!W3X.EXE
During installation, if you choose to add Windows Integration, a Launch! program group will be created (the next time you run Windows). There will be an icon for "Launch! for DOS" and "Launch! 16".
In Windows 3.1/3.11 only, there will also be an icon for "Menu Manager".
Launch! for DOS will show your Launch! menu, in a windowed DOS command session. You can run everything from your menu as normal. Screensavers will not run in Windows (windowed or fullscreen).
Launch! 16 is a native Windows (WIN16) version of your DOS Launch! menu. Containing the same items, and everything can be launched as expected.
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!W30.EXEsupports Windows 3.0 -
!W31.EXEsupports Windows 3.1/3.11
I'm exploring a version for Windows 2.x. I've purposely blocked run on Win 95+ There are no library/DLL dependencies. All icons and bitmap resource are stored within !W3X.EXE
The Launch! button is always visible at the top of the screen in the titlebar area.
If you hold down ALT and drag with the mouse- you can reposition the button anywhere you like top or bottom of screen (it will snap to the screen edge).
- Add "Launch! 16" to your StartUp group to show the button every time Windows starts.
- The shortcut key
CTRL + ALT + \will also open the Launch! menu. The shortcut key is handled by Program Manager. You can change the shortcut key by opening the properties dialog for tCAP12he "Launch! 16" icon and setting it there.
You can add a different .MNU file as a parameter to !W3X.EXE and it will that menu file. This could allow you use a separate menu file under Windows if you wanted. Open the Properties dialog for the Launch! 16 icon in Program Manager to add the parameter.
3 different system items are present on the menu under Windows:
- Run - shows a Run dialog to enter or Browse for an executable
- Explore - runs the default file manager WINFILE.EXE
- Exit Windows - exits Windows returning to the DOS prompt
Quick and easy menu management is handled by right-clicking the Launch! button. You will see the button change to "Manage" and a menu with Add, Edit, Delete and Re-order.
Add will show a dialog to add a new launcher, the same as DOS.
Edit, will show you the menu - but when you choose an item, instead of launching it you'll see the Edit dialog.
Remove works the same way, you will see the menu - choose an item to remove.
Use the graphical Menu Manager to re-order items, or for a more advanced user interface.
You can add Windows programs to your Launch! menu. Launch! will automatically identify Windows executables.
They can be executed in either DOS or Windows Launch! menus. Under DOS, Windows will be started first then the program started directly. Launchers for Windows programs have a small icon next to them on the menu.
Launch! remains DOS focussed. As Microsoft Windows was at this time a prominent graphical environment on top of DOS, the Windows extension provides convenience as makes practical sense.
I'm not intending on extending this into a more complex Windows oriented menu program, and its design is superseded by the Start Menu in Windows 95+.
There will not be icons for the menu ever, because it is surprisingly complex to achieve in Win 3.x and not worth the effort - and I want to remain free of library dependencies. Getting the bitmap to display in the menu, especially in Win 3.0 was an apocalyptic nightmare. Shout out to Icon Hear-it! which provided the path forwards to putting bitmaps in menus.
