Special Properties for FHS under Windows

There are some special properties that can be established for the Family History System in a Windows environment that can be useful for controlling the mode of operation of FHS and for overcoming certain problems that may arise when running the software under Windows.
The properties that will be mentioned here are:

Operating FHS within a Window
FHS can operate within a window when using Windows 3.0 or later. One of the Windows program properties controls whether the application is to run in Full Screen mode or in a Window. In some cases, running FHS in a window may result in unacceptably poor program performance. This is more likely to be the case when using a slower processor.

Returning to Windows at the End of an FHS Session
At the end of a DOS task, Windows may either leave the DOS session active, requiring you to manually terminate it, or it can close out the DOS session completely and return you to the Windows environment. Which action prevails depends upon another of these "program properties".

Sensitivity to Apparent Inactivity
When Windows detects that an application is requesting information from the keyboard, it may delay the application until a key is pressed. However the Family History System programs, like many other DOS applications, will often look for keyboard input while continuing to do productive work, thus allowing the user to interrupt a procedure. If Windows is "overly sensitive" to these requests for input, it may delay the programs from completing their work. This is more likely to happen when running the software on computers using any of today's faster processors. One of the Windows program properties adjusts this sensitivity to the program's requests for keyboard input.

Allowing Special Keystroke Combinations
There are certain keystroke combinations that are normally intercepted by Windows and not passed along to the application program. Among these is one which has meaning to the screen format customization program in the Sept 97 update of FHS. In that program the CTRL+Enter keystroke combination allows the user to update additional fields that are used to control the attributes of entries in a screen format's definition table. To provide this option for users a Windows property must be set to allow the program to know that the keystroke combination has been pressed.

Changing Program Properties under Windows
The method for changing the program properties of an application differs between Windows 3.x and Windows 95. The two procedures will be described separately in the following sections.
Windows 3.x
Under Windows 3.x, program properties are controlled by setting up a "Program Information File" or "PIF" for the application. A special utility program, PIFEDIT, is provided by Windows to create PIF files. To run this utility, click the "File" option on the menu bar for the Windows program manager. Then click "Run" on the drop down menu, type: PIFEDIT and press Enter. A window will open in which you can enter several items of information. They include:

Program Filename - which would be FHSINIT.EXE for the Sept 97 update of FHS
Window Title - this "label" (for example: "Family History System") will be on the heading of the Window for the application
Startup Directory - which would be C:\FAMILY if you have installed the software into a FAMILY directory of the C drive
Display Usage - click on either "Full Screen" or "Windowed"
Close Window on Exit - set this option to return control directly to Windows after terminating an FHS session
You should also click on the button labeled "Advanced". When you do that another window will open in which there are two items of interest:

Detect Idle Time - deselect this option by clicking on it until the "x" in the option box is removed. This is the setting which disables windows "sensitivity to inactivity" described previously
Reserve Shortcut Keys - this is the area where you can deselect certain special key combinations to allow Windows to pass those keystrokes to the application. Under Windows 3.x there are no special keystrokes listed that are used by FHS.
After you have completed the above mentioned items using the PIF Editor, click on "File" on the menu bar and then click on "Save As". You will be prompted to enter the file name under which the PIF should be saved. You might enter: C:\FAMILY\FHS.PIF which would save the file into the Family directory of the C drive.
Next you must change the program item in the "Family History System" group of the Program Manager to use the new PIF file. Double Click on the Family History System group item and then Single Click on the icon that is used to start FHS. The icon should become "hilited". Next click on "File" on the Program Manager menu bar and then click on "Properties". Change the "Command Line" to "FHS.PIF" from "FHSINIT.EXE". After completing this change, Windows will apply the properties identified in the PIF file whenever you start an FHS session by double clicking the program item.
Windows 95
Under Windows 95, special properties for program items in the Family History System folder on the desktop are established by placing the cursor on the icon for the program and pressing the right mouse button. Click on "Properties" in the popup menu box to open a window showing several "Tabs" for displaying/modifying program properties. These Tabs have labels: General, Program, Font, Memory, Screen, and Misc.
First click on the "Screen" tab. Here you can choose for the program to operate in "Full Screen" mode or in a "Window". If you select "Window" then you should also set the "Initial Size" to "25 lines". In this case you should also deselect the Window option for "Display Toolbar".
If you click on the "Misc" tab you will see that one of the items is a "slide" control for "Idle Sensitivity". This is the control described previously as "Sensitivity to Apparent Inactivity". You should move the indicator to the "Low" end of the control by placing the cursor on the indicator, holding the left key button down, and sliding the indicator the the left end of the control bar. There is also a set of controls labeled "Windows Shortcut Keys". Among these is one for "Alt+Enter". You should deselect that key combination by clicking on it until the option box next to it is blank. This will allow the FHS programs to know when the ALT+Enter key combination has been pressed.
If you click on the "Program" tab, you will see several items identifying the command line for starting FHS, the "Working directory", and one line labeled "Batch file". That line can be used to enter a DOS command that will be invoked before starting an FHS session. For instance, if you wanted to use a separate set of language files, with prefix "GMN", you could set the "Batch File" line to: SET FHSLANG=GMN. Or, if you want to make the DATECALC utility memory resident for the duration of an FHS session, you could set the "Batch File" line to: DATECALC R. (You may then be able to call the DATECALC program from any FHS program by pressing the ALT+CTRL keys simultaneously.)
Another item on the "Program" tab is one labeled "Close on Exit". This option should be chosen so that the FHS window will automatically be removed when an FHS session is completed.
After all settings have been established as you want them, press the OK button to close the window.