SMILERSHELL 1.3 QUICK START AND INSTALLATION QUICK START / HINTS AND TRICKS Windows makes many things easier, but it also makes some things harder. Even in this era of the graphical interface, there are tasks that can be done much more easily by typing in a command than by menus and pointing and clicking and such. That's what SmilerShell is for. SmilerShell is a command line utility. It's like shelling out to DOS. You type a command and press Enter. It supports pipes, redirection, and internal DOS commands (and runs Windows programs too). It works just like the DOS command line. But SmilerShell is the best command line you've ever seen, as if the plain-vanilla DOS prompt was enhanced by lots of handy utilities. Here's how to get the most out of it. INSTANT INSTALL: You can install SmilerShell automatically, using the enclosed installer. To do this, simply run install.exe. You can run it using File Manager, or the Run item on Program Manager's File menu, or in whatever other convenient way you choose. Give it the directory to put SmilerShell's files into, and the Program Manager group name for the SmilerShell icons (appropriate defaults are suggested). It'll do the rest. The installer will make no changes to your system setup. It just copies files to the directory you specify, and adds icons to the Program Manager group you specify. If you decide to uninstall, just delete the specified files and icons. COMMAND HISTORY AND SEARCH: Every time you run a command, it is saved on the command stack. To find a previous command of interest, type the first letter or two of that command, then press the up or down arrow key. Up-arrow searches back, down-arrow searches forward. It's a circular buffer, the last command is connected to the first, so you can search in either direction. Arrows on a blank line show all commands in order. ALIASES: When you press Enter, the first word of the command is compared to the alias list. If it matches, the alias is substituted for that first word. You can skip the alias testing by starting the command with an equals sign. You can also hang aliases off the function keys F2 through F12; hit the key and the command runs. Both kinds of aliases are set up in the ini file. QUICK DIRECTORY CHANGE: Type DC and the first few letters of the directory you want to be in. If it's unambiguous, boom, you're there, otherwise a list box pops up with the first possible match highlighted. If you haven't used DC yet, you'll be asked for permission to scan the drives listed in DC's ini file parameter. If you scan more than one drive, DC can change drive as well as directory to get you where you want to go. SMILERSHELL NEVER FORGETS: In the ini file, set winwidth=PREV and SmilerShell will start up next time in the same screen position, and with the same settings, as when you shut it down this time. CHANGE INI FILE SETTINGS ON THE FLY: Hit the Edit Ini File item on SmilerShell's File menu. It'll fire up Notepad with your ini file (and create one first if needed, filled with reasonable defaults). When you're done editing and you close Notepad, SmilerShell will know. It'll read in the new ini file and reset itself as indicated there. INACTIVES STAY VISIBLE: This Options menu item controls whether, after you run a DOS command, the command's inactive window sticks around, or immediately vanishes. REMOVE INACTIVES: Too many inactive windows cluttering your screen? Get rid of 'em with this Edit menu item, or just type Alt-R from the keyboard. CLOCK: Toggle the titlebar clock from the Options menu, or just type Alt-C. Prefer 12-hour or 24-hour time? Use the timeformat ini file parameter. CURRENT DRIVE/DIRECTORY IN THE TITLE BAR: Toggle this from the Options menu, or just type Alt-D. SYSTEM RESOURCES: Toggle the System Resources display onto the menu bar from the Options menu, or just type Alt-S, to see a real-time running report of your available Windows memory and resources. TOPMOST WINDOW: Make SmilerShell a "topmost" window from the Options menu, or just type Alt-T. That way, it's always visible and ready for use, even when you're working in another window. GET RID OF THE MENU: Hit Alt-M to make SmilerShell even smaller. Hit Alt-M again to bring the menu back, or use the Show SmilerShell Menu item on the System menu (the dash thing in the upper left corner). SAVE YOUR STACK: You can save the current command stack to a file and reload it automatically at startup, or at any other time. This gives you a preloaded batch of commands you can search on. The startup loading is set up in the ini file. A HANDY CONFIGURATION: Make SmilerShell "topmost," turn on the clock, turn off the menu, mouse it as small as it goes (about as big as two icons) and stick it in the corner. The clock shows, and it's always ready for action. ANOTHER HANDY CONFIGURATION: Make SmilerShell "topmost" and maximize it. When maximized, it only takes up the top line of your screen, not the whole display. SHAREWARE: TRY BEFORE YOU BUY Thank you for trying SmilerShell. You are welcome to test it for a week or two. I hope you like it. SmilerShell is marketed as shareware. As with all shareware, you are encouraged to try it for a short time on your own system, to see if it meets your needs. If you find it useful and you keep it on your system for more than two weeks, you are obligated to send in the registration fee. If you don't find it useful, simply delete it from your system. To register, send $19.95 plus $3.50 