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TSR-Select
A Configurable, Swapping TSR
Menu Program
Copyright (c) 1990-1991
Quadrant Computer Systems
August 1991
Copyright 1991 Quadrant Computer Systems. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated into another
language, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, or photocopied, recorded, or otherwise,
without the prior written consent of Quadrant Computer Systems.
The information in this document, and program specifications, are subject to
change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of
Quadrant Computer Systems. The software described in this document is
furnished under license agreement. The software and document may be used
and copied only in accordance with the terms of that agreement.
All brand and product names contained herein are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.
Quadrant Computer Systems
13164 Memorial Drive
Suite 126
Houston, Texas 77079
Second Edition, September 1991
A sample TSR-Select Menu
on top of a Word Perfect 5.1 Directory Listing
09-15-91 12:42a Directory C:\DATA\WP\*.*
Document size: 0 Free:101,326,848 Used: 1,844,253 Files: 138
MEMAD1 . 9,826 06-12-91 04:34p │ MEMADRU . 7,449 06-12-91 04:33p
MEMADS . 3,180 06-10-91 09:46p │ MEMAGEND. 3,705 06-13-91 02:06p
MEMCHAIR. 17,953 06-12-91 ╒═TSR-SELECT══╕TR. 6,890 06-13-91 12:49p
MEMCOUPL. 10,919 06-10-91 │ >Mail< │P . 7,106 06-12-91 04:48p
MEMDECSD. 6,777 06-13-91 │ Chat │ER. 4,289 06-24-91 03:30p
MEMORY .WP4 13,429 07-07-89 │ SetPrint │TI. 9,765 06-13-91 01:15p
MEMSONGS. 5,679 06-05-91 │ EndSpool │NK. 9,648 06-13-91 02:02p
MEMTOC . 9,489 06-13-91 │ LastMsg │V . 5,740 06-12-91 04:40p
MENU .WP5 43,087 07-30-91 │ Send │ .XXX 15,145 06-29-91 02:32p
MHSREUN . 11,665 04-16-91 ╘═════════1.04╛PT.WP5 22,481 01-08-91 11:33p
MODMENU .DOC 10,697 03-04-89 11:42p │ MODMENU .TXT 12,986 03-04-89 11:42p
MONTY .WP5 11,322 01-30-91 07:41p │ MONTY2 .WP5 11,465 02-04-91 06:41p
MOUSE .WPG 2,051 06-04-90 11:14a │ N . 641 03-14-91 08:11p
NANCY .WP5 7,706 06-13-90 10:35p │ NANCY1 .WP5 6,764 05-06-91 10:58p
NATL_COM.WP5 3,660 06-18-91 12:20a │ NETWORLD. 2,955 09-14-90 05:06p
NHANPHAN.WP5 5,832 02-22-91 11:50p │ NM1100 .WP5 121,126 08-20-90 01:03p
NS_2_AS .DOC 16,174 12-20-89 10:49a │ PARANET .WP5 3,296 07-09-91 01:53p
PCSTDTXC. 2,953 09-08-90 08:34p │ PCSTDTXC.DOC 4,096 09-08-90 04:47p
PCSTDTXC.WRD 3,328 09-08-90 04:44p │ PEER2PR .WP5 16,450 06-12-91 06:49p
1 Retrieve; 2 Delete; 3 Move/Rename; 4 Print; 5 Short/Long Display;
6 Look; 7 Other Directory; 8 Copy; 9 Find; N Name Search: 6
Table of Contents
1 Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
What is TSR-Select? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Setting up TSR-Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Warnings and Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
How Do I Quick-Start? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3 What is TSR-Select? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Summary Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
How TSR-Select Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Memory Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 How Does TSR-Select Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Summary Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A Temporary Batch File Is Created . . . . . . . . . 8
Number of Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5 Configuring TSR-Select. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Summary Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
TSR-Select Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . 12
Special character: * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Special character: $ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Special character: < . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Special character: + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Special character: @ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Special character: > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
what the menu will look like with the Viewer . . 19
Encrypt it with the SELECTC encryption selection. 19
Correct any errors reported by the encrypter. . . 20
Fully test the encrypted TSR-Select configuration file 20
6 Installing TSR-Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Summary Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Default Behavior of TSR-Select. . . . . . . . . . 22
Expanded Memory Load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Disk Swap Load. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Swap Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Machine Lockups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Forcing Swaps To Go To Disk . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Forcing Swaps To Go to RAM Disk . . . . . . . . . 25
Location of Configuration File. . . . . . . . . . 25
Avoiding The Need for /CA or /CN. . . . . . . . . 26
Multiple Configuration Files. . . . . . . . . . . 27
Why Not A Self-Modifying .EXE?. . . . . . . . . . 28
Activating TSR-Select From The DOS Prompt . . . . 29
7 How the End-User Uses TSR-Select. . . . . . . . . . 31
What Happens If The Selection Is Not Available? . 31
Swapping Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Auto-Load of TSR-Select Recommended . . . . . . . 32
8 Unloading TSR-Select. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9 Warnings and Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
DOS Version Restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Well-Behaved Programs vs. Ill-Behaved Programs. . 34
Using TSR-Select At the DOS Prompt. . . . . . . . 34
Save the Foreground Data Before Activating TSR-
Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Loading TSR-Select in High Memory . . . . . . . . 35
The Loading Sequence for TSR-Select . . . . . . . 35
Loading TSR-Select Between the Network Shell and
Other Communications Programs. . . . . . . . 36
Interruption of the Socket Interface. . . . . . . 36
Is The DOS Prompt Active? . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
TSR-Select and the Graphics Mode. . . . . . . . . 37
Technical Info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
10 Known Problems with Version 1.0x. . . . . . . . . . 39
Keyboard State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Screen State Restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Graphics Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11 TSR-Select License Information. . . . . . . . . . . 41
Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Definition of upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Definition of technical support . . . . . . . . . 42
Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
12 If You Used TSR-Mail v2.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Summary Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Detail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
13 The Temporary Batch File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
1 Preface
You are reading the documentation for the demo version of
TSR-Select, one of the most advanced methods of accessing other
programs from inside your current program. TSR-Select provides a
low-cost method of allowing the user to access Program B while
running Program A, without having to exit Program A. TSR-Select
uses swapping technology to accomplish this feat, but Program A is
always the primary, foreground program.
This demo version is fully functional in every way, but has a
screen that is displayed just prior to the menu, indicating that
this is not a registered demo. There is no expiration date for
this demo.
TSR-Select is accompanied by the Integrated Configuration
Environment, a tool for creating customized TSR-Select configuration
files. This environment contains an editor, viewer, encrypter and
decrypter.
TSR-Select will operate on either stand-alone PCs, or on PCs that are
networked together using Novell Netware, Banyan VINES, Microsoft
LAN Manager, LANtastic, or any other network operating system
that emulates MS-DOS. MS-/PC-DOS 3.0 or above is required on
the client PC.
This manual is strictly intended -- and written for -- the network
administrator or PC support person. The end-user can benefit
primarily from the details in Sections 7 and 8. It is also the
responsibility of the administrator to ensure that all precautions are
taken to prevent unnecessary problems while the end-user has
TSR-Select in memory.
While you are working with TSELECT, use the TSELECT /?
command to bring up an abbreviated list of the legal command line
options and environment variables.
I hope you enjoy using TSELECT.
Robert Laird - August 1, 1991
2 Quick Start
What is TSR-Select?
This manual explains what TSR-Select is, and how it works.
TSR-Select is a menu program that will pop-up inside any non-graphic
program, and is activated with a hot-key. When activated, the
foreground program is swapped to disk or EMS memory, and presents
a menu of choices to the user. When the user chooses a program on
the menu, that program is loaded into memory and executed. When
that program is exited, the TSR-Select menu is once again presented
to the user. If the user chooses another program, that program is
loaded into memory and executed... and so forth. When the user
wants to return to the original foreground program, they press [ESC]
at the TSR-Select menu. TSR-Select then swaps the original program
back into memory, and goes dormant until the next time the hot-key
is pressed.
