Announcing NESTGRP.EXE (Shareware, $5.00, requires VBRUN300.DLL),
the Windows program that lets you nest your Program Manager 
groups to better organize your programs and data. 

To use NESTGRP.EXE follow these steps.

Copy NESTGRP.EXE to a directory that is accessible on your
path.  The Windows directory is a good place to put it.

1.  Consider how you would like your desktop organized.  On my
computer, I have everything organized in 5 different groups in my
Program Manager.  These groups are named "Projects" where I keep 
all my development projects, another is "Tools" where I keep all 
my application programs such as Excel and Word for Windows, etc., 
another is Development Tools where I keep my C and VB tools, 
another group is called "Windows Stuff" where I have Main, 
Accessories, Startup, etc., and, of course, my last group is 
called "Fun Stuff" where I keep all my games.  These are all 
standard Program Manager groups.  But instead of having icons to 
run programs, they contain icons that open other groups.  For 
example, when I double click on the VB group icon, another group 
shows up that contains icons to even more groups. In this case 
the other groups are groups for VB itself, my Microhelp tools, my 
sample programs, etc.  There is no limit to the depth you can 
nest except that there is a limit to the number of groups that 
Windows will allow (sorry, I don't know that number).

2.  Next, create groups that you want nested.  Under Program 
Manager, click the "File" menu, click "New", then click Program 
Group, and then fill in the Dialog box with the name of the
group (this is the caption that appears at the top of the 
group).  Click OK and a new empty group will appear on your 
screen.  

3.  Put program icons (or icons to other groups -- see below) 
in this new group you created.  Again click File New from 
Program manager, but this time choose Program Item instead of
Program Group.  Enter the path of the program you want to 
install in the Command Line field and enter a description.  If 
you need a Working directory, add that too.  Click OK, and
the icon will appear in your group.  Repeat steps 2 and 3 until 
you have all your nested groups created and organized the way 
you want them.  

4.  Now create your main groups.  On my computer, I've created 
these groups so that they are always displayed.  I have them 
tiled together in Program Manager.  Create your main groups the 
same way you did your nested groups in step 2.  Instead of 
putting in program icons, though (as you did in step 3), you're 
going to install NESTGRP.EXE.  Go to the "Program Item 
Properties" dialog box (the same dialog box you displayed in 
step 3), but, this time, enter "Nestgrp.exe" followed by the 
name of another group (the one you want displayed).  For 
example, "Nestgrp Main" will cause the Main group to be 
displayed when you get done and then click on the group icon 
you just created.  I suggest you put the name of the nested 
group in the Description field so you know which group this 
opens.

5.  Click OK.  A nested group icon now appears in your group.  
If you double click it like you do to run a program, the nested 
group will appear with all its icons.

That's all there is to it.  It will probably take you a while 
until you get everything organized to make your desktop more 
productive.  I've been using it now for about 4 months (I 
created it back in August) and I really love it.  It's made me 
much more efficient because it is easier to find the programs I 
want to run and the data I need to work with.  

If you like NESTGRP.EXE and want to use it on your computer, 
please send me your name and address and $5.00 and you'll be a 
licensed user.  This license allows you to use NESTGRP on your
computer only.  You can not distribute it without permission
from Fountainhead Software, Inc..  If you've ever done anything to 
help me on Compuserve with my programming projects or other 
projects, you don't need to send the $5.00.  My address is:

Rick Andrews
Fountainhead Software, Inc.
33431 Stossel Creek Road
Duvall, Washington  98019
CISID  75210,1347

NESTGRP.EXE is written entirely in Visual Basic 3.0.  For an 
additional $25, a Self addressed stamped envelop, and a blank 
formatted diskette, I'll send you the source code.

Copyright 1993 Fountainhead Software, Inc. - NESTGRP.EXE