pick list displaying the contents of that
subdirectory.

If the file is an archive, its name will be brought to the
Palrun Prompt, preceded by the "@" character, so that one more
press of the key will make that archive your current
Palhouse.

If the selection is any other type of file, Palrun assumes
you want to DO something to that file, so its name is brought to
the Palrun Prompt, with the cursor at the beginning of the line
in insert mode.

You have three additional actions that may be taken with a
selected file. will permit you to edit the file, will
permit you to view it, and will permit you to delete it.
Striking permits you to control the sort order and level of
detail of the pick list display and change the filemask.

With editing and viewing, the action is initiated as soon as
you press those keys. There is no interim placement of the
target file onto the Commandline as there is when you select a
program or batch file for execution.

With the delete function, you are requested for confirmation
before deletion is accomplished. If the selected entry is a

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



subdirectory, it will be removed if it is vacant. If the
selected file is a protected file, you will be warned that the
file is protected, but Palrun will also give you the option to go
ahead and delete the file if you really want to.



5.5.3 Archive Pointer Pick Lists


If you use the "@" pointing operation to select from among a
group of archives, making the selection will immediately make
that archive active, and Palrun will read a list of its contents
into memory.

When you return to the Palrun Prompt, the command PCKHOUSE
will already have been placed there for you, so that with a
second strike of you can quickly get another pick list of
the contents of that active archive.



5.5.4 PCKALIAS Pick Lists


When you select an Alias with the PCKALIAS or PA commands,
your Alias will be placed on the Palrun Prompt. You can add
parameters, if desired, prior to execution with a second strike
of .



5.5.5 QUEUE Pick Lists


When you select a previously executed Commandline from your
Commandline Queue (with the QUEUE or Q commands), the selected
Commandline will be placed on the Palrun Prompt so that you can
edit and/or re-execute.










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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



5.5.6 Custom Menu Pick Lists


When you select an action from your custom menu, the command
associated with that menu item will be executed immediately. If
your command anticipates the possibility that you might want to
add parameters (i.e., it is an Alias which contains "%1" and/or
"%2" etc. or you specified the need to pause when you created the
menu entry), it will pause to give you an opportunity to supply
additional parameters.



5.5.7 Setup's Aliases and Menus Pick Lists


In the Setup procedure under "Aliases and Menus" you will be
using pick lists to add, edit, delete and rename Aliases and menu
items. Actions are initiated with the function keys as set forth
at the top of the pick list window.



5.5.8 CHDIR Pick Lists


When using a pick list to select a subdirectory with the
CHDIR / CD command, accepting a subdirectory will result in an
immediate change to the drive and subdirectory of your choice.
You can use the key to change drives, and you can hit
to force Palrun to rebuild its directory tree information.


















34







CHAPTER 6: OBTAINING A DIRECTORY (PCKHOUSE & PCKDIR)





Palrun provides a common user interface for examining the
contents of an archive or a subdirectory. Using this interface,
your archive contents will not seem very much different from the
contents of a subdirectory.

PCKHOUSE (which may be abbreviated to PH) is the internal
command to summon a pick list of your current Palhouse.

PCKDIR (which may be abbreviated to PD) is the internal
command to summon a pick list of a subdirectory.

The syntax for using both commands is identical:

PCKHOUSE [filemask] [/sortoptions]

PCKDIR [filemask] [/sortoptions]

The items in brackets refer to optional parameters.

"Filemask" refers to the wildcard specification to describe
the files you would like to show. If you do not provide a
filemask, then PCKHOUSE will show all files in the current
Palhouse and PCKDIR will show all files in the current
subdirectory. The "Filemask" for PCKDIR may begin with a drive
and subdirectory designation.

"Sortoptions" refers to the manner in which files are sorted
and the level of detail provided. You specify these options by
typing the "/" character, followed by a character for the sort
order and/or a character for the level of detail. The applicable
characters are:

N - Sort by name
E - Sort by extension
D - Sort by date
S - Sort by size

B - Brief detail
R - Regular detail
L - Lengthy detail

If you specify more than one sort order or more than one
detail level, then only the last-specified one will take effect.

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



If you do not specify any sort options, then those which are
specified in the Setup procedure will be used. Once you specify
sort options with a PCKDIR or PCKHOUSE command, or by using
from within a directory or archive pick list, these options will
hold throughout the remainder of your current Palrun session or
until the next time you make a modification.

Examples:

PCKDIR

-- Provides a pick list of all files in the
current subdirectory.


PCKHOUSE

-- Provides a pick list of all files in the
current Palhouse.


PH *.EXE /d

-- Shows only EXE files in the Palhouse, sorted
by date.


PD c:\dos /nl

-- Shows the entire contents of C:\DOS, sorted
by name, showing lengthy detail.

PH /nelb

-- Shows all files in your Palhouse, sorted by
extension and showing brief detail. The "n" and
"l" sort instructions are overridden by the later
"e" and "b" instructions.

PD B?.*

-- Shows files in the current subdirectory whose
name starts with "B" and is followed by one
additional character. It may or may not have an
extension.




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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



Once you obtain your pick list, you have the following
options:

Select a file for "running"
Summon on-line help
Edit the file
View the file
Delete the file
Change sort order, detail or filemask
Leave the pick list

"Running" files is covered in Chapter 7 at page 38.

Editing files is covered in Chapter 8 at page 43.

Viewing files is covered in Chapter 9 at page 46.

Deleting files is covered in Chapter 10 at page 49.

Changing the sort order or level of detail is covered in
Chapter 11 at page 51.




























37







CHAPTER 7: "RUNNING" A TARGET FILE




You can "run" a file from a pick list of the contents of
your current Palhouse or subdirectory. From the pick list, you
can do any of the following:

* Select a file for "running"
Summon on-line help
Edit the file
View the file
Delete the file
Change sort order, detail or filemask
Leave the pick list

To choose a file for "running," use the cursor keys, the
name search technique, or your mouse to center the highlight bar
over the entry of your choice. Then tap the key.

As used in this chapter, the term "to run" means many
things. When selecting a file from an archive pick list with the
PCKHOUSE or PH command, the sole purpose is to extract an
executable file (EXE, COM or BAT extension) automatically in
order to execute it. When selecting a file from a subdirectory
pick list, the action taken depends on the nature of that file.



7.1 Running Files From an Archive


There are two ways to run a file from within an archive.
One uses Palrun as a transient program and the other uses Palrun
as a permanent shell program. These methods are described in
detail in Chapter 1 at page 7. The purpose of this section is
to provide further details and guidance.

Once you get the hang of using Palrun, you may be tempted to
throw every single EXE, COM and BAT file into your Palhouse.

Don't.

Some files are simply inappropriate for inclusion in a
Palhouse. Here's a listing of what we think you ought to keep
outside: (1) files that you will need available just to run
Palrun, (2) programs that install themselves as resident
programs, (3) programs which are called by other programs, (4)

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



programs which you use all the time and for which you do not want
to pay a speed penalty, and (5) programs whose setup routines
permanently modify the program file.

Here's a discussion of each of these types of files:


1. Files that you will need available just to run Palrun:

PALRUN.EXE, PALRUN.OVR, PALRUN.HLP
Your compression/extraction programs
Your editor and viewer configured in Setup procedure


2. Programs that install themselves as resident programs,
for instance:

SK.COM SideKick
PALARM.EXE Resident alarm handler for PAL

CAUTION: Do not load a resident program from Palrun. Your
system has a good chance of locking up.


3. Programs which are called by other programs. We'll
refer to this type of program as a helper program.

For instance, your compression/extraction programs are
helper programs for Palrun. Similarly, DSZ.EXE (a widely used
communications protocol program) could be considered a helper
program for your communications program. Any program which will
be invoked by one of your application programs should be
considered a helper program. If a helper program were to reside
within a Palhouse, then the main application program would not be
able to find it.

Hint: Helper programs may be placed into your default
archive if you create Alter Egos for them. See Chapter 14 below
at page 61. An Alter Ego hides from your application program the
fact that the program it needs to invoke is compressed within an
archive.

4. Programs which you use all the time.

Notwithstanding our use of WordPerfect as an example in our
sample batch file PALWP.BAT, you may be a heavy WordPerfect user,
going in and out of WordPerfect several times a day. Each time
you invoke PALWP.BAT with Palrun, you might become impatient at

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



the repetitive extraction of WordPerfect. The time penalty may
not be worth the disk savings. Only you can balance that
decision.


5. Programs whose setup routines modify the programs
themselves, as Palrun does.

Examples of this type of self-modifying programs include
Vern Buerg's LIST, and PAL Software's PAL, both of which permit
you to clone new versions of the program to include changes that
you have made to start-up defaults and information. Since the
very last thing that Palrun does after executing such a program
is to delete that program from your disk, any changes which have
been made to that program will be lost. This may not be a major
problem with LIST, since you may not change it often, but for a
program like PAL, which you may modify daily to change the
appointments records contained internally, this could be a real
hassle.

HINT: One way of getting around this problem with self-
modifying programs while still obtaining the benefits of
compression is simply not to store them within your Palhouse.
Instead, store them in a separate archive and summon the program
from a batch file that IS stored in your Palhouse. The batch
file itself would handle the task of issuing commands to extract
the program, etc. Then when you have finished executing the
program, have the batch file use the switches that your
compression program needs to move a changed file back into the
archive. See the included sample batch file PALWP.BAT for an
example.



7.2 Running Files From a Subdirectory


You can always run an executable file from the Palrun Prompt
merely by typing its name at the Palrun Prompt and striking
. So long as the program or batch file can be found in
the current subdirectory or in your DOS path, Palrun will find
and run the file.

What Palrun does to enhance this capability is give you the
ultimate flexibility of the PCKDIR command. Remember that you
can use PD as an abbreviation. When using the PCKDIR command,
the term "run" takes on new meaning.


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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



When you select a file by placing the highlight bar over it
and striking , what happens with that file depends on its
nature.



7.2.1 Selecting Executable Files


If your selection is an executable file (with extension of
EXE, COM or BAT), its name will be brought to the Palrun Prompt
for adding additional parameters or editing if you like. One
more tap of the key will execute it.



7.2.2 Selecting Archives


If your selection is an archive, then its name will be
brought to the Palrun Prompt, preceded by the "@" character.
This signifies the pointing operation.

If you want Palrun to use that archive as its currently
active Palhouse, then all you need to do is strike a
second time. Palrun will update its internal table of contents
of your Palhouse, and the status line will reflect the selected
archive as your new Palhouse. You will find yourself at the
Palrun Prompt with the word "PCKHOUSE" as the assumed command.
If you would like to view the contents of your newly selected
Palhouse, then all it takes is a third press of the key.
Palrun will present you with a pick list of the contents of your
new Palhouse, from which you can accomplish any activity that is
available in an archive pick list.

HINT: If you want to choose an archive from a
subdirectory pick list and move to a pick list of that archive's
contents, all you need to do is place the highlight bar on the
archive name, then press three times in succession.



7.2.3 Selecting Directories


If your selection is a subdirectory, then Palrun will bring
up another pick list showing all the files in that subdirectory.


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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



HINT: If you sort your pick list by size, you will find
that all your subdirectories will bubble to the top of the list,
since they have zero size. This makes it easy for you to
navigate through pick lists of all the subdirectories on your
disk by using the technique of highlighting a subdirectory entry
and tapping the key. You will notice that in all but the
root directory of your disk the display will show as your first
entry ".. (Parent)" -- which, you guessed it, refers to the
parent subdirectory of the one you are presently viewing. If you
highlight the ".. (Parent)" entry and press you will be
taken to a new pick list of the parent subdirectory which will be
headed up with all the subdirectories that lie beneath it.



7.2.4 Selecting Other Files


If your selection is anything other than an executable file,
an archive or a subdirectory, Palrun assumes that you want to use
that file as the object of some operation. Thus, when the Palrun
Prompt appears, the name of the file will appear there, but you
will find the cursor at the beginning of the line in insert mode,
ready to accept the name of a command to which you may desire to
feed the selected file as a parameter.
























42







CHAPTER 8: EDITING A TARGET FILE




You can edit a file from a pick list of the contents of your
current Palhouse or subdirectory. From the pick list, you can do
any of the following:

Select a file for "running"
Summon on-line help
* Edit the file
View the file
Delete the file
Change sort order, detail or filemask
Leave the pick list

To choose a file for editing, use the cursor keys, the name
search technique, or your mouse to center the highlight bar over
the entry of your choice. Then tap the key.

To edit a file from within an archive or subdirectory pick
list, you need first to make sure that you set up Palrun to use
your favorite editor or word processing program. This you need
to do only once. For details on how to do this, see section 17.8
at page 98.



8.1 Editing Files From an Archive


Use the PCKHOUSE or PH command from the Palrun Prompt to
bring up a pick list of your current Palhouse. Place the
highlight bar over the name of the file that you want to edit,
then touch the key.

Palrun will now extract the target file from the archive,
then run your word processing program in order to edit the file.
Once the editing is completed, Palrun will move the changed file
back into the archive, supplanting the original version.

If you want Palrun to delete any backup files that your word
processor creates, then be sure to designate in the Setup
procedure the extension that the program uses for backups.





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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



When Palrun runs your editor, it does so with the following
command:

EDITPROGRAM [PREFIXPARAMS] EXTRACTEDFILE [SUFFIXPARAMS]

where EditProgram is the name of the editor you specified in
Setup, ExtractedFile is the name of the file on which you placed
the highlight bar, and PrefixParams and SuffixParams are the
optional prefix and suffix information, if any, that you may have
specified in the Setup procedure.

HINT: Just because the key is associated with the
word "Edit," that doesn't mean that you have to use it for an
editing program. You can designate any other type of program
that you want. For instance, if you develop software, instead of
filling in the name of a word processor in Setup, you could
provide the name of a debugging program. Then, when you place
the highlight bar over a file inside an archive and press ,
Palrun will run your debugger instead of a word processor.

As a further example, if you do want to edit a program but
want to do several operations that you have set up in a batch
file, you can feed Setup the name of your batch file instead of
the word processor. Naturally, you would want the batch file
itself to call the word processor. In setting up your batch
file, be aware of the order in which parameters will be passed by
Palrun, as set forth in the syntax just above.



8.2 Editing Files From a Subdirectory


Use the PCKDIR or PD command to obtain a listing of the
subdirectory of your choice.

When you select a file by placing the highlight bar over it
and striking , the editor or word processor that you
specified in the Setup procedure will be summoned to edit that
file.

The action taken is quite similar to that which happens when
you strike when selecting a file from within an archive pick
list. The major difference is that Palrun does not automatically
delete the backup file when you are editing from within a
subdirectory. The decision whether to get rid of a backup file
is left to your manual discretion in this situation.


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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



You cannot edit a file whose attributes mark it as a
directory entry, a volume label or read-only, and most editors
and word processors will not be able to detect the presence of a
system or hidden file, even though the file may appear in
Palrun's subdirectory pick list.












































45







CHAPTER 9: VIEWING A TARGET FILE




You can view a file from a pick list of the contents of your
current Palhouse or subdirectory. From the pick list, you can do
any of the following:

Select a file for "running"
Summon on-line help
Edit the file
* View the file
Delete the file
Change sort order, detail or filemask
Leave the pick list

To choose a file for viewing, use the cursor keys, the name
search technique, or your mouse to center the highlight bar over
the entry of your choice. Then tap the key.

To view a file from within an archive or subdirectory pick
list, you need first to make sure that you set up Palrun to use
your favorite viewing program. This you need to do only once.
For details on how to do this, see section 17.7 at page 95.



9.1 Viewing a File From Within an Archive


Use the PCKHOUSE or PH command from the Palrun Prompt to
bring up a pick list of your current Palhouse. Place the
highlight bar over the name of the file that you want to view,
then touch the key.

Palrun will now extract the target file from the archive,
then run your file viewing program in order to browse the file.
Once the viewing is completed, Palrun will delete the extracted
file from your disk.

SUGGESTION: One very useful application for the ability
to view files from an archive is that you might want to move all
your *.DOC and *.TXT files into a single archive. If you make
that archive the current Palhouse by pointing to it, you can get
a listing of its contents with the PCKHOUSE command, center the
highlight bar on the documentation file of your choice, and then
press to view the documentation.


