
APPLE v 1.3, December 1994


What is it?
Apple is a small program, that extends functionality of program manager.  It shows the apple icon which is always on top, so it's instantly accessible. 
To run a program or open a file, you just click on Apple icon and choose the command from the menu. 

Installation:

Just copy files APPLE.EXE and APPLE.WRI to any directory on your hard disk and add them to Program manager with  File|New command. I put it in Startup group so it is invoked automatically, when Windows is started.

APPLE.INI is created, when APPLE is configured and must reside in Windows directory. 
To use it as Windows shell (instead of Progman), just replace the line "shell=progman.exe" with "shell=apple.exe" in your SYSTEM.INI. See the note below.
Just try it and you'll love it. I do!

Note:
Formally, this program cannot completely replace the program manager, because it does not support DDE topics that some software expect (for example: installation programs). If you use it as Windows shell, you should add Program manager (PROGMAN.EXE) to APPLE's menu. It works just fine except in cases mentioned above and eats less resources. 

Features:
- new in version 1.2: resource monitor - Click "Special->Show resource monitor" to track current resource status 

- supports drag&drop - to add a program or file to Apple menu, just drag it from File manager

- shows current time in its caption

- it's a "memory eater" - needs less than 1% of system resources and 41K main memory

- Show/Hide resource monitor enabled/disables resource monitoring - especially useful for programmers

- Configure command lets you change menu commands, item names and groups; can have 4 groups of commands, because you need different set of commands when you're programming than when you're drawing pictures or working with a word processor
- Item name is the name of command as appears in the menu. Menu items are allways sorted alphabetically, but if you want an item be placed before the others, then start its name with non-alphabetic character (for example dot). You can create an access key, if you insert an ampersand (&) before the character to be the access key.

- Command line is the command itself - can be:
- any program name (the path should be included) with optional parameters
- any file with associated application
- any valid command
If the command is a DOS mode application, you should use the PIF file instead. For example: if you want to run COMMAND.COM, you run PIF editor and specify COMMAND.COM as the program name, set other options then save the file as COMMAND.PIF and add it into APPLE menu.

- Add item shows an open file dialog to choose the file to add. 

- Restart windows: this command is useful, if the system becomes unstable or has low resources after a program crash (for example, when you're programming)

- Exit windows: orderly shuts down Windows. 

- Exit & Reboot: orderly shuts down Windows and reboots the computer. 

History:
1.0:
First version: written in Visual basic. 
I needed about 6 hours to create a full functional program, but:
- it had long load time
- too much memory needed for such a small program
- I could not distribute VBX-es as freeware

1.1
So, I wrote the second version in pascal and compiled with Borland pascal 7.0, but I spent a week for it (at least I was satisfied with it), becacuse it's my first program in pascal for Windows. Functionally the same as version 1.0.

1.2
- Added resource monitor - shows dinamically the amount of free Graphic and User resources
- shell aware - detects, if it is run as shell (?)
- some users did not like reboot after exiting Windows - added as another command

1.3
- 3D look for dialogs, if CTL3D.DLL present

Bug fixes:
- error occured, if you dropped more than one file into Configure dialog. It did not happen, when dropping onto Apple's icon
- GP fault occured, if item name or command line string was empty 
- improper memory cleanup after cancelling Configure dialog
- some minor optimizations

Do not try to modify it with Resource Workshop, because it strips parts of resources - file becomes shorter and some commands do not work. The original is 62.464 bytes.

This program is free under following conditions: 
 - it is distributed with this document and is not modified in any way
 - no fee is charged for copying and distribution

Please report any suggestions or problems to the following address:

Cerny Robert, 
QuickTime d.o.o.
Dunajska 116, 
61000 Ljubljana
SLOVENIA

or friend's E-mail: Robert.Prebil@fov.uni-mb.si
