			Stdemo Player 1.0 
		Copyright (c) 1992 Mik Kvitchko

-----------------------------
| Mikhail Kvitchko          |
| 289-D Crowells Road,      |
| Highland Park, NJ 08904   |
| USA                       |
-----------------------------

This package consists of the following files:

README.TXT	- This File
STHOOK.DLL	- Windows Input Messages Interception DLL
STDEMO.EXE	- Stdemo Player Program
SCRIPT.TXT	- Stdemo Player Example Script

What is this?
=============

Stdemo Player is an application that you can use to create demos, 
tutorials or manually prepare scripts to "play" them into any 
Windows application. It allows you to write a script, which will 
start one or several Windows application, perform a series of 
keystrokes or mouse actions aimed to demonstrate the application or 
to perform some pre-defined sequence of actions. While your script 
is being "played", you can disable completely keyboard and mouse, 
so that user will not be able to interfere with the running demo 
and to cause a conflict. At certain points of you script you may 
interrupt it in order to interact with user. These interactions 
allow:

-	to show the "text" box with some explanatory text before 
	script will continue ( this is the main idea of how demos
	and tutorials are to be designed);

-	to show the "menu" box where user can select one of several 
	choices, and therefore control the script's execution;

-	to show the "input" box, where user can answer questions and 
	enter some text, which later can be used in script.

There are many varieties of these boxes in order to make your demo 
flexible, and they can be forced to be shown in some convenient 
places on the screen. Moreover, user can move them across the 
screen to be able to see different parts of the covered windows.

Even if you are not interested in preparing demos, you may find 
Stdemo Player useful. For example, you can replace your complete 
Startup Group to the single Stdemo Player script which will launch
all your "startup" applications, and even perform some initial 
actions for every of them: set up default options, load files, etc.

How to play the script?
======================

When you run stdemo.exe without parameters, it looks for the file 
"script.txt" in the current working directory, and if it is there - 
"plays" it. 

Also you may pass the name of the script as a parameter to 
stdemo.exe. This name may include the full path.


How to write a script?
======================

Script is a plain ASCII text file. It may include:

-	keystrokes;
-	commands;
-	interaction breaks;
-	comments.

Every keystroke, command or interaction break is a unit. Stdemo 
Player reads units from the script one by one and executes them. 
After one unit is executed, Stdemo Player waits for some time 
(time-out tick, which can be set or changed at any point in the 
script) and then executes the next unit. Time-out doesn't affect 
the interaction breaks (which are "text", "menu" and "input" dialog 
boxes). Once one of this boxes is shown - only user may continue or 
stop script execution, selecting "Continue" or "Stop" button on the 
box. Comments are ignored, as you may expect, and cause no time-out 
delays.

1. Keystrokes.
--------------

Any text in the script which is not a command, interaction break or 
comment is a set of keystrokes, i.e. every symbol of the text 
causes a keystroke to be sent into the current window application 
(see  below).
There are also several special symbols which allow to simulate 
different keyboard keys.

Any keystroke can be preceded by one or more special symbols 
("@" - Alt, "#" - Shift or/and "%" - Control) as you see in the 
following example:

@A	Alt-A
#A	Shift-A
%A	Ctrl-A
#%A	Shift-Ctrl-A

There are also many special keys which are coded by "escaping" them 
with the "]". They are follows:

]|	Down
]^	Up
]<	Left
]>	Right
]~	Tab
]!	Return
]-	PgUp
]+	PgDn
]\	Backspace
]Z	Esc
]I	Ins
]D	Del
]H	Home
]E	End
]0	F10
]1	F1
...........
]9	F9
]]	]
]@	@
]%	%
]#	#
]:	:
]$	$

This is not a full set of the keyboard keys, as you may note - but 
it covers most of usable ones (I hope).

2. Commands.
------------

All commands start from the colon sign ":". Some of the commands 
must be coded as a separate line in a script, others can be mixed 
with the keystrokes. The rule of a thumb is: if a command has fixed 
format or ends with the special separator - it can be placed 
anywhere, otherwise it has to be coded as a separate line of the 
script. The general format of a command is:
	:<code><parameters>
<code> is a single letter or some other symbol;
<parameters> may vary; one parameter can be a letter, text or 
number; parameters follow the code without blank, and in some cases 
are separated one from another by the special separator "|".

