Creating Shortcuts for Holidays!

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For example, to create a shortcut on your Desktop that automatically
'refreshes' your Holidays! wallpaper, every time you click it:

Right-click on your Desktop.
Select New > Shortcut from the menus.
The Create Shortcut dialog will be displayed.

Select the Browse button, and locate Holidays.exe on your computer.
(Hint: if you accepted the default install folder during Setup,
the program is located at "C:\Program Files\Holidays\Holidays.exe").


     
Normally, we would select the Next button at this point, to create a shortcut that simply launches the program.

Instead, we're going to tell Holidays! what to do when it starts, by adding a parameter to the Command line.

Click anywhere in the textbox.
Press the {END} key.
Press the {SPACEBAR} Once.
(there must be a space between "C:\...\Holidays.exe" and our new parameter)
 
We can now tell Holidays! what to do by giving it a keyword,
and/or the name of a Holidays! (.hol) file.
 
For example, to automatically create your wallpaper, using
the events and print settings from Holidays Demo.hol, add the
keyword: FileToWall, then a Comma, and then the Filename.
 
       FileToWall,Holidays Demo.hol
 
So that the full command line contains:
 
    "C:\...\Holidays.exe" FileToWall,Holidays Demo.hol
 
which is shown in the picture below.
Note that the part you add, is highlighted in blue.

FileToWall, and other keywords are further described after this demo.
For now, just complete the Command line as shown below.
    

  
Select the Next Button, and enter a name for the shortcut.
    


Select the Finish button, and your shortcut will be created on the Desktop.

Now Test your shortcut by double-clicking it.

The Holidays! program will start...
(If you are still evaluating the program, the Shareware Splash screen will be displayed - Select the 'Continue Evaluation' button).

Holidays! will then automatically create the wallpaper, using the dates and print settings in the "Holidays Demo.hol" file, and Exit automatically (the user interface will not be displayed)!

Voila! Now you can 'Refresh' your wallpaper anytime! Just dbl-click this shortcut on your Desktop! Make shortcuts for any or all of your Holidays files!

Better yet! Add a Holidays! shortcut to your Windows 'Startup' group, and Holidays! will automatically create 'fresh' wallpaper, every time you restart your computer!  Hint: Copy the shortcut you just created, from the Desktop, to your Windows 'Startup' group!
    

Shortcut Syntax:
There are two ways to pass parameters to Holidays!

1. Pass the name of a file to open.
   For example, to launch Holidays and open Holidays Demo.hol
   Simply add the filename to the Command line:
   "C:\...\Holidays.exe" Holidays Demo.hol
    
   Note that if the file is in the same Folder as the Holidays program, you do not need to include the path. If it is not, you must include the FULL PATH:
   "C:\...\Holidays.exe" D:\Home\Holidays Demo.hol
       

2. Perform an Action, using a specified file.
   Holidays can perform 2 Actions:
   
   1). Print 'Fresh' Wallpaper, using the Dates from a Holidays (.hol) file.
   This Action was described in the example above.
   Here, the Holidays and print settings from Holidays Demo.hol are used to generate the wallpaper, and then the program exits automatically.
   
   This syntax uses the word FileToWall, as the first part of the parameter.
    
          "C:\...\Holidays.exe" FileToWall,Holidays Demo.hol
    
   Then enter a comma, and the filename to use. The filename after FileToWall can be any Holidays (.hol) file you'd like, or if left blank (do not include the comma), then Holidays will print your wallpaper using the last file you had open.
   
   
   2). Print 'Fresh' Wallpaper, using Dates from Outlook.
   The difference here is that instead of using the dates from Holidays!, the dates from your Outlook Calendar will be used to create the wallpaper!
   That's right! Holidays will 'connect' to Outlook, and 'download' all your appointments to create the Wallpaper!
   
   However, we still need the name of a Holidays file, so we can use it's print settings, making the syntax very similar. But in this case, the syntax uses the word OutlookToWall, as the first part of the parameter.
    
          "C:\...\Holidays.exe" OutlookToWall,Holidays Demo.hol
    
   Then enter a comma, and the filename to use for the print settings. The filename after OutlookToWall can be any Holidays (.hol) file you'd like, or if left blank (do not include the comma), then Holidays will print your Outlook wallpaper using the print settings of the last file you had open.
   
   

Shortcut Examples

Remember that when using TWO (2) parameters, you MUST separate the parameters with a comma (no spaces)!
Also note that if a file is in the same Folder as the Holidays program, you do not need to include the path (as assumed in these examples). If it is not, you must include the FULL PATH:
    "C:\...\Holidays.exe" D:\My Documents\MyFile.hol

1. Launch Holidays, and open a specific file (MyFile.hol).
    
      "C:\...\Holidays.exe" MyFile.hol
     
2. Automatically print wallpaper, using the Holidays and Print settings in the last open file.
    
      "C:\...\Holidays.exe" FileToWall
     
3. Automatically print wallpaper, using the Holidays and Print settings in MyFile.hol.
    
      "C:\...\Holidays.exe" FileToWall,MyFile.hol
     
4. Automatically print wallpaper, using the dates found in Outlook, and Print settings from the last open file.
    
      "C:\...\Holidays.exe" OutlookToWall
     
5. Automatically print wallpaper, using the dates found in Outlook, and Print settings in MyFile.hol.
    
      "C:\...\Holidays.exe" OutlookToWall,MyFile.hol
     

Holidays!©
Copyright, VBShareSoft, 1987-2004
Revised: 03/22/04