CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/system/hdms32.zip/HDMENU.HLP

Text File | 1995-01-09 | 26KB | 561 lines

          ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
          │             HDMenu v3.2 Help               │
          │   Unregistered Version - Please Register   │
          └────────────────────────────────────────────┘

      Copyright 1992-1994 S.Griffiths, All Rights Reserved

 This  help file contains information explaining everything  you
 need  to know to use this hard disk menu. The purpose of having
 a  menu simplifies the process of loading programs, making your
 application  software available from the push of a  button,  or
 the click of the mouse.

 To  view  this help file simply use your arrow keys to move  up
 and  down.  Other keys that might be of use are [PAGE  UP]  and
 [PAGE  DOWN],  which will move you up or down though  the  help
 file  a whole page at a time, whereas the arrows keys only move
 by  a  line at a time. Escape [ESC] will cancel the help screen
 and return you to the menu.

 Table of Contents
 ─────────────────

          1. Introduction
          2. How to use the Menu
          3. Modifying the Menu Items
               1. Using Editing Windows
               2. Menu Items
               3. Sub Menus
               4. Easy Add
               5. Editing Keys
               6. Using Parameters
          4. Modifying the Configuration
          5. Key Summary
          6. Printing the Documentation
          7. Using HDMenu on a Network
          8. How the Menu Works

  ┌─────────────────┐
  │ 1. INTRODUCTION │
  └─────────────────┘

 HDMenu  is  a  menu  system that allows  quick  access  to  any
 software  program  you have on your hard disk.  It  provides  a
 consistent  and  easy  to  use user  interface  to  application
 software.

 With  HDMenu you no longer have to see the DOS prompt and  will
 never  be  lost within the confusing sub-directory system.  You
 will simply press one or two keys to execute any program.

 Passwords,  and various other options can be assigned  to  menu
 items  and  the  menu  can be tailored to  meet  your  specific
 requirements.  The  number of menus  and  sub  menus  are  only
 limited by your computers memory.

  ┌────────────────────────┐
  │ 2. HOW TO USE THE MENU │
  └────────────────────────┘

 If  the menu program was already setup when you purchased  your
 computer  you will have found that once turned on your computer
 will  automatically  display the menu,  and  that  the  initial
 installation  of the menu and setup has already been  done  for
 you. So your only problem at the moment is what program to load
 !

 There  are  three ways to choose which item you would  like  to
 load,  these are: Using the arrow keys to highlight  the  item,
 Pressing  the letter of the option you would like to load,  and
 Using  the  Mouse to click on the selected item. There  is  two
 ways to start the program you have chosen, and that is to click
 on  the  item with the mouse or with the [ENTER] key (sometimes
 referred  to as the [RETURN] key). By pressing the letter  key,
 the menu highlight bar will go to the chosen item and will also
 start the program. When using the mouse to click on an item,  a
 'double click' is needed to start the program, which means  the
 first click will move the highlight bar to the chosen item, and
 then the second click will start the program.

 Often  options are grouped together under a common  heading  to
 avoid  cluttering  the main menu screen.  eg.  You  might  have
 several programs that could be classified under 'Dos Utilities'
 or  perhaps  you might have several Games, in these cases  when
 you  select these sub-menus you then get the options  that  are
 available for that sub-menu, so if you selected a Games submenu
 then  the  items relating to that sub-menu would be  displayed.
 These sub-menus are just another menu, from a menu item.

 When you select an option by pressing [ENTER], or by using  the
 mouse, the chosen program will load, and then when you exit the
 program, the computer will return to the main menu again.