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HINT: If you are looking to do some housecleaning of
your archives, you will find that the ability to view a file from
the pick list fits together nicely with the ability to delete a
file (see Chapter 10 at page 49, immediately below). Once you
have finished viewing the file, you will see that the highlight
bar remains on that target. If you want to delete it, just
strike the key.

When Palrun runs your file viewer, it does so with the
following command:

VIEWPROGRAM [PREFIXPARAMS] EXTRACTEDFILE [SUFFIXPARAMS]

where ViewProgram is the name of the file viewer you specified in
Setup, ExtractedFile is the name of the file on which you placed
the highlight bar, and PrefixParams and SuffixParams are the
optional prefix and suffix information, if any, that you may have
specified in the Setup procedure.

HINT: Just because the key is associated with the
word "View," that doesn't mean that you have to use it for a file
viewing program. You can designate any other type of program
that you want. For instance, if you develop software, instead of
filling in the name of a file viewing program in Setup, you could
provide the name of a debugging program. Then, when you place
the highlight bar over a program inside an archive and press
, Palrun will run your debugger instead of a file viewing
program.

As a further example, if you do want to view a program but
want to do several operations that you have set up in a batch
file, you can feed Setup the name of your batch file instead of
the file viewing program; naturally, you would want the batch
file itself to call the viewer. In setting up your batch file,
be aware of the order in which parameters will be passed by
Palrun, as set forth in the syntax just above.



9.2 Viewing a Target File From a Subdirectory


Use the PCKDIR or PD command to obtain a listing of the
subdirectory of your choice.

When you select a file by placing the highlight bar over it
and striking , the file viewer that you specified in the
Setup procedure will be summoned to view that file.

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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



The action taken is quite similar to that which happens when
you strike when selecting a file from within an archive pick
list.

You cannot view a file whose attributes mark it as a
directory entry or volume label, and most file viewing programs
will not be able to detect the presence of a system or hidden
file, even though the file may appear in Palrun's subdirectory
pick list.








































48







CHAPTER 10: DELETING A TARGET FILE




You can delete a file from a pick list of the contents of
your current Palhouse or subdirectory. From the pick list, you
can do any of the following:

Select a file for "running"
Summon on-line help
Edit the file
View the file
* Delete the file
Change sort order, detail or filemask
Leave the pick list

To choose a file for deletion, use the cursor keys, the name
search technique, or your mouse to center the highlight bar over
the entry of your choice. Then tap the key.



10.1 Deleting a File From an Archive


Use the PCKHOUSE or PH command from the Palrun Prompt to
bring up a pick list of your current Palhouse. Place the
highlight bar over the name of the file that you want to delete,
then touch the key.

Palrun will ask you to confirm that you want to delete the
file. Strike the key to go ahead, or hit the key to
return to the pick list.



10.2 Deleting a File From a Subdirectory


Use the PCKDIR or PD command to obtain a listing of the
subdirectory of your choice.

When you select a file by placing the highlight bar over it
and striking , the action taken depends on the nature of the
file you selected.




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Palrun 2.0 Documentation



10.2.1 Deleting a Directory Entry


If your selection is itself a directory, then it will be
removed if it is empty.

If the subdirectory you specified for deletion cannot be
removed because it contains files of its own, then the
subdirectory will not be removed.

HINT: If you want to inspect the contents of that
subdirectory, just tap the key once to get a pick list of
the files that reside therein.



10.2.2 Deleting Protected Files


If the file you selected has an attribute of system, hidden,
volume label or read-only, it is considered by Palrun to be
protected. The DEL or ERASE command of DOS would not be able to
delete the file. When you ask Palrun to delete such a file, you
will be warned that it is a protected file, but will be asked if
you want to delete it anyway. If you answer "Y"es, Palrun will
go ahead and change the file's attributes and proceed to delete
it. Answering "N"o, or just hitting the key, will avoid
deleting the protected file.

CAUTION: Use this capability with great care, since a file
is usually, though not always, protected for a good reason.



10.2.3 Deleting Other Files


If you select for deletion any file other than a
subdirectory or a protected file, then Palrun will request you to
confirm your decision by answering "Y"es. Answering "N"o, or
just hitting the key, will avoid deleting the file.








50







CHAPTER 11: SORT AND DISPLAY CONTROL FOR FILE PICK LISTS




You can control the filemask, the sorting order and the
amount of information displayed in a pick list of the files in
your current Palhouse or subdirectory. As distributed, Palrun
sorts your files alphabetically by name and gives an intermediate
level of detail. You can sort in any of four ways and provide
three levels of detail. You may make these changes temporarily
within the pick list, or you can make the changes more permanent
in the Setup procedure.

While in a PCKHOUSE or PCKDIR pick list, striking the
key, which is designated as "Show" at the menu situated at the
top of the pick list window, will bring up a menu for controlling
the display. From this menu, you can choose to change the order
in which the files are sorted, the length and detail of the file
description, or the filemask.

When you escape from this menu, if you have changed either
parameter from its setting before you entered the menu, then
Palrun will immediately put the changes into effect.

Your selections for the sort order and level of detail will
last until you exit Palrun. If you would like to change the
default parameters permanently so that Palrun comes up with those
assumptions whenever it is loaded, you may do so in the Setup
procedure, where you can bring up a similar menu from the
"Miscellaneous Information" section.



11.1 Changing the Sort Order


You have four possibilities for the sort order, each of
which may come in handy for different situations. You can sort
by file name, by extension, by size and by date. A sort of your
archive components by size will key on the uncompressed size of
the file, not the smaller size it has while residing in the
archive.

Sorting by name is the most natural way of looking at your
files in the broadest circumstances, but sorting by the other
methods can be extremely useful.



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HINT: For instance, sorting by size will bring all your
subdirectories to the top of the list, since they have zero size.
A volume ID will also bubble up to the top. This makes it easy
for you to navigate through pick lists of all the subdirectories
on your disk by using the technique of highlighting a
subdirectory entry and tapping the key. You will notice
that in all but the root directory of your disk the display will
show as your first entry ".. (Parent)" -- which, you guessed it,
refers to the parent subdirectory of the one you are presently
viewing. If you highlight the ".. (Parent)" entry and press
you will be taken to a new pick list of the parent
subdirectory which will be headed up with all the subdirectories
that lie beneath it.

HINT: If you're looking to save space on your disk, you
might want to sort by size and then tap the key to see what
files are taking the greatest amount of space so that you can
examine likely candidates for deletion.

HINT: Sorting by extension will bring all your COM files
together, all your EXE files together, all your BAK files
together, all your ZIP files together, and so forth. Use this,
for instance, to find that EXE or COM file whose name you have
forgotten. Or you can successively highlight all your *.BAK
files so that you can view them with and then delete them
with .



11.2 Changing the Level of Detail


There are three levels of detail that you can request from
Palrun in any PCKDIR or PCKHOUSE pick list.

As distributed, Palrun provides you with a "Regular" level
of detail. You can also request "Brief" or "Lengthy" detail.
"Regular" detail provides you with two columns of file entries,
with an intermediate level of information. The "Brief" level
provides you with 5 columns of file names, with no information
other than the names of the files. The "Lengthy" level gives you
one file per line, with extensive detail.

Experiment with the various levels of detail so that you can
become acquainted with the benefits and disadvantages of each.
In this way, you will know which level is appropriate for your
specific needs at any moment.


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11.3 Changing the Filemask


This part of the menu that appears when you tap permits
you to change the wildcard specifications for Palrun to match in
the pick list.

When viewing an archive, you may specify any valid filemask,
utilizing the normal DOS wildcard characters.

When viewing a directory, your new filemask may include a
directory specification, so that you can view files in an
entirely different directory.



































53







CHAPTER 12: RETRIEVING A PRIOR COMMAND




Palrun remembers 20 of your most recently executed
Commandlines and lets you easily recall any of them for editing
and re-execution. This facility is in addition to the feature
that your last executed Commandline will ordinarily be left at
the Palrun Prompt for you to edit and re-execute.

Although the queue has a maximum of 20 slots, it can refer
back to more than 20 Commandlines. This is because Palrun is
designed not to add to the queue any Commandline which is already
in the queue, nor will Palrun add the QUEUE or Q commands
themselves to the queue.

The Commandline Queue should be thought of not as a
chronological history of your prior activity but as a repository
of previously executed commands. Your most recently executed
command will be situated at the end of the queue, but if it was
also executed earlier, it will not appear in the queue more than
once.

There are three methods for recalling prior Commandlines.
Both methods place a previously executed Commandline onto the
Palrun Prompt so that you may re-execute it, editing it first if
you so desire.



12.1 Using the Cursor Keys


Use the up and down cursor keys for running back up through
previously issued Commandlines. The up arrow key will take you
back one Commandline at a time. The down arrow key will bring
you down to the present moment, one Commandline at a time.



12.2 Choosing From a Pick List


Issue the command QUEUE or Q from the Palrun Prompt. You
will be presented with a pick list containing your most recently
executed Commandlines. Select one of the Commandlines using the
normal methods of selecting from a pick list. This will place


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your selected Commandline onto the Palrun Prompt for editing and
execution.



12.3 Searching With


This method of retrieving a prior command may be the fastest
and most convenient for you. At the Palrun Prompt, type in the
first letter of a Commandline that you previously executed and
then strike . Palrun will search the Commandline Queue to
see if there are any stored Commandlines that match.

If Palrun finds one (and only one) Commandline whose first
letter matches the letter you typed, the old Commandline will
magically pop onto the Palrun Prompt.

If Palrun finds no matches, it will beep at you once.

If Palrun finds multiple matches, it will show you the most
recently executed match, and will beep at you for the number of
times that it has found matches in the queue. If the match that
Palrun shows you is not the one you want, then just keep hitting
to cycle through the matches until you find the right one.
























55







CHAPTER 13: POINTING TO A NEW ARCHIVE




When Palrun starts up, it uses the Palhouse that you specify
in Setup. The "@" character may be used at the beginning of any
command to point to a new archive to act as your Palhouse.

You may target a specific archive on the Palrun Prompt as
follows:

@MYARCHIV.ARC COMMANDLINE

Palrun will use MYARCHIV.ARC as your Palhouse in executing
the remainder of your Commandline. MYARCHIV.ARC will remain as
your current Palhouse until you point to another archive with the
"@" symbol, or until you use the FRESHEN or F command to restore
your default Palhouse.

You may use the pointing operation at the beginning of any
command on your Commandline. Remember that you can have several
commands on a single Commandline, each separated by the
Commandline Separator. For example:

PALRUN @THISARCHIVE DOTHIS ^ @THATARCHIVE DOTHAT ^ FRESHEN

is an example of a Commandline containing three separate
commands. The first two commands utilize two different archives,
and the third command points Palrun back to your default
Palhouse.

The pointing operation may be used in a specific or
nonspecific way. By specific, we mean that the pointer operation
is seeking a single archive. The term nonspecific means that you
are asking Palrun to display a pick list of all archives which
match the wildcard specification you provide.



13.1 Specific Pointing


Specific pointing is used when you know the name of the
archive that you want to use as your Palhouse. In the following
examples, the term "Archivespec" refers to the name of the
archive, without the extension.



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@ARCHIVESPEC

-- When you point to an archive without including its
extension, Palrun will automatically append the
extension which is used by your default Palhouse in the
Setup procedure. Palrun will look in your DOS path for
the specified archive and immediately make it your
Palhouse if found.

@ARCHIVESPEC.EXT

-- As an alternative to the first example, you may
explicitly state the extension of the archive. If
found in the DOS path, the archive will become your
Palhouse.


@\DIRECTORYSPEC\ARCHIVESPEC

-- When you start with a directory specification,
Palrun will look only in that directory for the
archive. In this particular case, Palrun will add the
default extension for the archive. If the file exists,
it will become your Palhouse.

@ARCHIVESPEC DOTHIS WITH THESE PARAMETERS

-- Same as the first example, except that Palrun will
not only make ARCHIVESPEC your Palhouse, it will also
immediately proceed to execute the program "DOTHIS,"
passing to it the parameters "WITH THESE PARAMETERS."


If your pointer operation does not include a Commandline as
does the last example, then Palrun will drop to the Palrun Prompt
after having made the archive your Palhouse. You will see that
Palrun has placed the word PCKHOUSE on the Palrun Prompt so that
you can examine the archive's contents with a single stroke of
the key.

On the other hand, if you do place additional instructions
after the pointer operation, Palrun will immediately try to
execute those instructions, using the new Palhouse that you
specified. Following that, Palrun will place the PCKHOUSE
command on the Palrun Prompt for your convenience.




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13.2 Nonspecific Pointing


Nonspecific pointing is used when you do not know or do not
recall the name of the archive that you want. When pointing in a
nonspecific manner, Palrun will show you a pick list of all the
archives that match the wildcard specification you provide.

Once you select an archive from the pick list, it will
become your current Palhouse immediately. If you do not want to
change your Palhouse, just from the pick list.

If your pointer operation is not followed by an optional
Commandline, then when you exit the pick list you will find that
the word "PCKHOUSE" is resting at the Palrun Prompt, so that you
can examine the contents of your new Palhouse with a single
stroke of the key.

If you do append an optional Commandline after the pointing
operation, then Palrun will attempt to execute that Commandline
after you have selected an archive from the pick list. Following
completion of the command, you will see the word "PCKHOUSE"
resting at the Palrun Prompt.

Some examples will help to clarify nonspecific pointing:


@*.*

-- This will provide you with a pick list of all
archives residing in the current subdirectory. All
normal archive extensions (ARC, DWC, LZH, PAK, ZIP,
ZOO) will be recognized as archives and displayed in
your pick list.

@

-- Same as the first example.


@\DIRECTORYSPEC\*.*

-- This is the same as the first example, except you
will be provided with the names of all archives in the
directory that you specify.




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@\DIRECTORYSPEC

-- Same as the preceding example.


@\DIRECTORYSPEC\*

-- Same as the preceding example, except that Palrun
will append the extension of your default Palhouse, so
that instead of showing all archives Palrun will show
only those archives of the same type as your default
Palhouse.


@*.DWC

-- Shows all DWC archives in the current subdirectory.


@B*.*

-- Shows all archives in the current subdirectory
beginning with the letter "B."


@B*

-- Shows all archives in the current subdirectory
beginning with the letter "B" and which are the same
type of archive as your default Palhouse.


@ DOTHIS WITH THESE PARAMETERS

-- Same as the first example, except after you exit the
pick list, Palrun will attempt to execute the
Commandline "DOTHIS WITH THESE PARAMETERS."



13.3 Resolving a Potential Ambiguity


Please observe that a pointer operation could result in an
ambiguity if you have an archive with the same name (sans
extension) as a subdirectory.



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For instance, suppose that in your \COMM subdirectory you
have an archive by the name of DOWN.EXT, where "EXT" is the same
extension as your default Palhouse. Suppose, further, that you
also have a subdirectory below the \COMM subdirectory which has
the name of DOWN, so that the complete specification of that
subdirectory is \COMM\DOWN.

In the foregoing circumstance, what is meant by the
following pointer operation?

@\COMM\DOWN

The "@ARCHIVESPEC" construct ought to catch your DOWN.EXT
archive, but the "@\DIRECTORYSPEC" construct would seem to
require Palrun to give you a pick list of the contents of the
\COMM\DOWN subdirectory.

The way that Palrun resolves this ambiguity is that it will
treat your command as a nonspecific request for all the archives
in the "\COMM\DOWN" subdirectory.

If you want to make sure that you are pointing at the
specific archive known as "\COMM\DOWN.EXT," then you must
explicitly include the file extension in your command.

























60







CHAPTER 14: ALTER EGOS





We have provided you with a small program by the name of
PALTER.EXE. Its sole purpose is for you to create copies of it
and rename the copies to the same name as a program that you have
compressed into your default Palhouse. When you invoke the copy
of the program from the DOS prompt, it will determine its own
name (as you have changed it) and then invoke Palrun in transient
mode to extract the real program from your default Palhouse and
run it.

For this feature to work properly, you need to be using DOS
3.0 or higher.

