Copyright: ® 1993, 1994 Jonathan Carroll


Help Contents
Contents

Welcome

The RIP Family

Introducing RipBAR

Credits & Thanks

About The Author & Registration

New In This Version

Your First Time

Getting Help

Monochrome Support

PC Tools For Windows Note

Tips, Tricks & Things

Interface Primer - Folder Tab Dialogs

Installation

Procedures

Adding Applications To The Bar

Adding Documents To The Bar

Adding And Managing Groups

Moving RipBAR Items

Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups

Launching Applications

Launching Applications With A Document

Launching Applications With The RUN Tool

Customizing RipBAR (Preferences)

Minimizing RipBAR

RipBAR Item Menu Popups

Customizing RipBAR Items

Deleting RipBAR Items

Changing The Way RipBAR Looks

Custom Icons

Importing Items From Program Manager

Exporting Groups To The Program Manager

RipBAR Tools

 System Information Tool

 Clock Tool

 Resource Tool

 Memory Tool

 Task Manager Tool

 Resource Tracker

 Notes Tool

 Exit Tool

 RUN Tool

 Print Tool

 Preferences Tool

 Performance Tool

 ASCII Tool

 Disk Tool

Other / Miscellaneous

Sound Support

RipBAR As Windows Shell

Keyboard Usage

The RipBAR Menu

Performance Tool Problems

Troubleshooting

Introduction To Troubleshooting


The RIP Family

The RIP family of applications / utilities is a collection of shareware programs written for Windows and Windows NT.  Each is designed to fulfill a purpose in an elegant, easy-to-use fashion.

What you have now is RipBAR.  Others include RipSPACE and the soon-to-be-released, RipFIND.  All RIP applications have a registration fee which you are expected to pay if you continue to use them.  The amounts asked for are reasonable and I ask that you think twice about continuing to use something you haven't paid for.  None of the RIP applications have disabled functions, or annoying "Register Me" reminders-- so I leave it up to you.  In return for your registration, I'll keep you up-to-date on news about new releases, new products etc.

To learn more about RipBAR proceed on to the introductory sections of this help file.  Short advertisements for RipSPACE and RipFIND are presented below:

RipSPACE

RipSPACE is an application written for Windows & Windows NT that analyzes a drive and the space that each sub directory on it, consumes.  In other words, you'll now be able to find out how much space your Windows installation is taking up, or how much drive space you'll gain if you delete the WordPounder word processor you installed but never use.

RipSPACE also allows you to define file types that are to be included in a file report.  You can then tell how much total space is being taken up by certain file types-- i.e. Bitmaps, Dynamic Link Libraries and executable files.

RipFIND  (June 1994)

RipFIND is an application written for Windows & Windows NT that simplifies the process of locating files.  RipFIND can be instructed to perform searches based on a variety of criteria or qualifiers.

RipFIND qualifiers include DOS-style file specification, string-based specification,  and file content specification.

Jonathan Carroll


Introducing RipBAR

RipBAR is in some ways, the Swiss Army knife of utilities.  It combines an application toolbar, command line launching, Drag & Drop server, memory and system information display, Post-It style notes, hot key support and more in a package that remains unobtrusive on your screen.

What you have now is Version 6.0 -- the most recent update to RipBAR.  It is the culmination of many months worth of work and updates-- I hope you enjoy it and find a permanent place for it on your system.

RipBAR is available in separate files for both Windows 3.1 and Windows NT.  While the two versions are similar in most respects, differences between them, will be pointed out whenever necessary.  In some cases, pictures in this help file may differ slightly from what you actually see on the screen.

RipBAR is an icon toolbar that you may set up with applications of your choice.  Configuration options include the ability to set up startup directory, and command line parameters.  Additionally, files may be dropped onto the application icons sitting on the bar-- causing the application to launch and open that file automatically.

The Windows 3.1 version displays the time, memory information, and the remaining resources available to the system.  The Resource Tracker (Windows 3.1 only) is included to allow you to monitor an application's use of memory and resources.

The Windows NT version displays the time, along with available physical and paged RAM.

In addition, RipBAR supports attaching sound to certain types of events, HotKey activation, program groups and much more.  Be sure to take some time to review this entire Help file so that you don't miss out on features!


Credits & Thanks

First off, thanks to all those who have registered RipBAR-- and there are more of you every day.  Because there are are no disabled features or "nag screens", we rely completely on the honor system.  Your contribution to this project is thus all the more appreciated!

A second set of thank-you's go out to those who have sent me email messages (to the point that answering is almost a full-time job) either pointing out problems or proposing enhancements-- these don't go unnoticed as many of you have found out.  The continuing improvement and evolution of RipBAR is as much a product of your time as it is mine.

Finally, the following people are owed special thanks for one reason or another:

Naomi-- for watching patiently many a night as I was busy getting something "just right".  There were a couple of times she rescued the keyboard before I propelled it through a window.  She's also responsible for the 3D RipBAR logo in the opening screen.

Brad-- who did some preliminary work on the 3D border in RipBAR.

Pierre-- who nagged (and nagged again) until I did RipTABS-- the product that eventually transformed RipBAR's dialogs into tab dialogs.

Rob & Phil-- the "Van Down By The River" boys who have yet to register RipBAR but who have been invaluable in beta-testing RipBAR.  Rob provided the types of suggestions for enhancements that the average user could appreciate, while Phil provided the types of suggestions that only someone in a straight jacket would understand.  They were both there with the "Moose Call" when things weren't right.


About The Author & Registration

I want to thank you for trying RipBAR.  It is designed to provide the most convenient access possible to applications without having to remember hot keys and the like.  Even for those who own Norton Desktop or some similar enhanced shell, the resource and memory displays, Post-It style notes, command-line utility etc., are invaluable.

RipBAR is one of a number of applications written for the sheer pleasure of programming.  It was originally designed on Windows NT, where I missed my Norton Desktop!

If you find this program useful, and end up using it on a regular basis, I'd appreciate a $25 registration-- for which I will keep you notified of updates etc.  There are no annoying "Register Me!" screens, and no disabled features-- but please think twice about continuing to use something you haven't paid for.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may now register your copy of RipBAR via CompuServe.  Simply type GO SWREG at any CompuServe prompt and follow instructions.  You may search for RipBAR there by using the word RIPBAR as a keyword.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this program doesn't live up to your dreams, let me know-- I'm always open to ideas.  I can be reached in one of four ways :

Conventional Mail
Jonathan Carroll
28 Parkland
Pointe Claire, Quebec
CANADA H9R 2E8

CompuServe
user id : 74017,3242

GEnie
user id : J.H.CARROLL

E-Mail  (Internet)
74017.3242@compuserve.com


New In This Version

Please read the following update notices because there is much that is new or changed.  Taking the time to read about changes now, will free you from frustration later!

Related Topics:

New In Version 6.0

New In Version 5.5B

New In Version 5.5

New In Version 5.1

New In Version 5.0

New In Version 4.2

New In Version 4.1

New In Version 4.0

New In Version 3.0

New In Version 2.0

New In Version 1.6

New In Version 1.5

New In Version 1.2


New In Version 6.0

This is version 6.0 of RipBAR.  The following is new or enhanced with respect to earlier versions :

•	Icons on the bar may now be set to one of three sizes : Normal, Small & Very Small.  (See the Sizing Section of Customizing RipBAR (Preferences)).

•	Icon / Item popups are gone and have been replaced with Bubble Help.

•	For those who display resource and memory information as graphs, Bubble Help provides quick access to this information in more a more detailed numerical view.

•	What would a new version of RipBAR be without a new tool?  The new Disk Tool may now be installed for individual drives on the bar.  They display information about total and free space on the bar.  Summary information for all drives is available by double-clicking on a Disk Tool item, or by choosing Disk Information from the RipBAR menu.

•	For those using RipBAR as a shell, you'll be pleased to know that RipBAR now supports a Startup Group.  See the notes in RipBAR As Windows Shell.

•	(Windows 3.1 only) A number of people experienced problems with RipBAR's caching scheme-- resulting in icons that appeared either blank or garbled.  RipBAR's cache icon cache procedure has been improved, but as a last resort measure, a Disable Icon Cache option has been added to the General section of Customizing RipBAR (Preferences).

•	Icons on the bar now push in/out like real buttons.  An active button is no longer displayed as a pushed button, but rather has a highlight border around it.

•	Preferences sports a new option : Confirm on exit from RipBAR.

•	Preferences sports a new option : Auto Return To Top-- RipBAR can be set so that each time you run something on the bar, RipBAR switches the bar back to the top group automatically.

•	Drag items between groups by dragging an icon to a Group Tab.  See Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups.

•	You may now set the title of a note.  The title will display in the Note's title bar and will be visible if you minimize the Note.

•	A new Preference option allows you to tell RipBAR to automatically assign the first line of a Note to that Note's title.

•	RipBAR has a new "Tuck-Away" feature that keeps RipBAR handy but lessens screen clutter.

•	RipBAR's menu can be popped up by right-clicking on the Clock-- previously this displayed Preferences.

•	RipBAR's Tab Dialog have been enhanced.  You can now access any tab group in a tab dialog by typing the first letter of the tab group you want to go to.  See Interface Primer - Folder Tab Dialogs.


New In Version 5.5B

•	On occasion, dragging documents (rather than applications) to the bar resulted in a startup directory that contained "garbage" characters.  Fixed.

•	(Windows NT)  One source of incompatibility with the Performance Tool was found : the NWLINK network protocol.  The Performance Tool now runs properly with this protocol loaded.


New In Version 5.5

•	The ability to import items from Program Manager and to export RipBAR groups to Program Manager, has been added.

•	(Windows 3.1) RipBAR can now start up in less than half the time of previous versions because it caches the icons on the bar in a new file-- RIP_BAR.ICF in the WINDOWS directory.  (This feature is discussed in the Troubleshooting, and Installation sections of this help file.

•	This help file now includes a Troubleshooting section.

•	The RipBAR Task Manager (normally available by right-clicking on the Memory Tool or by pressing Alt-T) is now also available by right-clicking on the Resource Tool.

•	(Windows NT) RipBAR's Performance Tool may run into incompatibility problems that previously led to a crash.  RipBAR can now detect the problem, and warns the user.  For more information, see Performance Tool Problems.

•	Help is now available by pressing F1 anywhere in RipBAR.  Many dialogs now include a context-sensitive Help button.

•	The behavior of the Single Left Click Activates option has changed.  (Apps are launched when the mouse button is released rather than when it's first pressed down.)

