::Overview::

LiteStep consists of a core application and various plugins which can be used to extend the functionality of the shell (sound familiar ?). These plugins come in different flavours, including modules, wharf plugins and bangs.

Using geOShell you can run LiteStep wharf plugins without having to run LiteStep itself.

::geOShell requirements::

In order to run wharf plugins, geOShell uses it's own geOWharf plugin as an intermediary (geOShell loads geOWharf, which in turn loads the chosen wharf plugin, doing so in such a way that the wharf plugin works as if it had been run directly from LiteStep).

Note that geOWharf is a plugin and consequently geOWharf.dll must reside in your plugins directory.

::LiteStep requirements::

You need certain elements of LiteStep in addition to the wharf plugins themselves in order to get things working:

• lsapi.dll - the litestep api interface
• step.rc - the litestep configuration script
• any other resources required by individual wharf plugins

::Configuration::

geOShell always creates a registry entry for the geOWharf plugin, which contains a value defining the path to lsapi.dll.

You can edit this value (in HKCU\Software\geO\geOShell\Plugins\geOWharf\LiteStep Path) to point to you LiteStep installation.

When geOShell starts up it will read the path and attempt to load lsapi.dll.

If it fails or the path is empty it will look in the geOShell directory. If it finds lsapi.dll it will write the new path back to the registry.

If lsapi.dll loads successfully it will attempt to load geOWharf.dll (remember, this must be in the plugins directory as specified by HKCU\Software\geO\geOShell\Services\Plugins\Plugins Directory).

If all this works successfully, you should then be able to install and load LiteStep wharf plugins as if they were ordinary geOShell plugins.

Note that wharf plugins do not have to reside in the geOShell plugins directory because geOWharf keeps a track of the full path to each one.

::Skinning::

LiteStep plugins tend not to conform to the standard size of geOShell bars.

Skinning in geOShell only works on standard size bars.

Therefore, you should disable skinning on any bar containing a LiteStep plugin.

::Where to put LiteStep::

Perhaps the easiest way to configure LiteStep for use by geOShell is to install it in it's own directory (e.g. c:\LiteStep) and then set the "LiteStep Path" registry entry accordingly.

Alternatively you could copy the relevant LiteStep files into the geOShell directory or into a sub-directory under geOShell (or indeed, anywhere else you fancy).

::Hints & Tips::

Within the step.rc file relative path names are sometimes used to point to resources used by wharf plugins. If your LiteStep files are not in the geOShell directory you may have to change these relative pathnames to full pathnames, to prevent the plugins looking in the geOShell directory structure.