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HISTORY.DOC
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1991-06-18
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HDM IV - Version 2 (HDM420)
The following features and functions have been added to the Hard
Disk Menu IV version 2:
HDM IV now works with DR-DOS, EZ-DOS, and 4DOS. The CALL
command is no longer automatically added to the beginning of
each command in X.BAT for users of DOS 3.3 and above. Instead
you can use the CALL command to run batch files by putting the
CALL right in the menu action like this:
C:~CD\DSPLYWRT~CALL DW5~
or you can use the @@ in front of batch file names:
C:~CD\DSPLYWRT~@@DW5~
The @@ has the advantage
of working with all versions of DOS, @@ is replaced by COMMAND
/C if your running DOS 3.2 or under, else it will be replaced by
CALL. This was done because of compatibility problems with DOS
clones. CALL did not work with 4DOS aliases, nor did it work
with EZ-DOS/DR-DOS internal commands.
New alternate user interfaces using the Local Switch <F8> menu
entry. The new screen is more consistent with the opening logo
screen. You can switch back to the HDM IV version 1 screen any
time. <F8> also switches the Page Index and the Main Menu
windows.
The customized logo screen available using the -H startup switch
and the HDM.HDR file now affect both boxes on the screen. A
sample HDM.HDR file is included on the HDM disk.
1000 menu files now available, named HDM.000 through HDM.999.
Use the UPDATE.BAT file to retain your current menu entries.
New startup switches, -0 through -9 tell HDM where to find each
set of 100 menu files. If you use the -T startup switch it will
still tell where the rest of the HDM.000 - HDM.999 and the
HDM.CFG (formally HDMENU.TGL) files reside. The default path
for the files is the HDM startup directory.
EXAMPLE: HDM -0C:\MYMENUS -1H:\NETMENUS -9D:\UTILMENU
HDM.000 - HDM.099 files are located on C:\MYMENUS directory.
HDM.100 - HDM.199 files are located on H:\NETMENUS directory.
HDM.900 - HDM.999 files are located on D:\UTILMENU directory.
The macro parameters %1 through %9 can now be put in braces so
they are executed immediately instead of waiting until all other
functions in braces are evaluated.
EXAMPLE: {&0 {?Dir Name}}{run! dir {%1}}type {?File Name}~
The help text has been separated from the HDMENU.EXE file so it
won't be loaded if you don't press F1. The help text is in the
file HDM.HLP and the executable program is HDM4.EXE. The
program must still be started with HDM.BAT.
New date and time formats have been added to the Global pull
down menu for European date and Military (24 hour) clock.
A log file is written to the HDM directory if a user is logged
on (using an entry from the User ID table in the Security pull
down window) and HDM is started with the -L switch like this:
HDM -L or it can be written to a different directory if
you add that path to the -L switch: HDM -LC:\LOGDIR
The log file has the following format:
YYYYMMDDHR:MNX[???]=description
YYYYMMDD is the year, month, and day (19890728).
HR:MN is the hour and minute of the 24 hour clock (14:25).
X is the day of the week (1=Sunday,7=Saturday).
[???]=description is:
[LOG]=Name of person who logged on.
[OFF]=Name of person who logged off.
[RUN]=Description of what is being run.
[END]=End of run.
The three digit menu file number has been added to the User ID
table so that each user can start at a different menu file when
they log on.
You can create your own individual help screen for each menu
entry. A file that is named P#.###, where P# is the page letter
and menu entry number and ### is the menu file number, is
display if the cursor is on that entry and the F1 key is
pressed. The help screen is 21 lines by 76 characters for each
line. A sample file, A1.000, is included as an example.
You can now password protect one page. The security levels for
the main menu entries are now: Individual password overrides a
page password which overrides the password for all entries.
Free disk space can now be displayed at the bottom of the
screen. If you want to see available space for a disk drive use
the -D startup switch. Example: -DD will display available disk
space on the D: drive. If -D is used without a drive letter,
then the drive that HDM was started on will be used.
