Contents

General Overview

Installing WinMenu

Configuring Winmenu

The following can be found under the Config menu in ADMIN.EXE.

Options  Setting up default switches

Allowing users to change some of the options.

Allowing users to have a personal menu section.

Select a network mapped drive to use when storing personal info.

Inserting the company name.

Accessories... Define or change the blue ribbon utilities.

Sections... Define and link menu sections

Miscellaneous

These are found under the Miscellaneous menu of ADMIN.EXE

Network News Broadcast EXTRA! EXTRA! ... How to set the Company News.

View Users Viewing the user list.

Remote Commands.

Broadcast Message Sending a broadcast message.

Registering Winmenu

How to Register

   For Help on Help, Press F1

An insight for those of you...

The following information allow you to directly update the configurations file using your favorite text editor program.  This information is provided for those of you who wish to learn more about all the available "switches" and parameters in Winmenu.  You may learn here about some functions that  are not currently available from the online administration facility (admin.exe).   Admin.exe is an optional administration facility that helps you configure the most  common used functions of the system .

How to manually link menu items to NOVEL groups

WINMENU.INI

The [MenuItems] section. 	Defining menu lines.

How to manually define menu items

Using environment variables (i.e %USER% ).

The [Options] section. 	Optional switches.

Disable the RUN window

Restricting users from updating the menu.

Default switches for AutoRestore, AutoMinimize and Multiple Instance features.

The Drive=,  CacheALL= and Sound= parameters.

The [Config] section 	Modifying a little the configuration.

The Default= parameter.

The RUN=  and LOAD=parameters.

The DefaultDLLPath= parameter

The [System] section

Shutdown=

The [Sockets] section


The [MenuItems] section

 The [MenuItems] section holds the menu lines in each individual INI file. This section is automatically created online by Winmenu. However, there could be times that you may wish to manually create or modify this information.

The first line must contain the header:

 [MenuItems]

     The second line must contain:  NoOfItems=xx

     where xx is the highest menu line number used. (i.e NoOfItems=20).

     The next lines will hold each menu line information. 6 keywords

     are used for each menu line:

         AppNamexx=       ( holds the menu description (Maximum 35 characters long)

         AppFileNamexx=   ( holds the command line.  Program file name + command  parameters)

         AppWorkDirxx=    ( the default directory. Maximum 64 characters long. (optional) )

         AppRunTypexx=    ( 0= Normal Run, 1=Minimized )

         AppIconxx=  (holds the full path of a program, DLL or .ICO file where the ICON is found.

                                    If left blank, Winmenu defaults to the file found in AppFileNamexx.  You

                                   may also specify the ICON position number, starting from zero, tha you wish

                                   to extract:   Example:  AppIcon1=C:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.EXE,3

                                   Will extract the fourth icon in progman.exe.  NOTE:  All this can be done

                                   automatically online.   Check WINMENU.HLP file.

        AppVerifyxx= (holds the full path + filename that Winmenu will use to verify the user's read permission.  See VerifyON= parameter under the The [Options] section  for more information.  If VerifyON is disabled, this parameter is ignored.  Note: This field is optional and not commonly used. You may ignore this line completely.  If needed, you must enter the value manually.

     where xx is the menu line number of reference (from 1 to 72).

     The following example defines two menu items:

    [MenuItems]

    NoOfItems=20

    AppName1=Word For Windows 2.0

    AppFileName1=e:\%USER%\winword.exe

    AppWorkDir1=d:\winword

    AppRunType1=0

    AppIcon1=

    AppName2=Quicken 6.0 - My CheckBook

    AppFileName2=c:\quick\quicken.exe  myfile

    AppWorkDir2=c:\quick\

    AppRunType2=0

    AppIcon2=MYICON.ICO

 Winmenu also support automatic insertion of environment variables.  Any  word between the percentage characters (%) is interpreted at execution time. Winmenu will replace the %variablename% with the corresponding value found in the environment.   In the example above, the word %USER% will be replaced for the value found in the environment variable USER= .  If none found, Winmenu replaces the %variablename% with  a  space.  NOTE:  This feature is  only available for the fields AppFileNamexx and AppWorkDirxx.  Also, the search is case sensitive.

The following example will force Winmenu to use the file manager associations to obtain the underlying application for files with the extension .XLS .   If the association is not found in the [Extensions] section of the WIN.INI,  then Winmenu will not be able to execute it.

    AppName3=My Spreadsheet report

    AppFileName3=D:\EXCEL3\EXPENSES.XLS

    AppWorkDir3=D:\EXCEL3

    AppRunType3=0

    AppIcon3=

    etc,etc...

  NOTE:  Please have in mind that creating menu lines manually is OPTIONAL. You

  can and should create the menu lines on-line .

.


The [Options] section

The [Options] section should manually be entered in the central WINMENU.INI file.  It is used internally by Winmenu to change or define the following options:

[Options]

AutoRestore=1

AutoMinimize=1

AllowLocalMenu=1

DisableLocalUpdates=0

MIV=1

etc.

(Note: the only possible values are 1 for ENABLED and 0 (zero) for DISABLED.  Except for the Drive= parameter.)

AutoRestore=    If WinMenu is minimized and all other Windows applications are closed or minimized, then Winmenu automatically opens the menu .  Usually used in combination with AutoMinimize option. The default is ENABLED.

AutoMiniMize=  It automatically minimize WinMenu when the user executes another application from within Winmenu. The default is ENABLED.

