Introduction

The ShellRun retail version configuration parameters must be put in a plain text file called ShRun.INF.  This file must be in the same directory as the ShellRun.exe runtime, ie in the CD root directory.

All parameters are optional.  If no ShRun.INF is provided, then ShellRun can be run in the same way as the freeware version.

Example

See the basic retail version instructions for an example of a simple ShRun.INF file.

Parameter list

All parameters must be in the [Info] section.

If the String Type is followed by an asterisk *, then UTF-8 Unicode characters may be used - see below.

Parameter name	Type	Description	Default
Basics
Filename	String	The path of the file that ShellRun should display. Can contain spaces. Overrides the AUTORUN.INF parameter. Or can be a play audio special filename	none
Message	String *	The text in the bottom (Msg) line of the popup window. Can optionally start with one or more options: (see below) -nomsg, -max, -min and -c. Overrides the AUTORUN.INF parameter.	Showing <Filename> (<file type>)...
Display	String *	The text in the top (Info) line of the popup window.	PHD Computer Consultants Ltd
Web	String	The file displayed if the user clicks on the Info text.	http://www.phdcc.com/
WebMsg	String *	The text to be shown in the bottom (Msg) line after the user clicks on the Info text.	Showing PHD web site...
ShowTime	integer	Time in seconds to show popup window (min 5) Or -1 to show popup permanently	15
ShowOptions	integer	Add these values together as desired: 1:  show the popup window in front of all other windows 2:  exit ShellRun after any menu option chosen 4:  show first menu option when ShowTime timeout expires	0
Running programs with parameters
Param	String	Parameter command line used if filename specifies a program to run. See here for more details..	none
SpecialParam	String	Specifies special parameters passed to a viewer if the specified viewer is being used. See here for more details..	none
More files
FilenameN	String	If present, up to 10 more files to be displayed at startup, with N incrementing from 1 to 10. Can be a file path or a play audio special filename.	none
FilenameNParam	String	Parameter command line used if filenameN specifies a program to run. See here for more details..	none
FilenameNSpecialParam	String	Specifies special parameters passed to a viewer if the specified viewer is being used. See here for more details..	none
Menu commands
FilenameMenu	String *	Command button text for Filename	none
FilenameNMenu	String *	Command button text for FilenameN	none
xMenu	integer	X pixel location of Menu (if non-zero)	0
yMenu	integer	Y pixel location of Menu (if non-zero)	0
XP SP2+ Active Content Enabling
activecd	String	If cd then CD active content is enabled. If all then CD and Files on My Computer active content is enabled. More info.	none
File display conditions
FilenameCondition	String	One or more test conditions. The Filename is only shown if the test evaluates to true. More information.	none
FilenameNCondition	String	One or more test conditions. The corresponding FilenameN is only shown if the test evaluates to true. More information.	none
Popup window configuration
Title	String *	The title of the popup window	ShellRun <version>
BkColor	RGB	Background colour of the popup window	System default
xSize	integer	X size of popup window (or maximise if -1)
ySize	integer	Y size of popup window
xPos	integer	X pixel location of popup window, or: center, topleft, topright, bottomleft, bottomright, top, left, right, bottom	topleft
yPos	integer	Y pixel location of popup window	0
Icon image
icon	string	Path to image .BMP file (or "none" to remove icon)	Uses built-in PHD image
xIcon	integer	X pixel location of Icon (or centre if -1)	0
yIcon	integer	Y pixel location of Icon	0
Info text layout
xInfo	integer	X pixel location of Info (if non-zero)	0
yInfo	integer	Y pixel location of Info (if non-zero)	0
InfoColor	RGB	Colour of Info	0,0,255 (blue)
InfoSize	integer	Point size of Info	16
InfoWeight	integer	Weight of Info: (0-9) 4=Normal, 7=Bold	0
InfoItalic	integer	Info italic if 1	0
InfoFace	integer	Font name of Info	Arial
Msg text layout (defaults to Info text settings if not specified)
yMsg	integer	Y pixel location of Msg (if non-zero)	0
MsgColor	RGB	Colour of Msg	128,128,255 (light blue)
MsgSize	integer	Point size of Msg	16
MsgWeight	integer	Weight of Msg: (0-9) 4=Normal, 7=Bold	0
MsgItalic	integer	Msg italic if 1	0
MsgFace	integer	Font name of Msg	Arial
Splash image
splash	string	Path to image .BMP file	no splash image
SplashShowTime	integer	Time in seconds to show splash	5
SplashOptions	integer	Set to 1 to keep Splash image topmost	0
xSplash	integer	X pixel location of the splash, or: center, topleft, topright, bottomleft, bottomright, top, left, right, bottom	center
ySplash	integer	Y pixel location of the splash	0
"Do not show again" options
DoNotRepeatId	String	A unique identifier for this CD.	none
DoNotRepeatText	String *	The checkbox text.	"Do not show again"
DoNotRepeatColor	RGB	Colour of DoNotRepeatText.	0,0,255 (blue)
Error handling
ExitMsg	String *	The text of the Exit button.	Exit
yExit	integer	Y pixel location of the Exit and Install Viewer buttons (if non-zero)	0
No Viewer
NoViewerMsg	String *	The message to display if no viewer program is available.	You need to install a suitable viewer program for this type of file.
NoViewerCmd	String	The program to run (or file to display) straight away if no viewer program is available.	none
NoViewerCmdParam	String	The parameter to pass to NoViewerCmd, with %1 replaced by the Filename.	none
NoViewerCmdClick	String	The program to run (or file to display) if no viewer program is available. The user must click on the Install Viewer button to run/show the file.	none
NoViewerCmdClickParam	String	The parameter to pass to NoViewerCmdClick, with %1 replaced by the Filename.	none
NoViewerCmdClickText	String *	The text on the Install Viewer button if no viewer program is available.	Install viewer
NoViewerCmdClickMsg	String *	The message to display after clicking Install Viewer if no viewer program is available.	Starting <NoViewerCmdClick>
NoViewerCmdClickRetryShow	String	Normally ShellRun tries to display the filename again after a viewer has been installed. Set this parameter to off if you do not want ShellRun to try again.	ShellRun tries displaying the filename again
NoViewerCmdClickRetryText	String	If ShellRun cannot display the filename immediately after a viewer has been installed, then the Install button becomes a Re-show file button with this text.	Click here when viewer installed
NoViewerVersion	v1.v2.v3.v4[,filename]	Required version of viewer program	Version not checked
Additional Viewers
ViewerFileN	String	If present, ShellRun checks that there is a viewer for this file path.  Up to 10 checks can be made, with N incrementing from 1 to 10.	none
ViewerMsgN	String *	The message to display if no viewer program is available for the corresponding ViewerFileN.	none
ViewerCmdN	String	The program to run (or file to display) straight away if no viewer program is available for the corresponding ViewerFileN.	none
ViewerCmdParamN	String	The parameter to pass to ViewerCmdN, with %1 replaced by the ViewerFileN.	none
ViewerCmdClickN	String	The program to run (or file to display) if no viewer program is available for the corresponding ViewerFileN.  The user must click on the Install Viewer button to run/show the file.	none
ViewerCmdClickParamN	String	The parameter to pass to ViewerCmdClickN, with %1 replaced by the ViewerFileN.	none
ViewerCmdClickTextN	String *	The text on the Install Viewer button if no viewer program is available for the corresponding ViewerFileN.	Install viewer
ViewerCmdClickMsgN	String *	The message to display after clicking Install Viewer if no viewer program is available for the corresponding ViewerFileN.	Starting <ViewerCmdClickN>
ViewerVersionN	v1.v2.v3.v4[,filename]	Required version of viewer program for the corresponding ViewerFileN.	Version not checked

