WHATSNEW.TXT: New SmilerShell Features


SmilerShell Version 3.1, released April 10, 1995

   The Apps menu now displays the icons of programs you list there.

   You can now run Help and FindFile from the Apps menu, as well as the Edit
   Apps List dialog.  You can also un-hide the command line from there.

   You can now scan your entire system for programs to add to the Apps menu.
   This is part of the Edit Apps List dialog.

   If you've checked Save State in the Settings dialog, SmilerShell restores
   the command history of all the commands you issued last session, at the
   start of this session.  Handy for searching...

   Added the built-in ALARM command to set an alarm clock.  You can give the
   alarm an optional message to display when it goes off.

   When changing the PATH from within SmilerShell, you can now save the new
   PATH to be restored next time at startup.  Previously a changed PATH was
   only effective for the current session.

   Fixed bug: when you told SmilerShell to recognize 4DOS/NDOS commands, it
   did not restore this flag in subsequent sessions.

   Fixed Bug: Edit Apps List dialog couldn't be used when command line hidden.


SmilerShell Version 3.0, released March 27, 1995

   SmilerShell now includes a button that moves to the titlebar of whichever
   application is currently active.  Press the button and the hidden
   commandline window appears.  Press the "Hide!" item on the SmilerShell
   menu and the commandline window goes away again.

   The button feature is supported by two new ini file parameters:
   showbutton (default TRUE) sets whether to activate the new roving button;
   and starthidden (default FALSE) sets whether the commandline is initially
   visible.

   You can list Button Exceptions, specific apps where you want the button
   placed in a nonstandard location.

   Added Button Offset support.  Click in any app to offset the button
   within the titlebar (measuring from either the left or right edge) in
   every app not listed with Button Exceptions.

   When you right-click the button, the Apps menu pops up next to the
   button, where your mouse already is.  As before, when you click the Apps
   menu item, the Apps menu pops up from the menu.

   The new Find File feature can search the current directory, all its
   subdirectories, the current drive or any other drives.  It accepts wildcards
   and can look for files containing specific data.

   In addition to your own menu commands (as before), the Apps menu now
   shows all currently-running tasks.  Click on one to switch to it.

   The Apps menu can now list up to 199 items.

   You can now set all SmilerShell parameters from the new Settings dialog.
   It is no longer necessary to manually edit the ini file.

   Added drag-and-drop support, so you can drop filenames onto SmilerShell
   itself, or onto the Edit Apps "command to run or fetch" line.

   Added the internal commands ALIAS and UNALIAS, to set and clear an
   alias without editing the ini file (the new commands do it for you).

   Added the internal command HISTORY (displays command history dialog).

   Added Popup Hints, to help new users learn about SmilerShell.

   Added /onecmd= flag.  If it's on the Properties command line, it runs
   the one command listed, then exits.  This is useful on a network, to
   run a synchronous connect/command/disconnect sequence from an icon.

   Added UseComspec ini file switch.  If TRUE (the default) it uses the
   command processor listed in the COMSPEC environment variable (perhaps
   4DOS), otherwise it uses hardcoded COMMAND.COM as did previous versions
   of SmilerShell.

   You can now tell SmilerShell to recognize 4DOS/NDOS commands.

   Added an option to put the date (in various formats) in the titlebar
   along with the time.

   You can now set the command line's font and colors.

   Removed ini-file cmdstack.  CMDFILE is better than ever.

   Removed the command to show/hide the Apps menu item.  Now Apps always shows.

   Added a command-history button.  Click it to bring up the history list.

   Changed File menu items "List Aliases" to "Aliases" and "List Commands"
   to "Command History."

   To save space in the command window, the "show" command now generates
   short "relative" path+filename when possible, instead of full names.

   Fixed bug: sometimes when resizing with the mouse, SmilerShell resized
   itself so the command window (and entire client area) didn't show.

   Fixed bug preventing CD from being used in an alias.

   Fixed bug: at startup, if showmenu=FALSE and showresources=TRUE the
   message "Reading directory list..." wasn't removed from underneath
   command-line resources report.

   When the menu is toggled off and System Resources is toggled on, the
   resources report is displayed in the commandline window.  When any
   key is typed, the previous contents of the commandline are restored.

   SmilerShell can now run multiple commands on one line.  The default
   command separation character is a caret [^], but this can be set
   with the ini file parameter multicmdchar=.

   You can change SmilerShell's copy of the PATH.  Use PATH to see
   the current path, PATH=string to set the path, and PATH= (with no
   parameters) to reset to the current systemwide path.


SmilerShell Version 2.1, released May 27, 1994

   SmilerShell's installer now does better error-checking than before.

   Added "Apps" menu item.  You can list your favorite applications.
   Click on a listed item to run it, or select it into the command line.

   Added better support for 4DOS, NDOS, or any other alternative command
   processor that supports the "/c" run-a-command switch.

   Added support for File Associations.  Now just type a filename, and
   SmilerShell finds the program for that file, and runs it.  For example,
   type "FILENAME.WRI" and SmilerShell runs "WRITE.EXE FILENAME.WRI"

   Added the built-in alias SHOW which lets you pick a file from a
   scrolling list.  If that file has a File Association, SmilerShell will
   run that program.  If not, you can add the program name as usual.

   Added more robust testing when switching to, or running a command
   on, another drive.  Is the drive really available?

   Added /r commandline parameter to DC, allowing a re-scan and directory
   change all at once.

   Fixed bug: run-a-command return value was sometimes indicating a
   nonexistant error.  The error message was "Explanation not available."


SmilerShell Version 2.0, released February 15, 1994

   Added ini file Parameter startupDCscan=.  If TRUE, then at startup
   SmilerShell will do a DC directory scan and save the data to file.

