Program Switcher is a useful little control which allows you to switch between the running programs on your System 7 or greater Mac via simple two-key keystroke. This control was inspired by Windows. "Whoah!" you say, "Why write Windows functionality for a great machine like the Macintosh?" I use Windows at work and became fond of this functionality (Well, actually, I got so use to it that I found myself doing it on my Mac). So I was inspired to write this control panel.
Instructions
Program Switcher requires System 7 or greater. To install it, just drag the proper control panel version (that is, drag the 68K version for 68K machines, and the PPC version for Power PC machines) to your system folder icon and "drop." If you are using the Power Macintosh Upgrade Card on a 680x0 machine, I recomend installing the 68K version of Program Switcher. Restart your computer. To use, while holding down the activating key (by default, the option key), tap the switching key (tab key). A window will appear displaying the next program running. While still holding the activating key (option key) down, tapping the switching key (tab key) again shows the program after that. While the program you want to switch to is selected, let go of the activating key (option key) and that program will be brought to the front.
To customize your settings, open the Program Switcher control panel itself. There are two pop-up menus which allow you to set the activating and switching keys. There is also a check box entitled "Hide Other Applications." If this check box is checked, Program Switcher will hide all other applications when you switch to a new application layer via Program Switcher. Please note you have to switch application layers with Program Switcher for this feature to work.
You can set the font and font size of the text the Program Switcher will use to display the name of the application with the two pop up menus under the "Program Window Font" title.
Like the Windows functionality, Program Switcher will remember the last application you switched out of and display that program first the next time you use Program Switcher.
Please Note that you will have to reboot your Macintosh after installing Program Switcher in arder to properly access the control panel.
Registering
Program Switcher is shareware. If you use Program Switcher for more than two weeks, please pay the US$10 registration fee. You may do this by using the enclosed Register application (allows credit card payment).
Site licensing and customizations are available. The Register program has two options for site licenses: Regular and "World Wide". A Regular site license is limited to all the computers in one actual building, while a "World Wide" license allows installation on computers in multiple buildings. If you want to get a site licenses that allows your employees (or students, if you are a school) to install Program Switcher on their personal computers, you must get a "World Wide" license.
If you are on CompuServe, you can register Program Switcher online. Type GO SWREG for more information. Program Switcher's registration code is 6209.
Contacting Me
You may contact me via e-mail at:
kamprath@kagi.com
kamprat@leonardo.net
Disclaimers
Use at your own risk. But please report any bugs to me ;-) Registered users receive priority response time on bug reports and suggestions.
"Windows" is a trademark of that company run by Bill Gates.
Credits
Special thanks goes to Michael Hecht for sending me the code to snatch the program's icon from the Desktop Database.
Future Plans
Add ability to exclude certain applications for the display list.
Add an application window selection key.
History
v1.0.0: 3 October 1994: Initial Release. Cool.
v1.0.1: 15 October 1994: Started to address the problems OTPS has with DAs. Their icons now display when opt-tabbing, but you still can't opt-tab out of a DA. I'm working on this, but I don't have much time to address it right now.
v1.5.0: 5 January 1995: Improved the code so that it now works with DAs properly! I also produced a Power PC version.
v1.5.1: 7 January 1995: Fixed a problem that caused periodic crashes when one of the serial ports was in use (for you programmers, I was allocating memory at interrupt time -- BAD).
v1.5.2: 17 January 1995: First another memory problem plus made the key sequence customizable. Changed the name from "Option Tab Program Switcher" to "Program Switcher" to reflect this.
v2.0.0: 1 February 1995: Turned Program Switcher in a CDEV and added application hiding option. Added "remember last application" to code. Optimized code. Added a preference file.
v2.0.1: 7 February 1995: Fixed a nasty bug that caused alot of people to be unable to soft shutdown their computer. I sincerely apologize for turning the public at large into a group of beta-testers. Also fixed a code logic error which sometimes allowed the current front proccess to be displayed first when iniating the switching mechanism. One bug still exists, though. This is the fault of my compiler (CodeWarrior). Basically, a 65K memory block gets allocated in the system heap each time you open the control panel. This block never gets disposed. Therefore, do not open the control panel too often. I have reported this problem to MetroWerks and as soon as a fix is released, I will recompile and release an improved version.
v2.0.2: 10 February 1995: Well, the "extra memory block" problem was not a "bug" in the true sense of the word. MW pointed out to me how to dispose of it and this version now get's rid of all memory blocks it does not need.
v2.1.0: 27 Fenruary 1995: I tweeked the switching code a little. The current application will not be displayed until all the other applications have been cycled through at least once. I also added the options to set the display window font. Lessened the memory requirements of the control panel. Fixed a problem with the inability to shutdown.
v2.1.1: 1 March 1995: I got promoted to First Lieutenant today. I also tweeked the switching code a little more so it wouldn't show the same application twice in a row (as was the case with only 2 running applications).
v2.1.2: 31 August 1995: Updated my e-mail address. No changes to the control panel otherwise.
v2.1.3: 2 September 1995: Ooops! There was one internal change to v2.1.2 that I screwed up -- Program Switcher would not load. All is well now.
v2.1.4: 3 September 1995: Well, mark it down in the lessons learned book. All I was trying to do was update the e-mail address in v2.1.1 and recompile with a newwer version of CodeWarrior. Versions 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 were abortive attempts at doing this. Assuming my task at hand was trivial, I did not ensure that either version was fully functional before releasing them. Well, I put some time in this one and I have verified that it works at least as well as v2.1.1, and it has the updated e-mail address.
v2.1.5: 13 September 1995: Added the Kagi Shareware Register program to the archive. This allows credit card registrations.