AllowLocalMenu= Enable to allow users to create and maintain their own menu items.  Users will be able to select any defined menu section under the group header [PERSONAL]. Winmenu stores each user's menu item in the user's directory.  NOTE:  DisableLocalUpdates= must not be enabled to allow Winmenu the use of a local directory for each user.  See also the Drive= switch.

ConfirmExit=  If enabled (=1), Winmenu will ask the user to confirm when exiting. The default is DISABLED. Note:  As a shell,  Winmenu will "ask" permission to each running application before exiting Windows.  If a running application refuses to exit because changes have not being saved, Winmenu will NOT exit .  This is regardless the condition of the ConfirmExit= switch.

MIV= This is the Multiple Instance Verification. Each time the user executes an application, Winmenu can verify if that application is already running. If MIV is enabled, Winmenu will notify the user and allow him to recall it or to execute another instance. The default is ENABLED.

DisableRUN= When enabled (=1), the RUN window is disabled. The menu option can not be accessed.  the default is DISABLED. (The RUN window is enabled)

DisableLocalUpdates= Winmenu creates a small file (winmenu.ini) for each user in a local directory or in a directory mapped by the Drive= parameter.  User's specific information like the user's last menu section used  and the default color are stored in this small file to automatically reinstate the user choices when Winmenu runs again.    Enable this switch if you do not want Winmenu to allocate a directory for each user . If enabled, Winmenu will read the base directory to obtain initialization data when needed. The user will not be able to change some options nor automatically have reinstated their last menu section, or change any other configuration found in the Options menu at run time. Diskless workstations may used the DRIVE= parameter to map the local directory to a network drive.   The default is DISABLED.

BaseIsLocal= If enabled, Winmenu utilize the INI files found in the user's local directory (or that pointed by the Drive= parameter ) as the base files. The central Winmenu.INI file is only utilized to obtain the Drive= value.This option changes the database design of Winmenu and should only  be used for installations who prefer to generate the INI files manually and use some kind of login script to automatically store manually created INI files in the user's local directory. Default is DISABLED.  If enabled, you should also enable the DisableLocalUpdates switch.

Drive= The Drive= parameter holds the path for the user's directory.  This directory will be used to store user's personal information .   A full directory path should be entered here.  Also, the path should be unique for each user.  You may also use environment variables enclosed by the percent sign (%).  Winmenu will automatically replace the value of the environment variables at run time.  Example:   Drive=L:\LINK\%USER%   .  This option is perfect for diskless workstations.  The user must have write access to this directory.

VerifyON= When enabled (=1), Winmenu will verify the user's read permission for each menu item.  If the user do not have read permission to a menu item,  the menu item will not be displayed unless the user is a Winmenu's administrator or  the user has update access to the entire menu section.  In that case, the menu item will be displayed with a small asterisk (*) by the item number.  This function is useful when you have a general menu section that must be shared by a large group of users but you also wish to "hide" some selected applications from the menu  to one or more users in the group.  Just revoke the file read permission for the desired application to those few users that should not have access to that application but do have access to the rest of the applications in that menu section.  Winmenu will get the application's filename and working directory to obtain the user's read permission unless you have manually entered a value in the AppVerifyxx=.  For more information, see The [MenuItems] section.

 Note: Enabling this function will slow down the time it takes for Winmenu to load and display the screen at startup.  The default value for this parameter is disabled (=0).

CacheALL= When enabled (=1), Winmenu will  load all the authorized menu sections, menu items and icons at startup to improve the response when the user changes from one menu section to another.   This is actually the default (enabled).  You may disable this command to improve the inital loading time specially if you have too many menu sections and menu items for each user.  Just enter a zero (=0) to disable the CacheALL command.  Disabling this command forces Winmenu to only load the menu section selected by the user.  Changing from one menu section to the other may take few seconds when this command is disabled.

An alternative approach is to manually create a library of ICONs used in your menu items and use the ICONs in this file instead of the ones in each application program.  If you have many applications  all over your network drives, Winmenu have to go across the network to get the ICON for each application before displaying the menu section.  If all or most the ICONs can be located in one file, this should help improve the initial load time.

Sound= Disables (=0)  or enables (=1) the sound effects.  The default is enabled.   NOTE:  If the user has no sound card installed, this parameter is ignored.  Winmenu comes with some of the sound files (.WAV) but not all that can be used.  To use your own .wav files, just  copy them into the Winmenu directory but rename them to match the names below. The following .WAV files can be used:

OPEN.WAV  - If Winmenu was minimized and automatically restores the display.

SECURE.WAV - When user clicks on the "key" ICON.

EXECUTE.WAV - Each time a program is executed from Winmenu.

WELCOME.WAV - When loading Winmenu

INCORREC.WAV - When displaying a message box.

SUPER.WAV - When you are recognized as a Winmenu administrator. You have write access to the central Winmenu directory.

NEWS.WAV  - At startup is company news have not being displayed.

MESSAGE.WAV - When new broadcast messages arrives to the workstation

OK.WAV - When the user makes any changes in the Options menu or  the Sections menu.

DISCONN.WAV -  When the user is not connected to the network but ihas engaged the "Standalone" mode.

CONN.WAV - When the user has engaged the "Network " mode.

NOTE: Winmenu looks for these files in the central directory where winmenu.exe resides. If not found, no sound is produced. You need to have a sound card installed or the SPEAKER.DRV .

