LAUNCH! version 1.8 March 7, 1994 Copyright (c) 1993-1994 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Quick Description: ------------------ Launch! is a fully configurable, toolbox style application. Each of Launch!'s buttons can be configured to run any program. Once you assign a program to one of its buttons, that program can be "launched" with just a click of the mouse. To see what's new with this version, see the VERSION HISTORY section below. Installation: ------------- To install Launch!, copy the files LAUNCH!.EXE and LAUNCH!.HLP to any directory on your hard disk. Those two files must be in the same directory, or you will not be able to access Launch!'s help from within Launch! Copy the files THREED.VBX, CMDIALOG.VBX, MSGBLAST.VBX and CTL3D.DLL to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. If these files already exist in that directory, compare the dates of the files and keep the newest ones. The older ones should be deleted. IMPORTANT! To run Launch!, you must have the file VBRUN300.DLL in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. VBRUN100.DLL and VBRUN200.DLL will not work. If you do not have a copy of this file, you can obtain it off of most BBS's and online services. Running Launch!: ---------------- Once you have installed Launch!, create an icon for it by following the instructions in your Windows manual. More than likely you will want to place the Launch! icon in your StartUp group. To run Launch!, double-click on the Launch! icon. For instructions on configuring Launch!, please see the online documentation. To activate the online documentation from within Launch!, single-click on the grey border around the Launch! window, and press the "Help..." button that is on the configuration screen. (Or right-click on any of Launch!'s configurable buttons and select "Help..." from the popup menu.) To activate the online help from outside of Launch!, open File Manager, locate and double-click on the file named LAUNCH!.HLP. Registering Launch!: -------------------- If you find Launch! useful, please support the shareware concept by registering your copy of Launch! Your ONE TIME registration fee of $15 will remove the opening screen from this and all future versions--no purchasing of upgrades is necessary! To register, simply print out the "Registering Launch!" section in the online help. Fill out the form, and mail it to my U.S. Mail address below, along with check or money order (payable in U.S. Funds) amounting to $15. If you provide your e-mail address or FAX number, you will receive your registration number much faster. If you do not have an e-mail address or FAX number, you will receive your registration number via U.S. Mail. (Sorry, but at this time I am unable to accept Credit Card orders.) If you have any problems, questions, suggestions, or comments, please do not hesitate to share them with me! Most of the changes to Launch! are because of user input. I can be reached by voice, through U.S. Mail, or via e-mail through one of the following addresses: U.S. Mail: Rodney M. Savard 4507 South Kent Street Kennewick, WA 99337-4510 U.S.A. Voice: 509-582-9499 509-373-6245 I am very willing to receive calls concerning Launch! Please keep in mind the time you call, however. :-) I would appreciate it if calls to the first number would be from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., Pacific Time. Calls to the second number are welcome any time. If I do not answer at the second number, you will be given an opportunity to leave a Voice Mail message. E-Mail: Internet: rm_savard@pnl.gov Internet: r.savard@genie.geis.com Internet: rodsavard@aol.com America Online: RodSavard GEnie: R.SAVARD ImagiNation Network: 58313 ** Please read the disclaimer at the end of this document. Also, if you're interested in beta-testing future versions of Launch!, plese see the end of this document. VERSION HISTORY =============== New in version 1.8: ------------------- * Buttons can now be configured with a FILE that is associated with a program. For example, you can now drag and drop a file with a TXT extension onto one of the configurable buttons on Launch! When you press that button, Notepad will start with the TXT file loaded. Buttons will use the icon from the associated program. * Greatly reduced the CPU usage taken by Launch! when it was not minimized. Some had been experiencing a "system slowdown" while running Launch! That problem shouldn't be experienced any more! * Added an "arrange" feature. This allows you to drag and drop the configurable buttons on Launch!, arranging them in whatever order you want. This may provide an easier way to rearrange buttons than the "swap" feature provides. (The "swap" feature is still available, however.) * You can now change the look of the text displayed in the status bar by clicking on the status bar. The text can be normal, inset, or raised, bold or normal. * A "verify close" feature has been added. If you turn this option ON, you will be prompted if you want to close launch when you select Close from the system menu, or double-click on the control box. This may help to prevent accidental closes. You will NOT be prompted if Launch! is closed by a Task Manager, or by any other means, such as when you exit Windows. * Added a "prevent 'double-runs'" feature. If you've accidentally double- clicked on one of Launch!'s buttons, you'll appreciate this feature! :-) When you activate it, Launch! will prevent the same button from launching more than once every two seconds. This should prevent any accidental 'double-runs'. (Or 'triple-runs' for that matter.) New in version 1.7: ------------------- * Added support for CTL3D.DLL. Now message boxes and common dialogs have a 3-D appearance. (CTL3D.DLL is not required. If Launch! cannot find it, message boxes and common dialogs will have a normal 2-D appearance.) * Added 20, 28, and 40 pixels to the list of available button sizes. * "NO ICON" is now displayed on a button that Launch! could not find an icon for. In previous versions Launch! would not let you configure a button if the icon was invalid. * Added the ability to configure any button to run an "internal function." Internal functions include Restart Windows, Exit Windows, Reboot System, Edit Launch! Configuration, Save Current