Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS / Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS (The Golden ROM Series)(Volume 4 Number 1)(The Digital Publishing Company)(1992).ISO / sdn / gold411b.sdn / MANUAL.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1991-11-12 | 74KB | 1,651 lines

- ╔══════════════════════════╗ ║ fastmenu GOLD (tm) ║ ╚══════════════════════════╝ Version 4.1 Copyright (C) 1990 - 1991 by: Jack W Hildenbrand 9500 St.Rt.61 Berlin Hts., Ohio 44814 Phone 1 (419) 588-3608 User support BBS 419-588-3615 3/12/2400 N81 Distributed By: jwh:SoftWare P.O. Box 410 Berlin Hts., Ohio 44814 Be sure to read the HISTORY.DOC file to see updates and changes that may not have made this manual. - Table of contents. Page ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Why jwh: fastmenu GOLD?...................................... 1 Applications Main Menu....................................... 3 Edit Applications Module..................................... 3 Setup/Configuration Module................................... 6 Function Key Password Protection............................. 7 Editing the Logo File........................................ 7 Installation Instructions.................................... 9 Assigning the function key icons or prompts to access your favorite applications................................... 9 Setting up timed application/batch execution................. 8 11 Digit Calculator.......................................... 10 DOS/Disk Utility............................................. 10 Disk Utility File List Screen................................ 13 System/Text/Batch Utility.................................... 16 AUTOEXEC.BAT & CONFIG.SYS File Switcher...................... 17 Phone Book/Dialer............................................ 20 Displaying PCX picture files during screen blanking.......... 23 Adding applications to the Alternative Applications MENU..... 21 Entering multiple commands at the Run File field............. 22 NOTE !!!!! IN ORDER FOR THIS PROGRAM TO OPERATE PROPERLY YOU MUST HAVE A PATH STATEMENT TO THE ROOT DIRECTORY AND TO THE DIRECTORY WHERE YOUR DOS FILES ARE LOCATED. THIS PATH STATEMENT SHOULD BE IN YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE. EXAMPLE: PATH=C:\;C:\DOS; Over the years that computers have been with us, they have gone from very large and complicated units to small desktop and very powerful pieces of equipment. Along with that growth, computers have become an almost must in every business, school and now are becoming a standard in most homes. Also the coming of the ever popular Hard Drive has made computing even more popular among every computer owner from business to home use. Storage capacities of Hard Drives have risen from around 1 megabyte to now well over 100 megabytes of storage, enabling the user to store and use numerous applications without the need of using floppies for every day applications and data storage. One problem that has arisen from these very large Hard Drive units is that it has become very hard for the user to remember the names of all the directories and the names of all the executable files that start the different applications that they have stored on their Hard Drives. Also, in an office or home situation where there are numerous people that use the same computer to do different tasks and with different ideas about how to setup access to their application, a Hard Drive can become very messy and hard to find your way around in. Also in most business situations the need for fast access to applications is becoming more and more important. As most of us know, since the Hard Drive was born, there has been numerous menu programs written to help deal with this problem, from small applications menuing systems to very large and memory consuming applications. However, there seems to be a very large gap, the small ones being to small and not adequate for most needs and the larger windowing systems needing more computer than most office and home users have at hand. For this reason fastmenu GOLD was created. Page 1 - What fastmenu GOLD can do for you: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o.. Fast one or two key strokes to your applications. o.. Consumes no memory during applications execution. o.. Will operate in under 256Kb of memory. o.. Allows up to 40 pages with up to 20 applications per page. o.. Allows quick editing of the applications list and page titles. o.. Can be operated with a Mouse. o.. Built in Auto Mouse Detection. o.. PassWord protection on any or all outside applications execution, Module operations and DOS exits. What you need to run fastmenu GOLD: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o.. IBM PC/XT/AT or Compatible. o.. 512Kb of memory. o.. A Hard Drive and at least one floppy. o.. VGA Color Card and Monitor. o.. DOS version 2.2 or later. QUICK INSTALLATION AND STARTUP. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- Make a backup copy of your original disk(s). 2>- Insert your backup disk into any drive. (disk #1) 3>- Move to the drive that you are installing from and type: INSTALL 4>- Just follow on-screen instructions to complete the installation. 5>- Make sure you have a PATH to your ROOT and your DOS directory. 6>- After the installation, simply type 'GOLD' to start fastmenu GOLD. 7>- Add 'GOLD' as the last line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file if you want fastmenu GOLD to automatically start when you turn your computer on. ADDING A APPLICATION. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- After you have gotten fastmenu GOLD up and running, at the main menu screen you will see a window with twenty blank lines listed. The numbers on these lines will be blue. These lines represent the page titles. Before adding any applications you must first create a page and give it a title. To create page #1, simply press the #1 key and then press enter. At this point you will be given a place to enter the page title and then press the enter key. 2>- After entering the page title for page #1 and then pressing the enter key you will automatically be taken to page #1. At this time you will also see two new prompts, Title and Edit Applications. At this point we want to add a application to this page so choose option Edit. 3>- After selecting the Edit option, you will be taken to the applications editor module. To Add an application, from the opening menu, simply select the Add/Edit option by choosing option 'A'. 4>- After selecting the Add/Edit option, an Applications List window will be displayed. We will Add an application to line #1, so move the highlight bar to line #1 and then press the enter key. Page 2 - 5>- After selecting the line that you want to add this application to you will be presented with data entry screen to fill out. At the first field, enter the title or name of the application that you want to execute with this line. 6>- At the Drive field, press the F2 key and select the drive that this application resides on. At the directory field, press the F2 key and select the directory that this application resides in. At Run File field, press F2 and select the file that runs this application. 7>- If you want this application password protected, enter a 'Y' at the Password field. If you are running DOS Version 3.3 or later, answer the Fast Run field with a 'Y'. If you want fastmenu GOLD to pause before execution and ask you for command line parameters, answer the Command Line Parms field with a 'Y'. 8>- After completing all fields, press the Esc key to exit the edit mode. 9>- At this time you will be presented with two more fields. If you enter any information in these fields, it will be displayed at application execution or exit. If you do not want any prompt displayed, simply leave these fields blank. When you are finished with these two fields, press the Esc key to exit the edit mode. 10>- At this time you may save this entry by pressing the 'S' key or abort and not save it by pressing the Esc key. Pressing the 'C' key will return you to the editor. fastmenu GOLD Applications Main Menu. ====================================:> Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Setup................ This option should be used the very first time you use fastmenu GOLD. Here you will set the program parameters that will make fastmenu PLUS work properly. This option may be accessed by pressing the letter (S) or by pointing the mouse at the prompt icon and then pressing the left mouse button. (ESC).................. This option will Exit you to DOS. F1 through F8.......... Used as hot keys to Applications. fastmenu GOLD Edit Applications Module. ======================================:> Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ESC=Exit............... Using this option will return you back to the applications menu. Add/Edit............... This option allows you to add or change programs or applications to the applications list. Any application that can run in DOS can be started or executed with fastmenu PLUS, either through the applications menu or through the (S)tart option from the file list menu. Page 3 - Adding a new application. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- Choose option Add/Edit from the edit applications menu prompt list then from the applications list select the application or the line that you want to Add/edit. You will be presented with seven questions to answer. 2>- The first question will be asking you for the Title or Name of the program that you want to run. This Title or Name can be anything you want it to be, and is only used as a reference. 3>- The second question will be asking you for the name or letter of the drive that your new program will be running from. Examples would be: A, B or C. Pressing the F2 key will list all available drives on your system. 4>- The third question will be asking you for the name of the directory that this new program is in. Fifty nine characters are allowed here. Always separate multiple directory entries with a backslash (\). Pressing the F2 key will list all available directories on your system. NOTE ! If you are running this new program from a floppy and/or the program is in the root directory, just press <enter> at this prompt. 5>- The fourth question will be asking you for the name of the file that you normally have to type in to run the program (The executable file). You may also enter any command line switches or parameters here. NEW !! Multiple commands may be entered at this field. This is explained further, later in this manual. NOTE ! This file will normally have an extension name of either .EXE or .COM and sometimes may be .BAT. Also you DO NOT include the file extension when entering this file name. 6>- The fifth question will be asking if you want to password protect this program. If you do not want password protection, just answer this question with a [ N ]. If you want password protection for this program, answer this question with a [ Y ]. 7>- The sixth question will be asking if you want to use the Fast Load method of launching this application. This method is recommended, but may cause some problems with early versions of DOS. 8>- The seventh question will be asking if you want fastmenu GOLD to pause before execution of this application so you may enter a variable DOS command line parameter. 8>- After answering all seven questions just press the Esc key to exit the edit mode. Page 4 - 9>- At this time you will be presented with two more fields. If you enter any information in either of these fields it will be displayed with a pause during application execution or exit. If you do not want any prompt displayed, simply leave the field blank. After completing these fields, exit by pressing the Esc key. Then press the 'S' key to save this new entry. 10>- At this time, if you chose to password protect this program, you will be given a place to enter the password that you want to use to access this program. You are allowed up to six characters or numbers in this password. After entering this password, you will be prompted to verify it's validity. CAUTION !!! Be sure to remember this password, it cannot be removed from a program listing unless you know the password. This password is totally scrambled before it is written to file and would be very hard to unscramble. Delete application..... This option is used to delete or remove an existing application. Deleting a listing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- Choose option Delete application from the menu list. 2>- After choosing this option, all applications listed on this page will be listed to screen. Select the one that you want to delete with the highlight bar and then press enter. You will be asked to verify your delete List................... This option will list to screen, all applications or programs that are on this page. NOTE ! If you have password protected any of these programs, their directories and run file names will not be listed to screen. Also at this time you will be given an option to sort all entries. If you select to sort all entries, they will be displayed to screen after the sort is completed and then you will have the option to save this sorted list or return without saving. Title.................. This option will allow you to change the Title or Name that is presently being used for this page. Delete this page....... Choose this option if you want to delete this page from the menu. Update Directory Tree.. This option will update the directory tree list that you see when you press the F2 key to list the directories. Page 5 - fastmenu GOLD Setup Module. ==========================:> This module offers several options for customizing fastmenu GOLD along with setting the default drive and directory. The default drive ( C: ) and directory ( GOLD ) may be changed from this screen if need be. However I strongly recommend that you leave them at their defaults. If you change them for some reason, you will also need to edit the GOLD.BAT file found in your DOS or root directory. This file contains the necessary drive and path statements to start fastmenu GOLD. Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ESC=Quit............. This option will return you to the fastmenu applications menu. A >-- Password Protect Exit To DOS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to setup whether or not a user may exit fastmenu GOLD and go to DOS with or without using a password. B >- Password Protect The Setup Module ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to setup whether or not a user may enter the Setup module with or without using a password. C >- Password Protect The Edit Applications Module ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to setup whether or not a user may enter the Edit Applications Module with or without using a password. D >--- Update Directory Tree Files at Startup ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you answer this option with a 'N', fastmenu GOLD will startup much faster skipping the opening screen and updating the directory tree files. You will need to update the directory tree files manually if any directory maintenance is done outside the fastmenu environment. E >- Toggle Screen Blanking On/Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to select whether you want screen blanking or not. This option will present you with one question that can be answered by either a Y if you want screen blanking or a N if you do not. NEW !! fastmenu GOLD can also be setup to display PCX picture files during screen blanking. This option is explained in more detail later in this manual. NOTE ! This screen blanking only has an effect on fastmenu screens and will not interrupt your applications in any way. During screen blanking a logo will dance around on your screen, letting you know that fastmenu is ready to go at any time by pressing any key on your keyboard. If you have chosen to use the screen blanking option, you will then be asked to enter the amount of time (seconds) that fastmenu GOLD waits before going into screen blanking. The time can be any number of seconds between 1 and 999. Page 6 - F >------- Set Opening Screen Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ fastmenu GOLD will run in either of two different screen modes. Mode 1 >- In this mode fastmenu GOLD will display the page titles on the first screen, at startup of fastmenu GOLD. Mode 2 >- In this mode fastmenu GOLD will display an application page on the first screen, at startup of fastmenu GOLD. You may choose the page that is first displayed. When you select option 'F' from this setup menu, you will first be asked if you want the page titles displayed first. If you answer this prompt with a 'N', then you will also be asked to enter the page title number that you want displayed at startup. You may enter any page number between 1 and 40. G >---------------- Edit Logo File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to edit or change the FASTLOGO.IFO file. This file contains the information that you will see moving about during screen blanking. Also the information in this file is listed to screen on the main menu. After choosing this option you will be presented with a screen that has this file listed in a small editing window. You may make any changes you want to this file and then press the ESC key to exit. You will be asked if you want to save any changes you have made. H >- Password Protect The Function Key Icons ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to setup password protection to each individual Function key F1 through F8. NOTE ! The password protection setup through this option only has effect on the function keys and will not affect applications execution from the main menu. Applications run through fastmenu have their own password protection that may be setup through the Edit Applications module. Choosing this option will take you to a screen where you may select the function keys you want to have password protected. Select the function keys you want password protected by moving the highlight bar to that option and using the space bar to toggle your answer to either Yes or No. Only function keys marked 'Yes' will be password protected. After marking all function keys you want password protected, just press the enter key to advance to the next screen. This next screen will have all function keys listed again along with a place to enter passwords. Also at the top of your screen you will be shown the password number. You are allowed up to 50 different password combinations. When you first enter this screen the prompt will be in the password editor window. At this point you may enter the first password up to 40 characters long. After entering the password the prompt will move down to the modules list. The first option in this list will be asking you if you want to log the use of this password. If you answer this with a Yes then every time that this password is used it will be recorded in a file called MASTER.LOG. The remaining prompts in this box will determine whether or not this password has access to the corresponding function key or not. Page 7 - NOTE ! On the previous screen if you chose not to have some of the function keys password protected, they will show up on this screen in a blanked out mode. Answers placed after these blanked out function keys will be ignored. After entering all information for this password you may use the down arrow key to move to the next password. When the highlight bar is on the last option in the module box pressing the down arrow key will move you to the next password screen. When the cursor is in the password window pressing the up arrow will take you to the previous password screen. After entering all passwords, pressing the F1 key will save them to disk in the MASTER.DAT file. You may edit or change these passwords at any time simply by entering this module making your changes and then saving them by pressing the F1 key. This password protection not only lets you determine which function keys that you want password protected but also lets you assign different access to different passwords. I >---------- Delete Function Key Password Protection ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to delete or completely remove all function key password protection. You will be prompted to verify this choice. The MASTER.DAT file will be deleted. J >-------- View Password Log File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to view the password log file (MASTER.LOG). If you have chosen to have any of the passwords logged, then they will be listed in this file. K >------ Delete Password Log File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use this option to delete or completely remove all logged password use. You will be prompted to verify this choice. The MASTER.LOG file will be deleted. NOTE ! If you delete this file, it will be re-created if a password is used that was marked to be logged. L >--- Setup Drive/Directory Path ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have copied fastmenu to an alternate path, you may want to make the drive and directory path to fastmenu current. M >--- Timed Application execution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selecting this option will open a window with data fields for you to fill in. At the first field, enter the time in 12 hr format (civilian time) that you want the application or batch file executed. NOTE ! From midnight to 12:59 afternoon is considered AM and from 12:59 afternoon to 11:59 afternoon is considered PM. At the Date field enter the date that you want this application or batch file to be executed. NOTE ! If you want this execution to be on a daily basis, leave this Date field completely blank. Then answer the Yes/No weekday prompts to tell fastmenu on what days you want this application/batch file to be run. At the remaining three fields, enter the Drive, Path, and the name of the executable file. After completing all fields, press the Esc key to exit then press the 'S' key to save them. Page 8 - fastmenu GOLD installation instructions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE ! Before you install fastmenu GOLD I strongly recommend that you make backup copies of your original disk. Consult your DOS manual on making backup copies or using DISKCOPY on your machine. fastmenu GOLD is not a complicated program to setup and does not require a lot of work to get running. The following three steps is all that is needed to insure proper operation. 1)-Insert your fastmenu backup/distribution disk into any drive, move to that drive and type: [ install ] <enter>. (disk #1) Follow on-screen instructions to install fastmenu GOLD. 2)-Make sure your AUTOEXEC.BAT file contains a path statement to the root directory of your hard drive and also to the directory where your DOS files are located. An example of the path statement: PATH=C:\;C:\DOS; 3)-If you want fastmenu GOLD to startup automatically, add to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file the following line: GOLD NOTE ! This line must be the last line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This should complete the setup procedure for fastmenu GOLD. After installation you will have two new files added to the DOS or root directory of your hard drive C: (GOLD.BAT and BRUN45.EXE). Also you will have a new directory on drive C: (GOLD). If you have installed fastmenu GOLD and for some reason you want to change the installation to a different configuration you may do this by just running INSTALL again from the installation disk using the new options you want. The new installation will simply overwrite the old one. Assigning applications to the function key prompts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To assign a application to one of the function key prompts, simply press the Ctrl key plus the corresponding function key down or click the right mouse button on the function key prompt. Complete the displayed path information and then save it by pressing the 'S' key. Page 9 - fastmenu GOLD 11 Digit Calculator. =================================:> This calculator works somewhat different than most people are used to, in that you first need to enter a number and then enter the operator. To start a calculation you first need to type in the first number and then press the enter key then enter the second number followed by the operand. Continue a chain calculation by entering the number and then the operand. Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BackSp................. This option will delete the number at the cursor location and move the cursor left one position. 1 to 0................. This option will enter the chosen number to the calculator. /...................... This option is used to divide numbers. *...................... This option is used to multiply numbers. -...................... This option is used to subtract numbers. +...................... This option is used to add numbers. Enter.................. This option is used to end a calculation. P...................... This option toggles printer on/off. Up Arrow............... Use this key to enter numbers to memory. Down Arrow............. Use this key to pull numbers from memory. C...................... Press this key to clear the tap. M...................... Press this key to clear memory. DOS/Disk Utility Module. =======================:> Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Format Diskettes....... Use this option to format new diskettes or floppies. NOTE ! For reasons of compatibility between computers, this program uses the standard DOS format program found in your DOS directory. For proper operation, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file must contain the path to your DOS files. Page 10 - Formatting diskettes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- After choosing the Format Diskettes option, you will be asked to choose whether you want to format a Non Systems Disk or DOS Systems Disk (Boot Disk). If you choose to format a systems disk, after the format process the necessary DOS files will be copied to it, creating a bootable DOS diskette. 2>- After choosing the format type you will be asked to choose the drive that you want to format from. 3>- After choosing the drive you will be presented with three more options. The first option in this list will be used if you want to format a disk to the same capacity that is standard for your disk drive unit. The second option in this list will be used if you have a high density 1.2 Meg 5 1/4in. drive and you want to format a low density 360Kb disk. The third option in this list will be used if you have a high density 1.5 Meg 3 1/2in. drive and you want to format a low density 720Kb disk. 4>- After choosing the format density you will be asked to insert a disk in the chosen drive and press any key to begin formatting. Single Pass DiskCopy... Use this option to copy a floppy disk in one pass without the need of switching disks back and forth during the copy of high density disks. File Maintenance....... Use this option if you want to perform any of the following: Copy Files, Delete Files, Rename Files, View Files, Edit Files or Run a program not listed in the applications menu list. 1>- After choosing this option, you will be asked to choose the drive that you want to perform file maintenance on. 2>- After choosing the drive, fastmenu GOLD will check the drive to see if it has any directories. Select the directory you want and then press enter. At this time you will be presented with the file list that was found on this drive. If no files are found you will be returned to the directory menu. Choosing a directory is done by moving the highlight bar to the directory you want with the Up and Down arrow keys and then pressing enter. 