New menu action function: {COLOR Fg Bg} sets DOS color. Fg is
a foreground color numbered from 0 to 15, Bg is a background
color numbered from 0 to 7. This will set the DOS screen color
for the current menu entry only. It will not work if ANSI.SYS
is loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file. 0=Black, 1=Blue, 2=Green,
3=Cyan, 4=Red, 5=Magenta, 6=Yellow, 7=White, 8-15 are the bright
versions of these colors. Example: {Color 15 1} is bright white
on blue.
New menu action function: {REBOOT} Used to re-boot your
computer. This can be used to change the setup of your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and then restart your system for
another application like Windows, Desqview, etc. with HDM
automatically starting it with the -A switch. Example:
COPY C:\CONFIG.NEW C:\CONFIG.SYS~COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.NEW
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT~{REBOOT}
New menu action function:
{SELECT prompt~choice1~choice2~...choice9} This will display a
menu of choices in a window with the "prompt" used as a title. The
users choice from the list will replace everything in the braces
in the menu action. Use the tilde (~) to separate the prompt
and the choices. A choice can be selected with the mouse or
keyboard arrow keys and the <Enter> key. You can also select a
choice by pressing the first letter, if two or more choices have
the same first letter, the last one with that letter will be
selected. Example:
DIR {SELECT Pick a directory~C:\DIR1~C:\DIR2~C:\DIR3~C:\DIR4~C:\DIR5}
HDM no longer automatically adds the directory that contains
X.BAT to the path if it isn't already there. This has caused
problems for some network users. You must insure that the DOS
path includes the directory that X.BAT will be written to. It
will be either the HDM default directory or the one pointed to
by -W if that startup switch is used.
Example: PATH C:\;C:\HDM;C:\DOS
If you don't include this directory in the
path, you will probably get a "Bad command or file name"
message from DOS when you key in X to return to HDM.
(HDM421)
-P is a new HDM startup switch that can be used in the command
line or the DOS environment to stop the cursor from wrapping to
the previous page or to the next page when you try to go past
the top or bottom of a page. This also causes the cursor to
stop at all menu entries, even the empty ones. This is probably
most useful for people who use a mouse, moving up and down will
go to menu entries in the same page while moving side to side
will move through the pages. Command line: HDM -P
DOS environment: SET HDM=-P
Alt-1 through Alt-0 are new alternate keys for A - J to go
directly to a page.
You can now protect a menu file from being changed while still
allowing the entries to be run without a password. Use the
"File change password" in the Security menu to protect Menu,
Page, Security, and Local menus for the current menu file only.
(HDM422)
The number of users available in the USER ID TABLE has been
increased to 99.
A new entry has been added to the MENU pull-down menu, SAVE MENU
(Alt-F5). This entry will save all changes to disk. You will
normally not need to use this because HDM IV automatically saves
changes to disk when you run a menu entry, when you display the
logo screen, when you exit to DOS, use the DOS window, or after
one minute of keyboard/mouse inactivity. The reason for this
new command is if you make a change and want to turn your system
off or reboot immediately, you should save the changes you made
first by pressing Alt-F5 or choose "Save menu".
A new starup switch, -K, causes the Key lock status to not be
displayed, and does not update the on-screen date & time. This
is needed if you run another program with HDM in the background
and the Key status, date, and time bleed through to that screen.
Put HDM -K or Set HDM=-K in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
When you create a new menu file with the {menu ###} action function
the new menu file will take on the attributes of the menu file it
was created from. That is the colors, borders, user interface,
titles, and macros will be the same.
The number of entries in the Timed Execution Facility has been
increased to 99.
(HDM423)
You can now pass an initialization string to your modem using the
{DIAL} function. This can be done with or without dialing a number.
You can now use the curly braces {} and the tilde ~ characters in a
menu action by using substitute characters for them. The braces are
used to identify a menu function and the tilde is used as the command
separator so they cannot be entered directly to be used in a command
or program. Use <Ctrl-Q> for {, <Ctrl-P> for }, and <Ctrl-Z> for ~.
