Copyright: Diego A. Aranda, 1993


Command Line Help

To learn how to use Help, press F1.

Disclaimer

Introduction

Installation

Components

Clock Display

Date Display

FSR Display

LaunchBox

Status Display

Windows

AutoLoad Window

AutoRun Window

Browse Window

Configuration Window

Options Window

Features

Aliases

Bottom Panel

Command Functions

Command Memory

Reference

HotKeys

Reserved Words

About Bright Ideas!


Disclaimer

BRIGHT IDEAS! SOFTWARE DESIGN LICENSE AGREEMENT

This is a legal agreement between you, the end user, and BRIGHT IDEAS! SOFTWARE DESIGN ("BRIGHT IDEAS!").  By installing the contents of this archive on any computer, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this agreement.

NO WARRANTIES.  BRIGHT IDEAS! disclaims all warranties, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the SOFTWARE or the accompanying materials.

NO LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.  In no event shall BRIGHT IDEAS! or its suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use or inability to use this BRIGHT IDEAS! product, even if BRIGHT IDEAS! has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Command Line is to be distributed in its entirety, without modification.  A nominal distribution fee of not more than $2.00 U.S. is permitted.

Individual users, businesses,  and corporate entities are free to use Command Line without the payment of any fees or royalties, and are subject only to the legal agreement above.  There are no other restrictions on the duplication, transfer, or use of Command Line.


Introduction

Command Line is a powerful shell for Microsoft Windows 3.1, providing application execution (complete with startup directories and aliases), and file and directory manipulation from an extremely fast and versatile LaunchBox.

Up to fifty aliases from one to ten characters in length may be defined to take the place of application path and file names hundreds of characters in length.  Document files and other arguments may be appended to aliases. The LaunchBox supports File Associations, allowing users to launch an application with a document loaded simply by typing the document name into the LaunchBox.  In addition, complex Command Functions may be defined as aliases, allowing users to change directories, copy, rename, and delete files and directories, etc. with ony a few keystrokes.  The LaunchBox supports special functions such as exiting, restarting, and rebooting Windows.

Command Line includes configurable clock, date, free system resource, and status displays.

AutoLoad and AutoRun allow users to define up to twenty applications or Command Functions to be automatically executed when Command Line is loaded, allowing Command Line to be used as a comprehensive Windows 3.1 shell.

Command Line occupies only a tiny fraction of the available screen real estate, and requires less than two percent of free system resources in most configurations.


Installation

To install Command Line, place the files C-LINE.EXE and C-LINE.HLP in any convenient directory located on your PATH.  Move C-LINE.INI to your Windows directory, and place THREED.VBX in your Windows system directory.  If you do not already have VBRUN200.DLL, you will need this file, and must place it in the Windows system directory.  VBRUN200.DLL is available on most commercial information services, bulletin boards, and the Internet, and is a royalty-free file.

To run Command Line, either double-click on C-LINE.EXE from File Manager, or create a new program item from within Program Manager, and double-click the Command Line icon.

Command Line may be configured as the Windows shell.  When Command Line is configured as the shell, Windows will load directly into Command Line, rather than into Program Manager (or another shell).  Command Line will not execute the programs in the LOAD and RUN lines of WIN.INI, nor will it execute the applications in the StartUp group of Program Manager.  Use Command Line AutoLoad and AutoRun to load or run applications whenever Command Line is loaded.  To configure Command Line as the shell, click on the Enable Command Line as Windows 3.1 Shell checkbox in the Options window.

The file C-LINE.HLP is nonessential, and may be deleted to save disk space.  Note, however, that this is the Help documentation.  If you feel you may need to refer back to this file, do not delete it.


Clock Display

Command Line includes a clock which displays the current time.

The format of the display is dependent on the Windows Control Panel's International Time settings.

For example, the Clock may display:

8:00 	 	 (12 hour clock)

8:00 PM 	 (12 hour clock with AM/PM indicator)

08:00 PM 	 (12 hour clock with AM/PM indicator and leading zero)

20:00 	 	 (24 hour clock)

The format, 12 hour leading zero, and separator (:) may be adjusted to your personal preferences.

Right-clicking once on the Clock display will launch the Command Line Help file.

If you wish to display the Clock, the Show Clock checkbox in the Options window must be enabled.


Date Display

Command Line includes a date counter which displays the current date.

The format of the date display  is dependent on the Windows Control Panel's International Date settings.

For example, the Date indicator may display:

4/20/93 	 	 (MDY format)

20/4/93 	 	 (DMY format)

93/4/20 	 	 (YMD format)

04/20/1993 	 (MDY format with day leading zero and full century display)

The format, leading zeros, century, and separator (/) may be adjusted to your personal preferences.

Right-clicking once on the Date display will launch the Command Line Help file.

If you wish to display the Date indicator, the Show Date checkbox in the Options window must be enabled.


FSR Display

Command Line includes a free system resources (FSR) indicator which displays the current free resource percentage.  The FSR display is updated once each second.

