[comp.windows.ms] Ack

jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Confusion Reigns) (05/30/90)

The PIF editor lets you assign a hotkey to a DOS application, but they never
seem to work for me.  Is there any special condition to their functioning?
Where does information on the hotkeys get stored, anyway?

Also:

Is there a way to move the COM port back and forth between two applications
in 386 Extended mode when it is set to Always Warn without exiting the
unlucky program and loading it again?  When I read about Win3's device
management, I was glad that someone had done something better than DV's "Let
the most recently assertive program get the port" approach.  However, under
DV I could use Kermit's hangup command and thereby give it back control of
the COM port (I could never do this with any other software, though.)

Yet again:

Has anyone else had problems with Windows repeatedly dropping them back to
DOS?  For a while loading Paintbrush in 386 extended mode would do that; I
had to kill all the files and reinstall to fix it.  Clicking on the sort
icon in DayBook's Address book is another sure way I can crash Windows, and
it also happens from time to time seemingly at random.  Any ideas?  My
system uses the Mylex MI-386/20 motherboard with the AMI 09/25/88 BIOS, my
VGA is the MaxLogic MX-677 (a Paradise Plus clone), I have a Microsoft Bus
Mouse and an ST296N running off a Seagate ST02 (not for long, hopefully).

Ack.

--
Jason Merrill				jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu

deisenb@ic.sunysb.edu (David I Eisenberg) (05/31/90)

In article <7324@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Confusion Reigns) writes:
>The PIF editor lets you assign a hotkey to a DOS application, but they never
>seem to work for me.  Is there any special condition to their functioning?
>Where does information on the hotkeys get stored, anyway?

Hmmm, I have a similar problem disabling Alt-Enter from a DOS shell using
a PIF file.  I don't want Alt-Enter to be seen by Windows because it's
supposed to be a hot-key for a Form Feed.  Sometimes it works perfectly,
but other times (more than often), it switches my DOS window to Full
Screen mode, displays a warning message that two applications are
trying to use the port, then LEAVES me in full-screen mode!  This is most
annoying -- considering Alt-Enter is still disabled!  Argh!  I have to
hit Alt-Escape, and re-set the Setting to Windowed mode...  Ugh.  Why is
this?  It also happened when IT THOUGHT two things were trying to use the
COM port (I set it to "Always Warn").

>Jason Merrill				jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu

-Dave
--
Dave Eisenberg                       SUNY at Stony Brook Computer Science
deisenb@csserv2.ic.sunysb.edu  -or-  deisenbe@sbccvm.bitnet

steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings) (06/01/90)

In article <7324@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Confusion Reigns) writes:
>The PIF editor lets you assign a hotkey to a DOS application, but they never
>seem to work for me.  Is there any special condition to their functioning?
>Where does information on the hotkeys get stored, anyway?

Use the PIF editor to make a PIF specifying your hot-key.  Then go to the
Program Manager, click on the icon for your DOS app, and pull down File
Properties.  Change the line specifying the executable file to specify your
PIF.  E.g. instead of command.com for a DOS prompt, you specify command.pif,
and so on.  After you make this change, double-click the icon and run the
program.  Test your hot-key; it should work.

I have used this feature in conjunction with multiple PIFs to set up a sort
of "multi-screens" on my Win3 computer.  Shift+Ctrl+1 gets me DOS Shell 1,
Shift+Ctrl+2 gets me DOS Shell 2, and so on.

Now what I wish for is a way to map a hot-key onto a Win app.  Shift+Ctrl+W
and pow!  Into WinWord!  There is no way I know to do it.
-- 
Steve "I don't speak for Microsoft" Hastings    ===^=== :::::
uunet!microsoft!steveha  steveha@microsoft.uucp    ` \\==|

akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (06/01/90)

In article <54978@microsoft.UUCP> steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings) writes:
>In article <7324@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Confusion Reigns) writes:
>Now what I wish for is a way to map a hot-key onto a Win app.  Shift+Ctrl+W
>and pow!  Into WinWord!  There is no way I know to do it.
>-- 

Use recorder... 
And try to use keystrokes rather than mouse clicks to get to WinWord.

kartik
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anant Kartik Mithal					akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Department of Computer Science				akm@oregon.BITNET
University of Oregon					

traiger@oxy.edu (Saul Traiger) (06/01/90)

In article <54978@microsoft.UUCP> steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings) writes:
>Now what I wish for is a way to map a hot-key onto a Win app.	Shift+Ctrl+W
>and pow!  Into WinWord!  There is no way I know to do it.
>--

Can't you use the macro recorder to achieve this?


     *=====*	*========*
    //		    ||
    \\		    ||	  Saul Traiger
     *=====*	    ||	  Department of Philosophy/Cognitive Science Program
	   \\	    ||	  Occidental College
	   //	    ||	  Los Angeles, CA 90041      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     *=====*	    ||				     |
			  Internet: traiger@oxy.edu  |
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^	  voice-mail: (213) 259-2901 |
		    |				     |
		    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Confusion Reigns) (06/02/90)

In article <54978@microsoft.UUCP> steveha@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Hastings) writes:
>Use the PIF editor to make a PIF specifying your hot-key.  Then go to the
>Program Manager, click on the icon for your DOS app, and pull down File
>Properties.  Change the line specifying the executable file to specify your
>PIF.  E.g. instead of command.com for a DOS prompt, you specify command.pif,
>and so on.  After you make this change, double-click the icon and run the
>program.  Test your hot-key; it should work.

Oh, now I get it.  I was under the mistaken impression that the hot key was
supposed to LOAD the program when you pressed it.  Reality makes more
sense...

--
Jason Merrill				jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu