The Arsenal Files 6/The Arsenal Files 6 (Arsenal Computer).ISO/spitfire/mnumkr10.zip/MNUMKR.DOC

Text File | 1996-01-23 | 9KB | 199 lines

               ═══════════════ MenuMaker v1.0 ════════════════

                 A Freeware Spitfire Display Menus Generator
                       (c) 1996 by Robert G. Schiele

                         May be distributed freely!


Installation:
────────────

        MenuMaker is simple to install. Just copy the MNUMKR10.COM file
into any directory you like, then create a MNUMKR.CFG file (or modify the
one provided as an example, for your own use). After that, the only
restriction is that you must run MenuMaker from it's own directory. There
are no command line switches.

        MenuMaker's configuration file, MNUMKR.CFG, consists of only three
lines, but they must all exist, and must contain ALL the information
listed below:

        Line 1: Drive:\Path to DAILYLMT.DAT, and SF??????.MNU files
        Line 2: Drive:\Path to your Spitfire display files
        Line 3: Your BBS's name

A sample configuration file is shown below, as it is used on my own bbs:

        C:\SF\
        C:\SF\DISPLAY\
        The Programmer's Corner BBS

NOTE: The MNUMKR.CFG file can contain no blank lines either at it's
      beginning or at it's end, and it MUST reside in the same directory
      as MNUMKR10.COM!

Useage:
──────

        Simply run MNUMKR10.COM (by typing mnumkr10) from it's own
directory. After MenuMaker checks your paths (as indicated in your
MNUMKR.CFG file), it presents you with a menu of options. They allow you
to create display menus in .CLR and .BBS formats for your Doors, Main,
Message, Files, and Sysop areas. There are also two brief "screens" of
help included in the program, also accessible from the main MenuMaker
menu.

What It Does:
────────────

        MenuMaker will, based on your selection, automatically create
Spitfire menu display files in ANSI and ASCII formats, based on the
security levels contained in your DAILYLMT.DAT file plus the security
information you have included in your various SF??????.MNU files. Once you
have confirmed that you wish to create display menus of any given type, it
asks for no further user input before creating display menu files for ALL
the access levels listed in your DAILYLMT.DAT file. It creates all of
these based on the formula Feature => Security, that is, for example, if
you have a security access level (among others, perhaps) of 20 in your
DAILYLMT.DAT file, and, for instance, a particular door is listed in your
SFDOOR.MNU file with the number 20 as it's configured security access
level, then that door will be included in the SFDR20.BBS/CLR files, even
though you may have opted to set it as only "=" or "<=". This really only
affects the creation of display files for the doors area of your BBS,
because the other Spitfire SF??????.MNU files do not offer such an option.
MenuMaker was written in this somewhat simplified form to save the code
that would have been necessary to include to make the other possible doors
security options available.

        MenuMaker expects your SF??????.MNU files to be in their original
condition: that is, if you've changed the length of some "fields" in your
SFMAIN.MNU, SFMSG.MNU, SFFILE.MNU, or SFSYSOP.MNU, then the screens that
MenuMaker will produce will likely look like garbage. You can change the
wording of any of the above-named files, for instance, in the SFMAIN.MNU
file, many sysops might change the SPITFIRE NEWSLETTER option to read
something like MYBBS NEWSLETTER. This is fine, so long as the overall
length of that part of the file hasn't changed. The crucial area of all
the .MNU files is the part that displays the key the user is to press and
the command that pressing that key carries out. For example, in the
SFMAIN.MNU file, the following line appears:

                C,<C>......... Comment To Sysop,,5,J
                  |--Do NOT change the length--|

The length of the space indicated above must be 30 for the SFMSG.MNU file,
and 29 for each of the SFMAIN.MNU, SFFILE.MNU, and SFSYSOP.MNU files.
These are, I believe, the defaults for these files as they are shipped
with Spitfire, so if you have not modified them in that way, they should
work fine with MenuMaker as is.

This word of caution does not apply to the SFDOOR.MNU file, in which each
line is, usually, of varying length. Because of it's totally different
construction, MenuMaker has been written to take all possible parameters
into account.

