DA Piggyback is a solution for the overcrowding of your Apple menu. It lets you turn the desk accessories you use less often into stand-alone applications. You can then organize your DAs in folders or put them on the desktop as you would regular applications. Also, since a converted DA will have its own application heap, you can keep problematic DAs from crashing the system by adjusting their individual heap setting using Get Info… as you do for applications.
Instructions
To use DA Piggyback, you must first load a desk accessory into the DA Piggyback application. This is accomplished with Font/DA mover. (Font/DA mover is found on your System Additions disk from Apple.) Make a copy of DA Piggyback and rename it to the name of your DA. Now open up the DA with Font/DA mover. Also open your renamed copy of DA Piggyback by holding down the option key when clicking the Open button.
 
DA Piggyback has a default application memory size of 384K. This should be sufficient for most DAs, but may be too small for some. You should check to see that this setting (found in the Get Info… dialog) is a least the size of the the DA on disk. If the DA experiences memory problems, you can increase the setting, as you would for an application. See following picture for more detail:
 
Once you have copied a DA into DA Piggyback and set its application memory size, double clicking on it will no longer show this help text, but instead will run the installed desk accessory. For the remainder of this section, a DA installed in DA Piggyback will be referred to as a DA/Application.
You can launch your DA/Application in two different ways. Simply double clicking will run the DA in the very same manner as it ran under the Apple Menu. If the desk accesory has an item called "Open" in its menus, a second form of launch will allow you to open files from the finder whether the DA is presently open or not. This method varies between System 6 and System 7:
System 6 users should select the document icon along with the DA/Application (using the shift key with the mouse to select multiple icons). Double-clicking on either icon will then open the desk accessory along with the selected document.
Under System 7, the document icon should be dragged on top of DA/Application icon. When the mouse is released, the desk accessory will open the selected document.
Limitations
Under System 6.0.7, DA Piggyback sometimes issues the message "Can't find XXXX" where XXXX is the name of the DA that should launch. This happens only when you are running Multifinder and already have a DA open from the Apple menu. I don't know how to overcome this limitation (yet).
Future Additions
I am open to any other suggestions for features you would like to see in DA Piggyback.
Credits
Special thanks to James. W. Walker for the part of the application that delivers you this help text!
Registration
DA Piggyback is shareware. Shareware is try-before-you-buy-it software. Instead of selling software over the counter packaged in a non-returnable but colorful shrink-wrap box, I have chosen to market my software in this way: If you find DA Piggyback useful and want to keep it, please send $10 payable in U.S. funds to the address below. You may take a $2 discount if you will give the program away to at least three people who do not already have it!
Most commercial software companies will charge you for an upgrade almost as much as you pay to buy the software new. I cannot send out disks every time the software is updated, but once registered you may upgrade free of charge to any new version you find on a bulletin board system or shareware disk.
This is not the only shareware I market, so please indicate product and version number when registering.
Kerry Clendinning
PO Box 26061
Austin, TX 78755
Though I try to respond promptly to every registration, I do sometimes get behind, or backordered on my printed materials. Please allow up to five weeks for your registration letter to arrive.
You can also contact me at the following electronic mail addresses:
