
Another Button Bar  (v1.0a)  12/93
by Light at the End of the Tunnel Software

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the program
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Howdy!  This Windows utility was produced due to unhappiness with 
similar products "out there".  What it does is take a Windows program 
group and turn it into a grid of icon buttons that resides on the Windows 
desktop.  Anytime you want to run a program, you simply click the button 
with the icon that corresponds to the application you wish to run.  
My unhappiness with other programs was based on either their lack of 
flexibility on how the grid of buttons looks or their inclusion of 
superfluous features that get in the way of an otherwise elegant concept.  
Thus, Another Button Bar was born.

This program was originally produced as a Visual Basic programming 
exercise for myself to learn how to decipher .GRP files and use API.
The complete source is available on CIS in the MSBASIC forum.  Search 
on the keywords: BUTTON LAUNCHER SOURCE or look for TKBAR.ZIP.

This program is free but if you find it useful, drop me an e-mail and 
let me know how you like it.  If i get enough response i might produce 
something else useful for Windows.  And if you REALLY like it, and 
reside in Seattle and are looking to hire a PC programmer who wants
to relocate...


Enjoy,

Tim Koffley

[ Compuserve:     70334,16   ]
[ America Online: Tim Servo  ]



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Installation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Important Note:  
This program requires VBRUN300.DLL which is not provided but is 
available in most, if not all, Windows forums online.

Copy TKBAR.EXE to anywhere you want (on you hard drive).  All of the
.VBX files belong in the Windows system directory, usually 
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.  Then use Program Manager to create a new program 
item for TKBAR.EXE.

If you want to run the program interactively just use TKBAR.EXE.  This 
brings up a dialog that allows to you select a .GRP file to load as a 
button bar.  If you're not sure exactly which group is in a file, just 
click the button labeled "Show Name" and the full group name will be 
displayed at the top of the dialog box.

Alternately, since TKBAR accepts a .GRP filename as a command line 
parameter, you can setup an association for .GRP files using the File 
Manager.  Under the File menu is a choice called Associate.  Enter GRP 
for the file extension, then Browse to find TKBAR.EXE.  Now you can 
just double-click on a .GRP file in the File Manager and it will 
launch a button bar for that group.  Once you've set up an association, 
you can have Windows load a group of your most-used icons/programs each 
time you start Windows.  To do so, edit the "Run=" entry in the WIN.INI 
file.  

For instance, "run=c:\windows\mostwant.grp"  will bring up that group 
when you start Windows.  If you want additional button bars to load, 
just add them after the first file name and separate them with commas.  
You could also do the same sort of thing with an item in the StartUp 
group.  Just make a copy of the icon for TKBAR.EXE and place it in 
the StartUp group and specify a .GRP file as a command line parameter 
for the program item's properties.

Each group of buttons you launch will remember its most recent 
configuration so you don't have to reposition it every time you load 
one.  In case you need to modify it, Another Button Bar keeps its
.INI file (tkbar.ini) in the Windows directory.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Configuring
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once the buttons are on the desktop, you can click with the RIGHT 
mouse button on any of the active buttons to popup a menu.  Click 
"Configure" on the menu to bring up a configuration dialog.  Here 
you can set exactly how you want the grid of buttons to look by 
specifying the number of rows and the number of columns in the grid.  
You can also specify if you want the window to always be on top of 
every other window by checking the "Always On Top" check box.

The configuration is forgiving within reason.  You cannot configure 
a grid to have insufficient buttons for all items in the group.  
Also, Another Button Bar does NOT czech to see if your configuration 
will create a window larger than your current display screen size 
(you can't anyway).  Windows itself takes care of that situation and 
you may not see some of your buttons.  When in doubt, use that big
lumpy thing on top of your neck.

There is one condition that may occur that we don't czech and that
is in the event you change your display driver to have a smaller 
screen size than a previous driver.  If you had a window of buttons 
near the edge of the larger display it may be hidden when you switch 
to the smaller screen size.  In that case, just delete the .GRP 
entry from the TKBAR.INI file and the next time you load it it will 
default to the upper left corner of the screen.  i didn't see any 
point in catching that exception when you would, most likely, not 
appreciate where the window got repositioned, so do it yourself!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Added Bone-us!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
As an example of Another Button Bar's usefulness, we've also included 
a handy little program to exit Windows.  If you're like me, you get 
tired of having to close Program Manager and then say that it's "Ok" 
to exit.  WINEXIT.EXE is a program that just exits Windows without 
all the fuss.  Set up a program item for it in one of your program 
groups that you turn into buttons.  Then, when you want to exit 
Windows, just click on the button.  Easy!  We've also included extra 
icons for the Exit program in case you don't like the default.  
All of the files for WINEXIT are contained in WINEXIT.ZIP.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version history
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0   11/93  Initial release.
1.0a  12/93  Fixed medium-sized bug that would freeze machine.
             Got rid of APIGUIDE.DLL.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
No warranty exists, either express or implied.  No liability is assumed
for any damage or loss resulting from the use of this program.

This software is provided as Freeware, i.e. it is free of charge.  
You owe no money for the use of this program.  As such, i make no 
warranties or guarantees regarding its use and performance.  i'm 
reasonably confident that the program will not cause harm to your 
PC or any files residing on it, but in the event of a breakdown in 
cosmic probabilites, we are not responsible.  In the extremely 
unlikely event that it does cause harm, please let me know so that 
i might prevent the program from causing any further damage.  
Also, if something occurs that appears to be a major blunder, 
feel free to let us know.

Hi-Keeba!
Tim Koffley
