Desk Switch The Ultimate Read-Only Control Panel By Charles F. Johnson Copyright 1990 Little Green Footballs Software Revised: Thursday, May 31, 1990 Introduction ------------ Desk Switch is a versatile and powerful little program, that lets you instantly switch from one desktop setup to another. Desk Switch reads .INF files created with the GEM desktop's 'Save Desktop' function, and sets every parameter saved in the file. It can be run as an ordinary program (by double-clicking from the desktop), or as an "Installed Application" from the desktop or from CodeHead Software's HotWire. The Atari Control Panel desk accessory is normally used to set most of the parameters in the DESKTOP.INF file, but it has some distinct disadvantages. First, it gobbles up a fairly large chunk of memory. Second, it doesn't allow you to load a new .INF file; after the initial bootup configuration, you must make all other adjustments individually, by hand. There are many "read-only control panel" desk accessories available as shareware or public domain, which will install the parameters in the DESKTOP.INF file (just once, at bootup), but don't allow you to edit any of these parameters. (Hence the term "read-only.") The advantage that Desk Switch has over any other "read-only control panel" is that it performs these functions in less than 1K of code, does not stay resident in memory when its job is finished, and allows you to load and install a new .INF file at just about any time. Here's a list of the parameters Desk Switch reads and sets from an .INF file: o The name and position of every desktop icon, including the drives and the trash can. o The position and status (open or not) of all GEM desktop windows. o Screen colors. o Printer settings. o RS232 settings. o Blitter setting. (If you have a blitter in your machine, that is.) o Key repeat/delay settings. o Bell and keyclick on/off settings. o Mouse double-click response rate. o The list of installed applications contained in the .INF file. Copyright and Shareware Notice ------------------------------ Desk Switch was originally published in ST-Log (under a "one time only" contract). Since the issue that featured it is long out of print, and very difficult to find, I rewrote the documentation (and tweaked the code a bit) and decided to rerelease Desk Switch as a Little Green Footballs shareware product. "Shareware" means that this program may be freely distributed; but if, after trying it out, you end up using Desk Switch, you're expected to pay a small registration fee of $10.00. If Desk Switch fills a need for you, send a check or money order for $10.00 to: Charles F. Johnson P.O. Box 1250 Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 and please indicate on your check that this is a registration payment for Desk Switch -- this will enable me to enter your name properly in my shareware data base. If you'd like me to acknowledge your payment, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. And if you also include a floppy disk, I'll fill it up with the very latest versions of all Little Green Footballs programs, and send it back to you. Desk Switch is Copyright 1990 Charles F. Johnson and Little Green Footballs Software. All Rights Reserved. This program may be freely distributed, as long as both the program file and this documentation are included. Neither file may be altered in any way whatsoever, and no part of this program or its accompanying documentation may be reprinted in any form without the express permission of the author. Preparing To Use Desk Switch ---------------------------- First, you should boot up with the Atari Control Panel installed, to set up your desktop, screen colors, mouse/keyboard parameters, etc. Then save the desktop, with the 'Save Desktop' selection in the 'Options' drop-down menu. This will write a file to your boot drive called DESKTOP.INF; this file contains all the parameters used by the Control Panel and the desktop to configure your system. After saving the desktop, rename the newly-written DESKTOP.INF file to something else (retaining the .INF extension). Now you can repeat this procedure for as many color setups, disk icon arrangements, installed applications, etc. as you wish, renaming the DESKTOP.INF each time after saving your desktop. When you have several of these .INF files prepared, you may want to move them all into a folder of their own to keep things neat. Desk Switch checks to make sure the file you're attempting to read is a valid .INF file, created with "Save Desktop." If you tell Desk Switch to read something that is not an .INF file, you won't see any warning; the program will simply exit without doing anything. Running Desk Switch Without a Command Line ------------------------------------------ If you run Desk Switch directly (by double-clicking it from the desktop or running it from CodeHead's HotWire), you will be presented with the GEM file selector. Use the selector to locate and choose an .INF file to install, and then click the file selector's OK button. The new desktop setup will be installed, and Desk Switch will immediately exit. Using Desk Switch With "Install Application" -------------------------------------------- Desk Switch can also be run through the desktop's "Install Application" feature, by installing DESKSWIT.PRG as an application for .INF documents. (See your ST User's Manual for more info about "Install Application".) If you do this, you can install new desktop setups simply by double-clicking the .INF file you wish to install from the GEM desktop. Using Desk Switch With HotWire ------------------------------ If you use CodeHead Software's HotWire, you can build an entire HotWire menu of .INF files to pass to Desk Switch, and instantly install any setup with a single click of the button, or a single keypress. There are two ways you can do this: 1) Click on any empty HotWire menu slot and locate DESKSWIT.PRG with the file selector that appears. In the Program Options box that appears after you've chosen DESKSWIT.PRG, enter "INF" as one of the "Documents" for DESKSWIT.PRG. Now you can install your .INF files as "documents" in the HotWire menu. 2) Click on a blank line and locate DESKSWIT.PRG (as above). This time, in the Program Options box, type in the name of the .INF file you want to install in this slot as the title (yes, even though we're actually going to be running Desk Switch), and select the button labelled 'Command Line'. You should now have a slot in the HotWire menu with the title you've chosen for the .INF file. Click on that slot -- HotWire will present you with its Command Line box. On the command line, enter the full path and name of the .INF file you wish to use. (HotWire's Command Line box also lets you use the file selector to select the path and name, instead of typing it.) As the last thing in the line, type the '~' (tilde) character. (You can get this character by holding either Shift key and typing the key immediately to the left of the Backspace key on the top row.) The tilde is a special character which tells HotWire not to pause and present the Command Line box when this entry is run; instead HotWire will immediately run the program and pass it the currently defined command line. The advantage of running Desk Switch by the second method is that it can be chained to other programs this way. (HotWire does not allow "documents" to be chained.)