Panic Button

(command-line utility)

This utility is for a silly gadget called the Panic Button. It looks like something that launches a nuke strike, but it's really just a USB boss key: it hides the game on your screen when your boss comes by. The app included with the gadget is very basic: it can only show images. My panic.exe will launch any command, e.g. start a backup job. The code is based on Project Megasnake.

panic.ini

panic.exe keeps its parameters in a file called panic.ini, located in the same folder as the exe. A sample panic.ini :

1000
start C:\mybackup.bat

The first line sets the polling frequency in miliseconds. This is how often panic.exe will check the state of the Panic Button. Lower value=more CPU usage. If you need quick reaction time, use 10-50 ms. If delayed reaction is not an issue (e.g, for a backup job), use several seconds (1000-5000).

The second line specifies the command to be run when the Panic Button is pressed. Specify it as you would on the command line.

You can also list an alternate command. If you press the Panic Button once, the first command will run. If you press the Panic Button again within 3 seconds (a "double-click"), the alternate command will run.

1000
start C:\mybackup.bat
start C:\shutdown.bat

At the start of the 3 second period you'll see the dialog below. It may take some time for the dialog to appear if your polling frequency is set high.

Download

Download panic.zip (12K)