3>- After choosing the directory, you will be taken to the file list menu. Help with the file list options can be found later in this manual. Page 11 - DOS DiskCopy........... Use this option to make a duplicate copy of a diskette. Only diskettes of the same capacity and size should be used here. You will first be asked to choose the Source Drive. The Source drive will be the drive that you will be placing the original copy in. Then you will be asked to choose the Target Drive. The Target Drive will be the drive that you will be transferring your original to. NOTE ! The Source Drive and the Target Drive can be the same Drive. If so, you will be asked to switch diskettes back and forth until the copying process is complete. Creating a new Directory from the Directory Tree screen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After choosing the File Maintenance option, you will be asked to choose the drive that you want to work with. After choosing the drive you will be taken to the Directory Tree screen. From the directory tree screen, you will move the highlight bar to the location that you want this new directory placed. You can do this by moving the highlight bar up or down the directory tree and then pressing enter. NOTE ! To place a new directory from the root directory, you will want to highlight the ROOT option on the directory tree list. If you want to place a new subdirectory off from an existing directory, just highlight that directory. After choosing the directory location, press the 'C' key, enter the name of the new directory and then press enter. Deleting Existing Directories from the Directory Tree Screen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option can be reached from the Directory Tree Screen, after choosing the File Maintenance option from the DOS/ Disk Utility Menu and the drive from the Drive Menu. NOTE ! A directory cannot be deleted without first deleting any files it may contain. Choose the directory that you want to delete by moving the highlight bar to that directory then press the 'D' key. You will be asked to verify your choice. Renaming Existing Directories from the Directory Tree Screen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Select the directory that you want to rename by moving the highlight bar to that directory and then press the 'R' key. You will be presented with the directory name in an editer field, simply edit the existing name and then press enter. Printing the Directory list to your printer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the directory tree screen, you may choose to send a copy of this directory tree information to your printer by pressing the 'P' key. NOTE ! You must have your printer connected to printer port LPT1. Page 12 - Locate a File(s)...... Using this option will take you to a module that you may use to search for a file or a group of files on any drive or directory on your system. You may also search for text. Update Directory File. Using this option will manually update the directory tree mirror files. NOTE ! fastmenu GOLD automatically updates the directory tree files if any directory maintenance is done with the utility module. If you select not to have fastmenu GOLD update the directory tree files at startup from the Setup module and you perform any directory maintenance outside of the fastmenu GOLD environment, you may need to use this option to update the directory tree files manually. Include Attributes With Files (Yes/No) This option allows you to specify whether or not you want the file attributes listed at the files list menu. If you select not to have the attributes listed, the files will list to screen much faster due to not needing to read the attributes in on every file. fastmenu GOLD Disk Utilities File List. ======================================:> Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (ESC).................. Using this option will return you to the previous menu. (Up/Dn)................ Use these options to move the highlight bar up and down the file list. One key press will move the highlight bar up or down one file. Holding the key down will fast advance the highlight bar till you release the key or the end of the file list is reached. (-/+/enter)............ Use these options to mark all files for later maintenance. An asterisk will appear to the left of the file name of every file that has been marked. Marking and Un-Marking Files. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- Move the highlight bar to the file you want to mark and then press the enter key. If this file has already been marked it will be un-marked. After using the enter key to mark or un-mark a file, the highlight bar will advance to the next file in the file list. 2>- Pressing the plus key will mark all files in the file list. Page 13 - 3>- Pressing the minus key will un-mark all marked files in the file list. (Q)uery................ Use this option to query the file list. DOS wild cards are valid here. NOTE ! The main purpose for including this option was to give you a convenient way of copying or deleting certain groups of files. For example if you wanted to copy all the files with the .DAT extension, you would first query the file list by entering [ *.DAT ] at the File Spec. prompt. Then mark all these files by pressing the plus key, then choose the (C)opy option to copy all marked files. Querying the file list with (Q)uery option. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1>- After choosing this option, you will be given a place to enter your query instructions and then press enter. After which the file list will again be presented with only the files that meet your query instructions listed. Query Examples: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [ *.* ]........ This query would list all files. [ *.EXE ]...... This query would list files with the EXE extension. [ FAST??.* ]... This query would list files that include the letters FAST as the first four letters in the file name. (U)pdate............... Use this option to update or re-list the files from the present drive or directory. NOTE ! You may change a disk while you are at the file list screen. After changing to the new disk, just use the (U)pdate option to list the files from the newly inserted disk. (S)tart................ Use this option to run applications outside fastmenu GOLD. This option was added to give you a way to test run an application or to run applications or games from floppy drives. Any program, game or application that can be run from the DOS prompt can also be run through this option. NOTE ! This option will only accept files with the extension of .EXE, .COM or .BAT. Before you can use this option option, you must first mark the file that you want to run. After marking this file, just choose the (S)tart option to run it. (V)iew................. Use this option to read or view text files. Page 14 - Before you can use this option, you must first mark the file that you want to read or view. After marking this file just choose option (V)iew to view it. (E)dit................. Use this option to edit or create any ASCII text file. To edit an existing file you must first mark it from the file list menu. After marking it, just choose option (E)dit from the file list menu. To create a new file, just choose option (E)dit without marking any files. After entering the editor you will be asked to enter the name for the new file. You may use any DOS legal name except names that have extensions of .EXE or .COM. NOTE ! This editor has the ability to edit files with lines up to 255 characters long. When you first enter the editor, the right margin will be set to 255. If you are editing a 80 column document you may want to reset the right margin before you begin. Also (for mouse users only) notice the diamonds at the upper left and lower right corners of the edit window. If you put the mouse cursor on these diamonds and press the left mouse button, while holding the button down, you can resize the editing window. This option along with the F4 = Image feature was added to give you a means of creating a picture of the entire editing screen. By pressing the F4 key or clicking on the F4 = Image prompt, a picture of the present screen will be stored beneath the work screen. It can then be viewed by pulling the editing screen down. Also a reduced screen can be moved about by holding the mouse button down while the mouse cursor is located on the ruler bar. Further help can be reached from the editing window by choosing option F1 = Help. (C)opy................. Use this option to copy a file or group of files from this directory or disk to another directory or disk. Before using this option, you must first mark the file or group of files you want to copy, using the (Up/Dn) and (-/+/enter) keys. 1>- After marking the files you want to copy just choose option Copy to start the copy process. 2>- You will be asked to choose the Target Drive (the drive that you want to copy these files to). After choosing the Target Drive, fastmenu GOLD will check that drive for any existing directories. 3>- If any directories are found, you will be asked to choose which directory you want to copy these files to. Page 15 - 4>- If no directories exist or after choosing a directory, you will be asked to verify the copying of these files. NOTE ! If you have marked more files than will fit on the Target Drive, fastmenu GOLD will copy as many files to the Target Drive as will fit and then prompt you to insert a new disk. After which will continue to copy the remainder of the files marked to this disk. fastmenu GOLD will continue this process until all marked files have been copied. This copy routine was added to give you a means of backing up entire directories or groups of files to floppies without the worry of running out of disk space on the Target Drive. (D)elete............... Use this option to delete or remove a file or groups of files. Before using this option, you must first mark the file or group of files you want to delete, using the (Up/Dn) and (-/+/enter) keys. 1>- After marking the file or group of files you want to delete, just choose option Delete to start the deletion process. 2>- At this time you will be asked if you want to verify each file before deletion or continue without verifying each file. (R)ename............... Use this option to rename a file. Before using this option, you must first mark the file that you want to rename. NOTE ! If more than one file has been marked, fastmenu GOLD will call up only the first file in the list that has been marked. After marking the file that you want to rename, just choose the Rename option, you will be shown the old file name and given a place to enter the new file name. (P)rint................ Use this option to send a copy of all marked files to your printer. You must have your printer connected to printer port LPT1. fastmenu GOLD System Utility. ============================:> Set System Time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option gives you a way to reset the system Time clock. Set System Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option gives you a way to reset the system Date. Page 16 - Set Mouse Sensitivity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will allow you to adjust the sensitivity or movement ratio of your mouse. Keyboard cursor speed and delay rate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option provides a way to adjust the speed of cursor movement and the amount of time before continious movement from holding a cursor keys down. System/Text/Batch File Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Provides you with options that allow you to enter DOS commands. To run DOS commands, simply enter the commands into the editor and then press the F1 key. Also along with this module you may create/load/edit/save batch files to any drive/directory on your system. F1 = Run.... This option will execute or run the commands that have been entered at the editor window. Multiple commands may be executed at the same time. F2 = Load... Use this option to load an existing file into the editor. When choosing this option a list of files found on the current drive/directory will be listed to screen. You may choose one of these files by moving the highlight bar to the file you want and then press the enter key. At this point if you press the ESC key you will be returned to the editor without loading a file. F3 = Save... Use this option to save a file that has been created or changed. The file will be saved to the current drive/directory listed in the top prompt box. F4 = Clear.. This option will clear the editor window of any text. F5 = Print.. Use this option to send the editor text to your printer. F6 = Path... Use this option to change the current DOS path listed in the prompt box at top of your screen. This path may also be changed through the edit window simply by entering the new path and then press the F1 key. F7 = Image.. Using this option will create a screen copy of the current screen. You may view this image by re-sizing the edit window. F8 = Margin. Use this option to reset the right editor margin. AUTOEXEC.BAT & CONFIG.SYS File Switcher ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (ESC)............... This option will return you to DOS. Page 17 - To create a new file, simply select a blank line from the file list by moving the highlight bar to the line you want to add a file description to and then press the enter key. Enter the title or description and then press enter. At this point you will be taken back to the file list menu and your new file description will be listed. To edit this new file, simply select it from the list again and then press enter. At this time you will be taken to the options menu. The OPTIONS Menu. ================:> This menu will present you with several options that will be active only on the file that you have chosen. (ESC)............... This option will return you to the main menu. A........ This option will take you to the text editor that will allow you to edit or change the chosen file listed at the top of the screen. This editor is a full featured text editor that includes block copy and paste options. This editor is explained fully later in this manual. NOTE ! This editor provides you also with a way to capture any existing AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file or any text file on your system. Pressing the F2 key will display a place for you to enter the entire path and filename of the file you want to capture to the editor. B........ This option will install the file that you have chosen to the root directory of drive C as the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You will be asked to verify all actions. C........ This option will install the file that you have chosen to the root directory of drive C as the CONFIG.SYS file. You will be asked to verify all actions. D........ This option will allow you to completely remove the file listed at the top of screen. You will be prompted to verify this action. Editor Options and Commands: ===============================:> Home/End........ Move cursor to start/end of line. Ctrl-Home/End... Move cursor to top/bottom of window. PgUp/PgDn....... Display previous/next page. Ctrl-PgUp/PgDn.. Display first/last page. Ctrl-Left/Right. Move cursor by whole words. Ctrl-Y.......... Delete the current line. Ctrl-N.......... Insert a new line. Insert.......... Toggle insert mode on/off. Page 18 - Delete.......... Delete character at cursor location and move text left one position. Backspace....... Delete character at cursor location and move cursor left one position. Tab............. Move cursor right four positions. Shift-Tab....... Move cursor left four positions. Arrow Keys...... Move cursor one position in direction of arrow. Enter........... Starts a new line. If your system is equipped with a mouse, the editor window may be re-sized as needed or moved about your screen. To re-size the editor window: 1>- Placing the mouse on the arrow icon at the upper right corner of the edit window and then clicking the left mouse button will expand the window to full size. 2>- Placing the mouse on the upper left diamond icon on the edit window and while holding the left mouse button down, you may move the top and left side of the window. 3>- Placing the mouse on the lower right diamond icon on the edit window and while holding the left mouse button down, you may move the bottom and right side of the window. 4>- The edit window may be moved about on your screen by placing your mouse on the ruler bar and then while holding the left mouse button down, the window will follow your mouse movement. To copy a block. Move cursor to upper left corner of block then while holding the shift key down move the cursor right or down to lower right corner of block. At this point pressing any key except the ESC or delete key will copy block to clipboard. If you press the delete key at this point the block will be deleted and also copied to the clipboard. Pasting a block. Move the cursor to the new location and then press the Shift-Insert keys. NOTE ! Block operations may also be accomplished with a mouse. Also Once a block has been copied to the clipboard you may return to the files menu, reload or create a new file then from the options menu choose option (1) to load this new file into the editor and then paste a previously saved block to this new file. Also saved blocks may be copied between the batchDOS editor and the system file editor. Page 19 - fastmenu GOLD Phone Book/Dialer. ===============================:> Option Reaction to option ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Esc.................... Use this option to exit the phone book module. (I)nsert............... Use this option to insert a new record to the phone book. The new record will be inserted just above the highlight bar. If the highlight bar is at bottom of file, the new record will be added to the end of the file. If you want, you can insert a new record ahead of an existing record by moving the highlight bar to that record, then choosing the insert option. After choosing the insert option you will be given a new slot to enter the information for this record. You can move freely between fields with the Up/Down arrow keys. When finished press the Tab key to save it. (C)hange............... Use this option to change or correct an existing record. To change a record, just move the highlight bar to the record that you want to change, then choose the (C)hange option. After selecting this option, you may move freely between fields with the Up/Down arrow keys. (D)elete............... Use this option to remove an existing record from the phone book. To remove a record, just move the highlight bar to the record that you want to remove, then choose the (D)elete option. You will be prompted to verify this deletion. (S)ort................. Use this option to sort all records on any field. After choosing the (S)ort option you will be asked to choose the field that you want to sort on. Do this by moving the highlight bar to that field and then press enter. (Q)uery................ Use this option when you want to locate a record or group of records from the phone book database. After selecting this option you will need to select where you want the results of this query sent, to screen, printer in list form, or to mailing labels. You will be presented with a screen to enter search instructions. You may search on any one field or a combination of fields. Records found that match your search instructions will be listed to screen one at a time with options to Print, Edit, or Dial the phone number. (M)ore................. This option will list to screen, the complete record that is currently highlighted. Page 20 - (D)ial................. To dial a listed number, simply highlight the entry that you want to dial and then press the 'D' key. At the same time pick up the phone receiver and after the number has been dialed just press any key to close the modem port. (P)arms................ Use this option to setup optional modem parms. Consult your Modem Manual on available command options. Up-Dn.................. These options represent the up and down arrow keys. Using them will move the highlight bar up or down one record at a time. Continuing to hold one of these keys down will cause the highlight bar to scan until you release the key. PgUp-PgDn.............. These options represent the Page Up and Page Down keys. Using them will move the highlight bar up or down a full page at a time. Continuing to hold one of these keys down will cause the highlight bar to rapid scan until you release the key. NOTE ! The phone book module uses a file oriented database and is limited in the number of records only by your disk size. Also the sort routine uses a disk sort that does not require calling all records to memory for sorting, eliminating the need for large amounts of memory for sorting a large database. Setting up applications for the Alternate Applications MENU. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE !! This option was included with fastmenu GOLD under requests from several users and shareware authors, to allow creating applications designed especially to be ran through fastmenu. ALSO When fastmenu executes an application through this menu, the VGA (640 x 480 16 Color) screen mode is not switched back to CGA. Therefore if you are installing an application to this menu and it is not capable of running in VGA mode, there may be problems unless the application switches the screen mode internally. To install an application to this menu, you must create a file with a file extension of .APP. The filename can be any thing you want as long as the extension of this filename is .APP. Install this file in the same directory that fastmenu GOLD is using. The actual application can be on any drive or directory on the system. The following is a sample of the information that this new file must contain. Page 21 - --------------------------------------------------------------- DISKUTIL.APP Disk Utility UTIL CUTILITY --------------------------------------------------------------- | | || 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 The above file is named: DISKUTIL.APP The Title to this application is: Disk Utility The executable filename is: UTIL The Drive is: C The Directory is: UTILITY The application title starts at the first chatacter an can be no longer than 32 characters. The Filename starts at character 33 and can be no longer than 8 characters. This filename is the name of the executable file for the application you want ran. Do not include the file extension. The Drive character is at character number 41 and is only one character long. This drive character represents the drive that the application is on. The Directory name starts at character 42 and can be no longer than 8 characters. This directory represents the directory that contains the application. There is only one line in this file and a new file must be created for each application you want listed to the menu. Just make sure that you give each file a different and unique filename and include the .APP file extension. The applications will be listed to the menu in the same order they are read from disk (Top to bottom). NOTE !! A kit can be downloaded from the fastbytes BBS that has some vga screen samples along with a sample application and .APP file that may help in the design and setup for applications created for fastmenu GOLD. (GOLDKIT.ZIP) CALL: fastbytes BBS 419-588-3615 3/12/2400 N81 Entering more than one command at the Run File field. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An new option has been added to fastmenu GOLD that allows entering more than one command at the Run File field when adding applications to the menu. The following commands are now allowed: * Any legal DOS command line command. * Any legal DOS batch file command. * Any legal and existing executable file name. * The keyboard character ^ (carat key) Shift+6 * The keyboard character + (plus key) Page 22 - This option will allow doing away with those small batch files you sometimes need to execute an application with. In other words, if you have an application that you want to backup after every time you run it you could enter the following command: Drive: C Directory: CHOICE Run File: FIRST+^ECHO Insert backup disk into A:^PAUSE^COPY *.DAT A: The above command list would first move to drive C, change to the CHOICE directory, run the executable file FIRST, at exit of the application it would prompt you to insert a backup disk, pause for you, copy the DAT files to drive A, and then return to fastmenu GOLD. Notice the carat character between each command. Also notice that you can mix DOS command line commands and batch file commands. Also notice the plus character after the 'FIRST' run file name. This plus character tell fastmenu GOLD to also ask the user for a command line parameter at execution. NOTE ! before this plus character will be active you must also switch the Parms: Y/N field to 'Y'. Any number of commands can be executed, just make sure you separate each command with the carat character (^). If you experience a problem of fastmenu dropping out after executing a batch file, you might try adding the CALL statement just before the batch file name. Example: Drive: C Directory: PCTOOLS Run File: PCTOOLS^CD\BAT^CALL BATCH The above example would switch to the PCTOOLS directory, execute the PCTOOLS executable file, switch to the 'BAT' directory, execute a batch file named BATCH, and then return to fastmenu GOLD. Example: Drive: C Directory: DOS Run File: CHKDSK+^PAUSE The above example would first ask you for a command line parameter, switch to the DOS directory, execute the CHKDSK application with your command line parameter, pause for you to press enter, and then return to fastmenu GOLD. Displaying PCX picture files during screen blanking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During screen blanking fastmenu GOLD now first looks for a script file named PCX.DAT. If this file exists, fastmenu will display the PCX files acording to the way you have them listed in this script file. You may also include a time parameter with each PCX file that tells fastmenu how long to display each PCX file. The format of this file is as follows: Page 23 - PCX.DAT < FileName of the script file. 4 < The first line is a number representing the MOUNTANS.PCX 10 \ number of PCX files listed in this file. HOUSE.PCX 10 \ UNICORN.PCX 5 > < All remaining lines are used to list the RACECAR.PCX 15 / PCX files along with the time (seconds) to display the PCX file. All PCX files and the PCX.DAT file must be located in the same directory that you have fastmenu GOLD in. NOTE ! If this PCX.DAT file does not exist, fastmenu GOLD will still display all PCX files found in the directory. ALSO If you want, you may also have fastmenu GOLD display any PCX file you want during start up. Simply rename the PCX file you want displayed to OPENING.SCR. DISCLAIMER Users must accept this disclaimer of warranty: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This application is supplied as is. The author Jack W Hildenbrand disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author also assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this application. Jack W Hildenbrand Author jwh: SoftWare PO Box 410 9500 St.Rt.61 Berlin Heights, Ohio 44814 Phone: 419-588-3608 Page 24 -