 Several  functions  are available from the  main  menu  screen,
 these are [F1] for Help, [F5] for System Information, [F8]  for
 menu  maintenance, and [F10] to Exit. Pressing  [F1]  for  help
 will  display this information that you are reading now. System
 Information gives a quick summary of your computer, things like
 how  much  memory your computer has, what sort of disk  drives,
 what  type  of computer, the Dos version, and a few other  bits
 and  pieces  that  might  be  of  interest  to  you.  Selecting
 Maintenance by pressing [F8] lets you modify the menu items and
 the  menus  configuration, this will be  covered  in  the  next
 section. Pressing [F10] quits the menu and returns you to  DOS.
 If you wish to blank the screen immediately, instead of waiting
 for the screen blanker the keys [Alt+B] can be pressed.

  ┌─────────────────────────────┐
  │ 3. MODIFYING THE MENU ITEMS │
  └─────────────────────────────┘

 If  you  want  to change the way the menu looks,  eg.  add  new
 options, delete old ones etc... you will need to use the menu's
 maintenance  mode.  Pressing [F8] switches the  menu  into  the
 maintenance mode, allowing the menu options to be modified  and
 options  to  be  added  and removed. When  in  editing  mode  a
 'maintenance' message is displayed on the screen and a  summary
 of  the main functions available are displayed at the bottom of
 the  screen, however not all the editing keys are displayed  on
 the screen, so it is worth while to read this documentation.

 While  in maintenance mode the menu items can still be selected
 as  normal (with the arrow keys etc...), but programs cannot be
 started  by  pressing [ENTER]. Now when [ENTER] is pressed  the
 editing  window pops up with the details for that  item.  There
 are  two  type  of menu options, these are Menu  Items  (actual
 programs  that  are  available on the hard disk)  and  Submenus
 which access a group of Menu Items and/or Submenus.

  ┌───────────────────────────────┐
  │ 3.1 USING THE EDITING WINDOWS │
  └───────────────────────────────┘

 When  changes to the various parts of the menu are being  made,
 editing  windows  will  be  displayed containing  the  relevant
 information. The way that these windows can be used is the same
 throughout  all  the  different parts  of  the  menu,  and  the
 different windows. Most of the editing windows will consist  of
 several  pieces  of information or 'fields'.  For  example  the
 editing window for a menu program has a menu description  field
 a  menu  password field, and some others. To move  about  these
 editing  windows  several keys need to be  used,  as  described
 below. Initially the cursor will be placed of the first field.

 To  move to the next field press the [TAB] key. To move back to
 the  previous field the [Shift+TAB] key must be used. Finishing
 editing  the  information  can be  done  two  ways,  these  are
 firstly, by selecting the OK button placed at the bottom of the
 screen,  or by simply pressing [F10]. To select the  OK  button
 you  will need to press the [TAB] the key until you have  moved
 the  cursor down to the OK button, then to select the OK button
 just press [ENTER].

 Cancelling  or aborting editing the information if you  make  a
 mistake  can also be done in two ways. By selecting the  CANCEL
 button,  in a similar manner to the OK button described  above,
 or by simply pressing [ESC].

 Shortcut  keys are also available to select the OK  and  CANCEL
 buttons.  This is done by selecting the Highlighted  letter  on
 each  of the buttons in conjunction with the [ALT] key.  So  to
 select OK you would press [ALT] and the 'O' key, and for cancel
 [ALT+C] would be used.

 The  Pop  windows  can be moved about the screen,  to  do  this
 either  click the left mouse button on part of the top line  of
 the window and keeping the mouse button down move the mouse and
 the  window  will follow. To move a window using  the  keyboard
 press  [CTRL+F5] and the shadow for the window  will  disappear
 and the arrow keys will move the window about the screen. Press
 [ENTER] to stop moving the window.

  ┌────────────────┐
  │ 3.2 MENU ITEMS │
  └────────────────┘

 Menu  Items  are actual items that are available on  your  hard
 disk  and can be loaded through the menu, for example you might
 have  an Anti-virus program, this would be on the menu, and  is
 referred to as a menu item.