FSR Alert#1 - When resources fall below this user-configurable level, the FSR indicator will glow yellow to alert the user that resources have fallen below the predefined level.  The default value is 30 percent of free system resources.

FSR Alert#2 - When resources fall below this second user-configurable level, the FSR indicator will glow red to alert the user that resources have fallen below the predefined level.  The default level is 15 percent of free system resources.

To disable the FSR Alert warnings, simply set them to a very low value - for example, 1 percent.

Right-clicking once on the FSR display will launch the Command Line Help file.

If you wish to display the FSR indicator, the Show FSR checkbox in the Options window must be enabled.


LaunchBox

The Command Line LaunchBox allows a user to launch any DOS or Windows application merely by typing the filename, and then pressing ENTER.  Any combination of switches or arguments may be used, and documents may be specified as well.  The LaunchBox supports the use of aliases and Command Functions.

The LaunchBox is not case-sensitive. Thus: notepad.exe and NOTEPAD.EXE are equivalent.

Aliases

Command Functions

Command Memory

HotKeys

Reserved Words


Status Display

The Status display changes from READY to STANDBY when text is typed into the LaunchBox, to inform the user that an application execution or Command Function operation is pending.  After the operation is completed, the display will signal that it is capable of accepting additional commands by changing back to READY.

Clicking slowly on the Status indicator with the left mouse button will display functions which are available to the user.  To execute a specific function, simply right-click once on the desired function when it is displayed within the Status indicator.  These functions are (in order):

ABOUT

Displays the About Command Line window.

AUTOLOAD

Displays the AutoLoad configuration window.

AUTORUN

Displays the AutoRun configuration window.

CONFIGURE

Displays the main Command Line Configuration window.

EXIT

If Command Line is not configured as the shell, will immediately exit Command Line.

EXITWIN

Immediately exits Windows to DOS.

HELP

Displays the Command Line Help file.

OPTIONS

Displays the Options window.

REBOOT

Immediately reboots the computer system.

RESET

Refreshes variables in memory.

RESTART

Restarts Windows after first exiting to DOS.

If you wish to display the Status indicator, the Show Status checkbox must be enabled in the Options window.


AutoLoad Window

Command Line AutoLoad allows a user to define up to ten applications or Command Functions which will be executed every time Command Line is loaded.  If an application is defined, it will be minimized on execution.  Command Functions will execute normally.

If you wish to use Command Line AutoLoad, the Enable AutoLoad checkbox in the Options window must be enabled.


AutoRun Window

Command Line AutoRun allows a user to define up to ten applications or Command Functions which will be executed every time Command Line is loaded.  If an application is defined, it will be displayed normally on execution.  Command Functions will also execute normally.

If you wish to use Command Line AutoRun, the Enable AutoRun checkbox in the Options window must be enabled.


Browse Window

The Browse window allows users to quickly select application files for use in the AutoLoad, AutoRun, and Configuration windows.  Simply change to the appropriate directory and select a file by double-clicking.


Configuration Window

Command Line Configuration allows users to define aliases for applications and Command Functions.

If you wish to use Command Line Aliases, you must click on the Enable Aliases checkbox in the Options window.


Options Window

The Options window allows users to configure the appearance and utility of Command Line.


Aliases

Aliases are user-defined macros which take the place of longer, less convenient application path and filenames or Command Functions.  Once a user has defined an alias, the longer value is available to them from the LaunchBox.  For example:

A user might define the alias WW (short for WinWord) to launch Word for Windows from the LaunchBox, because it would be time-consuming and difficult to type WINWORD.EXE every time the user wanted to run Word for Windows.  After defining this alias, the user can simply type WW in the LaunchBox, and Word for Windows will be executed.  If you use short, easy to type aliases, you will find launching applications from the Command Line LaunchBox faster than any other method available in Windows.

Aliases are much more powerful than the above example indicates.  Now that we have defined WW as an alias, we can use it in conjunction with other parameters from the LaunchBox.  For example, we may type WW TERMPAPR.DOC to immediately launch Word for Windows with the file TERMPAPR.DOC loaded.  Since .DOC is the registered suffix for Word for Windows documents, we could simply have typed TERMPAPR.DOC in the LaunchBox and the same operation would have occurred.  The value of the alias becomes evident when launching documents which are not registered.  For example, we might want to load a text file into Word for Windows, yet the .TXT extension is registered to Notepad.  If we simply typed TEXTFILE.TXT in the LaunchBox, Notepad would be loaded, and that's not what we're trying to accomplish.  By typing WW TEXTFILE.TXT we are able to quickly load the file into WinWord, with a minimum of keystrokes.