A new parameter has been added to the menu action. %0 will always
contain the complete reply to a {?} prompt function so it can be used
later in the same menu action. %1 through %9 will still contain the
first nine parameters of a macro.
You can now log all usage through the menu without having to log on
as a user in the ID table. The -L switch by itself controls whether
logging is done to the HDM.LOG file.
(HDM424)
A screen border is displayed on color monitors. It will be the same
color as the status line. You can use the -I startup switch to
Inactivate the border if you don't want one. There is also one more
set of screen interfaces available by pressing the F6 key. Each set
of interfaces include the Page Index and Main Menu on opposite sides
of the screen. The original HDM IV version 1 interface does not show
screen borders at any time.
A bug was fixed that showed up if you had a Hidden Top Menu. The F4
key didn't work when adding or changing a menu entry. F4 is used to
display the menu action Build screen. It always worked if the Top
Menu was not hidden, now it also works if it is hidden.
New user defined help screens can now be displayed for an entire menu
file. These work just like the individual help screens for each menu
entry, but are only displayed if there is no individual help file for
the current menu entry. These new generic help files must be named
HELP.000 through HELP.999, while the individual help files are named
for the menu entry and the menu file number: A1.000 through J0.999.
The priority for help screens displayed when F1 is pressed is now:
1. The individual help screen if a matching file exists; H4.500 if
you are in menu file 500 (HDM.500) and the cursor is on entry H4.
2. The generic menu file help screen if a matching file exist;
HELP.500 if you are in menu file 500 and the cursor is on a menu
entry that does not have a matching individual help file.
3. The default HDM help screen, if neither of the above files exist.
Pressing F1 a second time still gives you the HDM help menu & screens.
The layout is the same for all help files; an ASCII text file with
21 lines and 76 characters per line.
(HDM425)
A new function, {BEEP!}, was added to sound the speaker to alert
a user to an HDM event, like a prompt needs to be answered or a
{SELECT} menu entry needs to be chosen. The difference between
the current {BEEP} function and new the {BEEP!} is that {BEEP}
gets replaced by a Ctrl-G so that DOS will sound the speaker when
it gets to it in the temporary work file, X.BAT. {BEEP!} will
sound immediately at the time that HDM is evaluating funtions.
EXAMPLE: C:~CD\EDIT~{BEEP}~EDIT {?ENTER FILE NAME}~
In this example, {BEEP} is replaced by Ctrl-G before the prompt
shows, but you won't hear it until DOS reads the X.BAT file,
which is after all functions are resolved and the batch file is
turned over to DOS for execution. Use {BEEP!} in this case to
sound the speaker before the prompt is displayed. Use {BEEP} to
signal the end of a long running program.
An * now displays in the lower right hand corner of the screen
when the menu file has been changed, but the changes have not
been recorded to disk yet. The changes are automatically written
to disk when your run a menu entry, when you go to the logo
screen or another menu file, or after one minute of keyboard and
mouse inactivity.
A new menu action function, {VSELECT}, has been added to HDM. It
works exactly like the current {SELECT} function, but displays
the menu entries vertically. Also, the menu entry picked from
{SELECT} or {VSELECT} is kept in the %0 parameter, just like the
answer to a {?prompt} function is. If you need the menu pick in
additional locations in the menu action, just put %0 in all those
places. {VSELECT} and {SELECT} allow up to 15 choices.
(HDM426)
The video routines in HDM now automatically recognize the type of
video card installed and will clean up the snow or static on older
CGA monitors. The -S startup switch is no longer needed for snow.
The {RUN} and {RUN!} functions only accepted the first twelve
characters of the program name and any parameters. This has now
been expanded to 64 characters.
The choice of background colors now include all 16 colors for all
systems except monochrome monitors. Use the -I startup switch to
enable the eight High Intensity background colors. This causes
some screens to quiver, colors to fade at one end of the screen,
static, and other mysterious things with some hardware combinations.
The problems were noticed on PS/2's with built in VGA and some Tandy
EGA cards. You'll have to try it on your own system.
The -S startup switch now controls setting color screen borders.
The border color will match the Status Bar background color. This
doesn't work very well on some EGA cards and monitors. CGA & VGA
work fine.
