Welcome to DOSSBOSS.... ----------------------- The DOSSBOSS screen contains a wealth of information. At first it may even appear to be a bit cluttered. However, once you get used to it, you'll be glad that you have all the information on one screen and don't have to go flipping through menus or commands to see what you need to see or do what you want to do! It's a unique display, designed for maximum efficiency and productivity. The simultaneous display of tool, directory and file windows on the screen is partly what makes DOSSBOSS so powerful and allows it to effectively integrate file management AND program tool launching capabilities. Where else can you find a program that allows you to tag multiple files in a file window and run tools that YOU designed against all those files with just ONE keystroke!? Of course, some tools you may want to run only once regardless of how many files you have tagged (like a calculator tool). No problem, DOSSBOSS tools are flexible enough to handle such situations! But that's just the tip of the iceberg! Another unique aspect of this seamless integration of menuing and file management capabilities is variables. Every tool has access to 12 variables which include information about the names of files selected in the file window, their attributes & their directory name; as well a name of a target directory (if needed). There are also variables for prompting the user for information, storage areas for file names etc. These variables can be manipulated within a tool, checked for particular values or passed as input to applications or whatever else you can think of! The most useful of these variables is the input variable %i. It contains the name(s) of the selected file(s) in the file window. Normally it is used as input to tools (if input is needed). However the contents of %i can easily be over-ridden when you launch a tool (either emptied or switched with another variable) by simply pressing along with the tool's hotkey! Well it's hard to show the whole iceberg here! Especially with all the specialized commands available to you when you are writing tools (like calling other tools, passing keystrokes to applications, traversing directories from within a tool, etc. etc.) To get an idea of the power of tools, you can check out the section entitled 'Some Examples of Tools' in the DOSSBOSS manual. You will soon discover the power of DOSSBOSS. I haven't even mentioned the job scheduling, prioritized to-do-list, popup reminders or creating you own online help yet. Just have a bit of patience to learn the tool commands and get used to the display. It'll pay off in the end and you'll be very glad you did! A few final notes: 1. Remember to edit the tool 'SYS_EDIT' if you do not have an editor called EDIT.EXE somewhere in your DOS path (or even if you do, you may have another editor that you want the Edit command on the File menu to use). The tool SYS_EDIT has been put on the Welcome page for this purpose. Simply select it, and hit to edit it. 2. To use the directory window, simply hit the key while on an entry to expand or collapse branches. 3. To move to the main menu hit ... OR hold the key down while pressing the first capitalized letter that appears in the particular menu you want to pull down (e.g. will pulldown the File menu). 4. DOSSBOSS is mouse compatible. However, it was designed to make maximum and efficient use of the keyboard. If you want to use the mouse you will first need to turn it on (check the System menu). The file MUSTREAD.ME! contains info about how to use the mouse to navigate around the screen. By the way... This file display is actually just a simple tool scheduled to run when you first started DOSSBOSS. It's an example of how you can get tools (or popup reminders) to run automatically at any future date & time. You need never again forget an appointment or forget to back up your data files! ***** Now... to return to DOSSBOSS, simply hit any LETTER key... *****