Copyright: ® 1994 Rimrock Software.


Contents
PopMan 1.1

Created by the shareware evaluation version of the HelpGen Help File Generator.

© 1994 Rimrock Software.  All rights reserved.

Overview

•	What Does PopMan do?

•	PopMan Setup

•	PopMan Menu Setup

•	Wallpaper Changer

•	Task List

•	Groups

•	Utilities

•	Run...

•	Help - Contents

•	Help - About

•	Registration Form


What Does PopMan do?

What Does PopMan do?

PopMan is a way of launching programs using a popup menu, rather than an icon-based program such as Program Manager, for example.  PopMan can be invoked in various ways once it is executed, and stays in the "background" until needed.  It is meant to be a readily-accessible menu system which can be used at any time, without the need to minimize your active application and restore another.  For example, it may be invoked from a mouse click or a hotkey.  PopMan works well in conjunction with other shell programs, and can itself be used as a Windows shell.


Bitmaps Used (def.)
Previously Applied Bitmaps

Click on the drop-down list below the bitmap file list to see up to the last ten bitmaps applied using the wallpaper changer.


Exit Options (def.)
Exit Options

This menu item leads to options for exiting PopMan, exiting Windows,  restarting Windows, or rebooting your computer.


About PopMan

PopMan 1.1 is shareware.  You may evaluate it for free for up to 30 days.  Registration is $15 U.S. or $20 Canadian.  See the Registration Form for licencing agreement & registration details..

PopMan 1.1 is © 1995 Carl Mellesmoen.  All rights reserved.


Configure (def.)
Configure

This option leads to either the PopMan setup, the menu setup, or the Wallpaper Changer utility.


PopMan Help (def.)
Help - Contents

Clicking on 'Help - Contents' or smacking your 'F1' key when a PopMan dialog box is acitve will invoke the Windows help engine (winhelp.exe) and open this help file.  Who'da thunkit?


Help - About (def.)
Help - About

Opens a dialog box that displays information about the program.


'Run' Dialog

Run...Browse

The "Run Program" dialog is invoked from the "Run -- Browse..." menu item.  From here, command lines can be selected, and programs executed by double-clicking on the file name within the file list, or by pressing the "OK" button after a file is selected.

A second submenu from the "Run" menu is the "History" menu.

Modify/Add Dialog (Under Menu Editor)

The dialog box for editing menu items (modifying existing ones or adding new ones) is the same as the "Run" dialog except for two other items that are present.

•	Menu Title

•	Working Directory


Task List (def.)
Task List

Selecting this item from the PopMan menu will open the program you have configured as your Windows "task manager".  This is the program that also appears when you double-click on your desktop, or when you press "CTRL-Esc".


PopMan Menu Types

PopMan Menu Types

There are four types of PopMan menus that you can configure for your own use, and one menu that is non-configurable (the actual menu that PopMan uses as its basis).

The four types are:

•	Quick Menu - PM

•	Utility Menu - PM

•	Group Menu - PM

•	Individual programs under each group in the Group Menu.

Changing Menu Item Location:

Each of the menus can be sorted alphabetically, as well as by manually moving their items up & down in the menu.  The menu must be then saved to make the changes take effect.


Moving Menu Items (def.)
Moving Menu Items

The items within each menu may be individually moved up & down in the menu hierarchy by selecting them & pressing the large "up arrow" and "down arrow" buttons to the right of the menu item list, in the Menu Editor.


Quick Menu - PM (def.)
Quick Menu - PM

This is the "main" menu that appears atop all of the other menu items in the main PopMan menu.  It is the easiest menu to access, and is useful to keep a "short list" of the programs that you use the most often.


Utility Menu - PM (def.)
Utility Menu - PM

The menu containing utilities that you specify, which are one level "below" the main PopMan menu.  These can be any programs, but accessing them requires an extra click, when compared to the Quick Menu, so they should be programs that you use less often, but nevertheless would like to have handy (for example, "SysEdit", "Notepad," or "Control Panel").