(HDM427)
The keyboard buffer is cleared as soon as you start HDM or return to
it from another program. This was added to HDM because some programs
left keystrokes in the DOS buffer and HDM would automatically read
them and do whatever those keystrokes made it do. If you don't have
programs that do this and you want to be able to type into the DOS
keyboard buffer before HDM is ready to accept them, use the new -Q
startup switch to enable Queuing up those keystrokes.
The new environment variable (SET X=) allows you to use a different
batch file name for HDM's temporary work file. The default name is
X.BAT. If you set X to something else before starting the Hard Disk
Menu, it will use that name for the file that the -W startup switch
points to and for the name you have to key in to return to HDM from
the DOS prompt, once you exit to it. The following example makes
HDM use GoBack.Bat instead of X.BAT: SET X=GoBack (8 char max)
CD \HDM
HDM
Make sure you don't set X equal to any DOS commands or to any file
names on your disk like EXIT, HDM, HDM4, RESTORE, 123, COPY, etc.
Because HDM automatically detects the type of video card you have
installed, it will wait for the video retrace before writing to the
screen buffer for CGA cards. Some newer CGA cards don't produce the
snow that the older ones did when you didn't wait for the retrace.
You can start HDM with the -F switch to do Fast screen writes and not
wait for that video retrace even if a CGA is detected. This will
speed up the program and is the default for all other video cards.
-O (as in Off) is another new HDM startup switch, it simply turns Off
the Num Lock status when the Hard Disk Menu is first started. (HDM -O)
This was requested by many who use the cursor control keys on the
numeric key pad on newer 101/102 keyboards.
{??prompt} works just like {?prompt} except that the input can't be
seen. Used for entering passwords or other private data.
=================================================================
End of HDM IV version 2 enhancements amd fixes.
=================================================================
HDM IV - Version 3 (HDM430)
The following have been added to the Hard Disk Menu IV version 3:
Mouse pointer support: If you have a mouse driver installed, a
mouse pointer will display in the bottom right corner of the screen.
You can move the mouse pointer and click on all the places you would
expect a mouse to work: all menus, arrow heads, keys (Esc=, F2=), etc.
Additional pages in each menu file: You now have 26 pages available
in each menu file. They are lettered A through Z. This brings the
number of menu enteries available up to 260 for each menu file and
to 260,000 in all menu files.
Completely rewritten security system: There are now 99 levels of
security available. You can set up multiple master passwords and the
user can log on with an associated security level. All the places
where you could put a password on before (just about everywhere) now
expected a security level from zero to 99. If a user's security
level is equal to or higher than the security level of the action
to be taken, then no password will be asked for. If the user's
security level is not high enough, then a password will be asked
for, and the user must enter the password for that security level
or a higher one to continue. Security levels are initiated by using
the Master Password Table in the Security pull down menu to add a
password to the security level numbers you are going to use.
EXAMPLE: If you did not want users with a security level below 50
to be able to exit HDM to the DOS prompt using the F3 key:
1. Make sure you have at least one security number higher than 49
with a password on it. (through the Master Password Table).
2. Pull down the EXIT menu, move the cursor down to EXIT HDM - F3,
press <Alt-F1>, enter 50 for the security level. If your User
ID has a security level of 50 or higher already, then you're
done, if not, then HDM will ask you to enter a password for
security level 50 or higher.
3. That's it. If a user with a security level of 50 or greater
presses the F3 key, that user will be at the DOS prompt. A user
with a lower security level will be asked for a password. If
that user knows a password for any security level higher than
49, they will also be able to get to the DOS prompt. If you
don't use User ID's you will have a security level of zero.
User ID Table: The table used to set up user log on information now
includes an associated security level number. To change this number
you must know the password associated with the security level or one
of a higher security level. Another addition to this table is a menu
entry location that you want to run automatically when this user logs
on. You do this by specifying the menu file number (0 to 999), the
page letter (A to Z), and the entry number (0 to 9). If you specify
a page letter without an entry number, no entry will run, but you will
be put on that page.