Configuration, and Revert To Last Saved Configuration. (NOTE: Because you can now configure a button to exit/restart/reboot, those functions have been removed from the Launch! configuration screen.) * Added a "Run Style" configuration option to each button. Now you can specify how you want the program to run: Minimized, Maximized, or Normal, with or without the focus. * You can now change the format of the time that is displayed in the status bar by clicking on the status bar. * Reduced the system resources used by Launch! * Added a "disable sounds" option on the General Configuration screen. Checking this box will disable the sounds that are normally played when a message box comes up. * Fixed a bug which sometimes caused Launch! to fail when you pressed the "Select Icon..." button when editing the configuration of a button. New in version 1.6a: -------------------- * Some additional problems were reported when using Launch! with a "large font" display driver. All known problems are now fixed. * Common dialogs now have titles that correspond to the action being taken. (i.e., instead of "Open" being displayed when you're selecting a program, "Select Program" is now displayed.) * Combo Boxes and text boxes now have a 3-D look. New in version 1.6: ------------------- * Removed the 100 button limitation. Now you can display as many buttons as you like, as long as you have enough system resources available. * Added an optional "read only" feature, which prevents the configuration of Launch! from being changed accidentally. * Now Launch! can, optionally, show the time & date in the status bar when it would otherwise be blank. Launch! can now also hide the status bar when it would otherwise be blank. * Added a few more options to Launch!'s configuration screen. * Added 3 buttons on the configuration screen that allow you to exit Windows, restart Windows, and reboot your computer. * The status bar can no longer be "fooled" by quickly moving the mouse pointer. * Fixed the problem with hitting ENTER in the Program field on the Button configuration screen. * Fixed the problem with hitting ENTER in the Icon Source field on the Select Icon screen. * Fixed the problem with Launch! when using a "large font" display driver. The buttons are now correctly scaled to fit the icons. * Added a "revert" feature which reconfigures Launch! with the last saved configuration. New in version 1.5: ------------------- * Fixed a bug which prevented the buttons' description from being overwritten when a file was dropped from File Manager onto a button that was already configured. * Rewrote the icon extraction routine--icons are extracted and displayed faster. * Added an optional "minimize on launch" feature, which causes Launch! to minimize itself when you run a program from Launch! * Added the ability for multiple "pages" of buttons. This allows more rows of buttons to be configured than are visible at one time. (For example, you may have 4 configurable rows, but only want 2 visible at one time.) The rows can be scrolled through by using a scroll bar. (The scroll bar is not visible when all configurable rows are visible.) * Fixed a bug that prevented Launch!'s Help from being called unless it was located in the WINDOWS directory. * Fixed a bug that caused Launch!'s iconized position to be saved if it was closed while iconized. Now if Launch! is minimized, it will restore itself before quitting. New in version 1.4: ------------------- * Fixed a bug that prevented the buttons' description fields from being swapped when you use the "Swap" feature. * Fixed some other minor coding errors that were more than likely unnoticed. (Launch versions 1.0 - 1.3 were not released to the public.) Launch! features include: ------------------------- * Launch! automatically extracts the program's icon and uses it as a picture on its button. * Any button can be quickly configured by dropping a file from File Manager on to the button. * You can specify the number of buttons on the Launch! window by configuring the number of columns and rows of buttons. The number of buttons is only limited by your system resources. * Optional status bar displays the name of the program that is assigned to the button under the mouse pointer. * Launch! can either show all rows of buttons at once, or show a specified number of rows at a time; the other rows can be viewed by using a scroll bar. * Ability to specify how the program is to be run. (i.e., minimized or maximized, with or without the focus.) * Buttons can be configured to exit Windows, restart Windows, reboot your computer, and other functions. * Configurable buttons can be arranged using a drag & drop method. * "Revert" feature restores the last saved configuration. * Optional "always on top" feature. * Optional "minimize on Launch" feature. * Optional "read-only" mode protects your Launch! configuration from being accidentally changed. * Launch! automatically saves its screen position and configuration when you end the program. It is automatically restored it when Launch! is run again. * Ability to specify a working directory, description, and icon for each button. (Launch! can use ANY icon out of ANY DLL, EXE, or ICO file containing icons--you do not have to use a program's default icon.) * Ability to use 7 different sizes for the buttons. (Icons are automatically scaled to fit the button.) * Built in ability to exit Windows, restart Windows, and reboot your computer. * Popup menu allows you to Edit, Clear, Swap, and Arrange the buttons' configurations. * Online Help. DISCLAIMER: ----------- By installing this program on your system, you indicate your agreement to the following terms and conditions. If you do NOT agree, you are NOT licensed to use this program and must delete it from your sytem. THE PROGRAM LAUNCH!.EXE AND THE HELP FILE LAUNCH!.HLP ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS." THE AUTHOR DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO) LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. BETA TESTING: ------------- If you would like to be a Beta Tester for Launch!, and you have a memebership on America Online or GEnie, please write to the author via e-mail at one of the address shown above. ============================> END OF FILE <=============================