What It Does NOT Do:
───────────────────

        A word of CAUTION is in order here: MenuMaker does NOT offer you
the option of creating display menu screens of any type for only limited
access levels. That is, if you tell MenuMaker to create new Main Menu
display files, it will automatically create them for ALL the levels listed
in your DAILYLMT.DAT file! This was done quite deliberately, as I wanted a
utility that required as little user input as possible, and don't want to
have to try to recall exactly what levels my DAILYLMT.DAT file is
currently listing every time I update my menu display files.

        Because of the above, if you have, for instance, some menu display
files that you have heavily "customized" and that you DON'T want to be
replaced, you should manually copy them to another directory BEFORE you
run MenuMaker, then manually copy then back to your SF display directory
afterwards. If you don't, they'll be over-written!

        MenuMaker also does NOT give the user any options about menu
styles and/or colors used in the ANSI versions of the display files. These
are all hardcoded into the program. Sample display screens are included in
this archive, so that you can decide whether you like them or not before
running MenuMaker.

        One way to test MenuMaker out with your particular BBS, to make
certain that it's going to work for you and that you're going to like what
it does, is to put a "dummy" SF display directory into your MNUMKR.CFG
file. That is, a directory that IS a valid directory on your hard drive,
but not one where any of your SF display files are going to be changed
when MenuMaker writes it's output. In that fashion, you can run the
program, then examine the results before you decide whether you want to
use it or not.

Finally:
───────

        MenuMaker was written because I wanted a utility for my own BBS
that would allow me to very quickly update my display menu files when I
change a menu option for a given security access level, or when I add or
delete a security access level. Because it was written to fulfill a need
of mine, I have released it as freeware. If you like it and it works for
you, you're free to use it. If you don't or it doesn't, then don't.

Licensing:
─────────

        MenuMaker v1.0 is provided to you as freeware. That means, you
don't owe anyone any money for running it. You are automatically licensed
to run MenuMaker v1.0 on as many computers as you want, for as long as you
want. You are NOT, however, licensed to reverse-engineer, decompile, or
otherwise make any physical changes to any of the files included in the
original archive. Doing so constitutes a breach of copyright. You are
permitted to make MenuMaker v1.0 available for download on your BBS, or to
upload it wherever you want to, so long as all the files contained in the
original archive are included.

Disclaimer:
──────────

        Although MenuMaker v1.0 has been tested and every effort has been
made to make certain that it is safe to operate, I make no claims about it
whatsoever except that it will take up space on your hard drive.  I do NOT
claim that it is suitable, applicable, or anything else, on any computer
system but my own. I do believe that, setup and configured properly, it
will work for you, but I will not be responsible for any damage that may
result if it does not. If you use MenuMaker v1.0, you do so entirely at
your own risk.

Support:
───────

        You may contact me for comments or questions on MenuMaker v1.0 (or
any of my other software products) via Internet email at:

                <[e-mail]>

Or write me via U.S. mail at:   Robert Schiele
                                927 N. Pennsylvania St.
                                Indianapolis, IN., 46204

Finally, should you desire, you are free to call my BBS, the Programmer's
Corner BBS, at [phone], from 3PM until Midnight (E.S.T.) daily. I
do use callback verification, but if you are calling long distance, you
will automatically be given an access level that will enable you to
download or examine my own utilities and other files available for
download on my hard drive.

Credits:
───────

        Mike Woltz, author of Spitfire, and the other folks at Buffalo
Creek Software, are examples to all of us in good programming practices,
value for our dollars, and outstanding support. Thanks, Mike!

        MenuMaker v1.0 was written in Microsoft's QuickBASIC 4.5, then
compiled and linked using Ethan Winer's excellent PDQ library. Also
included were routines from Garry Spencer's (of Spencer Technology) GPS
library, generously provided by him as freeware.

"Spitfire" is (c) Mike Woltz and Buffalo Creek Software
"QuickBASIC 4.5" is (c) Microsoft Corporation
"PDQ" is (c) Ethan Winer and Full Moon Software
"GPS" is (c) Garry Spencer and Spencer Technology