For example, suppose your communication program is Procomm
Plus. It has a number of auxiliary programs for setting up its
configuration, for changing keyboard emulations, and so forth.
If you were to compress all of the auxiliary programs into your
Palhouse, no trace would be left of their existence, and Procomm
Plus would not be able to find its helper programs when it needed
them. You would be forced to leave these seldom-used programs on
your hard disk, in an uncompressed state, wasting precious space.

Enter PALTER.EXE.

Using the example of Procomm Plus's setup program
PCSETUP.EXE, you would first move it into your default Palhouse.
Once that has been accomplished, issue the following command:

COPY PALTER.EXE PCSETUP.EXE

You will now have a file by the name of PCSETUP.EXE in your DOS
subdirectory, and you will have another within your Palhouse.
The real one is in the Palhouse, and the Alter Ego is in your DOS
subdirectory.

The next time that Procomm Plus seeks to invoke PCSETUP.EXE,
it will go ahead and invoke what is really the Alter Ego.
Procomm Plus won't know the difference. The Alter Ego that it
launches will itself shell to DOS and issue the command:

PALRUN PCSETUP [parameters]

You don't have to type in the above command. The Alter Ego
does this by itself. The "[parameters]" referred to above are

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whatever additional parameters the calling program has passed to
the Alter Ego. They will in turn be passed to the real program
by Palrun.

By the way, this procedure works equally well for .COM
files.

There are four things we ask you to think about when dealing
with Alter Egos:

1. It is not appropriate to use Alter Egos for programs
that write configuration information to their own .EXE files,
such as LIST.COM, PALRUN.EXE and PAL.EXE. Since the Alter Ego is
not an exact replica of the real program, any attempts at
configuration will end in failure.

2. Do not use Alter Egos for programs that stay resident,
such as SideKick or PALARM. You are sure to lock up your
computer if you execute a resident program from Palrun.

3. Some programs just will not work as Alter Egos. For
instance, the main application program might require access to
certain information contained in the EXE file or might need to
communicate with its helper in some other way which the Alter Ego
cannot handle. If you find that your application program and
helper program behave in an erratic fashion or your computer
locks up after creating an Alter Ego, simply replace the Alter
Ego with the original file out of your Palhouse and then delete
the original file from your Palhouse. It was worth a try, wasn't
it?

4. Consider your memory requirements. The Alter Ego, when
it shells to DOS, leaves about 2K of itself in RAM, followed by
3K-6K of DOS (depending on your version). When Palrun is
invoked, it needs a minimum amount of memory just to load, as
indicated above at page 16. Once loaded, Palrun swaps most of
itself out, leaving a 4K kernel, followed by another 3K-6K for
another portion of DOS. Consequently, assuming that Palrun has
enough free RAM to load when called by the Alter Ego, the total
RAM available in the shell procedure for your helper program will
be reduced by 12K - 18K.

5. Don't let your Alter Ego get stomped on by the real
program when Palrun extracts it from your Palhouse. If the
Extraction Information portion of the Setup procedure shows that
extraction is to be made to the current subdirectory and your
Alter Ego is situated in the current subdirectory when you call
it, then the real program will overwrite the Alter Ego; when the

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real program is finished executing, Palrun erases it from your
hard disk -- in effect, your Alter Ego will disappear. The
second time you try to run the Alter Ego, DOS (or your
application program) won't be able to find it. The cure for this
situation is either to place all your Alter Egos in a separate
subdirectory in your DOS path or to change the Extraction
Information to require extraction of the real program to a
separate subdirectory.









































63







CHAPTER 15: ALIASES





15.1 Introduction to Aliases


An Alias is a shorthand name (not more than 8 characters)
given to an entire Commandline, so that by typing just a few
keystrokes you can initiate a complex series of events. You can
define up to 50 Aliases.

Any Alias can be summoned on any Commandline, whether you
are using Palrun as a transient program or as a permanent shell.

Aliases are internal to Palrun, so that, while they
may seem like mini-batch files, they are faster and take up no
disk space because they're already in memory, and they can
invoke any of Palrun's own internal commands.

One special quality of Palrun's Aliases is that Palrun first
tests every command on every Commandline to see whether it is an
Alias before executing that command in any other way. In that
way, you can create your own Alias named "DIR" that will initiate
the action that you desire instead of going to DOS's version of
DIR, or you could create an "F" Alias that will do whatever you
want instead of being interpreted as Palrun's internal
abbreviation for the FRESHEN command.



15.2 Creating Your First Alias


Aliases are created in the Setup procedure by choosing the
"Aliases and Menu" selection from the main Setup menu, and then
selecting the "Aliases" choice.

When you first enter the "Aliases" choice, assuming that you
have not yet created any Aliases, you will be immediately offered
the possibility of creating an Alias. This is a simple two-step
process.

First, you choose a name of 8 characters or fewer. Strike
to register your choice.



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Then you are asked to type in the Commandline that you wish
to associate with that name. Palrun's line editor is at your
service for this purpose.



15.3 Adding, Editing, Deleting and Renaming Aliases


Now that you have created your first Alias, the next time
that you enter the "Aliases" section of the Setup procedure, you
will be provided with a pick list showing all of your defined
Aliases.

To edit an existing Alias, move the highlight bar to your
choice and press or .

To add a new Alias, press . You will go through the
same procedure as that which is outlined above.

When either adding or editing an Alias, you may copy from
another existing Alias by hitting the combination while on
the edit line. This will bring up a pick list of all your
existing Aliases. If you select one, the contents of its
Commandline will be brought onto the edit line. This feature
simplifies the creation of Aliases which perform similar
functions and whose Commandlines must be very much alike, but
which require minor differences.

To delete an existing Alias, move the highlight bar to your
choice and press . You will be asked to confirm the
deletion.

To rename an existing Alias, move the highlight bar to your
choice and press .



15.4 Batch-type Behavior


In creating a Commandline for your Alias, there are two
facilities which we have transplanted from the way DOS batch
files are created.

One is the PAUSE command. If you insert PAUSE as one of the
commands on your Commandline, when that command is encountered
Palrun will stop processing and wait for you to strike a key.

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The other transplant is the ability for you to use the "%"
character, followed by a number, to indicate that this spot in
the Commandline should be occupied by a parameter that is
specified by the user when the Alias is invoked.

For instance, if you create an Alias by the name of
"MyAlias" and assign to it the following Commandline

DOTHIS %1 ^ DEL %1.BAK ^ PAUSE ^ DOTHAT %2 %3

then you can issue the Commandline

MYALIAS ONE TWO THREE

and Palrun will do four separate commands in the following order:

1. Dothis one
2. Del one.bak
3. Pause
4. Dothat two three



15.5 Nesting and Chaining Aliases


Since any Commandline may include an Alias as one of its
commands, one of the most powerful aspects of Palrun's Aliases is
their ability to nest within one another or call one another.

The only limitation on nesting and chaining Aliases is that
each call to another Alias requires Palrun to use a portion of
memory in order to keep track of how to find its way back to the
initial Commandline that set everything in motion.

When Palrun detects that it is executing an Alias (and
assuming that you have not used the Setup procedure to turn off
Palrun's verbose reporting), Palrun will preface the
execution of each command with a report of what level of nesting
you are at. For instance, an Alias called from your initial
Commandline will always be reported as "Level 1." If it calls
another Alias, then when the second Alias is called, Palrun
reports that you are at "Level 2," and so forth.






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15.6 The PCKALIAS Command


If you issue the PCKALIAS command from the Palrun Prompt,
you will be presented with a pick list of all your currently
defined Aliases.

If you place the highlight bar over any Alias in the list
and strike , the name of that Alias will be placed on the
Palrun Prompt so that you may edit or add parameters. You may
then execute the Alias with another tap of the key.

You may use the abbreviation PA in place of the PCKALIAS
command.



15.7 Selecting an Alias Name


In selecting the name for your Alias and in designing the
Commandline, be aware that Palrun will not permit you to have an
Alias name which is identical to one of the commands that you
include on the Commandline attached to it. Otherwise, the Alias
would wind up calling itself in an endless loop.
























67







CHAPTER 16: CREATING AND USING CUSTOM MENUS




You can create a customized menu containing as many as 50
menu entries. Each entry is attached to a command of 8 or fewer
characters. That command may be one of your custom-designed
Aliases, or you may attach the menu entry to any Palrun internal
command, a program or a batch file.

Let's take a gander at what a menu looks like. From the
Palrun Prompt, issue the command

MENU

or if you want to go directly from the DOS prompt into the menu
then issue the command

PALRUN /P MENU

from the DOS prompt.

Assuming that you have not yet made any changes to the
distribution version of Palrun, a menu will pop up for you,
looking something like this:


Your Custom Menu
Change Directory
Change Palhouse
Choose an Alias
Directory Contents
Edit This Menu
Freshen Palhouse
Help
Palhouse Contents
Palrun prompt
Quit to DOS
Setup
5/11/90 3:44


These are the menu items that Palrun provides you as it is
distributed. You can turn off these menu entries with the Setup
procedure (See section 16.6 below at page 73). You may also add
your own menu items (See section 16.2 below at page 69).



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All of the items that you find on the above menu provide a
method for accessing Palrun's internal commands. Where
appropriate, Palrun will pause after you initiate the selection
in order to provide you with an opportunity to feed additional
parameters to the internal command.

Notice that the bottom left corner of the menu window
provides you with the current date and time. Your current
subdirectory and Palhouse will be indicated at the top of the
screen.



16.1 Selecting From a Menu


To make a selection from a menu, treat it just like any
other pick list available in Palrun. That is, using the cursor
keys, your mouse, or the name search technique, move the
highlight bar to your choice. Then press or click the
button on your mouse.

When you make your selection, Palrun will go right ahead and
execute the Alias that you have connected to your choice.

Suggestion: Since your menu will pop up again immediately
following execution of the sequence described in your Alias, you
may want to place a PAUSE command at the end of your Alias if you
want to view information that would otherwise disappear.

If you designed your menu entry to pause for additional
parameters, or if your menu entry is connected to an Alias and
that Alias contains a "%" character, Palrun will pause to permit
you to specify additional parameters.

While in a menu, if you want to get back to the Palrun
Prompt, just press or the button on your mouse.



16.2 Creating Your First Menu Entry


Let's go through the steps of creating a menu entry.

To create a menu entry, you'll need to get into the Setup
procedure. There are several methods of getting to the menu
editing section of Setup.

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First, from the Palrun Prompt you can go directly to
the section of the Setup procedure that you need by
issuing the command

MENUSET


Second, you can get into the Setup procedure by issuing
the command

SETUP

then selecting "Aliases and Menu," then "Menu" then
"Edit."


Third, if you call up "Menu" and the screen shown at
the beginning of this Chapter appears, you can select
the "Edit This Menu" choice.

Palrun will ask you the name you want to use for your menu
entry. Type in the way you would like the menu entry to appear
in your menu. Let's say that you want to add a line in your menu
for "Word Processing." Go ahead and type those words in, then
hit for your entry to be registered.

Next, Palrun will ask you the name of the command that you
want to attach to the menu entry. Here you can supply the name
of a previously defined Alias, a Palrun internal command, or any
program or batch file.

Lastly, if the command you are attaching in not an Alias,
Palrun will inquire whether you want the menu entry to pause for
additional input whenever the menu item is selected. If you
answer "YES" Palrun will always give you the opportunity to add
parameters to the attached command before it is executed. If you
have attached an Alias to the menu entry, Palrun will determine
whether to pause for additional input simply by checking whether
the Alias contains a "%" character.

To complete the process, you have to make sure that your
changes are saved. After all of your previous input has been
registered, press until you come back to the main Setup
menu. Move the highlight bar to the entry that allows you to
save your results into PALRUN.EXE, or you can save the results
just for the current computing session if you prefer. The
process of saving your changes is discussed in greater detail in
the Setup Chapter, commencing on page 102.

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That's all you have to do to add a menu entry. To test out
what you've done, return to the Palrun Prompt and issue the
command

MENU

Your menu should pop up, and there will be a new menu entry that
you just recorded. If you select that entry, then the command
that you attached to that entry will be executed.



16.3 Adding, Editing, Deleting and Renaming Menu
Entries


The discussion on creating a menu entry in section 16.2
assumed that you had not previously created any menu entries.
Once you already have menu entries, when you choose to edit a
menu within Setup, Palrun will provide you with a pick list of
your existing entries.

If you want to edit an existing entry, center the highlight
bar on your choice, then strike or . Palrun will
permit you to change the way your menu entry appears and will
allow you to change the command to which it is attached.

If you want to add a new entry, then hit , and Palrun
will take you through the same procedure outlined earlier for
creating an entry.

If you want to delete an existing entry, center the
highlight bar on your choice and strike . You will be asked
to confirm your decision to delete the menu entry.

To rename an existing menu entry, center the highlight bar
on your choice and strike .












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16.4 Additional Customization of Menus


There are two additional modifications that you can make to
your menu from the Setup procedure. When you make the "Aliases
and Menu" selection, you will get the following mini-menu:


Aliases and Menu
Aliases
Menu



Select "Menu," and you will be presented with the following:


Menus
Edit menus

Header for menu
Your Custom Menu

Show Palrun internal menu items?
YES



The first choice permits you to edit your menu, a topic
which was thoroughly explored above. A discussion of the other
two choices follows.



16.5 Supplying a Header for the Menu Window


With this parameter, you can give your menu a heading of
your choice to supplant the "Your Custom Menu" description with
which Palrun initially heads up the menu window. Instead of
reading "Your Custom Menu" at the top of the window, you could
change it to "John Q. Public."






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16.6 Showing Palrun Internals


This parameter is a toggle switch. Say "Y"es if you want to
include in your menu the internal commands that are reflected in
the menu shown at the beginning of this Chapter. Say "N"o if you
want your menu to include only the entries that you yourself
design.



16.7 Saving Your Customized Changes


All the changes that you have made in your menu system must
be saved from the main Setup window. Hit from any place
within the Setup procedure, and eventually you will wind up back
at the main Setup menu. From there, you can either "Save" the
changes permanently into the PALRUN.EXE file, or you may save it
for "This session" only.

If you do not save your changes, then Palrun will not
remember them.


























73







CHAPTER 17: CUSTOMIZING PALRUN: SETUP





17.1 Introduction to the Setup procedure


Palrun's Setup procedure provides you with the opportunity
to customize the program to your own patterns of usage.

To reach the Setup procedure, issue the command SETUP from
the Palrun Prompt. Alternatively, you may invoke the Setup
procedure directly from the DOS command line with the command

PALRUN /P SETUP

The SETUP command may be abbreviated as S.

Please note that the changes you make in the Setup procedure
will not be made permanent unless you save them. You can either
save them permanently to the program file itself, or you can save
them for the current computing session only. You can also save
your parameters to a disk file.

If you prefer to exit the Setup area without saving your
changes into Palrun, you may do so by tapping the key. If
you try to escape from the Setup main menu even though you have
made changes, Palrun will ask you to confirm that decision.

To remind you of the areas in which you have made changes
during a session in the Setup procedure, Palrun will provide you
with status information on the right side of your screen to
indicate to you which areas have changed. If you were to have
made changes in all possible areas, then the status box would
appear as follows:

You have made changes in:
Aliases and Menu
Colors
Configuration File Names
Extractor Information
Miscellaneous Information
Palhouse Information
Viewer Information
Wordprocessor Information



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When you call up the Setup procedure, you will be presented
with the following main menu:

Palrun Setup
Aliases and Menu
Colors
Extractor information
Miscellaneous information
Palhouse information
Viewer information
Wordprocessor information

File Save and Load
Restore distribution defaults
Save changes into Palrun & exit
This session only


The main menu operates just like all the pick lists used in
Palrun. That is, you can place the highlight bar on the
selection of your choice by using the cursor keys, the name
search technique, or your mouse, then activate the selection by
pressing or clicking the button of your mouse.

Note that there are two basic sections in the main menu.
The top section consists of seven basic areas in which changes
can be made. The bottom section provides you with the means of
leaving the Setup procedure.



17.2 Aliases and Menu


The first selection from the Setup main menu is for "Aliases
and Menu." Making this selection presents you with the following
submenu:


Aliases and Menu
Aliases
Menu



Aliases are covered in detail in Chapter 15 at page 64.
Menu creation is covered in detail in Chapter 16 at page 68.

