WallpaperChanger v1.20 (c) 1995 Steffen Kaiser & Rolf Roßius


INTRODUCTION
This program enhances WindowsTM 3.1(1) by randomly changing of the
desktop picture.

DISCLAIMER (standard disclaimer)
"The WallpaperChanger program is supplied as is. The authors disclaim
all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the
warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The
authors assume no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which
may result from the use of the WallpaperChanger."

Will sagen: Die Autoren übernehmen keinerlei Gewährleistung für dieses Programm
und sind für keinerlei durch das Programm entstandene Schäden, ob direkt oder
indirekt, haftbar.

This program is Freeware, you may use it without registration or
payment, but it is permitted to alter any files shipped in this package.
You may include these files into any other package or include any file
into this package as long as the resulting package is Freeware. Please
distribute widely.


CHANGES SINCE VERSION 1.1
ø Support of private INI files, either by the file "chgwall.ini" within
the Windows directory or by a "IniFile=" line within the section
"[WallpaperChanger]" within the file "win.ini".

CHANGES SINCE VERSION 1.01
ø Support of initial settings of the [WallpaperChanger] section within
the WIN.INI file.
ø Remove the text window.
ø Start the program iconic.
ø Optional run hidden.
ø By improving the specification for pictures it is possible to view any
picture format, which Windows can handle itself; e.g. some BMP and RLE
formats.
ø Errors are displayed within a message box.
ø More options.



THE PACKAGE
chgwall.exe	the executable
chgwall.ini	an example for a private INI file
chgwalle.wri	this English text file
chgwall.txt	the German version of this file
History		the history of this program



INSTALLATION
If you want to store the initalization paramaters of WallpaperChanger
INTO the file WIN.INI, you MUST NOT copy "chgwall.ini" into the Windows
standard path. If you don't want to use neither "chgwall.ini" nor
"win.ini" within the Windows standard directory, you allthough must
create a section "[WallpaperChanger]" in one of the files with an entry
"IniFile=<name>", where "<name>" stands for the name of the INI file you
want to use.
Copy the file "chgwall.exe" into your favorite directory and run
"chgwall initialize". This will create the following lines in the file
"win.ini":

[WallpaperChanger]
Directory= ; Base directory of picture files
Time=3600 ; change time in seconds
Restart=Reinit ; what 2nd instance is to do: quit, stop, go, toggle, reinit
Hide=No ; Hide icon after start (Boolean)
Info= ; Writes info into this file (none)
IniFile= ; other INI file
errRetry=10 ; retry # pictures, if load failed
Delayed=No ; Change the first time immediatly after program start
ChkMaximized=0 ; check for maximized application each #th picture (disabled)"
Mask1=*.bmp ; Mask for picture files, can contain paths
MaskDelete=No ; Delete all entries beginning with "Mask"
;MaskTime= ; overrides Time=

Now, alter the values according your needs, the lines have these meanings:
"Directory": Base path to the pictures
"Time": Time in seconds between to picture changes (Std.: 1h)
"Restart": Contains the command line, which is used, if you start a
second WallpaperChanger without command line. The values are described
in the chapter COMMAND LINE OPTIONS (Std.: Reinit)
"Hide": To hide WallpaperChanger after start; valid for "Yes" are: 1,
Yes, On und True . (Std.: No)
"Info": The name of the file, where some additional informations during
the run of WallpaperChanger are stored. It is not needed for
WallpaperChanger itself. If a file is opened, it remains open until
WallpaperChanger is quitted. Even a "Reinit" makes no change to it.
(Std.: none)
"IniFile": Instead of the current INI file use another. If the path is
not full-qualified, it is treated relative to the Windows path. This
line is evaluated before and independed of all other lines. (Std.: none)
(see RECURSION WITHIN THE INI FILES)
"errRetry": If a picture could not be loaded, WallpaperChanger tries to
load another one. To avoid an endless loop this line sets the amount of
tried pictures. (Std.: 10)
"Delayed": This line tells, if the first picture should be loaded after
the lapse of "Time". This setting is ignored, when you run a second
instance of WallpaperChanger. If you start WallpaperChanger
automatically, either set this option to "No" or disable the background
picture in Syscontrol|Desktop. Valid for "Yes" see "Hide". (Std.: Off)
"ChkMaximized": If this option is set to a number unequal to zero,
WallpaperChanger checks before the change of each #th picture, if an
application runs full-screen. If so, WallpaperChanger is stopped.
WallpaperChanger is resumed, until there is no application running
full-screen or you commanded "go" or "reinit". (Std.: 0)
"Mask": These lines are described in the chapter DYNAMIC INITIALIZE.

Std.: means the standard setting, if the line does not exist or is
invalid.

NOTE
If you omit any parameters to the "IniFile" line, it is ignored.

If the INI file of the "IniFile=" line does not exist, or there is no
section "[WallpaperChanger]" within, or within this section there is no
entry, the standard INI file "win.ini" will be used.

The directory within the "Directory=" line should be fully qualified,
e.g. c:\windows\bilder. If that directory does not exist or is the line
missed, the standard Windows path is assumed, that is the directory,
where "win.com" resides.

The time specified by "Time=" is rounded down to a multiple of 10.

If you deiconify WallpaperChanger, an empty window is displayed.

If an error occurs while loading WallpaperChanger, a message box pops
up. You must click the OK button in order to quit WallpaperChanger.
While this box is displayed, no other instance of WallpaperChanger can
be started.


START WALLPAPERCHANGER AUTOMATICALLY 
The simplest way is to add WallpaperChanger to the Autosatrt group of
your program manager.
Another possible way is to alter the "load=" line within the section
"[windows]" of WIN.INI. Add " chgwall.exe" if the line already
exists [Attention: The space is needed.] If the line does not exist,
create it; then the space is not needed. e.g.:
old line:
[windows]
load=c:\windows\appl\atm.exe

new line:
[windows]
load=c:\windows\appl\atm.exe chgwall.exe

Attention: If you use another windows loader, reffer its manual on how
to add a new startup program.
If Windows cannot locate the file "chgwall.exe" simply add the qualified
path. e.g.:
[windows]
load=c:\windows\appl\atm.exe c:\windows\chgwall.exe

when "chgwall.exe" resides in c:\windows.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
Maybe, their are unusual in Windows, but I cannot believe, you will use
them often. Unless, there is a simple to use method by creating an icon
in a program manager group for each option:
1. Open the destination group within the program manager;
2. Open the directory containing "chgwall.exe" in the file manager;
3. Drag the file "chgwall.exe" form the file manager into the program
manager;&
4. Append the desired command line to the line by the File|Properties
menu.

Note: Although the multiple entries the file "chgwall.exe" resides only
once on your hard disk, so no space is wasted.

The command line options are case insensitive and you can specify only
one at a time. If you start a second instance of WallpaperChanger, it
will command the first instance, so you can run only one
WallpaperChanger each time.
Unless stated else, the options are ignored, if you load the first
instance.

Following options are supported:
"quit": Quits WallpaperChanger. Specified at the first instance,
prevents from loading it, so you can be sure, no WallpaperChanger is
active.
"stop": Stop WallpaperChanger.
"go": Resume WallpaperChanger, the former settings are preserved. This
will perform an out-of-time change of the background.
"toggle": Toggle between "stop" and "go".
"reinit": Cancel the current settings and reread them fromout WIN.INI.
This is the default action of the first instance.
"initialize": Write the initial lines into WIN.INI. You should not use
them after installing WallpaperChanger, because all your individual
settings get lost.
"none": Clear the background and stop WallpaperChanger.  If you use this
option with the first instance, WallpaperChanger quits after the action.
any non-matching strings: are treated as file names and get loaded. If
an error occured, a error message box is displayed, telling so. If you
use this option with the first instance, WallpaperChanger quits after
the action.


DYNAMIC INITIALISIZE
Between the lines described in chapter INSTALLATION the following
options exist:
MaskTime=30
MaskDelete=Yes/No
Mask1=*.bmp
Mask2=*.rle
Mask3=..\privat\*.*
Mask4=e:\bilder\*.2
MaskIniFile=d:\windows\appl\chgwall.nt

Where "MaskTime" replaces the value of"Time" and "Mask*" the standard
search mask "*.BMP".
This example states: Except 3600s change time use 30s. The pictures are
not searched by the mask "*.BMP" in the standard Windows directory (the
"Directory" line has no path in it), but by:
ø *.BMP in the standard directory
ø *.RLE  in the standard directory
ø all files in the directory "..\privat" relative to the standard path,&
ø *.2 in the directory "e:\bilder"

The "Mask*" lines must be numbered continuously, so they can be found.

The option "MaskDelete" indicates, that all these lines starting with
"Mask" must be deleted immeadiately after reading them. (Std.: No)

"MaskIniFile" replaces the "IniFile" line and will be evaluated before
and independed of all other lines.Therefore this line is deleted, even
if the "MaskDelete" entry says something else.
(see RECURSION WITHIN THE INI FILES)



RECURSION WITHIN THE INI FILES
The "IniFile" line enables recursions, e.g.:

File WIN.INI:
[WallpaperChanger]
IniFile=chgwall.1

File CHGWALL.1:
[WallpaperChanger]
IniFile=chgwall.2

File CHGWALL.2:
[WallpaperChanger]
IniFile=.

"IniFile=." means, that WIN.INI shall be used, because you cannot use a
 file named ".". Without recursion checking the initialization would not
 finish. Therefore the time, at which the initialization begun, is
 written into each processed INI file. If WallpaperChanger hits a INI
 file containing that time stamp, it stops reading the "IniFile" line.
 In the above example, the initialization is controlled by the lines of
 WIN.INI.
 



INFORMATION IN THE INFO FILE
The start and each "ReInit" generate the following information in the
file given by the "Info" line:
#Starting changing wallpaper:
##Directoty=c:\windows\bilder\
##Time=120s
### 11 pictures ready to show

what means:
Each 120 seconds WallpaperChanger alters the background with a randomly
choosen picture. There are currently eleven pictures in the pool.

While running:
Change Wallpaper to c:\windows\bilder\myriam.bmp

and some information, by altering the state of WallpaperChanger.



FOR INTERESTED PEOPLE
The first instance is commanded by messages:
401: Reinit
402: Go
403: Stop
404: Toggle
405: None
406: ViewFile; lParam contains "GlobalAtom" of the name, which is deleted.



AUTHORS
This is the follow-up of our first work. Allthough, we did not plan to
make one and we abandoned MS Windows, we are proud to hack some ideas of
the users in. Menus and nice formatted output are (and ever will be)
still not supported, well, they seem unimportant for this job.

Please forgive any of the thousands spelling and idiom mistakes.


If you like to contact us:
e-mail: Steffen.Kaiser@fh-rhein-sieg.de