The commands are:

:=x			set time-out tick to x milliseconds.
			Default time-out is 1 millisecond.
	Example:
	:=1000	set time-out tick to 1 sec.

:T			skip 1 time-out tick.
	Example:
	abc:T:T:Tefg	enter "abc", then wait for three 
			current time-out ticks, then enter
			"efg".

:Dtext			change current directory to "text". 
	Example:
	:Dc:\windows\system

:(app-name parm|x	launch the application;
			program name must include extension (for the 
			security reason) and may include the full path;
			parameters to the program can be passed, if 
			needed (not required);
			flag x may be coded as one digit 0..2 after the 
			separator and affects the size of the
			application window: 0 (default), 1(maximize),
			2(minimize).
	Examples:
	:(notepad.exe
	:(c:\windows\write.exe demo.wri
	:(notepad.exe c:\stdemo\readme.txt|2

:)			kill the last application in stack (if exists).

	Note:	Stdemo Player allows to start several applications.
		It keeps track of the applications being started in 
		the internal stack ( max. 10 entries). When you start
		a new application, the following keystrokes will be 
		sent into the new application window, as it will
		get focus after the launch. You must issue ":)" -
		kill last application - command, even when you finish
		the application using it's menu commands - so that
		Stdemo Player could handle the stack of current
		applications properly.
		There is no command ( so far ) to switch focus from
		one application to another. Though you can do this by
		simulating mouse clicking in the proper window. Just
		make sure that you close applications in the reverse
		order as you started them, and issue correspondent
		":)" commands in the same reverse order.
		
:Iab			enable/disable Windows input;
			parameter "a" must be coded as one digit:
			0 - disable input, 1 - enable input;
			parameter "b" is also 1 digit:
			0 - temporarily, 1 - permanently.
	Example:
	:I10	enable input until the next interaction break.

	Note:	When stdemo starts, it disables Windows input
		(keyboard and mouse buttons) in order to prevent
		user's intervention into the actions being played.
		When one of the interaction breaks occurs, the input
		is partially restored to allow user interaction 
		inside the dialog box only. When script continues,
		the state is restored as it was before the break.
		"Temporarily change the state of Windows input" means
		"until the next interaction break occurs". Permanent
		change affects all subsequent script play and can be 
		changed with the next ":I" command only.

:Cab			show/hide Windows cursor;
			parameter "a" must be coded as one digit:
			0 - hide cursor, 1 - show cursor;
			parameter "b" is also 1 digit:
			0 - temporarily, 1 - permanently.
	Example:
	:C11	show Windows cursor until further ":C" command.

	Note:	When stdemo starts, it hides Windows cursor.
		When one of the interaction breaks occurs, the cursor
		is restored to allow user interaction inside the
		dialog box only. When script continues, the state is
		restored as it was before the break.
		"Temporarily change the visibility of cursor" means
		"until the next interaction break occurs". Permanent
		change affects all subsequent script play and can be 
		changed with the next ":C" command only.

:Ltext			assign the label "text" to the current point in
			the script.
:Gtext			goto label "text".

	Note: 	these two commands apparently do not require
		explanation. Just note that so far there is no
		conditional "goto" command. So you can use ":G"
		command to code the loop, or to skip part of the
		script during debugging. Labels are required when
		you program a "menu" interaction break (see below).

:$ntext		set variable n to "text" (n=0..9).
	Example:
	:$1Hello 
	:$2, how are you?

	Note:	variables can be used among the keystrokes, i.e., 
		using previous example, script "$1 Joe$2" will
		play "Hello Joe, how are you?". Variables are 
		extensively used in the "input" interaction breaks
		(see below).


The following commands are to be used when you want some mouse 
actions to be played from your script. It is not always possible to 
get a reliable results with the mouse actions, assuming that your 
script can be played with different display drivers in different 
Windows modes and display resolutions. In order to cope with this, 
you must use "virtual" coordinates, i.e. before using any command 
which has coordinates as a parameter, you have to set "virtual 
screen/window size" and then all following coordinates must be 
coded according to this size. When your script will be played, 
Stdemo Player will determine the real current screen/window size, 
and then adjust all your virtual coordinates according to 
virtual/real ratio. You have to understand, that it is not a 
perfect solution - for example, dialog boxes sizes are not 
proportionally changed for different display resolutions, they 
depend on the size of the system font rather than on display mode. 
But if you code your mouse actions inside the dialog box, based on 
the dialog box virtual size - it will work. 

