4TeX: The 4TEX.INI file

The 4TEX.INI file

Windows 95/98/NT uses a system registry to store program settings. This has certain advantages but also certain disadvantages. For instance, the registry tends to have a lot of entries a user rarely uses and if the user wants to change/delete parts of the registry she/he really needs to be sure about how a registry works. 4TeX uses the old Windows 3.1 style of storing program settings in an INI file. This INI file is automatically created the first time a user starts 4TeX (see Initialization screen). By default the 4TEX.INI file is stored in the windows directory, but during initialization the user can store the 4TEX.INI file in the same directory as the 4TEX.EXE file. Every time you start 4TeX the 4TEX.INI file is read and all the settings in this file are used. Every time you quit 4TeX the INI file will be completely updated to all the settings used at the moment of quitting. A 4TeX INI file consists of at least nine parts (called sections):

[System]: This part contains all the system settings. A user normally doesn't need to update these program settings.
[UserChoice]: This part contains all the User Choices of the 4TeX menu. These settings are used to restore all user settings (TeX filenames, printer choice, language etc.) of the last 4TeX session.
[Options]: Some extra options.
[Screens]: The scaling factors of the 4TeX screens
[4Spell]: Settings used by the 4Spell spellchecker
[LaTeX]: Settings used by 4Project
[Editor:PFE_US]
[Editor:MED_US]
[Editor:WinEdt_US]: Settings for the three editors that are by default supported by 4TeX

Below a description of all the settings is given. Note that the programs 4Spell and 4Project may add their own sections to 4TEX.INI.

`[System]`

Web2cDir: Specifies the root directory of the Web2C TeX implementation, e.g. the root directory of the 4TeX CD-rom
Web2cBINDir: Specifies the directory where the Win32 executables of TeX and friends can be found
MainExtention: Specifies the default file name extension of the Main TeX file
CurrentExtention: Specifies the default file name extension of the "Current TeX file"
4DOSProgram: The 4DOS COMMAND.COM replacement
4DOSOptions: 4DOS settings used when starting 4DOS batch files
NB: the file 4DOS.INI contains all parameter settings. The 4DOSOptions only makes it possible to start 4DOS and run one command.
4TeXBTMDir: The directory where 4TeX BTM files are stored
4TeXSelectionsOptionsDir: The directory where LST files can be found
LaTeXMac: Path and filename of LaTeXmac program
GSView: Path and filename of GSView program
SpellChecker: The spell-checker that is used when pressing the Spell-check button in the Main menu

`[UserChoice]`

4TeXLanguage: Specifies the language of the 4TeX menus
OwnTeXTreeDir: Path of the user TDS tree (where you can store your personal TeX files, style files, fonts, etc.
MainFileName: The Main TeX file (path + file name)
CurrentFileName: The Current TeX file
Format: The description of the (La)TeX format
FormatName: The (La)TeX compiler program
Viewer: DVI file previewer program
ViewerTXT: Description of the DVI file previewer program
Printer: The printer program
PrinterOptions: Printer options
PrinterPort: Print destination
PrinterTXT: Description of the printer
PrinterPortTXT: Description of the print destination
BibTeXFile: The BibTeX file
BibTeXEditor: The BibTeX editor program
BibTeXEditorTXT: Description of the BibTeX editor
SpellLanguage: Language use for spell-checking
SpellLanguageText: Description of the language used for spell-checking
EditorSection: This parameter specifies the INI section that is read for editor settings. The parameter consists of the string Editor: and then a string indicating the editor. Note that the INI section that is read will be not only the string specified by the EditorSection parameter but is extended by the screen language used in the 4TeX screens. For instance if you use the MED editor and you use the German screen language you should set EditorSection=Editor:MED This means that when starting 4TeX the INI section [Editor:MED_DE] is read. Note that 4TeX makes it possible to add many different editors (you can choose one of them in the advanced 4TeX options menu) and can specify different editors for different languages.
BlockMarker: Used to indicate the end of the program heading, used for block compilation
EndBlockMarker: Used to indicate the end of the job, used by block compilation
HelpFilesDir: Directory where to find Windows Help files of programs used by 4TeX
KillProcesses: If QuitUseBTM=0 then the programs (class names) specified in the KillProcesses parameter of the 4TEX.INI file are killed.
CleanupFiles: This parameter defines all the files that are used in the Clean up files menu
DelFiles: When quitting 4TeX the files (using the directory and its subdirectories specified by OwnTeXTreeDir) specified by DelFiles will be deleted.
ManualPageDir: Directory where to find manual pages that 4TeX can display
ShowOnTaskTray: 0=do not use Tasktray, 1=use Tasktray
ShowOnTaskBar: 0=do not use Taskbar, 1=use Taskbar
UserSpeedbarPosition: 1=Allows user to move the speedbar anywhere on the screen, 0=Only allows left/right and top/bottom screen speedbars
RunDosWindow: 0=run normal DOS-box, 1=use the console output window
CompileUseBTM: 0=use 4TeX's normal compilation commands, 1=run COMPILER.BTM
QuitUseBTM: 0=use 4TeX normal quitting procedure, 1=run CLOSING.BTM
SpeedbarImages: 0=display speedbar buttons with text, 1=display speedbar buttons with icons
SpeedbarFont: Specify the screen font for the speedbar. A recommended combination is "Small Fonts" with SpeedbarFontSize=6
SpeedbarFontSize: Specify the size of the screen font for the speedbar.
ScreenFont: Specify the screen font for the screens, e.g. Arial, Tahoma, MS Sans Serif
ScreenFontSize: Specify the size of the screen font for the screens. Default size is 8
RedirectFont: Specify the screenfont for the console output window (redirection). E.g. Courier New (default), Small Fonts, Courier
RedirectFontSize: Specify the size of the RedirectFont. Default 8
AlwaysShowRedirectionScreen: Always show the console output window
BitmapViewer: Program used to display bitmap images (see 4Project and Graphic conversion)
GraphicsConverter: 4TeX offers you an utility to convert graphics from one format to another. This is done by the ImageMagick converter. This options specifies the full path and program of the ImageMagick program.