 See also the [Config] section


The [Config] Section

The [Config] section is optional and may be automatically updated by Winmenu at run time.

Default=

This parameter is used to set a default menu section name.  If not used, Winmenu defaults the first time to the first menu section physically found in the Sections Menu.  The next time, Winmenu will automatically open the menu section used last by the user. (Unless DisableLocalUpdates is enabled) This information is stored in the user's local winmenu.ini file.  All the local INI files are automatically created by Winmenu.

Run= and Load=

 These parameters allows you to automatically execute programs when Winmenu is initially loaded. Program names must be separated by a comma.   The LOAD= will execute programs in the background as minimized applications.  The RUN= will execute programs as normal applications and force  Winmenu. to minimize itself .   It works exactly as the RUN=  and LOAD= commands provided in the initialization file of Windows (WIN.INI).  In fact, you still can use  the WIN.INI run=  or load= lines for this purpose.   Winmenu will "look" for these keywords in the central winmenu.ini and also in each user's winmenu.ini file.   These give you an additional flexibility you may want to explore.   These parameters used in the central winmenu.ini will be executed for ALL the users when Winmenu starts.  These parameters used in a user's winmenu.ini will only be executed for that user.  There is currently no on-line facility to maintain these parameters and you must use a text editor to add them.   Examples:

[Config]

LOAD=C:\WINDOWS\CLOCK.EXE, N:\APPS\MAIL\MAILMON.EXE

RUN=L:\LINK\TODO.EXE

DefaultDLLpath=

 A value of one (1) to enable, zero (0) to disable.   Winmenu's DLL files are required to reside in the same directory where Winmenu.exe resides.  This is done to facilitate upgrades and ensure that  the correct versions of DLLs files are used .   The DefaultDLLpath can disable or enable the default path where Winmenu loads the DLLs.   If disabled (0), the DLL files MUST be found in a directory specified in the workstation's PATH= environment variable or the Windows system directory.   The default value for this command is one (1)  for enabled.

examples:

[Config]

Default=General

LOAD=clock.exe,l:\share\mailmon.exe

DefaultDLLPath=1


Menu Sections

 Winmenu organizes menu items under menu sections.  In turn, each menu section can be linked to NOVELL groups defined in your network.  The network administrator can manually add the desired menu section names in the central WINMENU.INI file.  Once the sections have being defined and linked to the NOVELL groups, then the NA may create the menu items for each section,  on-line.  NOTE: Defining menu section names, linking them to Novell group codes and creating menu items is definitely easier with the administration facility  (admin.exe).  Click  HERE  to see the administration facility instructions.

  Creating and manually linking menu sections with group names:

 For each Novell group name, a header enclosed in brackets must be defined.:

[GROUP_NAME]

INIfile1=Section Name, INI filename

You can link up to 20 menu sections using INIFILE1=   to  INIFILE20= per group header.  The Section names must not be larger than 35 characters long.

Example:

We have three Novell groups that we wish use to "attach" menu sections. The Novell groups  EVERYONE, FINANCIAL and MANAGEMENT will be used in this example.   The users under the group EVERYONE will have access to the menu sections General,  Word Processing  and Communications.  The folks under the Novell group FINANCIAL will only have access to one menu section (each section may hold up to 72 menu items) .  The MANAGEMENT group have access to the menu sections Report & Utilities, Word Processing & Communications.

In the file WINMENU.INI, you must manually insert the following lines :

[EVERYONE]

INIFILE1=General,winmenu.ini

INIFILE2=Word Processing,wordpro.ini

INIFILE3=Communications,comm.ini

[FINANCIAL]

INIFILE1=Accounting,acct.ini

[MANAGEMENT]

INIFILE1=Report & Utilities,report.ini

INIFILE2=General,winmenu.ini

INIFILE3=Communications,comm.ini

etc...

Note: the.INI files may  have a directory path specified.  Winmenu looks for these files in the source directory where winmenu.exe resides unless you have also specified a path.  The header names nor the keywords are case sensitive. [Management], [MANAGEMENT] and [INIfile1] are all correct entries.

 The above example defines the menu sections General, Word Processing and Communications for users who belong to the NOVELL group EVERYONE.  In turn, each menu section is linked to a .INI file.  This is a text file that is created and maintained by Winmenu and will eventually  hold the individual menu line definitions. You do not need to create manually the individual INI files. (Use admin.exe or run Winmenu )  Create all the group headers and desired menu section in WINMENU.INI as shown above.  Save the WINMENU.INI file in the central directory where Winmenu resides.  You are ready now to create the menu items on-line.  Run Winmenu  to create and or modify menu items under each section.  Running Winmenu directly to create the menu items will also require you to be a member of each group code.  Using the "Section" dialog of admin.exe instead, do not requires you to be a member .

 . See also Options Section .

NOTE:  Winmenu verifies your write access to the central directory where Winmenu resides. If you have such access, you are considered an administrator and have full access to change menu items and the configuration.  Hence, It is of most importance that only administrators have write access to the central directory of Winmenu.

.