 Each  menu  item  has several fields or pieces  of  information
 which  relate to how it will work, all these can be viewed  and
 changed  from the editing screen that appears when  [ENTER]  is
 pressed  on  the selected item. The following are a explanation
 of what each of them mean and do:

 Menu Description: This is simply how this menu program will  be
 displayed on the menu screen, it is up to you what you type  in
 on this description line to describe the program that it runs.

 Password: If you wish to limit who can use this program then by
 entering a password, the user will be prompted for the password
 every time that they attempt to run this program.

 Options:

 Return to Menu: If this option is checked (contains an X within
 the  square  brackets)  it  means that  when  the  program  has
 finished  running the menu will be displayed again for  another
 selection  to be made. Without being checked, (no X within  the
 square brackets) means when the program is finished running the
 menu  will not be displayed again, and the computer will remain
 at DOS. The default is to return to the menu.

 Clear  Screen: When this option is checked, the screen will  be
 cleared  before  the  program is  started.  This  is  also  the
 default.

 Pause  on  Return: When this option is checked, a  prompt  will
 appear  "Press and key to Return to the Menu" after the program
 has  finished  running, once a key gets  pressed  the  menu  is
 displayed  again.  This  is sometimes  useful  if  the  program
 displays some information you may want to see, for example  the
 DOS command 'CHKDSK'.

 Menu Commands:
 This  is where the instructions on how the computer is to start
 the menu program are stored. Normal DOS commands can be entered
 where,  up  to twenty lines, to start the program. If  a  batch
 file  is going to be started it is necessary to start the batch
 file  with the CALL command in front of it to ensure  that  the
 program  returns  to  the menu. If you  are  unsure  about  DOS
 commands  there  is  an  easier method  for  filling  in  these
 commands, by using the [F8] key to select a file. That will  be
 covered later.

 To  add menu items simply press the [Insert] key, and an  empty
 window  will appear for you to fill in the details of how  that
 program  should  appear on the menu, and what Dos  commands  to
 run.  To  remove  menu items press the [Delete]  key,  and  the
 current item will be deleted. If you delete a submenu, all  the
 items belonging to the submenu are also deleted.

  ┌───────────────┐
  │ 3.3 SUB MENUS │
  └───────────────┘

 As mentioned earlier, a submenu is another group of menu items.
 For example you might have a submenu called games and when this
 is selected the menu would change and display the list of games
 that are available. Submenus allow you to classify the programs
 on  your  hard  disk, and as there is a limit of eighteen  menu
 items on one screen, to have more programs.

 To  add  a  submenu  to the current menu, press  [F2]  and  the
 editing  window  will be displayed. Submenus only  require  two
 pieces of information unlike menu programs. These are:

 Menu  Description:  This  is simply how  the  submenu  will  be
 displayed on the menu screen, it is up to you what you type  in
 on  this description line to describe the type of submenu  that
 it is

 Password:  If you wish to limit who can access the programs  on
 this  submenu  then by entering a password, the  user  will  be
 prompted  for  the  password every time that  they  attempt  to
 access this submenu

 To  move into and out of submenus you need to use the [F5]  key
 and  [ESC]. In normal operation pressing [ENTER] on  a  submenu
 will  display the submenus items, but when in maintenance  mode
 pressing  [ENTER] displays the editing screen for the  submenu,
 to change to the submenu you must press [F5]. To back out of  a
 submenu  simply  press [ESC] and this will return  you  to  the
 previous menu.

 The  title of the current menu screen is displayed in the  menu
 box, this changes as submenus are selected. Initially the title
 will  be  'Main Menu' and then if a games submenu was selected,
 for example, the title would then change to 'Games'.

 Sometimes you may want to indicate that an item on the menu  is
 a  submenu  by following its name with three dots (an  ellipsis
 mark),  for  example  'Games...'. The menu  will  automatically
 remove  the ellipsis from the submenu name when it is displayed
 as a submenu.