•	When you create a new Note or otherwise switch to a Notes window, the cursor is automatically activated in the edit window.

•	Under certain circumstances (such as when RipBAR was placed at the bottom of the screen) activating Single-Left-Click could lead to launching an application twice if clicked on.  This had to do with the placement of popup menus and has been fixed.

•	AutoSize feature has been totally revamped.  Horizontal AutoSize (for those who keep RipBAR in horizontal position) is now fully functional.

•	(Windows NT) Under certain circumstances the graphical/numerical state of the Performance Tool was not saved from session to session.  Fixed.


New In Version 5.1

•	A sizing / re-sizing problem was fixed.

•	Memory graph display is improved and easier to read.

•	Group icons may be set to hide themselves-- great if you have the Group Tabs enabled.

•	Double Clicking on the bar to create a new group is now an option that you must enable in the Preferences dialog.  The default behavior is that a double-click does not create a group.

•	Right-clicking on a group tab will bring up the popup menu or customizer dialog for that group.

•	The "Main" or top group may now be renamed via the Titles and Tabs section in Preferences.

•	Right-clicking on the bar (somewhere other than an item icon, a group tab or the title bar) will pop up the RipBAR menu-- you don't have to click the System Menu.

•	Users with monochrome screens will appreciate the improvement in RipBAR when it is started with the /mono option : memory and resource graphs are black on white.  (Thanks Michael for reminding me a million times!  Better late than never huh?...)


New In Version 5.0

•	Folder Tabs on the bar display group titles.  You can toggle this feature on and off from Preferences.  (Groups may be configured individually to not appear in the tabs.)

•	Dialogs like Preferences and ToolBar Item Info sport the new Folder Tab interface-- allowing a lot of settings to fit nicely into one place.

•	Windows NT users get a new tool -- the Performance Tool.  This tool will display either CPU usage or "CPU Throttle".

•	Windows NT users : the Exit Tool now offers choices to Shut Down or Logoff.

•	Windows NT users can now specify their Notes directory anytime by choosing the Directories option in Preferences..

•	RipBAR may now be set to automatically size the bar to adjust for the number of items in a group.  If you set this option on in Preferences, drag new items to RipBAR's title bar.

•	Items on the bar may be set to display in all groups-- so you might have something important like a text editor appear in all groups.

•	Items may be set to always prompt for a command line, or parameters before being launched..

•	At long last : there is no limit to the number of icons RipBAR can read from a file.  You can now browse for an icon much more easily-- the icon browser has been improved quite dramatically.

•	The RUN Tool now contains a BROWSE button to go looking for the file you want to run.

•	The RUN Tool may now be used to "run" documents.  See the RUN Tool section for more information.

•	Memory Warnings previously worked only if the Memory Tool was set up to display in graphical form-- this has been fixed.

•	Under rare circumstances, RipBAR reported errors switching to a particular directory-- this has been fixed.

•	A number of people requested that the Escape key would back out of a group--just like the PageUp key did.  This has been implemented.


New In Version 4.2

•	In addition to applications, documents may now be stored on the bar.  Launching a document automatically launches the application that document belongs to.

•	A new tool is now added to RipBAR's growing arsenal-- the Print Tool.

•	Icon Titles may now be longer -- about 40 characters in length.

•	Support for long directory names and directory names with embedded spaces in Windows NT.  Please see the notes concerning this feature in [image] RUN Tool.

•	An ASCII chart is available from the RipBAR system menu.  Double clicking on a character in this chart, copies it to the clipboard for use in other applications.

•	RipBAR's consumption of memory is more modest than that of previous versions-- following a trend set last version.

•	Under certain circumstances, RipBAR didn't always delete all of a group's contents when that group was deleted-- this is fixed.

•	RipBAR no longer forces file and directory names in an icon's Properties dialog to upper case.


New In Version 4.1

•	New Task Manager Tool.  Right-click on the memory display to access a list of all open windows.

•	Popup menus are available for all ToolBar items that allow for more customization and access to features.

•	ToolBar items may now be added manually by typing path name etc. without having to drag files from the File Manager.

•	RipBAR may now be configured to display the name of applications as you click on them.

•	Whether RipBAR's title bar appears half-height or full-height is now an option.

•	ToolBar items may now be moved between groups conveniently.

•	Limited support for monochrome screens.

•	The Preferences Dialog is now available with a single right-click on the Clock Tool.

•	The RipBAR System Menu is more convenient to access for people who use a keyboard rather than the mouse.

•	There was a problem when the startup path of an application was the root directory of a drive -- fixed.

•	Icons for the RUN and Exit tools may now be changed.

•	Some difficulties RipBAR had when trying to read the WIN.INI file (for people using RipBAR as the Windows shell) under certain circumstances have been corrected.

•	RipBAR makes better use of memory-- freeing up more for the other applications you run.


New In Version 4.0

•	RipBAR  now supports groups.  You can now install groups as well as applications on the bar.  Groups hold applications or other groups.

•	RipBAR  now supports keyboard navigation.  Navigation of the bar, application setup, application launching and other operations now have keyboard equivalents.

•	New tool : The Exit tool.  Double clicking on this, permits the user to either quit or restart Windows-- can be installed on the ToolBar.

•	New tool : The Notes tool.  Double clicking on this, displays a new "Notes" window-- a little editor permitting the user to type and edit notes.  Notes Tool includes the ability to choose fonts, auto-arrange Notes Windows and, File Open and Save operations.

•	New RipBAR Activation HotKey.  User can now select a HotKey combination that can be used anywhere in Windows to activate RipBAR.

•	New Application Hot keys.  User can now select a key that will activate a particular application.

•	RipBAR supports Sound!.  Use Preferences to assign customized sound (requires sound card or Windows IBM PC Speaker Driver) to various types of events.

•	RipBAR icons now operate like real buttons-- displaying the active or inactive state of each icon.

•	New customization option for each application installed on the ToolBar allow for initial display state to either be normal, maximized or minimized.

•	A single right mouse button click on an icon on the bar will now display information for the icon-- this used to require a double click on the right mouse button.

•	(Windows 3.1 only) If RipBAR is the windows shell (instead of Program Manager), it will run and load whatever applications are on the RUN= and LOAD= lines in your WIN.INI file.

•	If you occasionally switch video modes in Windows, you'll appreciate that RipBAR always ensures that it doesn't display itself off the screen.  (i.e. if you switch from 1024 X 768 to 640 X 480)

•	(Windows NT only) System Information dialog shows more information.  The two memory tools have been consolidated into one, which may be displayed as a gauge.


New In Version 3.0

•	RipBAR has a new tool : The RUN tool.  Double clicking on this, permits the user to type an application name on a command line along with any command line options and run the application.

•	RipBAR includes new options to display both memory and resource statistics as graphs.

•	(Windows 3.1 only) RipBAR now includes support for those who want it to run as a shell-- instead of Program Manager.

•	RipBAR can now load icons from .ICO files, Norton .NIL icon library files and PC Tools For Windows icon files.

•	RipBAR now sports a new Customized Minimize option that permits the user to determine how RipBAR gets minimized and where it gets minimized to.

•	RipBAR now allows the user to customize the fonts that RipBAR uses for display purposes.

•	RipBAR 's System Info dialog now includes an option to exit or restart Windows.

•	RipBAR occasionally neglected to save settings when a user exited Windows-- this is fixed.


New In Version 2.0

•	RipBAR may now be resized horizontally and vertically, allowing you to place icons in columns.

•	RipBAR items may be reordered according to user's taste.

•	Preferences now include a new option that lets you tell RipBAR to either show or hide icon titles.

•	Preferences now include a new option that lets you set the date format displayed in the Clock/Date pane.

•	Preferences now include a new option that lets you determine alternate means of activating applications.

•	Preferences now include a new option that lets you determine whether RipBAR displays some, all, or none of its tools (memory, clock etc.).

•	Preferences now include a new option that lets you format the time display for either 24hr or 12hr display.


New In Version 1.6

•	When running under Windows NT, RipBAR now saves and loads its setting from the Registry rather than an .INI file.

•	When running under Windows NT, RipBAR will now read .ICO files in addition to the .EXE and .DLL files already supported when browsing icons for an application.

•	Minor display problem that occurred when adding an application to the bar that didn't have an icon is fixed.


New In Version 1.5

•	RipBAR now includes preference or option settings that allow you to determine whether RipBAR stays on top of all other windows, and whether RipBAR minimizes itself when you run an application from it.

•	RipBAR now reports memory statistics in a more reliable fashion -- it will no longer be fooled by virtual memory.

•	RipBAR no longer has a minimize button.

•	RipBAR is able to load up to 120 icons from icon files (EXEs & DLLs) -- up from 40 in previous versions.


New In Version 1.2

•	RipBAR now makes use of threaded processes under Windows NT.  If you're using RipBAR under Windows NT, executing an application will no longer make RipBAR "busy".  In other words, you'll be able to launch many applications from the bar in quick succession.

•	RipBAR now sports a minimize box so that you can quickly and conveniently get it "out of the way".

•	Double clicking on the memory display will now cause a dialog to appear with more system information.

•	The Resource Tracker is now available by double-clicking  on the Resource Display pane.


Your First Time

The first time you run RipBAR, it will warn you that it can't find its setup file.  It will then proceed to fill the bar with default applications that include Help, RUN, Control Panel, Notepad and PaintBrush.  The default items will be arranged in three groups-- Main, Applications and Utilities.  You may delete these items and groups from the bar if you don't want them.

Next, RipBAR will bring up the Program Manager Import dialog that allows you to import groups and items from Program Manager.  You may choose to skip this step-- you can import items you want at a later time.  For more information on importing, see Importing Items From Program Manager.

To find out how to add your own applications to the bar, Adding Applications To The Bar.  You can also position and size RipBAR in a way that suits you and your work.  To find out how to do this, see Changing The Way RipBAR Looks.

If you have trouble working with RipBAR, see the Troubleshooting section of this help guide.

A note about Windows NT
Under Windows NT, RipBAR needs to know where to store its NOTES data.  Because Windows NT has the ability to protect certain directories, you need to tell RipBAR where your Notes files may be safely saved (i.e. you must have write privileges to the directory you specify).  RipBAR will only ever ask you this once-- it will remember this setting thereafter.  (To change this setting later, you can go to Preferences and the "Directories" section.


Getting Help

The first time you use RipBAR, a Help icon is installed.  (The one with the yellow question mark.)  If you remove this icon, you can display help at any time by double-clicking with the left mouse button on the clock pane, or by typing F1 anywhere in RipBAR.