Overview

WinMenu provides a clever and cost effective Corporate menu facility under Windows 3.1 or above.   Novell network administrators may define menu items for all users.  If you have a Novell network 3.0 or above,  you may define menu sections and link them to any Novell group code (or organization-units in NOVELL 4.x) . This feature allow you  to display pre-authorized menu items to all the users based on the Novell group codes they belong to.  There are a lot of possibilities you can easily setup to meet your company needs and organization requirements.  You may define menu sections by departments, application types, or any other conceivable unit.   All you need is to have a Novell group code for each organization unit that you wish to assign menu sections.  Creating menu section, menu items and linking them to existing Novell group codes are simple steps you do using the online administration facility of Winmenu.  Wimenu may be installed once in a Network directory or may optionally be installed at the user's hard disk.

 You may even setup Winmenu to discriminate some users for a particular application in a menu regardless the groups he or she belongs to.  This tool allows for a much easier transition to the Windows environment by providing an easy to use menu program which combine the conventional features found in DOS menus with state-of-the-art functions of the Windows graphical environment. All level of user's sophistication has been taken in consideration at design time.   You may replace program manager with Winmenu to obtain full control and minimize the support calls.

   Administrators can setup company news to be automatically displayed on each user's workstation at startup.  Remote commands can be sent to all current active Winmenu users to emergency shutdown the connections,  refresh menu sections and other functions.  Broadcast messages also can be sent to any active user for immediate display.  All this can be accomplished from the new administration facility.   (See Remote Commands

 Winmenu administrators create and organize menu items into "menu sections", which can then be linked to NOVELL access groups (or organization-units in NOVELL 4.x) providing an effective way to control menu access.  Each menu section can hold up to 72 items.  Multiple menu sections can be associated to a NOVELL group and each user may belong to multiple groups.

        NOTE: WinMenu and Netware 4

        Although WiMenu is a bindery based utility, it works perfectly well with workstations logged in as  NDS users, by using the bindery emulation built into Netware Directory Services. For your workstation to use bindery emulation, you must have bindery emulation active on the server (this is installed by default when you upgrade to Netware 4).

.Note: Only users defined in the same context of the bindery emulation can log in as bindery users.  Aliases of objects in other containers currently are not treated as bindery user objects - the original object must be in the BE container.   In other words,  Bindery emulation is currently specific to one named container and does not 'flow down'.  Future version of Netware 4.x (4.01 and above I think) will be more flexible and support a bindery "path" for up to 16 containers.  Contact your Novell dealer for more info.

Check at the server and make sure you have your bindery context is set to a valid context in your tree.

 Winmenu  scans the network bindery to obtain all the group names that the user belongs to and then looks into the central WINMENU.INI file to obtain  the associated menu section names and INI file names.  The central WINMENU.INI file contains system's information.

 The person(s) in charge to administrate Winmenu defines the menu sections and menu items using the administration facility program ADMIN.EXE included with Winmenu 4.0.   Menu items can be "dragged-and-dropped" from the File Manager to Winmenu's ICON to facilitate adding new menu items.

 The users are not allowed to change the  menu items or configurations defined by the network administrator but may optionally maintain at least one "personal" menu  for its own private use.   If the user belong to multiple groups, and each group has a series of menu sections defined in the central WINMENU.INI, then up to 20 distinct menu sections from all the authorized groups will show up listed under the "Sections" menu of Winmenu. Winmenu recognize distinct sections by the INI file name. You create and maintain the individual INI files on-line using the Administration facility and Winmenu.

 See Installing WinMenu

NOTE:  Winmenu checks the write access rights to the central directory where Winmenu resides. If you have such access, you are considered an administrator and have full access to change menu items and the configuration.  Hence, It is of most importance that only administrators have write access to the central directory of Winmenu.

  Support

 The author of Winmenu provides free support and fixes for the Winmenu software via Compuserve electronic mail.  If you do not have a Compuserve account,  you may still receive and send e-mail messages to the author of Winmenu via the INTERNET.  Most online services (i.e America Online, BIX, Prodigy, etc. ) and e-mail services have the capability to exchange mail messages with the INTERNET.   Some of those e-mail services can also receive and send binary files from and to Compuserve's gateways.  If you can send mail to INTERNET addresses,  you can access the author (see Registering Winmenu for e-mail address).   If you do not have access to such e-mail services, fixes can be sent via US mail when necessary.  In some countries outside US, you may be required to pay shipping and handling.    Any bug or program error reported will be fixed and sent  immediately at no cost to the customer via e-mail.


How to Register

Evaluation and Registration

This is not a free software. This license allows you to use this software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 20 days.  If you use this  software after the 20 day evaluation period,  a registration fee is required.  When payment is received you will be sent your registration license number and will be entitled to receive  the latest version of WinMenu  for NOVELL Netware.  Any "please register" windows will not show again after you enter your reg#.   .

Please make payment by check or money order (in US funds) payable

to: Ricky Freyre

    6373 Bell Haven Ln.

    Riverdale, GA 30296

CREDIT CARDS ONLY:

 NOTE: THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERING ONLY!. Also, when ordering, please specify the number of users license desired. No technical questions are  answered because this is an independent service and the author of Winmenu   can not be accessed here.  You can order with MC, VISA, Amex or Discover   from the Public (software) Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or (713)524-6394   or by FAX to (713)524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470.  You can also mail   credit cards orders to Psl at P.O. Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.

  Tell the operartor you wish to buy a license for Winmenu for Novell Networks. Specify the number of users you wish to buy the license for, and  the price as indicated below. Also, be sure the operator knows  your e-mail address (Compuserve or INTERNET) because you can receive the registration number back in approximately 48 hours.  Also, your e-mail address is used to send youu fixes and upgrade notifications.