Setting up TSR-Select
One of the most important parts of setting up TSR-Select, is creating
the configuration file. Creation of the configuration file is not
intended for the end-user, but for a local-area-network administrator
or PC support personnel. There is plenty of technical information
written on each subject, and each section starts with an overview.
This overview is intended as a "quick-start" for knowledgeable
administrators or support persons. At the end of this manual is a
separate section that is designed to be a stand-alone section
specifically for the end-user.
Warnings and Restrictions
Throughout this manual there are many warnings and restrictions
regarding the use of TSR-Select. Please do not be concerned about
the reliability of TSR-Select; it has been in use by over 5,000 active
network users since November 1990 and there have been no reported
problems attributable to TSR-Select. However, these users have been
well versed as to the strengths and weaknesses of TSR-Select and they
are careful to follow the guidelines. These guidelines are necessary
due to the nature of actively using a swappable TSR inside a MS/PC-
DOS environment. The authors of DOS will tell you flat out that
"...it ain't supposed to work..."; but it does work and it is reliable
when used by an educated user. It is absolutely critical that you learn
the rules for configuration, and follow them explicitly. There are also
caveats about which programs to let the user run via TSR-Select.
How Do I Quick-Start?
Well, you know what I'm going to say to do first: Read the manual!
If you are a network administrator or PC support person, then
practice what (I hope) you preach!
However, if you are the anxious type, then read the next three
paragraphs very carefully.
Start off by running SELECTC.EXE. This is the integrated
configuration environment (ICE). (SELECTC and ICE should be
treated as synonyms in this manual.) It contains an editor that will let
you create your configuration files. The raw configuration files are
plain ASCII text files, but the TSR-Select programs (TSELECT.EXE
and TSELECTM.EXE) will not read them. The raw configuration
files must be encrypted first. Encryption is done in the ICE, as well.
The ICE also contains a Viewer. The Viewer lets you see how the
menu will look; you won't have to go to the trouble of encrypting the
raw configuration file, then loading TSELECT to see how it will
look. And, in case you lose your raw configuration file, you can
Decrypt an encrypted configuration file in the ICE.
SELECTC Screen
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒╒═══════ Integrated Configuration Environment ═══════╕▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Encrypt Decrypt View Edit Quit │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒╒══════════ Encryption ══════════╕▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒│ │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Encrypt TSELECT.CFG to TSRSCFG │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Specify Different File Names │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒│ │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒╘════════════════════════════════╛▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
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Encrypt the text configuration file Quadrant Computer Systems
Creating and/or modifying a configuration file isn't difficult, but there
is a specific syntax you will have to learn. The syntax is also very
easy to learn and very simple. If you know the DOS batch language,
then you've got 99% of it down already because TSR-Select merely
executes DOS batch files. The configuration file simply puts those
DOS batch files into one convenient file. Most, if not all, menu
systems for DOS work the same way. The sample configuration file
that comes with TSR-Select contains many comments that explain the
syntax.
Help Screen in SELECTC Editor
Press F1 for Help
TSELECT╒═════════════════════ Editor Help ══════════════════════╕ent
.......T│ ESC - Exit, no save (confirm req'd if changes made) │....
. │ F1 - Help │
. Q│ F2 - Save changes, remain in editor │
. │ F3 - Choose another file to edit │
.All lin│ F7 - Begin block │
.Blank l│ F8 - End block │
. │ │
. If yo│ Ctrl-K X - Save and exit │e,
. and t│ Ctrl-Y - Delete line │ing,
. any c│ Ctrl-Q Y - Delete from cursor to the end of line │
. │ Ctrl-T - Delete word │
. │ Ctrl-K R - Reads in a file to the cursor position │
. F│ Ctrl-Q F - Search │
. │ Ctrl-Q A - Search and Replace │
. Me│ Ctrl-L - Search again, or search/replace again │
. │ │ed.
. │ This editor uses most of the standard WordStar │p to 30.
. │ or SideKick editor commands. │
. Sh│ │
. │ │
. Al│ Press any key to continue. │
. ╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
. All commands required after the executable begin with >
Once you've created your configuration file, then encrypt it, exit
SELECTC (ICE), then run TSELECT.EXE. TSELECT will read the
encrypted default configuration file, and you are ready to test it.
(TSR-Select was not originally designed to operate from the DOS
prompt... it is not a menuing system in the conventional sense. It
was designed from the ground up to be run while another program is
running.) So, now you can test it by running another program, then
hitting the hot-key for TSR-Select, [Alt]-[LeftShift]-[M].
You are then presented with the menu of choices that you
programmed into it. Select each program to verify that they all work
properly.
To fully understand and benefit from the flexible way that TSR-Select
was designed, you should definitely read the remainder of this
manual!
3 What is TSR-Select?
Summary Overview
TSR-Select is a TSR (memory resident program) that is designed to
be executed from within a standard, well-behaved, character-based
application such as Word Perfect, dBASE or Lotus 2.01. Activating
TSR-Select displays a menu, allowing you to run another program,
without having to exit the original application. After loading TSR-
Select, only 8K of conventional memory is used. TSR-Select can be
configured with up to 15 programs. Please read the section on
Configuring TSR-Select before using.
Detail
Let's say you want to run a network mail program while in Word
Perfect. Loading Word Perfect into memory takes about 400K of
memory. After accounting for DOS and the network shell, there is
probably not enough memory remaining to shell to DOS from Word
Perfect and then load and run network mail. But by using TSR-
Select, you will be able to access network mail, and any other
program you configure.
If TSR-Select were loaded before Word Perfect, pressing the "hot-
key" - [Alt]-[LeftShift]-[M] - would present you with a menu which
includes "MAIL". Choosing that option will run MAIL, even though
there appeared to be insufficient memory space.
How TSR-Select Works
TSR-Select performs this magical feat by swapping the original
program instructions and data code from conventional memory to
either EMS memory or the hard disk. Then enough conventional
memory is released to allow you to execute another program such as
MAIL. When you are finished running TSR-Select, the original
program code and data are then swapped back into conventional
memory, exactly where you were when you activated TSR-Select.
Memory Requirements
TSR-Select needs about 8K of normal DOS memory when it goes
resident, but can provide up to about 550K of free memory space
when it runs another program. If there is a network shell present or
other TSR programs, the total free memory will be 550K minus the
size of the network shell. (Note: These numbers do not reflect what
memory managers -- such as those found in 386Max, QEMM or DOS
5.x -- may reclaim from XMS or high memory.)
TSR-Select is a swappable TSR: when its hot key is pressed, TSR-
Select swaps out the application loaded after it and swaps itself in.
So, even though TSR-Select requires only 8K of conventional memory
when "dormant," it may take up about 35K of memory when active.
The application you run from TSR-Select must be able to load and
run in whatever space is left after TSR-Select is swapped into
memory.
If you use a memory manager on a 80386 or higher CPU-based PC,
you cannot load TSR-Select in high memory.
4 How Does TSR-Select Work?
Summary Overview
As mentioned before, TSR-Select is a swappable TSR: when its hot
key is pressed, TSR-Select swaps out the application loaded after it
and swaps itself in. So even though TSR-Select requires only 8K of
conventional memory when "dormant," when active, it may take up
about 35K of memory. When active, a menu is created based on
information in a configuration file. That information is stored in
memory when TSR-Select is first loaded. When activated TSR-Select
displays a menu as specified by the configuration information. When
a menu selection is chosen, a temporary batch file is created and
TSR-Select then executes that batch file. When the batch file is
completed, TSR-Select retakes control and re-displays the TSR-Select
menu. Pressing ESC will return the user back to the foreground
application.
Detail
When loaded for the first time, TSR-Select reads a configuration file
(see Configuring TSR-Select, below). This configuration file contains
all the information needed to create a menu selection, and the
instructions on what to do when the user selects that menu selection.
