TASKBAR FOR OS/2 version 2.00 Program description ------------------- The taskbar program allows rapid switching among multiple running programs by providing a popup button bar containing a list of all running programs in the system. The taskbar is activated by moving the mouse cursor to the bottom edge of the screen. The desired task can then be selected by clicking on the appropriate button with the mouse. In order to re-hide the taskbar, simply move the mouse cursor outside of the taskbar. A new feature added to version 2.00 of the program is a hot key switching capability similar to the Alt-Tab feature found in Windows(*). Taskbar is shareware with a 14 day evaluation period. The registration fee is $15.00 per copy (see the file Register.TXT for site licensing information and instructions on how to register). If you are running an unregistered version of the program, a nag dialog will come up the first time the program is run, and every time the program is started after the 14 day trial period has expired. System requirements ------------------- * OS/2 version 2.1 or higher Taskbar files ------------- TaskBar.EXE Taskbar program executable file. TskBarHk.DLL Message queue hook DLL. ReadMe.TXT Program documentation. Register.TXT Registration information. Install.CMD Installation program. BootDriv.EXE Utility used by the installation program. MakeObjs.CMD Utility to recreate Taskbar desktop objects. Changes.TXT Summary of changes made in different versions. Installation ------------ To install the taskbar program, start an OS/2 command line session and unzip the contents of the distribution zip file into a temporary directory. Then make the temporary directory the current directory, and run the installation program by typing 'INSTALL destDir' where destDir contains the drive and path name of the directory where you want the taskbar program files stored. The installation program will: 1) if necessary, create the destination directory. 2) copy Taskbar.EXE, TskBarHk.DLL, and MakeObjs.CMD to the destination directory. 3) make sure the LIBPATH statement in your Config.Sys has a reference to either the '.' directory or the destination directory. Your Config.Sys LIBPATH statement will be automatically updated if necessary. 4) create a program object on the desktop for the taskbar program. 5) create a shadow of the taskbar program object in the startup folder. The installation program requires that the OS/2 REXX support be installed. If REXX support is not installed, you will need to do an OS/2 selective install and install REXX support before installing Taskbar. Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version of the program, make sure that the old version of the program has been shut down before running the installation program. If for some reason the Taskbar program objects should be accidentally deleted, you can recreate the Taskbar program objects by using the provided MakeObjs utility. To run MakeObjs, start an OS/2 command line session, set the current directory to the taskbar program directory, and type 'MAKEOBJS'. Starting the program -------------------- By default, a shadow of the Taskbar program object is installed in the Workplace Shell startup folder, so Taskbar will be automatically started when the system is started, thus no user intervention should be necessary to startup the program. An alternative method of starting Taskbar if the Taskbar startup folder object has been deleted is to double click on the Taskbar program object that was created on the desktop. Using the program ----------------- In order to display the taskbar, move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen where the taskbar is to be shown (on initial install this is set to the bottom of the screen). The taskbar will remain visible as long as the mouse pointer remains over the taskbar. Moving the mouse pointer over a button will cause a small bubble help window to appear containing the text description of the program. Press the appropriate button with the mouse to switch to the desired task. Programs may be minimized by double-clicking with mouse button one on the taskbar button associated with the desired program. Any shift key + mouse button two on a program's taskbar button will close the application. If more programs are running than can be fit in the taskbar, the two scroll buttons on either end of the taskbar will be enabled, allowing you to scroll through the list of tasks. Right clicking on a task button will display a popup menu containing the following items: Menu item Description --------- ---------------------- Close Closes the selected task. You may also close programs by pressing any shift key + mouse button two on the program's task button. Show Makes the selected task's window visible on the desktop, places it in front of all the other open windows, and switches to the task. This option is equivalent to pressing the task button with the left mouse button. Minimize Minimizes the selected task's window. Programs can also be minimized by double-clicking with mouse button one on the program's task button. Maximize Maximizes the selected task's window. Hide Hide the selected task's window. Programs can also be hidden by double-clicking with mouse button one on the program's task button. Restore Restore the selected task's window to its original size. Remove from list Removes the selected task from the window list. Taskbar will remember from one session to the next whether a program is to be ignored. Taskbar settings Displays the taskbar program settings notebook. Shutdown taskbar Shuts down the taskbar program. Note that, depending on the type and state of the task's frame window, one or more of the menu choices could be disabled. For example, the 'Restore' item will only be enabled if the task's frame window is minimized or maximized. Right clicking on a non task button portion of the taskbar will display a popup menu with the following items: Menu item Description --------- ---------------------- Taskbar settings Displays the taskbar program settings notebook. Shutdown taskbar Shuts