Monochrome Support

RipBAR provides limited support for monochrome screens.  Sometimes it can be hard to make out text and pictures against a gray background on monochrome screens.  RipBAR can optionally set the background colour of the ToolBar to white instead of gray.

To activate this monochrome support, you must start RipBAR and pass it /mono as an argument.  If you set up RipBAR in Program Manager or some other Desktop shell, a typical command line might look like

C:\RIPBAR\RIPBAR16.EXE /mono

If RipBAR is to be your Windows shell, edit the SYSTEM.INI file so that the SHELL= line so that the /mono option appears there-- likewise the LOAD or RUN lines in your WIN.INI file if that is where RipBAR is being started from.


PC Tools For Windows Note

Special Note

The PC Tools For Windows Desktop, supports multiple "virtual screens".  It also includes a "Tag Along" feature for application windows that you want to have appear on every desktop you set up.  You do this by choosing "Tag Along" from an applications System Menu.

RipBAR now checks your SHELL setting in the WIN.INI file to check to see if you are running PC Tools For Windows as your shell.  If you are, and you are using the half-height title bar, RipBAR now includes the "Tag Along" option that normally appears in the System Menu of all windows.  In fact, RipBAR goes one step further and adds the convenient CTRL+T HotKey shortcut to toggle the feature on and off.


Tips, Tricks & Things

Even if you never read manuals, read this!

RipBAR offers a vast array of features and customization possibilities.  You should really take the time to peruse the entire Help guide, but if nothing else, read this section to get an overview of things you should know about.  Also, be sure to go through the many options in RipBAR's Preferences dialog.

If you have trouble working with RipBAR, see the Troubleshooting section of this help guide.

RipBAR HotKey
One of the first things you might want to do is set up your preferred activation hot key for RipBAR-- this let's you use a key sequence to bring RipBAR to the front of your screen.  (This assumes RipBAR is actually running)  That way, you don't need to always have RipBAR on top of other windows-- a plus for people with smaller screens.  See HotKey.

Hiding Group Icons
RipBar supports Groups on the bar-- icons that when double-clicked, "open up" to display all the items in that group.  Beginning with Version 5.0, RipBAR has the ability to display Groups as tabs on the bar.  You can turn the tabs off, but if you don't it is probably redundant to also have the group icons on the bar as well.  To save space, enable the Hide Group Icons option.  (see Customizing RipBAR (Preferences))

More About Group Tabs
By default RipBAR displays tabs for Groups on the bar in a column down the left side of the bar.  Should you want the bar to exten horizontally accross the screen, you can re-position the Tabs to also be horizontal-- from the Titles & Tabs section of Preferences.

Drive Tools
In addition to application & document icons, you can place Drive Tool icons on the bar-- icons that display information about the free space on a particular disk on your system.  Create Drive Tools from the Show Tools section of Preferences.

Bringing Stuff Over From Program Manager
If your Program Manager is already set up with items or groups of items that you frequently use, use RipBAR's Import feature (see Importing Items From Program Manager) to quickly bring these items over to RipBAR.

Auto-Sizing
When you first install RipBAR, the bar appears in a pre-defined size.  You can re-size the bar to whatever shape you want.  If you find your groups are getting large,  you might find that you can't see all the items in them because the bar isn't sized large enough.  Also, in some groups there might be a lot of empty sapce on the bar.  You can enable Auto Sizing option so that RipBAR automatically re-sizes the bar to fit  all of the items-- choose from one of two different Auto-Size modes in the Sizing section of Preferences.  (see Customizing RipBAR (Preferences))

Icon Sizing
Depending on the size and resolution of your screen, you may want to take advantage of RipBAR's ability to display icons in one of three sizes on the bar.  See the Sizing section of Customizing RipBAR (Preferences) for information on how to do this.

Application HotKeys
As you add applications to the bar, remember that you can add an application  hot key sequence for them too-- this goes for any icon tool on the bar.  You can get  one-key access to things like the RUN Tool for quick access to apps not installed on the bar.  (The Notes Tool is the one exception-- the hot key is CONTROL -N and can't be modified.)  You can also assign hot keys to group icons. (See RipBAR Item Menu Popups )  You'll be pleased to note that the application key works whether the icon is visible or not-- i.e. you can be in any group and quickly access an application from another group.

And Other Great Stuff...
Remember, there is a lot that may be configured-- so go ahead and set your default Notes font, whether memory and resource tools display in numerical or graphical form, and the shape and size of RipBAR's bar.

If you don't have a mouse, be sure to see Keyboard Usage and please take the time to read a special note in The RipBAR Menu.

Does RipBAR look a little boring when it's minimized?  Turn on the Customized Minimize setting in Preferences.  General)  You can determine where RipBAR will minimize to and what gets displayed when it's minimized.

Old users should know that you can no longer add new apps to the bar by dragging files from the File Manager and dropping them on top of an existing app on the bar.  You must now drag files to an empty space on the bar-- this is so that users with applications that take EXE files as parameters, can launch them in this fashion.

Finally, you can choose between the half-height, customized title bar & System Menu, or the standard height title bar & System Menu.  (The RipBAR Menu)  So, go ahead and fool with RipBAR-- but be sure to come back and read the rest of the documentation-- there's a lot here in a small package!

Jonathan


Interface Primer - Folder Tab Dialogs

It's no secret -- the widespread acceptance of Windows and other graphically-oriented operating environments  has allowed applications to enable the user to do far more things in a wider variety of fashions that text-based systems could ever hope to offer.

One dilemma for those who write software is trying to present information and options to the user without becoming overwhelming.

In the next while, you'll notice the "Folder Tab" interface becoming increasingly popular.  Folder Tabs allow for the logical grouping of options and settings within one dialog-- doing away with millions of nested dialogs or menu items.  It also takes closer to the "desktop" metaphor.

The Folder Tab implementation in RipBAR is designed to closely resemble (both visually and in terms of behavior) those of Microsoft.  (Take a look at Word V6 or Excel V5)

The Folder Tab dialog presents groups of options in pages.  Each page has a number of tabs.  For those with a mouse or similar input device, navigating the dialog is easy-- just click on a tab to bring that folder to the front.

In addition, keyboard navigation is possible.  Pressing CTRL+TAB will cycle forward through the tabs and pressing CTRL+SHIFT+TAB will cycle backwards through the tabs.  Also, if a tab title has "focus" (i.e. the tab text is highlighted with a grey rectangle) you can type the first key of another tab to quickly move to that tab group.

In the case of RipBAR the Folder Tab interface has allowed the Preferences dialog to be reduced to almost a quarter of its original size and has reduced the infamous "dialog nesting".  It has also been implemented in the Item Info Dialogs-- allowing for larger panes to browse icons and to fit more customizing options in the same amount of space.

Hope you enjoy the changes.


Installation

By now, you probably have RipBAR installed.  This section is provided as a reference should you ever want to un-install RipBAR or otherwise need to know what files RipBAR needs on your system.  The setup for Windows 3.1 and Windows NT are provided separately.

Related Topics:

Windows 3.1

Windows NT 3.1


Windows 3.1

The following files should be installed in a separate directory, perhaps something called "RIPBAR" or the like.

RIPBAR16.EXE	The main application file.

RIP_BAR.HLP	The on-line help facility.

The following files should reside in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM.  They are essential to the proper running of RipBAR.

CTL3DV2.DLL	3D display library.

RIPKHOOK.DLL	HotKey library.

Important Note : More and more Windows applications use CTL3DV2.DLL.  It is possible that an application might install an older version of CTL3DV2.  You will know this is the case when RipBAR can no longer paint the ToolBar or dialogs properly.  RipBAR ships with a version of CTL3DV2 dated October 1993.  You must use this or a newer version.  Please ensure that you only have one copy of CTL3DV2 installed on your system.  Note too that CTL3DV2 must be installed in the System directory and nowhere else (i.e. take it out of the RipBAR directory too)-- or else it will tell you that it isn't properly installed.

Finally, RipBAR creates and maintains the following files in your \WINDOWS directory.

RIP_BAR.INI	RipBAR settings file.

RIP_BAR.NOT	RipBAR Notes file.


Windows NT 3.1

The following files should be installed in a separate directory, perhaps something called "RIPBAR" or the like.

RIPBAR32.EXE	The main application file.

RIP_BAR.HLP	The on-line help facility.

The following files should reside in \WINNT\SYSTEM32.  They are essential to the proper running of RipBAR.

CTL3D32.DLL	3D display library.

RIPKH32.DLL	HotKey library.

Important Note : More and more Windows applications use CTL3D32.DLL.  It is possible that an application might install an older version of CTL3D32.  You will know this is the case when RipBAR can no longer paint the ToolBar or dialogs properly.  RipBAR ships with a version of CTL3D32 dated June 1993.  You must use this or a newer version.  Please ensure that you only have one copy of CTL3D32 installed on your system.

The RipBAR settings are stored in the Windows NT Registry database under SOFTWARE\RIP APPLICATIONS\RIPBAR.  Use REGEDIT to view or remove these settings.

Finally, RipBAR creates and maintains a file called RIP_BAR.NOT in whatever directory you specified when you first installed RipBAR. You can change the location where the Notes file is stored from Preferences in the Directories section.


Adding Applications To The Bar

There are two ways to add items to the bar.  The first involves dragging items to the bar and the second involves specifying the file name and path manually.  Both are discussed separately below.

The Dragging Method

You can add applications to the bar by dragging program names to the bar from the File Manager or other programs that allow you to perform drag operations.  (Such as Norton Desktop)  Simply drag an application file on top of  an empty space on the bar (or RipBAR's title bar if there is no empty space on the bar), and let go.  The new application will appear.  If there is no icon associated with the application (because perhaps it is a DOS app), RipBAR will place a generic Windows icon which you can customize-- see Customizing RipBAR Items for more information.

It is possible that you won't see the new icon or application if there wasn't extra room on the bar before you added the new application-- Just re-size the bar so that you can see what you just added.  (See Changing The Way RipBAR Looks if you don't know how to re-size RipBAR.)

RipBAR will accept files with EXE, COM, or PIF extensions as candidates for a spot on the bar.

The Manual Method

Choose Add New Application from RipBAR's Menu.  (If you don't know how to get RipBAR's menu, see The RipBAR Menu.) or type the INS key.  RipBAR will display a dialog allowing you to fill various pieces of information-- see Customizing RipBAR Items for more information.