A Temporary Batch File Is Created
When a selection is chosen, TSR-Select creates a temporary batch file
on disk, then executes that batch file (see the section on the temporary
batch file at the end of this manual). All control is handed over to
that temporary batch file by way of a secondary COMMAND
processor. When the batch file completes its instructions, TSR-Select
once again takes control and re-displays the TSR-Select menu.
Number of Selections
If only one menu item has been configured, the TSR-Select menu
does not display. The user is taken directly into the selection and,
when complete, is returned directly to the foreground program.
A maximum of 15 selections are available to be configured.
There are several dangerous situations that can occur while the TSR-
Select created batch file is executing. Here are two of the most
serious situations.
1. The batch file is deleted. The temporary batch file is created
by TSR-Select and contains instructions to execute a program.
If the program were dBASE, for example, the user could shell
to DOS and delete the batch file. If this happens and the user
is lucky, when they exit the program, and the batch file tries to
continue, the user will see a "Batch File Missing" error, and
TSR-Select will take back control and re-display the TSR-Select
menu. However, if the user is not so lucky, after the "Batch
File Missing" error, the PC could lock-up, requiring a cold
boot, and likely causing memory data loss. There are many
reasons why one or the other may happen, all depending on the
memory configuration and status at the moment the secondary
COMMAND processor finds out the batch file is missing.
Consequently, the actual result is unpredictable. This problem
only becomes more complicated if you are using a memory
manager such as 386Max, QEMM or the one found in DOS
5.x.
2. Low-level disk modifications are made. Do NOT attempt to
use TSR-Select to execute a program that makes low-level
modifications to the DOS file system. Programs to avoid
include CHKDSK, disk de-fragmenters, and physical directory
sorters like Norton's DIRSORT. Using any program that does
low-level DOS file modifications could result in a total,
unrecoverable hard disk crash. This is a good reason why you
should not have an option in TSR-Select that lets the user get
control of the DOS prompt via a secondary COMMAND
processor.
Any attempt to load TSR-Select twice will fail, gracefully.
5 Configuring TSR-Select
Summary Overview
NOTE: Although creating a TSR-Select configuration file is quite
easy, there are quite a few situations you must learn to avoid. It is
strongly recommended that you read this entire chapter before
proceeding.
As the network administrator or PC support person, you will find it
quite easy to create a configuration file for TSR-Select. An example
configuration file is included with the program files, and the many
comments throughout will help you create your own TSR-Select
TSELECT.CFG file. The default name for the configuration file is
"TSELECT.CFG", although this can be changed. It can be created
with any standard text editor, or word processing program that can
produce standard DOS text files. However, a fully functional text
editor is provided in the Integrated Configuration Environment (ICE).
When the internal editor is activated, it automatically looks for and
opens the TSELECT.CFG text file.
Once the file is finished, it must be encrypted by the TSR-Select
encrypter, inside the ICE. The ICE program, called SELECTC.EXE,
creates a file that is readable by TSR-Select, and places it in the
specified directory. It is strongly recommended that you do not allow
the end-user access to the TSR-Select ICE. If there are errors in your
text file, they will be pointed out so you can correct them. (This last
feature is not available in version 1.0 or 1.01.)
Detail
There are four basic steps for creating a useable TSR-Select
configuration file:
1. Create the plain DOS text configuration file and view it.
2. Encrypt the configuration file.
3. Correct any errors reported by the encrypter.
4. Fully test the encrypted TSR-Select configuration file.
Step one, in a sense, is the most complex because there are many
rules and guidelines you must understand prior to encrypting. Steps
2 through 4 are simply the steps needed to test and implement the
results of Step 1.
Step 1. TSR-Select Configuration File
The TSR-Select configuration file, TSR-Select.CFG, consists
of at least one but no more than fifteen groups of data. Each
group is called a "chunk" and each chunk represents all the
information needed by the SELECTC encrypter to create a
readable file for TSR-Select. Comment lines may also exist
throughout the TSELECT.CFG file, either between chunks, or
within them. The total number of non-comment lines allowed
is 500. There is no specific limitation per chunk (per
selection), as long at there are no more than 15 selections, and
no more than 500 lines of non-comment command lines.
A. Using an editor to create TSELECT.CFG. The TSR-Select
configuration file you create must be a standard DOS text file.
Included in the ICE environment is an editor. You may use
this editor to create and edit TSELECT.CFG, or you may use
any plain DOS text editor, or you may use any word processor,
e.g. Word Perfect, which allows you to save your file as plain
DOS text. (The ICE editor uses standard WordStar commands,
the same commands used in Borland's SideKick notepad.
Pressing F1 while in the editor will provide you with an
abbreviated help screen.)
B. Comment lines allowed in TSELECT.CFG. As you create
your master copy of TSELECT.CFG, you may find it
convenient to store comments throughout the file. To do this,
start the comment line with a period (".") in the very first
column, column 1. Also, comments on the same line are
allowed by using a semicolon (";"). Anything after and
including the semicolon are ignored by the encrypter. You
will see many comment lines used throughout the example
configuration file.
C. Special characters. There are six special characters used by
SELECTC to configure the structure of the menu selections and
commands: "*", "$", "<", "+", "@" and ">". These
characters must be in column 1 of the text file, and you must
use only one of these characters per line. If the SELECTC
encrypter finds a line that does not begin with one of these six
characters, or a period or semicolon, an error will be
generated.
Special character: *
The asterisk ("*") character is used to identify the name
of the menu selection. For example, if you wanted to
run dBASE as a selection, and you wanted the user to
see "dBASE", then the first line of a menu selection
would look like this:
*dBASE
Not including the asterisk, the total number of characters
allowed is thirty. Although no error will be generated by
the SELECTC encrypter if more than thirty characters
are used, the name will be truncated to the first thirty
characters. There are no other restrictions; any character
that can be displayed on the screen (except for a
semicolon) is valid. This entry always signals the
beginning of a selection "chunk" in the TSELECT.CFG
file. For example, if there were a selection chunk prior
to the "dBASE" selection, then the line before "*dBASE"
would be - by definition - the last line in that previous
chunk. (These "chunks" are essentially DOS batch files,
embedded with special characters.)
Special character: $
The dollar-sign ("$") character is used to identify the
short-cut character or key in the name of the menu
selection. A number should follow the "$" character,
indicating which character is to be highlighted. For
example, if you wanted the letter "d" in "dBASE" to be
the short-cut key, then you would place the line:
$1
on the line following "*dBASE". The short-cut key is
highlighted when the TSR-Select menu is displayed. It
is a short-cut key because by pressing the highlighted
character, the user can execute that selection without
having to move the highlight bar to the selection and
press [ENTER]. If a short-cut specification is left out,
the first character will be used.
WARNING: If the character chosen competes with
another menu selection with the same short-cut key,
when the user presses the key, only the first selection
will ever be selected. The only way for the other
selection to be executed is if the user highlights it and
presses [ENTER].
As another example, if the user wanted the "S" in
"dBASE" (the 4th character) to be the shortcut key, then
use: $4
Special character: <
The less-than ("<") character is used to identify the lines
of the batch file that will occur prior to the line that
executes a program. There may be many lines which use
the "<" character. And, although these lines may
contain instructions to execute other .COM and .EXE
programs, they are still indicating all the tasks that lead
up to the primary task, that of executing the line with the
"+" character. No error checking or file verification is
done on any programs that may be executed by these
lines.
Special character: +
The plus ("+") character is used to identify the program
which is to be executed in order to fulfill the request the
user has made by selecting an item off the TSR-Select
menu. (To execute internal DOS programs, see "@"
below.) In any menu selection chunk inside of
TSELECT.CFG, there should only be one "+" line (or
just one "@" line, if it is an internal DOS command). In
the example using DBASE, this line would look
something like this:
+C:\DBASE\DBASE.EXE
It must be the fully qualified drive, path, and file name,
including extension. The only exception to this rule is if
the command is an internal DOS command, such as
"DIR." Parameters required to accompany the command
are allowed to be on the same line, just as if you were
executing the command from the DOS command line.
