Restore Default Settings v1.1

1998 G. S. Schapiro

Files:

RDS.EXE         Main Program
HELP.TXT        Help showed in program (can be Hebrew)
RDS.INI         Main config file
PREBAT.INI      Prologue batch
POSTBAT.INI     Epilogue batch
COMMAND.INI     Command Interpreter config
*.dpr,*.pas,*.dfm...    Delphi source files


Abstract:

RDS is a program to restore the default settings of individual programs.


Working:

RDS reads its main config file (RDS.INI) and builds a temporary
batchfile (%TEMP%RDS.BAT). This batch consists of PREBAT.INI, one line per
selected program from RDS.INI and POSTBAT.ini. RDS.BAT is then executed and
RDS terminates. RDS.BAT has to delete itself (from POSTBAT.INI). See Appendix
for examples for all configuration files.

Config files format:

RDS.INI must contain an even number of lines. Each pair defines the title and
the action for one program. There may be up to 12 programs, e.g. RDS.INI may
contain up to 24 lines. The first line of a pair defines the name the program
gets. This name is displayed in RDS next to a checkbox. The second line of a
pair defines the action to be taken. Use CALL to call other batches since this
line will be part of a BATCH file (see examples). Use & in program name to
denote it's hotkey. Use && for &.


COMMAND.INI must contain at least one line (only the first line is read). This
line tells RDS how to call the batchfile. RDS appends the name of the
batchfile to the first line from COMMAND.INI and executes it using WinExec.
The execution is marked as minimized to prevent users from seeing the workings
of the system. In the command line you can use DOS environment vaiables which
will be substituted at run-time. E.g. "%COMMAND% /c" is a good example, provided
%COMMAND% points to some command.com or other command processor.

PREBAT.INI is put before the actual actions from RDS.INI. Put startup
commands in it, like echo off or neccessary drive mappings.

POSTBAT.INI is put after all actions and should remove drive mappings,
temporary files and %TEMP%RDS.BAT (see Appendix for example).

HELP.TXT is the file shown when the user presses the Help button. The text will
be automatically left or right justified according to the majority of the
letters in the firsrt line: If there are more letters with ASCII code > 127 then
the whole help windows will be right justified. Otherwise it will be left
justified (This is to have some sort of automatic Hebrew/English detection)


Command Line Parameters

RDS also has a batch mode where it performs actions without user intervention.
Options:
/?      Prints Usage information
/f      Force all updates
/n      Update nr. n from RDS.ini (n=1..12)
        more than one is permitted, e.g. /1 /2 /10


Notes:

No error checking is done. You must be sure that all files mentioned above
exist and are readable. Also the TEMP environment variable must exist,
otherwise RDS will try to create RDS.BAT in the current dir (or fail).

In batch mode the main window appears for a very short time. This is not a
bug (nor intended) but I don't know how to do it better without completely
blowing up the source code.

The Help text is either right or left justified. No mixded justification
possible. If the first letter is a blank or a new line, the text will be
left justified.

The limit of 12 programs is chosen arbitrarily and connected to the size of
the window.

You have to use a resolution of at least 800x600 to see the whole window. In
case you don't see the buttons, ESC always exits.

The reason that RDS.EXE can't delete RDS.BAT is that I don't know how to wait
for the batch process to finish before deleting RDS.BAT.

If the Help windows is open when you pres Yes in the "Are you sure" window,
for a short time you can see RDS.BAT in the Help window instaed of the help
text. This is not a bug but a debugging help.


Copyright:

RDS is freeware. Only condition on distribution and further use or
modification of the program or it's source code is that my name be mentioned
in it and that the original idea was mine.


Contact the Author:

Schlomo Schapiro
huji at schlomo dot schapiro dot org


Appendix: - Sample files:

1: RDS.INI
-----------------------------------
Netscape Mail & Navigator
c:\win95\notepad.exe
Borland C++
call p:\rds\bcpp.bat
Fortran 90
copy m:\*.* h:\ /y
-----------------------------------

2: COMMAND.INI
-----------------------------------
p:\command.com /c
-----------------------------------

3: PREBAT.INI
-----------------------------------
@echo off
map m:=huji-mars/usr:home/skel
-----------------------------------

4: POSTBAT.INI
-----------------------------------
map del m:
if not exist %TEMP%RDS.bat set TEMP=%TEMP%\
del %TEMP%RDS.bat
-----------------------------------

This deletes RDS.BAT without generating an error and compensates for ambiguety
in the TEMP variable. Note the lack of a CR at the end. If there is a CR (= an-
other line) after the del line, there will be an error message "Batch file not
found " since DOS looks for the deleted batchfile to read further commands.

Appendix: - Version history

1.1 - 26.10.99      Added support for env vars in command.ini
1.0                 Initial release