The simplest way to start Alpha Four Version 7 is to run the "a4
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Alpha Four V7, "Blinking" and other Anomalies and Windows 95, 98
and ME
If your Alpha Four V7 CD was
manufactured before December 17th, 2001, the Alpha Four V7
documentation instructs you to start Alpha Four V7 by executing the
"a4.bat" batch file. The installation program also puts a shortcut to
"Alpha Four.bat" in your Alpha Four V7 group on the Start menu.
When you run this file, the
following commands are executed:
printdump.exe spool\ptrinfo.a4
start winagent
"|path=spool|delete=yes|keep_req=no"
a4v7.exe -2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
start winagent "command=quit"
Under Windows 95, 98 and ME,
however, if you use this batch file to start Alpha Four V7, , the
"blink" attribute on your Form layouts will not work. (Blinking will
work fine on Windows NT, 2000 and XP).�
Some users have also reported that scripts that print multiple reports
behave strangely.
For reasons that perhaps only
Microsoft understands, Windows seems to object to all of these commands being
in a single batch file under Windows 95, 98 or ME.
There are two solutions to
this problem, one quick and simple, and the other perhaps more elegant.
Quick and Simple Solution
The simplest solution is to
create two batch files to start Alpha Four V7. The first batch file, called
"start_winagent.bat" for example, should contain these commands:
printdump.exe spool\ptrinfo.a4
start winagent
"|path=spool|delete=yes|keep_req=no"
The second batch file, called
"start_a4.bat" for example, should contain these commands:
a4v7.exe -2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
start winagent "command=quit"
It is important[/b] that both of these batch files be created in the same folder as your Alpha Four V7 program[/b].
To start Alpha Four V7, you
would first run the "start_winagent.bat" file, and then run the
"start_a4.bat" file.
The disadvantage of this
approach however, is that starting Alpha Four is a two step procedure.
Elegant Solution
The more elegant solution
solves the problem of having to go through two steps to start Alpha Four V7,
and relies on the fact that Winagent.exe is an extremely small program.
Because Winagent.exe is a
small program that takes up very little memory, there is no need to stop
Winagent.exe when you quit Alpha Four. Winagent.exe can be loaded into memory
when you start Windows. Then, when you want to start Alpha Four V7, only a
single step is needed to start Alpha Four.
This solution involves
creating shortcuts for the Winagent.exe and Printdump.exe programs and placing
these shortcuts in the "Startup" group under Program Files. By
placing these shortcuts in the "Startup" group, you ensure that
Winagent.exe and Printdump.exe are run automatically every time Windows is
started.
The steps to implement this
solution are detailed below:
Create a shortcut to start
Winagent.exe.
1.
Open the Windows explorer.
2.
Navigate to the folder where you installed Alpha Four.
3.
Locate "winagent.exe".
4.
Right click on "winagent.exe" and select
"Create shortcut".
Windows creates a shortcut and the shortcut is selected.
5.
Right click on the shortcut and select "Rename".
6.
Change the name of the shortcut to "Start Winagent".
7.
Right click on the shortcut again, and select
"Properties".
A Properties dialog for the shortcut is opened.
8.
In the "Target" field on the dialog, you should see:
C:\a4v7\winagent.exe
(Note:
The actual path for winagent.exe will be the same as the folder where you
installed Alpha Four V7.)
���������������
��������������� Change the entry in the "Target" field to:
C:\a4v7\winagent.exe
"|path=spool|delete=yes|keep_req=no"
(Note:
The actual path for winagent.exe should be the same as the folder where you
installed Alpha Four V7.)
9.
In the "Start in" field you should specify the
folder where Alpha Four V7 is installed. For example, if Alpha Four V7 in
installed in the "c:\a4v7" folder then make sure that the entry in
the "Start in" field is:
C:\a4v7
Next,
create a shortcut to run Printdump.exe.
1.
In the Windows explorer, navigate to the folder where you
installed Alpha Four.
2.
Locate "prindump.exe".
3.
Right click on "printdump.exe" and select
"Create shortcut".
Windows creates a shortcut and the shortcut is selected.
4.
Right click on the shortcut and select "Rename".
5.
Change the name of the shortcut to "Enumerate Windows
Printers".
6.
Right click on the shortcut again, and select
"Properties".
A Properties dialog for the shortcut is opened.
7.
In the "Target" field on the dialog, you should see:
C:\a4v7\printdump.exe
(Note:
The actual path for winagent.exe will be the same as the folder where you
installed Alpha Four V7.)
���������������
��������������� Change the entry in the "Target" field to:
C:\a4v7\printdump.exe C:\a4v7\spool\ptrinfo.a4
(Note:
The actual path for winagent.exe should be the same as the folder where you
installed Alpha Four V7.)
8.
In the "Start in" field you should specify the
folder where Alpha Four V7 is installed. For example, if Alpha Four V7 in
installed in the "c:\a4v7" folder then make sure that the entry in
the "Start in" field is:
C:\a4v7
Next,
create a shortcut to start Alpha Four V7 itself.
1.
In the Windows explorer, navigate to the folder where you
installed Alpha Four.
2.
Locate "a4v7.exe".
3.
Right click on "a4v7.exe" and select "Create
shortcut".
Windows creates a shortcut and the shortcut is selected.
4.
Right click on the shortcut and select "Rename".
5.
Change the name of the shortcut to "Start Alpha
Four".
6.
Right click on the shortcut again, and select
"Properties".
A Properties dialog for the shortcut is opened.
7.
In the "Start in" field you should specify the
folder where Alpha Four V7 is installed. For example, if Alpha Four V7 in
installed in the "c:\a4v7" folder then make sure that the entry in
the "Start in" field is:
C:\a4v7
Now,
move the "Start Winagent" and "Enumerate Windows Printers"
shortcuts you just created to the "Startup" folder.
1.
Highlight the "Start Winagent" shortcut.
2.
Right click on the shortcut and select "Copy".
3.
Right click on the "Start" button in the bottom left-hand
corner of the screen.
4.
Select "Open".
5.
Double click on "Programs" to open the Programs
folder.
6.
Double click on "Startup" to open the Startup
folder.
7.
Right click on the background of the folder and select
"Copy"
8.
Repeat the above steps, this time copying the "Enumerate
Windows Printers" shortcut.
To
test the shortcuts, double click on the "Start Winagent" shortcut.
You should see the Alpha icon appear in the icon tray in the bottom right-hand
corner of your screen. Next double click on the "Enumerate Windows
Printers" shortcut. The program should run and it should create a file
called "ptrinfo.a4" in the "spool" sub-directory off the
folder where you installed Alpha Four V7.
Now
that Winagent.exe is loaded into memory, you can start Alpha Four and print to
your Windows printers.