Adding Documents To The Bar

There are two ways to add documents to the bar.  The first involves dragging items to the bar -- this process is easy and fairly automated so that you don't necessarily need to know what application the document belongs to.  The second method involves specifying the document's file name, the application, and path manually.  Both are discussed separately below.

The Dragging Method

You can add documents to the bar by selecting them from the File Manager or a suitable replacement  (Such as Norton Desktop), and dragging them to an empty spot on the bar (or RipBAR's title bar).  A new icon will appear on the bar and double-clicking on that icon will launch whatever application created the document and will open the document for you.  The icon that appears is the icon for the application that created the document. You can customize or change this icon to something you'd prefer-- see Customizing RipBAR Items for more information.

It is possible that you won't see the new icon or application if there wasn't extra room on the bar before you added the new document-- Just re-size the bar so that you can see what you just added.  (See Changing The Way RipBAR Looks if you don't know how to re-size RipBAR.)

When It Doesn't Work (Creating A New Association)

Windows 3.1 associates documents with their applications by comparing the document's file name extension to a list of known applications-- which is stored in the Windows Registry database.  Programs normally add their file types and application name to this list of "known file types" when you install them.  If RipBAR gives you an error message complaining that the document you tried to the bar is of an unknown type, the solution is quick:

Go to the File Manager.  Highlight the document you want to associate with an application and bring up the File menu.  Choose Associate... and the following dialog appears :

Look at the list of applications.  If it is there, select it and choose OK.  Otherwise, choose Browse and find the application.  Once you've finished this, you can try dragging the document to the bar again.

The Manual Method

Choose Add New Application from RipBAR's Menu.  (If you don't know how to get RipBAR's menu, see The RipBAR Menu.) or type the INS key.  RipBAR will display a dialog allowing you to fill in the following fields :

Icon Title

The name that will appear under the icon on the bar if you have the Titles Under Icons option set on in Preferences or in the Title Popups if you have the In Popups option set on in Preferences. (See Customizing RipBAR (Preferences) for more information.)

Command Line

This line should include the name of the application's executable file (i.e. WINWORD.EXE) and a complete drive and directory path name to the executable file and then type a space and finally the name and path of your document.  Typical command lines might look like :

E:\PROG\WINWORD.EXE  E:\DOCUMENT\MYDOC.DOC

or

PBRUSH.EXE  C:\WINDOWS\ARCHES.BMP

Startup Path

This is the path where the application will be started from.  For more information about this parameter, Customizing RipBAR Items.

After you've set up these fields, you can perform further customization (i.e. change the icon etc.) by going into the item's Customization or Properties dialog.


Adding And Managing Groups

RipBAR supports Groups on the toolbar.  Groups are a collection of applications and possibly other Groups.  Use Groups if you are running out of room on the bar, or want to collect similar applications in one area.

Adding A Group On The Bar
To add a new Group on the bar, simply choose Add New Group from RipBAR's Menu.  (If you don't know how to get RipBAR's menu, see The RipBAR Menu.) or type CTRL+INS.  (Or you can double-click on an empty portion of the bar if you have this option set in Preferences.)  An icon will appear with a default "Group picture".  Double-clicking on this Group icon will display all applications in that Group, on the bar.  (If you're creating a Group, the bar will initially be empty.)  You can add applications to the Group as you normally would.

Navigating Between Groups
After moving to a particular Group, you may move back by single-clicking with the right mouse button, on RipBAR's title bar.  For very fast navigation, give each group an Application HotKey  (Customizing RipBAR Items).  Using hot keys for groups will move you around faster than an OS/2 screen redraw.

As well, if you have the Group Tabs turned on, you may simply click on a Group Tab to move to that group.  To turn Group Tabs on, see Customizing RipBAR (Preferences).

Modifying A Group Name
To change the name of a group, right click on the Group Icon and select Properties.  Or, if you have Group Tabs enabled, simply right-click on the Group Tab you want to modify.

Deleting Groups
Delete Groups as you would any other icon on the bar-- .i.e. right-click on a Group icon, and choose Delete.  Or, if you have Group Tabs enabled, you can right-click on a Group Tab and choose Delete.

Hiding Group Icons
If you have Group Tabs enabled, then you don't need to see the icons for Groups on the bar.  From Preferences, go to the General section and select the Hide Group Icons option.


Moving RipBAR Items

You can change the position of items on the bar by dragging  the icon representing the application, document or group you want to move, to a new location on the bar-- i.e. drop it on top of the icon in the location you want to move the application to.

∇	To perform the drag, hold down the CTRL key and click and hold the left mouse button down on the item you want to move the icon to.  Then let go of the CTRL key and the mouse button.

This way, you can organize icons such that your most-used applications are on top and others below etc.  If you want to move the item to a new group rather than just change its position on the bar, see Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups.


Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups

Applications and Groups may be moved to other locations on the bar.   You might for instance add a group after having installed a number of things on the bar.  You then realize that you'd like to move existing items and/or groups to that new group.

If you have Group Tabs enabled
Simply drag the item you want to move, to the Group Tab you want to move the item to.

∇	To perform the drag, hold down the CTRL key and click and hold the left mouse button down on the item you want to move the icon to.  Then let go of the CTRL key and the mouse button.

If you don't have Group Tabs enabled
Simply activate the item you want to move, and choose  Move Item from RipBAR's menu, from the item's menu Popup, or type Control-M.  A dialog will appear asking you what group you want to move the item to.  The "top" of the bar is known as the Main Group-- the other groups appear according to whatever icon title you assigned them.  (If many groups show up as "Group", it's because you never changed their icon title.  See Customizing RipBAR Items to learn how to change the title.)

If you want to just change the position of an item rather than move it to a new group, see Moving RipBAR Items.


Launching Applications

To run or launch an application on the bar, simply double click on it with the left mouse button.  (Or use the ENTER key)   You can eliminate the need to double-click and start applications with a single-click instead by choosing this option in Preferences.  (See Customizing RipBAR (Preferences))

Optionally, you can run the application so that it starts in the minimized state, by holding down the SHIFT key while double-clicking the mouse.  To set up an icon so that the application always runs minimized, see Customizing RipBAR Items.

To start the application on the bar so that it automatically opens a document, seeLaunching Applications With A Document.  You can set up an item to always open a particular document or perform a particular action by supplying a Command Line -- see Customizing RipBAR Items.

RipBAR's clock pane will turn red to let you know it has begun launching the application.


Launching Applications With A Document

To execute or launch an application with a document, simply drag a document from the File Manager, a drop it onto one of the application icons.  The application will launch and open the document you dragged to the bar-- if the application supports this kind of operation.

You can set up an item to always open a particular document or perform a particular action by supplying a Command Line -- see Customizing RipBAR Items.


Launching Applications With The RUN Tool

When you want to run an application that isn't installed on the bar, you can use the RUN Tool.  For more information, see [image] RUN Tool.


Customizing RipBAR (Preferences)

Choosing Preferences from RipBAR's menu or clicking on the Preferences Tool on the bar, brings up the following dialog :

Options in Preferences are arranged in folders and are grouped logically according to function.  Titles for these various groups appear in folder tabs.  To activate a group of options (and bring that group to the front), simply click on the appropriate tab, or type CTRL-TAB to cycle through the folders.

Help on the various settings is presented in groups as they appear in the dialog.

Related Topics:

General

Show Tools

Tool Configuration

Titles & Tabs

Fonts

HotKey

Sounds

Chimes

Warnings

Time & Date

Sizing

Directories


General

RipBAR Is Windows Shell	(default is No)
(Windows 3.1 only)

When selected, this option causes RipBAR to configure itself as the primary Windows shell-- the replacement for Program Manager.  See RipBAR As Windows Shell for special notes about this feature.

Always On Top	(default is Yes)
When selected, this option causes RipBAR to always remain on top of any other windows on the screen.

Half-Height Title Bar	(default is Yes)
When selected, this option causes RipBAR's title bar to be half the height of the standard Windows title bar height.  It also means that RipBAR uses its own customized version of the System Menu.  See The RipBAR Menu for more information on this feature.

Minimize On Use	(default is No)
When selected, this option causes RipBAR to minimize itself when you launch an application off of the bar.

Single Left Click Activates App	(default is No)
When selected, you can run an application from the bar by clicking once with the left mouse button.  (Normally you must double click the left mouse button)

Single Right Click Activates App	(default is No)
When selected, you can run an application from the bar by clicking once with the right mouse button.  (Normally you must double click the left mouse button)  Note that if you do this, you will have to press the CONTROL key and click on the right mouse button to display the Properties dialog for the item.

Customized Minimize	(default is No)
Normally, when you minimize an application, the window turns into an icon and goes to the bottom of the screen.  You can tell RipBAR to handle this default behavior differently-- by turning this option on, you are able to determine how small RipBAR shrinks, and what location the bar moves to when you minimize it.  For more details, see General.

Double Click Creates Group	(default is No)
With this option enabled, double-clicking on an empty portion of the bar will create a new group-- normally you select Add New Group from the menu to do this.

Hide Group Icons	(default is No)
With this option enabled, group icons will not be visible on the bar.  To navigate between groups, use Group Tabs or the Move To option from the menu.

Confirm On Exit	(default is Yes)
With this option enabled, RipBAR will ask you to confirm your choice to exit after you've chosen Close from RipBAR's menu.

Tuck-Away	(default is No)
RipBAR can be set to "hide itself" everytime you switch away to another window.  With this option enabled, RipBAR will move itself almost completely off the screen-- past whatever edge of the screen it is closest to.  Afterwards, whenever you pass your mouse over the edge of the bar, RipBAR will pop back into view again.  Note that with this option enabled, it can become difficult to drag items to the bar.

Disable Icon Cache	(default is No)
(Windows only)  RipBAR can load and start up far more quickly when it is able to store all icon images on the bar to a cache file.  (Stored as RIP_BAR.ICF) in your Windows' directory.  Normally, you will not want to enable this option.  However, if you experience trouble with garbled icon images or the like, use this option as a last resort.

1st Note Line Is Title	(default is No)
With this option set, RipBAR automatically takes the first line of a Note, and makes it the title of that Note.  For more information, see [image] Notes Tool.

Auto Return To Top	(default is No)
With this option set, RipBAR automatically switches the bar back to the top group after you launch a document or application.


Show Tools

Check marks next to items indicate that RipBAR will display the tool.  Uncheck any items you don't want displayed.

In addition, there is a button titled New Drive Tool that when pressed will add new Drive Tool items to the bar into whatever Group is currently displayed on the bar.

Some tools are available only in a particular operating system-- i.e. the Resource Tool is available only in Windows and the Performance Tool is available only in Windows NT.

