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HDM IV Version 3 Hard Disk Menu System MicroFox Company P.O. Box 447 Richfield, OH 44286-0447 U.S.A. Written by Jim Hass Electronic Mail CompuServe 73057,3113 TABLE OF CONTENTS HDM REQUIREMENTS ............................................. 1 HDM LICENSE .................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................. 2 INSTALLATION ................................................. 5 STARTING HDM ................................................. 6 SECURITY Understanding Security Levels ........................... 8 Security or Not? ........................................ 8 Securing Your System .................................... 8 The Master Password Table ............................... 9 Setting Up Security ..................................... 9 Summing It Up ........................................... 11 USING HDM ON A NETWORK ....................................... 13 HDM KEYBOARD Main Menu Control Keys .................................. 14 Top Menu Control Keys ................................... 15 Pull-Down Menu Control Keys ............................. 16 Keys Active in the Main, Top, and Pull-Down Menus ....... 17 Keys Active in any Screen ............................... 18 Mouse ................................................... 18 Input Fields ............................................ 19 Input Field Editing Keys ................................ 19 MENU ACTION Menu Action Components .................................. 21 Auto-Build .............................................. 21 Menu Action Functions ................................... 22 Menu Action Macros ...................................... 25 Using Menu Action Functions and Macros .................. 27 TABLE OF CONTENTS FUNCTION REFERENCE {?} or {?Prompt} ........................................ 28 &#, {&#}, or {&# parm1 parm2 ... parm9} ................. 29 %# or {%#} .............................................. 30 {%Environment-Variable%} ................................ 31 ! (Exclamation Point) ................................... 31 || (Double vertical lines) .............................. 32 @@Batch-File ............................................ 33 ~ (Tilde) ............................................... 34 {BEEP} or {BEEP!} ....................................... 34 {CK Drive-Letter} ....................................... 35 {COLOR Foreground Background} ........................... 35 {CONFIRM} or {CONFIRM prompt} ........................... 36 {CURSOR Start-Line End-Line} ............................ 36 {DEFAULT Reply-to-Prompt} ............................... 37 {DIAL Phone-Number} ..................................... 38 {DIR}, {DIR!}, {DIR path}, or {DIR! path} ............... 39 {EXIT} or {QUIT} ........................................ 40 {FILE}, {FILE!}, {FILE path}, or {FILE! path} ........... 41 {KEY k1 k2 k3 ... k15} .................................. 42 {MENU ###} .............................................. 44 {PROJECT} ............................................... 44 {REBOOT} ................................................ 45 {RETURN} ................................................ 45 {RUN/RUN! Program/Command/Batch-File} ................... 46 {SELECT/VSELECT Title~Choice1~Choice2~...~Choice15} ..... 47 {STEP} .................................................. 48 {USER} .................................................. 48 TABLE OF CONTENTS COMMAND REFERENCE Pull-Down Menu Commands ................................. 49 Menu Maintenance Menu Add Entry .......................................... 50 Change Entry ....................................... 51 Duplicate Entry .................................... 52 Erase Entry ........................................ 53 Move Entry ......................................... 54 Switch Entries ..................................... 55 Save Menu File ..................................... 56 Page Menu Compress Page ...................................... 57 Erase Page ......................................... 58 Import Page ........................................ 59 Name Page .......................................... 60 Switch Pages ....................................... 61 Security Menu Pull-Down Menu Passwords ........................... 62 All Main Menu Entries .............................. 63 File Change Protection ............................. 64 Hide/Disable Top Menu .............................. 65 Log Off Automatically .............................. 66 Master Password Table .............................. 67 Page Security Level................................. 68 Set Security ....................................... 69 Top Menu: All Commands.............................. 70 User ID Table ...................................... 71 Local Menu Action Display ..................................... 72 Border Lines ....................................... 72 Change Colors ...................................... 73 Date/Top Menu....................................... 74 Lines in Menu....................................... 75 Menu Macros......................................... 76 Switch Menus........................................ 77 Top Box Titles...................................... 78 Global Menu Blinking Cursor .................................... 79 Date/Time Format ................................... 79 Global Settings .................................... 80 Inactive Execution ................................. 81 Mouse Speed ........................................ 81 Phone Parameters ................................... 82 Screen Blanker ..................................... 83 Timed Execution .................................... 84 Exit Menu DOS Window ......................................... 85 Log Off ............................................ 85 Menu Exit ......................................... 86 Project ............................................ 86 Exit HDM ........................................... 87 TABLE OF CONTENTS ERROR MESSAGES ............................................... 88 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ........................................ 91 ORDERING ADDITIONAL COPIES OF HDM ............................ 95 TECHNICAL SUPPORT ............................................ 96 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM REQUIREMENTS Thank you for choosing the Hard Disk Menu System. You've taken the first step toward making your computing more efficient. This manual will help you get the most out of HDM, a state-of-the-art menuing program. With HDM, you can start your word processing, database, spreadsheet, and other programs with just the press of one or two keys, or the click of a mouse. HDM also provides a host of other sophisticated features that are available through convenient pull-down menus and pop-up windows. The Hard Disk Menu System requires just 320K of RAM. What's more, HDM is not RAM-resident, and frees all the RAM it was using as soon as you run any of your programs. You can use HDM on any IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/1, PS/2, or IBM-compatible personal computer with DOS 2.0 or later. HDM works with all monitors including monochrome, Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA, XGA, and laptops. It can optionally work with a Microsoft- or Logitech-compatible mouse as well as most other pointing devices. HDM supports common networks like Novell, 3COM, Banyon, Token Ring, TOPS, etc. HDM LICENSE The Hard Disk Menu System is the copyrighted property of Jim Hass. You are granted a limited non-exclusive license to use this copy of HDM. You do not have the right to transfer the title of ownership nor do you have the right to copyright any of these materials. The author makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, the author reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of the author to notify any person or organization of such revision or changes. For additional information on licensing the Hard Disk Menu System, contact Jim Hass at: MicroFox Company P.O. Box 447 Richfield, OH 44286-0447 U.S.A. Electronic Mail CompuServe 73057,3113 Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 1 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System INTRODUCTION 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 up to one thousand menu files with twenty-six menu pages each. Each page has ten entries for a total of 260,000 entries to choose from. You can start a menu entry by pointing to it with the cursor or the mouse and then press the <Enter> key or left mouse button, or you can simply press the number key associated with that entry. Each entry can start a program, run a batch file, or execute any DOS command. An entry can also have multiple steps which can include any or all of the possibilities above plus special HDM functions and macros. You can change menu pages by using the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys or by pressing the <A> through <Z> keys to go directly to a page that has menu entries in it. Each page and each entry has a user definable description. You can go to another menu file by using the menu action function {MENU ###}. The menu files are numbered from zero to 999. The <F10> key displays a horizontal menu at the top of the screen. The choices from the menu include: "Menu", "Page", "Security", "Local", "Global", or "Exit". Help can be accessed at any time and will present you with another menu and screens that explain how to use the Hard Disk Menu System. "Menu" allows you to add, change, delete, move, or copy the menu entry descriptions and their associated menu action. "Page" lets you change the name of a Page Index entry, import pages, switch pages, or delete pages. "Security" allows you to set up User ID's, security levels, and passwords. "Local" lets you set variables in the current menu file and "Global" lets you set variables that affect all menu files. "Exit" leaves HDM and returns you to the DOS prompt or opens a DOS window where you can run any DOS command, program, or batch file. Other commands in the Top Menu's pull-down menus allow you to change colors and window borders, set up macros, add menu titles, set mouse sensitivity, set communications parameters, set time for automatic blanking of the menu screen, and set up hands-off timed execution of any menu entry any time of the day, week, or month. The user defined menu entries consist of two parts. The first one is a 48-character description that is displayed on the screen and can be anything you want. This is what you choose to start a menu entry from the Main Menu. The second part of this menu entry is the menu action. This tells HDM what to do when this menu entry is started. The menu action can contain anything that you would normally put in a DOS batch file, plus functions and macros that give you additional flexibility, ease of use, and capabilities beyond DOS and other menu systems. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 2 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System INTRODUCTION Help is always available. Press <F1> from anywhere in the Hard Disk Menu System to get the help menu and help screens. Help topics are displayed at the left side of the screen and a description of each topic is displayed on the right side of the screen. You can move up and down through the help topics or press the letter associated with it and the information on that topic will immediately be displayed in the help text window at the right. You can also get Help on the keys available when you are in the Main Menu. It is also possible to create customized help screens for menu entries and menu files. See the sample files A1.000 and HELP.000 on your distribution disk. The Hard Disk Menu System is not memory resident. When you run a program, HDM gets out of memory completely so that all system RAM is available for your use. HDM is then automatically called back into memory when your program is finished. HDM also has the ability to log user activity by writing information to a file every time a user logs on or off and every time a menu entry is run. To use the log file, you must start HDM with the -L startup switch. The log file is an ASCII text file with the following format: Code | User | Date | Time | Day | File | Entry | Project | Action -----|------|------|------|-----|------|-------|---------|------- 1 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 3 - 99 CODE is used to internally to identify the record format. USER is the 25 character User ID. DATE has the format of YYYYMMDD. TIME is HR:MN and uses the 24-hour clock. DAY is the day of the week where 1 is Sunday and 7 is Saturday. FILE is the menu file number 000 to 999. ENTRY is the menu page and number, A1 through Z0. PROJECT is the 25 character project field. ACTION is RUN or END plus variable information on what was run. HDM allows you to add security levels to any entry in the Main Menu and on the commands in the pull-down menus. This can be done either at the group level via the "Security" pull-down window or by putting the cursor on any Main Menu entry or pull-down menu command and pressing the <Alt-F1> key. Before security level numbers are added, you must create at least one level using the Master Password Table in the Security pull-down menu. To keep your menu system secure, it is suggested that you put high security levels on the following pull-down menu commands: 1. Security Menu: Master Password Table 2. Security Menu: User ID Table 3. Global Menu: Inactive Execution 4. Global Menu: Timed Execution Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 3 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System INTRODUCTION You can customize the opening logo screen by using the -H startup switch and putting your own company logo in the file HDM.HDR. You can also create custom help screens for each Main Menu entry by creating a text file with a name that uses a combination of the menu entry page letter and number and the menu file number. For example, custom help for menu entry B5 in menu file HDM.333 would be named B5.333. When F1 is pressed while the cursor is on that entry, your custom Help is displayed before the normal HDM help screens. You can also create a general help screen for each menu file named HELP and an extension equal to the file number. The screen in this file is displayed if an individual help file does not exist for the current menu entry. There are many features built into the Hard Disk Menu System for use on local area networks. You can use the -W startup switch so HDM will keep the user's work file, X.BAT, from being overlayed by another user's work file. This is done by pointing the -W switch to a different read/write directory for each user. Another way to achieve the same result is to use different work file names for each user by setting the environment variable X to another name: SET X=MENU or SET X=%USER%. The -T and -0 through -9 startup switches also can help with network environments as can some of the security features. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 4 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System INSTALLATION When you install the program for the first time on your hard disk you need to add two lines to the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or you need to create an AUTOEXEC.BAT if you don't have one. The Install program will ask if you want it to do that for you. If you are running a version of DOS prior to 3.30, then HDM uses COMMAND.COM (or 4DOS) to run batch files so a path must be set up to it. If COMMAND.COM is in your root directory, then put the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT before starting HDM: PATH C:\ If you use DOS 3.30 or later, the above path command is not necessary to run HDM IV because the DOS CALL command will be used to run batch files instead of COMMAND.COM. The program must be started from the directory that contains the HDM files so that HDM can find them. The last two lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should be: CD \HDM HDM The directory can be any name so you can change the CD statement to the directory you will be using. If you let the Install program add these lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT, you will be able to tell it where to put HDM and its files. To install HDM, put the program diskette in drive A: and key in the following: A:INSTALL then press the <Enter> key. If you are already using a previous version of HDM, the Install program will retain all your current menu entries. Install will let you change the install-from disk drive letter and the install-to drive and directory name. Press <Enter> to begin the install process. Sample AUTOEXEC.BAT: ECHO OFF PROMPT $P $G $A PATH C:\;C:\HDM CD\HDM HDM Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 5 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System STARTING HDM This is the full syntax for HDM in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: HDM [-A] [-Bp#] [-Cpath] [-Ddrive] [-Epath] [-F] [-Gpath] [-H] [-I] [-K] [-Lpath] [-M###] [-N] [-O] [-Q] [-S] [-Tpath] [-V] [-Wpath] [-0path] [-1path] [-2path] [-3path] [-4path] [-5path] [-6path] [-7path] [-8path] [-9path] -A Automatically runs the selection specified by [-Bp#]. -Bp# Beginning entry to highlight in the Main Menu. (p# is A1 through Z0) -Cpath Copy path where a backup copy of the menu file is kept. -Ddrive Disk free space is displayed for the specified drive letter. (-DC is free space on C:) -Epath Exit to this path when you press F3 to exit to DOS. -F Fast screen output for snowless CGA cards. Don't wait for video retrace. This is the default except for CGA. -G Global path to the configuration file. (HDM.CFG) -H Header boxes and logo screen read in from HDM.HDR and used in place of large HDM IV logo & MicroFox info. -I Intensify the background colors by allowing all sixteen colors. The last eight background colors become bright versions of the first eight (for color monitors). This does not work well with some video hardware. -K Key lock status not displayed and Date & Time not constantly updated on the screen. Use this for no video bleed through on multitasking systems. -Lpath Log usage to the HDM.LOG file in the HDM directory or in <path>. <path> is optional. -M### Menu file that will be in use when HDM is started. (### is 0 through 999) -N No logo screen displayed when HDM is started, unless a user log on is required, then HDM goes directly to the log on window. -O Off: Set Num Lock OFF at HDM startup. -Q Queue up keystrokes in the DOS keyboard buffer when HDM is first starting or when returning to it after running a program. Normally, HDM clears the keyboard buffer so that anything left there doesn't affect its operation. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 6 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System STARTING HDM -S Set screen border on color monitors. This will match the background color of the Status Bar. This does not work well with some EGA video cards. -Tpath Text path where the menu entries and variables are stored. (HDM.000 to HDM.999, see -0 to -9 also) -V Video mode set to monochrome for unreadable screens. (Laptops, portables, etc.) -Wpath Work path where the temporary work file is stored. This must be in the DOS path. -#path Same as -T except it's the path to each group of 100 menu files. -# is -0 to -9. (-7 is for HDM.700-799) NOTE: "path" must contain the drive letter: C:\DIR\SUBDIR All parameters are optional - you don't need any to run HDM. All the command line parameters can also be used in the HDM environment variable. You can use command line parameters, HDM environment variables, or both to start HDM. The following is the syntax for the HDM environment variable: SET HDM=[-A] [-Bp#] [-Cpath] [-Ddrive] [-Epath] [-F] [-Gpath] [-H] [-I] [-K] [-Lpath] [-M###] [-N] [-O] [-Q] [-S] [-V] [-Tpath] [-Wpath] [-0path] [-1path] [-2path] [-3path] [-4path] [-5path] [-6path] [-7path] [-8path] [-9path] There are no spaces on either side of the equal sign, but there is a space between each parameter. Don't enter the brackets []. EXAMPLE: PATH C:\;D:\RAMDISK SET HDM=-A -BF5 -Cc:\bkup -Ec:\dir -H -I -Wd:\ramdisk CD\HDM HDM -Lc:\dir -M500 -5h:\netdir -7c:\utils -N -O -DC -V [SET X=] USING ANOTHER NAME IN PLACE OF X.BAT (DOS 3.0 or above) You can rename the temporary batch file called X.BAT to any name with one to eight characters using a SET environment command. You will then have to key in this new name to return to HDM when you exit to DOS. This SET command must be in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file before the startup of HDM. EXAMPLE: SET X=RETURN CD\HDM HDM The temporary work file will now be named RETURN.BAT and you will have to key in RETURN (instead of X) to go back to HDM from DOS. Don't use any DOS command names like EXIT, CALL, RESTORE, or any names already used; i.e., HDM, HDM4, or other program files. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 7 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System SECURITY Understanding Security Levels The Hard Disk Menu System IV version 3 offers a greatly expanded security system compared to earlier versions. This is especially useful in a business environment or on systems that are running a network. When many users are involved and/or there is a need for security, HDM's expanded security options can be very useful. We recognize that many new or inexperienced users might find the advanced security options a bit confusing. To enhance your enjoyment of HDM and to eliminate frustration, this special section is designed to explain the security options so that they can be easily used and understood. We'll examine the Master Password Table, the User ID Table, and see how they work by using examples. SECURITY OR NOT? In setting up HDM the first thing you should decide is if you want or need to use the security options. This is a case where YOU have to analyze how your system is setup, who uses it, how much experience they have, and the like. You may want to run a completely "open" system. This would mean that individual users would not log on using a password. All users would use the same menus and have the same selections. It would also mean that any and all users could access the Top Menu, change menu options, Timed Execution, and so on. This would be a system with no restrictions of any kind. Having this type of HDM setup would generally assume that all users of the system were "computer literate" -- that all users were comfortable with DOS commands, etc. It would also assume that all users wanted to work with the same menus, have the same colors, etc. HDM comes with ALL security levels set to a default of "00". If you want to have a totally "open" system then you need not change any of the security levels. You will not need to use the Master Password Table or the User ID Table. SECURING YOUR SYSTEM Another type of setup would be one that we could call "partially secure." Perhaps this is a home computer that the family uses. You are the primary user and the one who is setting up HDM. The other members of the family are not comfortable with DOS commands, directory structures, and the like. In this instance, you might setup different menus for different family members. A set of menus for yourself, another set for your wife/husband, and another set for your children. Each user would log on and get their own personalized menu. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 8 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System SECURITY You might also want to restrict their access to the Top Menu -- so that nothing could be altered accidentally. In effect, you would be a "system manager" and would create a friendly HDM environment for the rest of the family. This is a common type of setup. Let's take this last scenario and break it down into simple terms as it relates to HDM's enhanced security functions. THE MASTER PASSWORD TABLE Load HDM and press F10 to access the Top Menu. Press "S" to access the Security options. If you press "M" you'll access the Master Password Table. This table displays the numbers 1 through 99 and allows you to have 99 different "security levels." The key to working with "security levels" is this: "With any given security level you can access all things that have a security level equal to or LESS than your own. You can NOT access any item that has a security level GREATER than your own." Thus, if you give yourself a security level of 50, you can access ANYTHING that has a security level of 50 or below. If you gave the Top Menu a security level of 99, YOU would NOT be able to access it! From the Master Password Table let's see how to set up HDM safely for the "family" in the scenario mentioned above. SETTING UP SECURITY Based on the assumption that you are setting up HDM and that you will be the "system manager" for our hypothetical family, enter 99 at the Master Password Table. You will be prompted for a password. Enter a password that you will remember, but that no one else will easily guess. You will be asked to enter the password again to verify that there was no mistake. A password is now "set" for security level 99. To access anything that has that security level, a person would have to know the password that you just assigned to level 99. Access the Security section of the Top Menu again. Select "U" to access the User ID Table. Enter a user name for yourself. Your next option is to enter the number of the menu page that you start at. You can then enter a menu entry that you want to automatically run each time you access HDM. Next you assign yourself a security level. Since you are to be the "system manager", give yourself a 99. In this way you insure that you can access ANYTHING because there is no higher security level. Your last option is to set a logon password. Using our example, you would select a logon password for yourself. Once again you will be requested to re-enter it to make sure that there is no error. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 9 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System SECURITY NOTE: Each individual's logon password is totally independent of the password assigned to their particular security level. For example, say you assigned a password of TEST to security level 99 in the Master Password Table. You can select any password you like for your personal logon password. The password of TEST is only needed to access functions that are protected by a security level of 99. By using varying security levels you can restrict what the other users can see and do. An example might be helpful. Still using our "family" scenario, let's say that you gave your wife/husband a security level of 90 and each of your children a security level of 50 when you set them up in the User ID Table. The table might look like this: ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ User Identification │ Menu File │ Run! │ Security │ Password ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ Bob │ 300 │ │ 99 │ √ ║ ║ Brenda │ 299 │ A1 │ 90 │ √ ║ ║ Melissa │ 150 │ A5 │ 50 │ √ ║ ║ Kathy │ 100 │ B7 │ 50 │ √ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ║ │ │ │ │ ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ Enter=Change Esc=Cancel F2=Save Ins=Add Del=Delete ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ You can see that each user has their own menu pages, each has a different security level, and each has a logon password. You might also note that everyone but you (the system manager) has a menu entry that is automatically run when HDM is started. Now, let's see how security levels can be used to restrict use of certain items. Let's say that in the security section of the Top Menu you selected "Hide/Disable Top Menu" and assigned it a security level of 20. (Remember, in order to do this you would have had to set a security level 20 password in the Master Password Table). At the same time you also selected "Top Menu: All Commands" and gave it a security level of 80. What effect would this have? Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 10 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System SECURITY With a security level of 50 your children could press F10 and see all of the items on the Top Menu. This is because the security level that 'hides' it is only 20. If they tried to actually select an item, however, they would see this: ╔═══════════════════════════════╗ ║ Security Level 80 ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════╣ ║ Enter Password [__________] ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════╣ ║ Enter=OK Esc=Cancel Ins 1 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════╝ This is because all of the Top Menu commands are protected by a security level of 80. Thus, only you and your spouse, with security levels of 99 and 90 respectively, could actually change things via the Top Menu. To totally hide the Top Menu from your children all you would have to do is to raise the security level for "Hide/Disable Top Menu" to a level greater than 50 -- the level held by your children. If you did this your children would not even see the Top Menu, nor would they see the "F10=Menu" at the bottom of the HDM screen. It would be invisible to them. You and your spouse, on the other hand, could access the Top Menu at will whenever either of you logs on. SUMMING IT UP Hopefully you can see how security levels can be used to restrict access to only selected individuals. A good way to go about it is to sit down and take a moment to plan out the level of security that you want on your system. Determine if you want to restrict access to the Top Menu, for example, by certain users. Decide what security levels you want to use. In our example we set security levels 20, 50, 80, 90, and 99. Once you have a plan, go to the Master Password Table and 'set' the security levels that you've decided on. You might want to jot down the passwords you assign and keep them in a safe place. Once this is done you can proceed to the User ID Table and create 'accounts' for all of your users. Give security levels that are appropriate for each user. With that accomplished you can go on to restrict access to sensitive areas like the Top Menu using the security levels that you created. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 11 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System SECURITY One last thing. Remember that "security levels" are just numbers. You could accomplish the same things outlined in our scenario without assigning a security level greater than 6. How? By using lower numbers. For example, you could set the following security levels rather than the ones we used: Hide/Disable Top Menu = Security Level 1 Children's Security Level = 2 Top Menu: All Commands = Security Level 3 Spouse Security Level = 4 Your Security Level = 5 Set up YOUR system in a way that makes sense to you. Remember the basic rule about security levels, which is: "With any given security level you can access all things that have a security level equal to or LESS than your own. You can NOT access any item that has a security level GREATER than your own." Because HDM now offers 99 security levels does not mean that you have to use them all. Plan the level of security that you want and then implement it. If it helps, follow the 'family' scenario given above. If you are puzzled and in doubt, ALWAYS set yourself at the highest security level, 99. In this way you'll never be locked out of anything and you can always make corrections. We hope that this section has been helpful. It has been intended to help new or inexperienced users who are unfamiliar with setting up security levels. Business users and others will find HDM's new enhanced security system even more helpful for restricting usage throughout their systems. With HDM you can restrict usage to individual menu entries, entire pages, and even prevent menu pages from being altered. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 12 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System USING HDM ON A NETWORK The Hard Disk Menu System will work on Novell and other networks with a little planning. If everyone on the network will be using the same menu files then make sure that all the Top Menu commands are protected with a high security level or that the top menu is hidden so only the network administrator can access the pull-down menu commands and make changes to the Main Menu entries. Also, you can protect individual menu files so that users can run menu entries without restrictions, but they will not be able to add or change anything in it. Everyone on the network must have their own work file so that one user will not overwrite the other's temporary file. This is done by assigning a different read/write directory to each user or by using a different work file name for each user. For different work directories, start HDM with the -W switch or for different work file names set the "X" environment variable. The example below will write MYFILE.BAT to D:\MYOWNDIR: PATH C:\;D:\MYOWNDIR SET X=MYFILE CD\HDM HDM -WD:\MYOWNDIR If each person on the network is to have their own unique set of menu files, then each must not only have their own temporary work file, but they must have their own menu text files in their own read/write directory. This is done by using the -T switch when starting HDM for each person on the network. The example below will read and write menu files in D:\MYOWNDIR: PATH C:\;D:\MYOWNDIR CD\HDM HDM -TD:\MYOWNDIR -WD:\MYOWNDIR HDM also has the ability to keep groups of menu files on different drives and directories. This allows everyone on a network to access some common menu files on the network server and local menu files on their own hard disk. The -0 through -9 startup switches point to the drive and directory that hold each group of 100 menu files (HDM.000-HDM.999). The following example shows that menu files HDM.800-899 are found on the network in directory H:\NETDIR, while HDM.900-999 are on the user's own hard disk directory D:\MYOWNDIR. The remaining menu files, HDM.000-799 will default to the C:\HDM directory. PATH C:\;D:\MYOWNDIR CD\HDM HDM -8H:\NETDIR -9D:\MYOWNDIR -WD:\MYOWNDIR The above examples use only one copy of HDM on the network server so everyone on the network shares the same copy of the program. HDM could also be installed on each individual work station. The program would not be shared and each person would have their own copy of HDM. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 13 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Main Menu Control Keys DOWN ARROW KEY, SPACE BAR, or TAB KEY: Moves the cursor to the next Main Menu entry. UP ARROW KEY, BACK SPACE KEY, or BACK TAB KEY: Moves the cursor to the previous Main Menu entry. HOME KEY or MINUS (-) KEY: Moves the cursor to the first Main Menu entry. END KEY or PLUS (+) KEY: Moves the cursor to the last Main Menu entry. PGDN KEY or RIGHT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the first Main Menu entry on the next page that has menu entries. PGUP KEY or LEFT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the last Main Menu entry on the previous page that has menu entries. CTRL-PGDN KEYS: Moves the cursor down approximately eight pages. CTRL-PGUP KEYS: Moves the cursor up approximately eight pages. LETTER KEYS (A-Z): Moves the cursor to the first Main Menu entry on the corresponding page (if any). NUMBER KEYS (0-9): Starts the Main Menu entry on the current page with that number (if it exist). ENTER KEY: Starts the Main Menu entry that the cursor is on. ESCAPE KEY or CTRL-BREAK: Return to the previous menu file, if any, or log off the Main Menu and display the logo screen. SLASH (/) KEY: Displays and activates the Top Menu. BACK SLASH (\) KEY: Displays and activates the last used pull-down menu. /UNHIDE: To see a hidden Top Menu, key in /UNHIDE and then enter a password for the security level shown. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 14 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Top Menu Control Keys RIGHT ARROW KEY, TAB KEY, SPACE BAR, or PGDN KEY: Moves the cursor to the next Top Menu entry. LEFT ARROW KEY, BACK TAB KEY, BACK SPACE KEY, or PGUP KEY: Moves the cursor to the previous Top Menu entry. HOME KEY or MINUS (-) KEY: Moves the cursor to the first Top Menu entry. END KEY or PLUS (+) KEY: Moves the cursor to the last Top Menu entry. ENTER KEY, DOWN ARROW KEY, or UP ARROW KEY: Pulls down a menu from the Top Menu entry that is highlighted. LETTER KEYS (M, P, S, L, G, X) or ALT + LETTER KEYS: Pulls down a menu from the Top Menu entry with that highlighted letter. ESCAPE KEY, CTRL-BREAK, F10 KEY, or ALT-F10: Returns to the Main Menu. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 15 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Pull-Down Menu Control Keys DOWN ARROW KEY, TAB KEY, SPACE BAR, or PGDN KEY: Moves the cursor to the next pull-down menu command. UP ARROW KEY, BACK TAB KEY, BACK SPACE KEY, or PGUP KEY: Moves the cursor to the prior pull-down menu command. HOME KEY or MINUS (-) KEY: Moves the cursor to the first pull-down menu command. END KEY or PLUS (+) KEY: Moves the cursor to the last pull-down menu command. RIGHT ARROW KEY: Removes the current pull-down menu and pulls down the next one. LEFT ARROW KEY: Removes the current pull-down menu and pulls down the previous one. ALT + LETTER KEYS (M, P, S, L, G, X): Removes the current pull-down menu and pulls down the one with that highlighted letter in the Top Menu. ENTER KEY: Starts the pull-down menu command that is highlighted. HIGHLIGHTED LETTER KEY: Starts the pull-down menu command that has that letter highlighted. CTRL-C or CTRL-BREAK KEYS: Returns to the Top Menu. ESCAPE KEY, F10 KEY, or ALT-F10 KEYS: Returns to the Main Menu. ALT-F1 KEYS: Change the security level number for the pull-down menu command that the cursor is on. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 16 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Keys Active in the Main Menu, Top Menu, and Pull-Down Menus INS: Insert a new Main Menu entry description and action. DEL: Delete an existing Main Menu entry description and menu action. F2: Edit a Main Menu entry description and action. F4: Copy a Main Menu entry to an empty Main Menu entry. F5: Display Main Menu action in the title window. F6: Display variations of date/time line and Top Menu. F7: Display variations of the lines inside the Main Menu. F8: Switch the Main Menu and Page Index window locations on the screen and display alternate menu screens. F9: Open a DOS window to run any DOS command, batch file, program, or HDM menu action function. ALT-F1: Change the security level on any Main Menu entry or pull-down menu command. ALT-F2: Edit a Page Index description entry. (Page Name) ALT-F3: Log off a user if one was logged on and display the logo screen. ALT-F4: Move a Main Menu entry to an empty Main Menu entry. ALT-F5: Start, change, or remove a project number. ALT-F8: Switch two Main Menu entries. ALT-G: Pull down the Global variables menu. ALT-L: Pull down the Local variables menu. ALT-M: Pull down the Menu maintenance menu. ALT-P: Pull down the Page Index maintenance menu. ALT-S: Pull down the Security password menu. ALT-X: Pull down the Exit menu. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 17 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Keys Active in any Screen F1: Display Help menu and screens. F3: Exit from HDM at any time. Key in X from DOS to return. F10: Display and activate the Top Menu. ALT-F10: Display and activate the last used pull-down menu. CTRL-B: Blanks the screen - Forces the HDM screen blanker. CTRL-C: Cancels current procedure and returns to previous one. CTRL-F: Freeze screen, don't update time & date, and suspend the program including timed and inactive execution. MOUSE To "CLICK" on an object on the menu screen, move the mouse block pointer to one of the hot spots listed below, then press the left mouse button. Pressing the right mouse button always cancels the current procedure, just like pressing the <Esc> key. Most newer mouse drivers will allow you to reverse the actions of these two buttons. Click on any entry in the Main Menu, Top Menu, pull-down menus, or any other menu using the left button to start that entry. Click on any key assignment at the bottom of the screen or at the bottom of any window to perform the action of that key. Click on the top Date/Time line to open the Top Menu. Click on the upper right corner of the screen for Help. Click outside an open window to close it or just press the right mouse button no matter where the mouse cursor is located. Click on the up or down arrow heads to move the cursor bar up or down the menu entries. Click on the left or right arrow heads to move the cursor bar through the Page Index. Adjust the vertical and horizontal motion sensitivity of the mouse from the Global pull-down menu. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 18 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD Input Fields If the first key pressed is a letter, number, or special character, the field is erased and is replaced by that character. If you erase the field accidently, press <Ctrl-U> to restore it. If the first key pressed is a cursor movement key or other non-character key, the field remains and can be edited. The keyboard starts out in insert mode, so press <Ins> if you want to go to overwrite mode. In insert mode, a short beep sounds if a character is pushed off the end of an input field. When entering characters in a menu action field, the curly braces {} and the tilde ~ have special meanings in the field. If you need to pass these characters to a program, use the following substitutes: <Ctrl-Q> for { (left curly brace) <Ctrl-P> for } (right curly brace) <Ctrl-Z> for ~ (tilde) They will be converted to the correct character for your program. Input Field Editing Keys RIGHT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor right one character in the field. LEFT ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor left one character in the field. TAB KEY: Moves the cursor right eight characters in the field. BACK TAB KEY: Moves the cursor left eight characters in the field. HOME KEY: Moves the cursor to the first character in the field. END KEY: Moves the cursor to the last character on the field. CTRL-U KEY: (UNDO) Restores the current field to its original contents. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 19 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System HDM KEYBOARD CTRL-HOME KEY: Deletes all characters from the cursor to the beginning of the field. CTRL-END KEY: Deletes all characters from the cursor to the end of the field. CTRL-BACKSPACE KEY: Deletes all characters in the entire input field. DELETE KEY: Deletes the character at the cursor. BACKSPACE KEY: Deletes the character left of the cursor. INSERT KEY: Switches between Insert mode and Overwrite mode. (default is Insert mode) ENTER KEY: Goes to next field or ends editing and saves the changes if there is only one field. F2 KEY: Saves changes to all fields and returns to previous screen. ESCAPE KEY or CTRL-BREAK: Cancels any changes made and returns to previous screen. UP ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the previous field on the screen. DOWN ARROW KEY: Moves the cursor to the next field on the screen. PGUP KEY: Moves the cursor to the first field on the screen. PGDN KEY: Moves the cursor to the last field on the screen. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 20 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION Menu Action Components The menu action contains the instructions that are executed when a Main Menu entry is started, when the DOS window is used, or when a macro is called. A menu action contains anything that can be used in a batch file plus additional functions, macros, and parameters that are described in this manual. The menu action can be up to 255 characters long and can contain multiple steps (DOS commands, programs, batch files, etc.). These steps are separated by the tilde (~) character. For example, if you were using a batch file that contained this: C: CD\BASIC GWBASIC SAMPLES then the equivalent menu action would look like this: C:~CD\BASIC~GWBASIC SAMPLES~ AUTO-BUILD When you add or change a menu action, you have the option of letting HDM build the menu action for you. Just press <F4> at the time you would normally key in the menu action and a window will open asking for the drive, directory, program name, and any command line parameters the program may need to run. Fill in the blanks and the menu action is built automatically for you. HDM even checks the drive and directory to make sure the program really exists there. To build the above example with the Auto-Build procedure, press the <Ins> key to add a new entry to the Main Menu, then select the entry number where you want the new entry to appear. When the Add Entry window opens, enter a description and press the <Enter> key. Next, press <F4> and key in the information: Drive -----------> C: Directory -------> \BASIC Program ---------> GWBASIC Parameters ------> SAMPLES Then press <F2> to save the menu action and the entry is complete. The next thing to do is to test that new entry. To start the new menu entry, press the number key associated with it or move the cursor to it and press <Enter>. If you have a mouse, move the mouse cursor to it, then press the right or left mouse button. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 21 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION Menu Action Functions {?} or {?prompt} Displays prompt message, then waits for user input. The user input replaces this function and is put in %0. &# or {&#} Replaced by contents of a macro, &0 through &9. {&# parameter1 parameter2 ... parameter9} Same as &#, but with user supplied parameters that are held in %1 thru %9. %# or {%#} %1 through %9 is replaced by a macro parameter. %0 is replaced by the results of certain menu functions. {%Environment-Variable%} This is replaced by the contents of the DOS environment variable of the same name. (can also be used in titles) ! Normally, HDM ends, gets out of memory, and lets DOS run the Menu Action. If an exclamation point is in the first position, the Menu Action will run while HDM stays in memory. (small programs only) @@batch-file Used to run a batch file and then return to HDM. @@ is replaced by COMMAND /C for DOS prior to ver. 3.0) @@ is replaced by the COMSPEC variable for DOS 3.0-3.2) @@ is replaced by the CALL command for DOS 3.3 & above) || This divides a menu action into segments that will run independent of one another. The part after the || will resume when the part before it has completely finished. ~ Tilde (~) is used to separate programs and DOS commands. It gets replaced by the CR/LF characters when it's run. {BEEP} Replaced by a Ctrl-G so DOS will beep the speaker. {BEEP!} Immediate alert sounded in HDM before going to DOS. {CK a} Checks if the disk drive is ready. If not, a message is displayed and action is cancelled. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 22 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION {COLOR foreground background} Sets foreground (0-15) and background (0-15) colors for current menu entry's DOS screen. {CONFIRM} or {CONFIRM prompt} Displays prompt message, then waits for user to choose "YES" to continue or "NO" to cancel the menu action. {CURSOR start-line end-line} Sets the shape of the cursor when you exit to DOS or for the program that will be run. {DEFAULT reply-to-prompt} User changeable default reply to {?