For example, if you wanted to run DBASE and load the
PROJECTX.PRG program at the same time, then the line
would look something like this:
+C:\DBASE\DBASE.EXE PROJECTX
Examples that would not be valid include:
+C:DBASE.EXE PROJECTX {not a fully qualified path}
+C:\DBASE\DBASE PROJECTX {no extension specified}
+DBASE.EXE PROJECTX {no path}
Before being executed, all programs are verified to exist
by way of a function inside of TSR-Select. Executing a
program that is not found will result in an error message.
If for some reason you do not want TSR-Select to check
for the existence of the program file prior to execution,
you can use the "@" special character (see below).
However, if the program were not found, and you use
the "@" character, the user will receive a "Bad command
or file name" error message and be put back to the TSR-
Select menu without much of a clue as to what happened.
Use of the "+" special character will ensure cleaner
execution of programs. It also helps to keep the person
doing the configuration from forgetting something.
WARNING: Do NOT attempt to use TSR-Select to
execute a program that makes
low-level modifications to the DOS
file system. Programs to avoid
include CHKDSK, disk
de-fragmenters, and physical
directory sorters like Norton's
DIRSORT. Using any program that
does low-level DOS file modifications
could result in a total, unrecoverable
hard disk crash.
Special character: @
The at-sign ("@") character is used to identify the
internal DOS program which is to be executed in order
to fulfill the request the user has made by selecting an
item off the TSR-Select menu. (To execute non-internal
DOS programs, see the section on "+", before this one.)
In any menu selection chunk inside of TSELECT.CFG,
there should only be one "@" line (or just one "+" line,
if it is an external program). Parameters required to
accompany the command are allowed to be on the same
line, just as if you were executing the command from the
DOS command line. For example, if you wanted a TSR-
Select menu selection to view all the .BAT files on the
root directory of drive C:, and you wanted the listing to
pause after 25 displayed lines, the following example
would perform that task:
@DIR C:\*.BAT /p
You are required to verify that the specified internal
DOS command will work properly.
Special character: >
The greater-than (">") character is used to identify the
lines of the batch file that will occur after the line that
executes a program. There may be many lines which use
the ">" character. And, although these lines may
themselves contain instructions to execute other .COM
and .EXE programs, they are still indicating all the tasks
that must occur after the primary program was finished
executing. No error checking or file verification is done
on any programs that may be executed by these lines.
Here is an example of a valid TSELECT.CFG file:
.Comment lines start with a period (".")
.This first chunk runs dBASE
*dBASE ; the title of the selection
$1 ; the 1st character ("d") is the short-cut
<ECHO OFF
<CLS
<SET OPATH=%PATH%
<PATH C:\DBASE;%PATH%
<C:
<CD \DATA\DBASE
+C:\DBASE\DBASE.EXE ; a fully qualified path and filename w/ext.
>PATH %OPATH%
>SET OPATH=
.
.The next chunk lets us run MAPMEM to look at what's in memory
*MapMem ; the title of the selection
$3 ; the 3rd character ("p") is the short-cut
<ECHO OFF
<CLS
+C:\UTIL\MapMem.EXE ; note that the ".EXE" is included
<pause ; using a DOS PAUSE is helpful here
.
.This third chunk looks at the batch files in the directory of C:\
*DIR of C ; the title of the selection
$1 ; the 1st character("D") is the short-cut
<ECHO OFF
<CLS
@DIR C:\*.BAT /p ; use "@" ; DIR is an internal DOS command
Step 2. View what the menu will look like with the Viewer.
The SELECTC Viewer In Action
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View what the menu will look like. Quadrant Computer Systems
The SELECTC Viewer will allow you to preview what the
TSR-Select menu will look like. You do not have to encrypt
the configuration file to use the Viewer. As soon as you are
finished making a change to the configuration file in the Editor,
press [ESC] to return to the SELECTC main menu, the press
[V] to View the results. View reads the un-encrypted
configuration file directly, then interperts the contents. If you
don't like what you see, simple re-enter the editor and make the
changes.
Step 3. Encrypt it with the SELECTC encryption selection.
The encryption option of SELECTC.EXE is designed to read
in the lines of the configuration file you have created, and
create another file that is to be read by TSR-Select, when
TSELECT is first loaded into memory.
The default name of the configuration file you create for
SELECTC is TSELECT.CFG. The default name of the
compiled configuration file that SELECTC creates is
TSRSCFG.<Alt-255>. These names can be changed, if
desired, but it is unlikely you will ever need to. (The
<Alt-255> signifies a character that looks like a blank, or
space, on the screen, but is really the ASCII character 255.
You can create that character by pressing down, and holding
down, the [Alt] key, while typing [2] [5] [5] on the numeric
keypad, then releasing the [Alt] key.)
Although the process that SELECTC performs is complex, it
works very fast. You may think that, because it worked so
fast, it did not work at all. Each time a line is compiled, a
counter on the screen will update. If there are no errors,
SELECTC will report that there were none, and that TSRSCFG
was created successfully.
If there are errors, SELECTC will generate verbose listings of
the errors, why they were caused and suggest how to correct
them. (Error generation is not yet available in versions prior
to 1.10... all subsequent references in this manual to error
detection apply to version 1.10 and above.)
If you have placed more than 15 entries in the TSELECT.CFG
file, all entries after the 15th entry will be ignored and no
encrypter error message is generated.
Step 4. Correct any errors reported by the encrypter.
This is just a matter of going back into the editor and making
whatever changes may be required.
Step 5. Fully test the encrypted TSR-Select configuration file.
It is critical that you run the final version of your configuration
on a real users PC, running a full-fledged program such as
Word Perfect. Each program on the TSR-Select menu should
be tested and verified that it returns properly.
6 Installing TSR-Select
Summary Overview
When installed, TSR-Select will use either EMS memory (if available)
or disk space (if EMS is not available) for its swapping medium. To
install TSR-Select, type: TSR-Select at the DOS prompt. If
TSR-Select cannot find the configuration file, an error message will
be generated and the loading process will stop. TSR-Select can be
told where the configuration file is by using either special DOS
environment variables, or by specifying the alternative location as
parameters on the command line that loads TSR-Select (see below).
To activate TSR-Select, once loaded, use the hot key: [Alt]-
[LeftShift]-[M].
Detail
TSR-Select will use either EMS memory or disk space for its
swapping medium. When using EMS, it consumes about X+45
kilobytes of EMS (rounded up to the nearest 16K boundary), where
X is the amount of RAM to be free when the TSR-Select shell starts.
When using disk space, it uses about 2*(X+15)+30 kilobytes of disk
space. If you choose to have TSR-Select use a RAM drive as the
swap area, then the X+45Kb rule applies.
Default Behavior of TSR-Select
You can install TSR-Select simply by typing its name at the DOS
command line. It provides the following default behavior:
it looks for the configuration file, TSRSCFG.<Alt-255>, in
the default directory.
all RAM that is free at the time TSR-Select is loaded, less
about 35K will be available to the TSR-Select shell.
EMS memory, if available, will be used for swap space.
dual swap files located in the root directory of the C: drive will
be used if EMS is not available.
swap files will be marked hidden,system.
hot key will be [Alt]-[LeftShift]-[M].
Expanded Memory Load
If you have Expanded Memory (EMS) active in your PC, TSR-Select
will take advantage of it, and the swap time will be dramatically
decreased. Upon loading TSR-Select, if it finds EMS memory, you
will see something like this:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ TSR-Select -*- version 1.0 -*- Copyright 1991 Quadrant Computer Systems ║
╚╤══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
│ <your company name>
└──────────────────────────────
Using EMS for swapping.
Going resident, <Alt-LeftShift-M> to popup...
Approximate memory available for program use = 443352
Disk Swap Load
If you do not have EMS memory available, you will need
approximately 1.2Mb of disk space available at all times. TSR-Select
will swap-to-disk, and the swap time will take anywhere from 2
seconds to 20 seconds, depending on the type of PC and the speed of
your hard disk. Upon loading TSR-Select, if there is no EMS
memory, you will see something like this:
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ TSR-Select -*- version 1.0 -*- Copyright 1991 Quadrant Computer Systems ║
╚╤══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
│ <your company name>
└──────────────────────────────
Swap will require 1173888 bytes of disk space.
