WinGo Program V01.01 ====================== Copyright (c) 1993 by William K. Walker The WinGo program is a simple utility that starts Windows -- or any other program -- after a certain number of seconds. To use it, simply type WINGO at a DOS command prompt. WinGo will display a few lines of text along with a countdown timer. When the countdown reaches zero, Windows is started. To abort WinGo, press the Escape key. If you don't want to wait for the countdown to finish, press the Enter key. Here's what a typical display looks like: +------------------------------------------+ | WinGo V01.01 | | | | Press Esc key to abort; | | Enter key to start immediately | +------------------------------------------+ Windows will start in 20 seconds. The time (20 seconds in this example) counts down to zero, with a "tick" (actually a short, high-pitched beep) every time the second changes The most obvious way to use WinGo is to place it at the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. When you boot your computer, WinGo will give you an opportunity to either start Windows or to escape to the MS-DOS prompt. To get a short "help" message, type WINGO ?. WinGo is controlled by the settings in the WINGO.INI file. You can edit this file with a text editor such as EDLIN (no accounting for taste) or EDIT if you wish to change WinGo's behavior. The WINGO.INI file distributed with the WinGo program looks like this: ; WINGO.INI -- WinGo program initialization file ; ; Settings: ; ; Tick - turn countdown tick on or off ; Timeout - number of seconds until Windows starts ; WinRunCmd - command used to start Windows ; WinRunTxt - description of the Windows version in use ; Tick = On Timeout = 20 WinRunCmd = win WinRunTxt = Windows On my system, I'm running Windows for Workgroups, I start up Windows with a batch file, I don't want to hear the tick, and I'm impatient. So, my WinGo settings are as follows: Tick = Off Timeout = 10 WinRunCmd = c:\bat\w.bat WinRunTxt = Windows for Workgroups 3.11 You can change WinGo's settings to run any program you'd like. For example, if Tick = On Timeout = 10 WinRunCmd = c:\prodigy\prodigy myname WinRunTxt = Prodigy then WinGo would display "Prodigy will start in 10 seconds", count down to zero with a tick every second, and execute the "c:\prodigy\prodigy myname" command. You don't have to use WINGO.INI. If WinGo can't find its initialization file, it just uses the default values. These are: Tick = On Timeout = 20 WinRunCmd = win WinRunTxt = Windows If you make a mistake editing WINGO.INI, WinGo uses the default value for the command that was entered incorrectly. Installation ------------ The easiest way to install WinGo is to copy the files WINGO.COM and WINGO.INI into a directory in your PATH. Your DOS or WINDOWS directory is a reasonable choice. If you have a "utilities" directory, that's even better. Error Messages -------------- WinGo can produce two error messages: ?WINGO-Warning: Error reading initialization file; using default values This message appears if WINGO encounters problems reading from the WINGO.INI file. It does not mean that a settings command was entered incorrectly or that WinGo could not find WINGO.INI. In other words, something is seriously screwed up. Either the WINGO.COM program is corrupted or WinGo encountered some obscure system interaction. ?WINGO-Error: Unable to execute the command line "Text..." Text... is the text of the command line. (I.e., the text following the "WinRunCmd =" line in WINGO.INI.) Either there is something wrong with the command itself (invalid characters are the most likely cause), or the program or batch file that is supposed to be run cannot be found. It's also possible, though less likely, that the program you are trying to run doesn't have enough resources -- e.g., not enough memory, the FILES= setting is too small, etc. In general, any valid MS-DOS command can be executed by WinGo. Tech Notes and Goodies ---------------------- Timeout values must be in the range 1 through 999 seconds. WinGo will use the default value of 20 seconds otherwise. The WinRunTxt string may optionally be enclosed in quotation marks; WinGo will strip them when it reads the text in. The only real reason to use quoting is to include some additional white space on either side of the text. You can use the WINGOINI environment variable to specify a different name and location for WINGO.INI. For example, SET WINGOINI=C:\UTIL\WGWINGO.INI tells WinGo to use an initialization file named WGWINGO.INI in the C:\UTIL directory. Note: If you define WINGOINI, WinGo takes it as gospel. If the file you specified with WINGOINI can’t be found, WinGo looks no further; it just uses its own default values. WinGo makes every reasonable effort to find WINGO.INI. Unless the WINGOINI environment variable is defined, WinGo searches the PATH. If that doesn't work, it looks in WinGo's "home" directory (the directory from which WinGo was run). WinGo returns the following errorlevel codes: 0 - normal exit, including user abort 2 - WinRunCmd command line did not execute Author! Author! --------------- In the unlikely event that you find any bugs in this program or if you have any suggestions for improvement, drop me a line. William K. Walker North Valley Digital 740 Alpha Road, Box 149 Alpha OH 45301-0149 513-426-0344 (voice and fax) nvdi@mcimail.com CompuServe: 71066,24 MCI Mail: nvdi Telex: 6503331675 (6503331675 MCI UW) Legal Stuff ----------- This program is freeware, but it is not in the public domain. This means that I retain the copyright but you may distribute this program freely, subject to the following restrictions: 1) The original WINGO.COM, WINGO.TXT and WINGO.INI files must be included in any distribution of this program. 2) You may not charge a fee for this program other than, possibly, a nominal charge to cover your costs for media and/or shipping. WINGO 1.01 may be included as part of a software collection and posted on bulletin board systems as long as these distribution methods are operated on a non-profit basis. 3) You may not distribute WINGO 1.01 in any fashion that incurs financial gain unless you get written permission from the author (William K. Walker at the above address) first. 4) You may not disassemble or modify WINGO.COM. In short: Enjoy WINGO, hand it out to your friends, upload it to your favorite BBS, but don't try to make a profit with it without talking to me first. Disclaimer ---------- Finally, given the litigious nature of society today, I have to state that I make no guarantee that this program will not cause problems on your computer system. I'm not responsible for any damages, direct or consequential. I've made every reasonable effort to ensure that WINGO 1.01 works as described above but, after all, this program is free and it is provided "as-is."