Topic:	Running Office Manager (DOS) on Windows NT 4
Document:	#713
Product:	Office Manager DOS
Date:	7/8/97 ARCHIVED 11/5/99
Author:	Seth Krieger

---

 

Overview

 

An incompatibility has been discovered when running the Extended Edition of OM on a Windows NT 4 Workstation system. The OM extended memory handling seems to prevent NT from successfully shelling out to secondary programs. This problem interferes with the printing of statements and insurance and prevents the execution of the DOS Shell selection on the EXIT menu as well as the calling of other DOS programs from within OM.

 

One workaround is the installation of the Standard Edition of OM. This version of OM, which is included on all distribution diskettes, appears to run these functions normally in the NT environment. Nevertheless, the Standard Edition is significantly slower in generating billing batches, requires more conventional memory, and does not allow access to the patient info screens from within the billing options/selections screens.

 

Another workaround is the generation of billing batches from within OM Extended Edition, but actually printing them from separate icons on the Windows NT desktop. This takes some self-discipline because you must always say "N" to the Output immediately option on the batch creation window.

 

Likewise, any other DOS programs, such as a scheduler, you might otherwise execute from within OM, must be executed from a separate icon on the desktop or from within the NT taskbar menu.

 

Creating Desktop Shortcuts to Print Insurance and Statements

 

1. Start OM.
   
2. Select REPORTS > Statements.
   
3. Highlight the selection you normally use and press F10.
   
4. Carefully write down the information next to Command.
   
5. Do the same for the Insurance format(s) that you use.
   
6. Exit OM.
   
7. Open NT Explorer.
   
8. Open the OM folder.
9. Find the RRUN application.
   
10. RIGHT-click the RRUN application and drag it out onto the Desktop.
    
11. When you release the right mouse button, a menu will appear. Select "Create Shortcut".
    
12. RIGHT-click the new shortcut icon to pop up the menu and select "Properties" by left clicking.
    
13. Now click the "Program" tab.
    
14. Change the "RRUN.EXE" at the top to something appropriate, such as "Print Statements".
    
15. Change the other fields to look something like the figure below. Note that the Cmd line should match what you copied from the OM screen. Be sure to add the correct drive and path in front of SOSRRUNS (in the case of statements) and SOSRRUNI (in the case of insurance), as in the example.
    
16. Click OK to save.

In the future, you will always use the Desktop icons to print your bills AFTER creating the billing batch in the normal fashion within OM. Just be sure to say "N" to output immediately when setting up your new batch, or use the View HCFA 1500 selection instead of the Print HCFA 1500 selection to produce your batch. Even if you forget to suppress output, the View selection is not as likely to crash the program as the Print selection. Attempting to print from within OM, if using the Extended Edition of the software, will result in an error message and termination of the program! Setting Environment Variables in NT Workstation. NT does not use the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the root directory, so making changes to these files will have no effect on DOS programs, including OM, that are run from within the NT environment. Instead, you will find files called CONFIG.NT and AUTOEXEC.NT in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory. These are roughly comparable to the DOS startup files with similar names. You can make modifications to these files with Notepad or by opening a DOS window and using the EDIT command. You probably will not have to make any modifications to the CONFIG.NT file. You may want to add the necessary SET statements to the AUTOEXEC.NT file, but there is another way to configure the environment variables:

1. Click Start, then Settings, then Control Panel, then open System.
   
2. Click the Environment tab.
   
3. Click any setting in the top portion of the screen.
   
4. Overtype the Variable and Value with the following, making any appropriate changes if your drive and directory are different. After each entry, click the SET button to add the new variable to the list.

Variable Value (Examples) OM C:\OM OMWS 1 CLAVM0 C:\OM,128 OVL_SWAP C:\OM\$$SOSTMP In addition, you should modify the PATH value, if necessary, adding C:\OM to it. Shelling to DOS from within OM Instead of using DOS Shell on the EXIT menu in OM, just click Start on your NT taskbar, then Programs, then Command Prompt.