`[Options]`

StayOnTop: 0=Menu doesn't stay on top, 1=Stay on top
Menubar: 0=normal size 4TeX menu, 1=use speedbar
Verticalbar: 0= do not use vertical speedbar, 1=use vertical speedbar
SpeedbarLeft: 0=put speedbar to the right of the screen, 1=put speedbar to the left of the screen
SpeedbarTop: 0=put speedbar on the bottom of the screen, 1=put speedbar on the top of the screen
StartEditorWithProgram: The program that is started every time the editor is called, e.g. LaTeXmac
AlwaysDevirtualize: 0=do not automatically devirtiualize DVI files, 1=automatically devirtualize DVI file after each compilation
RunAutostartBatchfile: 0=do not start the AUTOSTART.BTM file, 1=start AUTOSTART.BTM when 4TeX is started
MainHistory0: History list of the last 10 main TeX files
MainHistory1
MainHistory2
MainHistory3
MainHistory4
MainHistory5
MainHistory6
MainHistory7
MainHistory8
MainHistory9
CurrentHistory0: History list of the last 10 Current TeX files
CurrentHistory1
CurrentHistory2
CurrentHistory3
CurrentHistory4
CurrentHistory5
CurrentHistory6
CurrentHistory7
CurrentHistory8
CurrentHistory9
XScreenPos: X-position of the 4TeX menu
YScreenPos: Y-position of the 4TeX menu
RedirectXScreenPos: X-position of the console output window
RedirectYScreenPos: Y-position of the console output window
XScreenPosSpeedbar: X-position of the speedbar
YScreenPosSpeedbar: Y-position of the speedbar

`[Screens]`

Form1_X: Horizontal scaling factor of a 4TeX screen
Form1_Y: Vertical scaling factor of a 4TeX screen
etc.
.
.
.

All 4TeX screens can be scaled to a size you prefer. Scaling may be necessary to be able to see the complete text of buttons etc. When you scale a 4TeX window all components (buttons, edit boxes etc.) on the window will be automatically scaled by the same scaling factor. When you quit 4TeX all the scale factors of the windows are stored in the INI file.

`[Editor:XXX_YY]`

Note that above XXX stands for the editor and YY indicated the language of the 4TeX screens.

Editor: Editor program
TeXEdit: Editor options used when jumping to correct file and line number after an error during TeX compilation
EditorClassName: The "class name" of the editor. This name identifies the program as a process in the Windows operating system. When starting the editor also the program specified by StartEditorWithProgram is started. This is done after the editor is started. To test if the editor is running the EditorClassName is needed.
KillEditorProcesses: This string is added to the KillProcesses parameter and indicates the string that is needed to kill the editor.
DDEEditService: All the DDE commands below are used with the editor
DDEEditTopic
DDEEditSaveCommand
DDEEditChanged
DDEEditForeground
DDEEditQuit
DDEBlockService
DDEBlockTopic
DDEBlockFileName
DDEBlockFileNameMode
DDEBlockLineNumber
DDEBlockLineNumberMode
DDEBlockCutCommand
DDEBlockPasteCommand

AutoSave: Specifies the number of minutes between two automatic savings of the TeX file(s), using DDE commands
LogFileViewer: Editor/viewer used to display Log files

Remarks

Using the "Options menu", the "Advanced options" in the "Utilities" menu and using the "Options" in 4Spell, or 4Project, you can change almost all the options given in the 4TEX.INI file.

You can edit the INI file with any ASCII editor, but we recommend that you make a backup copy of your INI file first.

When changing the font and font size of the 4TeX menus (see advanced 4TeX options) it may be necessary to change the window sizes as well to make all texts and buttons fit nicely on the screen.