Copyright: Copyright Shortdog Inc. 1991-1993


WinDir
WinDir Help

WinDir is one of the best utilities for Windows 3.10 that is available. You can do many things in this program that requires multiple programs to do usually. Remember to register WinDir with Shortdog Inc..

Topics:

What Is WinDir?
REGISTERING WINDIR
CONFIGURING WinDir
Running Files
Deleting Files
Copying Or Moving Files
Renaming Files
Playing .WAV Sound Files
Viewing Graphics
Keeping Notes
Making WinDir Stay On Top
Changing The Command Button
Changing Windows Wallpaper
Changing Your WIN.INI Settings
Changing Your System Sounds
Viewing Text Files
Browse Buttons
File Specifications


Registering WinDir

While you are in the About box you will notice the button labeled Register, if you click on this button you will be presented with a dialog box asking you to enter your full name and your registration number that you have from Shortdog Inc., you get this number when you send in the $15.00 registration fee for shareware, and if you enter the information correctly then you will be told that WinDir is registered and you will see the new About box that shows your name as the registered user. If you enter a number that does not correspond with your name then you will not see this box. If you entered the correct registration number that you obtained from Shortdog Inc. then it will write the settings in the WinDir.INI file.


Running Files
Running Files From WinDir

To run a program from the WinDir file-list just simply double click on the filename or highlight the filename and click the button labeled Run File. This function will run the program as it would normally be run from Windows Program Manager or File Manager. The only files that you can run from this function are .EXE, .BAT and .PIF (.PIF's are run only if they are specified to in the config menu).


Deleting Files
Deleting Files From WinDir

To delete a file using WinDir just click the button labeled Delete and then you will be presented with a file-list that will allow you to select multiple files files for deleting. You will also notice that below the file-list is a file specification box just like in the main file list of WinDir, for info on using this control see the section thats labeled Changing The File List Specification in this file. To select the file(s) you wish to delete you must click on the files with the Control key pushed while selecting them to select multiple files, to remove a file from the delete list you just click on it the same way. There is two command buttons that can add or remove all the files listed in the file-list by clicking either Select All and Remove All. Once you have selected all the files that you wish to be deleted you then click on the button labeled Delete and you will then be asked to confirm the delete operation for each file selected, this is good if you select alot of files and want to make sure which ones you have selected for deleting. There is another button labeled Delete All that will ask you to confirm the operation and then it will delete every file you have selected without asking you to confirm each one, it will only ask you when you first click on it. If you wish no further actions to be taken from this delete box then click on the button labeled Cancel.


Copying Or Moving Files
Copying Or Moving Files From WinDir

To copy or move a file in WinDir you must go to the directory where the files are located you want to copy or move and then click on the button that it labeled Copy Or Move Files. You will then be presented with a dialog box that shows another file-list for you to select the files for copying or for Moving. You must select the file(s) for copying or moving from the file-list using the same procedures as above in the delete command, just look in your Windows manual for further help on selecting multiple files in a file box. There is two command buttons that can add or remove all the files listed in the file-list by clicking either Select All and Remove All. Once you have selected all the files you want to move or copy and then you can use the drive and directory selection box to select the drive and the directory you want the file(s) copied or moved to and then click the command you want processed, either copy or move. If you select to copy or move the file(s) into the same directory it is in then you will be presented with an error box and then returned to the file copy dialog box. If you wish no action to be taken from this box then simply click the command button that is labeled Cancel. You will also notice that below the file-list is a specification box just like in the main file list of WinDir to change which file will be displayed, for info on using this control see the section thats labeled Changing The File List Specification later in this documentation.


Renaming Files
Renaming Files In WinDir

To rename a file in WinDir you just click on the file you wish to rename in the file-list and then click on the button labeled Rename. You will then be asked to enter the new filename. Entering a bad file name will get an error and you will be asked to enter it again. Click Cancel to abort.


Playing .WAV Sound Files

If you have a sound card installed you can play .WAV sound files in WinDir or have them loaded into your favorite .WAV editor, specified in the config menu, by double-clicking on the file you want to hear and it will be played or loaded in, whichever way you have configured WinDir.