down the taskbar program. Hot key support --------------- Taskbar now contains a hot key capability similar to that provided by the Windows(*) Alt-Tab feature. The hot keys on program installation are set to the following: Ctrl+Alt+'>' : Browse forward through window list. Ctrl+Alt+'<' : Browse backward through window list. Press and hold down Ctrl+Alt and press '>' (or '<') repeatedly until the name of the application that you want to switch to appears. When you release the shift keys, the dialog box will disappear and the system will switch to the selected application. The task list is sorted by window z-order, so that browsing forward through the list will take you to the most recently used programs. Note: the hot key capability is not currently accessible from full screen sessions. Customization ------------- Various aspects of Taskbar can be customized through the settings notebook. The settings notebook is accessed by right clicking somewhere on the taskbar and selecting the 'Taskbar settings' option on the resulting popup menu. Changes made to any taskbar settings take effect when you press the 'Ok' button in the settings notebook. Settings changes can be canceled by pressing the 'Cancel' button. Following is a description of the various pages in the settings notebook: Register -------- This page is where you enter the name and id number that you receive when you register the program. To register, enter in the spaces provided, your name and id exactly as it is listed on your registration form, then press the 'Register' button. If you have correctly entered the registration information, a message box will appear saying that the program has been successfully registered, and the 'Register' page will be removed from the settings notebook. Location -------- The 'Location' page controls various aspects of the appearance of the taskbar. At the top of the page are four radio buttons used to control the edge of the screen where the taskbar is located. Clicking on the top button causes the taskbar to located at the top of the screen, the bottom button causes the taskbar to be located at the bottom of the screen, etc. Remember that the taskbar is activated by moving the mouse cursor to the edge of the screen where the taskbar will be displayed. When the 'Use Z-Order sorting' checkbox is checked, the tasklist will be sorted by window z-order. This causes the most recently *used* applications to appear at the beginning of the task list. When this checkbox is not checked, tasks listed in startup order with the most recently *started* tasks listed first. The remaining checkboxes on the 'Location' page control features that are available to users of OS/2 Warp only. These checkboxes are grayed out if you are running OS/2 2.x. When the 'Use small icons' checkbox is checked, icons in the taskbar will be displayed at half normal size. When the 'Surface Launchpad' checkbox is checked, Taskbar will automatically float the Warp Launchpad to the top of the window stack whenever the taskbar is activated. Indicator --------- The taskbar program has the capability to always display a line along the activation edge of the screen as a visual indicator of the current setting of the taskbar location. The 'Show taskbar location' checkbox on the 'Indicator' settings page controls whether this indicator line is to be displayed. The width of the indicator line can be set through the 'location line width' spin button to any value between 1 and 5 pixels wide. The color of the indicator line can be changed by clicking on any one of the colors displayed in the 'Location line color' value set. Keys ---- The 'Keys' page is used to control the hot key assignments. Use the 'Enable hot keys' checkbox to enable/disable the hot key feature. The assigned hot keys are a combination of the shift keys selected in the shift key checkboxes + the keys listed in the 'Forward' and 'Reverse' entry fields. To set the hot key assignments, first select the checkboxes associated with the shift keys that are part of you hot key assignments. Note that at least one shift key *must* be selected and the shift key assignment will be the same for both the forward and reverse hot keys. To assign the forward hot key, select the entry field labeled 'Forward' and press the key you want assigned (note: do not hold down any shift keys). The name of the assigned key will then appear in the entry field. To assign the reverse hot key, select the entry field labeled 'Reverse' and repeat the above procedure. Ignore ------ The 'Ignore' page is used to edit the list of applications that Taskbar will automatically remove from the window list. The 'Ignore list' listbox contains a list of all currently ignored programs. To put a program back in the window list, select its entry in the 'Ignore list' listbox and press the right arrow button. This will remove it from the 'Ignore list' listbox and place it in the 'Removed items' listbox, which contains a list of programs that are to be put back in the window list. The left arrow button moves selected items back from the 'Removed items' listbox to the 'Ignore list' listbox. The 'Ignored items invisible' checkbox controls whether programs that are ignored by Taskbar will also be marked as invisible in the system window list (what you get when you press Ctrl+Esc). The 'Ignored items not jumpable' checkbox controls whether programs that are ignored by Taskbar will also be removed from the list of programs that the system jumps to when you press Alt+Esc. About ----- The 'About' page displays various program information such as the program version, the copyright notice, and the name of the registered owner of the program. Support ------- On-line support is available by sending messages to one of the following: Compuserve 73457,521 Internet ryoder@ibm.net Note: if you find any bugs in the program, *please* let me know. If you don't report them, I don't know about them and can't fix them. Trademarks ---------- The following terms, denoted by an asterisk (*) are trademarks of the following companies: Windows ..... Microsoft Corporation