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17.3 Colors


Although Palrun is distributed in a basic black and white
color combination, you may readily customize the colors to your
liking. In many areas of color customization, you may select
extremely vivid background colors that are ordinarily not
available to you in most other application programs. When you
request the Colors choice from the main Setup menu, you are
presented with the following submenu:


Color Customization
Help System
Message Boxes
Palrun Prompt
Pick Lists
Standard Operations
Border



When you select any of the five choices from the colors
menu, you will then be presented with a sample of the type of
situation that you might encounter and for which you may now
design the color combinations.

Color choices are made from a color bar presented near the
top left of your screen. When choosing background colors, the
color bar will contain up to sixteen colors, labeled "A" through
"P." With the Palrun Prompt, message boxes and standard
operations, you will have only eight choices of background color,
while you can choose up to sixteen background colors for your
help system and your pick lists. Try out the additional vivid
background colors in the help system and pick lists, for you may
find them very pleasing.

When choosing a foreground color, the color bar will consist
of one long bar on which characters are written to show you the
appearance of sixteen possible foreground colors against your
chosen background color. Each of the sixteen combinations is
labeled with a unique letter from "A" to "P." Since a foreground
choice will be very much affected by your background choice, you
may find it most efficient to make your background choice first.



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To make a selection of either a background or a foreground
color, just tap the alphabetic key which corresponds to your
choice as it appears on the color bar and then hit to
register your selection. To leave a color bar without changing
the selection, just tap the key.

As you make color selections, the on-screen example will
change so that you can see the effects of your manipulations.

Remember that color changes will not take permanent effect
until you save your changes from the main Setup menu.



17.3.1 Help System


For the help system, you may designate seven color
combinations -- normal colors, frame colors, header colors,
referenced colors, selected colors and accent colors.

Normal colors are the colors in which most of your window
will appear.

Frame colors depict the border which surrounds the window.

Header colors indicate how the text on the very top line of
the window will appear.

Referenced colors describe the appearance of text which
denotes an additional help topic to which you can move the
highlight bar. Make sure that this color set contrasts with your
normal colors. You might like to try the same background as your
normal colors, but with a contrasting foreground.

Selected colors display the highlight bar for your help
system. Make sure that this color set contrasts well with your
normal colors and with your referenced colors. You might like to
try a color set which uses an entirely different background
color.

The accent colors refer to the appearance of certain text
which is set off in the help system to attract your attention,
such as "EXAMPLE:" or "SEE ALSO:."





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17.3.2 Message Boxes


Message boxes are those little pieces of information that
Palrun pops up with in order to inform you of an error or some
other condition.

There are three areas you need to set for message boxes --
normal, frame and header colors.

Normal colors are the colors in which most of your window
will appear.

Frame colors depict the border which surrounds the window.

Header colors indicate how the text on the very top line of
the window will appear.



17.3.3 Palrun Prompt


When choosing colors for the Palrun Prompt, you choose
colors separately for the status line and for the line editor.
Whatever colors you select for the Palrun Prompt will also be
used in the Setup procedure whenever you are asked to provide
input.

With the status line, you may separately indicate the colors
for the current colors, the border colors and the program name
colors. We recommend that you use the same background color with
all three of these selections on the status line.

The "current" colors refer to the information displaying
your current subdirectory, your current Palhouse and the current
time. The "border" colors are the colors for the graphic lines
which separate the current information boxes. The "program name"
colors describe how the program name will appear in the leftmost
box on the status line.


For the edit line, you choose a single background color and
a single foreground color.



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17.3.4 Pick Lists


Pick lists are found throughout Palrun. The colors you
select here will affect all of the following:

Setup menus
Your customized menu (MENU)
The commandline queue (QUEUE or Q)
Picking from within an archive (PCKHOUSE or PH)
Picking an Alias (PCKALIAS or PA)
Picking from a list of archives (@)
Picking from a list of subdirectories (CHDIR or CD)
Picking from a list of files in a directory (PCKDIR or PD)

There are four areas you need to set for pick lists --
normal, frame, header and selected colors.

Normal colors are the colors in which most of your window
will appear.

Frame colors depict the border which surrounds the window.

Header colors indicate how the text on the very top line of
the window will appear.

Selected colors display the highlight bar for your pick
list. Make sure that this color set contrasts well with your
normal colors.



17.3.5 Standard Operations


"Standard Operations" refers to the colors in which your
screen will appear whenever commands are being executed. This
effect occurs only when Palrun is used as a permanent shell
program. When using Palrun as a transient program, your normal
DOS colors will remain.

You need to make just two color selections for your standard
operations colors -- a background color and a foreground color.

Whatever color you choose for the background will also be
used as the border around the perimeter of your screen if you
allow Palrun to control the screen border color (see 17.3.6,
immediately below).

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17.3.6 Border


If you allow Palrun to control your screen border colors,
then Palrun will extend the background color of the standard
operations through the border of your monitor.

This works most noticeably on a CGA monitor, with a less
spectacular effect on VGA monitors, and hardly any effect at all
on an EGA monitor.

After having set the colors, you will notice that whenever
Palrun is in the process of executing a program the border will
shrink. The border will then grow again when control is returned
to Palrun. What is happening here is that Palrun is restoring
the border to the condition in which it was found when Palrun
first loaded, usually black. In this way, you can be assured
that the border color that you choose for Palrun does not linger,
and possibly clash, with the colors for another program that
Palrun executes.



17.4 Extractor Information


When you select the "Extractor Information" choice from the
main Setup menu, you are presented with the following submenu:


Extractor Information
Output path for extraction
Current subdirectory

Customize parameters for extraction programs

Extraction program to use with *.ARC archives
ARC

Extraction program to use with *.ZIP archives
PKUNZIP



On distribution, Palrun provides that the output path for
extraction is your current subdirectory, and this is so noted

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below the output path menu selection. Similarly, on distribution
Palrun is set to use ARC as the program for use with *.ARC
archives and PKUNZIP to use with *.ZIP archives. These default
parameters are also revealed right within the menu. If you make
changes to any of these three parameters, the changes which you
make will be shown here.



17.4.1 Output Path for Extraction


On distribution, Palrun is set up so that the files which
are temporarily extracted from your archive are extracted to the
subdirectory in which you are presently active at the time the
extraction takes place, overwriting any instance of that file
that is already located in the present subdirectory. The
extracted file is then erased at the completion of the process.

You may wish to designate a different directory for the
temporary extraction by using this facet of the Setup procedure.

There are at least two possible reasons for designating a
special output path for extraction:

(a) You want to make sure that you do not overwrite any
existing instances of the files that you extract from your
archive.

In particular, if you intend to use Alter Egos (see Chapter
14 above at page 61), you would not want your Alter Egos to
disappear after being overwritten by the real program coming
out of the Palhouse. An alternative method of protecting
your Alter Egos would be to place them in a separate
subdirectory in your DOS path which is unlikely ever to be
the current subdirectory when an Alter Ego is called.

(b) You want to have the extraction made to a fast RAM-
disk.

If you want to restore Palrun's default behavior of
extracting to the current subdirectory, then instead of entering
a drive and directory specification, leave the edit line blank
before tapping .





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17.4.2 Customize Parameters for Extraction
Programs


Palrun, as distributed, is already set up to handle all of
the commonly available shareware compression programs. This
section of the Setup procedure permits you to alter those
parameters.

Caution: The prefix information should not be changed
unless you are confident that you know the effects of the change.

When you make the "Customize Parameters" selection, you will
be presented with the following submenu:

Customize Standard Extractor Programs
ARC - Systems Enhancement Associates
ARCE - Vern Buerg
DWC - Dean W. Cooper
LHARC - Haruyasu Yoshizaki
PAK - Nogate Consulting
PKUNPAK - PKWare
PKUNZIP - PKWare
ZOO - Rahul Dhesi


Once you select one of the programs for customization, you
will be presented with a simple submenu which permits only two
choices. For instance, here is what you see if you select "ARC"
for customization:

Customize ARC Parameters
Extraction parameters
Compression parameters


Details on dealing with extraction parameters and
compression parameters are described separately below.











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17.4.2.1 Extraction Parameters


On selecting extraction parameters for customization, you
will be presented with the following menu. Although the
information that you see below the choices may differ for each
program, the class of items that may be changed will be identical
for all of the programs:


Customize ARC Extraction Parameters
Extraction program name:
ARC.EXE

Path where extraction program is located:
Anywhere in the DOS path

Prefix:
eo

Suffix:
> nul

Minimum RAM Required:
128K



The ability to change the extraction program name is there
so that you can change the name of your program if you so desire.

The path parameter is set forth so that you can make Palrun
save some time by going directly to the subdirectory rather than
searching through the DOS path.

The prefix parameter is the text that Palrun feeds to your
extraction program BEFORE giving it the name of the file to
extract. This information is different for every program, and
you should not change it unless you are confident that you know
the effects of the change. The information provided with Palrun
as it is distributed sets up the extraction program to overwrite
existing files of the same name without requesting the user's
intervention.

Note: If you have made changes to the prefix information
and want to find out what Palrun thinks is the correct
information, you can take a gander by using the "Restore" choice
from the Setup menu. To make sure that the restore operation

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does not overwrite all your prior changes, either save your
original information to a configuration file before using the
"Restore" selection, or else simply from the Setup menu
after having used the "Restore" selection.

The suffix parameter is the text that Palrun feeds to your
extraction program AFTER giving it the name of the file to
extract. On distribution, Palrun uses the text ">nul" which has
the effect of silencing the status information that your
extraction program would otherwise write to your screen. If you
want to see the status information, then leave the suffix
parameter blank.

The "Minimum RAM Required" parameter refers to the minimum
RAM, expressed in kilobytes, that Palrun must be able to find to
do a quick shell operation when using the extraction program. A
"quick shell" invokes the extraction program in a speedier
fashion than the way in which Palrun does its disk swapping for
normal operations. The disadvantage of a quick shell is that it
frees up less RAM than the disk-swapping method. If Palrun
determines that it can do a quick shell and provide your
extraction program with at least the amount of RAM that you
specify with this parameter, it will do so; otherwise, Palrun
will swap most of itself to disk, leaving only a small kernel of
itself behind in RAM.



17.4.2.2 Compression Parameters


On selecting compression parameters for customization, you
will be presented with the following menu. Although the
information that you see below the choices may differ for each
program, the class of items that may be changed will be identical
for all of the programs, with just one exception.

The exception is that ARCE's normal companion program, ARCA,
is not suitable for use by Palrun, since its usage can lead to
multiple files of the same name residing within an archive.
Consequently, instead of customizing compression parameters for








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ARCE's companion, you are instead prompted to select a companion
program with the following submenu:

To Recompress with ARCE
ARC
PAK
PKPAK


The remainder of the discussion in this subsection applies
to all programs other than ARCE. When you choose to modify the
compression parameters, you are presented with the following
submenu:


Customize ARC Compression Parameters
Compression program name:
ARC.EXE

Path where compression program is located:
Anywhere in the DOS path

Compression prefix:
fm

Compression suffix:
> nul

Deletion prefix:
d

Deletion suffix:


Minimum RAM Required:
128K



The ability to change the compression program name is there
so that you can change the name of your program if you so desire.

The path parameter is set forth so that you can make Palrun
save some time by going directly to the subdirectory rather than
searching through the DOS path.

The compression prefix parameter is the text that Palrun
feeds to your compression program BEFORE giving it the name of

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the file to compress. This information is different for every
program, and you should not change it unless you are confident
that you know the effects of the change.

The compression suffix parameter is the text that Palrun
feeds to your compression program AFTER giving it the name of the
file to compress. On distribution, Palrun uses the text ">nul"
which has the effect of silencing the status information that
your compression program would otherwise write to your screen.
If you want to see the status information, then leave the suffix
parameter blank.

The deletion prefix and suffix parameters are used when you
delete a file out of a PCKHOUSE pick list with the key.

The deletion prefix parameter is the text that Palrun feeds
to your compression program BEFORE giving it the name of the file
to delete. This information is different for every program, and
you should not change it unless you are confident that you know
the effects of the change.

The deletion suffix parameter is the text that Palrun feeds
to your compression program AFTER giving it the name of the file
to delete. Note that Palrun, as distributed, does not include
">nul" as a suffix when deleting from your archive. We felt that
the deletion process is important enough that you should be given
the messages that the compression program writes to the screen.
If you prefer, use ">nul" for your suffix.

Note: If you have made changes to the prefix information
and want to find out what Palrun thinks is the correct
information, you can take a gander by using the "Restore" choice
from the Setup menu. To make sure that the restore operation
does not overwrite all your prior changes, either save your
original information to a configuration file before using the
"Restore" selection, or else simply from the Setup menu
after having used the "Restore" selection.

The "Minimum RAM Required" parameter refers to the minimum
RAM, expressed in kilobytes, that Palrun must be able to find to
do a quick shell operation when using the compression program. A
"quick shell" invokes the compression program in a speedier
fashion than the way in which Palrun does its disk swapping for
normal operations. The disadvantage of a quick shell is that it
frees up less RAM than the disk-swapping method. If Palrun
determines that it can do a quick shell and provide your
compression program with at least the amount of RAM that you
specify with this parameter, it will do so; otherwise, Palrun

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will swap most of itself to disk, leaving only a small kernel of
itself behind in RAM.



17.4.3 Extraction Program to Use With ARC
Archives


Since there are several programs available which can handle
archives having an *.ARC extension, Palrun offers you the freedom
of choice. You may select among the programs ARC, ARCE, PKUNPAK,
and PAK.



17.4.4 Extraction Program to Use With ZIP
Archives


Since there are two programs available which can handle
archives having an *.ZIP extension, Palrun offers you the freedom
of choice. You may select among the programs PAK and ZIP.



17.5 Miscellaneous Information


There are three basic groups shown on the submenu displayed
when you make the "Miscellaneous Information" selection. Each of
them shows the current settings for the information described.
You may select any of the three groups for change, and you will
be presented with a separate sub-menu so that you can change any
individual parameter in that sub-group. Below is an example of














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the Miscellaneous Information submenu, displaying the settings
that Palrun uses as it is initially distributed.



Miscellaneous Information
Character substitutions:
DOS output redirection character: )
DOS input redirection character: (
DOS pipe character: !
Commandline separator character: ^

Toggle switches:
Use EMS for swapping? YES
Use EMS for overlays? YES
Quiet down the comments? NO
Force pause before return? NO
Keep tree info on disk? YES
Storage directory for tree info:
C:\

Directory sort and display control:
Sort by: Name
Length of display: Regular

3-Button Mouse Definitions




17.5.1 Character Substitutions


This subgroup allows you to change the characters that
Palrun looks for in special situations.



17.5.1.1 DOS Redirection Characters


The first three entries in the character substitution
subgroup provide a method to feed DOS redirection characters to
Palrun from the DOS system prompt. See Chapter 19 at page 110.

The substitute characters which Palrun uses on distribution
are physically suggestive of those which DOS expects to see. The


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only reason that you may desire to change these translations is
if they interfere with your normal computer usage.

DOS Symbols Palrun Substitution

> )

>> ))

< (

| !



17.5.1.2 Commandline Separator
Character


The Commandline Separator character is the character that
you may use on the Palrun Commandline to signify the separation
between subcommands. You may have several commands on any
Commandline. The Commandline Separator character is interpreted
as if you had tapped the key. Change this only if the
"^" character is needed for other purposes.



17.5.2 Toggle Switches


These are the parameters that you can turn on or off by
answering "Y"es or "N"o when Palrun asks what you want to do.



17.5.2.1 Use EMS for Swapping?


When Palrun shells to DOS to execute a program, it removes
most of itself from memory so that most of your computer's RAM is
made available for the desired operation. Palrun leaves just a
precious few thousand bytes of itself in memory so that it can
reload when it needs to regain control.

For speed in accomplishing this swap, Palrun is set up to
use EMS memory if your system has it available. If you prefer


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that Palrun does NOT use EMS, then change this parameter. In
such a case, Palrun will swap to a disk file instead.

You may want to tell Palrun not to use EMS if, for instance,
you want to make sure that your application program has the
maximum EMS memory possible for its own usage.