Viewing Graphics

Double clicking a .BMP, .RLE, .WMF or clicking an .ICO file will allow you to view it. You can view picture with up to 256 colors in them using WinDir. While viewing the picture, you can click the right mouse button and the picture will be copied into the Windows Clipboard for later use in another program. While viewing .BMP, .RLE or .ICO files you can move the viewer around the screen by holding the left mouse button down on the picture and then moving it to where you want it placed. To get rid of the graphics window you just double-click on it with the left mouse button as usual, also when you are viewing a .WMF file you can size the window to whatever you like and the picture will resize to fit it. For .BMP, .PCX and .ICO files you can specify that they be loaded into another program by configuring them in the configuration box.


File Specifications

When you click on the combo box at the bottom of the file-list it presents you with a list of file specifications that appears in the above list. For example, if you click on the text *.exe then only files with the extension of .EXE will be shown in the file-list, if you click on one like *.bmp;*.ico then only files with the extensions .bmp and .ico will be listed. You can change the specs to your own personal ones by clicking on the text portion of the combo box and entering your own specifications as follows,  *.exe will show only .exe files, but *.exe;*.com will show files with both .exe and .com extensions. You can enter as many file specs at once as you want.


Configuring WinDir

In order for WinDir to work better for you, I have added the ability to customize some commands to do what you want them to and then save them in an .INI file for use the next time you load in WinDir. To get to the config menu just click the command button labeled Configure.
Once you are in this dialog box you can change quite a few things, first thing is whether you want WinDir to view .BMP files or to load them into another program that is specified by you in the text box next to this option.
The next option is whether to view .ICO files or load them into the program you specify like you did the .BMP option.
The next option has the ability to specify whether you want text files to be loaded into WinDir for viewing (limited to files under 59K) or to be loaded into your favorite word processor. You also can specify which program you want .INI, .DOC and .TXT files loaded into if you select to have them loaded into another word processor, the default is the Windows Notepad.
This next config option has the ability to specify what to do when you click on a .PIF file, you can either load it into Windows PIF Editor or run the file just like you do .EXE files.
The next option will tell WinDir whether to reduce it to the small command button that you start WinDir with or to leave it full size when you run file associations and files from WinDir.
The next option specifies which program is loaded when you click on a .PCX graphics file, WINGIF is a good one, the default program is Windows PaintBrush, listed as PBRUSH.EXE.
The next option tells WinDir whether to play .WAV files or to load them into your favorite .WAV player, you should enter the name of the .WAV player if you want the files loaded into one.
The next option is whether to keep the WinDir command button on top of all other Windows programs running, clicking Always on top to keep WinDir on top all of the time or click Not Always on top to keep WinDir running like it normally does, see the section called Making WinDir Stay On Top for more information on this subject.
The next option allows you to specify what .MAK files should be loaded into, like Visual Basic.
Yet another option allows you to select whether the caption of the WinDir command button will display either the current time or the current free system resources.
To save these options you should click on the button labeled Save and the options will be placed in an .INI file located in your Windows directory for later user.
If you want the options returned to their default values then click on the button Defaults.
To exit this menu just click on the command button labeled Exit.


Changing The Command Button

You can change the WinDir command button so that it takes up less desktop space if you need some room. To remove the clock from the command button you just click the right mouse button on the WinDir command button instead of the usual left-click and the clock will be removed and the new button will be in its place. You can change back to the old button by clicking with the right button again. When the button no longer has a clock on it then you cannot move this button until you turn the clock back on. Whichever way you have the command button when you exit WinDir will be the way it starts out next time you run WinDir. You can also resize the command button like you normally do a window using the border controls and whatever size you leave it will be the size it is next time you run WinDir.


Making WinDir Stay On Top

To keep the WinDir command button on top of all other Windows programs, which is sometimes called floating windows, you can go to the configuration menu and click on the option labeled Always On Top and from then on the WinDir command button will be on top of all other Windows.


Changing Windows Wallpaper

You can change the Windows wallpaper that is currently used by selecting the new .BMP or .RLE file you want and then click the button labeled Change BMP and then the background will be changed. This feature comes in very handy for alot of people since it gets tiresome to keep going to the control panel to change it.


What Is WinDir?

