                        TASKBAR FOR OS/2
                          version 2.00

Program description
-------------------
The taskbar program allows rapid switching among multiple running programs
by providing a popup button bar containing a list of all running programs
in the system. The taskbar is activated by moving the mouse cursor to the
bottom edge of the screen. The desired task can then be selected by clicking
on the appropriate button with the mouse. In order to re-hide the taskbar,
simply move the mouse cursor outside of the taskbar.

A new feature added to version 2.00 of the program is a hot key switching
capability similar to the Alt-Tab feature found in Windows(*).

Taskbar is shareware with a 14 day evaluation period. The registration fee
is $15.00 per copy (see the file Register.TXT for site licensing information
and instructions on how to register). If you are running an unregistered
version of the program, a nag dialog will come up the first time the program
is run, and every time the program is started after the 14 day trial period
has expired.

System requirements
-------------------
 * OS/2 version 2.1 or higher

Taskbar files
-------------
TaskBar.EXE     Taskbar program executable file.
TskBarHk.DLL    Message queue hook DLL.
ReadMe.TXT      Program documentation.
Register.TXT    Registration information.
Install.CMD     Installation program.
BootDriv.EXE    Utility used by the installation program.
MakeObjs.CMD    Utility to recreate Taskbar desktop objects.
Changes.TXT     Summary of changes made in different versions.

Installation
------------
To install the taskbar program, start an OS/2 command line session and
unzip the contents of the distribution zip file into a temporary directory.
Then make the temporary directory the current directory, and run the
installation program by typing 'INSTALL destDir' where destDir contains
the drive and path name of the directory where you want the taskbar program
files stored. The installation program will:

    1) if necessary, create the destination directory.
    2) copy Taskbar.EXE, TskBarHk.DLL, and MakeObjs.CMD to the
        destination directory.
    3) make sure the LIBPATH statement in your Config.Sys has a reference
        to either the '.' directory or the destination directory. Your
        Config.Sys LIBPATH statement will be automatically updated
        if necessary.
    4) create a program object on the desktop for the taskbar program.
    5) create a shadow of the taskbar program object in the startup folder.

The installation program requires that the OS/2 REXX support be installed.
If REXX support is not installed, you will need to do an OS/2 selective
install and install REXX support before installing Taskbar.

Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version of the program, make sure
      that the old version of the program has been shut down before running
      the installation program.

If for some reason the Taskbar program objects should be accidentally
deleted, you can recreate the Taskbar program objects by using the
provided MakeObjs utility. To run MakeObjs, start an OS/2 command line
session, set the current directory to the taskbar program directory,
and type 'MAKEOBJS'.

Starting the program
--------------------
By default, a shadow of the Taskbar program object is installed in the
Workplace Shell startup folder, so Taskbar will be automatically started
when the system is started, thus no user intervention should be necessary
to startup the program. An alternative method of starting Taskbar if the
Taskbar startup folder object has been deleted is to double click on the
Taskbar program object that was created on the desktop.

Using the program
-----------------
In order to display the taskbar, move the mouse pointer to the edge of the
screen where the taskbar is to be shown (on initial install this is set to
the bottom of the screen). The taskbar will remain visible as long as the
mouse pointer remains over the taskbar. Moving the mouse pointer over a
button will cause a small bubble help window to appear containing the text
description of the program. Press the appropriate button with the mouse
to switch to the desired task.

Programs may be minimized by double-clicking with mouse button one on the
taskbar button associated with the desired program. Any shift key + mouse
button two on a program's taskbar button will close the application.

If more programs are running than can be fit in the taskbar, the two scroll
buttons on either end of the taskbar will be enabled, allowing you to scroll
through the list of tasks.

Right clicking on a task button will display a popup menu containing the
following items:

    Menu item           Description
    ---------           ----------------------
    Close               Closes the selected task. You may also close
                        programs by pressing any shift key + mouse button
                        two on the program's task button.

    Show                Makes the selected task's window visible on the
                        desktop, places it in front of all the other
                        open windows, and switches to the task. This
                        option is equivalent to pressing the task button
                        with the left mouse button.

    Minimize            Minimizes the selected task's window. Programs can
                        also be minimized by double-clicking with mouse
                        button one on the program's task button.

    Maximize            Maximizes the selected task's window.

    Hide                Hide the selected task's window. Programs can also
                        be hidden by double-clicking with mouse button one
                        on the program's task button.

    Restore             Restore the selected task's window to its original
                        size.

    Remove from list    Removes the selected task from the window list.
                        Taskbar will remember from one session to the
                        next whether a program is to be ignored.

    Taskbar settings    Displays the taskbar program settings notebook.

    Shutdown taskbar    Shuts down the taskbar program.

Note that, depending on the type and state of the task's frame window, one or
more of the menu choices could be disabled. For example, the 'Restore' item
will only be enabled if the task's frame window is minimized or maximized.

Right clicking on a non task button portion of the taskbar will display a
popup menu with the following items:

    Menu item           Description
    ---------           ----------------------
    Taskbar settings    Displays the taskbar program settings notebook.

    Shutdown taskbar    Shuts down the taskbar program.