For more information about what the various tools do, see the applicable section in this help file.  All tools are described separately -- see Tools in the Table Of Contents.


Tool Configuration

These options let you choose whether Memory and Resource displays will be in numerical or graphical format.  For more information, see [image] Memory Tool and [image] Resource Tool.


Titles & Tabs

Check marks next to items indicate that RipBAR will display the tool.  Uncheck any items you don't want displayed.  If you uncheck the Clock tool, you can still invoke Setups

Show Item Names	(default is In Popups)
This option can be selected via listbox-- there are four values : None,  in Bubbles, Under Icons and both in Bubbles and under icons.

If you choose In Bubbles, you'll see the title of an icon appear in a yellow bubble as you move a mouse over an icon on the bar.

If you choose under icons, the icon's title will be printed right below the icon.

Show Group Tabs	(default is Left)
This option selects whether group names will be visible on the bar in folder tabs.  These tabs may be set to appear on the left or top of the bar.

Main Group Name	(default is "Main")
This option determines the name of the top-level group-- it shows up as first in the list of Folder Tabs.  Change this to whatever you like.


Fonts

This brings up a dialog allowing you to set various types of RipBAR fonts.  Large Tool Font is the font that RipBAR uses to display the time in the Clock pane.  Small Tool Font is the font that RipBAR uses to display the date, memory stats in the Memory Tool, and Resources stats in the Resource Tool.  Icon Titles Font is the font that RipBAR uses to display the icon titles if you have this option set (see above).  Finally, Notes Font allows you to set the default Notes font.  Finally, Tab Font is the font used to display group names in tabs on the bar.


HotKey

RipBAR lets you select a key combination that will activate RipBAR, and bring it on top of all other windows on your screen.  Click the HotKey button and you'll be prompted to type the HotKey you want to use.  After you click the Install button, the HotKey is enabled.  Either the Control or Alt key must be used as part of the HotKey sequence.

Because RipBAR is so easy to activate, you don't have to have the Always On Top option set if your screen is often cluttered.


Sounds

See the section titled Sound Support for more information.


Chimes

Choose where a Chime plays every hour, half hour, or quarter hour.  To disable the Chime  entirely, go to the Sounds option and clear the file name for Chime.


Warnings

Choose levels for memory and resources below which, a warning sounds.  To disable the Warning sound entirely, go to the Sounds option and clear the file name for Warnings or set the levels to 0.


Time & Date

RipBAR lets you select from one of three different date formats to be displayed on the Clock/Date pane and whether time is displayed in 12 hour or 24 hour format.


Sizing

Two types of sizing options are available-- Bar Sizing and Icon Sizing.  Both are explained below:

Bar Sizing
RipBAR can be set to resize the bar automatically as you switch between groups-- so that the bar is only big enough to fit the items in a particular group.

Please note that RipBAR has a big enough variety of options (AutoSize, Group Tabs etc.) that you'll have to see what combination of settings works for you.

Three AutoSize options are available-- No AutoSize, Vertical AutoSize, and Horizontal AutoSize.  The three are explained below :

No AutoSize
RipBAR will not automatically resize the bar as you switch between groups.  This means that if a group has more items in it than can currently fit on the bar, some items will be hidden and you'll have to size the bar yourself to see them.

Vertical AutoSize
RipBAR will resize the bar automatically as you switch between groups.  It is called Vertical AutoSize because RipBAR will adjust the bar size by lowering or raising the bottom of the bar to make sure all group items fit on the screen.  Two items to note :

•	In groups with many items, RipBAR may be forced to extend the bottom of the bar past the bottom of your screen.

•	In groups with few items, RipBAR may raise the bottom of the bar enough so that not all Group Tabs (if you have Group Tabs enabled) may be visible.

Horizontal AutoSize
RipBAR will resize the bar automatically as you switch between groups.  It is called Horizontal AutoSize because RipBAR will adjust the bar size by adjust the right hand side of the bar (moving it right or left) to make sure all group items fit on the screen.  Two items to note :

•	In groups with many items, RipBAR may be forced to extend the right hand side of the bar beyond the right hand side of your screen.

•	In groups with few items, RipBAR may shrink the width of the bar enough so that not all Group Tabs (if you have Group Tabs enabled) may be visible.

Icon Sizing
Depending on the size of your display and its resolution, you may want to instruct RipBAR to scale the icons that get displayed on the bar.  Three sizes are available-- Normal, Small, and Very Small.

Note that when you change the icon size, the bar itself changes size too.  This means that text in the clock or other tools may no longer fit or look right and so you should go to the Fonts section of Preferences and adjust the font size accordingly.  Display gauges for resources, memory, Drive Tools etc., scale properly as you switch icon sizes.


Directories

Windows NT only.  In this section, you may specify the directory where Notes are stored.  You set this path when you initially installed RipBAR, but you can change this should the need arise.


Minimizing RipBAR

To Minimize RipBAR, simply double-click with the left mouse button on the title bar.

What happens after you do this depends on how the Customized Minimize option was set in Preferences.

If you don't have Customized Minimize set :

When you minimize RipBAR, the window turns into an icon and goes to the bottom of the screen beside all other minimized programs-- just like any other Windows application.

If you do have Customized Minimize set :

By setting the Customized Minimize  option on, you are able to determine how small RipBAR shrinks, and what location the bar moves to when you minimize it.  The first time you minimize RipBAR after it has been installed on your computer, RipBAR will minimize to the top left corner of your screen so that only the Clock Tool is visible.  You can now move RipBAR to wherever you like-- and resize it to display any additional information you want.  Double-click with the left mouse button on the title bar, and RipBAR is restored to its full size and original location.  Hereafter, RipBAR will remember where it was when it was minimized.


RipBAR Item Menu Popups

Click once with the right mouse button to display the menu Popup for a RipBAR item (either application or group).

The menu provides the following options:

(Item Name) (Launch)
This runs the selected application, or opens the selected group.  It is equivalent to double-clicking with the left mouse button on an item.

Launch With Parameters
This runs the selected application, but first opens a dialog allowing you to specify a command line to pass to the application-- i.e. to specify a document to load etc.  You can permanently set a command line to pass to an application in that item's Properties dialog.

Launch Minimized
This runs the selected application as minimized-- .i.e. appears as an icon.  You can permanently set this option in the Properties dialog for an item (see Customizing RipBAR Items) but this is good for a once-in-a-while situation.

Properties...
This opens an application's Properties dialog.  (See Customizing RipBAR Items) You can get to the Properties dialog by double-clicking with the right mouse button on an item.

Move...
This opens the Move dialog-- allowing you to move the selected item to another group on the bar. (See Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups)

Delete From Bar...
This allows you to remove an item from the bar.  RipBAR will request a confirmation.

Export...
(Option only available for Group items)  This allows you to export a RipBAR group to the Program Manager.   (See Exporting Groups To The Program Manager.)

Cancel
Closes the menu Popup.


Customizing RipBAR Items

To customize certain properties of an item on the bar, double-click on it with the right mouse button or select Properties from the item's menu Popup. (Or use the keyboard and type ALT-ENTER with an item selected)  This will result in a dialog box that lets you set the startup directory, and any command line options you want to set.

(Note : Double-clicking with the right mouse button on an item will not always be possible if the popup menu covers the item once it is displayed.  This will be the case if the item is too close to the bottom of the screen and is forced to extend upwards rather than downwards.)

The dialog contains three groups of options.  See the following sections for more information.

Related Topics:

General Options

Icons

Other


General Options

Application Name (Full Path)
Specify the executable file name along with the drive letter and path.

Startup Directory
This is the path that RipBAR will launch the application from.  Some applications need to be started from whatever directory the executable file is in because they need access to custom files or DLL files there.  Other times, you can set the startup directory to be whatever directory you want the application to save and retrieve documents to/from.  For instance, if your word processing documents are stored in E:\DOCUMENT, you might want to set this as your startup path.  If your application does not launch correctly from RipBAR, try setting the startup path to whatever directory the executable file is in.

Command Line Parameters
Use this field to store any arguments you want to pass to an application.  Consult the documentation that accompanies your application to see what type of arguments you can pass to it.

Icon Title
If you have set RipBAR to display icon names (see Customizing RipBAR (Preferences)) then whatever text is entered in this field shows up as the name.  If you have "Menu Popups" set in Preferences, the name will show up there too.  When adding new applications to the bar, the name defaults to the application's file name.

HotKey
Type one key in this field-- it must be an alphabetic letter or a number from 0 to 9.  Typing this key while RipBAR is active, will launch this application.  If the icon you're setting up is a group, then typing this key will open the group.


Icons

Click on the Icon... tab to browse for an icon you'd like to use as a representation of the item on the bar. See Custom Icons for more information about this feature.


Other

Run State
Determines how the application will start up.  Either minimized, maximized or "normal".  (Note : If you only occasionally want to run an application minimized,  -so don't want to permanently set it here- see RipBAR Item Menu Popups)

Show This Item In All Groups
When selected, this toolbar item will be shown in all groups.  When selected, try to keep the item near the top of the bar-- this will ensure that it is displayed in the same location in all groups.

Always Prompt For Parameters
When selected, RipBAR will always pop up a dialog asking you for command line parameters whenever you run this item.

Don't Show This Group In Group Tabs
When selected, this group's name won't be displayed in the Group Tabs on the toolbar.


Deleting RipBAR Items

To delete an item on the bar, bring up the Customizer or Properties dialog for an item by single clicking with the right mouse button, on an icon.  (Or use the keyboard and press the HOME key)  Click on the Delete From The Bar checkbox in the dialog, and click on OK.  The item will be deleted, and RipBAR will resize its window to display any remaining icons.


Changing The Way RipBAR Looks

Upon installation, RipBAR is displayed by default, in a vertical fashion with one column of icons.  You may resize RipBAR by dragging one of the bar's borders with the mouse.  This way, RipBAR can be positioned horizontally, or widended so that icons appear in columns.  RipBAR will automatically arrange the icons so that icons fit properly.  If the size of RipBAR's window is too small, you won't see all of the icons.  See the pictures above for sample RipBAR layouts.  If this becomes a problem, set the Auto-Size feature in Preferences.  (See Customizing RipBAR (Preferences).)


Custom Icons

There are times that you will want to change the icon RipBAR places on the bar when you add an application because you like something else better, or because the application has no icon.

Bring up the Item Customizer, by double clicking with the right mouse button (or by right clicking and choosing Properties from the popup menu) on an item icon.  Click on the Icon tab in the dialog.

