Copyright: Start Buttons Help  ®1994 Doug Zimmer


Contents
Contents for Start Buttons Help

Introduction

Running Start Buttons

Setup

About


Introduction

Windows 3.1 provides a simple way to load various programs when Windows starts - just put an icon in the startup group for each item you want to run.

The group with the title "Startup" is the default startup group. A different group can be used, although Program Manager gives you no way to change this.

Start Buttons lets you choose a startup group when Windows starts, before Program Manager loads. Buttons are used to select among the various startup groups. Each button can show a picture and/or text caption.

Any group can be a startup group. Just add the icons for programs you want to run; optionally check Run Minimized to run as an icon. Each startup group can represent a completely different "desktop" for various projects and/or users.


Running Start Buttons

The buttons appear when Windows starts if Start Buttons is the shell. Program Manager is run after a button is selected, and all programs in the selected startup group are loaded.

If strtbtns.ini is not found, you can either setup Start Buttons or run Program Manager with the most recently used startup group.

Start Buttons will always enter Setup mode if Program Manager is already running.


Setup

Start Buttons will bring up the Setup window if Program Manager is already running. A sample button shows the size of each button and the picture/icon/caption for the currently selected button. The Setup window includes a status bar.

To set up Start Buttons, just choose the number of buttons and their size, then assign a group and picture/caption to each button.

General Settings determine how many buttons are shown, the size of the buttons, and timeout values.

Button Setup defines each button's picture, caption, and associated startup group.

Saving Changes

Canceling Changes


General Settings

Rows

Columns

Button Height

Button Width

Default Button Timeout

Delay

Shell


Rows

The Rows setting determines how many rows of buttons are displayed.

You can select 1 to 10 rows. Scroll with the mouse or cursor keys or type in the number of rows.


Columns

The Columns setting determines how many columns of buttons are displayed.

You can select 1 to 10 columns. Scroll with the mouse or cursor keys or type in the number of columns.


Button Height

The button height can be set with the scroll bar. This setting affects all buttons.

Click on the arrows for small changes.

To make larger changes quickly, click in the scroll area or drag the scroll box.

The sample button will change to the new button height.


Button Width

The button width can be set with the scroll bar. This setting affects all buttons.

Click on the arrows for small changes.

To make larger changes quickly, click in the scroll area or drag the scroll box.

The sample button will change to the new button width.


Default Button Timeout

The default button is selected automatically after waiting 1-90 seconds for a button click.

Select the desired timeout with the mouse or cursor keys or type in the number of seconds.

Set to 0 for no timeout (infinite wait; the buttons remain on the screen until one is clicked).


Delay

Start Buttons must be the Windows shell to enable the buttons.

When a button is selected, the "shell=" setting in system.ini is temporarily changed to Program Manager. This makes Program Manager run the programs in the selected startup group, and run any program that was on the Windows startup command line.

After the delay to allow Program Manager to start, "shell=" is set back to Start Buttons. Closing Program Manager will still exit Windows.

A delay setting of 2 or 3 seconds should work in most cases. If the programs in the startup group do not load, increase the delay. Change the delay with the mouse or cursor keys or type in the number of seconds.


Changing the Shell

After the OK button is clicked you will be prompted to change the shell. Start Buttons must be the shell in order for the buttons to be displayed the next time Windows starts.

If the shell is already Start Buttons, you can change it to Program Manager to disable the buttons. The programs in the most recently selected startup group will be loaded the next time Windows starts.


Button Setup

Button Number

Startup Group

Caption

Picture or Icon

Default

Show All Buttons


Button Number

This is the number of the button that you are currently editing. Select the button number with the mouse or cursor keys or type in the number. The current button can also be selected from the Show All Buttons view.
The total number of buttons is determined by how many rows and columns are selected. The total is shown following "Buttons" on the frame title.

Buttons are numbered vertically, then left to right.


Startup Group

Select the group to be used as the startup group from the drop down list.

For Program Manager only, with no startup group, select (none).

Groups that have been made inactive by a group manager program may not be available. Only groups whose file names are listed in progman.ini will appear in the list.


Caption

An optional single line caption may be entered for each button.

The caption will be shown on the sample button.

A button will be disabled if both the Caption and Picture fields are left blank.


Picture

Each button can display an optional bitmap (.BMP) or icon. Icons may be individual .ICO files or icons contained in program files (.EXE, .DLL, .CPL, .SCR).

Press the double-arrow button to browse the disk directories for the picture file, or type in the path and filename. The selected picture will be shown on the sample button.

Pictures will be resized to fit the button if no caption has been assigned. To disable resizing for buttons with no caption, enter . (a single period) for the caption. Some color bitmaps may not display properly when resized.

A button will be disabled if both the Picture and Caption fields are left blank.


Find Bitmap or Icon

Click the double-arrow button to the right of the Picture field to browse the disk directories for a picture file. An Open dialog box will appear.

Select the drive, directory, and file as with any standard Open dialog box. You can choose to display programs or icon & bitmap files in the List Files Of Type box. The selected picture is displayed to the right of the directory list.

Scroll buttons will appear under the icon display if the file contains multiple icons. Scroll with the mouse or cursor keys until you see the icon that you want.


Default Button

One button is set as the default button. This button is highlighted at startup, and can be selected automatically after a timeout of 1-90 seconds.

Check the Default box to make the current button the default.

Button #1 will be the set as the default if the Default box is unchecked for all other buttons.


Show All Buttons

Click the Show All button to display all buttons as they will appear at Windows startup. The default button will be highlighted.

You can click on any button (even if the button is disabled) to edit that button, or press the Esc key to return to the Setup window without changing the current button.


Saving Changes

Click the OK button to save all changes and exit Start Buttons Setup. You will be prompted to change the shell. If any changes have been made to the buttons or shell, you can then restart Windows or exit Setup without restarting.


Canceling Changes

Click the Cancel button to exit Start Buttons Setup and discard any changes made.


About Start Buttons

START BUTTONS   version 1.0

Multiple Startup Groups for Windows 3.1x

Copyright © 1994 Doug Zimmer

Written with Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0.

This program is released as Freeware. Use it, upload it, give it away, just don't sell it.

Please send your comments and suggestions!

The author can be contacted on Compuserve (72777,1202) or dougz@pstbbs.com.


disabled buttons

Buttons with no caption or picture - they
cannot be selected except during setup.
Disable any unused buttons.


progman.ini

Program Manager initialization file,
located in the Windows directory.


shell

The shell is the program that runs when Windows starts.
Closing the shell will exit Windows.


shell

The shell is the program that runs when Windows starts.
Closing the shell will exit Windows.

Changing the Shell


strtbtns.ini

Start Buttons initialization file,
located in the Windows directory.


startup group

A Program Manager group used to automatically start applications.
All items in the startup group are loaded when Windows starts.


status bar

Help hints for each Setup item are displayed in
the status bar at the bottom of the window; press
the F1 key for more extensive help (this help file).
The states of the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys
are shown at the right of the status bar.


system.ini

Windows system initialization file,
located in the Windows directory.


VOCABULARY