Going resident, <Alt-LeftShift-M> to popup...
Approximate memory available for program use = 443352
When EMS memory is not available, TSR-Select normally uses three
swap files. Two of the files are used to activate the swappable TSR.
The first such file holds the TSR-Select code and data and the other
one holds the memory contents that TSR-Select overwrites. The third
file is used for the TSR-Select shell itself and consumes about 30K
bytes, which is typically much smaller than the first two.
Swap Files
TSR-Select cannot delete the swap files if you turn the machine off
while TSR-Select is loaded; however, it will correctly overwrite them
the next time it's loaded again.
Machine Lockups
WARNING: If data in the foreground program was not saved at the
time TSR-Select is activated, and a machine lock-up occurs, there is
no mechanism available with TSR-Select to restore the data. TSR-
Select users should be reminded to save the foreground programs'
data prior to activating TSR-Select.
Forcing Swaps To Go To Disk
If EMS memory is available but you do not want TSR-Select to
automatically use it, use the '/D' switch when loading TSR-Select:
TSELECT /D
This switch will force TSR-Select to use the disk for swapping.
Forcing Swaps To Go to RAM Disk
If you would prefer to use a RAM disk as the swap disk, use the
"/SD:<drive>" switch when loading TSR-Select:
TSELECT /SD:D:\
would make the RAM disk drive D:\ the swap disk. Make sure that
the RAM disk has at least 1Mb of memory available to it.
Location of Configuration File
If the configuration file will not be on the default drive (which will
most always be the case when used with a network, and many users
will be accessing the same configuration), then the following methods
can be used for specifying where the configuration file will be:
Method 1: Using DOS environment variables.
The DOS environment is checked during TSR-Select load time
for the variable, TSRS_CA. If it exists and it specifies a valid
directory, that will become the default directory, over-riding
the default of using the current directory. For example, if the
configuration file were stored on a network drive, drive U:, in
the U:\UTIL subdirectory, then the following SET command
would set up a users DOS environment:
SET TSRS_CA=U:\UTIL
Method 2: Using the command line.
The command line parameters are checked during TSR-Select
load time for the switch, /CA:<drive/directory>. If it exists
and it specifies a valid directory, that directory will become the
default directory, over-riding both the current directory and any
DOS environment TSRS_CA variable. For example, if the
configuration file were stored on a network drive, drive U:,
directory U:\UTIL, then the following TSR-Select load
command line would change the default and override any DOS
environment variable that may exist:
TSELECT /CA:U:\UTIL
Avoiding The Need for /CA or /CN
It is possible, however, to make sure the configuration file is on the
same drive and directory as the executable. For example, say you
have a U: drive set for everyone in the network, and say all your
utility programs reside on U:\UTIL. If TSR-Select and the
TSRSCFG.<Alt-255> file were stored in U:\UTIL, then -- for
example -- during login you have a batch file that starts from C: and
must end on C:, then a few lines in a batch file could say:
...
U:
CD \UTIL
TSELECT
C:
...
Multiple Configuration Files
All these examples assume that there is one configuration file,
TSRSCFG.<Alt-255>. However, in a network environment, you
may find that you want multiple configurations, some for this group,
another for that group, unique ones for administrators, and one for the
average user.
This is achieved again through either a DOS environment variable or
through a TSELECT command line parameter.
Method 1: Using DOS environment variables.
The DOS environment is checked during TSR-Select load time
for the variable, TSRS_CN. If it exists and it specifies a valid
file name, that will become the default configuration file name,
over-riding the default of using TSRSCFG.<Alt-255>. For
example, if the configuration file were stored on a network
drive, drive U:, in the U:\UTIL subdirectory, and the
Marketing group wanted a different configuration from
everyone else, then the following SET commands would set up
a users DOS environment:
SET TSRS_CA=U:\UTIL
SET TSRS_CN=MKTG.CFG
Method 2: Using the command line.
The command line parameters are checked during TSR-Select
load time for the switch, /CN:<drive/directory>. If it exists
and it specifies a valid configuration file name, that file name
will become the default, over-riding both the TSRSCFG.<Alt-
255> file and any DOS environment TSRS_CN variable. For
example, if the configuration file were stored on a network
drive, drive U:, directory U:\UTIL, and the Marketing group
wanted a different configuration from everyone else, then the
following TSR-Select load command line would change the
default and override any DOS environment variable that may
exist:
TSELECT /CA:U:\UTIL /CN:MKTG.CFG
NOTE FOR VERSION 1.0 AND 1.01 USERS: Although the
Integrated Configuration Environment can only create the
TSRSCFG.<Alt-255> encrypted file name, you can easily change
it by using the DOS rename command. For example, to change the
final, encrypted file to MKTG.CFG, type in:
REN TSRSCFG.[Alt][2][5][5] MKTG.CFG
Where the line says: [Alt][2][5][5], that means you need to press
down and hold the [Alt] key, then using the numeric keypad, type in
the numbers [2] [5] [5], then release the [Alt] key. This will create
the ASCII character <Alt-255>. If you need to decrypt a file, it
must first be renamed to TSRSCFG.<Alt-255>.
Why Not A Self-Modifying .EXE?
TECHNICAL NOTE: Some of you more advanced PC types may
wonder why I don't allow for the re-configuration of the
TSELECT.EXE or TSELECTM.EXE executable files directly -- as
is popular with many modern programs. Primarily, it is so you can
attach the network file attributes (such as those found in Banyan
VINES and Novell Netware), such as Execute-Only, or "+E", to the
executable. Programs which must read configuration data directly
from the executable must be able to open the executable file as if it
were a data file. Using the "+E" attribute would not allow the
program to perform even a read-only file open. Also, the
TSELECT.EXE and TSELECTM.EXE executables are in a
compressed format, and the technology that allows for the
compression of the executable does not account for self-modifying
programs. Other networks may have similar environments.
Activating TSR-Select From The DOS Prompt
Versions 1.02 and above of TSR-Select come with a supplemental
program called TSELECTM.EXE. TSELECTM is identical to
TSELECT except that the TSR routines were stripped out. So, in
effect, TSELECTM is simply a menu program. It looks identical to
your TSR-Select menu, and acquires it's information from the same
configuration file that was specified. It is very important that it is
installed correctly in order for it to be available to the user.
TSELECTM.EXE must be placed in the same subdirectory that
TSELECT.EXE is in. When this is done, the default configuration
file for TSELECTM is that subdirectory. If a configuration file area
and/or name was specified at the time TSELECT was executed, then
TSELECTM will acquire its configuration information from that area.
The way this works is if a command-line parameter was used with
TSELECT to indicate a different area and/or name for the
configuration file, then TSELECT puts that information into the DOS
environment. This will overwrite the DOS environment variables
TSRS_CA and TSRS_CN, if they were in the users DOS
environment. Normally, this should not be a problem since the
command line parameters always take precedence over the
environment variables.
If no command-line parameters were specified, but DOS environment
variables existed, then TSELECTM will read these and use these to
find the configuration files. If neither command-line parameters nor
DOS environment variables were used, then TSELECTM will expect
to find the default configuration files in the same subdirectory that it
is stored in.
This is a failry complex procedure in theory, but quite simple in
practice. Just make sure that TSELECTM.EXE and TSELECT.EXE
are in the same subdirectory along with the default configuration file.
The stand-alone program, TSELECTM, requires about 100K to load
into memory, but will only be using about 21K of memory when the
user selects an option. Most of TSELECTM is swapped out to disk
or EMS memory in order to make as much of DOS available to the
user as possible. Any abort, cancel or disruption in the selected
option should always return the user to the TSELECTM menu, since
it is still in memory. All of the restrictions that apply to TSELECT
also apply to TSELECTM, the most important of which is not to
execute any programs that perform low-level disk functions.