The power of Command Line Aliases is even more evident when used with Command Functions.  File copying, deletion, renaming, directory creation, deletion, renaming etc. may be defined into aliases.  For example, suppose we have several infrequently-used applications in a single directory.  Rather than use valuable memory and place this directory in the PATH statement, or define individual aliases for each application, we may define an alias to quickly take us to the directory where the applications exist.  If they are stored in C:\UTILITY it would be time consuming to type C:\UTILITY\APP.EXE every time we wanted to execute a specific application.  Thus, me may define UTIL to be equivalent to the Command Function CD C:\UTILITY.  Typing UTIL in the LaunchBox will change the current directory, and we may simply type APP.EXE to launch the application.

All parameters typed after the alias in the LaunchBox are passed to the application or Command Function.  This allows us to perform complex operations using the LaunchBox.  Suppose we define UZ (short for UnZip) to be an alias for the file C:\WINDOWS\PKUNZIP.PIF.  If we type UZ -D ZIPFILE.ZIP in the LaunchBox, the .ZIPped file will extracted with PKUnzip, using the -d switch to create any directories stored in the .ZIPfile.


Bottom Panel

The three-dimensional panel which may be displayed beneath the Command Line is not an aesthetic design feature - it serves a very real purpose.  With the bottom panel option enabled, the Command Line covers 32 vertical screen pixels - the exact height of Windows icons.  With the IconVerticalSpacing option in the Desktop section of WIN.INI set to 32, and with the Command Line StayOnTop feature enabled, all minimized windows will be hidden behind the Command Line.  Many users prefer not to clutter their desktops with distracting icons, and this feature allows them to hide all minimized icons.  Task Manager (CTRL-ESC) and the Fast-Switching feature (ALT-TAB) will allow users to access the hidden icons without having to point or double-click to restore their windows to normal size.


Command Functions

Command Functions allow users to perform file and directory manipulations from the LaunchBox.

CD (CHDIR)

COPY (CP)

DEL (DELETE, RM)

DIR

DRIVE (CHDRIVE)

MD (MKDIR)

RD (RMDIR)

REN (RENAME)


CD (CHDIR)

The CD function allows users to change the current directory from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:CD(or CHDIR) directory pathname


COPY (CP)

The COPY function allows users to copy files from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:COPY(or CP) sourcefile destinationfile

Restrictions:Wildcards are not allowed, and the destinationfile parameter must include a filename.


DEL (DELETE, RM)

The DEL function allows users to delete files from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:DEL(or DELETEor RM) filename


DIR

The DIR function allows users to display the current directory in the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:DIR


DRIVE (CHDRIVE)

The DRIVE function allows users to change the current drive from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:DRIVE(or CHDRIVE) drivename


MD (MKDIR)

The MD function allows users to create directories from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:MD(or MKDIR) directoryname


RD (RMDIR)

The RD function allows users to delete directories from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:RD(or RMDIR) directoryname

Restrictions:The directory to be deleted must be empty.


REN (RENAME)

The REN function allows users to rename files or directories from the Command Line LaunchBox.

Usage:REN(or RENAME) oldname newname


Command Memory

Command Memory stores the last ten commands issued from the LaunchBox, and allows users to scroll through these stored commands by pressing the up arrow key.  Pressing the ENTER key when any command is displayed in the LaunchBox will execute that command.  Aliases and Command Functions are fully supported.


HotKeys

The following HotKeys may be used to immediately access certain functions from the LaunchBox:

F1	 Displays Command Line Help.

DEL	 Clears the contents of the LaunchBox.

ALT-F4	 Exits Command Line if not configured as shell.

ALT-A	 Displays About Command Line window.

ALT-C	 Displays main Command Line Configuration window.

ALT-L	 Displays AutoLoad configuration window.

ALT-O	 Displays Options window.

ALT-R	 Displays AutoRun configuration window.


Reserved Words

The following are words reserved for specific purposes within the Command Line LaunchBox, and thus may not be redefined with Aliases:

ABOUT

Displays the About Command Line window.

AUTOLOAD

Displays the AutoLoad configuration window.

AUTORUN

Displays the AutoRun configuration window.

CONFIGURE

Displays the main Command Line Configuration window.

EXIT

If Command Line is not configured as the shell, will immediately exit Command Line.

EXITWIN

Immediately exits Windows to DOS.

HELP

Displays the Command Line Help file.

OPTIONS

Displays the Options window.

REBOOT

Immediately reboots the computer system.

RESET

Refreshes variables in memory.

RESTART

Restarts Windows after first exiting to DOS.


About Bright Ideas!

Bright Ideas! Software Design is committed to providing useful Windows software.

All software produced by Bright Ideas! is entirely FREE.  There are no registration fees to pay, and no annoying nag screens to deal with.  Bright Ideas! programs are publicly driven - applications and improvements are based entirely on the feedback and support of users.

Bright Ideas! Software Design may be contacted via:

America Online

DiegoAA

Internet E-mail

DAA7365@RIGEL.TAMU.EDU

U.S. Mail

Diego A. Aranda

939 Navidad

Bryan, TX 77801

Command Line is the first application from Bright Ideas! to be publicly distributed.