  ┌──────────────┐
  │ 3.4 EASY ADD │
  └──────────────┘

 The  normal method for adding an item to the menu requires  you
 to  know the DOS commands to start the program, if you are  not
 familiar with DOS or do not know the file name that starts your
 program then the alternative is to use this method.

 Pressing  [F8]  displays a window that lets you  view  all  the
 files on your hard disk that can start programs (which are  the
 program  ending in: BAT, EXE, and COM). Using [TAB]  to  switch
 between the directory and file windows, and pressing [ENTER] on
 the  directories  you wish to view the files in.  Each  time  a
 directory  is selected the files list is updated. To  select  a
 directory or a file with the mouse simply 'double click' on the
 item,  a  'double click' is just two clicks of the  left  mouse
 button in quick succession. Once you have found the program you
 would  like to add to the menu, press [ENTER] on the  filename,
 or  select  the OK button, and then the menu items window  will
 appear with the batch commands already filled in, all you  have
 to  do  is  then  assign the program the menu description,  and
 press [F10].

  ┌──────────────────┐
  │ 3.5 EDITING KEYS │
  └──────────────────┘

 Several keys are available to allow you to manipulate the  menu
 items. Each of these will be covered separately below.

 Swapping  menu  items can be done with the [F3]  key  while  in
 editing  mode.  Once [F3] is pressed a prompt  appears  at  the
 bottom of the screen asking you to select the next item to swap
 with.  Moving  the highlight bar to the next item and  pressing
 [F3]  again will complete the swap, or [ESC] can be pressed  to
 cancel the swap. Menu items and submenus can swapped ok.

 In addition rearranging the order of the menu items by swapping
 menu  items, some cut and paste features are available to  move
 and  copy  menu  items. To move a menu item it  must  be  first
 removed from its current place, and then inserted into its  new
 location, or cut and pasted as it is sometimes referred to.

 The keys [Ctrl+Del] will delete a menu item and allow it to  be
 inserted in a new location. Once a item has been deleted it  is
 held  in a buffer until you copy it out. [Ctrl+Ins] will insert
 the contents of the buffer at the current location in the menu.
 Items can be stored into the paste buffer without having to  be
 deleted from the menu as well, by using [Ctrl+Home] the current
 menu item will be copied into the paste buffer, and then can be
 inserted  else where in the menu with [Ctrl+Ins].  If  Submenus
 are  moved  in this way, only the submenu name gets copied  and
 not all the items belonging to that submenu.

  ┌──────────────────────┐
  │ 3.6 USING PARAMETERS │
  └──────────────────────┘

 Some  menu  items you may wish to add to the menu  may  require
 additional  information at the time you  run  the  program.  In
 these  instances  the menu can prompt you  for  the  additional
 information (or parameters).

 The  parameters  take the form of special characters  contained
 within  the  batch file commands for the particular menu  item.
 When the menu detects these characters it will pause asking the
 user for the parameters.

 The  following  are the special codes for the parameters  (they
 can be in either upper or lower case):

        &D                    - Drive letter
        &F["filespec(s)"]     - File name
        &P["prompt text"]     - General parameter

 Depending  on the type of information required the  appropriate
 parameter  should  be used. Firstly the '&D' will  provide  you
 with a list of all the drives that are available, then whatever
 drive is selected is replaced in place of the '&D'. For example
 you  might add formatting a disk to the menu, and in  the  menu
 commands  you  could  enter 'FORMAT &D', when  this  option  is
 selected  the menu would first ask you to select a disk  drive,
 and  this would then replace the '&D' in the menu commands.  So
 say  drive  B is selected then the format command would  become
 'FORMAT B:'.

 The  '&F'  allows  a  file  to be selected.  Whatever  file  is
 selected is then used to replace the '&F' in the menu commands.
 The  default filespec is "*.*" - for all files is used, however
 this  can  be changed by enclosing the required filespec  after
 the  '&F' within quotes. For example you may have a program  to
 view  files and could add a menu item like LIST &F"*.doc  *.txt
 *.bat  *.ini" - which would only display files that are  likely
 to  be  viewed.  Also  as  you can see in  the  above  example,
 multiple filespecs are ok, but a space is required between each
 filespec.