All icons for the current application are displayed.  To choose one, just click on it.  If you'd like to select an icon from another file, click on Browse.  This will allow you to choose either an EXE , DLL or most any other icon library file from which to display icons.

RipBAR will save the icon you choose so that the application on the bar will always come up with the icon you choose.


Importing Items From Program Manager

RipBAR provides the ability to import Program Manager items and groups to the bar.  Choose Import... from the RipBAR menu.

A dialog gets displayed that shows two lists-- one of all Program Manager groups, and one that shows all items in the selected group.

To Import A Program Manager Group
Choose a group and click the Import button next to the groups list.  You will  be prompted for the new name of the group that will be created in RipBAR.  The default is for the group name as it appears in Program Manager.  If you select OK, RipBAR will create a new group on the bar and place all imported items into it.

To Import A Single Program Manager Item
Choose the Program Manager group that contains the item you want to import and select the item from the second list.  Click on the Import button next to the item list.  RipBAR will import the item to the group currently being displayed on the bar.

Importing From Something Other Than Program Manager
RipBAR's Import feature is meant to work exclusively with Program Manager.  However alternate Windows shell programs (like Norton Desktop and PC Tools for Windows) attempt to emulate the "dynamic  conversations" (the means by which RipBAR communicates with Program Manager) that Program Manager supports.

To date, RipBAR has been tested with PC Tools for Windows.  RipBAR's Import feature does not function at all with PC Tools for Windows V1.0, but does work with the latest V2.0.

RipBAR's Import feature has not been tested with Norton Desktop or any other alternate Windows shells.


Exporting Groups To The Program Manager

RipBAR allows you to export a RipBAR group to Program Manager.  To do this, you must have Item Popups (see RipBAR Item Menu Popups) enabled.

Right-Click on a group (or group tab) on the bar to display the item's menu.  Select the Export option.  RipBAR will ask you to confirm that you want to create a new group in Program Manager and export all group items there.  If you confirm the action, the items that got exported will be available in Program Manager for launching.


 System Information Tool

Whether you are running RipBAR on Windows 3.1 or Windows NT, an overview of your system is presented.  You gain access to this information by double-clicking on the Memory Display pane.

The information presented depends on the operating system you are running.  We start with Windows 3.1 and Windows NT information follows.

Windows 3.1 System Info

On the left of this dialog, there are important pieces of information concerning memory.  In Windows Enhanced Mode, these readings include both physical and virtual RAM.  You get Physical Memory (the amount of RAM Windows recognized at startup time), Virtual Memory (the amount of hard disk space Windows is using for virtual RAM), the currently available RAM (Free Memory) , and the total memory currently being used by applications.

At the bottom on the right, the number of currently loaded/running tasks being serviced by Windows is displayed, with a list of these tasks, immediately above.

Tasks are running applications.  This list will be different from what you see in the Windows Task Manager-- which displays a list of open windows on your desktop.  Some applications spawn multiple tasks.

RipBAR lets you shut down a task simply by highlighting it, and clicking on the Kill button.  This can be useful in situations where a program is crashed and has closed its window but has left remnants of itself in memory.  Be careful shutting down tasks, it can sometimes lead to unpredictable behavior on Windows' part.

Exiting And Restarting Windows

Finally, you may choose to exit Windows (back to DOS) or restart Windows by clicking on the Exit Win or Restart Win buttons.  RipBAR will ask you to confirm your choice.

Windows NT System Info

On the top left and right, you have the computer name and user name.  The computer name was set when Windows NT was installed.  The user name reflects who you are logged in as.

Next, total and available levels of Physical, PageFile, and Virtual memory are displayed.  Physical memory is the RAM you have installed in your computer.  PageFile memory is the amount of disk space you've set aside for this purpose in the Control Panel and Virtual memory is the total virtual addressing space available to an application.


 Clock Tool

The Clock Tool displays the time and date.  RipBAR lets you choose between a number of date formats (see Time & Date) and the fonts that will be used to display the information (see Fonts ).

You may choose to not have the Clock Tool displayed on the bar. To do this, see Show Tools.

Double Clicking on the Clock with the left mouse button brings up RipBAR Help.

Clicking once with the right mouse button on the Clock, brings up RipBAR's menu.


 Resource Tool

Windows 3.1 Only

The Resource Tool displays information about Windows resources.  Resources are used by programs for storing information about icons, bitmaps and other data.  This space is limited and as you have more applications loaded, there is less available resources.

The Resource Tool in RipBAR can display information in one of two ways : either in numerical form, or in graphical form.  To select the type of display, see Tool Configuration.

You may choose to not have the Resource Tool displayed on the bar.  To do this, see Show Tools.

Numerical Form

These numbers represent GDI, User, and System resources (in this order).  The numbers are presented as percentage remaining -- i.e. when these hit 0, you're out of resources.  Windows will begin displaying odd behavior when these numbers fall too far below 10%.

You can track an application's use of resources with the Resource Tracker

Graphical Form

As you can see, the pane is split into quarters.  Normally, the bars are drawn in blue, but if a resource falls below 25% free, the bar turns red.  In the picture on the left, all resources are somewhere between 50% and 75% free.  In the picture on the right, all resources are below 25% free.


 Memory Tool

You may choose to not have the Memory Tool displayed on the bar.  See Show Tools for information on how to do this.

Double-clicking with the Left mouse button on the Memory Display brings up the [image] System Information Tool.  Alternatively, clicking with the right mouse button brings up the [image] Task Manager Tool.

The Display

The Memory Tool in RipBAR can display information in one of two ways : either in numerical form, or in graphical form.  To select the type of display, see Tool Configuration.

The types of displays depend on whether you are running the Windows 3.1 or Windows NT version of RipBAR.  Both are presented below:

Windows 3.1

Relevant memory information is displayed in one of two ways-- either in numerical form or in graphical form.

Numerical Form   (picture above)

At the top (in highlighted colour) is the remaining free memory, still available for use by Windows.  Second, is the total amount of memory in your machine Windows recognizes plus virtual memory.  (Some memory, like that used by SmartDrive, is not included in this number.)  Third, the amount of memory currently being used by Windows and running applications.  (This number is the difference between the first two numbers.)

Graphical Form

The pane is divided from left to right, in quarters.  Your total memory is the entire length of the graph bar.  The memory in use is displayed in red, while the remaining (unused) memory is displayed in blue.  In the graph above, a little over 25% of our memory is in use.

You may track an application's use of memory with the Resource Tracker.

Windows NT

Numerical Form   (picture above)

Three numbers are displayed.  In order from top to bottom, they are Free Physical Memory, Free PageFile Memory, and Total Free Memory (both Physical and PageFile).  This last number is displayed in highlighted colour.

For a description of these memory types, see [image] System Information Tool.

Graphical Form

The pane is divided from left to right, in quarters.  Your total memory is the entire length of the graph bar.  The memory in use is displayed in red, while the remaining (unused) is displayed in blue.  Three bars are displayed -- Free Physical Memory, Free PageFile Memory, and Total Free Memory (both Physical and PageFile).

For a description of these memory types, see [image] System Information Tool.


 Task Manager Tool

Access the Task Manager by clicking with the right mouse button on the Memory Display pane.  This pops up a menu that lists all open windows on your desktop.  Simply click on whichever one you want to bring to the front.  Keyboard users may type ALT-T to activate the Task Manager.


 Resource Tracker

Windows 3.1 Only

You can access the Resource Tracker by double-clicking on the Resource Display pane.  Use this feature to track memory and resource consumption by a single or multiple applications.

To use this utility, invoke the dialog whenever you want to begin tracking.  Click on the Reset button so that resources and memory are updated to reflect current system information.  Close the dialog, and start / finish whatever applications you're interested in tracking.  Invoke the Resource Tracker dialog again and you'll get an immediate picture of the resources and memory used by the application(s) you just used.

Many applications are sources of memory and/or resource leaks-- in other words they don't always free up the resources and memory they used.  To check for this, start tracking prior to launching one of these applications.  Launch the application a number of times and then go back to the Resource Tracking dialog to verify that all resource and memory readings match.  If they don't, you've found your leak.


 Notes Tool

What's It For Anyway?
RipBAR provides the Notes tool for those times that you wish you had a place to jot down a quick note about something that you can't afford to forget.  You may create as many Notes as you like.

To use Notes, you must first make sure the feature is enabled.  To find out how to either add the Notes to the bar, or remove it, see Show Tools.

Notes Tool Display
The Notes Tool is pictured above.  It will always display the number of Notes currently opened on the screen.

Creating New Notes
To create a new Note, simply double-click on the Notes Tool.  A window appears and you may type whatever you want into it.  Standard editing functions like Undo, Copy, Cut, Paste etc., are available.

Notes Windows
Notes windows are displayed independently of RipBAR's toolbar.  This means that RipBAR can be on top of the screen with other Notes hidden from view.(See the special notice at the end of this section for information about RipBAR's Always On Top feature.)  They each have menus allowing you set the font the particular Note will be displayed in, read in a text file, save the contents of the note to a file, exit the note, and display information about the note.

Notes As Reminders
Notes windows are perfect for making sure you don't forget something.  All Note windows left open when RipBAR is shut down, are automatically restored in their exact locations, and font settings as before.

Arranging Notes
To quickly bring all Notes to the front of the screen, and to arrange them in cascading fashion, use the Arrange All option from within one the Note windows.  Optionally, you can click with the right mouse button on the Notes Tool and choose Arrange All from the dialog that appears.  You can quickly close all Note windows by choosing Close All from either of these two places as well.

Setting Default Font For Use With Notes
Bring up the Notes Configurator by clicking with the right mouse button and choosing Font from the dialog.  All future Notes will use the font you just selected.  To set the font for a particular Note window, use that Note window's menu.

Setting The Title Of A Note
To set the title of a note, choose Set Title from the Options menu of a Note.  You'll be prompted for the title.

Or, let RipBAR do some of the work for you.  You can enable 1st Note Line Is Note Title in Preferences.  (See Customizing RipBAR (Preferences).)  When you start a Note, choosing Set Title or using the CTRL-E menu shortcut key, will cause RipBAR to assign the first line of your note to the title-- rather than having to type it in yourself.

Note titles are saved along with Notes so that you'll see them the next time you run RipBAR.

Notes And RipBAR's Always On Top Feature
RipBAR supports the ability to always remain on top of all other windows on the screen so that it remains in view at all times.  (See General for more information on this feature.)  This option however, automatically disables itself when you start creating Notes.  This is because if RipBAR remained on top while you had Notes on the screen, all the Notes would stay on top as well-- cluttering your screen.  You can still ensure that RipBAR remains accessible by selecting an activation hot key. (See HotKey.)


