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- Using Playback within Windows.
-
- Can you use Playback within Microsoft Windows 3.0? The answer is Yes
- and No. It all depends on what you're trying to do.
-
- If you load Playback before loading Windows in the hope that you will
- be able to replay or capture keystrokes while in the Windows program
- manager, you'll be disappointed. Playback will not record nor
- playback while in the Windows program manager itself. Program
- manager locks up the keyboard tighter than a drum. However, if you
- were to open a window, Playback would record and playback within that
- window. But don't do it. Here's why:
-
- Let's say you have two open windows and you want to playback a
- keyfile in one of the windows while you work in the other. So you go
- to the window that you want to run the keyfile in and you enter the
- keyfile name at the DOS prompt (or launch it from MENU, or hit the
- playback hot key....) and the keyfile starts working. So now you
- switch to the other window. To your surprise, Playback continues on
- replaying the keystrokes all right, but in the new window now, not
- the window you initiated it in. Not much use for that.
-
- However, don't despair, as there is a perfectly good way to run a
- Keyfile as a background window process. Instead of running your
- normal application in the window, instead create a DOS batch file
- that first loads Playback (put PB as the first command in the batch
- file) and then loads the application. Then, any records and
- playbacks you do will be confined only to that window. You can do
- this in as many windows as you want.
-
- This can be really spiffy. Suppose you want to run a keyfile in the
- background while you write a letter in the foreground. Simple.
- Let's assume you've previously recorded a Keyfile by the name of
- WORK. Create a batch file with this in it:
-
- PB
- WORK
-
- and save it as WORKER.BAT (or any other name you want). Then crank
- up Windows. You could create a new application that runs WORKER.BAT
- or you could just run it from the Program Manager. Once it's
- running, then open a new window to write your letter. WORKER.BAT
- will run in the background window by first loading Playback (PB) and
- then executing the WORK keyfile. Of course, since it's running in
- the background it will execute slower than if it wasn't in the
- background. But don't worry about the delay between keystrokes,
- because Windows takes care of all that. Of course it won't run in
- the background if the window it's running in isn't configured to run
- in the background.
-
- Clear as mud? All you need remember is not to load Playback before
- running Windows. If you need Playback then load it within each of
- the windows you want to use it in.
-