Features.
- Small size, the executable is less than 55k.
- Support for Windows 95, 98, Millenium (ME), NT, 2000 and XP.
- Minimal memory and CPU time usage.
- It can load documents, programs or folders (directories).
- Option to load all files or try until successful (load only one from a list).
- Option to delay a few seconds before loading.
- No additional files needed.
- Very simple to use.
- Free software and...
- Open source (OSI-Certified). Released under the GPL license.
Requirements.
- A Windows system (it works with Windows 95, 98, Millennium (ME), NT, 2000 and XP).
Installation.
1) Get the files.
Get the files from
http://www.mariovaldez.net/software/mvdocrun/.
There are zip and gzip compressed packages.
2) Unpack.
Unpack the files in a directory with a ZIP unpacker or a Tar-GZip unpacker.
3) You are done.
Read the readme.txt file for usage.
Or, if you are in a hurry, just run the mvdocrun program.
Usage.
Usage:
mvdocrun [-v] [-l] [-q] [-a] [-dnn] file1 [file2] [file3] [file4] [file5]...
Parameters:
file1 is the program you want to run,
the document you want to open or the folder (directory)
you want to explore. You can specify up to 10 items.
-l tells mvdocrun to display its license and exit (without processing any file).
-v tells mvdocrun to be verbose. By default only a two-line summary is displayed.
If this option is enabled, mvdocrun will display what file is about to run, on what
directory and the failure or success code of each file.
-q tells mvdocrun to be quiet. By default only a two-line summary is displayed.
If this option is enabled, mvdocrun will not display anything. (If called from a program
or script, like a batch file [a .BAT file] you can still check the return code of mvdocrun
to verify if any file was sucessfully loaded).
-a tells mvdocrun to invoke all files. By default, mvdocrun will try the first
file; if it is successful it will stop, if it fails, it will try the second file, and so on.
If this option is enabled, mvdocrun will try to load all files, no matter if it fails or not.
-dnn tells mvdocrun to wait "nn" number of seconds before starting. By default
mvdocrun start loading files immediatelly. With this option you can ask it to wait from 1 to
99 seconds before starting. Please note that you must write the number next to the -d
switch, without a blank space between them.
If you use any conflicting parameters (for example, verbose and quiet at the same time) only the last conflicting parameter will be used.
The exit code (or return code) of mvdocrun is equal to the number of successfully invoked files. So, if only one file was loaded, a 1 is returned, if 2 files were loaded, a 2 is returned and so on. If no files were loaded a 0 is returned.
License.
MV Document Run (mvdocrun).
Copyright ©2005-2006 by Mario A. Valdez-Ramirez
You can contact Mario A. Valdez-Ramirez by email at mario@mariovaldez.org or
paper mail at Olmos 809, San Nicolas, NL. 66495, Mexico.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
Download.
- The current version (1.0.0, 2006/01/16) is available as a zip file (39k).
- There is a Readme file included with all packages.
- There is a Changelog file included with all packages.
- There is a signed checksum file that lets you verify the integrity of the downloaded file.
- There is a License file included with all packages.
Usage examples.
If you want to create an autostart CDROM which can load an HTML web page, a Flash animatio, a PDF, a text file or something else, follow these steps.
1) Create an autorun.inf file.
When Windows detects a new CDROM, if autorun is enabled in Windows,
it looks for a file named autorun.inf file. In the directory where
you unpacked the mvdocrun package you will find a subdirectory named
sample\. There you will find an example of an autorun.inf file.
It contains something like:
open = mvdocrun.exe splash.swf index.htm readme.txt
This example tells Windows to run the program mvdocrun.exe (which should be in the CDROM root directory) with the parameters mvdocrun.exe splash.swf index.htm readme.txt.
The purpose is to run mvdocrun and let it try to load splash.swf (a Flash file) with a Flash player (if the user has one installed); if loaded successfully, the job of mvdocrun is done and it will exit (leaving the user with your Flash presentation). But if mvdocrun cannot find a Flash player, then it will try to load index.htm with the default browser; if loaded successfully, mvdocrun will exit and leave the user with your HTML page. But if mvdocrun cannot load the file, it will try to load the file readme.txt with the default text viewer. Hopefully, your user will be able to load any of the files.
2) Prepare the file structure.
Create the directory (folder) structure you want to create in your
autorun CDROM. The easiest way is to put autostart.inf, mvdocrun.exe,
and your main files (the webpage, text file, PDF, etc.) in the
root directory of the CDROM. (Only autostart.inf must
be in the root directory, the other files can be in their own
directories [folders]).
3) Burn your CDROM.
4) Test it.
Questions, comments, suggestions.
You can send your questions, comments or suggestions by email.
Don't hesitate to contact the author by email (mario@mariovaldez.org).
Alternatives.
Isn't this software what you are looking for? There are several other products to load documents with the default application. The following are very similar to mvdocrun:
- ShellExe by Koen Mannaerts (freeware, closed-source/proprietary).
- AutoBrowse by Richard Lippmann (freeware, closed-source/proprietary).
- CD AutoRun by Peter Harrison (freeware, closed-source/proprietary).
There are also other programs designed specifically for the CDROM creation process, some with added features as the creation of menu systems:
- AutoView by Pollen Software (commercial, closed-source/proprietary).
- GST Autoplay Pilot by GS Technologies (commercial, closed-source/proprietary).
- ShellRun by PHDCC (commercial, closed-source/proprietary).
Source code.
You can download the source-code of the MVDocRun (MV Document Run) application. The source-code packages include the debugging map file and the reference executable file. You will need Borland Delphi to compile it (we use Delphi 6).
- The source code of the current version (1.0.0, 2006/01/16) is available as a tar.bz2 file (52k).
- There is a signed checksum file that lets you verify the integrity of the downloaded file.
Browse the source files (1.0.0).