:Sx|y			set virtual screen/window size.
	Example:
	:S1024|768
	:S100|50

:Oab			set coordinates origin.
			parameter "a" must be coded as one letter:
			S - screen, A - application main window,
			F - current focus window;
			parameter "b" is also 1 letter:
			C - client area, W - window area.
	Examples:
	:OSW
	:OAC
	:OFW

:Mx|y|n		move mouse cursor to (x,y) in n steps.

	Examples:
	:S200|200
	:OAC
	:C11
	:M100|100|1	set cursor in the center of the client area
			of the main application window.
	:M0|200|100	move cursor in 100 steps to the bottom-left
			corner of the client area.

	Note:	Make sure that your coordinates agree with the
		current modes set in ":S" and ":O" commands.

:Bab			mouse button action.
			parameter "a" must be coded as one letter:
			L - left button, R - right button, M - middle;
			parameter "b" must be coded as 1 digit:
			1 - press, 0 - release, 2 - double-click.

:Kab			set keyboard state for some special keys. 		
			parameter "a" must be coded as one letter:
			S - Shift key, C - Control key, A - Alt key;
			parameter "b" must be coded as 1 digit:
			1 - down, 0 - up.

	Example:
	:KS1:BL1:BL0:KS0	click the left mouse button when the
				Shift key is down.


3. Interaction breaks.
----------------------

These are various dialog boxes which can be shown at any point of 
you script, allowing therefore some interaction with user. There 
are three classes of these boxes: "text", "menu" and "input". Each 
class contains from 3 to 5 similar boxes, which vary by their size 
and by the number of fields in them.
All boxes are coded in the script differently, but the common 
pattern is:

<header line>
<one or more body lines>
<end-of-box delimiter line>
 
3.1 TEXT interaction break.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Every TEXT box has a single text field which fills the dominant 
area of the box.

The header line is:
:#sxy
	parameter "s" defines the size and must be a letter:
	S - small, M - medium, L - large, W - wide, N - narrow;
	parameter x defines the position along the x-axis:
	L - left adjusted, C - centered, R - right adjusted;
	parameter y defines the position along the y-axis:
	U - up adjusted, C - centered, D - down adjusted.

The body of this break consists from the text only, which will be 
shown in the single text field of the box. Text may be coded as one 
or more lines in the script, but it'll be placed continuously in 
the box, applying word wrap. There are two special commands which 
can be entered into the body of the TEXT box:
.N	causes the following text start from a new line in a box;
.S	causes to skip one line and continue to fill a box with the
	following text.

The delimiter line is:
#

Example:

:#NCC
This is the narrow box, centered on the screen.
.S
This text starts after the empty line.
.N
This text starts from the beginning of the new line.
#

3.2 MENU interaction break.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Every MENU box has a header text field on a top and from 2 to 9 
menu item fields ( radio buttons).

The header line is:
:*sxy
	parameter "s" defines the size and must be a letter:
	S - small, M - medium, L - large;
	parameter x defines the position along the x-axis:
	L - left adjusted, C - centered, R - right adjusted;
	parameter y defines the position along the y-axis:
	U - up adjusted, C - centered, D - down adjusted.

The body of this break consists from the text which will fill the 
header text field of the menu box, and two or more menu lines. 
Text may be coded as one or more lines anywhere in the body; it'll 
be placed continuously in the header field, using word wrap if 
appropriate. Text line should not start from a digit.
Every menu item line has the following format:

nlabel|item text  	

"n" is a menu item field number (1..9);
"label" - is a label in the script where control will be passed if 
this item will be selected from the menu box.
"item text" is a text to fill the menu item field.

The delimiter line is:
*

Notes:		1. The "small" menu box has 2 menu fields, the 		
		   "medium" - 5 fields, and the large - 9 fields.
		
