GetIdleTime() DLL Call and Sample Program.
(c) 1994, Malik Information Services, All Rights Reserved

For more information on the products and services of MIS, Contact

    Malik Information Services
    Attn: Nick Malik
    21134 N.E. 5th Place
    Miami, Florida 33179

Included:
    TESTDLL.EXE - a VB program that uses the HOWLONG.DLL routines to display
                  the time since last event, and the clock tick on which the
                  event occured.
    TESTDLL.FRM - The VB program source for TESTDLL.EXE
    TESTDLL.FRX
    TESTDLL.MAK

    HOWLONG.DLL - A DLL containing routines that track the last time that
                  the user moved the mouse or pressed a key.

License Statement:

 This VB program, and the DLL that it calls, are property
 of Malik Information Services.  A license is granted to any and
 all users who would like to include any portion of either
 the VB program or the DLL into their code, under the condition
 that any such user agrees that Nicklas Malik, Malik Information
 Services, and any of its employees, affiliates, distributors, or
 directors, are not liable for any damages, special, incidental,
 consequential or otherwise, arising out of the use of these programs.

Installation:
   Copy HOWLONG.DLL into your /WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory.

The following routines are defined in the DLL:

   GetIdleTime - returns the tick count at the last mouse or keyboard event.

   ResetIdleOnUser - Sets or clears a flag allowing WM_USER messages to be
         considered to be a keyboard event for the purposes of GetIdleTime.


Full Descriptions:

   GetIdleTime
   C:  DWORD FAR PASCAL GetIdleTime(void);
   VB: Declare Function GetIdleTime Lib "HOWLONG.DLL" () As Long

   Parameters: None

   Function:   When any of the following Windows Messages is sent, to any
               task, a Windows Hook routine defined in HOWLONG.DLL will
               record the return value of the Windows API call 'GetTickCount'.
                    WM_KEYDOWN 
                    WM_LBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_MBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_RBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_NCMBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_NCRBUTTONDOWN 
                    WM_MOUSEMOVE 
                    WM_NCMOUSEMOVE
                    WM_USER + any non-negative value 

               The WM_USER messages are included because the MS-DOS prompt
               Window does not use the ButtonDown messages, or, in fact, any
               Keypress messages at all.  When MS-DOS is displayed in a window, 
               and the user is typing, without using the mouse, Windows will 
               appear idle unless WM_USER messages are seen.  

               To tell the Hook routine to ignore User messages, see
               the ResetIdleOnUser() routine, below.

   Returns:    The Windows Tick Count at last keyboard or mouse event.

   -------------------------------------
   ResetIdleOnUser
   C:  int FAR PASCAL ResetIdleOnUser(int bReset);
   VB: Declare Function ResetIdleOnUser% Lib "HOWLONG.DLL" (ByVal bFlag%)

   Parameters: bReset - Integer 

   Function:   Allows the programmer to set or clear a flag used in the
               detection of WM_USER events for GetIdleTime().

               If the value of the 'bReset' parameter is Zero, then WM_USER
               messages will be ignored by the GetIdleTime() routine. If the 
               value of 'bReset' is non-zero, then any Windows Message that 
               is greater than or equal to WM_USER will be sufficient to cause
               the GetIdleTime() routine to save the Tick Count.

               on Library initialization, WM_USER messages are seen.

               Calls to this routine do not cause the GetIdleTime() tick
               count to be reset.

   Returns:    The previous value of the IdleOnUser flag.