   Now SmilerShell always goes to the first copy if you try to start
   a second copy.  Since SmilerShell is now always in "singlecopy" mode,
   the ini file parameter singlecopy= has been removed.

   Added the Options menu item Title Bar (or type Alt+L), allowing you
   to show or hide SmilerShell's title bar.  To move SmilerShell on the
   screen without the title bar, click the right mouse button in the edit
   area and hold it down while you move SmilerShell where you want it.

   Added the ini file parameter titlebar=.  If TRUE, SmilerShell has a
   title bar; if FALSE, it doesn't.

   Added ini file parameter AliasesCaseSens=.  By default aliases are
   case-sensitive.

   The menu items DOS In Window and Inactives Stay Visible (and their ini
   file flags DOSinWindow= and showinactives=) now only control windows
   generated by SmilerShell.  Other DOS windows, created by other
   programs, are no longer affected by how SmilerShell sets these flags.
   However, Remove Inactives (Alt+R) will still clean up all inactive
   DOS windows on the desktop.

   To run one command as if DOS In Window is set to the opposite of its
   current value, start that command with a right-bracket (>).  To run
   one command as if Inactives Stay Visible is set to the opposite of its
   current value, start that command with an asterisk (*).  As before, to
   run one command without alias translation, start that command with an
   equals sign (=).  The three flags = > * can be in any order.  They are
   ignored when using arrows to search for matching previous commands.

   DC's Directory List dialog shows number of directories it knows about.

   Scandrives list can now contain spaces, commas, or other delimiters
   (ex: scandrives = c, d, m).  Smilershell simply ignores non-letters.

   Aliases can now reference other aliases.

   Made SmilerShell more robust when running with ill-behaved
   or memory-hogging programs.

   CD with no arguments now displays current directory, like DOS (useful
   when the title bar is toggled off).

   Fixed bug: couldn't use CD to set the current directory on another
   drive (example: CD D:\FOO).

   Fixed bug: when minimized at exit and winwidth=PREV, now saves the
   commandline size, not the icon size as before.

   Fixed bug: backspace in overtype mode deleted next (not prev) char.

   Fixed bug: couldn't give drive letter in dirfile= parameter.

   Fixed bug: couldn't give drive letter in cmdfile= parameter.

   Fixed bug: scandrives didn't recognize the semicolon that starts a
   comment.


SmilerShell Version 1.4, released November 15, 1993

   Added Options menu item DOS In Window (or type Alt+W), allowing
   you to toggle from within SmilerShell the systemwide flag that
   indicates whether DOS commands are run fullscreen or in a window.

   Added overtype mode on the command line, toggled from Options menu
   (or type Alt-O), and a titlebar Overtype flag.

   Added List Commands dialog which displays this session's command
   history, including commands preloaded from file.  Commands can be
   run from the dialog, or fetched into the command line for editing.

   List Aliases dialog now allows you to fetch the text of a command
   into the command line, suitable for editing.

   DC now accepts "DC \", "DC\", and "DC.." in addition to "DC .." as before.

   When you fetch a command from the List Commands, List Aliases, or Run
   dialogs, or press up/down arrow to retrieve a command, the cursor is
   set to the end of the line, the way most DOS command line editors do.

   If winwidth=PREV SmilerShell saves the current drive and directory
   at exit. At startup next time it takes you back there again.

   Added ini file parameter singlecopy=.  If TRUE, when you try
   to start a second simultaneous copy of SmilerShell, it returns
   the focus to the first copy.

   Removed beep when you hit Escape to clear the command line.

   Removed all command-line parameters except /ini=.  Being able to
   do all the same things in two conflicting places was superfluous.

   SmilerShell now auto-reads initial cmdstack or cmdfile only at
   startup, not when the ini file is edited during a session.

   If a command stack file or DC info file name given in the ini file
   with no path, or if no name given, default location for DC info
   file and command stack file is now the same directory as the ini file
   (which can be specified on the command line), not the same directory
   as the program as before.

   Fixed bug: couldn't run an alias for an internal command that had
   parameters (examples: "d=dir /p" or "delall=del *.*")

   Fixed bug: DC failed if any scanned directory began with tilde (~).


SmilerShell Version 1.3, released October 5, 1993:

   Added ini file parameter timeformat=, which tells the clock
   to display the time in 12 hour (am/pm) or 24 hour format.

   Added ini file parameter dirfile=, so DC info file can be any name
   in any directory.

   Added a Windows-hosted installer, INSTALL.EXE.

   Removed press-Enter beep.


SmilerShell Version 1.2, released September 15, 1993:

   Added ASP contact and ombudsman information.

   Added Run dialog to select a program from a list.

   Added further support for winwidth=PREV so it saves showclock,
   showdir, showresources, and topmost in addition to showmenu
   and screen position.

   Fixed Open and Save As bug that changed the current directory
   to the directory of the opened or saved file.


SmilerShell Version 1.1a, released August 3, 1993:

   Re-scan button in DC dialog was always changing dir to highlighted
   directory.  Fixed this to stay in same directory after a re-scan.


SmilerShell Version 1.1, released July 26, 1993:

   Added support for winwidth=PREV in ini file.  If set, saves
   screen position between uses in prevposition ini file param.

   Confirm exit when you shut down Windows as well as at normal
   program exit.

   Added ini file param confirmexit to turn off exit confirmation
   dialog.

   Added a Re-scan button to the directory change dialog.

   The smishell.dir (DC data) and default initialization files
   are now in the same directory as the program, instead of in the
   Windows directory as before.

   If opened, and not in use, close SmilerShell Help when exiting.


SmilerShell Version 1.0, released July 17, 1993:

   Initial release, limited distribution, for comment