HyperSwitch™ 1.1 is distributed as freeware. Feel free to use it and pass it on to your friends.
I would appreciate your comments, questions and suggestions about HyperSwitch. Please send them by mail to the address, below, or via CompuServe to UserID 70540,2664.
Edward E. McFee
P.O. Box 55023
Atlanta, GA 30308-5023
USA
_______
HyperSwitch™ is a utility that automatically loads into your Macintosh® when you power-on or restart your system. It consists of these files:
• HyperSwitch™
• Proxy™
• HyperSwitch™ Help
Place all three of these files into your System Folder, and HyperSwitch will become operational the next time you restart your system. With System 7, you may place HyperSwitch™ in the Extensions Folder. Proxy™ and HyperSwitch™ Help must be within the System Folder, but outside of any other folder, so you'll need to open the System Folder and drag them inside; otherwise, Finder will put them in the Apple Menu Items Folder.
If you are using version 1.0 of HyperSwitch, you will need to throw away the HyperSwitch™ Preferences file you now have. HyperSwitch will create a new preferences file when you restart your system.
When HyperSwitch is operational, you will see a smile-face icon in your menu bar near the upper-right corner of your screen. This position may conflict with other programs you're using, sometimes to the extent that you can't see the icon. You will be given the opportunity to change its position the first time HyperSwitch becomes operational. You may then click anywhere in the menu bar to re-position the icon. You may also change its position later by menu selection.
You may invoke HyperSwitch by holding the mouse down over its icon in the menu bar and selecting an item from its pop-up menu. On-line Help is also available from this pop-up menu.
_______
HyperSwitch creates a file called HyperSwitch™ Preferences the first time it loads into memory. This first load may take a while, because HyperSwitch will locate all of the applications on your non-removable disk drives and place information about them into its Preferences file. The HyperSwitch™ Preferences file will be placed into a folder called Preferences in your System Folder. If a Preferences folder does not exist, HyperSwitch will create one.
If Proxy™ is in your System Floder when you start your Macintosh, it will load into memory ahead of Finder.
If you have a lot of applications on your disk drives, you may notice a pause before Finder gets started. HyperSwitch will be sorting the items in its Applications Menu (the watch cursor will be showing). You may edit the Applications Menu to remove the programs you don't want there, which will reduce the sort time. This sorting takes place at three different times: 1) when you first start up; 2) when you request "Edit Applications Menu…" from the HyperSwitch pop-up menu; and 3) after you dismiss the Edit Applications dialog. This is only a matter of seconds, but we do tend to get concerned when it looks like our Mac isn't doing anything.
_______
HyperSwitch is designed to operate on the Macintosh Plus and later versions of Macintosh hardware. A hard disk drive is highly recommended. HyperSwitch does not function with the 64K ROM used on earlier hardware.
HyperSwitch requires system software version 4.1 or later. HyperSwitch is compatible with MultiFinder™ versions through 6.1B9 and Switcher™ versions through 5.1. HyperSwitch™ 1.1 is compatible with System 7.
_______
HyperSwitch™ Help is available on-line. Select Help… from the HyperSwitch pop-up menu. Please read and adhere to the HyperSwitch™ License Agreement documented within the Help text.
_______
The following is a partial list of HyperSwitch‘s features.
• Provides a pop-up menu listing all currently open applications. You may use this menu to switch between applications.
• Automatically lists, in a pop-up menu, all applications residing on your system's hard drives. You may launch any such application by menu selection and, optionally, attach up to 15 documents.
• Provides a pop-up menu listing the names of all open windows in all open applications and desk accessories. Selecting a window from this menu causes HyperSwitch to make that the active window; automatically switching to the appropriate application or DA when necessary.
• Provides the ability to create launch sets; each set consisting of an application and any number of documents to be launched with that application (subject to available memory). Once created, sets may be launched by selecting them from a pop-up menu. Sets may also be combined, which enables the launch of multiple applications (each with multiple documents) from a single menu selection.
• Provides an alternative Open dialog, which enables the selection of up to 15 documents during a single dialog. The documents may be chosen from multiple folders and/or disk drives. One way to initiate this dialog is to click on a document window while holding the Command, Shift and Option keys. This causes the Open dialog to start with the directory that document is in.
• When using MultiFinder, provides the ability to quit Finder™ and release the memory it occupies (160K before System 7; 430K under System 7).
• When using MultiFinder or Switcher, enables toggling between two applications via user-defined keystrokes.
• Provides user-defined keyboard and key/click combinations to activate many functions, including the ability to show a subset of the HyperSwitch pop-up menu at any point on the screen.
_______
I hope you agree that HyperSwitch adds value to your use of the Macintosh, and I thank you for giving it a try.
Ed McFee
July 1993
_______
HyperSwitch is a trademark of Edward E. McFee.
Macintosh is a registered trademark and Finder, MultiFinder and Switcher are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