} or {?prompt}. {DIAL [modem-commands] phone-number} Dials a phone number using a Hayes compatible modem and optionally sends an initialization string to the modem. {DIR} or {DIR path\mask} Displays a list of drive and directory choices. Path is the first directory shown, but you can switch to other directories and other drives. Mask restricts your choices to specific directories (default is *.*). The directory choice replaces the {DIR} function and is also put into the %0 parameter. {DIR!} or {DIR! path\mask} Same as {DIR}, but limits your movement to a specified drive & directory and subdirectories of it. {EXIT} or {QUIT} Exits to the DOS prompt like <F3>, but you can change to a different directory first. {FILE} or {FILE path\mask} Displays a list of drives, directories, and files. Path is the first directory shown, but you can switch to other directories and other drives. Mask lets you see and choose only those files that match it. The default mask is *.*. When a file is picked, its name with the complete path replaces the {FILE} function and is put in %0 for later use. {FILE!} or {FILE! path\mask} Same as {FILE}, but limits directories and files to the specified directory and its subdirectories. {KEY k1 k2 ... k15} Passes up to 15 keys to a program that uses the standard DOS keyboard buffer. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 23 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION {MENU ###} Create or use another menu file (0 - 999). {PROJECT} Replaced by project information from the log on screen if someone is logged on. (can also be used in titles) {REBOOT} Allows you to change AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, then reboot system. Same as pressing <Alt-Ctrl-Del>. {RETURN} Go back to the previous menu text file. {RUN program/command/batch-file} Immediately run a program, DOS command, or batch file while HDM stays in memory. (small programs only) {RUN! program/command/batch-file} Same as {RUN}, but pauses before redisplaying HDM's Main Menu. {SELECT/VSELECT menu-title~choice1~choice2~...choice15~} Displays a horizontal or vertical menu of choices. The user's choice will replace the {SELECT} function in menu action. Also the selected menu entry is put into %0 for later use. {STEP} Used in debugging menu action functions. Displays the menu action after each function executes. {USER} Replaced by current User ID if anyone is logged on. (can also be used in titles} NOTE: Because the curly braces {} are used to identify HDM menu actions and the tilde ~ is used as a command separator, they cannot be entered in the menu action as normal characters. If you need to use any of these characters for other purposes, use the following substitutes: <Ctrl-Q> for the left curly brace, <Ctrl-P> for the right curly brace, and <Ctrl-Z> for the tilde. These special characters will be converted to the correct characters before the menu action is run. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 24 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION Menu Action Macros Each menu file (HDM.000 - HDM.999) can have ten local macros that are set up through the "Local" pull-down menu. These macros are numbered from 0 to 9 and are referenced in a menu action by putting an "&" in front of the number. Macros are really quite simple. Any reference to the macro in the Menu Action is replaced by the complete contents of the macro. A macro can contain anything that is allowed in a menu action. EXAMPLE: If macro number one contains: {CK A}DIR A:*.BAS~PAUSE~A:~ and a menu action has: &{?Run basic, enter number for drive 1=A:, 2=B:, 3=C:}BASIC~ The {?prompt} is replaced by the number entered. So, if the user enters 1, the menu action then looks like this: &1BASIC~ Then the &1 macro is replaced by the contents of macro number one so it now looks like this: {CK A}DIR A:*.BAS~PAUSE~A:~BASIC~ Next HDM will check if drive A: is ready. If it is, then HDM removes the {CK A} and sends the following to DOS for execution: DIR A:*.BAS PAUSE A: BASIC During the time that the above commands and programs run, HDM is completely out of memory taking no RAM away from your programs. When DOS is finished executing the above, HDM will be read back into memory. Macros can have up to nine replaceable parameters that are similar to DOS batch file replaceable parameters. You reference them by number with a % in front of them. The full syntax for a macro call looks like this: {&# %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9} %0 is a special purpose parameter that will hold the complete reply to certain menu action functions. Any reference to a macro parameter in a menu action is replaced with the complete contents of that macro parameter. A macro parameter can contain anything a menu action or a macro can except parameters. See examples on the next page. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 25 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION EXAMPLE: macro number nine contains: C:~ and a menu action contains: {&9 \*.{?Enter extension}}dir \dir1%1~dir \dir2%1~ dir \dir3%1~dir \dir4%1~dir \dir5%1~ First the user is asked to enter a file extension. If EXE is entered, the menu action becomes: {&9 \*.EXE}dir \dir1%1~dir \dir2%1~dir \dir3%1~ dir \dir4%1~dir \dir5%1~ Next &9 is replace by C:~ and %1 is filled with the first macro parameter, \*.EXE C:~dir \dir1%1~dir \dir2%1~dir \dir3%1~dir \dir4%1~dir \dir5%1~ Finally all the %1's are replaced with the contents of the first macro parameter so it looks like this: C:~dir \dir1\*.EXE~dir \dir2\*.EXE~dir \dir3\*.EXE~ dir \dir4\*.EXE~dir \dir5\*.EXE HDM now replaces the tildes with CR/LF's and passes the lines to DOS for execution. Example of HDM's Parameters: {&0 {?Enter some text}} In the above menu action, &0 is an empty macro and is just being used to fill the % parameters. When this runs, nothing will happen because there is nothing to execute. The {?prompt} will be replaced by the contents of what is keyed in by the user; but, since it is inside a macro, it will just be put into the % parameters and be erased. The &0 itself is replaced by its contents, which are blank, so the whole menu action ends up being empty. If the menu action contained %0 %1 ... %9 then it would contain the contents of those parameters. If a user entered "THIS IS A TEST" in reply to the {?prompt}, then %0 would also contain "THIS IS A TEST", %1 would contain "THIS", %2 would contain "IS", %3 would contain "A", %4 would contain "TEST", and %5 through %9 would be empty. Remember that %0 always holds the reply to a {?} prompt function. It does not have to be part of a macro like %1 through %9. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 26 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System MENU ACTION Using Menu Action Functions and Macros Menu action functions are generally handled from left to right in the menu action, but functions can be nested. Functions in inner braces are evaluated before functions in outer braces. EXAMPLE: If &1 contains COPY and &2 contains DELETE then: {&1 {?Enter file name} c:\save} %1 %2~&2 %1~dir %2~ would evaluate to: COPY FILE.EXT C:\SAVE~DELETE FILE.EXT~DIR C:\SAVE~ if the user replied FILE.EXT to the "Enter file name" prompt. EXAMPLE: If &5 contains the dialing prefix 9,1(800) then: {dial &5{?Enter toll free phone number}} would dial the number 9,1(800)234-5678 if the user replied 234-5678 to the "Enter toll free phone number" prompt. EXAMPLE: {default C}{?Enter drive}:~CD\{default DOS} {?Enter directory}~{exit} {?Enter drive{default C}}:~CD\ {?Enter directory{default DOS}}~{exit} The above two menu actions are equivalent. The defaults in the inner braces are evaluated first. When the user is prompted for the drive, a C is in the input field. When the user is prompted for a directory, DOS is in the input field. The user can accept the defaults or key in something else. HDM then exits to that drive and directory and displays the DOS prompt. When you want to return to HDM, press <X> and <Enter>. If the X.BAT was changed by using the SET X= environment variable, then use that new name in place of X to return to HDM. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 27 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {?}, {??}, {?prompt}, or {??prompt} This menu action function pauses the execution of the action until the <Enter> key or the <Esc> key is pressed. During the pause, the user can enter up to 64 characters that will replace the function, including the braces, the question mark, and the prompt (if any), in the menu action. Pressing <Enter> will continue the execution of the menu action starting with the newly entered information. Pressing <Esc> will cancel the execution of the menu action, and control will return to the Main Menu. See "Input Field Editing Keys" for an explanation of what other keys will do in the input field. The prompt in the pause function can be up to 64 characters long. If no prompt is supplied, HDM uses "Pause for input ...". The prompt is displayed in a window in the Main Menu when the pause function is executed. The user input line is just below the prompt also inside the window. Sample menu action: COPY C:\{?Enter the directory to copy to diskette:}\*.* A:~ The user is prompted in the window: "Enter the directory to copy to diskette:" The user keys in: LOTUS\FILES and then presses the <Enter> key The menu action that is executed is: COPY C:\LOTUS\FILES\*.* A: All files in the C:\LOTUS\FILES directory are copied to the diskette in the A: drive, then control returns to the Main Menu. Using two question marks instead of one will cause the input to be hidden from the screen. {??prompt} is useful for passwords. NOTE: If you need to use the {?prompt} reply in more than one place in the same menu action, use %0 where you need it. EXAMPLE: COPY C:\{?Enter the directory to move to A}\*.* A:~DEL C:\%0\*.*~ Both the {?prompt} and the %0 will be replaced by the name of the directory that is entered by the user. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 28 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE &#, {&#}, or {&# parameter1 parameter2 ... parameter9} This menu action function uses the contents of a macro set up through the "Local" pull-down menu to replace the call for that macro (& and a number) in a menu action. If the macro has no parameters, then the braces around it are optional; but, the braces affect when a macro is evaluated. If there are parameters, then the braces are required to delimit the macro and its parameters. The maximum number of parameters is nine, and they are separated by spaces. When a macro call is executed in a menu action, the contents of the macro replaces the function including the braces, the & number combination, and the parameters (if any) in the menu action. If there were any parameters present, they are now contained in %1, %2, ..., %9 and can be used anywhere in the menu action. Since a space is used to delimit the parameters, text that is used for parameters will have each word in a separate parameter. See "%#" for more information on parameters. EXAMPLE: Key in <Alt-L> <M>, then move the cursor to &8 and key in: COPY *.* A:~PAUSE~ then press the <F2> key to save the macro. Now to test your new macro, create a menu action like this: C:~CD\123~&8CD\DBASE~&8CD\MMATE&8 The &8's would be replaced by the contents of macro &8. The menu action would evaluate to the following before it is executed: C:~CD\123~COPY *.* A:~PAUSE~ CD\DBASE~COPY *.* A:~PAUSE~ CD\MMATE~COPY *.