 Lastly, when parameters are not going to be a drive or filename
 the  general  parameter prompt can be used.  Whenever  '&P'  is
 contained in the menu commands a window pops up allowing you to
 type  in  whatever  you  require. This  prompt  also  allows  a
 optional  custom prompt message to appear in the popup  window,
 this  text should follow the '&P' contained within quotes.  For
 example a item may be to login in to a network, and could  have
 in  the  menu  commands  'LOGIN  &P"Enter  login  name"',  then
 whatever is entered is used to replace '&P', and the message is
 also deleted.

 The parameters may be used together, the only restriction being
 that  the parameter prompts '&F' and '&V' are not used together
 within the same menu item.

  ┌────────────────────────────────┐
  │ 4. MODIFYING THE CONFIGURATION │
  └────────────────────────────────┘

 Various  options  are  available  to  allow  the  menu  to   be
 customised  for  each users requirements. To  access  the  menu
 configuration  menu you firstly need to be in  the  maintenance
 mode,  and  then from there by pressing [F4] the  configuration
 menu is displayed.

 Colours: Selecting the colours option displays another menu for
 you  to  select which colour you wish to change, eg.  the  help
 screen  colours, the main screen etc... Each one of the various
 colour options display a window with the different colours that
 are  relevant to that particular option. For each colour  item,
 eg.  The  colour  of  the border, there  is  two  numbers,  the
 foreground colour, and the background colour. In some cases one
 of  the options may have N/A (for not applicable) as the colour
 is determined from another colour in the list.

 System Configuration: This contains the different password that
 can   be  assigned  to  various  options.  Exit  to  Dos,  Menu
 Maintenance,  and Menu Configuration can all  have  a  password
 assigned to them, so whenever one of these options are selected
 the  user will have to enter the password first. Also contained
 on  this  screen is the Exit to Dos commands, this  allows  for
 three lines for Dos commands to be entered. These commands will
 be  executed when ever the user exits the menu. Perhaps  in  an
 network  a logoff command could be used here, or the hard  disk
 could be parked.

 Display Options

 Various  settings to control how the menu looks on  the  screen
 are available. The single, double, and none for the main border
 an options border refers to the line thickness on the boxes.

 The  different  sound  options  control  what  beeps  will   be
 generated. When set to medium only error messages and important
 messages  will get a beep. Set to full beeps for all  messages,
 and  emits  a  little click for invalid keys that are  pressed.
 Selecting no sound will suppress all beeps.

 The  date format will adjust how the date is displayed  at  the
 bottom  of  the screen. To selecting a different date  use  the
 arrow  keys  to select the desired option and press [SPACE]  to
 change the marker to the current item.

 Screen  blanking will blank the screen after the set period  of
 time  if  no activity had occurred on the keyboard ─ to prevent
 damage to the computers screen. The screen will blank after the
 chosen time, and then will alternate between a blank screen and
 the  suppliers logo screen. To restore the menus normal  screen
 simply press any key.

 Finally,  the display options control several other aspects  of
 how  the  menu looks. The key status will indicate on  the  top
 right  of  the menu screen what the status of the 'lock'  keys.
 The  Caps  lock, Num lock, and scroll lock. The Time  and  date
 options  will turn on/off the display of the time and  date  at
 the  bottom  of the menu screen. If only one of  the  items  is
 selected then it is displayed in the centre of the screen.  The
 greeting will give the user a message 'Good Morning...'  etc...
 If this item is not selected then this message is removed.