ON-LINE VIA COMPUSERVE

You may also charge it to your compuserve account. Just GO SWREG and  enter the registration id# shown below  that corresponds to the number of users you wish to register.  The author of Winmenu will send your registration number in ~48 hours to your compuserve account mailbox.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY!!!

 Any question about the status of the shipment of order, registration options,  product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site  license, etc, must be directed to the author's Email address. (See below)  If you do not have Email access, FAX you questions to (404)907-4855.

 ACCESS THE AUTHOR FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT:

  Compuserve# 70154,2635

  INTERNET:   70154.2635@compuserve.com

  or FAX you questions to (404)907-4855

 The author of Winmenu  offers free support and fixes for the Winmenu software via Compuserve and INTERNET electronic mail.  If the customer do not have access to such e-mail services, fixes can be sent via US mail.  In some countries outside US, you may be required to pay shipping and handling.    Custom modifications can be arranged for a small fee.  Any bug or program error reported will be fixed immediately at no cost to the customer via e-mail.   Please, be sure you include an e-mail address if you have it.

LICENSE FEE PER COMPANY SITE / REGISTRATION FEE

The fees below are per company site .   Regardless of the number of LANs installed.  Building structures from the same company but  separated by at least one mile requires separate licenses.

                                                                                               on-line                 FYI

      # Users        Price          GO SWREG      Price

       -------       -------        Reg.id#:    per station

          1 - 4    $   60.00         1153	 $15.00

          5 - 9    $  100.00         1154	 $11.11

         10 - 24   $  200.00         1155	 $ 8.33

         25 - 49   $  450.00         1156	 $ 9.18

         50 - 99   $  750.00         1157	 $ 7.57

        100 - 199  $ 1200.00         1158	 $ 6.03

        200 - 299  $ 1500.00         1382	 $ 5.01

        Unlimited  $ 1800.00         1384	 less than $5

*Source code is never included.

Print Mail order form.


Order Form

WINMENU  for Novell networks.       Please, print  and mail this form!

MAIL ORDER FORM:

Send via mail

to: Ricky Freyre

    6373 Bell Haven Ln.

    Riverdale, GA 30296

    USA

Indicate desired number of users license :  _______________________________________

Company site License Fee  $US _______________  (U.S. FUNDS ONLY)

Please specify the diskette size(s) that are acceptable for you:            ___ 5.25"    ___ 3.5"

        Contact Name :________________________________________________

               Company :_____________________________________________________

                 Address :_____________________________________________________

                               _____________________________________________________

                               _____________________________________________________

      Phone   ____________________    FAX #  ________________________

Winmenu's author will attempt to deliver your registration license number via Email, FAX or regular

US mail.  Please, indicate which is preferred : ________________________

 *   COMPUSERVE or INTERNET  e-mail address:__________________________________

     America Online, Prodigy, Others e-mail address:  _______________________________

      Where did you get WINMENU? __________________________________

      What version number of Wimenu you have?: __________

        Comments: ____________________________________________________________

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT!


Installing WinMenu

Create a private directory (Read Only) in the network.  Copy all the files.

Create a network directory to hold the WINMENU files with read only access.

  Example: N:\APPS\WINMENU

  Be sure to copy all the WINMENU files to this directory.

     WINMENU.EXE	  	program file

     WINMENU.TXT	  	This document.

     WINMENU.HLP	User's Online help

     WINMNEWS.EXE	  News broadcast

     ADMIN.EXE	Administration Facility Program

     ADMIN.HLP       	 Administration Online help

     NETCOM.DLL	Winmenu's communication functions

     NWNETAPI.DLL 	 Netware functions

     NWIPXSPX.DLL	Netware IPX/SPX functions

     ORDER.TXT     	How to register online or by mail.

The following are Novell communication system files which you may  already have in your LAN.  Please, be sure you have the same or newer  version dates for each one as shown here. Previous version were known  to hang the Windows session.

     File name       version date    Must be in the dir:

     NWNETAPI.DLL    01/23/92        \WINMENU

     NWIPXSPX.DLL    12/30/93        \WINMENU

     NETWARE.DRV     10/27/92        \WINDOWS\SYSTEM

     VIPX.386        10/11/93        \WINDOWS\SYSTEM

     VNETWARE.386    11/19/93        \WINDOWS\SYSTEM

 You may download the latest Novell files directly from Novell's forums in Compuserve

 (GO NOVFILES). Download the latest WINUPx.ZIP or contact Winmenu's author for additional information.

  The following files are needed in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and

  should already be found there as part of the Windows 3.1 system files:

     COMMDLG.DLL

     SHELL.DLL

     TOOLHELP.DLL

     MMSYSTEM.DLL

   Winmenu will create the directory C:\WINMENU on each workstation that runs the program. (Note: You may change the path used. See under  Options  .)

Only Winmenu's administrators must have write access to the central Winmenu directory.  Read the Overview  section for a basic understanding of how Winmenu works.  Create the menu sections  for each desired NOVELL group code using the administration facility.  Also, use the administration facility to "edit" the menu section names and create the menu items.

 Your users may now execute Winmenu.  Users will have access to the menu sections defined under each authorized NOVELL group code.

NOTE:  If you get an  "Unable to initialize IPX..." error,  check you have the latest IPX/ODI drivers.  You may also rename the file NETCOM.DLL to something else  and that will disable the IPX functions of Winmenu.  See Remote commands  for more information.