17.5.2.2 Use EMS for Overlays?


This parameter permits you to designate whether or not
Palrun should use EMS for its overlay file. Ordinarily, you want
to leave the answer "YES," so that dipping into the overlay file
is done with greatest speed. However, if you want to preserve
EMS for other purposes, you can set this parameter to "NO." At
this writing, the overlay code will take up about 213K of EMS.



17.5.2.3 Quiet Down the Comments?


On distribution, Palrun is set up to provide you with fairly
verbose comments about the status of what is going on. If you
prefer a more quiet screen display, then change this parameter.



17.5.2.4 Force pause before return?


Answering "YES" for this parameter will force Palrun to
pause after an operation, waiting for a keypress, before
returning to the Palrun Prompt. This could be useful, for
instance, if the Palrun Prompt forces information on your screen
to scroll off before you have time to study it. On distribution,
this parameter is set to "NO" for more seamless operation. If
you need to pause only in some, but not all situations, consider
using an Alias and the internal "PAUSE" command to make the
screen await your keypress only when clearly necessary.







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17.5.2.5 Keep tree info on disk?


This parameter indicates whether or not Palrun retains on
disk the structure of your subdirectory tree. This information
is used in the CD and CHDIR commands; e.g., when using CD in a
nonspecific way so as to bring up a pick list of all
subdirectories on a particular drive, or when using the "Super"
CD ability of Palrun to move you to a subdirectory when you
specify just a few keystrokes of the subdirectory to which you
want to move.

The "Super" CD function depends on the disk-based
information created when you set this parameter to "YES." If you
do not retain the tree structure information on disk, then the
"Super" CD function will be disabled.

The tree information is saved to a subdirectory which you
specify in the parameter discussed in the next section. Each
drive will have its own disk file with the name "PALRUN.?," where
the "?" character is filled in with the letter corresponding to
the drive.

On distribution, this parameter is set to "YES." If you
change the parameter to "NO," Palrun will not save the drive
information to disk files, and will read you tree structure each
time you need a CD command. For speed of operation, we recommend
that you keep this parameter at "YES."

The information in the disk files will be modified each time
you use the MD, MKDIR, RD or RMDIR commands from the Palrun
Prompt, or when you delete a subdirectory with while in a
PCKDIR pick list. Note, however, that Palrun cannot be aware if
you remove or create a subdirectory from within a resident
program, from within an application program, or when shelling to
DOS from an application program. If you suspect that the
information in Palrun's tree info files is stale, you can always
force Palrun to reread the structure by striking the key
while within a CD pick list, or by using the "CD /F" syntax when
initially invoking the CD command.









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17.5.2.6 Storage Directory for Tree
Info


Although this parameter is not strictly a "toggle switch,"
its logical relationship to the previous parameter dictates that
it be juxtaposed to it.

With this parameter, you may specify the drive and
subdirectory in which you would like Palrun to keep the file in
which the tree structure information is stored.



17.5.3 Directory Sort and Display Control


These parameters control the manner in which the files in
your directory are displayed with the PCKDIR or PD command and
the manner in which the component files of your Palhouse are
displayed with the PCKHOUSE or PH command.

Changing parameters here will set how Palrun will display
your files by default each time you execute Palrun. Within each
Palrun session, you may temporarily change these parameters by
striking within a PCKDIR or PCKHOUSE pick list, or you may
specify the sort options as an optional parameter when invoking
PCKDIR or PCKHOUSE, and those changes will hold sway until you
QUIT from Palrun. However, changes made with the key will
be forgotten when you QUIT. The only way to permanently make
such changes is to do so in the Setup procedure.



17.5.3.1 Sort Order


Use this parameter to indicate whether Palrun should sort
your files in name, extension, size or date order.










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17.5.3.2 Level of Detail


This parameter allows you to set the amount of information
shown for each file. There are three levels: brief, regular and
lengthy. "Brief" provides you only with the name of each file,
and your files will be shown in 5 columns. "Regular" and
"Lengthy" will give you successively more information on each
file, and they will be shown 2 across and 1 across, respectively.


17.5.4 3-Button Mouse Definitions


When you are at the Palrun Prompt, if you have a mouse,
every combination of button clicks has a particular meaning. For
2-button mice, the meanings are always standard:

equals
equals
equals

If you have a 3-button mouse, the availability of the center
button makes available four additional button combinations that
can initiate some action at the Palrun Prompt. You may attach to
each of the combinations any 8-character or less command. The
command may be a Palrun internal command, an Alias, or any
program or batch file that you might otherwise wish to execute.
When you hit the 3-button mouse combination while at the Palrun
Prompt, Palrun will immediately execute the command that you have
attached.

On distribution, Palrun defines the additional combinations
as follow, and you can change these definitions in this section
of the Setup procedure:

MENU
QUEUE
PCKDIR
PCKHOUSE









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17.6 Palhouse Information


The "Palhouse Information" submenu details three choices
regarding your Palhouse, setting forth the current settings for
each of them:


Palhouse Information
Name of file for Palhouse:
PALHOUSE.ZIP

Path where Palhouse is located:
Anywhere in the DOS path

Search DOS before Palhouse?:
NO




17.6.1 Name of File for Palhouse


This parameter sets forth the name of the archive that
Palrun uses as your default Palhouse. Be sure to specify the
extension.

Your choice of extension will also affect Palrun's ability
to point to archives, as described in Chapter 13, starting at
page 56. With the pointing operation, if you specify an archive
without an extension, Palrun will assume that you want to look
for one that has the same extension as that which you set forth
here.



17.6.2 Path Where Palhouse is Located


This is the parameter that tells Palrun where to look for
your Palhouse. On distribution, this is set up to look in the
DOS path. You may reset this parameter to a specific drive and
subdirectory. If you do reset the parameter and want to return
to looking "Anywhere in the DOS path," then leave the edit line
blank before tapping .



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There are advantages to both methods of indicating the path
for the Palhouse. For instance, leaving the distribution default
alone will permit you to have a different Palhouse in each
subdirectory in which you may want to have an application, and
Palrun will use the Palhouse in the current subdirectory. On the
other hand, specifying a particular drive and subdirectory for
your Palhouse will make sure that you will always be accessing
the same Palhouse.

There are two additional benefits of specifying the path for
your Palhouse where you have only one; first, Palrun will find
your Palhouse a fraction of a section faster if you specify the
full subdirectory, and, second, if you have a good-sized RAM-
disk, you might want to copy your Palhouse over to the RAM-disk
and point Palrun to it with a change in this Setup parameter.



17.6.3 Search DOS Before Palhouse?


By default, Palrun will search the Palhouse before looking
in DOS for the program that you want to execute. You may prefer
to change the order of searching with this parameter.



17.7 Viewer Information


This set of parameters deals with the information which
Palrun needs to know in order to view a file from within an
archive:


Viewer Information
Name of file viewing program:


Prefix parameters:


Suffix parameters:


Minimum RAM required:
128K


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You must specify the name of a file viewing program if you
want to make use of Palrun's ability to view a file from an
archive.

The prefix and suffix parameters provide you a means of
passing information to your designated viewing program in
addition to the name of the file which Palrun extracts for
viewing. For instance, whenever Palrun extracts a file for
viewing, it will actually execute a command in the following
manner:

VIEWINGPROGRAM PREFIXPARAMS FILETOVIEW SUFFIXPARAMS



17.7.1 Name of File Viewing Program


Here you must specify the name of the viewing program,
including its extension (COM, EXE or BAT).



17.7.2 Prefix Parameters


These are the parameters that you may optionally specify to
be passed to your viewing program BEFORE the name of the file
being viewed.



17.7.3 Suffix Parameters


These are the parameters that you may optionally specify to
be passed to your viewing program AFTER the name of the file
being viewed.



17.7.4 Minimum RAM Required


The "Minimum RAM Required" parameter refers to the minimum
RAM, expressed in kilobytes, that Palrun must be able to find to

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do a quick shell operation when using the viewer program. A
"quick shell" invokes the viewer program in a speedier fashion
than the way in which Palrun does its disk swapping for normal
operations. The disadvantage of a quick shell is that it frees
up less RAM than the disk-swapping method. If Palrun determines
that it can do a quick shell and provide your viewer program with
at least the amount of RAM that you specify with this parameter,
it will do so; otherwise, Palrun will swap most of itself to
disk, leaving only a small kernel of itself behind in RAM.

On distribution, Palrun sets the minimum RAM requirement for
your viewing program at 1280K; this means that it will do a quick
shell in most instances rather than a full swap. Contrast this
with the 640K minimum RAM requirement that we set for your
wordprocessing program. The reason that we draw this distinction
is that most viewing programs need very little RAM to operate,
while editing programs may require the greatest amount of RAM
available in order to edit large files.































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17.8 Wordprocessor Information


This set of parameters deals with the information which
Palrun needs to know in order to edit a file from within an
archive:


Wordprocessor Information
Name of wordprocessing program:


Prefix parameters:


Suffix parameters:


Backup extension:


Minimum RAM required:
640K



You must specify the name of a wordprocessing program if you
want to make use of Palrun's ability to edit a file from an
archive.

The prefix and suffix parameters provide you a means of
passing information to your designated wordprocessor in addition
to the name of the file which Palrun extracts for editing. For
instance, whenever Palrun extracts a file for editing, it will
actually execute a command in the following manner:

WORDPROCESSOR PREFIXPARAMS FILETOEDIT SUFFIXPARAMS



17.8.1 Name of Wordprocessing Program


Here you must specify the name of the wordprocessor,
including its extension (COM, EXE or BAT).




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17.8.2 Prefix Parameters


These are the parameters that you may optionally specify to be
passed to your wordprocessor BEFORE the name of the file being
edited.



17.8.3 Suffix Parameters


These are the parameters that you may optionally specify to
be passed to your wordprocessor AFTER the name of the file being
edited.



17.8.4 Backup Extension


If you would like Palrun automatically to delete any backup
file created by your word processing program, then indicate the
extension here. If you do not want Palrun to delete the backup
file, then leave this entry blank.



17.8.5 Minimum RAM Required


The "Minimum RAM Required" parameter refers to the minimum
RAM, expressed in kilobytes, that Palrun must be able to find to
do a quick shell operation when using the editor program. A
"quick shell" invokes the editor program in a speedier fashion
than the way in which Palrun does its disk swapping for normal
operations. The disadvantage of a quick shell is that it frees
up less RAM than the disk-swapping method. If Palrun determines
that it can do a quick shell and provide your editor program with
at least the amount of RAM that you specify with this parameter,
it will do so; otherwise, Palrun will swap most of itself to
disk, leaving only a small kernel of itself behind in RAM.

On distribution, Palrun sets the minimum RAM requirement for
your wordprocessing program at 640K; this means that it will do a
full swap in all instances instead of a quick shell. Contrast
this with the 128K minimum RAM requirement that we set for your
viewing program. The reason that we draw this distinction is

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that most viewing programs need very little RAM to operate, while
editing programs may require the greatest amount of RAM available
in order to edit large files.



17.9 File Save and Load


When you select the "File Save and Load" section of the
Setup main menu, you will be presented with the following
submenu:


Configuration Files
Load Configuration File
Save Configuration File



This section of the Setup procedure permits you to save and
recall all the customizations that you have made within the Setup
procedure, including, for instance, your Aliases and menu.

It is not necessary for you to save your customizations into
a configuration file, since the Setup procedure saves your
changes directly into the PALRUN.EXE program file. However, you
may find that saving a configuration file is useful in the
following situations:

(a) If you would like to have Palrun behave
differently for different situations, you could have a
different configuration file for each of those situations,
loading them in turn. For example, you may want a different
set of Aliases and a different menu for common use, but then
bring in a different set of Aliases and a different menu for
a specialized use. In this way, you can have more than the
50 Aliases and 50 menu entries to which you would otherwise
be limited.

(b) If you obtain a later version of Palrun to which
you would like to transfer your customizations, you will be
able to do so by saving your current customizations to a
configuration file, then loading them into the new version.
We guarantee that all future versions of Palrun will be able
to read and interpret your configuration file so that you
will always be able to quickly upgrade without having to
manually reinstall your customizations.

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(c) You might like to save an image of how Palrun
behaves while you are trying out a new set of parameters.
If you are unhappy with your new set of parameters, you can
easily restore your prior set by loading the previously
saved configuration file.

Details on how to load or save a configuration file follow.



17.9.1 Load Configuration File


When you select the "Load Configuration File" option, you
will be prompted for the name of the configuration file that you
would like to load.

The line editor will present you with the name of the file
that it guesses you would like to load. This will most often be
the name that you last used when you saved a configuration file.
If the name that you specify does not include a full drive and
directory specification, then Palrun will look through your DOS
path. If Palrun cannot find the specified file, you will be
prompted for another name.

You may edit the choice which is presented to you. Hit
to complete the selection of the file name, or hit
to abort the process.

When you load a configuration file into memory, you are
loading a set of parameters that had previously been saved to
disk. If these parameters are any different from those which
resided in memory at the time you started this session of Palrun,
there will be an indication at the right side of your screen as
to which areas have been changed. You may enter those areas from
the main Setup menu to examine the new parameters and make
further modifications if you so desire.

The changes which are brought into memory by loading a
configuration file do not become permanent unless saved from the
main Setup menu.


17.9.2 Save Configuration File


When you select the "Save Configuration File" option, you
will be prompted for the name of the configuration file that you

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would like to save. The line editor will present you with the
name of the file to which you last saved your configuration

information, but you may edit that file name if you want.

Once you select a file name by tapping , your
information will be saved. If a file with the same name already
exists, Palrun does not ask for confirmation whether you want to
overwrite or backup the existing file and will presume that you
want to go ahead and overwrite it.

Any file saved in this manner may be recalled later with the
load command.

Saving a configuration file is not the same as saving
changes into Palrun. Changes made in a Setup session will not
become permanent until you use the "Save Changes" option from the
Setup main menu.



17.10 Save Changes Into Palrun & Exit


All of the changes that you make while in the Setup
procedure are initially made in a kind of scratchpad in memory.
They do not affect Palrun's behavior unless and until you make a
conscious decision to save them.

If you do not want to save your changes, tap the key
from the main Setup menu. If you try to escape despite having
made changes, Palrun will request you to confirm that decision.

To save your changes directly into Palrun, so that these
changes will take effect immediately and for each successive
invocation of Palrun in later computing sessions, you must select
the "Save changes into Palrun & exit" choice.

When you make this selection, you will be offered the
opportunity to create a new .EXE file with a name different from
PALRUN.EXE. This may be useful to you if you would like your
newly changed behavior to be saved into a brand new file which
you can invoke later, while retaining the old information in your
existing PALRUN.EXE.

If you do not want to save the changes permanently into
PALRUN.EXE (or a newly created file) but would like them to be
activated for the current session only, then select the "This
Session Only" choice.

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17.11 This Session Only


This selection permits you to save your changes into the
currently running version of Palrun. Your changes will take
effect immediately after exiting the Setup procedure. However,
they will disappear when you QUIT from Palrun or turn off or
reboot your computer.

If you want your changes to be more permanent, consider the
"Save changes into Palrun & exit" selection, discussed at section
17.10, or think about saving your parameters to a configuration
file, as discussed at section 17.9.2.


































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CHAPTER 18: DOS ENHANCEMENTS




Palrun makes significant enhancements to two important sets
of DOS internal commands. Additionally, although Palrun allows
you to continue to use DOS's DIR command, you may find Palrun's
internal PCKDIR command to be tremendously more flexible.



18.1 CHDIR / CD


Palrun replaces DOS's "CHDIR" and "CD" commands. As with
DOS, both commands are interchangeable.

The basic usage of the command continues to be supported.
For instance:

CD \UTIL

will change to the \UTIL subdirectory on the current drive.

In addition to the standard usage, Palrun's version of these
commands is enhanced in several ways.



18.1.1 Changing Drive and Directory
Simultaneously


Palrun allows you to precede the subdirectory with a drive
specification, so that with just one command you can change to a
subdirectory on a drive different from your current drive. For
instance, if you are presently on the C: drive, you could issue
the command

CD E:\UTIL

and Palrun will switch you to the E: drive and change you to the
\UTIL directory there.