User logo/header screen and log on window: Both boxes on the opening
screen can now be completely replaced by the HDM.HDR file. Each box
can contain seven lines by 40 characters of user defined information.
Remember to use the -H start up switch to display that custom screen.
Also remember that the -N start up switch will skip this screen unless
you have user log on requirements in the User ID Table. If you do
require users to log on, the -N start up switch will take you directly
to the log on window, otherwise you must press a key to pop it up.
The log on window now pops up over the bottom box on the logo screen.
DOS Window: Changed so that you can see all of the last nine uses of
the DOS Window together at one time. You can enter a new command at
the top line or move the cursor to any of the previous ones, and run
it as is, or modify it first and then run it.
New menu action function: {CONFIRM} or {CONFIRM prompt} pops up a
Yes/No confirmation window to continue or abandon execution of the
menu entry.
New menu action function: {DIR} or {DIR dr:\dir\mask} pops up drive
and directory menus to choose a drive/directory name to replace the
function within the menu action. If you specify a directory name,
that's the first one that will show in the directory pick list, but
you can move freely up & down the drive or directory tree.
New menu action function: {FILE} or {FILE drive:\dir\wildcard} pops
up a list of files to choose a file name to replace the function
within the menu action. This function returns the complete path
with the file name. If you specify a directory, it will be the
current one when you see the list of files, but you can switch to
any other one you want while you are in the file list menu.
The %0 parameter that always contains the answer to a {?prompt}
function has been expanded to also contain the results of the
following functions: {??prompt} {SELECT} {VSELECT} {FILE} {DIR}.
This way the function result can be used in more than one place in
a menu action. If you want to use a % parameter inside another
function make sure you enclose it in curly braces because inside
braces are always resolve before outer ones. For example...
DIR {VSELECT Disk Drive~A~B~C~D}:{CK %0} will not work because the
{CK} function will try to run before %0 is replaced with the drive
letter. Use {CK {%0}} instead so that the %0 is in inner braces
and gets replaced before the {CK} function runs in the outer braces.
The normal % parameters cause no problems when they are not used
inside any menu {functions}.
Global Menu Settings have been added to the Global pull down window.
These check boxes let you exclude empty pages from the Page Index
display, exclude empty menu entries from the Main Menu display, and
make the cursor wrap to the top/bottom of the same page rather than
wrap to the previous/next page. This replaces the -P startup switch.
One other check box forces an Exit Confirmation Window to display
when the F3 key is pressed to go to DOS.
Some hidden mouse hot spots have been added for user's convience:
1. Click on the top date & time to quickly pull down the top menus.
2. Click on the upper right hand corner of the screen for help.
3. Click on the lower right hand corner to escape current activity.
You can now press Ctrl-B at any time to blank the screen in HDM.
A new menu command was added to the first pull down menu. It allows
you to switch any two menu entries in the same menu file. Just pick
the first menu entry, then pick the one you want to swap with it.
A new menu command was added to the Exit pull down menu. It will
return to the previous menu file if {MENU ###} was used to go to a
different menu file.
A new menu action function has been added and is represented by two
vertical bars. || is used to process everything in the menu action
up to that point. Then after that first part is executed, the part
after the || is executed. You can use as many of these as you need
in a menu action. Example of logging on to a network, then going to
a menu file on the server: C:~CD\NETUTIL~LOGIN~ || {MENU 500}
Example of running programs, then continuing with another menu entry:
D:~CD\DIR~PROGRAM1~PROGRAM2~PROGRAM3~PROGRAM4~PROGRAM5 || {KEY B 9}
This could be a way around the 255 character menu action limit.
Here's an example of asking to do a backup after running a program:
C:~CD\QUICKEN~Q||{CONFIRM Backup to A:?}COPY C:\QUICKEN\*.* A:~
The INSTALL.EXE program replaces the INSTALL.BAT and UPDATE.BAT files.
You don't need to specify the directory to install or update to when
you start the program. It will display defaults for the install from
drive and the install to directory, and it will allow you to change
them. if the program finds that the HDM batch file is not in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT or that the HDM directory is not in the DOS path, it ask
if you want it to update that file for you.