No pop-up window

To remove the pop-up window, use -nomsg as the Message, eg:

[Info]
...
Message=-nomsg

Maximise or minimise document window

To maximise the document window, put -max at the start of your Message, eg:

[Info]
...
Message=-max Showing CD startup page...

Note that not all applications obey the instruction to maximise.  For example, Internet Explorer (IE) might not maximise if another IE window is already open unmaximised.

To minimise the document window, put -min at the start of your Message.

Specifying Colours using RGB triplets

Colours are specified in ShRun.INF parameters as comma-separated Red, Green and Blue (RGB) triplets.  Each colour value is an integer between 0 and 255.  (You cannot use hexadecimal notation or colour names such as "green".)

Here are some basic examples

white		255,255,255
black		0,0,0
red		255,0,0
green		0,128,0
bright green		0,255,0
blue		0,0,255
yellow		255,255,0
pale yellow		255,255,204

Some screens can only display a limited number of distinct colours at any one time.  Therefore browsers are set up with preferred colours that are almost certainly available to be shown on the user's display.  Simply use any combination of the following numbers for the Red, Green and Blue values:

0   51   102   128   153   204   255

Unicode UTF-8 characters

ShellRun can use non-Western Unicode characters for its messages and button text - provided the user has a suitable system for displaying the characters. The parameter list above indicates with an asterisk (*) the string parameters that can be in Unicode.

Note that all filenames must be in single-byte simple characters.

ShRun.inf file format

To enter non-Western characters:

1. You must save the ShRun.inf in UTF-8 format, with UTF-8 marker bytes at the beginning of the file. One simple way to do this is to use Windows Notepad in Windows 2000 or Windows XP - use the Save As option and set the Encoding to UTF-8.
2. You must ensure that the section name [Info] is not on the first line, so put a blank line at the start of the file.
3. Then type in your text for the appropriate parameters.
4. Use ShellRun as normal.

Example UTF-8 format ShRun.inf.

User system requirements

The user of your CD must have a suitable system for viewing your characters - on some systems your text may appear garbled even if you have set it up correctly. For example, an English Windows 98 system is unlikely to be able to display Asian characters correctly.

It is important to use a suitable font for the InfoFace and MsgFace parameters. It may be that common western fonts such as "Arial" and "Times New Roman" work on your target system - or maybe not: it is up to you to test in advance as much as possible.

ShellRun Unicode support will probably work best in Windows 2000 and Windows XP computers because all language-versions of these systems have better support for non-Western characters. However ShellRun will display characters correctly in Windows 98 and Windows Me if the language-version matches the characters that you are trying to display, eg Arabic characters should display correctly in Arabic Windows 98 - provided the font is set appropriately.