 Exit Tool

The Exit Tool appears as one of the default tools when you first install RipBAR.

You may choose to not have the Exit Tool displayed on the bar. To do this, see Show Tools.

The Exit Tool behavior depends on whether you're running RipBAR from Windows, or Windows NT.  Both are explained below.

Windows
Double clicking on the tool will present you with the choice to either Quit or Restart Windows.  It is handy when you need to quickly exit, or reload the Windows environment.

Should you choose to delete this tool from the bar, you may still exit or restart windows from the System Information Dialog.

Windows NT
Double clicking on the tool will present you with the choice to either Logoff or Shutdown.  It is handy when you need to quickly exit, or reload the Windows environment.


 RUN Tool

The RUN Tool is displayed by default when you first install RipBAR.  After that, it can be activated or deactivated by selecting the RUN Tool option in Preferences  (Tool Display Options).

The RUN Tool may be used to launch applications, batch files and documents.

Double clicking on the RUN Tool brings up the following dialog :

You may type in the name of an application you want to run.  If you neglect to include the program's file extension, RipBAR will automatically add .EXE for you.  If the program needs to run from a particular directory and/or drive, include the entire path.

RipBAR will store the 20 most recent applications you have run in this fashion.  You can view these by clicking on the button to the right of the command line.

Also, you can "run" a document from the RUN Tool-- as long as Windows recognizes the file type.  For instance, if you want to edit a particular text file, just type the path of the file and Windows will launch NotePad (or whatever you've set up) and open the document.  This applies to pictures, sound files etc.  If you get an error running a document in this fashion, it is probably because there is no association for this file type.  For help on creating an association so that you can launch the document, see Adding Documents To The Bar.

Note For Windows NT Users

Should you want to run an application that resides in a directory that has embedded spaces in it's name, you should surround the path with quotation marks.  Any command line arguments (i.e. file names etc.) should not be surrounded with quotation marks.  An example might be :

RUN:

"THIS IS A TEST DIRECTORY\NOTEPAD.EXE"  C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

If there are no spaces in any of the directory names included in the path to the application you want to run, you need not type quotation marks.


 Print Tool

The Print Tool is used to print documents that you have saved to disk.  Simply drag a document to the Print Tool (pictured above) and drop it.  The document will be printed by whatever application created it.

When It Doesn't Work

If RipBAR is unable to print the document, it will display a dialog box with an error message.  If you get an error number, chances are you have either run out of memory, resources, or Windows can't locate all of the files necessary to start the application.

If on the other hand, RipBAR claims there is no Association for the file, it is because Windows doesn't recognize the file type of the document you have selected to print.  This kind of problem can be corrected by creating an Association for the document type.  For more information on creating an Association, see the section titled Creating An Association in


Adding Documents To The Bar
Adding Documents To The Bar Adding Documents To The Bar.


 Preferences Tool

This tool is enabled in the Preferences dialog.  It installs a button (pictured above) on the bar that when clicked, opens the Preferences dialog.  By default, it is enabled when RipBAR is first installed.


 Performance Tool

Windows NT Only

Overview

This tool is enabled in the Preferences dialog.  It displays the amount of time your CPU is spending running tasks in Windows NT.  The display is in percentage form and may be configured to present the data in numerical format or graphical format-- we'll discuss these shortly.

Note

RipBAR needs to access information from the Windows NT Registry database in order to gather performance data.  At the time of the release of this version of RipBAR, the gathering of performance data was not possible while certain applications were loaded.  For more information on problems regarding the Performance Tool, see Performance Tool Problems.

Just what is the Performance Tool measuring?

Windows NT is a multitasking environment that can run many different applications and tasks at one time.  It gives a small slice of processing time to each running task in round-robin style.

Many applications however, don't require a whole lot of processing power-- take a word processor for instance.  Most of the time, the word processor simply sits idle waiting for keypresses and commands.  This kind of idle waiting doesn't require much processing time.  On the other hand, there are some services that Windows NT is always running-- things like networking services (if these are enabled), security services and the like.

The Performance Tool is thus useful in displaying how much of the total power your CPU has to offer Windows NT is using.  This gets displayed as a percentage.  If the CPU usage is 100%, the CPU and Windows NT is always busy and there is a lot of activity going on.  If it is something closer to 0%, then not much is going on and Windows NT is spending most of its time idle-- waiting for messages or other things to process.

Configuring the Performance Tool

The Performance Tool may be customized and configured in a number of ways.  Click on the Performance Tool with the right mouse button to bring up the configuration dialog.

The Display - Usage Or Throttle

The display  may be set to record the CPU usage percentage in two different ways.  When in Usage Mode, the Performance Tool expresses the total percentage of time the CPU is "busy".  Thus 100% means always busy and 0% means never busy.  When in Throttle Mode, the Performance Tool expresses the total percentage of time the CPU has left to do something else-- i.e. the percentage of time the CPU is not busy.  In this case, 100% means never busy, and 0% means always busy.  Usage Mode and Throttle Mode display inverse numbers.

The Display - Numerical or Graphical

The display  may also be set to show the CPU usage percentage in numerical or graphical format.  (See above)

Examples

If you look at the picture above (with the four views of the Performance Tool), they represent the following in order : (1) CPU is busy 25% of the time, (2) CPU is busy 25% of the time, (3) CPU is busy 42% of the time, (4) CPU is not busy at all.

Sample Timing

Finally, you can set the frequency at which RipBAR samples the processor statistics-- expressed in milliseconds.  (so that 5000 milliseconds = 5 seconds)  By default, the Performance Tool is installed to sample every 2 seconds (or 2000 milliseconds).  You can change this number to be anything from 500 milliseconds (every half-second) to 60000 milliseconds (every minute).  In practice though, your sample time should be set no lower than 1000 (one second) or any higher than 10000 (10 seconds) milliseconds-- otherwise the readings won't make much sense.  Unless you have a good reason, leave the sampling rate at the default 2000 milliseconds.


 ASCII Tool

This tool is available only from the RipBAR menu.  If you have Half-Height Title Bar set in Preferences, you can bring up RipBAR's menu by clicking at the top left of RipBAR's window-- otherwise, you can right-click on the Clock.

A dialog is presented that lists all of the ASCII character set along with their Decimal and Hex values.

Double-clicking on an item in the list, copies that item to the clipboard.  Also, you may change the font / character set displayed in the list by choosing the Font button.


 Disk Tool

Overview
This tool is may be enabled in the Preferences dialog.  It displays the free space for a designated drive.  You can install as many of these as you like on the bar.  In the picture above, Drive C is about 25% used with almost 75% remaining free space.

Double-clicking on the Disk Tool or choosing Disk Information from the RipBAR menu, produces the following dialog:

One tab will appear for each drive on your system.  A graph of total/free space appears on the left, while detailed information appears on the right.

To Modify A Drive Tool Item
If you have a Drive Tool item on the bar and you'd like to change the drive for which the information being displayed, you can do this in one of two ways:

•	Delete the current Drive Tool item from the bar, and add a new one.

•	Bring up the Customizer dialog for the item and modify the Command Line for that item-- the Command Line should be set to the drive letter you want to display information for.


Sound Support

About Sounds

RipBAR supports attaching sounds to certain events.  To use sound, you must have installed a Windows-compatible sound card and software driver (If you don't have a sound card, you may use the Windows Speaker Driver-- allowing your PC's internal speaker to play sound.  This is available from Microsoft.)

Though more complete support will evolve in future versions of RipBAR, the following events may be configured to "trigger" sounds.

•	Running an application on the bar.

•	Warning situations like low available memory.

•	Clock trigger-- every hour, half hour, or quarter hour.

Enabling & Setting Up Sounds

To enable sound, you must first tell RipBAR what sounds to use for each type of event.  In this case, sounds are files on your hard disk that have the .WAV extension.  To tell RipBAR what sounds to use, select the Sounds button from the Preferences dialog.

RipBAR presents a dialog allowing you to tell it what sound (WAV) file to play when a type of event takes place.  Chime is a sound played either every hour, half hour, or quarter hour.  RUN Sound is the sound played every time you run an application on the bar.  Warnings are sounds played when memory falls bellow a pre-set level etc.

Clicking on any of these buttons brings up a standard file dialog allowing you to choose a sound file.  Use the Clear button on the right of the Sounds dialog to clear the file name for a particular sound type-- thereby disabling that sound.

If you have selected sound files and you want to set how often the Clock chimes, or what types of warning situations will trigger a sound, use the Chimes or Warnings respectively from the Preferences dialog.


RipBAR As Windows Shell

You can use RipBAR instead of Program Manager.  To do this, enable Windows Shell in the General section of Preferences.

When you do this, RipBAR will load and run each time you start Windows instead of Program Manager.  Thus, when you close RipBAR, you also exit from Windows.

When RipBAR loads, it will read and process all items on the LOAD and RUN lines of WIN.INI.

Also, you can create a Group on the bar called Startup -- whatever items you place in this group will automatically start when RipBAR has finished loading.  (Note the exact spelling and capitalization of Startup)

When RipBAR is running as the shell, you may want to run Program Manager before installing an application so that the installation program can create the groups and items that it needs to-- you can import these newly-created items from Program Manager once the installation has completed.


Keyboard Usage

RipBAR provides enhanced keyboard access to features for people who find the mouse inconvenient or who don't have a mouse at all.

If you are going to be using the keyboard, and intend to use RipBAR's menu, you should make sure you have RipBAR's half-height title bar option set.  Otherwise, please read the special note about Keyboards and the RipBAR Menu -- The Standard Title Bar & System Menu.

Getting Help
Type F1 (Function Key #1) anywhere in RipBAR.

Selecting Items On The Bar
Use the cursor keys (Left, Right, Up, and Down) to move from icon to icon.  Press the ENTER key on an icon to launch it if it's an application or to open it if it's a Group icon.  If you move past the last icon on the bar, RipBAR will wrap back to the top of the bar.  (Note that if you move past the last icon and RipBAR doesn't immediately wrap back to the top, it may be because you have hidden icons that don't fit  on the bar because the bar isn't big enough.)

Accessing Icon Item Popups
Type HOME or SPACE while an icon is activated to bring up an item's Popup menu.

Accessing Icon Item Properties
Type ALT-ENTER while an icon is activated to get to the customization dialog for that application or Group.

Running Applications via HotKey
Every application on the bar may be set up so that it launches when you type a particular key.  See Customizing RipBAR Items for more information.

