ChaosCommand - Help

Thank your for downloading ChaosCommand. Here we want to show you how to use this little tool.

What is ChaosCommand?

This program is intended to be an alternative to the "run"-dialogue of Microsoft Windows. It benefits from the possibilities to create own "shortcuts" for program-calls and the auto-completion of the defined commands. Unfortunately, Windows Vista doesn't support auto-completion of short commands (like "notepad") anymore.

Hinweis: Dies ist die englische Hilfe, für die deutsche klicken Sie bitte hier.

Content

- Installation
- Configuration
- About ChaosCommand

Installation

There is no need for a real installation as you may know from other applications. But anyway, there are some steps needed to use ChaosCommand in the supposed way.

Since ChaosCommand is an alternative to the "run"-dialogue of Windows, it is important that it can also be startet with a key shortcut. In case you didn't yet, extract the archive to any place you like. Now create a shortcut by right-clicking the "command.exe" and clicking "Create Shortcut". Now open the properties of the shortcut file (right-click on it). There you can set up a shortcut key for ChaosCommand. Unfortunately, not all combinations are allowed. For instance there isn't a combination with the windows key (like Windows+R for the "run"-dialogue) possible. You can use for example "Ctrl+F12". Note: The program may only start by pressing the specified combination, when the shortcut-file is on the desktop.

Before you can use ChaosCommand, you must configure it and define commands. Read the next chapter to lern about this.

Configuration

ChaosCommand is configured via the command.ini file. Eingerichtet wird ChaosCommand über die command.ini Datei. You can open this file by the command "ini" in ChaosCommand (as long the command was not removed bevore from the ini file.).

Structure of a command

Commands, that you can use in ChaosCommand later are structured as following:

[NEW]
name=name of the program
path=path of the Program
param=0

The meaning of the seperate lines:

[NEW]
With that you state, that a new command is defined in the following lines. This must be done with every new command, since the following lines are always related to the first [NEW] above them.

name
This is the command, that you later type into ChaosCommand to start the program.

path
This is the complete path to the program. It also may be an internet adress.

param
This variable determines, how many parameters the command has. In most cases it can be skipped or assigned to 0. Below you can learn about the using of parameters.

Example of a simple command

In this example we want to associate the command "calc" with the Windows-calculator. Here we go:

[NEW]
name=calc
path=C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe

Explanation:

name is of course "calc", since this command will start the calculator later. path is the exact path to the calculator (it's possible, that it is not correct in your Windows-installation). param plays no role and is therefore skipped.

Example of a command with a parameter

In this example we want the command "wiki Chaos" to open the wikipedia site for "Chaos". Here we need a parameter, as the part after "wiki" can and should vary. Here we go:

[NEW]
name=wiki
path=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$$1
param=1

Explanation:

name is just the command "wiki", parameters don't influence this field. In path $$1 is our paramete. To be more specific: Our first parameter, but there is only one in this example, which we defined with the "1" behind param. What happens, if we type in the command "wiki Chaos"? Well, ChaosCommand recognizes "Chaos" as a parameter and replaces the $$1 in the path with it. In the end, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos" will be opened (in your standard browser).

Example of a command with more parameters

The following example may appear weird, but it shows the usage of parameters. If we type in "url test com folder", then "http://www.test.com/folder" should be opened. So, the exact call depends on 3 more values. Because of this, we need 3 parameters. Here we go:

[NEW]
name=url
path=http://www.$$1.$$2/$$3
param=3

Explanation:

Here it is important, too, that the number behind param is the exact number of parameters used in the command. The parameters are separated with spaces during the input. The last parameter (resp.: if there's only one, then this one) contains the rest. So the command "url foobar com this is a test" would open "http://www.foobar.com/this is a test".

Further options

With title you can configure the window title:

title=My handy little tool

In this case in the title of the window appears "My handy little tool". The standard value is "ChaosCommand".

About ChaosCommand

Version 1.00
© 2007, Chaos Interactive
Written by Daniel Liebetrau
All rights reserved

www.chaos-interactive.de