The basic premise of WinDir is that you can pop-up a file-list from any of you directories by simply clicking a button located on your screen. From this list of files you can change around your directories, run .EXE, .PIF and .BAT files by double-clicking on the filename and even copying, moving, deleting and renaming files. You can also view your .ICO, .BMP, .RLE and .WMF files you double-click on in the WinDir file-list. You can copy the graphics file into the Windows clipboard for quick pasting into another application. You can copy or move multiple files at once. You can delete multiple files at once, and also rename your files also. You can even play your .WAV sound files if you have a sound card installed. There is much more that can be done with Windir, so please read on for further instructions.


Changing Your WIN.INI Settings

Sometimes you may want to change the LOAD= and RUN= settings in your WIN.INI file to load or run your favorite programs when Windows starts up. Using this command you can fix Windows so that WinDir or some other program starts when you first start Windows. When you first click on this button a new dialog box appears with the current settings, clicking on the button labeled Save Settings will save the new settings and Cancel will abort.


Changing Your System Sounds

If you have a sound card installed then you can use the button labeled SYS Sounds to change the sounds that Windows uses for its errors and beeps. This is similar to the Control Panel's way of doing it, for more help on what this does see your Windows manual or the control panel's help file. To change the sounds associated with the events listed in the list box you simply double click on the filename listed in the file list and the current .WAV file will change to the new one. To see what the current .WAV file sounds like you click the button labeled Test Sound. Once you have made the modifications you want then click the button labeled Save Settings and your new sounds will be ready for use. Clicking the button labeled Cancel will cancel the operations.


Viewing Text Files

In the configuration menu you can specify whether to have .INI,.TXT,.DOC files viewed in WinDir or loaded into your favorite word processor, if you selected to have them loaded into a word processor then when you click on one of the above named files it will be loaded into the word processor you specified.
If you have elected to view the text file in WinDir then clicking on one of the above named files will load it into the WinDir text viewer for viewing.
Once you are in the dialog box you can use the scroll bars to scroll through the text files.
Clicking on the menu selection Close will close this menu and go back to WinDir.
You can also come to this menu by clicking the command button labeled View Text without having to double click on a .TXT, .INI or .DOC file.
Clicking on the Open File menu selection will allow you to load another text file into the viewer, you can load any file you want as long as it is under 59K.
While you are viewing text you have several different options that will let you load different text files from this menu, change fonts, colors and save files. To load a new file in while you are in this menu then just click on the menu option labeled Load File. Once you click this option you will then be presented with a file list to specify the text file to load in. To save a file you have edited or created then you click the menu command called Save File. You will then be presented with a form asking for the name that you want to save the file as.
To clear the current text and start a new file then you click the command labeled New File and you will be asked to confirm this option.
To change the current font for viewing and editing then you click the menu command Fonts. Once the font configuration appears you can select the font, font size and attributes. Clicking the command Change font will change the current font, clicking Cancel will abort this operation.
You can change the foreground and background colors of the text by clicking on the color menu and selecting which to change. When you close the viewer the setting of colors and fonts will be saved for the next editing session.
If you need to find a particular word or phrase in the document, then you can use the search feature to find it. Use the commands under the Search menu to find and word or phrase and then use the find again to search for other occurences of the word.


Browse Buttons

Users will notice that throughout many of the WinDir options and configuration menus there are buttons located on them with the caption Browse. These buttons will allow you to select from a file-list the filename they wish to be put in the text box located next to the browse button. This is alot easier than typing the full pathname and filename for the file you want your icons loaded into or bitmaps. Click on one of the browse boxes and you will know how to use them almost immediately.


Keeping Notes

You can keep personal notes to yourself using this feature in WinDir, you can load in notes you have written previously and then save them as the new notes in WinDir. To start a notes session, you just click the button labeled WinDir Notes and then the notes form will appear. Once you have done this, you have many options of which to choose from.
First thing you can do is to write your notes and then click the menu command Save Notes and the notes will be written to a file in the same directory that WinDir resides that is called WDNOTES.TXT that contains your notes. If you would like these notes saved into a different file then you can click the menu command Save As... and then you can save the notes into another file for use in another application.
Next thing you can do is load notes that you have created in another program that you would like included into the new notes.
Another option in the File menu is to clear the current notes so that you can write new ones.
The last option in the File menu will close the notes program and go back to WinDir. You have another menu with sub-commands, this is called Options. Under this menu you can change the font that is used to display your text and also change the colors used.
When you close WinDir Notes the current font, colors, location and size of the notes form will be saved so when you use it again it will look exactly the same as before.