I'm enjoying Winstep and I'll likely be buying it soon. One small thing that is bugging me though. I use Mozilla Mail 1.6 on my XP system. The path to start Mozilla Mail is "C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe" -mail. Winstep doesn't not recognize this path and gives an error message. If I take away the quotes and the -mail it works fine but only opens Mozilla. Not a huge deal but it would be nice to be able to start mail directly. Great program btw, it succeeds where many fail.

I would like see a MusicMatch module. Maybe make it drag and drop so you can drag an MP3 to it to play. I would like it to just have the basics like play and stop, next track etc. A more popular module might be a Stock ticker though I'm sure you've thought of that one.

Richard

Thanks for the nice words.

The '-mail' switch (or argument) is not part of the filename itself, that is why WorkShelf (and I assume you are talking about WorkShelf, although in NextSTART the same thing applies) does not accept it there. Right click on your Mozzila Mail icon in WorkShelf and select Properties from the context menu. In the Properties Editor dialog, click on the Properties button in the Filename section. In the Program Properties dialog that pops up you can type in that program's arguments (if any) and working directory, as well as specify if that program starts minimized, maximized or in a normal window. Type the -mail argument in the Arguments field and Mozzila Mail will now open as it should.

WinAmp/MusicMatch style modules seem to be a popular request, although I don't quite understand why not to just use the actual players instead.

That's easy. It's easier to skin NS than it is to skin WinAMP/MusicMatch.

Personally, I like the simplicity of the modules along with the uniformity. It just looks good on the screen and is part of a theme.

Okay, I went to the Workshelf/desktop area. right clicked on Mozilla Mail (which I dragged and dropped from Program Files) , and clicked on properties from the context menu. There was no properties button or a filename section that I could find.

I tried right clicking on the Workshelf email icon and clicked on "email checker settings" but couldn't find what you were talking about there either.

I'm using XP and I'm not usually this slow.

Richard

Ah, the *Desktop* tab.

There are three types of shelves in WorkShelf: regular, file system and virtual folder shelves. This is one of the things that makes WorkShelf so powerful, it lets you display and manipulate all three types of shelves (and by the way, Shelf types and their differences are described in the WorkShelf User Guide as well).

Regular shelves are shelves like your 'Main' shelf where you can put basically anything, including WorkShelf internal commands, etc...

File System shelves (like the Desktop shelf) actually show the contents of a physical folder in your hard disk. Because of this, you can only store actual files (or shortcuts) there.

Virtual Folder shelves point to *virtual* system folders, like Control Panel and My Computer - virtual folders usually have contents that cannot be changed. They are called 'virtual folders' because they do not exist physically on your hard disk.

The concept of Physical and Virtual folders is part of the OS, so you should have no trouble understanding it - I guess we all tried dragging a file into Control Panel only to find out it didn't work.

Items in Regular shelves are treated as WorkShelf objects, items in File System shelves are, obviously, treated as files.

When you drag an item from the Start Menu (or a disk folder) into a Regular shelf like the Main shelf, you are creating a WorkShelf object. When you drag the same item into a File System shelf like the Desktop shelf you are actually creating a file or a shortcut to a file (a shortcut is also a file with a .lnk extension, btw, but I digress) in your hard disk. Files and WorkShelf objects are two very different things, although WorkShelf objects can also point to files.

When I explained what to do in my previous message I assumed you were manipulating an object in a Regular Shelf type (my bad). When you right click on a file in the Desktop tab, what you get is basically the actual 'Explorer' context menu for that file.

When you dragged your shortcut from the Start Menu into the Desktop tab, WorkShelf created a new shortcut in your Desktop folder (I hope I'm making myself clear here ). So when you right clicked on that shortcut and selected Properties, what you got was the actual 'Explorer' shortcut properties dialog (the one with the General, Shortcut and Compatibility tabs) and NOT the WorkShelf properties dialog you get for WorkShelf objects. That is why you couldn't find a Properties button.

Let me know if I am going overboard with my lengthy explanations.