Group Menu - PM (def.)
Group Menu - PM

The menu containing all of the group titles, which are themselves also menus.  This is analagous to Program Manager groups, which themselves have other programs inside each group.  In fact, the group menu can be created by loading your present Program Manager groups.


Group 'Sub'-Menus (def.)
Group 'Sub'-Menus

The menus showing up under the "Group" menu item as submenus, containing programs which (if you wish!) logically belong to each group; each group is listed in the "Edit" drop-down menu under its given name (this differs from the other three menu types, which appear with the names followed by " - PM".


Command Line (def.)
Command Line

This is the path & filename of the program (or associated file) to be executed.


Working Directory (def.)
Working Directory

This is the directory that the selected program will default to (for example, when opening files, it will display this directory automatically).  Blank this out if you don't want to have a default directory for the program.  The directory of the selected progam is the automatically selected default (it is automatically placed there when a file is first selected).


Menu Title (def.)
Menu Title

The title of the program as it will appear on the menu being configured.  PopMan automatically uses the first part of the file name (without the extension) when a file is selected.  Edit any changes you want to make.


Current Drive (def.)
Current Drive

The drive currently selected to search for an executable file or file associated with a particular program.


Current Directory (def.)
Current Directory

The directory currently selected to search for an executable file or file associated with a particular program.


File List (def.)
File List

The list of files in the current directory which fit the current file mask.  Double-clicking on a file name here will select the file and close the dialog box.


File Mask (def.)
File Mask

The "wildcard" pattern (using a combination of literal characters, and the wildcard symbols "*" and "?" that filters out files not matching the pattern.  You can manually type in a wildcard pattern, or choose from the drop-down list.


File Mask List (def.)
File Mask List

This is a drop-down list from which you can select a pre-defined file mask.  You can also manually enter a wildcard pattern as a file mask.


Wallpaper Changer

The wallpaper changer is invoked by selecting "Configure-Wallpaper" from the PopMan menu.

Wallpaper Options:

You can select one of the following ways to display Windows wallpaper:

•	Center

•	Tile

•	None

Actions:

•	View

•	Apply

•	Exit


Apply (def.)
Apply

When this button is pressed, the currently selected bitmap will be used as Windows wallpaper, unless the None option is chosen.


Bitmaps Available (def.)
Bitmaps Available

This list contains all bitmap (bmp) files in your Windows directory, which can be used as wallpaper.


View Wallpaper (def.)
View

When this box is checked, the currently selected bitmap will be displayed in the "thumbnail" window.  To view the bitmap actual size, double-click on the image in the window (this may be toggled back to the "thumbnail" size by double-clicking on the image a second time).


Exit (def.)
Exit

Exits the dialog box.


Bitmap Size (def.)
Bitmap Size

Displays the size of the selected bitmap, in bytes.  Bigger bitmaps reduce the amount of free memory.


Free Memory (def.)
Free Memory

Display of the amount of free memory, in kilobytes.  This is updated whenever a new bitmap is applied.


None (def.)
None

When the "none" option button is chosen, any bitmap that is in use as wallpaper will be removed from the desktop, when the "apply" button is pressed.


Center (def.)
Center

When this option button is selected, any wallpaper will be centered on the Windows desktop when it is applied.


Tile (def.)
Tile

When this option button is selected, any wallpaper will be tiled on the Windows desktop when it is applied.


Reload Program Manager Groups

When you have Program Manager running as the shell, to get PopMan to load your Program Manager groups in order to copy them into the PopMan popup menu, just press the button "Reload ProgMan Groups" in the menu editing dialog box (this button will not be present if a different program is the shell, so, in order to use it,you must first make Program Manager your shell), and your current ProgMan groups will be loaded into the PopMan popup menu.  A new menu item "Groups" will be added, and the ProgMan groups will appear as a submenu of that item.  Once the groups are loaded, Program Manager does not have to be the active shell in order for PopMan to run, using these groups, or when editing the groups under PopMan's menu editor (you can change back to another shell once you have loaded the groups under ProgMan, or simply create the groups, of your own design, one by one on your own using the menu editor).

