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From: hadgraft@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Hadgraft)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: PATH for Windows applications
Message-ID: <1991Jun6.095516.86840@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>
Date: 5 Jun 91 23:55:16 GMT
Organization: Civil Engineering, Monash University, Australia
Lines: 29

One of the things I find annoying about most major Windows applications, is that
their directories must be included in the PATH. If you use a number of them,
your PATH gets quite long. There is such a simple solution to this problem, that
I can't believe that so many developers don't use it. All an application has to
do is store the home directory in WIN.INI or its own .INI file. Problem solved.
Then my path wouldn't have to look like this:

c:\windows;c:\winmisc;c:\pif;c:\winword;c:\excel3;c:\toolbook; etc

Even Windows shouldn't need to have the Windows directory in the PATH. There
should be entried in WIN.INI like this:

homedir=c:\windows
pifdir=c:\pif

I am
planning to write a replacement for STARTUP.EXE which stores the directory for
major applications in WIN.INI. When you startup a particular application, it
will append the correct directory to the PATH, and start the application.

Perhaps noone else sees this as a problem. I'd be interested in your views.
--
  +--------------------------------------+
  |  Roger Hadgraft                 +----------------------------------+
  |  Senior Lecturer                |  hadgraft@civeng.monash.edu.au   |
  |  Dept of Civil Engineering      |  phone:  +61 3 565 4983          |
  |  Monash University              |  fax:    +61 3 565 4944 or 3409  |
  |  Clayton, Vic. 3168. Australia. +----------------------------------+
  +--------------------------------------+