Hot key support
---------------
Taskbar now contains a hot key capability similar to that provided by
the Windows(*) Alt-Tab feature. The hot keys on program installation
are set to the following:

    Ctrl+Alt+'>'    : Browse forward through window list.
    Ctrl+Alt+'<'    : Browse backward through window list.

Press and hold down Ctrl+Alt and press '>' (or '<') repeatedly until
the name of the application that you want to switch to appears. When
you release the shift keys, the dialog box will disappear and the
system will switch to the selected application. The task list is
sorted by window z-order, so that browsing forward through the
list will take you to the most recently used programs.

Note: the hot key capability is not currently accessible from full
      screen sessions.

Customization
-------------
Various aspects of Taskbar can be customized through the settings
notebook. The settings notebook is accessed by right clicking somewhere
on the taskbar and selecting the 'Taskbar settings' option on the resulting
popup menu. Changes made to any taskbar settings take effect when you
press the 'Ok' button in the settings notebook. Settings changes can
be canceled by pressing the 'Cancel' button. Following is a description
of the various pages in the settings notebook:

    Register
    --------
    This page is where you enter the name and id number that you receive
    when you register the program. To register, enter in the spaces provided,
    your name and id exactly as it is listed on your registration form, then
    press the 'Register' button. If you have correctly entered the
    registration information, a message box will appear saying that the
    program has been successfully registered, and the 'Register' page will
    be removed from the settings notebook.

    Location
    --------
    The 'Location' page controls various aspects of the appearance of the
    taskbar. At the top of the page are four radio buttons used to control
    the edge of the screen where the taskbar is located. Clicking on the
    top button causes the taskbar to located at the top of the screen, the
    bottom button causes the taskbar to be located at the bottom of the
    screen, etc. Remember that the taskbar is activated by moving the
    mouse cursor to the edge of the screen where the taskbar will be
    displayed.

    When the 'Use Z-Order sorting' checkbox is checked, the tasklist will
    be sorted by window z-order. This causes the most recently *used*
    applications to appear at the beginning of the task list. When this
    checkbox is not checked, tasks listed in startup order with the most
    recently *started* tasks listed first.

    The remaining checkboxes on the 'Location' page control features
    that are available to users of OS/2 Warp only. These checkboxes are
    grayed out if you are running OS/2 2.x.

    When the 'Use small icons' checkbox is checked, icons in the taskbar
    will be displayed at half normal size.

    When the 'Surface Launchpad' checkbox is checked, Taskbar will
    automatically float the Warp Launchpad to the top of the window
    stack whenever the taskbar is activated.

    Indicator
    ---------
    The taskbar program has the capability to always display a line along
    the activation edge of the screen as a visual indicator of the current
    setting of the taskbar location. The 'Show taskbar location' checkbox
    on the 'Indicator' settings page controls whether this indicator
    line is to be displayed. The width of the indicator line can be set
    through the 'location line width' spin button to any value between
    1 and 5 pixels wide. The color of the indicator line can be changed
    by clicking on any one of the colors displayed in the 'Location line
    color' value set.

    Keys
    ----
    The 'Keys' page is used to control the hot key assignments. Use the
    'Enable hot keys' checkbox to enable/disable the hot key feature.

    The assigned hot keys are a combination of the shift keys selected
    in the shift key checkboxes + the keys listed in the 'Forward' and
    'Reverse' entry fields.

    To set the hot key assignments, first select the checkboxes associated
    with the shift keys that are part of you hot key assignments. Note that
    at least one shift key *must* be selected and the shift key assignment
    will be the same for both the forward and reverse hot keys. To assign
    the forward hot key, select the entry field labeled 'Forward' and
    press the key you want assigned (note: do not hold down any shift keys).
    The name of the assigned key will then appear in the entry field. To
    assign the reverse hot key, select the entry field labeled 'Reverse'
    and repeat the above procedure.

    Ignore
    ------
    The 'Ignore' page is used to edit the list of applications that
    Taskbar will automatically remove from the window list. The
    'Ignore list' listbox contains a list of all currently ignored
    programs. To put a program back in the window list, select its entry
    in the 'Ignore list' listbox and press the right arrow button.
    This will remove it from the 'Ignore list' listbox and place it
    in the 'Removed items' listbox, which contains a list of programs
    that are to be put back in the window list. The left arrow button
    moves selected items back from the 'Removed items' listbox to
    the 'Ignore list' listbox.

    The 'Ignored items invisible' checkbox controls whether programs
    that are ignored by Taskbar will also be marked as invisible in
    the system window list (what you get when you press Ctrl+Esc).

    The 'Ignored items not jumpable' checkbox controls whether programs
    that are ignored by Taskbar will also be removed from the list
    of programs that the system jumps to when you press Alt+Esc.

    About
    -----
    The 'About' page displays various program information such as
    the program version, the copyright notice, and the name of the
    registered owner of the program.

Support
-------
On-line support is available by sending messages to one of the following:

    Compuserve  73457,521
    Internet    ryoder@ibm.net

Note: if you find any bugs in the program, *please* let me know. If you
      don't report them, I don't know about them and can't fix them.

Trademarks
----------
The following terms, denoted by an asterisk (*) are trademarks of the
following companies:

    Windows ..... Microsoft Corporation
