**** Welcome to Playback! **** There are several ways to sell a shovel. You can describe the shovel and hope the prospective customer figures out what to do with it. You could go a step further and tell them a shovel is used to dig holes. But the best way is to tell them that with this shovel you can dig a foundation for your home, search for buried treasure, plant a tree, and defend yourself against the evil beings of this world. Problem is, by telling them what they can do with the shovel you might discourage them from discovering their own uses for it. Well, Playback is my shovel. As to what it does, it captures your keystrokes, including the delay between keystrokes, and lets you play them back in a variety of ways. You can use a "hot key" to play them back at any time during any program. In this way it acts like a one key "keystroke expander". Playback can also turn your keystrokes into a file similar to a batch file, so when you want to replay the keystrokes you just enter the name of the file at the DOS prompt. But since you're not limited by DOS commands you can create "batch" files that not only load your application, but can also load the specific file you want, move to page 3, second paragraph, turn insert on, etc.. You can also use the included "Playback Menu" program to playback your keystrokes using a point and select menu. The menu program also lets you view the contents of your "batch" files, delete them, change their playback speed, add explanatory notes to them, rename them, and launch them at some later time. OK, that last paragraph gave you a brief overview of what Playback does, but how would you use it? I hesitate here because I'm sure I've just scratched the surface on ways it can be used, and I don't want to discourage you from finding your own applications. But here are a few of the ways I use it: Menu program: I used Playback to record the keystrokes I use to start each of my applications. Now I use the Menu program to Launch them. Batch files: I don't write DOS batch files any more. Why? I just start recording the keystrokes using Playback and then save them to file. Next time I run the Menu program all the keystrokes sequences I saved are turned into "batch" files, and I just use the Menu program to rename them to whatever I want. No editing, nothing. Just record and save. And I can do so much more than normal batch files. Desktop publishing: I not only use the Menu program to launch my desktop publisher, but if I'm working on a large project I know I'll be doing for a while, I create a "batch" file that loads the file I want and then goes to the page I want. In addition, when it comes time to print, I'm given a whole slew of options that I must select every time I print a page. Since my responses are always the same I just record the keystrokes and then play them back using the Playback "hot key". E-Mail: I belong to Compuserve and each day I go in and check to see if I have any electronic mail. I used Playback to create a "batch file" of the keystrokes to load my modem program, load the E-Mail macro, run it, and exit the program. If I want, I could instruct Playback to run this sequence automatically at a certain time so my E-Mail would be waiting for me when I got to the office. Keystroke expander: If I have occasion to replay the same set of keystrokes over and over I just record them and then use the "hot key" whenever I want to replay them. Fun: Sometimes I make a "batch file" of recorded keystrokes and launch it at a specified time when I'm not there but someone else may be watching. It's eerie seeing a computer going about the business of writing and editing a letter with no one at the keyboard. Basically Playback eliminates repetitive tasks. Isn't that what computers were meant to do in the first place? === How Much? === Playback (tm) is copyrighted 1990 by RSE Incorporated. It's being released as user-supported shareware. This means you're freely given this copy in order to evaluate it. If after a 21 day evaluation period you decide to continue using it, you should become a registered user by sending the registration fee of $25 (add $1 for 3.5 disk) to: Playback Registration Mastercard or Visa customers: 1157 57th Drive SE (206) 939-4105 Auburn, WA 98002 Compuserve: 72371,1557 You are encouraged to freely distribute copies of the PB??.EXE file as long as you don't charge anything for the copies. DO NOT distribute the individual, extracted, files; only PB??.EXE. As a registered user you'll receive these additional benefits: 1. No more annoying messages asking you to register. 2. Latest version of Playback, PLUS one "Free Upgrade" card. 3. The latest shareware versions of our other user-supported products, including PC-FileNotes, PC-Directory, Conjecture, Remind Me!, Nabbit, BriteLine, PC-Images, and Trash-It. 4. Technical support 5. A sincere "Thank you" for supporting our efforts to develop quality software and offer it at reasonable prices. Those using Playback in a commercial or educational environment must register. Site licenses are available, as well as quantity discounts. Overseas customers please add $10. === Let's Get Started === * Make sure you've created a new subdirectory for Playback. It's important that the Playback files be the only files in the subdirectory. * Go to the subdirectory where the Playback files are located and enter "init" at the DOS prompt. The "init" program modifies your "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file in your root directory to include this subdirectory (where the Playback files are) in the "path" statement. Your original "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file will be saved as "AUTOEXEC.OLD". You must run the INIT program or Playback won't work correctly. It only needs to be run once. DON'T run it every time you use Playback. Playback consists of two separate programs, the Playback program which captures and plays back the keystroke sequences, and the Menu program which we briefly discussed earlier. === The Playback Program === Playback (PB.COM) is a small TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program. You load it once at the beginning of a session and it stays hidden until you press one of its "hot keys". Then it goes to work. When you're done with it, your original