Idea : nested program groups

[TheColorOfFear]

would allow for easier 1:1 conversion of start menu groups, as well as (if using the actual start menu files to generate the tree) automatic installation of new program groups even when progman is set as the shell.
Would also allow easier implementation of user/global program groups, where user groups would be put in %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and global groups would go in %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. (NOTE: this implementation would not allow nested global in user groups or visa versa )
Layout of the program manager would likely require a separate file to allow moveable program icons

[bocke]

There were addons for Program Manager that implemented several layers of subgroups on Windows 3.x. So, this idea is period correct, just it hasn't been ever implemented in Program Manager itself (by MS).

[TheColorOfFear]

@bocke re: addons, do you know the names of any specific programs that added that functionality? I'm curious to see the exact implementation

[bocke]

Here are some I have in my win 3.x file archive:

pm-nestedgroups.zip

All of them are freely distributable: either freeware or shareware.

There is only 4 of them in my collection, but I'm pretty sure there might have been others. :)

Edit:

Oh, yea... Plugin later became freeware. See the file freeware.txt in its directory.

[bocke]

@TheColorOfFear Have you had time to look into them? Do you need help?

[TheColorOfFear]

I've looked into them, of the ones I've been able to try (mostly just grpfiler ) (I use NT3.51 so plugin wasn't compatible far as I can tell ) none of them give the behavour I was thinking of, which is something close to windows 4 and 5 in this MDI diagram

[bocke]

PRGGRP

It simulates subgroups using a trick. It creates hidden Program Manager Groups which you can run by creating a shortcut that runs prggrp with a name of the group.

And it looks like this:

From the docs:

The main function of PRGGRP is very simple.

If you start PRGGRP with a parameter, then PRGGRP only shows the group which
is named by the parameter.

If you minimze a group window, then PRGGRP checks if the group is
a subgroup (Here is the reason why a subgroup must have a blank as the
first or a period as the last character of its name. With this naming
convention PRGGRP can say that the group is a subgroup or not).
If the group is a subgroup then PRGGRP hides the group.

[bocke]

Nestgrp

This one is kinda stupid. It just creates an icon that will enable you to start already existing Program Manager group from another. Also requires VB 3.0 runtime.

[bocke]

Plug-In

This tool adds a lot of new options to Windows 3.1.

Subgroups are just the part of its possiblities. It works similar to others:

[bocke]

Basically all of them simulate subgroups in a way or another using tricks and workarounds.

To be honest, it might be better to think it over and just think of some method to add subgroups from the scratch.

Good luck. :)

[freedom7341]

These are some really cool utilities and add some nice functionality to progman. I'll look into implementing some of this. I'm still iffy on nested groups, the utility seems good but at that point I'd just use folders... I'll see what I can do though.