The groups may be reloaded at any time, when Program Manager is the shell in effect.  The reloading will re-align the groups to the latest ProgMan configuration.  Any prior changes done under PopMan to the groups will be lost.

Once the groups have been loaded at least once, each item may be edited or modified, or items may be removed from the groups, although at present, the groups themselves may not be removed.  Any empty groups will have "|" listed as a disabled ("grayed out") item.


Editing PopMan Menus

This editor can be used to make changes to all the PopMan  Menu Types.  No items appear in the list when the dialog opens. To choose a menu, you need to select from the "Edit" drop-down menu, which will contain a list of all possible editable menus.

•	Add

•	Modify

•	Remove

•	Sort

•	Save

•	Exit

•	Move Up/Down

•	Reload ProgMan Groups


Add Item (def.)
Add Item

Pressing this button will allow you to select an executable file (or a data file associated with a particular program) from the "Add Menu Item"dialog box that appears.  Clicking once on a file name from the file list will place that file's path & name in the "command line" area, and the first part of the file name in the "Menu Title" area.  Both of these may be manually altered before exiting this dialog box.  Double-clicking on a file name does the above actions & also exits the dialog box.


Modify Item (def.)
Modify Item

An already existing menu item can be changed by selecting this option, which opens the "Modify Menu Item" dialog box (a menu item must first be selected in order to access this feature).  Options that can be modified include the menu title, the working directory, and the actual executable file or data file associated with a program.  Clicking once on a file name will change the file path to the selected file.  Double-clicking on the file name will change to the selected file and also close the "modify" dialog box.


Remove Item (def.)
Remove Item

Pressing this button removes the currently selected menu item from the current menu being edited.


Sort Menu (def.)
Sorting Menus

The "Sort" button in the Menu Editor will invoke an automatic sorting routine, which sorts the menu items alphabetically, and does nothing if the items are already sorted.


Save Menu (def.)
Saving Menus

This button must be pressed to save the manually-done changes to the menus.  Note that choosing the "Reload Progman Groups" button is the exception to this rule; choosing it is an irrevocable process (unless you first make a backup copy of your "PopMan.INI" file).


PopMan Setup

Setup Options

•	Launch Methods

This option determines how PopMan will load.  Note that PopMan execution must first be started  as with any other Windows-based program.  Once started, it will wait for the designated action to occur, either:

•	Middle Mouse Button

•	Right Mouse Button

•	CTRL+Key

•	Left & Right Mouse Buttons

•	Icon Launching

If a particular method conflicts with other software you are running (eg. Norton Desktop for Windows), you might want to choose the "Left & Right Mouse Button" launch option.

•	Menu Alignment

•	Center

•	Right

•	Left

•	Position on Desktop

•	Confirmation

•	Miscellaneous:

•	Right-Button Menu Access

•	Safe Launch

•	History List

•	View Wallpaper Automatically


Confirmation (def.)
Confirmation

You can configure whether PopMan will ask you to confirm the action of exiting PopMan, exiting Windows,  restarting Windows, or rebooting your computer.  If the corresponding box is checked, and the setup is saved, PopMan will give you a "Are you sure...Yes/No" choice when you choose one of the exit options.


Icon Launching (def.)
This method allows you to access the PopMan menu by double-clicking the PopMan icon, in the same way as you would normally activate a minimized (or "iconized") program.


Middle Mouse Button (def.)
Middle Mouse Button

When this is selected as the launch method, the popup menu will appear when the middle mouse button is clicked (if the 'safe launch' option is enabled, the menu will wait for the button to be released as well).