program continues as though nothing had happened. PB.COM only takes up about 3K of memory, plus whatever you allocate for the keystroke buffer (more on that later). To load Playback into memory enter "pb" at the DOS prompt. If you'd like Playback automatically loaded whenever you turn on your computer then put the phrase "PB" in your "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file on a separate line AFTER the "PATH ..." statement. When you load Playback into memory a few words appear telling you the "hot keys" that Playback uses. (All the rest of the info encourages you to register. When you do, this info will no longer appear.) Playback has 3 hot keys: one to start and stop recording keystrokes, one to playback the keystrokes, and one to save the keystrokes into a file. Although the default values are Alt-R (press the Alt and R keys at the same time) to record, Alt-P to Playback, and Alt-S to save, you can change these using the Menu program (which we'll discuss shortly). == Recording == When you press the Record "hot key" (Alt-R by default) you will hear an ascending series of beeps. This signals that Playback is now recording your keystrokes. When you've finished recording you press the Record "hot key" again. This time you'll hear a descending series of beeps letting you know that the recording is complete. If you try to record more keystrokes than the keystroke buffer can hold, Playback will automatically terminate the recording when the buffer gets full. You can increase the size of the keystroke buffer by using the Menu program. == Saving == If you want to turn the recorded keystrokes into a "batch" file then you press the Save "hot key" (Alt-S by default). When you press the Save "hot key" the recording will be stopped (if you haven't stopped it already) and the keystrokes will be saved in a file. The next time the Menu program is run it will turn the keystrokes in this file into "batch" files. == Playback == When you press the Playback "hot key" (Alt-P by default) the keystrokes in the keystroke buffer will be replayed just as you entered them, with the same delay between keystrokes. By the way, you can interrupt the playback of keystrokes just by pressing any key. This holds true no matter how the playback is initiated. Exercise: If you haven't already loaded Playback into memory do so now by entering "pb" at the DOS prompt. Record a keystroke sequence (start by pressing Alt-R). Save it (by pressing Alt-S). Play it back (by pressing Alt-P). Do this with several different keystroke sequences. It doesn't matter what you record, we're just getting familiar with the way things work. === Batch Files? === So far I've been calling the keystroke files "batch" files because that's something most of us can relate to. A batch file lets you group a set of commands into a program you can run from the DOS prompt. You can also run keystroke files from the DOS prompt just as you would a batch file but because you're not limited to DOS commands these keystroke files can continue working right on into the application. They're actually small .COM files that load the recorded keystrokes into Playback's keystroke buffer and play them back just as though you were typing in everything yourself. We will refer to these keystroke .COM files as "Keyfiles". If things get confusing just remember you can run these "Keyfiles" just as you would a normal old DOS batch file, assuming, of course, that PB is loaded in memory. === The Menu Program === To run the Menu program enter "Menu" at the DOS prompt. The first thing the Menu program does is look to see if you have saved any keystroke sequences since the last time the program was used. If you have, then they will be converted into Keyfiles. These Keyfiles will be given a name. The first will be "-B", the second "-C", and so on. * Run the Menu program at this time by entering "menu" at the DOS prompt. You can enter "menu" at any DOS prompt, at any time, and the Menu program will appear. You don't have to be in the Playback subdirectory to run the Menu program. The list to the left of the screen is a list of all the Keyfiles you've created. Select the one you want by using the up, down, home, end, PgUp or PgDn cursor keys. To the right of the screen are three areas. The top area displays the keystroke sequence of the hi-lited Keyfile. Normal ASCII characters are hi-lited. Shift states (the state of the Insert, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock keys) are enclosed within [ ] and are displayed only when they change. All others keystrokes are displayed within < >. For example, means the enter key has been pressed, means the backspace key, means the Insert key, etc.. The middle area on the right contains two values: the Playback speed and the Launch Time. Playback speed: You can playback your keystroke sequences in one of three ways. "Normal" (the default value) means that it's played back at the exact speed it was recorded. "Turbo" means that it's played back at max speed. The middle value "Boost" is a combination of the two. When you select "Boost" a delay between keystrokes of more than 1.5 seconds (this value can be adjusted) is retained. Delays less than 1.5 seconds are ignored and the keystrokes are played back at 18 characters a second. This option is very useful for situations where you want to speed up playback but delays are still important. Which speed should you use? Well try "Turbo" first. If that doesn't work then "Boost" probably will. If "Boost" doesn't work then select "Normal". To change a Keyfiles Playback speed: hi-lite the desired Keyfile and press the left or right cursor keys until the desired speed is hi-lited. Launch (not lunch) time: This is the time you want the program to be launched at. We'll talk about this later when we discuss launches. The bottom of the right side of the screen is the "Note" area. You can leave notes of up to 160 characters on the contents and purpose of each of your Keyfiles. Those using PC-Directory or PC-FileNotes will recognize these notes as being the same as the "Filenotes" you're used to. === Menu Options === The top line of the screen displays a menu of your options. You just press the hi-lited key to exercise that particular function. * Escape: Pressing the Escape key exits the Menu