Enhanced menu action function: {DIR!} or {DIR! drive:\dir\dirmask}
This works the same as the {DIR} function except that it limits you
to the starting directory. You can go down to lower subdirectories,
but you will not be able to climb the tree any higher than where you
started and you will not be able to switch to another drive.
Enhanced menu action function: {FILE!} or {FILE! drive:\dir\wildcard}
This works the same as the {FILE} function except you are limited by
the starting directory. You will not be able to switch to a higher
directory or to another drive.
Resume in the Exit pull down menu now reinitializes the mouse in case
a TSR or something leaves it in an unusable state.
{SELECT} and {VSELECT} now support user input as a menu entry. Just
start the entry with a ?. If the user chooses it, HDM will prompt
for input using the text after the ? as the prompt message.
EXAMPLE: {SELECT Pick One~Choice 1~Choice 2~Choice 3~?User Input}
NOTE: To secure your HDM system, these areas should be protected with
high security levels:
Menu/Security/Master Password Table
Menu/Security/User ID Table
Menu/Global/Inactive Execute
Menu/Global/Timed Execution
New main menu keys: Since there are now twenty six pages available,
Ctrl-PgUp & Ctrl-PgDn will will try to move up or down approximately
one screen of pages. This is affected by the number of empty pages
and if those empty pages are displayed or not.
The name of the help file was changed from HELP.EXE to HDMHELP.EXE.
This was done to avoid confusion with 4DOS and Novell which both have
help files named HELP.EXE.
"F3=EXIT" will not display at the bottom of the Main Menu if your
user security is lower than the security level of the "Exit HDM - F3"
command in the "Exit" pull-down menu or "Top Menu: All Commands" in
the "Security" pull-down menu. The {EXIT} and {QUIT} menu action
functions now honor the exit security levels and will ask for a
password if needed.
Execution of a menu entry has been added to "Log Off Automatically"
in the "Security" pull-down menu. This menu entry will execute
when an automatic log off takes place or if you log yourself off
manually. The timed automatic log off and the log off execution
are completely independent of one another. You can use just the
automatic timed log off, or just the automatic execution of a menu
entry when you log off, or both.
A project field has been added to the log on window. The information
entered in it will be recorded in the log file if you use the Usage
Logging feature (-L startup switch).
Three new menu action functions have been added:
{PROJECT} will be replaced by the contents of the project field in
the log on window. This can also be used in the title lines above
the main menu just like the {USER} function has been used.
{%variable%} will be replace be the DOS environment variable of the
same name. For example {%COMSPEC%} is replaced by C:\COMMAND.COM if
that is what is in your environment. This can also be used in titles.
{STEP} is used for debugging your menu actions. From the point it
appears in the menu action to the end of that action, it will display
what the action looks like after each function is executed.
You can now press the first letter of the entries in the following
lists to go directly to the next entry that starts with that letter.
Directory list {DIR} {DIR!}, File list {FILE} {FILE!}, and the User
ID Table.
(HDM431)
To make it easier to use HDM with a mouse, the following changes
have been made:
- The escape hot spot at the bottom right corner of the screen has
been removed and the right mouse button now functions as the
escape key. This means you can only click on hot spots with the
left mouse button. The right & left buttons can be reversed by
most newer mouse drivers.
- The hot spots used to move the cursor up & down the menu entries
and through the Page Index have been moved closer together so less
mouse movement is needed to move the cursor were you need it.
Two commands have been changed in the Exit pull-down menu:
1. "Prior Menu" was renamed to "Menu Exit". It will return to the
previous menu file, if any, or to the logo screen if you are already
at the base menu file (either HDM.000 or the one specified by -M).
2. "Resume" was replaced by "Project" which is described below.
This information is used by the {PROJECT} function and the log file.