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18.1.2 Picking From a List of Subdirectories on
a Single Logical Drive


Palrun will allow you to use the CHDIR command in a
"nonspecific" way. That is, if you are unsure of the precise
name of the subdirectory to which you want to change, you get a
pick list from Palrun of all the possible subdirectories on any
drive by using the following syntax:

CD [DRIVE:] [/F]

The specification of the drive following "CD" is optional.
If you do not include a drive specification, then Palrun will
present you with a pick list of all subdirectories on the
currently active drive.

For instance:

CHDIR F:

-- will present you with a pick list of all
subdirectories on drive F:


CD

-- will present you with a pick list of all
subdirectories on the currently active drive

If you do not change the distribution parameter that tells
Palrun to retain the subdirectory tree information on disk (see
section 17.5.2.5 at page 91), the first time you use CHDIR to
summon a pick list of all the subdirectories on a drive Palrun
will read the entire structure of that drive and save the
information to disk before showing you the pick list. On
subsequent calls to CHDIR, Palrun will refer to its disk file to
give you a much faster report of the available subdirectories.

For any drive for which Palrun has saved the subdirectory
tree information to disk, Palrun will keep track of all changes
that are made through Palrun; e.g., with MD, MKDIR, RD and RMDIR
issued from the Palrun Prompt, and with the key to delete a
subdirectory from a PCKDIR pick list.

Palrun cannot detect, however, if you make changes to the
subdirectory tree by other means, such as through a resident
program, an application program, a separate partition in a

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multitasking system, or when shelling to DOS from an application
program.

The optional "/F" parameter is used when you want to force
Palrun to reread the entire subdirectory structure of the
requested logical drive, regardless whether or not Palrun has
previously saved that information to a disk file. You may also
force Palrun to reread the structure while in a CHDIR pick list
by striking the key. Forcing a reread of the subdirectory
structure would be useful in cases where you suspect that Palrun
may not be aware of changes that have been made in your
subdirectories.

Please note that the "/F" parameter may be used only as an
adjunct to obtaining a pick list of all the subdirectories on one
drive. It may not be used as a parameter when you are trying to
change to a specific directory. Thus, the following two commands
are permissible:

CD E: /F
CHDIR /F

while the two below are incorrect:

CD \UTIL /F
CHDIR COMM /F

After you launch your CHDIR command, Palrun will display the
pick list from which you may select any subdirectory. Use the
cursor keys, the name search technique, or your mouse to move the
highlight bar.

When you register your acceptance of the subdirectory under
the highlight bar, you will be moved immediately to the drive and
subdirectory of your choice. If you hit instead of
selecting a subdirectory, then you will be returned to the Palrun
Prompt and find yourself at the drive and subdirectory from which
you first invoked the command.

When you obtain a CHDIR pick list in this manner, you will
see that there are two function keys that you can utilize in
addition to the help key:

Allows you to specify a new drive
Tells Palrun to rebuild the tree information




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18.1.3 "Super" CHDIR


The most sophisticated enhancement that Palrun makes to the
CHDIR command is what we refer to as "Super" CHDIR. With this
feature, you may feed CHDIR a parameter consisting of just a few
keystrokes, representing a small portion of the entire
subdirectory name.

The first thing that Palrun does when you feed it such a
string of characters is to look on the current drive as DOS's CD
would do to see if it can find an exact match. Failing that,
Palrun goes through a sequence of steps. If Palrun finds one
subdirectory on any drive that contains the string of characters
that you specified, then you will be immediately switched to that
drive and subdirectory. If Palrun finds more than one
subdirectory that contains the string, it will give you a pick
list of all the subdirectories that contain a match. If Palrun
finds no matches, it will simply indicate that no matching
subdirectory could be found.

To provide you with this convenience, Palrun relies on the
tree information saved to disk, as described in the preceding
section.

Example:

As an example, let's assume that you have two logical drives
(excluding your A: and B: floppy drives) and that you have the
following subdirectories:

C:\ D:\
C:\DOS D:\COMM
C:\UTIL D:\COMM\DOWNLOAD
C:\WP D:\COMM\MSGS
C:\WP\LEX D:\UPDOWN
C:\WP\MAC
C:\WP\STY
C:\WP\MSGS
C:\WP\COMMUNIC

Given the foregoing hard disk setup, suppose you issue the
command:

CD MSGS

What happens depends on where you are when you issue the command.

If you start out in the C:\WP subdirectory, you will wind up in

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C:\WP\MSGS. Similarly, if you start out in D:\COMM, you will
wind up in D:\COMM\MSGS. This is exactly what DOS's CHDIR
command would do. If, however, you had issued the "CD MSGS"
command from C:\, you would be presented with a pick list that
includes both "C:\WP\MSGS" and "D:\COMM\MSGS" for your further
selection.

If you know which drive the subdirectory is on and want to
avoid having Palrun search all the drives, simply precede the
subdirectory designation with the drive letter. For example, in
the foregoing example, if you had issued the command:

CD C:MSGS

then Palrun would immediately switch you to "C:\WP\MSGS" since
that is the only matching subdirectory on drive C:.

As a further example, if you had issued the command:

CD X

then no matter where you started from you would wind up in
C:\WP\LEX, since that is the only subdirectory which contains an
"X" in its name.

One more example to add some clarity. If you were to issue
the command:

CHDIR DOWN

then you would be presented with a pick list containing both
"D:\COMM\DOWNLOAD" and "D:\UPDOWN," but if you had issued the
command:

CHDIR \DOWN

you would be immediately switched to D:\COMM\DOWNLOAD. In this
case, the "D:\UPDOWN" subdirectory is not considered to be a
match because it has no "\" character preceding the "DOWN."

Hint: The "Super" CHDIR feature depends on the disk files

to which Palrun writes the information it learns about the
subdirectories on each logical drive. If an information file
does not exist for a particular logical drive, then the "Super"
CHDIR feature will not work for that drive. When you first start
out using Palrun, it will not yet have created any disk files for
the tree information. Since the "Super" CHDIR feature works only
with the disk files that Palrun has already created, you might

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find it useful to do a nonspecific CD command on all the logical
drives of your hard disk just for the purpose of initializing the
information files. For instance, you could do a single
Commandline to initialize all the information files:

CD C:^CD D:^CD E:^CD F:

Use as many subcommands as may be necessary to handle all your
logical drives. When you are presented with each pick list, just
press to proceed to the next CD subcommand.



18.2 ERASE / DEL


ERASE and DEL are interchangeable DOS commands which have
been enhanced by Palrun in two ways.

First, if you ask for deletion of an entire directory,
Palrun pops up with a message box which is more friendly than
DOS's normal response.

Second, you may place any number of file specifications for
deletion following the command. For instance, the command:

DEL *.BAK *.BK! *.TXT *.DOC

will delete all files having four different file extensions.



18.3 DIR


No, we haven't supplanted DOS's DIR command. You can still
use it. However, Palrun provides an entirely new command that
transcends the capabilities of DOS's DIR command: the PCKDIR
command, which may be abbreviated as PD.

It is with the PCKDIR command that you summon a pop up pick
list of the contents of your subdirectory. You can "run" a file,
edit one, view one, delete one, or control the sort order and
level of detail. For complete details on the PCKDIR command, see
Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.




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CHAPTER 19: DOS REDIRECTION





When using I/O redirection (the >, >>, < and | commands that
DOS provides) on a Commandline executed from Palrun's prompt,
everything will work hunky-dory. However, if you use redirection
when invoking Palrun from the DOS prompt, you'll have to do some
special things, since DOS will not interpret the I/O redirection
characters as you intend.

Let's use a simple example to illustrate the problem.
Suppose you want to do something easy like type a file and send
the output to your printer. The normal command that you would
run would be

TYPE FILENAME > PRN

If you wanted to invoke this by calling Palrun from the DOS
prompt, you might think that all you have to do is execute

PALRUN TYPE FILENAME > PRN

This will NOT give you the result you might be expecting, because
DOS sees the redirection character (the ">") and stops passing
that information to Palrun. In effect, DOS thinks that what you
want to do is redirect the output of Palrun, when what you really
wanted to do is redirect the output of TYPE.

To bypass DOS's stubborn insistence on stripping out all
redirection from the Commandline, we have to fool DOS. To do
that, you'll have to use certain substitute characters that
Palrun can detect so that DOS will pass the entire Commandline to
Palrun. Palrun will look at your Commandline, and if it detects
the substitute characters, it will interpret them as the proper
DOS redirection characters.












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These are the substitutions that you need to use to fool
DOS:

If You Want to Use: Then Substitute:

> )

>> ))

< (

| !

Palrun will recognize the foregoing substitutions if and
only if there is a space preceding and a space following the
substitution. It will not recognize the substitution if any
character other than a space precedes or follows the
substitution. The purpose of this is to make sure that if you
need to use any of the substitute characters for any other
reason, such as within some command you are giving, Palrun will
not misinterpret it.

To illustrate the foregoing:


PALRUN TYPE FILENAME ) PRN

-- Palrun will execute: TYPE FILENAME > PRN
and then return to the DOS prompt


PALRUN TYPE FILENAME )PRN

-- Palrun will not replace the ) with >
This is because the ) is not followed by a space


PALRUN /P DIR *.* ! SORT ! MORE

-- Palrun will execute: DIR *.* | SORT | MORE
and then return to the Palrun Prompt

The only time you need to worry about these substitution
characters is if you want to perform any redirection operation
while calling Palrun from the DOS prompt. This is the case
whether or not you are using Palrun's "/P" switch.



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If you are at Palrun's own prompt, you don't have to worry
about these substitutions. However, for the sake of consistency,
if you happen to use any of the substitute characters at the

Palrun Prompt, Palrun will detect them and make the
substitutions.












































112







CHAPTER 20: SWAP FILES




Whenever Palrun executes a program or batch file for you, it
swaps all but about 4K bytes of itself out of memory. Palrun
will also perform this swapping operation when extracting and
compressing files or when using your editor or viewer if it
cannot otherwise supply the minimum ram requirements that you
have specified for the operation in the Setup procedure.

By swapping most of itself out of memory, Palrun leaves you
with most of your RAM intact for purposes of the operation that
is happening.

If you have sufficient expanded memory (EMS) in your system,
Palrun will place the unneeded portion of itself in EMS,
occupying about 180K of EMS. If, for some reason, you prefer
that Palrun not use EMS even if you have it available, you may
use the Setup procedure to tell Palrun NOT to swap to expanded
memory.

If you do not have sufficient EMS, or if you have customized
Palrun so that it will not use EMS, then the unneeded portion
will be swapped to a disk file. It is this disk file to which we
refer when we use the term "Swap File." The size of each Swap
File will be about 170K.

Each Swap File is created in the subdirectory which was
current at the time of the swap. It is important that a Swap
File survive any inadvertent attempt by the user to erase it, so
all Swap Files are hidden files. They will not be displayed when
you do a DIR command, and they will not be erased with a "DEL
*.*" command. If you have a program which displays hidden files,
you will see Palrun's Swap Files with names based on the
structure of "SWAP????.$$$," where the "????" is replaced by a
unique code for each Swap File.

The reason that each Swap File must remain intact is that
Palrun needs that information to restore itself when the
operation to which control was passed terminates. Without the
Swap File, Palrun will not be able to resume.

When Palrun does resume, it erases the Swap File which
temporarily stored the necessary information.

This last point bears special note, because it produces a
corollary fact: If you turn off your computer or reboot in the

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middle of one of these swapping operations, Palrun will not have
an opportunity to reinstall itself and erase the Swap File.

Fortunately, Palrun will automatically erase all of your
old, unattached Swap Files which it encounters each time it
performs a swapping operation.

If Palrun automatically kills old Swap Files in the
subdirectory in which it is doing its work, what about old Swap
Files that might be littering a rarely used subdirectory on your
hard disk? Just to make sure that you have the capability to
ferret out and delete Swap Files in rarely used subdirectories,
Palrun includes a function which will kill all old Swap Files on
an entire disk. You may want to run this periodically. The
syntax is:

PALRUN /K [DISKSEQUENCE] [COMMANDLINE]

There are two optional parameters following the "/K" (do not
type in the brackets).

The term Disksequence refers to an optional sequence of
letters that you specify (without any intervening spaces) to
denote the drives that you want to cleanse. If you do not
specify any Disksequence, then Palrun will kill Swap Files on the
current drive. As the syntax above shows, you may optionally
specify a Commandline following the Disksequence.

If you want to specify a Commandline but don't want a
Disksequence, then start your Commandline with the Commandline
Separator, the "^" character.

The "/K" operates just like the "/P" switch, so when the
cleansing is completed, Palrun will come to rest at the Palrun
Prompt. If you prefer to exit back to DOS immediately, then add
the command QUIT following your Disksequence.

One bonus that you get when you invoke the "/K" switch to
cleanse a disk is that Palrun will show you the names and
locations of all hidden files which reside on your disk.









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To illustrate the operation of Palrun with the "/K" switch,
here are some examples:

PALRUN /K

-- cleanses the current drive and then comes to a
halt at the Palrun Prompt


PALRUN /K CD

-- cleanses drives C: and D: and then comes to
rest at the Palrun Prompt


PALRUN /K CD CD

-- cleanses drives C: and D:, then executes
Palrun's internal CD command to give you a list of
subdirectories on the current drive, then comes to
rest at the Palrun Prompt


PALRUN /K ^ QUIT

-- cleanses the current drive, then quits back to
DOS


PALRUN /K QUIT

-- tries to cleanse drives Q:, U:, I: and T:, and
then comes to a halt at the Palrun Prompt


PALRUN /K C DIR *.BAK ^QUIT

-- cleanses drive C:, reports a directory of files
matching the "*.bak" specification, then quits
back to DOS









115







CHAPTER 21: ON-LINE HELP




The Palrun help system offers you a convenient, indexed
means of finding out what you need to know about the ins and outs
of the program.



21.1 The Help Index


The help system contains an index of topics. If you invoke
PALRUN from DOS without adding any parameters, the help index
will pop up. Another method of viewing the help index is by
pressing while viewing any screen of context-sensitive help.

In the help index, you select a topic to review by moving
the highlight bar and pressing .

If you press while in the index, the help window is
erased.

If you press while in the index, the previous help
topic is restored.



21.2 Context-Sensitive Help


The help system will pop up for you on any press of ,
anywhere within Palrun. If you have a mouse, pressing the
buttons simultaneously will do the trick. We will
refer to the key and the mouse click as the
key.

If you would like to pop up the help index over the context-
sensitive help, just give a second press of .

Within each help topic, you may find one or more cross-
references, each of which will be displayed in a special video
highlight. Position the highlight bar over the item. Then just
hit the key to obtain the cross-referenced help.

If you have a mouse, to select a cross-reference just place
the mouse cursor on the cross-reference and click once to

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position the highlight bar there. Click a second time in order
to activate the cross-referenced topic.



21.3 Cursor Control


Cursor movement through any topic is accomplished as
follows:

or display the previous or next help page.

,,, move the highlight bar among the
cross-reference topics, if any, displayed on the current help
page.

You will know whether or not you have additional screens to
view within the current topic by looking at right side of the
help window. If you are not using a mouse, then the word "more"
will appear in the lower right corner. If you do have a mouse,
then a scroll bar will appear along the entire right side of the
window.



21.4 Redisplaying Previous Topics


A press of displays the help topic most recently
selected.

The program maintains a stack of the 19 most recently
selected help topics. Each time another topic is selected, the
program pushes the previous topic onto this stack. Each time you
press , the top element of this stack is retrieved and the
corresponding help displayed.



21.5 Mouse Control


If you have a mouse installed in your system, you can use it
to advantage in our help system in several ways.

First, the mouse button is equivalent to pressing
-- it exits the help system.

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Second, pressing both mouse buttons is
equivalent to keying within the help system -- it brings up
context sensitive help from anywhere in Palrun. A second press
of both buttons will bring up the index.

The mouse may also be used to select cross-referenced
topics. Positioning the mouse cursor over a cross-reference and
pressing the button moves the highlight bar. Pressing the
button a second time selects the topic and displays a new
help screen, just like pressing the key.

In the upper left corner of the help window is a small
diamond character. Positioning the mouse cursor there and
pressing the button redisplays the most recently selected
topic, just like pressing .

The right edge of the help window contains a scroll bar if
there is more than one page of help on that topic. Positioning
the mouse cursor over the arrow characters at the top or bottom
of the scroll bar and pressing the button causes the help
system to display the previous or next page of help,
respectively.

