NewDeal Hot Tip 1703

[Hot Tips for...] PIMs

Multi-User Configuration

NewDeal Office saves "state" files for the software and its applications which contain information about which applications and documents were open the last time you ran the software. When you run NewDeal Office the next time, the software looks at the state files and restores the applications, documents, and settings as they were when you last shut down. In addition, the GEOS.INI file contains information how you've customized the look, feel, and workings of your applications, including NewManager.

By saving the state files and the GEOS.INI file after a particular session, you can store the settings for that session and use them again in a later session, even if you run the software differently in between.

For example, you might perform different kinds of work during different sessions with the software and you might like to display certain directories or have certain applications and documents open by default whenever you launch the software for a particular kind of work.

Or perhaps there are several family members who each run NewDeal. Using batch files to save and restore the state files and the GEOS.INI file before and after running NewDeal, each user can have her or his own set of customizations and default configuration.

State files are kept in \PRIVDATA\STATE and the GEOS.INI file is in the directory where NewDeal is installed. You can customize your work area, exit NewDeal, and execute a batch file to save the state and GEOS.INI files, and then restore them later with another batch file that you use to launch NewDeal.

Let's take a simple example where John and Mary each use NewDeal and each wishes to save their own configuration. John runs NewDeal once, configures things the way he wants, and then exits. Next, he copies his state files and his GEOS.INI file to a special subdirectory, like this:

COPY C:\NEWDEAL\GEOS.INI C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\GEOS.INI
COPY C:\NEWDEAL\PRIVDATA\STATE\*.* C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\STATE\*.*
Finally, John creates a batch file named JOHN.BAT which looks like this:
COPY C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\GEOS.INI C:\NEWDEAL\GEOS.INI
COPY C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\STATE\*.* C:\NEWDEAL\PRIVDATA\STATE\*.*
CALL C:\NEWDEAL\RESET.BAT
C:\NEWDEAL\LOADER
COPY C:\NEWDEAL\GEOS.INI C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\GEOS.INI
COPY C:\NEWDEAL\PRIVDATA\STATE\*.* C:\NEWDEAL\JOHNBAK\STATE\*.*
Now, whenever John runs JOHN.BAT, it restores his particular settings before running NewDeal Office, and then saves any changes to those settings when he exits.

Mary would do the same, creating a special directory to store her state and GEOS.INI files and restoring and re-saving them by running NewDeal using a batch file named MARY.BAT.

Any number of users could have their own customized version of NewDeal on the same computer, sharing the same installation of NewDeal, rather than installing separate copies. A single user who wants different customized sessions for different kinds of work could do so using a similar method.

Note:
The line CALL C:\NEWDEAL\RESET.BAT deletes the state files from the previous session before restoring the ones from the next user's backup. This is necessary because applications may have been left open during the previous session that are not part of the next user's backup set of state files. The command DEL C:\NEWDEAL\PRIVDATA\STATE\*.* would perform the same function and could be used instead.


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Last Modified 6 Mar 1999