So, in the Explorer shortcut properties dialog you have a field called 'Target:' instead of 'Filename:'. This is where you should put "C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe" -mail

Now, I can see where WorkShelf might have some trouble because of the quotes in the filename, but not if you are running a shortcut to the actual file (as you would be if you copied the original shortcut from the Start Menu to the Desktop tab) since then WorkShelf executes the shortcut itself (the .lnk file; eg.; c:\documents and settings\All Users\Desktop\Mozzila.lnk) and not the target application, leaving it up to Windows to decode the target application fields, etc... This is what made me assume you were running Mozzila mail from a Regular shelf type object.



Given the above, I'm now assuming you were making these changes in Explorer's File Properties dialog for the Mozzila mail shortcut in your Desktop.

1) What was the reported error?
2) What happened if you tried running the shortcut from the Windows Desktop itself instead of the Desktop shelf in WorkShelf?
3) Did you try removing the quotes but leaving the -mail switch?



Hmmm... You should have tried clicking on 'Properties' instead of 'email checker settings' in the context menu. Anyway, the email checker is a module. Drag a file from Explorer into your Main shelf, right click on it, select Properties (NOT 'File Properties') and you will see what I mean.

Great response. I was with you, most of the time and I now have a much better understanding of Workshelf.

My problem before is that I was trying to find the properties dialog from explorer/desktop instead of dragging the Mozilla email icon to the Workshelf Main menu. Once I did that I found all the properties dialogs I was looking for (the ones you referred to).

Now, here's where I didn't communiciate well. Mozilla Mail has always worked, whether I opened it from explorer, desktop, Workshelf Desktop, or now from the Workshelf Main menu.

What I am trying to do is open Mozilla Mail from within the Email Checker Module. As it is now, I have the path to Mozilla in the email checker settings/email client box. There is no "direct" path to Mozilla Mail. Only to Mozilla with the -mail switch which causes Mozilla to open as a Email program as opposed to the web browser.

So, since I can't enter the switch in the Email Checker Module, when I click on the module, it opens the Mozilla Web browser instead of the Mozilla Email Program.

I would try to enter the Workshelf/Main shelf- Mozilla Email in the Email Checker module but it doesn't have a traditional path (as near as I can tell).

Once again, this is not a big deal and just involves the clicking of an additional icon once Mozilla Browser starts. Thanks for the time you've spent responding to my posts.

Ah, you are right in that case, although I would not call that a 'bug' . I will fix that shortsight for the next WorkShelf release, and, in the mean time, why don't you point the email checker to the program's shortcut (.lnk file) instead (e.g. If you have a shortcut on the desktop, the path should be something like "c:\documents and settings\All Users\Desktop\Mozzila.lnk")? That should work, although I haven't tested it yet!

PERFECT!!!. The .lnk idea worked. Just what I wanted. Like a typical computer geek I spend two hours learning how to save a one second step in my daily routine. But I'm happy now and can die in peace (hopefully not anytime soon).

Richard

Oh, and thanks again.

Richard

Hehe. And, as I promised, I already changed the code so that in the next WorkShelf release you can enter the argument directly in the Email Client field.

I have a problem in a sort of similar vein - its not a big problem but a curious one. I have the Tweak-XP program installed somewhere on my HD and the setup exe put a shortcut on my desktop. In explorer, double-clicking on the desktop short-cut launches the program but in WorkShelf, opeing the Desktop Tile and clicking on the Tweak-XP icon produces the message:

Invalid commandline parameter. Please execute Tweak-XP from the desktop or Startmenu shortcut.

So I right-click and go to the StartMenu and lo!, same message...

Do you think its just an idiosyncrasy of Tweak-XP? I haven't had it with any other program...

The properties for the shortcut have no parameters set, by the way: the target is just - "H:\Program Files\Tweak-XP Pro\Tweak-xp.exe"
(yep! Programs are on a "H" drive")

As I said, this is not a big problem, just a curiosity.

Is that the Tweak-XP Pro v3 program from TotalIdea?

Yep!

oops - forgot to log in. I'm using version 2 something of the TweakXP thing though, which came complete on some recent magazine CD, not version 3.