DSSTART, DirectSOFT Application Launcher
Copyright (C) 1995, Host Engineering, Inc.
All rights reserved.

NOTE: This app is provided "as is" and is not supported. No warranties
are expressed or implied. In short, if it works, cool. If not, let us
know, but no promises...


--Boring Background--

DirectSOFT products use external servers for communications and element
documentation to allow those resources to be shared by multiple
apps. Because these servers are "off process" (in seperate executables),
applications started from the Windows start up group that require 
DSDDE, may get launched before DSDDE has fully initialized. In many
applications, this can cause an error initializing DDE that requires
operator intervention to correct. In systems running control apps, such
behavior is undesirable and probably unacceptable. 

DSSTART allows you to launch 1 or more applications in a specific 
sequence, delaying between each a specified number of seconds. By 
listing DSDDE first and delaying the second app for the length of time 
DSDDE requires to fully initialize the problem is solved.

--Enough already! So how do I use it?--

1. Copy the DSSTART.INI file to your Windows directory.

2. Add entries to DSSTART.INI for each app you wish to launch.
   The format for an entry is:
   
   AppN=C,D,S

   Where N is a unique number, C is the application command line, D
   is the working directory, and S is the number of seconds to delay
   before launching.
   
   The entry to launch the Windows File Manager after waiting 3 seconds
   would be "App2=c:\windows\winfile.exe,c:\windows,3
   
3. Create an icon for DSSTART in the Windows startup group.

4. Smile, cuz 'at wuz EZ.

The delay that you need to provide DSDDE is dependent on how many links
you have configured, what baud rate is used, what devices are connected,
what devices are not connected, phase of the moon, etc. What you need to
do is measure the time that the flash screen (you know, the annoying
window that you see before the main app window shows up) is displayed, 
and add 2 or 3 seconds to that number. If your app starts coming up before
the flash screen has gone away, then you need to add time.

Anyway, hope this helps!

Host Engineering...