  ┌────────────────┐
  │ 5. KEY SUMMARY │
  └────────────────┘

 In normal operation:

          F1 : Display this help file
          F5 : Display the system information screen
          F8 : Switch the menu into maintenance mode
         F10 : Exit to DOS
     UP/DOWN : Move highlight bar up and down
       ENTER : Start the currently highlighted item
  LETTER KEY : Start the item corresponding to the letter key
         ESC : Exit a submenu screen
       ALT+B : Blank the screen immediately

 In maintenance mode:

          F1 : Display this help file
          F2 : Insert a Submenu item
          F3 : Swap menu items
          F4 : Display the configuration menu
          F5 : Change to submenu (if the item is a submenu)
          F8 : Insert a item by selecting the file
          F9 : Abort changes and exit maintenance mode
         F10 : Save changes and exit maintenance mode
      INSERT : Insert a new menu item
      DELETE : Delete the current item
 CTRL+DELETE : Cut the current item (store it in a buffer)
 CTRL+INSERT : Insert the item in the buffer
   CTRL+HOME : Copy the current item into the buffer
     UP/DOWN : Move highlight bar up and down
       ENTER : Edit the currently highlighted item
  LETTER KEY : Edit the item corresponding to the letter key
         ESC : Exit a submenu screen

  ┌───────────────────────────────┐
  │ 6. PRINTING THE DOCUMENTATION │
  └───────────────────────────────┘

 The menu documentation is the file HDMENU.HLP on the hard disk,
 it  can  be viewed from the menu by pressing [F1] or it can  be
 printed if you have a printer.

 The  help file (this file) is a simple text file which  can  be
 printed on all printer that can print the IBM character set. To
 print the menu documentation follow the following steps:

    1. Exit to the Dos prompt
    2. Change to the menu directory, to do this type:
       CD \MENU [enter]
    3. Make sure the printer is turn on and has paper loaded.
    4. Send the help file to the printer, to do this type:
       COPY HDMENU.HLP LPT1 [enter]

  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
  │ 7. USING HDMENU ON A NETWORK │
  └──────────────────────────────┘

 HDMenu can use a shared data file (.DAT) and/or a shared config
 file (.CFG).  By placing the HDMENU.EXE in a  directory that is
 in the  users path  (eg. F:\PUBLIC\MENU),  and the files  to be
 shared, in that directory also (eg.HDMENU.DAT) then HDMenu will
 use  the shared files  from the directory  that the  HDMENU.EXE
 file is loaded from *IF* the files cannot be found in the users
 directory (this is where the MENU.BAT is loaded from).

 For example, the user may have a directory H:\BOB\MENU, in this
 directory the files: MENU.BAT, HDMENU.SCN would reside, and the
 directory F:\PUBLIC\MENU  would be in the path.  F:\PUBLIC\MENU
 should contain the HDMENU.EXE and the files to be shared, which
 can be HDMENU.DAT and/or HDMENU.CFG.

 When loading HDMenu it should  be loaded  from the  H:\BOB\MENU
 directory  by running the batch file MENU.BAT.  HDMenu will use
 the   HDMENU.DAT   and / or  the  HDMENU.CFG  files   from  the
 F:\PUBLIC\MENU directory  if they are not held in H:\MENU.  Its
 really quite simple.

  ┌───────────────────────┐
  │ 8. HOW THE MENU WORKS │
  └───────────────────────┘

 The  menu operates with DOS batch files, each time a menu  item
 is  started the batch file gets adjusted to start the  selected
 program,  once the program has finished running the batch  file
 will return to the menu.

 If  another  batch file is started then it will  be  unable  to
 return  to  the  menu unless the DOS command 'CALL'  is  placed
 before  the  batch file. For example if one of the command  you
 wish  to run is called 'NETWORK' and this is a batch file, then
 it is necessary to enter 'CALL NETWORK' to menu reload once the
 batch file has finished running.

 Written by
 ──────────

          S.Griffiths
          9 Raglan Street
          Masterton
          NEW ZEALAND