7 How the End-User Uses TSR-Select
Once it is loaded in memory, to activate TSR-Select, use
[Alt]-[LeftShift]-[M] as the hotkey. You must press down and hold
down both the [Alt] key and the [Left-Shift] key, and while doing so,
press the [M] key.
╒══TSR-Select══╕
│ Mail │
│ TimeTalk │
│ SetPrint │
│ LastMsg │
╘═══════════1.0╛
Example TSR-Select Menu
After a short swapping delay, a menu will be displayed over your
existing screen. Select the program to run by highlighting the
selection, using the up arrow or down arrow keys, then pressing
[Enter]. Each selection should also have a character which is
highlighted; you can select the program by pressing the key for that
character. For example, using the menu above, if the "P" in
"SetPrint" were highlighted, then even if "Mail" were highlighted,
pressing the "P" key will immediately activate "SetPrint." When you
exit that program, you will be returned to the TSR-Select menu.
Pressing [ESC] will then return you to your original application.
What Happens If The Selection Is Not Available?
If TSR-Select cannot run a program when you request it, it will
display the following error message and return to the TSR-Select
menu:
Unable to locate Z:\CHAT.EXE...
TSR-SELECT will not allow access to your selection without
resolution of this problem. You may not have a network drive set
properly.
Press any key to continue...
Swapping Delays
If using EMS memory or a RAM disk for swapping, the delay on a
386-based PC is barely noticeable, and on 286- or 8088-based PCs it
is infinitely preferable to a disk swap, although still a bit slow (1-5
seconds). Swapping to disk, however, can present a delay that will
range from about 2 seconds to 30 seconds, depending on the speed of
your PC and hard disk. After choosing a selection from the TSR-
Select menu, then exiting that selection, you will always be returned
to the TSR-Select menu. For users swapping to disk, this is
advantageous because it reduces the amount of swapping that occurs,
especially if the user wants to execute another TSR-Select selection
immediately.
Auto-Load of TSR-Select Recommended
It is recommended that TSR-Select be loaded automatically whenever
a user logs in to the network. This can be accomplished several
ways, one of which is by using a "POSTLOGIN" command in the
user profile (if available on your network). If you have network
applications configured in TSR-Select, it is strongly recommended that
TSR-Select always be unloaded from memory whenever logging out
of the network. The network programs that TSR-Select would access
are no longer available once the user has logged out.
8 Unloading TSR-Select
Unload TSR-Select from memory by typing:
TSR-Select /U
from the DOS command line. The unload will succeed only if no
TSRs that grab interrupt vectors have been loaded after TSR-Select.
If you attempt to unload TSR-Select from within a batch file, the
memory will be trapped until the batch file completes.
9 Warnings and Restrictions
Although the following warnings and restrictions in running
TSR-Select may sound daunting, TSR-Select is performing a function
that DOS was never supposed to allow, so some flexibility is lost.
DOS Version Restrictions
TSR-Select does not work with any DOS prior to 3.0. Either piece
of swapping technology -- swappable TSR's or swapping exec --
works fine by itself, but the two don't combine well. Interestingly,
AT&T DOS version 2.11 works with TSR-Select, which suggests the
presence of a bug in the earlier DOS versions. TSELECT.EXE nor
TSELECTM.EXE, as supplied, will not load for any DOS version
prior to 3.0.
Well-Behaved Programs vs. Ill-Behaved Programs
WARNING: TSR-Select expects to deal strictly with "well-behaved"
foreground programs (like Word Perfect, dBASE, Lotus 2.01, etc.).
There are certain complications involved with using TSR-Select while
ill-behaved programs are running in the foreground, including but not
limited to strange color settings (especially with EGA/VGA monitors).
Using TSR-Select At the DOS Prompt
In versions of TSR-Select prior to 1.02, TSR-Select could not be
activated at the DOS prompt. It was only for use within another
program.
With version 1.02 and above, however, a version of TSR-Select
called TSELECTM has the menu functions but no TSR capability.
When a user calls TSR-Select from the DOS prompt, TSR-Select will
determine that it is not inside another program and then run
TSELECTM. For this to work, you must place the TSELECTM.EXE
program in the same sub-directory where the TSELECT.EXE program
is, or where the configuration file is. Failure to do this will result in
an error message whenever the user tries to access TSR-Select from
the DOS prompt.
Save the Foreground Data Before Activating TSR-
Select
Because of the capricious nature of running swappable TSR's with
DOS, it is highly advisable that users train themselves to save the data
from the current foreground program prior to executing the TSR-
Select hot-key. However unlikely it is that TSR-Select may lock-up
the PC, even if it is only once a year that it happens, following the
practice of saving the foreground programs data would be well worth
the inconvenience.
Loading TSR-Select in High Memory
TSR-Select may not be loaded "high," using such utilities as QEMM,
QRAM, or 386MAX. TSR-Select requires a large amount of
contiguous RAM space that must immediately follow its kernel in
memory.
The Loading Sequence for TSR-Select
Like any swappable TSR, TSR-Select should not be loaded before
programs or TSRs that contain hardware interrupt handlers.
Examples include network shells, asynchronous communications
programs, and multitasking operating systems. This means you
should never load TSR-Select prior to loading a network shell. This
also means you should avoid activating TSR-Select if a
communications program is the current foreground program, such as
Procomm Plus, CrossTalk. or QModem. TSR-Select should never be
used with multitasking or swapping programs such as DesqView,
DoubleDOS, HeadRoom, SwitchIt, Windows 2.x or Windows 3.x.
Loading TSR-Select Between the Network Shell and
Other Communications Programs
NETWORK USERS NOTE: Loading TSR-Select after the network
shell is certainly ok. However, programs that use the network shell
as a link to another communications medium -- for example,
NETBIOS or a 3270 emulator program -- may have trouble
maintaining the communications connection if they are swapped out
for very long. It is recommended that you test this possibility.
Interruption of the Socket Interface
VERY IMPORTANT: Banyan VINES applications such as MAIL,
MANAGE, MNET (or NetMan), and most of the applications found
on the Z: drive, establish client/server relationships when executed.
They use socket calls for a communications protocol and they expect
to always be in touch with each other. Interrupting those socket
calls can have serious effects, sometimes resulting in a lock-up,
requiring a cold boot. Since TSR-Select swaps out the foreground
program, any communications that may have been established is
forcibly relinquished. In summary, I would strongly discourage the
use of TSR-Select while the foreground program is a Banyan
application. For example, if you are running MAIL as the
foreground application, and you want to execute TimeTalk, DO
NOT use TSR-Select to execute TimeTalk, or vice versa. (TimeTalk
also establishes a client/server relationship via socket calls.) This
scenario may well exist for other networks.
Is The DOS Prompt Active?
The techniques TSR-Select uses to detect that it was popped up at the
command line may be fooled by multitasking operating systems such
as DesqView and Windows. It is not recommended that you use
TSR-Select with these programs. Also, DOS level applications such
as EDLIN and DEBUG may also fool TSR-Select into thinking you
are still at the DOS prompt. The latter problem rarely occurs,
however.
TSR-Select and the Graphics Mode
You may not pop-up TSR-Select from within a program operating in
graphics mode. This is not a limitation of the swappable TSR itself;
TSR-Select simply doesn't know how to save and restore the state of
a graphics screen. Since there is currently no standard in the IBM-
compatible PC industry for graphics adapters, it is unlikely that this
can be resolved in the near future. When the new VESA standard is
fully implemented, a future version of TSR-Select will support it.
Technical Info
Most of the memory area that it reclaims isn't used directly by TSR-
Select. Besides the code, data, and stack space that TSR-Select
actually uses, it retains a variable amount of heap space that provides
the free RAM for the programs. Also, TSR-Select uses a swapping
DOS shell: after the swappable TSR takes control, it swaps the TSR's
code and data back out, shrinks its memory allocation to the
minimum, and calls the DOS EXEC function to activate a DOS
command line. The amount of memory free at this command line can
range from 30K to over 500K depending on when and how TSR-
Select was loaded. After you exit from the program (e.g., MAIL,
SETPRINT, etc.), the sequence is reversed and the original
application regains control.
