Re: XY under XP: finding config.xy

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Patricia M. Godfrey"
 on Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:44:51 -0400


> I
> carefully created a config.xy file, in c:\windows\system32,
> containing some of the commands I include in my 98Se batchfile:
> cd d:\xy4
> d:
> editor
> also some path modifications, which will be more as I install
> Ghostscript and GSview.

You simply don't need any of that -- it's redundant. "Working
directory" in the Shortcut gives you "CD /D D:\XY4" and launches
Editor. The %PATH% environment variable in NT can be quite long
-- if you need to add GS or GSView paths, add them (either
globally or to you as a user, if it isn't your machine) via the
System tab of Control Panel. If you're only using GS with
XyWrite, U2 gets the path to GS from XyWWWeb.REG... so you don't
need to tell the OpSys about it at all! See further:
 http://xywrite.org/msg01112.htm

> WHY is it so terrible to launch an app with a batchfile?

Who said it was terrible? I use dozens of BATch files -- but
not simply to launch apps, rather to perform complex actions (to
count, to branch, to iterate). The sample lines you offer above
suggest that you don't use Shortcuts correctly. Moreover,
there's a confusion here of CONFIG and AUTOEXEC -- the commands
you offer belong in AUTOEXEC.XY -- they won't run in CONFIG.

> But then I have to
> navigate through d:, then xy4, to get to the shortcut.

Huh? You don't "navigate" to Shortcuts -- you just click on
them! Unless you're actually trying to launch a .PIF or .LNK
by name, from a command line -- which is a very poor idea. PIFs
and LNKs are maintained and frequently altered by the operating
system, they are NOT intended to be used manually like that.

Most parts of an NT OpSys should be used the way Microsoft
intended them to be used.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------