Right Mouse Button (def.)
Right Mouse Button

When this is selected as the launch method, the popup menu will appear when the right mouse button is clicked (if the 'safe launch' option is enabled, the menu will wait for the button to be released as well).  If using the right mouse button interferes with using another Windows program (eg. Norton Desktop uses the right mouse button for multiple file selections & other things), you may want to experiment with using different combinations of the 'safe launch' and the "Position on Desktop" feature with the right button.


Left & Right Mouse Button (def.)
Left & Right Mouse Button

When this is selected as the launch method, the popup menu will appear when both the left and right mouse buttons are clicked (if the 'safe launch' option is enabled, the menu will wait for both  buttons to be released as well).


Launch Problems (def.)
What to do if PopMan Doesn't Launch

If it happens that PopMan is running, but you are unable to launch the popup menu, you may have to shut down PopMan by exiting Windows, and then edit the PopMan.INI file (eg. using DOS "Edit" or some other text editor, or "Notepad" under Windows, if PopMan is not set up to automatically load with Windows). You will need to either totally remove the line under [Settings] that starts with "LaunchTrigger" (this will cause the PopMan setup to appear the next time PopMan is executed, when you can choose another method), or edit it to say "Right", "Both", or "Middle", or edit the "Key" entry under [Settings] (if it is the CTRL-key method that is causing the problem -- but the above methods will also work in this case)to another key value that is (hopefully!) not already associated with some other program.  Note that doing any of these things will not necessarily work if they are done while PopMan is running.


CTRL+Key (def.)
CTRL+key Method

This option allows for invoking PopMan by using a "hotkey" that you specify.  If the option button for this method is selected, you will need to supply a key to be pressed along with the "CTRL" key in order to invoke PopMan. Be careful not to use a "Hotkey" associated with another Windows program or function.  If you do, PopMan may be "blocked out" by that program or function, and you will not be able to invoke it.  In that case, you will have to remove the current launch method.


Center Menus (def.)
Menu Alignment - Center

This feature will cause the popup menu to be horizontally centered around the mouse cursor (when possible - Windows will put the menu in a location such that it will fit within the screen, so if your mouse cursor is near the edge of the screen, the menu will be placed closer to the center in order to be accommodated).


Right of Cursor (def.)
Menu Alignment - Right

If this alignment is selected, the menu will appear to the right of the mouse cursor (when possible).  This is the default, which was used in previous versions of PopMan.


Left of Cursor (def.)
Menu Alignment - Left

If this alignment is selected, the menu will appear to the left of the mouse cursor (when possible).


Position on Desktop

Menu Alignment - Position on Desktop

This option allows you to specify screen coordinates for the location of the top left corner of the popup menu. You specify the 'x' coordinate in the 'Horizontal Pos.' box, and the 'y' coordinate in the 'Vertical Pos.' box.  There are two things to note about these coordinates:

•	1) They are situated relative to an invisible form that has a "title bar", so using the default value of '0' for the vertical position will cause the popup menu to appear below the top edge of the screen, at the same height as a normal drop-down menu.  You may want to try to leave the vertical position at 0, and find a suitable horizontal position so that the PopMan menu appears next to your other application menus.

•	2) If you want to position the popup menu at the top edge of the screen, you will need to experiment with the vertical position, using a negative value.  Also, if you wish to place the popup menu along any other screen edge, you will need to experiment to see what settings will acheive the desired result.  For example, using a horizontal value which is a few units less than the screen width in pixels will align the menu along the right edge of the screen, and it may take some trial and error to determine the desired value (on my computer, a horizontal value of 1021 under 1024 x 768, or a value of 797 under 800 x 600 does the trick).


Exit PopMan (def.)
Selecting this option will cause PopMan to stop running.


Exit Windows (def.)
Selecting this option will cause Windows to shut down, after it checks running programs to see if they require files being saved, etc.


Restart Windows (def.)
This option automatically exits Windows & restarts it.