10 Known Problems with Version 1.0x
Keyboard State
The keyboard state may not reset, so after TSR-Select was used and
then exited, the Ctrl, Alt or Shift key may think it's being pressed.
So if another application is looking for, say, Ctrl-Shift, and you
merely press the Shift key, the Ctrl key may be "on", so the other
application may think you pressed Ctrl-Shift, when you really didn't.
This is very rare.
Screen State Restore
The screen may not reset properly with ill-behaved programs. If
another program changes the colors on the screen, TSR-Select does
not properly save those settings, change them to "normal" (normal for
TSR-Select), then restore them. The result may be that, while
running TSR-Select or any of the programs that you can activate from
TSR-Select, the colors on the screen may be, shall we say, weird.
This is especially a problem with ill-behaved programs that makes
changes to the palette and DAC registers - and the blink register -
directly.
Graphics Screen
TSR-Select should refuse to activate when a graphics screen is
present, but it may activate if the program breaks all the rules. This
causes several complications. Activating TSR-Select while running
a graphics program that allows this will result in returning to the
foreground program with an unknown screen state.
NOTE: There is a "trick" to using TSR-Select with graphics
programs. For example, Freelance 3.x switches to text mode when
accessing some of its menus, e.g., Print Options. Once in the text
mode, TSR-Select can be successfully activated and, when finished,
the program restored. If the graphics program you are using does not
have a text mode, then you may be able to shell to DOS. This almost
always will switch the PC to text mode. At that point, you can load
a very small program (such as COMP, found in almost all DOS') then
activate TSR-Select. When finished, exit the small program, then
type EXIT.
SELECTC And The Last Command In The Configuration File
The last command in the configuration file will not be executed.
The work-around for this is to place a harmless command as the last
command, for example:
>cls
11 TSR-Select License Information
The following is a sample of the TSR-Select license. Each
corporation or individual purchasing a license to use TSR-Select will
have an original license document separate from this manual.
TSR-Select is licensed on a per server basis, and is non-transferable.
TSR-Select, when used on a Local Area Network or Wide Area
Network, may not be pooled; any server with a user with the potential
of accessing TSR-Select must have a license. The 'per server' license
is available for $495 per server for the first three servers, and $195
per server for each server after three. Site and corporate licenses are
available.
The 'per user' license is $45. The $45.00 fee does include upgrades
or technical support (see below) for one year. However, at the
discretion of the licenser, per user licenses may only be sold to
individuals who do not own, operate or have access to a network.
One complete manual on disk is provided for any company ordering
one or more copies of TSR-Select. It will be provided in the
following forms, on request: paper, Word Perfect format, or ASCII
text format. Companies purchasing a non-'single user' license will be
provided a bound manual.
Distribution
The author will ship only one diskette to any company licensing a
customized version of TSR-Select. This diskette will contain the
programs, TSELECT.EXE, TSELECTM.EXE and SELECTC.EXE,
as well as the documentation in ASCII text format.
For upgrades and technical support after the first year, an additional
fee of $80.00 per server, per year, will be assessed. QCS reserves
the right to change this fee without notice.
Definition of upgrade
Upgrades include any new feature, bug fix, improvement, or rewrite
of the program that is normally included in the standard, commercial
version of TSR-Select.
What is not covered by "upgrade": the user(s) of any version of
TSR-Select requesting new features, changes, additions to the
environment, or improvements, not found or included in the
non-customized, commercial version of TSR-Select. These changes
are to be covered in a separate contract document.
Definition of technical support
The user(s) of any version of TSR-Select are required to have one
person as a contact for technical support from the author. End-users
are not permitted to contact the author. In the event that a group of
persons at a company are all equally responsible for technical support
of a large group of end-users, up to three of those persons may be
assigned as the contacts for technical support. Technical support will
include telephone contact not exceeding 30 minutes, during regular
business hours. In the event that on-site consultations are required,
the author retains the right to charge an hourly fee of $85 plus
expenses. This rate is only for consultations pertaining directly to
TSR-Select and its use, and any discussions concerning modifications
or additions to TSR-Select. Consultations on any other subject may
be charged at a higher rate.
The author assumes no liability for the use or abuse of
TSELECT.EXE, TSELECTM.EXE or SELECTC.EXE. The author
is not responsible for any lost data, damage to other files, or other
consequential damages that may occur while TSR-Select is in memory
or in use. This includes any subsequent attachment of a virus to
TSR-Select. The author has made a genuine and reasonable effort in
creating TSR-Select for the purposes stated in this manual, but none
other are implied or warranted.
All license payments should be sent to:
Quadrant Computer Systems
13164 Memorial Dr., Suite 126
Houston, TX 77079
To report problems or suggestions regarding TSR-Select, or for more
information, the author can be contacted at CompuServe 70070,460,
or 713-825-6900. Fax #: 713-467-4135.
* Due to a special arrangement, Panhandle Eastern Corporation employees who use TSR-Select for business purposes are
exempt from paying any fees unless the program is for personal use.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Companies purchasing TSR-Select must assure the author that the
software shall be used for business purposes only. End-users should
be notified that personal use of TSR-Select is a violation of the
license. Also, the author assumes no responsibility for any lost data,
damage to other files, or other consequential damages that may occur
while TSR-Select is in memory, active or inactive. This includes any
subsequent attachment of a virus to TSR-Select.
Backup
Backup of the software and documentation is allowed under the
provisions of the United States Copyright law. Backup copies are for
archival purposes only, and may not be distributed to anyone.
12 If You Used TSR-Mail v2.x
Summary Overview
TSRMAIL provided a pop-up menu of specific Banyan VINES
selections, Mail, Chat, SetPrint, EndSpool, LastMsg and Send. The
primary difference between TSRMAIL and TSR-Select is the
additional flexibility of being able to create your own menu selections.
This makes TSR-Select inherently more complicated, so it is
important you read the section on Configuring TSR-Select.
Detail
There are few changes that separate TSRMAIL v2.x and TSR-Select.
Rather than being limited to five Banyan VINES network specific
programs, the network administrator or PC support person can create
their own TSR-Select selections. This offers infinite flexibility, future
compatibility, and results in more functionality for your end-users.
In effect, this capability allows you to turn ANY program -- whether
it be Lotus, dBASE, or any commercial, Shareware or public domain
program, or any internally developed program -- into a memory-
resident program only requiring 8 kilobytes of conventional memory.
13 The Temporary Batch File
As noted before in the section "How Does TSR-Select Work?", a
temporary batch file is written to disk and then executed by TSR-
Select.
The default name for this batch file is TSRS$.BAT and the default
area that this batch file is written to is the root directory of C: (C:\).
If you have a need to change the area (however unlikely that is), you
may use either a command line switch or an environment variable to
change the area for the file.
Method 1: Using DOS environment variables.
The DOS environment is checked during TSR-Select load time
for the variable, TSRS_A. If it exists and it specifies a valid
directory, that will become the default directory, over-riding
the default of using the C:\ directory. For example, if you
wanted the temporary batch file to execute in the C:\TEMP
subdirectory, then the following SET command would set up a
users DOS environment:
SET TSRS_A=C:\TEMP
Method 2: Using the command line.
The command line parameters are checked during TSR-Select
load time for the switch, /A:<drive/directory>. If it exists
and it specifies a valid directory, that directory will become the
default directory, over-riding both the C:\ directory and any
DOS environment TSRS_A variable. For example, if you
wanted the temporary batch file to execute in the C:\TEMP
subdirectory, then the following TSR-Select load command line
would change the default and override any DOS environment
variable that may exist:
TSELECT /A:C:\TEMP
If you have a need to change the name (however unlikely that is), you
may use either a command line switch or an environment variable to
change the name of the file.
Method 1: Using DOS environment variables.