Within the central portion of the scroll bar, the help
system displays a block character called the "slider." The
position of the slider indicates the relative position of the
current help page within the topic. Positioning the mouse cursor
above or below the slider and pressing the button causes
the help system to display a new help page, its position
proportional to the mouse cursor's position.



















118







CHAPTER 22: SUMMARY OF INTERNAL COMMANDS




The following commands are internal to Palrun. They will be
executed before Palrun looks in your Palhouse or DOS. They may
be overridden by creating an Alias with the same name. Some of
the commands have abbreviations, set forth in parentheses, which
will be recognized by Palrun.


@ Used by itself in a command, the "@"
character will bring up a pick list of all
archives in the current directory. You may
then pick one of the archives to become your
current Palhouse. See Chapter 13 at page 56.


/K Used as a method of getting to the Palrun
Prompt from DOS with the added function of
killing old Swap Files. See Chapter 20 at
page 113.


/P This is the command used in order to get from
DOS to the Palrun Prompt. Basic syntax is

PALRUN /P


CHDIR, CD This is a DOS command which is executed
internally within Palrun.

Palrun's version of these commands is
enhanced in a few ways.

First, Palrun allows you to precede the
subdirectory with a drive specification, so
that with just one command you can change to
a subdirectory on a drive different from your
current drive. For instance, if you are
presently on the C: drive, you could issue
the command

CD E:\UTIL

and Palrun will switch you to the E: drive
and change you to the \UTIL directory there.

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Second, Palrun will allow you to use this
command in a "nonspecific" way. That is, if
you are unsure of the precise name of the
subdirectory to which you want to change, you
get a pick list from Palrun of all the
possibilities by using the following syntax:

CD [DRIVE:]

The specification of the drive following "CD"
is optional. If you do not include a drive
specification, then Palrun will present you
with a pick list of all subdirectories on the
currently active drive.

For instance:

CHDIR F:

-- will present you with a pick
list of all subdirectories on drive
F:


CD

-- will present you with a pick
list of all subdirectories on the
currently active drive

Third, Palrun has a "Super" CHDIR feature.
You don't remember the drive or complete
directory specification for a subdirectory
whose name you know contains the string of
characters "MSGS"? Just do:

CD MSGS

and Palrun will find all subdirectories on
all drives that it knows about which contain
"MSGS" anywhere within the subdirectory name.
If it finds a single match, you will
immediately be switched to that subdirectory.
If it finds more than one match, Palrun will
provide you with a pick list of your possible
choices. See section 18.1.3 at page 107
above.

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CLS CLS clears the screen.


ERASE, DEL This is a DOS command which is substantially
enhanced by Palrun in two ways. First, if
you ask for deletion of an entire directory,
Palrun pops up with a message box which is
more friendly than DOS's normal response.
Second, you may place any number of file
specifications for deletion following the
command. For instance, the command:

DEL *.BAK *.BK! *.TXT *.DOC

will delete all files having four different
file extensions.


EXIT This DOS command has no meaning when executed
from Palrun.


FRESHEN (F) This command will point Palrun back to the
Palhouse that you specified with Setup,
rereading the contents of the Palhouse. It
is useful if you have used the "@" operator
to point to a different Palhouse.


HELP, ? This will summon the index of help topics.
Note that pressing from the Palrun
Prompt will provide you with immediate help
on the subject of the Palrun Prompt. See
Chapter 21 at page 116.


MENU This command calls up your custom menu.


MENUSET This will take you directly to the section of
the Setup procedure that allows editing of
your custom menu.






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MKDIR, MD This is a DOS command which is executed
internally within Palrun. The only
modification that Palrun makes to DOS
behavior is that it provides more elegant
responses.


PATH Like the DOS command, this will change your
path statement while using Palrun as a
permanent shell. The changes you make here
will not be preserved when you quit Palrun.
If using Palrun as a transient program, the
Path command will do nothing.


PAUSE The PAUSE command stops execution of an Alias
until a keystroke is received.


PCKALIAS (PA) This command presents you with a pick list of
your Aliases. Place the highlight bar over
your selection, then hit to place the
Alias at the Palrun Prompt for editing and
execution.


PCKHOUSE (PH) This command presents you with a pick list of
the contents of your current Palhouse. Place
the highlight bar over your selection, then
hit to place the file name at the
Palrun Prompt for editing your Commandline
and execution of the selected file.
allows you to edit the file, views the
file, and deletes the file. Your sort
order, level of detail and filemask may be
changed with .

Syntax is:

PCKHOUSE [FileSpec] [/Sortoptions]

where "FileSpec" is the optional mask,
including wildcards if desired, for the files
in the Palhouse you want to see, and
"Sortoptions" is the optional designation you
can make to indicate the sort order and level



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of detail you want in the pick list. The
permissible options are

N - Sort by name
E - Sort by extension
D - Sort by date
S - Sort by size
B - Brief detail
R - Regular detail
L - Lengthy detail

For instance,

PH *.COM /SL

would show all COM files in your Palhouse,
sorted by size and shown with a lengthy level
of detail.

If you do not specify an optional filespec,
then a "*.*" mask will be assumed. If you do
not specify any sort and detail options, then
the options which were last in effect will
apply.


PCKDIR (PD) This command presents you with a pick list of
the contents of a subdirectory. You may
follow the command with a file specification,
which may contain wildcards. Place the
highlight bar over your selection, then hit
to place the file name at the Palrun
Prompt for editing your Commandline and
execution of the selected file. If the
selected file entry is another subdirectory,
you will be presented with a new pick list of
the contents of that subdirectory. If the
selected file is an archive, a second press
of the key will make it your current
Palhouse. allows you to edit the
selected file, views the file, and
deletes the file. Your sort order, level of
detail and filemask may be changed with .

Syntax is:

PCKDIR [FileSpec] [/Sortoptions]


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where "FileSpec" is the optional mask,
including drive, subdirectory and wildcards
if desired, for the files in the Palhouse you
want to see, and "Sortoptions" is the
optional designation you can make to indicate
the sort order and level of detail you want
in the pick list. The permissible options
are

N - Sort by name
E - Sort by extension
D - Sort by date
S - Sort by size
B - Brief detail
R - Regular detail
L - Lengthy detail

For instance,

PD E:\UTIL\M*.* /ER

would show all files whose names begin with
the letter "M" and which reside in the \UTIL
subdirectory on drive E:, sorted by extension
and shown with a regular level of detail.

If you do not specify an optional filespec,
then a "*.*" mask in the current subdirectory
will be assumed. If you do not specify any
sort and detail options, then the options
which were last in effect will apply.


PROMPT This command, though recognized by Palrun,
will not accomplish any changes. The Palrun
Prompt stands as a substitution for the DOS
prompt, so no changes here would make any
sense. If you want to change your DOS
prompt, do so outside of Palrun.


QUEUE (Q) This command presents you with a pick list of
20 recently executed Commandlines. Place the
highlight bar over your selection, then hit
to place the old Commandline at the
Palrun Prompt for editing and execution.



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QUIT Issue the QUIT command at the Palrun Prompt
to return to DOS.


RMDIR, RD This is a DOS command which is executed
internally within Palrun. The only
modification that Palrun makes to DOS
behavior is that it provides more elegant
responses.


SET Like the DOS command, this will change your
path statement while using Palrun as a
permanent shell. The changes you make here
will not be preserved when you quit Palrun.
If using Palrun as a transient program, the
Path command will do nothing.

Note: DOS passes to Palrun a limited amount
of environment space. If you find that you
are running out of space when trying to use
the SET command from within Palrun, use the
SET command before invoking Palrun. If you
find that measure to be insufficient, use the
SET command before any resident programs are
loaded and/or consider using DOS's SHELL
command in your CONFIG.SYS file to create a
larger environment. See your DOS manual for
details.


SETUP (S) This is the command that gets you to Palrun's
Setup procedure for customizing the program
to your own liking.















125







CHAPTER 23: GLOSSARY




The following are some common terms used throughout this
documentation. A brief glance through the definitions will give
you an overview of some of the capabilities of Palrun.


Alias

An Alias is a Commandline that you define and
which Palrun memorizes. You create Aliases within
the Setup procedure.

Aliases serve as a kind of batch file, so if you
find that you are frequently invoking the same
series of commands, you can have Palrun memorize
an Alias for that purpose.

Aliases may use other Aliases as part of the
command. For instance, you might define one Alias
to pick up your electronic mail and another Alias
to tidy up your hard disk. You could then define
a third Alias which calls the first two in
successive operations.



Alter Ego

An Alter Ego is a small program that stands in the
place of a larger program that you have compressed
into your default Palhouse.

The usefulness of this facility is apparent the
first time you discover that an application
program depends on one or more helper programs,
and you are prevented from placing those helper
programs in your Palhouse because the main
application program doesn't know how to find them.

An Alter Ego is created by first placing the
helper program into your default Palhouse, then
copying the supplied PALTER.EXE program into a new




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file with the same name as your helper program.
For instance:

COPY PALTER.EXE HELPER.EXE

After creating the Alter Ego, the next time your
application program calls on the helper program,
it will actual cause the Alter Ego to be invoked.
The Alter Ego will itself shell to DOS and issue
the command:

PALRUN HELPER parameters

where "parameters" are the additional parameters
that your application program was intending to
feed to the helper program.

For details on Alter Egos, see Chapter 14 above at
page 61.


Archive

An archive is a file which is itself composed of
smaller component files. The component files are
compressed and assembled into the archive by a
compression program. The component files may be
accessed by using the appropriate extraction
program, which is often the same program as the
one which accomplished the compression.

The contents of an archive are invisible without
the assistance of the compression/extraction
programs which are designed to work with the
particular form of archive. That means that if
you do a DIR command, the archive itself will
appear in the directory, but its contents will
not. Palrun is designed to make archives more
transparent.

Popular compression/extraction programs supported
by Palrun include ARC (and its competitors ARCE,
PAK and PKPAK/PKUNPAK), DWC, LHARC, PKZIP/PKUNZIP
and ZOO. These programs create archives with the
extension of ARC, DWC, LZH, ZIP and ZOO,
respectively. The PAK program, though capable of
extracting from ARC archives, will create archives
with a PAK extension.

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Commandline

The term "Commandline" refers to the commands that
you ask Palrun to execute.

A Commandline may be transmitted to Palrun
directly from the DOS Prompt with the syntax of

PALRUN COMMANDLINE

or the Commandline may be typed at the Palrun
Prompt.

If one of the purposes of your Commandline is to
execute a program or batch file from within an
archive, Palrun will look in your Palhouse for
that program or batch file. If it is not present
in the Palhouse, Palrun will then look in your DOS
path.

As indicated elsewhere in this glossary, you may
specify your Palhouse in the Setup procedure.

You may temporarily point to an archive which is
different from your Palhouse by beginning your
Commandline with "@NameOfArchive." Naturally,
instead of typing in "@NameofArchive," you will
type after the "@" the complete file specification
for the archive you want.

For instance, if you have an archive by the name
of MYSTUFF.ARC, and you want to execute a program
by the name of MYPROG.EXE which you know resides
in the archive, and you would normally pass to
MYPROG the parameters of "1 2 bucklemyshoe," then
you would invoke Palrun with a Commandline in the
following fashion:

PALRUN @MYSTUFF.ARC MYPROG 1 2 BUCKLEMYSHOE

One distinctive enhancement (among many others)
that Palrun provides you over and above the normal
DOS commands is that each Commandline may consist
of several separate commands, each of them
separated by a special character which we refer to
in this documentation as the Commandline
Separator.

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Commandline Separator

The Commandline Separator is a single character
which is used to separate commands on your
Commandline. You may have several separate
commands on a Commandline. As distributed, Palrun
uses the carat (^) as the Commandline Separator.
You may change this in Setup.


Palhouse

The archive which Palrun will examine to find the
program to run or the file to view or edit. The
Setup procedure permits you to designate a name
for your Palhouse which Palrun will use at
startup. You may change your Palhouse at any time
while within Palrun by pointing to another
archive, and can return to your default Palhouse
by typing FRESHEN or F at the Palrun Prompt.


Palrun Prompt

Palrun provides you with a powerful alternative to
the DOS command line interface. We refer to this
as the Palrun Prompt. The Palrun Prompt is
reached by invoking Palrun with the syntax:

PALRUN /P

You may optionally add a Commandline after the
"/P" so that Palrun can immediately perform an
operation for you before coming to rest back at
the Palrun Prompt.

The Palrun Prompt consists of two (2) lines.

The first line always states the name of the
program, then indicates the current drive and
directory, then shows the full drive and
subdirectory specification of your current
Palhouse. At the extreme right, Palrun presents
the current time.

The second line of the Palrun Prompt begins with
the familiar ">" of the classic DOS prompt, and

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then provides you with a work area in which you
can type and edit your Commandline.

Although the work area appears to span only from
column two to column eighty on your screen, in
reality you may type in a Commandline which may be
as long as 255 characters. If you continue typing
beyond what appears to be the end of the work
area, your entire Commandline will shift to the
left in order to make room for more characters.



Setup

Setup is the internal procedure within Palrun,
summoned by typing SETUP or S at the Palrun
Prompt, which permits you to customize Palrun by
setting up various defaults and assumptions.
Palrun has the ability to memorize the changes
that you make. It also has the ability to save
these changes to a separate configuration file.



























130







CHAPTER 24: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS





Q: Palrun seems like such a great program to help me save hard
disk space in my laptop with the "Palhouse" concept. My problem
is that Palrun is itself a fairly large program. Can I get the
Palhouse savings in a smaller program?

A: Yup, you can. At the expense of most of the sophistication
of Palrun version 2.0 you can come to the PAL Software BBS and
pick up a copy of Palrun version 1.0. This original version of
Palrun handles only ZIP archives and lacks most of the other
features that you see in version 2.0. But version 1.0 takes up
only 48,784 bytes on your disk.


Q: There's such a proliferation of compression and extraction
programs available. How can I decide which one to use?

A: For some time now, we have been compiling test results which
compare speed of compression, speed of extraction and degree of
shrinkage achieved by all the programs currently available for
BBS download. At this writing, we are preparing the 9th edition
of this compilation of test results.

Our reviews have been widely circulated on BBS systems.
They are available on the PAL Software BBS at 914-762-8055 and on
many other BBS systems. Look to download a file whose name
begins with COMP and ends with a number indicating the edition of
the reviews. For instance, at this writing, you could download
either COMP8.COM or COMP8.ZIP from the PAL Software BBS.

In looking at the test results, be cognizant of your own
needs. Some feel that speed of compression is the most
important, others think the compression ratio is most important,
and still others weight the extraction speed as being most
important.

In the context of Palrun, compression speed is probably not
going to be very important to you. Instead, extraction speed
might be paramount, since you will be using Palrun to extract
files from your archives on a regular basis. Additionally,
compression size is important, for one of the basic purposes of
Palrun is to help you save disk space.



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In general, our test results show that DWC, PKZIP and PKPAK
excel in extraction speed. Look to LHARC, PKZIP and PAK for
degree of compression.


Q: My system is locking up when I try to install a resident
program with Palrun. What's happening?

A: Please do not try to load a resident program with Palrun.
It is not possible to do so without confusing the system, since
the chain of interrupts will be messed up when Palrun exits.

Never, never execute a program that becomes resident, ..such
as SideKick or Desqview. Your computer system will probably
become hopelessly confused and lock up.

The implication of this for those who want to use Palrun
from its own prompt is that you have to load all your resident
programs prior to using Palrun.

For instance, you may have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file which loads
a series of resident programs when you boot up. Make sure that
all resident programs are available outside of your Palhouse and
can be loaded without resort to Palrun. Furthermore, you may
desire to have the last command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file a
"Palrun /P" command. Make sure that all resident programs are
already loaded before going to the Palrun Prompt; otherwise,
you'll just have to quit Palrun, load the resident program, then
reload Palrun.



Q: How much memory does Palrun use?

A: When executing a file or calling up your compression,
extraction, viewer or wordprocessing program, Palrun uses only
about 4K of memory. It shrinks itself by swapping most of itself
to disk (or to EMS memory if available), leaving in memory only
what it needs to restore itself and clean up after the command
has been executed. The swap takes up about 212K of EMS or 162K
of disk space, whichever is applicable.