Moving Items On The Bar
Moving RipBAR items to different groups, is possible by typing CONTROL-M. See Moving ToolBar Items Between Groups for more information.

Adding Items To The Bar
Add items to RipBAR by typing INS.

Adding Groups To The Bar
Add a new Group to the bar by typing CONTROL-INS.

Creating A New Note
Creating a new Note is possible by typing CONTROL-N

Getting To RipBAR Preferences
Press the CONTROL and HOME keys together to bring up the Preferences dialog.

Quitting RipBAR
To quit RipBAR, press the ALT and F4 keys together to close RipBAR.

Moving RipBAR on the screen
To move the RipBAR bar around on the screen, press the ALT and M keys together.

Minimizing RipBAR
To minimize RipBAR,  press the ALT and cursor DOWN keys together.

Restoring RipBAR
To restore RipBAR after it's been minimized,  press the ALT and cursor UP keys together.

Navigating Groups
To open a group, move to the icon for that group and press the ENTER key.  To move back out of a group, press the PageUp or ESC key.

RipBAR TaskManager
To obtain a quick list of running applications, type Alt-T.  (Note : for this to work, either the Resource or Memory Tool must be active on the bar.)


The RipBAR Menu

By setting the title bar to half-height in Preferences(Customizing RipBAR (Preferences)), you can replace the standard Windows System Menu with the customized one supplied with RipBAR.  You gain these benefits by doing this:

•	Convenient access to many commands.

•	Better support for keyboards

•	More room for items on the bar because RipBAR's title bar is reduced in size.

Note-- even if you don't set the Half Height Title Bar  in Preferences, you can still gain access to RipBAR's customized menu by right-clicking on the Clock.

Please read both of the following sections for important information about both types of menus and title bars.

Related Topics:

The Standard Title Bar & System Menu

Half Height Title Bar & Customized System Menu


The Standard Title Bar & System Menu

Unfortunately, the way RipBAR monitors the keyboard for application hot keys, means that the menu needs to be used with a little care.  You should not use the keyboard to navigate them menu-- your keystrokes there will be interpreted as if you were working on the bar-- i.e. using the cursor keys will highlight different RipBAR items and pressing ENTER will launch a RipBAR item.  Every RipBAR menu item has a keyboard shortcut equivalent-- so use that instead.

If you use the mouse to access the menu, you can disregard the above because everything will behave as expected.


Half Height Title Bar & Customized System Menu

With the Half-Height option turned on in Preferences (General), the standard System Menu is replaced with a customized one supplied by RipBAR.

Unlike the standard system menu, this one may be navigated equally well with either the keyboard or the mouse.  It also provides convenient access to a number of RipBAR features.

PC Tools Desktop users in particular will want to run with the customized menu because it provides convenient access to the Tag Along feature by using the CTRL+T HotKey shortcut. (See PC Tools For Windows Note.)


Performance Tool Problems

Windows NT only.

The Performance Tool in RipBAR (see [image] Disk Tool) displays the percentage of time that the CPU is busy running active tasks in Windows NT.

To accomplish this, RipBAR must gather performance data from the Windows NT Registry database on a continual basis (up to twice a second).

As this version of RipBAR was been readied for release, incompatibilities were noted with a few applications.  It is not known at this time what the exact root of the problem is.  It is known for instance, that there is a problem running the Performance Tool while Microsoft SQL Server's SQL Monitor application is running.  (SQL Monitor also serves to gather performance data)

Under normal circumstances, this incompatibility would lead to an access violation in Windows NT and would result a crash-- However  RipBAR can now detect the problem before it happens.

When RipBAR senses that an incompatibility with its Performance Tool is about to cause a problem, it will display a dialog box that displays a warning and notifies you that it will shut down the Performance Tool.  (A Help button is available that takes you here in the help file)  At this point, you'll no longer be able to monitor Windows NT performance from within RipBAR.

If you shut down the application that RipBAR is conflicting with (SQL Monitor for instance) you may attempt to turn back on the Performance Tool.

Future versions of RipBAR will address this problem, so check CompuServe and other locations for newer releases of RipBAR.  Registered users of course, will receive notification of any future releases.


Introduction To Troubleshooting

RipBAR is updated frequently -- more than 6 times in the last twelve months alone.  Every effort is made to ensure that the product you receive is bug-free.

No program is ever perfect.  In some cases, there is an error in the program code that provides for unexpected results as you use the software and in other cases, it may appear that there is a problem, when in fact, there is a reasonable explanation and work-around.

The following sections will serve to provide insight and work-arounds for problems you may encounter.  The content of these sections are derived in part from user-feedback.  If you run into trouble, please contact me (the author) at one of the address listed in  Credits & Thanks.

Thank you,

Jonathan Carroll

Related Topics:

Icons on the bar look strange

I click on an icon and two copies of an item launch

RipBAR no longer loads properly

RipBAR Task Manager isn't available

Problems running an item on the bar

I can't see all the items in a group

RipBAR menu is missing choices

Error importing from Program Manager


Icons on the bar look strange

Problem:
(Windows 3.1 only)  RipBAR keeps all the icons images that appear on the bar, in a file called RIP_BAR.ICF in your WINDOWS directory.

It is likely that either this file has become corrupted or that RipBAR has incorrectly determined the video resolution that your Windows' configuration is running.

Fix:
Quit RipBAR.  Locate the RIP_BAR.ICF file in your WINDOWS directory and delete it.  Now go ahead and run RipBAR-- this will force RipBAR to rebuild the icon cache file.

Fix:
If the above doesn't work, then you may disable the icon cache process as a last resort.  To do this, enable the Disable Icon Cache option in Preferences.


I click on an icon and two copies of an item launch

Problem:
The problem may be caused by the Activation option you've chosen--i.e. you have Single Click Activates enabled in Preferences (in which case double-clicking starts an application twice).  If you are double-clicking an item, it will launch twice.

Fix :
Disable Single Left Click or Single Right Click in Preferences.


RipBAR no longer loads properly

Problem:
RipBAR no longer loads properly-- either you get a system crash, or something about the bar configuration or display is wrong.

If all of a sudden, RipBAR ceases to operate properly, you may try three fixes-- try the following in order.  (If the first fix doesn't solve your problem, try the second and then the third)

Fix :
Your RipBAR Notes file has become corrupted.  The beginning of this file contains the number of notes in the file.  If this information was corrupted, RipBAR may be trying endlessly to load the notes.  Delete the RIP_BAR.NOT file from your WINDOWS directory (if you're running Windows) or from whatever directory you set (if you're running Windows NT.)

Fix :
Your RipBAR settings file has become corrupted-- RipBAR uses this file to decide what to place on the bar and something in the file is causing RipBAR to misbehave.  If you are running Windows 3.1, delete both the RIP_BAR.INI RIP_BAR.NOT, and RIP_BAR.ICF files from your Windows directory.  If you are running Windows NT, delete RIP_BAR.NOT from whatever directory you told RipBAR to store its Notes in and then start REGEDT32.EXE.  (You can do this from the File|Run menu item in Program Manager or File Manager)  Once in REGEDIT, go to the CURRENT_USER window and double click the Software folder, and next the RIP Applications folder.  Now highlight the RipBAR folder and type the Delete key (DEL).  This clears the RipBAR settings.  Now go ahead and try restarting RipBAR.

Fix:
The RipBAR program files have been corrupted.  Re-install the files that you originally downloaded or otherwise received for RipBAR.


RipBAR Task Manager isn't available

Problem:
When you use the RipBAR Task Manager hotkey (alt-T), the Task List doesn't come up.   There are two possible causes:

•	First, RipBAR wasn't the active window on the screen when you tried to type Alt-T.

•	Second, you don't have either the Memory Tool or the Resource Tool active on the bar.

Fix:
For the first case, make sure RipBAR is the active window on the screen (use your RipBAR hotkey to activate RipBAR and then try the Task Manager hotkey.  For the second case, enable either the Resource Tool or Memory Tool-- one of these must be active on the bar for the Task Manager to work.


Problems running an item on the bar

Problem:
RipBAR reports an error when you try to run an application.

Fix:

•	Ensure that the path and file name for the item is correct-- check in that item's Property Dialog.

•	Some applications need to have the Startup Directory set to be the same as the directory that contains that application's .EXE file.  Go to the Properties Dialog for the item and make the Startup Directory the same as the directory listed for the application's path.


I can't see all the items in a group

Problem:
A group on the bar is so large that you can't see all the items in that group.

Fix:
Try some of the following:

•	Make the bar larger.

•	Turn on Auto-Sizing in Preferences so that the bar automatically enlarges when it needs to.

•	To save space, enable Hide Group Icons in Preferences-- if you have Group Tabs enabled, the Group Icons are redundant and waste space.

•	Break up a large group into smaller ones, or nest some groups inside of  others.


RipBAR menu is missing choices

Problem:
The RipBAR menu doesn't contain the options listed here in this help guide.

Fix:
To get all of the menu options, you need to enable Half-Height Title Bar in Preferences or, if you have the full-height title bar, bring up RipBAR's custom meny by right-clicking on an empty space on the bar, or by right-clicking on the clock.


Error importing from Program Manager

Problem:
RipBAR reports an error while trying to import groups or items.

Fix:
You may be running an alternate shell program-- like Norton Desktop or PC Tools for Windows.  RipBAR cannot import from PC Tools for Windows V1.0 at all, it has been tested with V2.0 and works.  It is untested with Norton Desktop.  Try running Program Manager before doing the import (if it isn't already running).


Glossary of Terms

Tabs

Registry

Setup File

executable file

DLL

title bar

System Menu


Tabs

Tabs are used to contain a title that may be clicked on for further action.  In RipBAR, tabs are used to display group names and dialog option titles.


Registry

The Windows operating system uses a system database (called Registry) to store important information.  In Windows NT, RipBAR uses the Registry database to store its settings.


Setup File

In Windows 3.1, setup file refers to the RIP_BAR.INI file that RipBAR uses to save its settings.  In Windows NT, RipBAR writes entries to the system registry database.


executable file

The application's main program file.  Usually has an .EXE file name extension.


DLL

Dynamic Link Library.  These are files that belong to applications.  Sometimes much of an application's functionality is contained in Dynamic Link Libraries.  These files usually have a .DLL file name extension.


title bar

The top portion of a window that displays the window's title.


System Menu

Sometimes called the Control Menu.  It is accessed in most windows by clicking on the button in the top left hand corner of the window.  Provides access to options like Close, Move etc.