The DOS environment is checked during TSR-Select load time
for the variable, TSRS_N. The value of that variable will
become the default temporary batch file name, over-riding the
default of using TSRS$.BAT. For example, if you wanted the
temporary batch file to execute in the C:\TEMP subdirectory,
and the Marketing group wanted the name to be MKTG$.BAT,
then the following SET commands would set up a users DOS
environment:
SET TSRS_A=C:\TEMP
SET TSRS_N=MKTG$.BAT
Method 2: Using the command line.
The command line parameters are checked during TSR-Select
load time for the switch, /N:<drive/directory>. The value of
that switch will become the temporary batch file name, over-
riding both the TSRS$.BAT file name and any DOS
environment TSRS_N variable. For example, if you wanted the
temporary batch file to execute in the C:\TEMP subdirectory,
and the Marketing group wanted the name to be MKTG$.BAT,
then the following TSR-Select load command line would change
the default and override any DOS environment variable that
may exist:
TSELECT /A:C:\TEMP /N:MKTG$.BAT
Index
/?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
/A:<drive/directory>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
/CA:<drive/directory>.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
/CN:<drive/directory> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
/D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
/N:<drive/directory>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
/SD:<drive> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
/U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3270 emulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
386Max. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 9, 35
Automatic loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Bad command or file name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Banyan VINES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3, 28, 36, 45
Batch File Missing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
CHKDSK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 17
Chunk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 14
Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4, 11, 12, 18
Communications program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Configuration file. . . . . . . . . .2, 4, 8, 11, 19, 22, 27
DEBUG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Default Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
DesqView. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
DIRSORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 17
DOS 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 9
EDLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
EMS memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 6, 22, 23, 25, 32
Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 20, 22, 31
Unable to locate <program name> . . . . . . . . . . 32
Error checking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15, 18
Error detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Execute-Only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Graphics mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
ICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3, 11, 12
Ill-behaved programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Integrated configuration environment (ICE). . . . . . . . .3
Memory Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 8
Multitasking operating systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Multitasking programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
NETBIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
POSTLOGIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
QEMM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9, 35
RAM disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25, 32
SELECTC.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3, 11, 19, 41, 43
SET TSRS_A= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46, 47
SET TSRS_CA=. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26, 27, 46
SET TSRS_CN=. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
SET TSRS_N= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Socket calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Special characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
@ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Strange color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Swapping programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Technical support after the first year. . . . . . . . . . 42
TSELECT.CFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 12, 14, 17
example of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
TSELECT.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 28, 34, 41
TSELECTM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3, 28, 34, 41, 43
TSRMAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
TSRS$.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46, 47
TSRSCFG.<Alt-255> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 22, 26, 27
Unloading TSR-Select. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
User profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Viewer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Well-behaved programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Windows 3.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
* * * * * * * A n n o u n c i n g ! A n n o u n c i n g ! * * * * * *
QCS Administrator Utilities
Below is a list of most of the programs and utilities to be found in the
package, QCS Admin Utilities. Quadrant Computer Systems retains the right
to add to and/or remove and/or change the name, description or function of
any program listed. Programs notated by the asterisk (*) have Banyan VINES
specific function calls integrated into them. All of these programs have
been used by network administrators in real situations, and are proven to
help reduce the amount of time and people required to run your network.
These files are listed in alphabetical order. It should be noted that the
QCSMENU and QCS-SEND programs are probably worth the cost of the entire
package.
BANVALID Allow remote users to effectively use the same menu system as
home office users.
BANVALID.TXT Specification file for BANVALID
BYTECOPY Non-DOS copy of files, with throughput readings; good for
very slow PC-Dial-In links.
CHGAEXEC Modifies the AUTOEXEC.BAT file with MACHTYPE
variable, dynamically acquired from the PC.
CHK4CAD Checks for phrase 'Ctrl-Alt-Del' generated by NEWREV,
reboots. Use with GETREV.
*CHKBAN Sets errorlevel if the BANYAN shell is not loaded
CHKMAIL If any mail is waiting at login, will run MAIL.
CHKMONTH For batch file: checks the month.
CONFGMOD Modifies CONFIG.SYS file from batch file with contents of
CONFIG.INC file.
DIRNAMES Acquires all subdirectory names under a directory and
optionally allows the MD command to be appended.
DIRSIZE Acquires all (or specified) file sizes and totals in a
subdirectory.
DIRTEST Checks to see if a directory is there or available.
DSKAVAIL Batch file check to see if theres enough disk space.
EDIT Quick & dirty full screen editor; better, faster than EDLIN.
ELOG Ecrypted logging; works like ECHO, but with meta characters
$d, $t.
FF File Find.
FILECOMP File compare.
FILEINFO Returns directory information on a file; for logging
purposes.
FINDDUP Finds all duplicate files on a drive.
*GETASSIG Acquires VINES StreetTalk information.
GETDISP Returns the monitor type as a DOS env. variable.
*GETREV Returns the VINES revision as a DOS env. var.
GETSNA Allows the pooling of all SNA services using standard VINES
SNA service
*GETUPROF Returns contents of VINES user profiles
ISTSRML Set errorlevel if TSRMAIL is loaded in memory.
LE.HLP Help screens for LE
LE Full-powered ASCII text editor; search/replace, etc.
MAIL! Send Banyan E-Mail from within a batch file.
MEMAVAIL Use in batch file to see if there is enough memory
MEMORY Returns info on memory
MODMENU For AUTOMENU or QCSMENU users only; allows menu
selections to be replaced via a batch file.
*NB_NAME NetBios name; sets errorlevel if not set.
PDIRSIZE Totals file sizes of all file in current and sub-dirs;
stuffs results into DOS env. for comparison. A process
using this program can detect if a user is exceeding a
specified limit of file sizes on a private network
directory.
*POPENDSP TSR EndSpool command.
PPAUSE Like DOS PAUSE, but helps stop Ctrl-C aborts.
*PRTASIGN Reports on all the VINES print services and who is assigned to
them.
*QCSMENU A full-featured menu system for Banyan VINES networks; can
use AUTOMENU data files; comes with keyboard lock,
calendar, file find, editor, etc. Will work with non-Banyan
systems, or stand-alone PCs, too, but contains VINES calls to
show if a user is logged in, their user name, drive mappings,
etc. Works similar to AUTOMENU.
*QCSSEND Replacement for Banyan VINES Send command; shows who
sent the message.
READELOG Reads encrypted log files created by ELOG.
REBOOT Warm boots PC.
SERVFIX Fixes need to press Ctrl-R in Banyan SNA.
SETKBT Sets DOS env. var. with type of keyboard.
*SETRUSER Acquires VINES user name from server and stuffs in DOS env.
variables, e.g., USERNAME, USERGROUP, USERORG.
SETSHELL Sets the CONFIG.SYS so the SHELL command is set to 900, or
any specified amount.
SKSENSE Senses if Sidekick/SK+ is in memory, sets an errorlevel.
SSEND Like ECHO but has meta characters, $d, $t, $e, and more.
TREESIZE Acquires all subdirectory sizes and displays.
V Text file viewer. ('V' for 'View')
WAIT Causes a BATCH file to wait until a set time.
WAITFOR Causes a BATCH file to wait x seconds.
WHOIS Input nickname, returns full StreetTalk name.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A good many of these utilities are best used when the login process is
controlled by a DOS batch file: CHKMAIL, GETREV, SSEND, ELOG, MODMENU, CHGAEXEC,
CONFGMOD, etc. Yet other programs are intended to be run from the DOS prompt by
the network administrator: TREESIZE, DIRSIZE, PDIRSIZE, QCSMENU, V, READELOG,
MEMORY, etc.
Pricing
$295 per server, for the first three servers.
$195 per server, for each server after three.
This pricing includes all upgrades and technical support for one-year.
Upgrades for technical support are $80 per server per year after the first
year.
For more information on QCS Administrator Utilities, TSR-Select, TSR-Mail,
or any other QCS programs, please contact:
Quadrant Computer Systems
13164 Memorial Dr.
Suite 126
Houston, Texas 77079
(713) 825-6900 (voice)
(713) 467-4135 (fax)
CompuServe 70070,460