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Q: How much space can I expect to save by using Palrun?

A: That's not an easy question to answer. It depends on how
you use it.

Let's take batch files for example. Assume you have about
20 batch files, averaging about 200 bytes each for a total of
about 4000 bytes. If you move them all into your Palhouse, their
aggregate compressed size won't be much different from 4000
bytes. But if you were to run CHKDSK before and after the move,
you would find that you save several thousand bytes. This is
because each individual file residing on your disk takes up space
based on clusters, which are usually measured in thousands of
bytes. Thus, your 200 byte batch file may actually be absorbing
2048 bytes of disk space. You will be recovering quite a lot of
this slack space by using a Palhouse.

As a drastic example of the way that small files eat up disk
space, we have a separate directory on our hard disk for testing
the compression results for PKZIP, ARC, LHARC and so forth on a
lot of small files. Norton's FS program, which checks on free
space, reports the following:

7,232 total bytes in 65 files
532,480 bytes disk space occupied, 98% slack

If we move all of those small files into a single ZIP, the size
of that ZIP is only 11,051 bytes. While that's more than the
apparent size of 7,232 bytes of the total bytes of the files,
that's an actual disk savings of 521,429 bytes! The 8K cluster
size on our hard disk can produce some pretty great
inefficiencies; even if your cluster size is only 2K, you'll
still see a savings of about 122K.

With larger COM and EXE files, your space recovery is likely
to be between 30% to 50% of their size.

If you start playing around with batch files like the sample
PALWP.BAT in order to start archiving your support files, you'll
gain even more space.

Your experience will vary markedly from application to
application. One of our beta testers reported that Flight
Simulator didn't decrease all that much, but that a financial
application reduced itself to about 1/3 of its original size.




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Q: Do you have any suggestions on how to organize my use of
Palrun?

A: Sure.

We recommend that simple EXE and COM programs that don't
require any support files (e.g., CHKDSK, FORMAT) be placed
directly into Palhouse.

More complex programs which require support files (e.g.,
SuperCalc, WordPerfect, Procomm Plus) can be set up in separate
archives files which can be extracted by means of a batch file
(in the Palhouse) which you summon with Palrun. For an example
of how this can be done, see the sample batch file PALWP.BAT.

If you examine PALWP.BAT, you will see that the batch file
deals with two separate ZIP files -- WPSPRT.ZIP for all
WordPerfect program and support files, and WPEDIT.ZIP for all
documents being edited. When you're not running WordPerfect, all
these files remain comfortably ensconced, in compressed form,
within their respective ZIP files. When you're ready to run
WordPerfect, a simple

PALRUN PALWP NAMEOFFILETOEDIT

will allow everything to jump into readiness for your editing
pleasure.



Q: Can I use Palrun on a line of my batch file to call another
batch file?

A: In constructing your batch files, there is no constraint
against using Palrun as a command. Thus, you can accomplish
quite a bit of gymnastics in this fashion. For instance, from
within any batch file you can call Palrun to invoke another batch
file. Users of versions of DOS earlier than 3.3 (which has a
CALL command to permit nested batch calls) may find this facility
to be of extra special value.

Just remember, in setting up those batch files, that every
time Palrun calls a batch file it takes up about 4K of RAM and
also creates an additional Swap File.





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Q: Why do I get a notice from Palrun that it cannot do a SET or
PATH command?

A: First of all, you'll only get this notice if you're calling
these DOS commands from a Palrun Commandline that is not going to
leave you back at the Palrun Prompt but back at the DOS prompt.
The reason for this is that when Palrun exits back to the DOS
prompt, all changes which you may have tried to make to the
environment will be lost.

If you make changes to the environment and are returning to
the Palrun Prompt, Palrun knows how to retain those changes, but
once you finally quit back to DOS, those environment changes will
be lost.

The moral of the story is: If you want environment changes
to be retained after Palrun quits, then make sure you make those
changes from the DOS prompt before running Palrun.



Q: I tried running a command from Palrun that uses DOS
redirection to send output to my printer, but it didn't work.
What's going on?

A: DOS just doesn't understand how to do redirection with a
program that you are having Palrun execute. You have to fool
DOS. Read Chapter 19 starting at page 110.



Q: What can I do to enhance the speed with which Palrun works?

A: The single most important thing you can do to enhance
Palrun's speed is to have EMS memory and/or create a RAM-disk.

The RAM-disk can be specified for your output path in
Setup's "Extraction Information" section. In the "Miscellaneous
Information" section, you can specify that Palrun should use EMS
for its overlay file and for swapping.

Another technique for adding some speed to Palrun is to be
aware of how Palrun searches for a file. The distribution
version of Palrun searches first in your Palhouse and then in
your DOS path. If you have most of your programs in your path,
then you might want to reverse that order of searching by making
the appropriate change with the Setup procedure.


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Also, if you have a very long series of subdirectories
strung together to make up your path, this could take longer for
Palrun to search than if you just have one or two subdirectories
in your path.



Q: I have used the Setup procedure to change my "standard
operations" colors from basic black and gray to a color
combination that I find pleasing. I have an application program
that, when it finishes, restores the screen to black and gray. If
I have Palrun execute that application program in a batch file or
Alias which continues processing after the application program
finishes, then my "standard operations" colors appear only as
text is written across the screen, leaving a substantial portion
of the screen black. I find this to be unattractive. Is there
something I can do to make this look a bit cleaner?

A: What you need to do is put the CLS command in your batch
file or Alias after your program finishes. In this way, your
screen will clear back to the "standard operations" colors.
Everything will thereafter be nice and neat.

By the way, you will probably notice the same difficulty
when you shell from an application program to do some temporary
processing before exiting back to the program. You'll find that
the CLS command will help here as well.



Q: Since I started using Palrun, I've noticed that CHKDSK
reports one more hidden file than I thought I had. I also have a
hard disk defragmentation program which notices the additional
hidden file and refuses to touch it. What's going on?

A: When Palrun does its work, it swaps most of itself to a
hidden file on your disk in order to make more RAM available to
your computer. The hidden swap file will be deleted when Palrun
completes its work. If you have sufficient EMS and allow Palrun
to use it for this purpose, then Palrun will not create any
hidden files. If you want to make sure that these hidden swap
files do not interfere with your defragger, then do not execute
the defragger from Palrun.






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Q: In the Colors section of the Setup procedure, you let me use
all those luscious background colors for pick lists and the help
system, but I see that you permit me to use only 8 standard
background colors for the other choices (standard operations, the
Palrun Prompt and message boxes). Why can't I have those great
background colors in all facets of Palrun?

A: Those brilliant background colors of which you speak are
obtained by manipulating what is known as the "blink" bit of the
color attribute. Palrun tells your monitor that if this bit is
set, instead of interpreting it as a requirement to display the
text in blinking fashion, it should make the background color
brighter. IBM compatibles have a hardware limitation that
blinking text and intense background colors may not be displayed
on any monitor simultaneously.

The reason that we don't allow these bright colors in the
Palrun Prompt, the message boxes and the standard background
colors is that it is quite possible that some application program
that you use may require blinking text, and since the Prompt, the
message boxes and the standard background colors may be on the
screen at the same time as such blinking text, we wind up with a
potential conflict. Even in situations where the application
program has blinking text but it is not possible that Palrun
would use intense background colors while the application's
blinking text is displayed, we would still need to do extensive
manipulation of the blink bit in order to accommodate all the
gymnastics required. After much experimentation, we concluded
that the most aesthetically pleasing solution was simply to
prohibit the intense background colors in the Palrun Prompt, the
message boxes and the standard operations colors.


















137







CHAPTER 25: REGISTRATION




If you use and like this product, please register.

To register, send your check in the amount of $25, payable
to PAL Software NY to the following address:

PAL Software NY
51 Cedar Lane
Ossining, NY 10562

For your convenience, we have included the file ORDER.FRM,
which you can print out and use for this purpose.

If you register Palrun, you will be entitled to the
following:

1. You will be provided with an exclusive password which
will tell Palrun not to continually remind you that you need to
register.

2. You will be provided with free support by mail for one
(1) year following the date of registration. The level of
support which we agree to provide is to answer questions and fix
serious bugs. We are not required to modify the program for
specific hardware or software environments or features.

3. You may access the PAL Software BBS at any time. The
telephone number is (914) 762-8055. The BBS runs 24 hours a day
and accepts calls at 300-9600 baud (US Robotics HST Dual modem).
In addition, you can communicate with us on Compuserve; the PPN
is 70475,1071. For additional avenues of support, see Chapter 27
below at page 141.

4. You will be added to our mailing list.


If you are a Sysop of a BBS, kindly read SYSOP.DOC, a file
included with the Palrun distribution files, for a special
registration offer.







138







CHAPTER 26: LICENSE




Palrun (the "Licensed Program") is the exclusive property
of PAL Software NY (the "Licensor"). Holders of the shareware
version are granted a license to try the Licensed Program for a
limited period of time.

If you use the Licensed Program at least once a week or over
a period in excess of one month, then it is understood that you
are satisfied with the Licensed Program and must register and pay
for the Licensed Program. If you continue to use the Licensed
Program under such circumstances without registering and paying
for it, then you are in violation of this limited license.

Registration grants to a single user the right to use the
registered program in perpetuity. By "single user" we mean one
individual person. Entities other than individuals must register
one copy for each individual user. Site licenses at reduced
rates may be arranged for this purpose by direct negotiation with
PAL Software NY.

The plain English limitation here is: If you like and use
the program, then register and pay for it. If, after a period of
time of using the program you choose not to pay for it, then stop
using it.

Persons in possession of a copy of the Licensed Program are
encouraged to share it with others by uploading it to computer
bulletin boards, sending copies to friends, etc. You are
permitted to redistribute the Licensed Program so long as no
changes are made to the program or the documentation and the
entire archived set is distributed unaltered.

A reasonable charge may be received for the expense of
copying and transmitting the program, but in no event must the
person with whom you are sharing the Licensed Program be lead or
permitted to believe that payment of such amounts constitutes
registration or satisfies the requirements to register which are
imposed by this license.

Disk vendors who distribute shareware and public domain
software on 5 1/4 inch and/or 3 1/2 inch floppy diskettes are
permitted to distribute Palrun providing that the vendor's fee is
less than $10.00 for the disk containing Palrun files. Vendors
who charge more than $10.00 per disk are PROHIBITED from


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distributing Palrun in any form without express written consent
from PAL Software NY.

The catalog or other indexing material used by a disk vendor
must contain a clear statement that the program is shareware, not
public domain, and that the user is expected to pay for the
program if the user likes it and intends to continue to use it.
Disk distribution services are encouraged to contact the
Association of Shareware Professionals for suggested language.

Vendors who meet the above requirements may distribute
Palrun only if ALL attendant files are included on the
distribution diskette, and only if NO files are modified in any
way. Vendors are urged to read the file VENDOR.DOC, included
with this distribution.

Computer consultants and hardware sellers are permitted to
distribute the Licensed Program along with their products and
services so long as it is made clear to the end user that the
Licensed Program is shareware and that the Licensor requires pay-
ment if the end user continues to use the Licensed Program. In
no event may the end user be lead or permitted to believe that
the fee paid for consulting, hardware or software includes the
registration fee required for the Licensed Program.

For information concerning site licenses and dealer pricing,
please contact the Licensor.

In no event is any person permitted to modify the Licensed
Program or any of the associated documentation.


THE LICENSOR DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE LICENSED PROGRAM IS
FIT FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE OR IS MERCHANTABLE. THE LICENSED
PROGRAM IS NOT WARRANTED TO BE FREE OF BUGS, NOR IS IT PROVIDED
WITH ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. IT
IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE LICENSED PROGRAM
IS SUITABLE FOR YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE LICENSOR, ITS OWNERS
OR AGENTS BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSE-
QUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR LOST DATA OR PROFITS TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY
THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF THE USE OF THE LICENSED PROGRAM, EVEN IF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION
OF THE LICENSOR. RECOVERABLE DAMAGES IN ANY EVENT SHALL BE
LIMITED TO NOT MORE THAN THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSED PROGRAM.





140







CHAPTER 27: USER SUPPORT




We are available for support in a number of ways.

If you have a modem and are familiar with BBSing, you can
reach us in several places:

1. The PAL Software BBS is open 24 hours a day and
accepts callers at 300 through 9600 baud (US Robotics Dual
Standard modem in use). The telephone number is 914-762-8055.
Try to reach us here for the most immediate response.

2. Our BBS is a member of RIME, the Relaynet
International Message Exchange, which, as of this writing, boasts
over 300 member boards. We co-host the "Archives" conference,
which might be known on your most local board as the
"Compression" conference. You can post support questions there.

3. We are also available on Compuserve, monitoring
IBMSYS, IBMAPP and IBMPRO. You can also leave an EASYPLEX
message. Our Compuserve PPN is 70475,1071.

Lastly, if you aren't into modems, you can always contact us
by U.S. Mail at the address on the title page.

Please note that support is guaranteed only for registered
users. Nonetheless, we will try to be of assistance to
unregistered users who need our help in order to evaluate the
program to their satisfaction prior to registering.


















141







CHAPTER 28: ASP OMBUDSMAN PROCEDURE




This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006
or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536.



































142







INDEX




/K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113-115, 119
/P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 7-9, 15, 119, 129, 132
% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 34, 66, 69
@ . . . . . . 3, 4, 7-9, 13, 15, 32, 33, 41, 56-60, 119, 121, 128
Alias . 11, 12, 15, 33, 34, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 119, 122, 126
Alter Ego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 39, 61-63, 81, 126, 127
Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 127
Association of Shareware Professionals . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Batch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40, 44, 47, 65, 126, 134, 136
CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104, 119
CHDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104, 119
CLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121, 136, 121
Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 24, 76-80, 136, 137
Commandline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 128
Commandline Separator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 129
Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . 74, 84, 86, 100-103, 130
Custom Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 9, 28, 34, 68, 72, 121
DEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109, 121
EMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 88-90, 113, 132, 135, 136
Entry Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
ERASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109, 121
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30, 74, 121
Expanded Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 113
F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
FRESHEN . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13, 19, 56, 64, 68, 121, 129, 121
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
HELP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 4, 18, 27, 77, 116-118, 121
Hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50, 113, 114
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Internal commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 64, 68-70, 93, 119-125
License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139, 140
Line Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27
MD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91, 105, 122
MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
MENUSET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70, 121
MKDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91, 105, 122
Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 26, 27, 29-31, 116-118
NOIBMPRN.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
ORDER.FRM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 138
Overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 17, 18, 90, 135
PA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
PAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 40
PALARM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 20, 39, 62

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Palhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 7, 10, 13, 32, 129
PALRREAD.ME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Palrun Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 78, 129
PALRUN.DOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
PALRUN.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 17, 21, 70, 73, 100, 102
PALRUN.HLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 18, 21
PALRUN.OVR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 18, 21
PALTER.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 18, 61, 126, 127
PALWP.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 39, 133, 134
PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122, 135
PAUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34, 65, 66, 69, 70, 88, 90, 122
PCKALIAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 33, 67, 79, 122
PCKDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32, 35, 36, 40, 104, 109, 123
PCKHOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 33, 35-37, 41, 122
PD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
PH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Pick lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28-32, 34
PROMPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54, 124
Questions & Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
QUEUE . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 27-29, 33, 54, 55, 79, 93, 124
QUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 125
RAM-disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 81, 95, 135
RD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91, 105, 125
Redirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110-112, 135
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Required Compression/Extraction Programs . 3, 17, 18, 23, 83-86,
95, 96, 98, 99, 137, 138, 140
Resident . . . . . . . . . 4, 20, 38, 39, 62, 91, 105, 125, 132
RMDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91, 105, 125
S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125, 135
SETUP . . . . . . . . . . 74-87, 89, 94-96, 98, 100-102, 125, 130
Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 7-9
Status Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 41, 78
Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138, 141
Swap files . . . . . . . . . . . 16, 17, 113-115, 119, 134, 136
Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
SYSOP.DOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 138
Timed Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Transient . . . . . . . 3, 4, 6, 7, 14, 38, 61, 64, 79, 122, 125
VENDOR.DOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18, 140

*** End of Palrun 2.0 Documentation ***





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