		2. If there is no text for the header - the header 	
		   field will not be shown in the box.
		
		3. If there is no lines for some menu items - the 	
		   correspondent item field will not be shown in the 
		   box.
Example:

:*MCU
Select one of the three:
1l1|This is the first item
3l2|This is the second item
5l3|This is the third item
*
:Ll1
:#SCC
You've selected the first.
#
:Gcont
:Ll2
:#SCC
You've selected the second.
#
:Gcont
:Ll3
:#SCC
You've selected the third.
#
:Lcont


3.3 INPUT interaction break.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Every INPUT box has a header text field on a top of the box and 
from 1 to 9 edit fields. The small box has only one edit field, the 
medium has 5, and the large has 9. Every edit field in the medium 
and large INPUT boxes has the correspondent description field on a 
left of the every edit field.

The header line is:
:%sxy
	parameter "s" defines the size and must be a letter:
	S - small, M - medium, L - large;
	parameter x defines the position along the x-axis:
	L - left adjusted, C - centered, R - right adjusted;
	parameter y defines the position along the y-axis:
	U - up adjusted, C - centered, D - down adjusted.

The body of this break consists from the text which will fill the 
header text field of the menu box, and one or more input lines. 
Text may be coded as one or more lines anywhere in the body; it'll 
be placed continuously in the header field, using word wrap if 
appropriate. Text line should not start from a digit.
Every input line has the following format:

nDescription_Text  	

"n" is a input field number (1..9); the correspondent input field 
will be filled with the current value of the variable $n. If the 
variable is empty - the field will also be empty.

"Description_Text" is a text to fill the description field for the 
"n"-th input field.

The delimiter line is:
%

Notes:		1. The "small" input box has 1 edit field, the 		
		   "medium" - 5 fields, and the large - 9 fields.
		
		2. If there is no text for the header - the header 	
		   field will not be shown in the box.
		
		3. If there is no line for some edit field - the 	
		   correspondent edit and description fields will not
		   be shown in the box.

		4. After user entered some text in the input field - 
		   this text will be assigned to the correspondent 	
		   variable ($1..$9).
Example:

:(notepad.exe|1
:$2John
:%MCU
Please correct your name.
2Your first name:
4Your last name:
%
Hello, $2 $4!
:#SRD
Is my greeting correct?
#
:)


4. Comments.
------------

Any line in the script outside the interaction breaks, which starts 
from "//" is being treated as a comment.


Future.
=======

I'm sure you noticed that the program can be further extended
( for example, auto recorder would not do any harm ). Please,
share your ideas with me, if you are interested.

Acknowledgments.
================

1. Thanks to CompuServe and all participants of the WinSdk
   forum - you were my teachers, when I started programming
   Windows half a year ago.

2. Thanks to Brent Rector, whose book "Developing Windows 3
   Applications" (and once he personally) helped me along
   my way of learning Windows.

3. Thanks to my employers and friends Ken Winston and Michael
   Markov; their enthusiasm kept me busy enough to grow.

Legal Stuff.
============

Stdemo Player is shareware.

If you like Stdemo Player, a registration fee of $20 - $30 would 
be appreciated. I think, it is a fair price. But if you think that 
the price is too low or too high - send me whatever amount you 
find appropriate.

When you register, I can replace irrelevant "MIK" icon on all 
dialog boxes to another one (you may send your icon to me) and
will send the updated copy to you. Provided that your cash will 
cover at least diskettes, time and postal expenses. If you support 
my efforts, I can even customize Stdemo Player according to your 
needs.

Please, send check or money order to:

Mikhail Kvitchko
289-D Crowells Road,
Highland Park, NJ 08904
USA


Comments? Questions? Suggestions? 
I will be glad if you contact me at:

Internet:	mik%success@rna.rockefeller.edu
CompuServe: 	Mik Kvitchko [71250,1660] (checked irregularly).

You may make copies of this program and give them to others as 
long as all files are included and unaltered.


Disclaimer.
===========
I've taken great care to ensure the program performs as stated. 
Still, I cannot guarantee this will be the case on every system. 
As such, you agree NOT to hold me responsible for ANY damages 
directly or indirectly related to the use of Stdemo Player. The 
author of this software is not responsible for any damage due to 
use of this program.  This software is provided without warrantee 
of any kind.

A Personal Note...
==================

I write C better than English. Please excuse my mistakes and funny 
constructions in the above text, if you noted some (I'm sure, you 
did!). Especially articles... They are incomprehensible!

Thanks!
