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HDM II The Hard Disk Menu System
June 25, 1986 Copyright (C) 1986 by Jim Hass
This program is a DOS shell that hides the underlying operating
system from the uninitiated user, yet does not get in the way of the
expert user. The basic system consists of ten menu pages with each
page having ten selections to choose from. You start a selection in
classic Lotus style by pointing to it with the cursor and pressing
the return key or by pressing the number key associated with that
selection. Each selection can start a program, run a batch file, or
execute any DOS command. A selection can also have multiple steps
which can include any or all of the possiblities above. You can
change menu pages by pressing F1 thru F10 keys to go directly to
page 1 thru 10 or use the PgUp and PgDn keys. Each page and each
selection on each page has a user definable description.
The slash key displays a 1-2-3 type menu at the top of the screen.
The choices from the menu include: Help, Add, Change, Delete, Move,
Page, Run, Exit, and Quit. If you select HELP you are presented with
another menu and screens that explain how to use the Hard Disk Menu
system. ADD, CHANGE, DELETE, and MOVE allow you to alter the
description and action taken by a main menu selection. PAGE lets
you change the description of a page. RUN allows you to execute any
program, DOS command, or batch file from within the Hard Disk Menu
program. EXIT returns you to the DOS prompt and QUIT erases the top
menu and puts you back in the Hard Disk Menu.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
TO INSTALL: Copy all the files from the HDM II diskette to the root
directory or a subdirectory of your hard disk. Make that directory
the default and enter HDM. Once in the system enter /H and read the
HELP screens. INSTALLATION NOTES has info on a permanent install.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FILES CONTAINED ON THE "HDM II" DISKETTE:
1. HDM.DOC ...... This Hard Disk Menu documentation.
2. README ....... Install and Update documentation.
3. README.BAT ... Displays the README file on the screen.
4. INSTALL.BAT .. First time install of HDM. (usage: INSTALL C:\DIR)
5. UPDATE.BAT ... Updates existing HDM. (usage: UPDATE C:\DIR)
6. HDM.BAT ...... Starts the Hard Disk Menu system.
7. HDMX.BAT ..... Work file used by HDM to execute menu entries.
8. HDMENU.COM ... Main program used by HDM.BAT to display menus.
9. HDMENU.TXT ... Text file that holds all menu entries.
10. HDMHELP.CHN .. Help program and Help screens.
11. EPSON.COM .... Stand alone program for Epson print control codes.
12. IBMPRO.COM ... Same as EPSON, but for IBM ProPrinter.
The last two programs can be used in menu entries to send print codes
to your printer before running programs like 1-2-3, dBase, and others
that don't provide easy methods of printer setup. An entry in HDM
might look like this: C:~CD\DBASE3~EPSON~DBASE~
They can also be used with the dBase III run command as part of your
own program to allow user selection of print styles.
SOME COMMON QUESTIONS:
Q: What language was the Hard Disk Menu written in?
A: Turbo Pascal.
Q: After I run a batch file from a menu selection I get a DOS prompt
instead of returning to the Hard Disk Menu. What's wrong?
A: When DOS runs a batch file (yours) from within a batch file (HDM)
it does not return to complete the first batch file which would
take you back to the menu. You can remedy the situation by using
@@ in front of your batch file name. If DW3 is a batch file and
your entry was: CD\DSPWRITE~DW3~ change it to: CD\DSPWRITE~@@DW3~
Q: When I press /E to exit HDM, sometimes I get the DOS prompt and
other times I stay in the Hard Disk Menu. Why does this happen?
A: The problem may be this: if you left HDM by using /E and then
returned to the menu by keying in HDM, you would have called in a
second copy of the Hard Disk Menu. While in a secondary HDM, the
exit command (/E) returns to the primary Hard Disk Menu, not to a
DOS prompt. The solution is to make sure you key in EXIT at the
DOS prompt to return to HDM II. Another reason this could happen
is that the program can't find the file COMMAND.COM. This file
is located by the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you
don't have a PATH command, add one that points to your DOS files.
If you don't have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, see your DOS manual.
Q: Some DOS commands work fine from the Hard Disk Menu while others
give me a message that says "Bad command or file name". What
should I do to fix the problem?
A: The DOS commands that work are probably the internal commands.
The system can't find the external DOS commands. See your DOS
manual to see which are internal and which are external. The
solution is a PATH command that shows where the DOS files are.
Add this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: PATH C:\DOS
Replace C:\DOS with the directory that contains your DOS files.
ADVANCED FEATURES:
1. The HDM command that should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file can have
parameters. The first parameter is the page number to display,
the second number is the menu selection on that page to highlight
with the cursor. These two parameters are positional, if they
are not used they will both default to zero. The other parameters
all begin with a hyphen and can be in any sequence.
-A would automatically start the procedure from the first two
parameters. An example: if Symphony is on page four and is the
tenth selection on that page, it can automatically be started by
the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: HDM 4 10 -A
The next parameters tell HDM II where to find certain files, they
all require a drive and directory immediately following the codes
with no spaces in between.
-C shows the path to a second copy of the menu text file. This
is useful for backup copies of all variable data in the menu or
as the permanent copy of HDMENU.TXT if HDM is used in a ram disk.
If -C is not used, a second copy of the text file is not created.
