Switcher Application Prerequisites
Switcher is a “Win32” executable that can run under any 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Windows® that is NT-based (i.e. Windows NT4, Windows 2000 or later editions). It is not needed, and will not run on, “Win9x” (i.e. Windows 95, 98 or ME) editions. It requires a display of at least 800x600 pixels and 256 color [8-bit] depth because its Graphical User Interface [GUI] window has a minimum size constraint of approximately 720x540 pixels (depending on the Windows® edition and user “style” and “theme” settings).
The user must have administrative privileges and permissions because this utility needs “Full Control” access to the content of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive of the Registry and the Desktop and Start button programs menu when it does a context switch. This means that a “limited administrator” under Windows Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7 or Server 2011 is not sufficient (nor is that sufficient to run Export-It or Export-It Plus or other “legacy” applications; see Syscob: Windows 7 & Server 2008/2011 for details).
Switcher Technical Details
The list of defined contexts is kept in the Registry under the key of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive. Initially, before any contexts are defined, there will be only one subkey which holds the window location, size, constraints and the position of the movable “splitter” that divides the left and right panes:
Once contexts have been defined there will be a subkey for each one that retains its name [“title”] and which Syscob applications it includes:
For each context in the Registry there is a corresponding folder under the folder in the user “My Documents” folder. When a context is selected the files in the context folder are listed in the right pane. This example is for a context that includes both Syscob applications. Since the context name is “EP [prod] and EPP [test]” and this is a Windows 7 machine the files are in the folder:
The files with “” extensions are normal Windows® Registry files and those with an extension of “” are standard Windows® “INI” files. Either type may be viewed or changed using Notepad or other text editor. The names without extensions, and a folder prefix, are subfolders which contain shortcut [“link”] files and the properties of these shortcuts are editable. The prefix “” indicates a folder that is on the user Desktop and prefix “” is used for a folder in the Start button programs menu. Here is an example of the content of one of the Registry files (file ):
The following table specifies the eight [8] possible Registry file names and the Registry key contents that they define in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive of the Registry. Be aware that a file will only be included in a context when its Registry key exists at the time the context was defined or last updated. That is why the and files in this table do not appear in the list above:
| FILE NAME | REGISTRY KEY |
Note that it is also possible to “import” any of the files in the table above into the Registry by double-clicking on the file (and confirming addition of its content to the Registry). The “INI” files and the shortcuts in the subfolders can also be manually restored by using Windows Explorer to copy the “” files to the Windows® directory and the shortcut folders to the Desktop or Start button programs menu (per the folder prefix which should be removed after the copy; e.g. the subfolder named “” would have a name of “” and be located on the user Desktop).