The Project number information field has been removed from the log
on screen and has been made independent of it. This means you can
use projects without having to put an entry in the User ID table
and the project input field will not show up for users who only need
to log on. Also you can tell HDM to automatically ask for project
information when you log on by checking a box in the Global Settings
menu. You can now change the project at any time or use it without
having HDM automatically ask for it by choosing "Project" from the
Exit pull-down menu or by pressing Alt-F5.
"Page Erase" in the Page pull-down menu can now remove entries with
with a higher security level than your own. After checking for a
page security level higher than yours, it will ask for a password
for the highest security level found on the page you want to erase.
If you don't enter a password, press <Esc>, or key in the wrong
password, only the entries with a security level equal to or below
your own will be erased.
When HDM is used on a network and you are using the multi-level
security system, it's important that everyone is using the same
HDM.CFG file. This is where the global variables and security,
like the Master Password Table, is stored. In the past, this
file was written to the default HDM directory or to the directory
pointed to by the -T startup switch. To add more flexibility to
HDM, a new startup switch, -G, will control where the HDM.CFG
global file is written. -T will still create a new default for
the menu files (HDM.000-HDM.999) and the HDM.CFG will be written
to the directory that contains the HDM program if -G is not used.
A warning is now displayed in the Master Password Table if you
delete the only password that would allow you to get back into it.
When you make changes to HDM, an * is displayed in the lower
right corner of the screen until the menu file or global file
is saved to disk. This happens automatically when you run a
menu entry, exit to DOS, return to a previous menu file or to
the logo screen, or after one minute of inactivity of the mouse
or keyboard. You can save the changes to disk immediately by
pressing the * key or by choosing "Save to Disk" from the first
pull-down menu. You can now undo changes while the * is still
displayed on the screen, just press Ctrl-U and the menu will
return to the state it was in at the last time it was saved.
To add a little safety to the {REBOOT} function when a read/write
disk cache is begin used, HDM will read one record from the X.BAT
file before rebooting. This should make sure that all cached
disk writes were physically written before the warm boot happens.
The format of the usage log file, HDM.LOG has been changed so
each user is identified on each record for multiple users writing
to the same log file. This makes it possible to identify who
ran what on networks and makes it easier to import to a database
for sorting and reporting. This is the format and field lengths:
Code | User | Date | Time | Day | File | Entry | Project | Action
-----|------|------|------|-----|------|-------|---------|-------
1 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 3 - 99
Code is used internally to identify the record format.
User is the 25 character User ID from the User ID Table.
Date is in the format YYYYMMDD where 19910704 is the 4th of July.
Time is based on the 24 hour clock, HR:MN. 15:00 is 3pm.
Day is the day of the week: 1 is Sunday and 7 is Saturday.
File is the menu file extension, 000 - 999 (HDM.000-999) or "DOS".
Entry is menu entry (A1-Z0), "xt" = DOS exit, "wd" = DOS window.
Project is the 25 character project information field.
Action is RUN=Menu Description or RUN=Action in {RUN} function,
and END, END!, or ENDr for a normal menu entry end-of-run,
an internal end-of-run (menu action beginning with !),
and the end of a {RUN} function inside a menu action.
You can now choose which letter is highlighted in each entry
of the {SELECT} and {VSELECT} menu action functions. HDM will
use the first capital letter, number, or special character it
finds as the hot key. It will skip small letters and spaces.
EXAMPLE: "Do This" hot key is "D" and "do That" hot key is "T".
This will solve the problem of two entries having the same hot
key because HDM would always choose the last entry with that
highlighted hot key. Also, if you picked an entry with the
mouse under the same conditions, it would choose the wrong one
if there was an entry after it with the same highlighted letter.
To sum it up, make sure each entry in the {SELECT} and {VSELECT}
functions have unique highlighted characters to avoid problems.
if you must have two entries with the same hot key, move the
cursor to the one you want and press <Enter> to be sure of
choosing the correct one.
The -H startup switch can now have a path associated with it so
you can put the HDM.HDR file in any directory you want. Example:
HDM -Hk:\lanmenu would cause HDM to read K:\LANMENU\HDM.HDR to
replace the header/logo screen. The path is optional, using -H
without the path still looks for HDM.HDR in the HDM directory.
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