program. * Store: Pressing S for "Store" exits the Menu program and puts the hi-lited Keyfile into Playback's keystroke buffer. To Playback the keystrokes just press the Playback "hot key" (Alt-P by default). * Configure: Pressing C for Configure brings up another screen of information. All of the items you can change will be listed to the left of the screen along with their current values. To change a particular item: - Use the up and down arrow keys to select the item you want to change. - Press the left or right arrow keys to change the value of the selected item. To change a "hot key" you need to select the shift state (Ctrl, Alt, or Ctrl and Alt) and then select a key. For example to change the Playback "hot key" to Ctrl-D you would first select "Playback Shift State", press the right arrow key until "Ctrl" appeared, then press the down arrow to select "Playback Key", press the right arrow (to indicate you want to change it) and then press the desired key: D. Clear as mud? Try it and it'll all make sense. Some of the items need explaining: Color Monitor? If you have a color monitor then select "Yes". This just affects whether the Menu program displays in color. Flickering? If when the cursor is on the "Flickering?" line your monitor begins to flicker then select "Yes" else select "No". Buffer Size: Change this value to change how many keystrokes the keystroke buffer holds. Remember that each keystroke adds 5 bytes to the amount of memory that Playback uses. For example, if you select 200 keystrokes, then Playback will take up about 4K of memory, 3K for the program and 1K (200*5) for the keystroke buffer. Boost Threshold: Remember how Boost works? Any delays above a certain threshold are acted on, any below the threshold are ignored. This value sets that threshold. I've found that a threshold of 1.5 seconds works well. You may want to lower or raise it depending on how fast you type and the type of applications Playback is activating. Experiment. Press Escape when you've made all your changes. The Menu program will re-appear. If Playback is in memory (and it should be when you use the Menu program) then you'll have to reboot the computer and reload Playback to notice changes made to the Hot Keys, Buffer Size, and Boost Threshold. * Rename: you'll obviously want to rename your Keyfiles to something other than the default names the Menu program gives them. Just hi- lite the desired file and press R for Rename. * Launch: when you press L for "Launch" another menu will drop down giving you three options: Launch Now, Launch Later, Launch Time. If you press N to "Launch ow" the Menu program ends and the hi- lited Keyfile runs immediately. Pressing L for "Launch ater" selects the hi-lited file to be launched at a later time: the time specified on the right middle of the screen under "Launch Time". You can only select one file for Later Launch. The file selected for a later launch is marked with a "*" to the left of its name. If you want to un-select a file that you've already selected for a Later Launch simply select it again and the mark will disappear. The menu program sets an alarm so that at launch time the keystrokes get loaded into Playback and get played back just as if you'd pressed the Playback hot key. For example, if you leave your computer on at night you could have Playback launch a Keyfile to retrieve your E- Mail right before you get to work in the morning, so it's waiting for you when you arrive. The third option is to press T to select "Launch ime". This lets you adjust the Launch Time of the hi-lited file. ** Note ** Remember, you don't have to use the Menu program to launch a Keyfile. You can enter the Keyfile's name at any DOS prompt and it will run immediately. * Insert_Note: Pressing the Insert key lets you leave a 160 character note on the contents or purpose of the hi-lited Keyfile. Type in your note and press Enter. Pressing Escape lets you escape without changing the note. Entering a note only one character in length deletes the note. * Delete: Press the Delete key to delete the hi-lited Keyfile. === Problems? === "Playback doesn't capture my mouse moves. What can I do?" You're right, Playback only captures keystrokes. But most mouse programs have keyboard commands as well. Use them. We are working on a version that would capture mouse commands, but the process is extremely complex and at this point I'm not even sure the results would be worth it. Capturing a mouse click is simple, but many menus are activated just when a mouse goes into the area. And what do you do about "dragging" the mouse? It gets complicated real quick. "Playback signaled the end of the recording session (descending series of beeps) before I instructed it to. What's going on?" You attempted to record more keystrokes than the keystroke buffer can hold. Use the Menu program to increase the size of the keystroke buffer, reboot, reload Playback, and try again. "Some of my keystrokes weren't captured. Why?" It's possible for programs to intercept keystrokes and not pass the information on to the rest of us. As a result there are situations where we can't get the information we need, and even if we could we couldn't re-insert later. These situations are very rare. The only place I've seen them is in the activation of TSR programs and during some arcade style games. What they do is intercept the information coming from the keyboard, act on it, and then fool the computer into thinking there never was a key pressed (much like what happens when you press one of Playback's hot keys). "While trying to activate a function in one of my applications I end up activating Playback instead. What's going on?" The function you're trying to use in your application uses the same key sequence as one of Playback's hot keys. To eliminate the conflict use the configuration function in the Menu program to change Playback's hot keys to something that won't interfere with your other applications. === Technical Assistance === Registered users can call 1-206-939-4105 for technical assistance, or better yet, leave a message on Compuserve at 72371,1557. Please have your registration number handy. === So long ==== That's it folks. Hope you find Playback to be worthy of your support. Why don't you give our other programs a spin as well? Take care.