Reboot (def.)
Selecting this option will first exit Windows & then reboot your computer.


View Wallpaper Automatically (def.)
Toggles the View Wallpaper option for the Wallpaper Changer utility.


Right-Button Menu Access

When this option is checked, popup menu items can be accessed with either the right or left mouse buttons.  If this feature is enabled along with the "Right mouse button" launching method and the "'Safe' Launch" feature disabled, it is possible to use PopMan to launch a program without releasing & pressing the right mouse button a second time.  (Warning:  This particular configuration (Right or Left & Right mouse button launching, right mouse button access, and 'Safe' launch disabled) can be "dangerous" unless you are very adept at manipulating your mouse, and may take some practice to avoid launching a program inadvertently!)


History List

A number of previously used command lines are maintained in a "history" list of up to 32 of those launched by PopMan, with the latest listed at the top, and the next most previously launched item in the next position, etc.  This list can be used to launch the programs again, and can be quite useful, since you are more likely to use a program that you have used recently than one that you haven't used in quite a while.  You can enter any value for the number of items to keep in the list under PopMan Setup, but PopMan will restrict the range to a value between 0 and 32 (default is 16 if the option has not yet been configured).


Safe Launch (def.)
When this feature is enabled (default), the PopMan menu will not appear until the Right, Middle, or Left & Right mouse buttons are clicked and released.  When disabled, the PopMan menu will appear as soon as the Right/Middle/Right & Left mouse buttons are clicked (i.e., before they are released).  This makes for a more responsive launching of the menu, but some may find it trickier to work with.  PopMan 1.0 had the 'Safe' launch method only.


Registration Form

PopMan Registration Form

PopMan 1.1 (c) 1995, Carl Mellesmoen, all rights reserved.

 To print out this form, choose "File...Print Topic" from the help menu.

Licencing Agreement

PopMan is supplied on an "as is" basis and the author is not liable for any problems encountered while using it, either by direct or indirect cause.  Users of this software, registered or  not, assume all risk associated with its use.  Anyone may use this software for free without registering it for 30 days, and 30 days only.  After this period, they must either send the  registration fee to the author (as outlined below), along with their name and mailing address, or discontinue their use of the PopMan software.  Registration entitles the user to use the PopMan software on one or more computers (one at a time), or for multiple users to use the software on a single workstation.  Any additional use requires additional registration(s).  The PopMan software may be freely distributed in its original form, but may not be in any way altered or reverse-engineered.

The licencing agreement is to be governed by the laws of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Registration of PopMan implies acceptance of the licencing conditions as specified above.  Registered users will be sent a letter or electronic mail message containing their validation number upon receipt of the registration fee by the author.

Please print out this form by choosing "File...Print Topic", or print out the form "PopReg.wri" or "PopReg.txt" as supplied in the archive in which PopMan is distributed. Fill in the information as requested, and send it, along with a cheque or money order for $20 in Canadian funds or $15 in U.S. funds, to this address:

Carl Mellesmoen

238 - 4th St. East

Saskatoon, SK, Canada

S7H 1J1

Internet e-mail for purposes other than registration may be sent to: 	cgm133@cs.usask.ca

PopMan Registration Form

Name:

___________________________________________________________

Mailing Address:

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

City:

___________________________________________________________

Postal/Zip Code: ______________________________

Country:         ______________________________

TELEPHONE:       __________________________

You may not have any or all of the following types of addresses, but if you do, please include them so that your registration password may be sent electronically.  This will make it more convenient to send you your password, and will also mean that you will receive it much more quickly.  If an electronic message is not possible, or does not work, your registration will be sent by regular ("snail") mail.

Internet e-mail address:

_______________________________________________

FIDONet e-mail address:

_______________________________________________

Compuserve e-mail address:

_______________________________________________

How did you hear about, and/or where did you obtain PopMan from?

________________________________________________________________

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