Category : Windows 3.X Files Archive   : USHER.ZIP Filename : USHER.WRI
Output of file : USHER.WRI contained in archive : USHER.ZIP
1¾ « S. c y y z { { | Usher 1.2
As the unobtrusive usher quickly assists theater patrons find and take their seats, the unobtrusive Usher quickly assists Windows users find and launch their applications.
New features with 1.2
Version 1.2 mainly consists of bug fixes and documentation enhancements.
- Better handling of mouse button up (sticky menu) activations.
- Added some nifty tips to this documentation!
New features with 1.1
Usher is now more flexible than ever while remaining easy to use! It is important to note that existing usher.ini files for Usher 1.0 must be modified before using with Usher 1.1. Please continue reading this file for the easy fix. The following improvements have been made to Usher 1.1:
- Usher now supports separate menus for the left, middle, and right mouse buttons. Note that the middle button only works if you have a three button mouse.
- You can tell Usher to use "sticky menus". Normal menus appear via clicking and holding the mouse button down. With sticky menus you don't have to hold the button down.
- @LINE@ directive to put separating lines into your menus.
- @TIME@ and @DATE@ directives to add time and date indicators.
- @MEMORY@ directive to add a free memory indicator.
- @RUN@ to put the Run... menu entry into your menus.
- @USHER@ directive to put the About Usher, Reload Usher, and Close Usher into a menu.
- @EXIT@ directive to put Exit Windows into a menu.
- @DEFAULT@ directive which combines many of the above directives in a standard layout.
- @INFO@ directive to output the type of CPU and math coprocessor, and if Windows is running in 386 enhanced mode, standard mode, or real mode.
- The Run... dialog box has been improved. It now follows an extended search sequence before deciding it can't find a file. However, Usher doesn't associate file extensions (*.doc) with an application (Winword).
- Warning: Usher 1.1 will not work with Usher 1.0 files!!! You must enclose your existing menu structure in a "root" menu. For example, this tells Usher to display the following menu when the left button is pressed down:
=down =
MS Word= e:\winword\winword.exe, e:\winword\docs
MS Write= write.exe
<>=
DOS Box= c:\command.com
<>=
- Please see the updated usher.ini file for examples.
Features in 1.0
- Supports up to 10 levels of menu hierarchy.
- Requires only 9K of memory.
- Usher can replace or work with your existing shell.
- Has a Run... dialog box for executing other programs.
- Its menu configuration file can be reloaded without restarting Usher (or Windows).
- The current working directory can be changed before launching an application.
- The current date and time are displayed as menu entries.
- An Exit Windows entry exists for quitting Windows.
Description
Usher was written to replace memory- and resource- hogging shells such as the Program Manager and hDC Window's Express. Usher is a pop-up menu of applications that appears when the user clicks with a mouse button on the desktop. This menu can have hierarchical sub-menus for grouping applications together. For example, the main menu heading might be Utilities with a sub-menu for system utilities called System.
Important: Usher can be run as the shell or an application under an existing shell. Usher takes up only 9K of memory, so users with less than 2 Meg of memory might want to replace their existing shell with Usher. If you would like to continue running your existing shell as your main shell, just add usher.exe to the load or run command line in the win.ini file. Otherwise, change the shell entry in the system.ini file to shell=c:\win30\usher.exe (or whatever). Usher automatically figures out if it is the shell.
Quick Setup
1. Copy usher.exe and usher.ini to your Windows directory
2. Run Windows
3. Use the Run... under the file menu in your existing shell to run usher.exe
4. Click on the desktop with the left mouse button
Many of these sample menu options won't do anything on your machine (because Usher can't find the applications). However, if you like it, then see the directions below on how to modify the usher.ini file for your own applications. Remember, if you want to replace your existing shell with Usher, change your system.ini file to read shell=usher.exe. Otherwise, add usher.exe to your run= line in your win.ini file to use automatically with your existing shell.
usher.ini
Although the usher.exe file can exist anywhere, the file called usher.ini must exist in your Windows' subdirectory. This file describes how Usher will form the menu entries. Here's the format for the usher.ini file: