AppExec Readme

AppExec displays a small icon in the taskbar which you can click to display the main window, which consists of a line of tabs at the top and a listview control. When a tab is clicked, shortcuts are loaded from a .dat file into the listview control. The shortcut can then be double-clicked to execute it. At the bottom are two checkboxes: the first controls whether or not the program minimizes after running a shortcut and the second controls whether or not the AppExec window is always in front of other windows. Clicking the tools icon brings up the options screen, which allows you to turn on/off the background image (which you can change by replacing bkgrnd.bmp) and change the display type (with or without icons).

Shortcuts and tabs are fully modifiable by right-clicking on them. You can add new shortcuts/tabs and edit or remove existing ones. Included with the program are several tabs containing shortcuts to common programs. Please note that if you do not have Microsoft Office installed, you will recieve an error (either a message will come up, or the shortcuts will not display correctly) upon clicking the "MS Office" tab. To solve this problem, either remove the tab from within the program or delete the "MS Office.dat" file in the AppExec folder. You might get errors in some of the other pre-defined tabs, too, depending on how you installed Windows. Feel free to remove or edit any shortcuts or tabs that are causing problems.

Please note that not only can you create shortcuts to programs, but to documents and folders, too. Simply put the document filename or the folder path in the Command field in the New/Edit Shortcut dialog. When you double-click the shortcut, it will attempt to open the document (if it has an associated program) or folder. NOTE: You cannot specify a folder with the Browse dialog; you will have to enter the folder path manually (or select a file within that directory and then manually delete the filename).

Note also that if you are opening documents or folders, the program will not be able to automatically retrieve an icon for it, so you will need to find an icon for your document or folder. For documents, you can usually get an icon from the program that opens it. Simply click the "Change Icon" button in the "Edit Shortcut" dialog, press the browse button and find the program or library that you want to extract an icon from. All of the icons in the file appear in the box underneath. Double-click on the one you want. In addition, there are three files that automatically appear in the icon library list that provide many common icons that you would need. Be sure to check them first when you need an icon.

It is recommended that you, after adding all the categories and shortcuts that you initially want, copy all the .dat files to a backup folder in case anything happens to the originals. This prevents you from having to add all those shortcuts and categories over again in the event something should happen to corrupt them, in which case you would simply copy back your backup ones and be ready to go again.

It is also recommended that you place a shortcut to AppExec in your Startup folder so that AppExec starts whenever you start your computer. To do this, open Windows Explorer and browse to wherever you unzipped AppExec to (usually C:\AppExec). Right-click on AppExec.exe and drag it to the Start menu under Programs->Startup.

AppExec is freeware. In other words, it is free to anyone who desires to use it in their application, whether it be for personal or commercial usage. Any individual, organization or company who can afford to donate a small amount to compensate me for the time I spent on the project is certainly welcome to send any amount they deem appropriate, but payment is by no means required for the use of this program. In addition, AppExec may be freely distributed. If you wish to put it on a disk or in a code library, though, I would appreciate a complimentary copy of your disk or library.

The Visual Basic source code is also freely and easily obtainable for further study or enhancement. If you do wish to modify the program and release the modified version, feel free to do so. You do not have to ask my permission, but it would be nice to notify me of your intentions beforehand. Note also that if you are planning to charge for your product, I would very much appreciate a complimentary copy of your product.

The only restriction on the use and distribution of this product is that you may not charge for an unmodified (or only marginally modified) version of this program or claim that you wrote it.

Enjoy!

If you try to launch another instance of AppExec after one is already running, it does not start a new instance but only activates the previously open one (this is the correct behavior). However, it also creates a .dat file with a blank filename, resulting in a new empty tab. I know where the problem is but I can't figure out how to get around it right now. Thankfully, it's not a very big problem, and if you don't ever try to launch two instances of AppExec at the same time, you'll never run into it.

Last modified: 01/04/04
Copyright (c) 2004 Michael Lam