for shipping to: Barry Smiler Bardon Data Systems 1023 Key Route Blvd. Albany, CA 94706 Outside North America please add $6 for overseas shipping charges. You can print and mail invoice.wri, the invoice that came with this package. It's in Windows Write format. With a MasterCard or Visa you can order by phone, at (510) 526-8470, or simply mail in your card number and expiration date. In France, you can register through WindowShare. Print their file winshare.wri (it's in Windows Write format) and mail it to WindowShare. Registered users get a registration number that will turn off the reminder screens. Registration will also entitle you to a printed manual, support, update notices, and a disk with the most recent version. Registered users also get these Extra Free Bonuses: Two more great Bardon utilities (WHATSNEW lists files not yet backed up, or directories containing such files; PR/PRFILTER format output for printing, and add a header with filename, size, create date, and print date), discount certificate for JCSM shareware CD-ROMs at half price, discount on PsL shareware-by-mail (up to 2/3 off!), discount on Shareware Magazine, free Compuserve startup kit, other Windows shareware I think you'll like, and whatever other goodies I can fit on the disk. SmilerShell is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a Compuserve message via Compuserve mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. WHY IS THIS A SHELL? The word "shell" is sometimes used for a wrapper that surrounds another application and hides it. SmilerShell is the opposite of that. It makes all the power of the command line available from an environment in which that power is not otherwise accessible. But since it makes things more visible, rather than less visible, why is it called a shell? It's a shell in another sense. Maybe you've seen programs that let you "shell out" to DOS, for example WordPerfect's Ctrl+F1 command, Shell. When you "shell out" it's like having a window into another environment, a pathway to a different level of functionality. That's what SmilerShell is, and that's why it's a shell. INSTALLING SMILERSHELL SmilerShell includes the following files: smishell.exe the program smishell.hlp the documentation, in Windows help file format readme.txt overview and installation instructions install.exe automated SmilerShell installer sample.ini sample initialization file sample.stk sample command stack file file_id.diz 45 column x 10 line text description, for BBS uploads vendor.doc gives distribution permission invoice.wri registration invoice (direct to Bardon Data Systems) winshare.wri registration invoice (through French distributor) whatsnew.txt new features and revision history You can install SmilerShell automatically, using the enclosed auto-installer. To do this, simply run install.exe. You can run it using File Manager, or the Run item on Program Manager's File menu, or in whatever other convenient way you choose. Give it the directory to put SmilerShell's files into, and the Program Manager group name for the SmilerShell icons (appropriate defaults are suggested). It'll do the rest. If you prefer, you can install SmilerShell manually: 1) Copy the files to a convenient directory on your hard disk. (Actually, only smishell.exe and smishell.hlp need to be in this directory. The others are not required to run SmilerShell.) 2) Put the SmilerShell icon into a program group. To do this, bring up File Manager and set it to the convenient directory you chose in the previous step. Then drag-and- drop smishell.exe into your favorite Program Manager group. The SmilerShell icon should appear there. (How to drag-and-drop: While the mouse is pointing at the word "smishell.exe" in File Manager, press and hold the left mouse button. While continuing to hold the button down, move the mouse to point into your favorite Program Manager group. Let go of the button. The SmilerShell icon should appear in the group.) Optionally, you can set up an initialization file. But if you start SmilerShell without an initialization file, you'll be asked if you'd like SmilerShell to create one and fill it with reasonable values, then let you edit it in Notepad before proceeding. See the section The Initialization File in the documentation. Optionally, you can set up the command line. See the section Command Line Parameters in the documentation. Optionally, you can create a command stack file, having a list of commands that you want loaded into SmilerShell. See the section Command Stack Files in the documentation. NOTE FOR THOSE UPGRADING FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS Version 1.0 stored the DC info file smishell.dir and the default ini file smishell.ini in your Windows directory. Starting with version 1.1, to avoid cluttering the Windows directories of the world more than they already are, by default these files are now stored in the same directory as the SmilerShell program. After you install the new version, you can delete smishell.ini and smishell.dir from your Windows directory. As before, the ini file can be wherever you like. Use the command line switch /ini= to put it where you want. Starting with version 1.3, the DC info file can also be wherever you like. Use the ini file parameter dirfile= to do this. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Complete functionality under Microsoft Windows 3.1 or better. Partial functionality under earlier versions of Windows.