FYI:

      A version for ALL networks is available. (Winmenu GE)

      A version with screens translated to GERMAN is available

      through a German distributor.

      A Standalone version for single computers (no network) is also available.

      Winmenu is constantly updated and upgrades are uploaded to

      Compuserve forums regularly. Please, send a note to the author

      to verify you have the latest version.


Options

The Options dialog allows you to configure Winmenu's behavior.  These switches can be accessed from the Options menu item under the Config menu of ADMIN.EXE .  Note: Additional options exist which may manually be turn on or off. See the [Options] section

Create a directory for each user:

This option allows Winmenu to store personal data for each user in a local or network directory.  User's personal configuration choices  like Minimize on Use and Auto Restore options will be stored and restored  if this option is enabled (X).  This option is also required if users are allow to have their own personal menu.  Winmenu will create a directory (C:\WINMENU) in each user's workstation unless you have specified a path in the  "User path:" field.  For detailed steps on how to enable a personal menu for each user, see  Allowing users a personal menu.

User Path :  ______________________________________.

If "Create a directory for each user" is marked (X) or enabled,  Winmenu will automatically create the local directory C:\WINMENU on each user's workstation to store personal data.  You may  also instruct Winmenu to use a different directory path to store the data for each user.  Just enter here the full directory path to use.  The path must  be unique for each user .  Consider using an environment variable for this purpose.  For example,  you may enter a path like this L:\LINK\%USER%  which will be resolved by Winmenu at run time.  Winmenu will scan the workstation environment table to replace  the variable %USER% for the value found.  Environment variables can also be setup in the user's  login script.  For more information on environment variables, please consult your DOS manuals.  (Or ask me!)

Allow users to have a personal menu.

Users may have at least one personal menu where they can maintain their own menu items in Winmenu.  If you enable this option, you must also create at least one  menu section name under the code PERSONAL using the Sections dialog in admin.exe.  See Sections for more information.

"Run" window disabled.

 Mark (X) this option to disable the RUN window in Winmenu. The RUN window allows users to browse the disk drives directories and execute programs not found in the menu.

Enable sound effects.

Mark (X) to enable event driven sound effects.  Users equipped with a sound card or the speaker.drv may listen voice notifications and sound effects for some of the WInmenu events. You may also replace each sound with the .WAV of your choice by simply renaming as indicated below:

The following .WAV files are used:

OPEN.WAV  - When Winmenu restores the menu display after being minimized.

SECURE.WAV - When user clicks on the "Screen saver" button.

EXECUTE.WAV - Each time a program is executed from Winmenu.

WELCOME.WAV - When loading Winmenu

INCORREC.WAV - When displaying a message box.

SUPER.WAV - When Winmenu starts and it recognizes you as a Winmenu administrator.

OK.WAV - When the user makes any changes in the Options menu or  the Section menu.

NEWS.WAV - When new company  news are available .

ALARM.WAV - When Winmenu must notify a user of a critical even. (i.e Shutdown in progress).

NOTE: Winmenu looks for these files in its own directory. If not found, no sound is produced.

Force display of network news

Default Menu options

The following options may also be changed by each user if you have marked the "Create a directory for each user" option.   If so, you may set the initial default here.

Minimize on use  -  Allow Winmenu to minimize itself when a program is executed.

Auto Restore - Allow Winmenu to automatically restore the menu when minimized.

Verify Instances - Winmenu alerts users if the program is already running.

Sound - Enable or disable sound effects.


Force display of network news at startup.

You may setup network news to be displayed at each user's workstation when they initially run Winmenu.  Mark this option to force the user  to look at the news, otherwise, they will have the option to open the news at their convenience by clicking on the newspaper ICON.  See also Define Network News


Accessories...

The accessories are up to nine user define utility programs that can be executed from Winmenu's  accessories menu, the blue ribbon and the system menu while Winmenu is minimized.  These programs are common to all users and  can be accessed regardless of the current menu section the user is working on.  Use this option to define frequently use programs like e-mail, DOS (Command.com) , Calculator, etc..  You may create and/or change accessory programs using the Accessory dialog from the Config menu in admin.exe.

Creating or changing an accessory program.

Click once over the accessory button you wish to create or update.  Fill in a short description and the command line information. You may use the Browse button to browse the hard disk files.  Winmenu automatically extracts the associated ICON from the program file.  Use the Change Icon button if you want to associate another ICON to the program.  Press the SET button to store the accessory program information.  Repeat these steps for each accessory you wish  to add or change.  NOTE:  Changes made to the accessories will  be reflected at the user's workstation  the next time they execute Winmenu.


Sections...

 Here you may change or define menu sections and menu items. Menu sections are Winmenu's unit used to link related menu items to Novell group codes or organization-units.   A menu section  holds related menu items.  For instance, a menu section named "Word Processing"  may hold all those program that perform word processing tasks.  The menu items are stored internally by Winmenu in DOS files with the extension of .INI .   These files are automatically created and maintained by WINMENU.EXE.  The Section dialog of the administration facility allow you to attach menu section names to its corresponding INI file and links menu section names to Novell group codes.

  You can "links" menu section names to one or more Novell group code defined in the bindery.  Since Winmenu authorization scheme is based on the groups the user belongs to,  you may decide to do some planning before creating the menu sections names.   Users should be members of at least one Novell group code that reflects their type of work or organization hierarchy (i,e  MANAGEMENT, ADMIN, CLERKS , etc.).  Now you need to create menu section names that are intuitive to the type of application they  enclose.

