rpVTInstall

rpVT installation and handshaking with ZTree

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1) Give me a cake recipe for installing rpVT

The instructions - do this, do that, etc. - that you will find in here, don't have necessarily to be executed as told. We suggest that you follow them as written, during the initial installation, to make the task as simple as possible.

After a few moments with rpVT, you will get comfortable enough with the new concepts and you probably will change those settings to your taste and preferences.

We assume, for the explanations given in here, that your operating drive is C:\ and your ZTree directory is C:\ZTree. If not, substitute accordingly in the text.

a) Create a directory C:\rpVT.
  b) Unzip rpVT.zip contents in this directory.
  c) Create a new shortcut with the following characteristics:
      Description : rpVT
      Target : C:\rpVT\rpVT.exe /zdC:\ZTree /ca1 /qz
      Start in : C:\rpVT
      Shortcut Key: None
      (This can be done by the following procedure: Right click in the desktop background,
       select New & Shortcut, type C:\rpVT\rpVT.exe /zdC:\ZTree /ca1 /qz
      click next, type rpVT and click finish.)

  d) Add the command line switches /ZB and /O to the starting line in ZTree starting batch
      file or in the ZTree shortcut properties, depending on how you start ZTree.
      (To make it simpler, add the /ZB /O letters to where the other ZTree switches are.)
  e) Start ZTree (in case you have being doing this with Windows Explorer).
  f)  Start rpVT.

You should see the rpVT window (it has no borders and will pop up in the top right corner of your desktop with the same basic colors used by ZTree).

If you are using a screen resolution of 800x600 or less, rpVT's window won't be totally visible and you will need to drag the window to it's final position.

In any case, for this first example installation, drag rpVT window to overlap partially the ZTree window in the part not used under the statistics. Click on the black window illustration in the main page of this site to get an enlarged version of the picture and try to copy the arrangement. rpVT window is draggable using the middle part of the top lines or the window borders and is resizable using the '/' sign in the right lower part of the window.

The reason we suggest the use of the overlapping scheme is because that will make you current with the rules and functionality of the windows automatic overlapping.

If you are running windows 98 or ME, the focus redirection and automatic overlapping won't work and we suggest that you position rpVT window close to ZTree but without overlapping.

If you want to start ZTree and rpVT together from a batch file (note: this batch will not be the ztwin.bat from ZTree directory), you can use this example:

Create a batch file "start.bat" and make its contents like this:
      (note that ztw.exe is used for NT&XP and ztwin.bat for 98&ME)

      @echo off
      start C:\ztree\ztw.exe /O /ZB /ZP /cols:90/ rows:50 C:\
      start /DC:\rpvt C:\rpvt\rpvt.exe /zdC:\ztree /ca1 /qz

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2) The Icon that starts ZTree in my computer points directly to C:\ztree\ztwin.bat. Where are the ZTree switches mentioned earlier and where should I add the /ZB and /O?

In this same Icon properties, but some ZTree installations could exist that use no switches. That will make it difficult for a beginner to find where to put the new switch since there is no place to identify the others. In this specific case add a space and the switches /ZB and /O to this Icon start line, like in this example:

C:\ztree\ztwin.bat /ZB /O

In this case /ZB & /O will be ZTree's only switches.

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3) Is there a form of knowing if the /ZB switch is active in a ZTree installation?

Yes, there is. Press the 'Y' key in ZTree. If you get the lower lines in ZTree window to go blank and show the word Assist: followed by the cursor mark, /ZB switch is working and the 'zbar.dat' file is being generated.

The /ZB switch is used to inform ZTree that rpVT or other assistant application is active and watching it. When the switch is recognized by ZTree it starts to generate the interface file 'zbar.dat' and also to accept and transfer the 'Y' command and others. When the /ZB switch is not present, ZTree will not interface with rpVT or others.

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4) How do I know if rpVT is 'seeing' the zbar.dat file?

If the contents of the top line in rpVT window are changing as you move the highlight bar in ZTree, the installation is correct. If not, the zbar.dat file is being generated in one place and rpVT is looking for it in another place.

Start searching for zbar.dat. It should be in the same directory where the ZTree executable (ztw.exe) is. Then, check to see if rpVT's link has the correct address where zbar.dat is.

Example:

a) Zbar.dat is in C:\program files\ztree\
      rpVT switch should be /zd"C:\program files\ztree\"

  b) Zbar.dat is in D:\ztree
      rpVT switch should be /zdD:\ztree

Observe that the "" quotes are used in the first case because the path has a space.

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