i wannna launch my application on startup anyone help?

[tyweed]

I run game launcher and i'd like to launch it right when computer starts up. i'm going to guess i create a batch file with path to the exe. then what?

I'v tried searching here and on search  engines no luck finding info.If someone can explain what i can do that be great!

[Jakobud]

Windows or DOS?

Windows:  place a shortcut to glaunch.exe in start \ programs \ startup folder


DOS: create a batch file called autoexec.bat and place it in C:\

In the batch file, type in the following line

c:\glaunch\glaunch.exe

(if the autoexec.bat file already exists, just edit it and add that line to the bottom of the file)

[Howard_Casto]

I'm suprised at you jakobud. You of all people should know that if you just send a path+ and exe in dos it doesn't properly set the current working directory to the directory where the exe is stored.  

it needs to be

C:
cd\
cd glaunch
glaunch.exe

Also gameluancher has serious dependancy probs in windows you you might have to try:

C:
cd\
cd glaunch
start glaunch.exe

Regardless, the way glauncher is setup you MUST make and bat and can't simply add a shortcut to glaunch.exe to the startup folder.  You have to add the bat file itself.  (No need to bother with autoexec.bat, if you are using windows then that bat is outdated anyway.)


Hope that helps.  

[grafixmonkey]

dang, that just gave me batch file writing flashbacks...

I hate those things, they suck like a hoover.

[SirPeale]

I'm suprised at you jakobud. You of all people should know that if you just send a path+ and exe in dos it doesn't properly set the current working directory to the directory where the exe is stored.  

it needs to be

C:
cd\
cd glaunch
glaunch.exe

actually, a simpler way would be just

cd \glaunch
glaunch

unless there's other drives it's getting the proggys off of, then you'd need to change to that drive before attempting to execute any files.

changing to the root directory, and then to the directory you want is an extra, unneeded step.

[Spaced Invader]

Howard must be a C/C++ programer--lots of steps, screw shortcuts, and attention to detail. Thats a compliment by the way...I don't have the patience/attention span.  

[Jakobud]

I'm suprised at you jakobud. You of all people should know that if you just send a path+ and exe in dos it doesn't properly set the current working directory to the directory where the exe is stored.  

Really? How come I have never noticed that before?  It's been too long i guess.

[Howard_Casto]

Well it might just be the version of windows you are used to.  Some set the path some don't. (Don't ask me which, dos documentation amoungst the windoze versions is horrible.)  I always do it the old way just to be safe.  Same with the root change.  It's not always necessary, but I'd rather take the time to write one extra line then to troubleshoot my bat 4 or 5 times before I figure out the problem.  

[grafixmonkey]

It's possible Mame ignores the working directory and just uses its .ini file, or that the roms and samples paths were put in as absolute instead of relative, or something, and that's why it worked for you anyway.  

I also remember being annoyed when I'd type "cd d:\games\fudgeslinger" when I was at the C: prompt, and nothing would happen...  then I'd remember to change to the D: drive, and find out that each drive maintains its own current working directory.  What's funny is that if they fixed little doofus things like that to make dos intelligent, it'd break software and make the new command line incompatible.  Can't start doing things smart cuz we're too much on a roll doing them stoopid.  

[Random24]

I whipped up a how to for this in XP.  You can replace the shell  in any windows operating system back to 95 but the procedure is a bit different.

Getting a Front-end to run as a shell in XP and start with no user intervention
^{You cannot do this if your computer is part of a domain. It must only be part of a workgroup.}

• Create a user that will be the auto-login user. (User should have admin rights at this time)
• Configure XP to automate the logon process if your computer is not part of a domain.
• Click Start, click Run, and type control userpasswords2.
• Clear the Users must enter a username and password to use this computer check box.
• Click Apply.
• Enter the user name and pwd you wish to automatically log on with, and then click OK.
• Click OK again and you're all done.
• Setup your FE the way you want it.
• Open regedit and browse to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"
• Look for a string entry called 'Shell'. If it is not there, create a string entry and name it 'Shell'. Set the value of this entry to the name and location of your Front-end. For Lazarus, the shell entry may be "C:\Lazarus\Lazarus.exe" or wherever your Lazarus executable is located. For explorer, the entry is simply "explorer.exe".
• Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights.
• Change the auto-login user to a standard user. (This way people don't have more access than you want them to have.)

[SpamMe]

Nice. Once that's all set up, tho, how do you boot back into explorer when you need to?

[Random24]

That is the beauty of doing this with XP.  You just ctrl+alt+del and log out.  Then you log back in as another user (probably the administrator account).  Only the one users shell is changed.

[SpamMe]

Hmm... I'm getting weird results with this. T
he PC boots up, displays the boot screen (win xp loading blah blah blah), followed by the blue welcome screen that says "loading personal settings" or something to that effect. I can then hear my mamewah background music, which means its open, but I can't see it (still stuck at that blue welcome screen. If I hit ctrl-alt-delete, the welcome screen goes away, and I can see mamewah running (but it's not running fullscreen, kinda crammed up in a corner). I can open a game and exit it, and mamewah will be back to fullscreen, tho.. Anyhow, any suggestions?

[Random24]

Hmmmm...

A couple of questions,
Do you have XP Pro of XP Home?
Take a look at the 'Advanced' tab in the 'User Accounts' window.
Is the 'Secure Logon' checkbox checked?


I honestly don't know what could be wrong I have set this up on 3 different computers with no problems.
You may want to see what happens when you have the automatic login enabled but have explorer.exe as the shell.

I hope that you find some of this helpfull.

[SpamMe]

XP Pro
Secure logon disabled
It doesn't seem to be the automatic login. It works fine, unless I add the shell reg entry.

[Random24]

It sounds like Mamewah might be having some problems with focus at startup.  Could be an oversight or problem with the FE.  I am using DK and it works fine.  Can someone else try to shell Mamewah in XP to see if it is the FE or just this guys computer?

[Inaba]

Yes, MameWah has focus issues.

I've been trying to think of a situation where you are running MameWah and you would NOT want focus, but I haven't come across one yet.  

MameWah needs to add several checks/requests for focus in the source.  As it stands now, it seems to only request focus on startup.  Given that if you ALT-Tab out of Mamewah, you can't ALT-TAB back in, I don't see it being a problem as far as current functionality goes.  Unless my Mamewah setup is hosed.

[Howard_Casto]

I check for focus on multiple occasions.  During startup, during shutdown (don't ask), and both before and after rom/scr launches.  I do it this way because although when I wrote it there weren't any problem games, I knew that focus is always an issue for windoze apps and thus planned ahead.  

Since minwah is on a role in recent weeks I wuold give him a heads up to work ont he issue.  

[JackTucky]

I have the same problem with Mamewah and XP HOME.  Mamewah starts as shell and is up in the top left corner.

Art

[JackTucky]

• Create a user that will be the auto-login user. (User should have admin rights at this time)
• Configure XP to automate the logon process if your computer is not part of a domain.
• Click Start, click Run, and type control userpasswords2.
• Clear the Users must enter a username and password to use this computer check box.
• Click Apply.
• Enter the user name and pwd you wish to automatically log on with, and then click OK.
• Click OK again and you're all done.

Once I did the above, XP now starts Mamewah correctly, full screen.

Art