 A basic configuration:

A basic configuration for small shops is to only use two Novell group codes:  EVERYONE and ADMIN for assigning menu access.  For instance, create at least one menu section name (i.e General ) under the Novell group EVERYONE and one menu section name (i,e Administration) under the Novell group ADMIN.    Define menu items that may be accessed by all the users in your LAN site under the menu section GENERAL and define those sensitive applications under the menu section name ADMINISTRATION.

All others...

 Some large shops have more than one software of a certain type of application and may decide to create menu section names as Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Financial  to enclose all related applications.  Other shops may prefer to create menu section names based on work types like Management, Administration, etc.  . Regardless,  you should use  intuitive menu section names because Winmenu might present a list of authorized menu section names to the users.  Once they select the menu section name, all the related menu items are presented.

Select the Novell group code to work with.

 Winmenu will present all Novell group codes currently defined in the network bindery for you to pick. Select a group code from the list  to see the current menu section names that are authorized to users members of that particular group code.  All the menu sections you create or modify will be linked to the selected group code.

    NOTE:  Besides the Novell group codes, the word PERSONAL is included in the group code's list. This code is not a Novell group code but  it is used internally by Wimenu.  Any menu section name defined under the PERSONAL group code could show on each user's workstation regardless the group codes they belong to.  Menu items under these sections can be changed and deleted by each user.  You must have defined the "Allow local menu" and  "Allow a directory"  switches as enabled.  See Allowing users a personal menu  .

Change a menu section name.

 To change an existing menu section under the selected group code,  click over the desired menu section name shown.  Make the desired changes to the name or the associated .INI file name as  needed.  You may also click the EDIT button to invoke Winmenu which will allow you to create or change the menu items for the selected menu section name.   Minimize Winmenu when done to continue with the menu sections.  Click OK when done or select another Novell group code to work.    NOTE: Changes for menu sections under the group code PERSONAL are not allowed since each user maintain its own menu items.

Enter a new menu section name.

Once you have selected the desired Novell group code, fill in the new menu section name in the Menu Section Name field and also enter the associated .INI file name.  The .INI name must conform to DOS file naming conventions and must end with the extension .INI file (i,e WORDPRO.INI,  MGMT.INI, etc.).  Winmenu stores and maintain the associated menu items in this INI file.  The .INI file do not have to exist at this time but the name should be unique among your menu section names. You may also use an existing  INI file that is already use on another group code.  It is common to share  menu sections among group codes.  You may now click the EDIT button to create the menu items or click the ADD/CHANGE button to add the menu section name without creating the menu items at this time .

Note:  The INI files will be automatically created and maintained in the same directory where WINMENU.EXE resides unless you have also specified a complete path.  You must then have write access to this directory.   I recommend not to specify a directory path with your INI file names and allow all your INI files to exist in Winmenu's central directory. This is the default and also the most sensitive way to ease the maintenance task.

Note:   When you click the "Edit Menu" button,  Winmenu is called in ADMIN-UPDATE mode. Under this mode, it only recognizes the current menu section name that you are creating or changing in the administration facility.   Winmenu's "Exit" button will be transformed to an  "Ok" button which will minimize Winmenu instead or ending the session.  This allows you to continue your administration tasks without delays.  Winmenu will return to its "normal" mode when you exit the "Sections" dialog from the administration facility.

Click OK when done or select another Novell group code to work.

Note:

No more than 20 menu sections may be linked to a single group code.  Typically, you will use no more than two in a single group code.  Regardless, Winmenu will not display more than 20 menu sections for a single user.


Define or change today's news

 You may enter up to 32k of network and/or company related news which will be displayed on each workstation when Winmenu is loaded.  The Edit menu allows you to paste text information from other applications. Press the CLEAR button to erase previous news, OK button to save the current text.  The text is saved in the DOS file NEWS.TXT in the directory where WINMENU.EXE resides.  You may also use your own text editor to create or change this file's content.

See also  Force display of network news


The User's list

Use this window to see a list of Winmenu active users names.   NOTE: This windows may be disabled (grayed out) if the IPX communications could not be initialized by the program.


Broadcast Message

This windows allow you to select network users to send a short message via the Novell broadcast message services.  Windows user should have resident the NWPOUP.EXE utility or BROADCST.EXE .  BROADCST.EXE can be obtained from Winmenu's author.  It can handle multiple broadcast messages for a single workstation by displaying them in a list where the user  do not have to press the OK button as each message arrive to the workstation.  This minimize blocked broadcast messages that can not be received because another one is blocking it.  Also, the user may send and reply  broadcast messages.  NOTE: Windows users must enable receiving broadcast messages.  Use the "Network" ICON in the Control Panel of Windows to  enable/disable broadcast messages.  Check also that you have the following lines in the file NETWARE.INI which must be found in the Windows directory:

[Options]

Messages=1

NetwareHotKey=1

* The NetwareHotKey=1 allow the use of the F6 key in Windows to "popup" a Netware utility program that allows the user to do multiple network services like attaching and detaching to other file servers.  (Nice stuff by Novell).

  Intalling BROADCST.EXE

 Copy BROADCST.EXE to the \WINDOWS directory or a directory in the current path. Use your favorite text editor to modify the line LOAD= in WIN.INI .  Replace NWPOPUP with BROADCST or add BROADCST.EXE.  Save the modified file WIN.INI.

  Broadcst.exe may be configured to hide itself when loaded.  Whenever a broadcast messages is detected, Broadcst will show itself and may optionally sound the voice message "Network broadcast!" to alert the user.  Double clicking on Broadcst ICON will display the message window.


Allowing users a personal menu

You may create at least one menu section name under the  group code PERSONAL as defined in the Sections dialog of admin.exe.  This group code (PERSONAL) does not have to be defined  in the Novell bindery because is internal to Winmenu.  All menu sections  names defined under this group code are automatically treated as personal menus. Winmenu will allow each user to create and maintain their own menu items under these menu sections.  The Options section must be defined to allow user creating their own personal menus.  See  the Options dialog to enable/disable this feature.

Steps:

1) Enable the "Create a directory for each user" in the"Options" dialog of admin.exe.

2) Enable the "Allow personal menu" option in the "Options" dialog of admin.exe .

3) Optionally, define a full directory path (must be unique for each user) in the "User Path:" field of the "Options" dialog.  This is a good place to use the environment variables to compute a unique directory. Example :  L:\LINK\%USER%\PERSONAL  .   Note: If you do not specify a path, Winmenu defaults to C:\WINMENU  directory to store the user's personal data.

4) Define at least one menu section name and associated INI file name in the "Sections" dialog. This section name is what the user will see and select from the "Section" menu in  Winmenu.


The [System] section

The [system]section currently holds one parameter.

SHUTDOWN= holds a zero (0) when disabled and a one (1) when enabled.  When this parameter is enabled,Winmenu will warn new users that the system is currently shutdown and that they must leave Windows.  It will also close any network connection the user had open.  NOTE: This only happens when the user starts Winmenu.  When you manually enable this parameter, the active Winmenu users will not get a "shutdown" messages until they exit and start again a Winmenu's session.  You should use the "SHUTDOWN" option of the administration facility to immediately warn all active Winmenu users of a shutdown.


The [Sockets] section.

[Sockets]

IPX=26437

SPX=22342

 This section is optional.  The default values are the one shown above.  The [Sockets] section holds the socket numbers used to communicate via IPX and SPX.  This numbers must be in the range of  16384 to 32768.  Otherwise, the program will default to the numbers shown above.   If another application is using the same socket numbers as Winmenu, either  applications might not be able to initialize IPX and will fail to execute.  Try changing these socket numbers when this problem occurs.

  Winmenu uses IPX based communication between ADMIN.EXE and all the user's workstations that are running Winmenu.exe .  Admin.exe may send remote commands to any of these stations.  See Remote Commands .  You may decide not to use IPX communications at all since this is a miscellaneous function.  Just rename the file NETCOM.DLL from the Winmenu's directory and Winmenu will no longer attempt to initialize IPX.  NOTE: Disabling IPX will "gray out" or disable these functions in ADMIN.EXE .


Remote commands

  The administration facility of Winmenu is capable of sending pre-defined remote commands to the Winmenu users.   These remote commands use the IPX transport protocol and the functions in NETCOM.DLL file to execute.  This DLL is automatically loaded when Winmenu.exe  and Admin.exe are executed.  The following remote commands are implemented in this version of Winmenu and can be executed from the administration facility under the menu "Miscellaneous":

SHUTDOWN Winmenu will warn current active Winmenu users that the system will be shutdown in 10 minutes and that they must leave Windows.  The message will sound and alarm at each user's workstation (if they have sound card) and will display a "floating" message.  The alarm sounds like the "red alarm" sound effect of the Star Strek Enterprise and will sound each minute until the user exit Windows or the ten minute period is over. .   It will also close any network connection the user had open.  Use this option when emergency shutdowns are needed.  NOTE: Only users running Winmenu will receive the SHUTDOWN command.  You MUST be logged in to the network as the user SUPERVISOR in order to execute this function.

Refresh NEWS Send this remote message to immediately  display the NEWS at each current Winmenu user's workstation.

Refresh Menu SectionsSend this remote command to immediately refresh the menu sections at each active Winmenu user.  Normally, changes to the menu sections are not reflected at the user's workstation until they restart Windows.  This command will display the message "Refreshing menu sections..." at the users workstation while it reloads the menu section changes.  It should take 10 seconds to execute.

NOTE: If you have an idea for another remote command, please send me a note.

   If the message "Unable to initialize IPX..." is displayed when loading Winmenu,   the remote commands are automatically disabled for that workstation.  Refer to your Novell documentation or contact  Novell user support to properly enable IPX communications. The most common problem is a) using old Novell DLLs and drivers, and b) Not properly loading the ODI driver and NETX.  See Installing Winmenu to see a list of DLL files and versions needed.  If you are loading VLMs, be sure you are loading the ones needed for connecting to a 3.12 or above server.  You might modify your  NET.CFG file to have the command SET DEFAULT=OFF and load each VLM separate as VLM=xxx  .  Download the file WINUPx.ZIP from Novell forum (GO NOVFILES) for the latest drivers.  Read the file VIPX.DOC included in WINUPx.zip for additional information.

  You may also decide not to use IPX communications at all since this is a miscellaneous function.  Just rename the file NETCOM.DLL from the Winmenu's directory and Winmenu will no longer attempt to initialize IPX.  NOTE: Disabling IPX will "gray out" or disable these functions in ADMIN.EXE .