-H shows the path to the help file, HDMHELP.CHN (used by /H)
-T shows the path to the text file, HDMENU.TXT (all menu info)
-W shows the path to the work file, HDMX.BAT (created by HDM)
If -H, -T, or -W is not used the current drive/directory is used.
An example: HDM -Cc:\ramdisk -Hc:\help -Tc:\hdmdir -Wc:\ramdisk
2. If the 100 entries in the Hard Disk Menu are not enough for you,
you can use multiple HDM's. Copy all the HDM II files from the
original diskette to another drive or another directory. Then
ADD the following entry to your primary HDM II: C:~CD\DIR~@@HDM~
where C: is the drive and DIR is the subdirectory that contains
your secondary HDM II. When this entry is selected from the
primary HDM II, your secondary HDM II is displayed and is in
control. The /E command will return you to your primary HDM II.
This is different than using /E in the primary HDM II which takes
you to the DOS prompt. There is no limit to the number of
secondary HDM's and they can all be called from the primary or
from other secondaries.
An alternate method of using secondary HDM's is to use the same
Hard Disk Menu program, but different text (HDMENU.TXT) and work
files (HDMX.BAT). This can be done using the -T and -W switches
explained above. You will not need to copy any files, a new text
file will be created when you add your first menu entry, the work
file is created as needed. The action statement of your menu
selection in the primary HDM should look like this:
@@HDM -TC:\NEWDIR -WC:\NEWDIR~
The path C:\NEWDIR should be replaced by the directory that will
contain the secondary text file. This directory must not be the
same as the directory containing the primary Hard Disk Menu.
3. Variables can be set up and used in the action statement of any
menu selection. They can also be use with the Run command (/R).
There are ten variables available, numbered 0 - 9. They are set
up by choosing Variables from the Top Menu (/V), then by choosing
a number. You can then enter any information to be stored in
that variable, even other variables, but be careful not to put
the program into a loop by using a variable within a variable
that directly or indirectly uses the original variable. Once a
variable is set up it can be refered to by a menu selection by
placing an & + number in it. So if you have variable number one
set up and one or more action statements containing &1, the &1
will be replaced with the information that was stored in it.
These variables can also have up to nine parameters, to use them
you must enclose the entire variable and its parameters in
braces { }. These parameters in turn can then also be used in
any action statement, in any variable, or in the Run command.
They are numbered 1 - 9 and are refered to by placing a % in
front of it. The parameters can contain any information,
including variables and other parameters (&1, &2, %1, %2, etc.).
Again you must be careful not to put the program in a loop by
circular variable or parmeter calls. An example of using a
variable with a parmeter could look like this if &1 = COPY:
C:~CD\LOTUS~{&1 FILE.WKS} %1 A:~ERASE %1~
Everying within the braces and the braces themself would be
replaced by the contents of variable &1 which is "COPY". The
parameter %1 contains "FILE.WKS" because it was the first entry
(and only in this case) for the variable &1. Any %1's that are
used after this are replace with the contents of parameter %1.
In this case the action to take becomes:
C:~CD\LOTUS~COPY FILE.WKS A:~ERASE FILE.WKS~
A more interesting version of this variable and parmater
combination would be: {&1 {?ENTER NAME OF FILE TO COPY & ERASE}}
This would first prompt the user for a file name, that file name
would then be contained in the parameter %1 which could be used
anywhere. As an alternative to this, the variable &1 could have
contained: COPY %1~ERASE %1~ instead of just COPY. Then the
action to take statement would have been simplified to:
C:~CD\LOTUS~{&1 {?ENTER NAME OF FILE TO COPY & ERASE}}~
Both methods give the same result because the variable &1 now
contains the %1's and the ERASE which are put in to replace
the variable call {&1...} after the file name is prompted for.
The rule is: Inner braces get evaluated before outer braces.
Parameters within a variable are seperated by spaces, if a
parameter contains spaces, it must be enclosed with braces to be
evaluated a one parameter. An example of this is:
{&2 THESE ARE SEPERATED PARMETERS}
The result of evaluating this variable and parmeter combination
is &2 will be replaced by the contents of Variable 2 as defined
by the set up from the Top Menu (/V), and the following
parameters contain this: %1 = THESE, %2 = ARE, %3 = SEPERATE,
%4 = PARAMETERS, %5 thur %9 are null. Another example:
{&3 {THIS IS ONE PARAMETER} {THIS IS ANOTHER}}
This time the parameters contain: %1 = THIS IS ONE PARAMETER,
%2 = THIS IS ANOTHER, %3 thru %9 are null.
This may be a bit confusing, but once you understand it you can
set up some very sophisticated menu selections that can make
difficult tasks very easy for a user to perform.
One caution: There is a 255 character limit to the final expanded
menu action that could be exceeded when all the variables and
parameters are expanded. (HDM II will tell you if this happens)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a shareware product. Though HDM II is copyrighted, you are
encouraged to copy and distribute this program to others. If you like
this product and find it useful, please contribute $15 to encourage
the author to continue in his software endeavor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Also send any suggestions you may have to improve the Hard Disk Menu
and/or any bugs you may have uncovered to:
JIM HASS
7114 KENNETH
PARMA, OHIO
44129-2956
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!