OnLine E-Zine
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• How we Build the CD of the Month

  The "index" graphic shows the basic components the comprise the CDOM startup index page system.  There are three main components, the Autorun.inf, Go.bat, and the actual web page which on this CD is the March03.htm There are a couple supporting graphics which are the IPCUG logo, the same as found at the top of this page, and the Namo Webeditor graphic as found at the bottom of this page at the "Made With"  The CD index page was build using the eZine page template which explains the similarities between the CD Index and the eZine section of the IPCUG website.
  
  "Autorun.inf" is the automatic startup file that Windows looks for when accessing a storage device (hard drive or removable media such as CD's) to see if there is something that should automatically be ran on accessing the device.  It is not recommended that you put "autorun.inf" file in the root directory of any of your hard drive partitions as Windows will try to run that file everytime you open that hard drive! The contents of Autorun.inf are quite simple and only has two lines:
  
  [AutoRun]
  open=go.bat
  
  As might be surmised, the only function of AutoRun is to open or run the Go.bat, a batch file which has the following contents:
  
  @echo off
  start March03.htm
  exit
  
  The "start March03.htm" is the operative line in this batch file as it tells Windows to "start March03.htm" which given the proper Windows environment, Windows will recognize March03.htm as a web page and will automatically start your default browser (usually Internet Explorer) and display the CD's Index page.  The "start March03.htm" can be modified to run other programs by association or the AutoRun statement can be used to run an executable (such as a compiled slide show)
  
  The deliverables.  You should right click on the following links and do a Save Target As to your local hard drive or floppy drive.  Again, these files should not be saved to the root of any hard drives but in a folder.  To use them they must be installed to the root of the CD-ROM when you burn the CD-Rom.  The easiest way to do this is to build a CD-Rom inside a folder where the folder "root" will be the root of the CD-ROM after you burn it.
  
  Autrun.inf
  Go.bat
  

• Made With

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