* A:~PAUSE~ The menu action puts you on drive C:, then copies all files from the 123 directory to a diskette in A:, then pauses so the user can change diskettes. All files are then copied from the DBASE directory to A:, then a pause for another diskette change, then all files are copied from the MMATE directory to A:, and then a final pause. NOTE: Remember that HDM evaluates left to right, first resolving functions in inner braces, then those in outer braces, and then those without braces. These are the results of two menu actions that use &5 and &5 contains "Enter File Name": {?Please &5} prompts the user like this: "Please &5" {?Please {&5}} prompts like this: "Please Enter File Name" Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 29 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE %# or {%#} (%0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9) This menu action function will use the contents of a macro's parameter to replace the call for that parameter (% and a number) in a menu action. The contents of a parameter are created when a macro is called with parameters. Each parameter is placed sequentially in %1, %2, ... %9 and they, in turn, can be used in the rest of the menu action, in the called macro, or in another macro. %0 is a special purpose parameter. It will always contain the results of the following functions: {?} {DIR} {FILE} {SELECT} EXAMPLE: Key in <Alt-L> <M> and go to the &5 macro, and key in: COPY C:\NEW\%1 C:\OLD\%1 then press the <Enter> key. Now use the following menu action: {&5 {?Enter file to move}}~DEL C:\NEW\%1~DIR C:\OLD\%1~PAUSE~ The user is prompted in a window: "Enter file to move" The user keys in: BUDGET88.WKS and presses the <Enter> key. The menu action that is executed is: COPY C:\NEW\BUDGET88.WKS C:\OLD\BUDGET88.WKS~ DEL C:\NEW\BUDGET88.WKS~DIR C:\OLD\BUDGET88.WKS~PAUSE~ The file BUDGET88.WKS is moved from C:\NEW to C:\OLD and is displayed in the C:\OLD directory. The prompt is executed first because it is in the inner braces. The prompt is replaced by the user entry BUDGET88.WKS which is then placed in %1 because it is the first and only parameter of the macro &5. The {&5} is then replaced by the contents of the &5 macro. Now all the %1's are replaced by BUDGET88.WKS including the two that came from the macro and the two that were already in the Action String. By putting braces around the macro parameter {%#}, the parameter can be evaluated sooner if needed. For example, the %1 parameter can be used in an immediate run function like the following: {&5 {?Enter file to move}}~{RUN! DIR C:\NEW\{%1}}~DEL C:\NEW\%1~ If the {%1} in the {RUN!} function didn't have the braces around it, the {RUN!} function would be executed before the parameter {%1} was replaced and DOS would try to run the command: DIR C:\NEW\%1 resulting in an error. By putting the braces around the %1, it is evaluated before the {RUN!} is executed and DOS will run: DIR C:\NEW\BUDGET88.WKS Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 30 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {%Environment-Variable%} This menu action function is replaced by the contents of a DOS environment variable with the same name. If there is no variable with a matching name, the function is just removed from the menu action. This function also works in the title lines above the Main Menu. These are set up by the "Top Box Titles" in the "Local" pull-down menu. EXAMPLES: Menu Action: C:~CD\NET~LOGIN {%NETUSER%}~ If the DOS environment variable NETUSER = BOB then the above menu action becomes: C:~CD\NET~LOGIN BOB~ Titles: Your command processor is {%COMSPEC%} Your DOS path is {%PATH%} becomes: Your command processor is C:\COMMAND.COM Your DOS path is C:\;C:\DOS;C:\HDM;C:\UTILITY ! (Exclamation Point) The exclamation point (!) used in the first position of a menu action will cause HDM to run the menu action while staying in memory. This executes faster than running the normal way because HDM will not terminate and will not have to be called back into memory again after the menu entry is finished running. There are some limitations. First only smaller programs that will fit into memory concurrent with HDM can run. Second, you can not start a memory resident program this way. For these exceptions, run the menu action without the exclamation point and HDM will quit and free up memory completely. EXAMPLES: !C:~CD\NORTON~NORTON~ !C:~CD\PCTOOLS~PCSHELL~ Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 31 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE || (Double Vertical Line) Two vertical lines in a menu action cause HDM to run the menu action up to that point as if that were the end of the action, then return to finish it. You can use as many double lines as needed in one menu action. You can use this to go to another menu file when the menu action is completed or to continue by running another menu entry. EXAMPLE: C:~CD\NETWORK~LOGIN~||{MENU 400} Because the MENU function is inside braces, it would normally be run first. In this user's case, menu file 400 would not be found because HDM.400 is on the server and will not be available until the LOGIN is done and the server is connected. The double lines make sure that the LOGIN is done before HDM is recalled and switches to menu number 400. EXAMPLE: C:~CD\DIR1~PROG1~ ... ~CD\DIR9~PROG9~||{KEY R 5} This user wanted to run twenty programs from different directories, but there wasn't enough room in one menu action to contain them all. The solution was to continue executing the programs from menu entry R5, which had programs 10 through 20 in it. Without the double vertical lines, the key function would have stuffed the keyboard buffer with R5 before the first program ran and that program would have probably used those keystrokes itself. EXAMPLE: C:~CD\QUICKEN~Q~||{CONFIRM Backup?}COPY C:\QUICKEN A:~ After running Quicken ask if the user wants to backup the Quicken files. If the user answers YES, the files are copied to diskette, if NO, you return to HDM. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 32 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE @@batch-file This menu action function will allow you to execute a batch file from a Menu Action. The @@ is replaced by COMMAND /C or by CALL in the menu action before actual execution. This causes the batch file to be executed by a second copy of DOS's command processor or by the DOS CALL command and then to return to the Main Menu when completed. The CALL command is more efficient and will be used automatically if you are running DOS 3.30 or above. Without the @@, the batch file will be run by the current command processor and control then returns to the DOS prompt instead of the Main Menu. This happens because menu actions are run as temporary batch files. When a second batch file is run from it, DOS does not return control to the first batch file. If this happens to you, just press the <X> key and then the <Enter> key to return to HDM. EXAMPLE: DW4 is a batch-file (DW4.BAT) and we have the following menu action: C:~CD\DSPLYWR4~DW4~ When the program is finished you go to DOS and stay there: C> _ If the menu action used the @@batch-file function like this: C:~CD\DSPLYWR4~@@DW4~ then when the DW4 batch file finishes, you would be returned to the same entry in HDM's Main Menu. If you use a pre 3.30 version of DOS, the @@DW4 is changed to: COMMAND /C DW4 (This could be 4DOS or another command processor) If you are using version 3.30 or higher of DOS, HDM will automatically use the DOS CALL command instead of COMMAND /C. This saves the loading of a secondary command processor, which saves memory and is quicker. The Auto-Build (F4) will automatically put @@ in front of batch files. HDM recognizes the version of DOS you are using and will replace @@ with CALL for version 3.30 and above so that @@DW4 will become CALL DW4. NOTE: @@ is not needed for .COM or .EXE files. It is only needed for .BAT files. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 33 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE ~ (Tilde) The tilde character is used in a menu action to represent the <Enter> key. It is used to end or separate commands in a menu action like the <Enter> key is used to end lines in a batch file. At execution time, the tilde (~) is replaced by a carriage return (CR) and a line feed (LF). Sample menu action: A:~COPY LIST.* B:~COPY EPSON.EXE B:~CHKDSK B:~PAUSE~ This menu action is equivalent to a batch file that contains: A: COPY LIST.* B: COPY EPSON.EXE B: CHKDSK B: PAUSE NOTE: If you need to pass the tilde ~ character to a program or command use <Ctrl-Z> to represent that character. It will display as a double tilde and convert back to a tilde when it's sent to the program or command. {BEEP} This menu action function will cause the speaker to sound a short beep. It doesn't beep while you're in HDM, but it is converted to a <Ctrl-G> so DOS will beep when it sees that character in the temporary batch file (X.BAT). This can be used to alert the user at the completion of a task. Sample menu action: C:~CD\CLIPPER~CLIPPER BIGPROG~TLINK BIGPROG~{BEEP}~ The speaker will beep when the long compile & link is completed. {BEEP!} This is the Beep Immediate function. It sounds an alert in HDM as soon as it is evaluated. It is useful in alerting a user to a pending {?prompt} or {SELECT/VSELECT} function. Sample menu action: C:~CD\CLIPPER~{BEEP!}CLIPPER {?Enter Program Name}~TLINK %0~{BEEP} Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 34 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {CK drive-letter} This menu action function will make sure that a disk drive is ready before continuing with the rest of the menu action. If the drive being checked is not ready, an error message is displayed, and the menu action is cancelled. This prevents the user from getting "drive not ready" errors from DOS. Sample menu action: {CK A}COPY C:\MM\*.DOC A:~ If there is a diskette in A: then all the files with a DOC extension in the C:\MM directory will be copied to the diskette in A:. If the drive is not ready, HDM will display a message telling you that it's not ready and the rest of the menu action will be ignored. {COLOR foreground background} This menu action function sets the foreground and background colors of the DOS screen for the menu action that contains the {COLOR} function. Foreground and background colors are numbered from 0 to 15. These are the available colors: 0 = Black 8 = Dark Gray 1 = Blue 9 = Light Blue 2 = Green 10 = Light Green 3 = Cyan 11 = Light Cyan 4 = Red 12 = Light Red 5 = Magenta 13 = Light Magenta 6 = Brown 14 = Yellow 7 = Light Gray 15 = White Example: {COLOR 15 1}DIR C:\SUBDIR/P~ This will display a directory of C:\SUBDIR in white on a blue background. NOTE: The {COLOR} function will not be able to set the DOS screen colors if the ANSI.SYS device driver is loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file. ANSI.SYS over-rides any colors you set with its own colors. Background colors eight through fifteen will be the same as zero through seven unless the -I startup switch is used to enable high intensity background colors. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 35 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {CONFIRM} or {CONFIRM prompt} This menu action function will pop up a window with your prompt message or with "Are you sure?" if you didn't supply a prompt. The user will be able to continue processing by pressing <Enter> or <Y> for yes, or the user can cancel the menu action by pressing <Esc> or <N> for No. Mouse users can just click on the "Yes" or "No" at the bottom of the window. {CURSOR start-line end-line} This menu action function sets what the shape of the cursor will be when you leave HDM to run any program, DOS command, batch file, or exit to the DOS prompt. The start and end lines are the top and bottom scan lines of the cursor. The range is different for each type of monitor used. The monochrome range is 0-13 while CGA and other color monitors in cursor emulation mode (normal) is 0-7. Check your display adapter's manual for the number of scan lines you can use. Example: {CURSOR 0 7}{EXIT} will set a block cursor when exiting HDM. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 36 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {DEFAULT reply-to-prompt} This menu action function will allow you to have a suggested reply to the {?prompt} function. The user can accept it by pressing the <Enter> key, modify it before accepting it, or key in a completely different reply. The {DEFAULT} function must precede the {?} function or it can be contained inside the {?} function like this: {?Enter a file name{DEFAULT C:\DB4\CUSTOMER.DBF}} Sample menu action: {DEFAULT LOTUS\WK2}COPY C:\{?Enter the directory to copy:}\*.* A: The user is prompted in a window: "Enter the directory to copy to diskette:" The input field already contains LOTUS\WK2, and the user presses <Enter> because it's the directory he wants to copy. The menu action that is executed is: COPY C:\LOTUS\WK2\*.* A: Sample menu action: (the &0 macro is empty) C:~CD\ASM~{&0 {{DEFAULT MYPROG}?Enter program}}MASM %1~LINK %1~ The user is prompted in a window: "Enter program" The input field already contains MYPROG, but the user keys in DEMO31 and presses <Enter>. The menu action executed is: C:~CD\ASM~MASM DEMO31~LINK DEMO31~ The &0 macro is replaced by an empty string since it contains nothing and its parameter, which is the prompt function and its default, is replaced by the user entry DEMO31 which is then put into the %1 parameter holder. NOTE: Since %0 always contains the result of the {?prompt} function, a simpler way to write this menu action is: C:~CD\ASM~MASM {{DEFAULT MYPROG}?Enter program}~LINK %0~ Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 37 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {DIAL [modem-cmd1~...modem-cmd15~] phone-number} This menu action function can be used to set up a telephone directory and automatic phone dialing menu if you have a Hayes compatible modem connected to your system. One complete Menu File could be dedicated to a phone directory, each page representing a different company, and each selection on a given page being a person in the company that you call. If Menu File number 50 was a phone directory, you would use the {MENU 50} menu action function to display the directory. If Page B was Software Companies, and entry 5 was Borland International and its menu action was {DIAL 1(800) 255-8008}, you would press to display Page B, then press 5 to call Borland. When the dialing sequence is sent to the modem, a message is displayed at the bottom of the screen telling you to first pick up the phone, then press a key. This disconnects the modem and you are free to talk on the phone. Press the <Esc> key or use the {RETURN} menu action function to go back to the Menu File that called your phone directory Menu File. The {DIAL} function can send modem commands to a Hayes compatible modem. These can be used to initialize the modem, turn off Auto-Answer, turn on the speaker, etc. You can have up to fifteen of these commands which must end with a tilde (~). Do not end the phone number with a tilde because HDM will take it as a modem command and will not dial. You can send modem commands without a phone number if you only want to change a setting in the modem. Consult the manual that came with your modem for a list of commands that are available for it. Do not start the commands with an "AT" or end them with a carriage return - HDM will do that automatically. The modem commands are optional and are not needed to dial a phone number. To use this function you need two items: a modem that can dial a phone number using the Hayes ATD command; and, a telephone connected to your modem or on the same phone line. The {DIAL} function allows a maximum of 36 characters in the phone number and a maximum of 64 characters in the entire {DIAL} function. You can use the "Global" pull-down menu to change the communications port and the dial type. EXAMPLE: You need to dial 9 to get an outside line: Menu action: {DIAL 9,1 (123) 456-7890} EXAMPLE: Use fast tone dialing when dialing a phone number: Menu action: {DIAL S11=30~9,1 (123) 456-7890} EXAMPLE: Turn your modem's speaker off and auto answer off: Menu action: {DIAL M0~S0=0~} Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 38 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {DIR}, {DIR!}, {DIR path\mask}, or {DIR! path\mask} This menu action function will pop up two windows: one with a list of disk drive letters; and, the other with a list of directories. By pressing <Enter> on a directory entry, you will change to that directory unless the entry is (Use This) in which case the function will be replaced by the current directory. Pressing <F2> on a directory entry will replace the entire {DIR} function in the menu action with that directory. If you press <Esc>, you will go back to the disk drive list where you can pick a different drive. If you press <Esc> from the list of drives, the menu action will be cancelled. {DIR} without a path will display the root directory of the current drive. If you specify a path, that directory will be displayed. If you specify a mask, only directories that match it will be displayed. If you use the exclamation point in the function {DIR!}, you will not be able to go to a directory higher than the one specified in path and you will not be able to switch to another disk drive. EXAMPLE: To copy all files in one directory to another: COPY {DIR}\*.* {DIR} Each {DIR} will open a window with a list of directories. Press <Enter> on directory entries to move through the directory tree, then press <F2> on the directory that will replace the {DIR} function. If you pick the UTILITY directory on C: for the copy-from directory and the root directory of A: for the copy-to directory, the above menu action will be transformed to: COPY C:\UTILITY\*.* A:\ EXAMPLE: To go to the DOS prompt in the directory of your choice: {SELECT Disk Drive~A:~B:~C:~D:~}~CD {DIR! {%0}\}{EXIT} When you pick drive C: from the {SELECT} menu, the {SELECT} function is replaced by C: and {%0} is replaced by C: before the {DIR!} function gets control because it is inside inner braces, and the action becomes: C:~CD {DIR! C:\}{EXIT} The {DIR!} function limits you to the root directory and all subdirectories of C: so you can't pick a different disk drive. If you choose the DOS directory, the menu action becomes: C:~CD C:\DOS{EXIT} When this runs, it will switch to the C: drive if you're not already there. Then it will changed to the DOS directory and HDM will exit to the DOS prompt. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 39 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {EXIT} or {QUIT} This menu action function works the same as the "Exit HDM" command in the "Exit" pull-down menu or the <F3> key with the added benefit of being able to change the drive and directory before you exit to the DOS prompt. When you're finished working at the DOS prompt, key in <X> and press <Enter> to return to HDM. {EXIT} and {QUIT} honor the security levels that affect the <F3> key and the "Exit HDM" command in the "Exit" pull-down menu. This security is the "Top Menu: All Commands" in the "Security" pull-down menu and an individual security level on the "Exit HDM" command. To change the individual security level, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on the "Exit HDM F3" command in the "Exit" pull-down menu. If your user security level is lower than the security of these functions, HDM will ask for a password before allowing you to exit. Sample menu action: C:~CD\MM~DIR *.DOC~{EXIT}~ The user sees a directory display of all the files with a .DOC extension and is then presented with the standard DOS prompt. At this point, the user can work in DOS. To return to HDM, key in <X> at the DOS prompt and press the <Enter> key. The following is an example of logging out of a Novell Network while HDM resides on a network drive: H:~CD\NETWORK~{KEY L O G O U T ENTR}{QUIT} This will quit HDM and automatically key in LOGOUT at the DOS prompt, then press then <Enter> key. This way no attempt is made to return to HDM, which resides on a network drive and would no longer be available. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 40 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {FILE}, {FILE!}, {FILE path\mask}, or {FILE! path\mask} This menu action function will pop up two windows; one with a list of disk drive letters; and the other with a list of directories and files. By pressing <Enter> on a directory entry, you will change to that directory. Pressing <Enter> on a file name will replace the entire {FILE} function in the menu action with the complete path and file name. If you press <Esc>, you will go back to the disk drive list where you can pick a different drive. If you press <Esc> from the list of drives, the menu action will be cancelled. {FILE} without a path will display the files in the root directory of the current drive. If you specify a path, the files in that directory will be displayed. If you specify a mask, only files that match it will be displayed. If you use the exclamation point in the function {FILE!}, you will not be able to switch to another disk drive or go to files in a directory above the one specified in the path. You can press the first letter of a directory entry or a file name to move the cursor to the next one that begins with that letter. EXAMPLE: C:~CD\DOS~EDLIN {FILE *.BAT} Edit any file from a list of files ending with ".BAT". You will be able to pick the file from any drive or directory. EXAMPLE: D:~CD\HELPTEXT~MORE < {FILE! D:\HELPTEXT\*.TXT} Display help screens from text files. This will let the user pick from a list of files ending in ".TXT" from the D:\HELPTEXT directory or any of it's subdirectories. It will not let the user change drives or go to the parent directory of HELPTEXT. EXAMPLE: COPY {FILE! {DIR! {SELECT Disk~A:~B:}\}} C:\TEST Copy any file from diskette drive A: or B: to C:\TEST by first choosing a disk drive, then a directory from that disk, then a file from that directory. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 41 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {KEY k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6 k7 k8 k9 k10 k11 k12 k13 k14 k15} This menu action function allows you to pass up to fifteen keys to a program that uses the standard DOS keyboard buffer. This will allow you to automate some procedures in the programs that you start from HDM. {KEY} will not work with all programs because some clear the buffer as soon as they start and some others ignore the DOS buffer and use their own keyboard buffer. Another reason this might not work is if you're using a memory resident keyboard enhancement program that expands the size of the buffer or moves it to a different location. Fortunately it does work with most programs so test it with yours. You can pass any key on the IBM keyboard plus the key mnemonics listed on the next page. NOTE: Each key and key mnemonic must be separated by a space. Sample menu action: C:~CD\LOTUS~123~{KEY / F R B U D G E T ENTR} This will start Lotus 123 and put the above ten keys in the DOS keyboard buffer which will automatically retrieve the file named "BUDGET". EXAMPLE: {MENU 250}{KEY W} Go to page W in menu file HDM.250. EXAMPLE: {MENU 250}{KEY W 2}||{RETURN} Run entry W2 in HDM.250, then return to the current menu file. EXAMPLE: (the two lines are the menu actions in entries L1 & L2) L1: C:~CD\LOTUS~123~||{CONFIRM Backup 123 files?}{KEY L 2} L2: {CK A}Copy C:\LOTUS\*.WK? A:\ In this example, the user picks menu entry L1 which runs Lotus 123. When finished, the user returns to HDM and is asked to backup the 123 worksheets files. If the user answers "no", the action is ended. If answered "yes", the keyboard buffer is filled with L2 which runs that menu entry. This way L2 can also be run on its own when needed. The next page has all the key codes for the special keystrokes on the IBM keyboard. Remember to separate each HDM key code with a space just as you would do for all the regular keystrokes. {KEY A B C D E F G ENTR} = ABCDEFG keys, then the Enter key. {KEY CA AB SF9 SP} = Ctrl-A, Alt-B, Shift-F9, Space Bar. {KEY A8 A 8 RAR} = Alt-8, A, 8, and Right Arrow keys. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 42 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE HDM REAL KEY HDM REAL KEY HDM REAL KEY --- -------- --- -------- --- -------- CA Ctrl-A CB Ctrl-B CC Ctrl-C CD Ctrl-D CE Ctrl-E CF Ctrl-F CG Ctrl-G CH Ctrl-H CI Ctrl-I CJ Ctrl-J CK Ctrl-K CL Ctrl-L CM Ctrl-M CN Ctrl-N CO Ctrl-O CP Ctrl-P CQ Ctrl-Q CR Ctrl-R CS Ctrl-S CT Ctrl-T CU Ctrl-U CV Ctrl-V CW Ctrl-W CX Ctrl-X CY Ctrl-Y CZ Ctrl-Z SP Space C[ Ctrl-[ C] Ctrl-] C\ Ctrl-\ C2 Ctrl-2 C6 Ctrl-6 C- Ctrl- - ENTR Enter ESC Escape CBRK Ctrl-Break BSP Back Space CBSP Ctrl-Back Space TAB Tab STAB Shift-Tab AA Alt-A AB Alt-B AC Alt-C AD Alt-D AE Alt-E AF Alt-F AG Alt-G AH Alt-H AI Alt-I AJ Alt-J AK Alt-K AL Alt-L AM Alt-M AN Alt-N AO Alt-O AP Alt-P AQ Alt-Q AR Alt-R AS Alt-S AT Alt-T AU Alt-U AV Alt-V AW Alt-W AX Alt-X AY Alt-Y AZ Alt-Z F1 F1 F2 F2 F3 F3 F4 F4 F5 F5 F6 F6 F7 F7 F8 F8 F9 F9 F10 F10 F11 F11 F12 F12 AF1 Alt-F1 AF2 Alt-F2 AF3 Alt-F3 AF4 Alt-F4 AF5 Alt-F5 AF6 Alt-F6 AF7 Alt-F7 AF8 Alt-F8 AF9 Alt-F9 AF10 Alt-F10 AF11 Alt-F11 AF12 Alt-F12 CF1 Ctrl-F1 CF2 Ctrl-F2 CF3 Ctrl-F3 CF4 Ctrl-F4 CF5 Ctrl-F5 CF6 Ctrl-F6 CF7 Ctrl-F7 CF8 Ctrl-F8 CF9 Ctrl-F9 CF10 Ctrl-F10 CF11 Ctrl-F11 CF12 Ctrl-F12 SF1 Shift-F1 SF2 Shift-F2 SF3 Shift-F3 SF4 Shift-F4 SF5 Shift-F5 SF6 Shift-F6 SF7 Shift-F7 SF8 Shift-F8 SF9 Shift-F9 SF10 Shift-F10 SF11 Shift-F11 SF12 Shift-F12 LAR Left Arrow RAR Right Arrow UAR Up Arrow CLAR Ctrl-Left Arrow CRAR Ctrl-Right Arrow DAR Down Arrow HOM Home END End INS Insert CHOM Ctrl-Home CEND Ctrl-End DEL Delete PGU PgUp PGD PgDn CPRT Ctrl-PrtSc CPGU Ctrl-PgUp CPGD Ctrl-PgDn A1 Alt-1 A2 Alt-2 A3 Alt-3 A4 Alt-4 A5 Alt-5 A6 Alt-6 A7 Alt-7 A8 Alt-8 A9 Alt-9 A0 Alt-0 A- Alt- - A= Alt-= Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 43 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {MENU ###} This menu action function allows you to create or read in another menu file. The ### is any number from 0 to 999 which allows 1000 menu files. Each menu file contains 26 pages and each page has 10 menu entries. This makes a total of 260,000 menu selections. Zero is the default menu file. The name of the current menu file is displayed below the Page Index. If you try going to a menu file that does not exist, a new blank menu file is created, and new entries can be added to it. When you use the {MENU ###} function to display another menu file, you can use the <Esc> key, the {RETURN} menu action function, or choose Prior Menu from the Exit pull-down menu to go back to the calling menu file. There is no limit to the length of a menu chain. Menu 1 can call Menu 2, which in turn can call Menu 888, which can then call Menu 317, etc. <Esc> and {RETURN} will always back you up through the chain. Each menu file has its own unique set of local variables so when you go to another menu file, it can display different colors, have different macros, different borders, titles, etc. Sample menu action: {MENU 77} {PROJECT} This menu entry is replaced by the project information keyed in at the log on screen. This can only be done if you have at least one entry in the "User ID Table" in the "Security" pull-down window. {PROJECT} can also be used in the title lines above the Main Menu that are set up using "Top Box Titles" in the "Local" pull-down menu. EXAMPLES: If you entered 33-154B in the project field when you logged on to HDM then the following would happen: Menu Action Example: C:~CD\PROJECTS~EDIT {PROJECT}.DOC~ becomes: C:~CD\PROJECTS~EDIT 33-154B.DOC~ Title Lines Example: Working on Project Number {PROJECT} becomes: Working on Project Number 33-154B Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 44 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {REBOOT} This menu action function will allow you to reboot the computer system. It is the same as if you pressed the Ctrl-Alt-Del key combination except that it will first read one record from the X.BAT file so that any installed write disk caches will complete their mission first. This allows you to make changes to the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files then automatically reboot the system with a different configuration. Example: COPY C:\CONFIG.NEW C:\CONFIG.SYS~{REBOOT} {RETURN} This menu action function allows you to return to the previous menu file that called the one you are in currently. If you are already at the base menu file, then a message displays telling you that you are as far back as you can go in the menu file chain. The base menu file is usually zero, but it can be different if you used the -M startup switch or had another starting menu file in the User ID table. If you are in Menu 150 because a menu entry in another menu file had {MENU 150} in its menu action, then the {RETURN} menu action function will take you back to that previous menu file. Using the <Esc> key or selecting Prior Menu in the Exit pull-down menu will do the same thing. {RETURN} is all you need in the menu action. EXAMPLE: {MENU 775}{KEY C 5}||{RETURN} This will run menu entry C5 from menu file HDM.775 no matter what menu file you're in. Then it will return you to the menu file at the page and entry you started with. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 45 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {RUN/RUN! program/command/batch-file} This menu action function will allow you to run a program, DOS command, or a batch file without leaving HDM. Since HDM remains in memory while running a program this way, some large programs will not have enough memory to run. Also, what you run must be an internal DOS command, a program or batch file located through the DOS path, or it must include the full path with the program name. This function can make using small programs much quicker since HDM does not have to reload itself after running it. It can also be helpful if you want to see a directory listing before replying to a prompt that asks for a file name. For example, if you wanted to run your word processor but you don't always remember the names of the files you want to edit, try this: {RUN! DIR C:\WPDIR\*.DOC}C:~CD\WPDIR~WP {?Enter document name}~ The ! after the RUN will cause a pause before returning to HDM so you can see the output of the DIR command on the screen. Press any key to return to HDM and it will then ask for the document name. Finally, it will run your word processing program with the keyed in file. Here's an example of listing a file to the screen after seeing a list of files: {RUN! DIR C:\BAT/W}{RUN LIST C:\DIR{?Enter file name to list}} First, a wide directory listing of C:\BAT will be displayed and the system will pause; HDM will then ask for the file name; and finally, the LIST program will run, also inside HDM, with the file you picked. Notice that LIST is RUN without the pause option since the program will wait for keystrokes before returning to HDM menu screen. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 46 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {SELECT/VSELECT Menu-Title~Choice1~Choice2~Choice3~...~Choice15} This menu action function will display a horizontal or vertical pop-up menu with your own title and up to fifteen user defined choices. The title and each choice must be separated by a ~ (tilde). When a choice is made by the user, that choice completely replaces the {SELECT} function in the menu action. The first capital letter, number, or special character of each choice is highlighted so the user can make a choice by pressing the highlighted character on the keyboard, or by moving the cursor and pressing <Enter>, or by using a mouse. If more than one choice has the same highlighted character and the user presses that key or clicks on it with the mouse, the last choice with that highlighted character will be used. To avoid problems, make sure that each entry has a unique character highlighted. If one of the choices begins with a "?", it will be treated like the {?prompt} menu function when it is selected. You can also have an empty choice by using two tildes: ~~. Besides replacing the function itself, the selected choice will be in %0 parameter so you can use it in additional places in the same menu action. EXAMPLE: COPY C:\WP\*.DOC {SELECT Pick Backup Disk~A:~B:} This will copy all files in C:\WP that end with .DOC to A: or B:. EXAMPLE: LOGIN {VSELECT User~Dan~deWorth~Jim~Laura~?Enter Name} This will run LOGIN with the selected name. If the user picks "?Enter Name", HDM will prompt for the name, then replace the {VSELECT} function with what is keyed as a response. You can also use two question marks for hidden input. See the {?} function for more details. Don't put braces around the "?Enter Name" in the above example or it will execute before the {VSELECT} since "?Enter Name" will then be inside inner braces. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 47 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System FUNCTION REFERENCE {STEP} This menu action function is useful for debugging menu actions that use functions. After HDM sees the {STEP} function in a menu action, a window will display what the action looks like after each function is executed and just before the action is actually run by DOS. This will not hinder the running of the menu action in any way. EXAMPLE: {STEP}!echo {FILE {DIR {SELECT Disk~A:~B:~C:~D:}\}} This will step through each function one at a time so that you can see how each individual function affects the menu action. NOTE: Remember to remove the {STEP} function from the menu action once you have it working the way you want it. {USER} This menu action function will display the HDM User ID if one was used to log on to HDM. You must have at least one entry in the "User ID Table" in the "Security" pull-down menu for this to work. {USER} will also work in the title lines displayed above the Main Menu. These are set up by using the "Top Box Titles" in the "Local" pull-down menu. Sample menu action: TYPE {?Dear {USER}, please enter the file you want to see.} If Laura was logged on to HDM, then the prompt window would say: Dear Laura, please enter the file you want to see. And if one of the title lines said: {USER}'s IBM PC - Main Menu Then it would appear as: Laura's IBM PC - Main Menu Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 48 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE PULL DOWN MENU COMMANDS Main Menu Keystrokes Description Short-Cut Key ----------- ------------------------------------- ------------- <Alt-M> <A> Add an entry to the Main Menu <Ins> <Alt-M> <C> Change a Main Menu entry <F2> <Alt-M> <D> Duplicate a Main Menu entry <F4> <Alt-M> <E> Erase an entry in the Main Menu <Del> <Alt-M> <M> Move a Main Menu entry <Alt-F4> <Alt-M> <S> Switch two Main Menu entries <Alt-F8> <Alt-M> <*> Save all changes made in HDM to disk <*> <Alt-P> <C> Compress a page of menu entries <Alt-P> <E> Erase all Main Menu entries in one page <Alt-P> Import a page from any menu file <Alt-P> <N> Change the name in the Page Index <Alt-F2> <Alt-P> <S> Switch two pages in the same menu file <Alt-S> <A> Change security on all Main Menu entries <Alt-S> <F> Protect from changes to current menu file <Alt-S> <H> Hide the top menu and F10 from the user <Alt-S> <L> Set inactive time to force user log off <Alt-S> <M> Maintain the Master Password Table <Alt-S> Change security on a page of menu entries <Alt-S> <S> Change security on one Main Menu entry <Alt-F1> <Alt-S> <T> Change security on all Top Menu entries <Alt-S> Maintain the User ID Table and passwords <Alt-L> <A> Display menu actions in title window <F5> <Alt-L> Change border line styles on windows <Alt-L> <C> Change screen and window colors <Alt-L> <D> Alternate date/menu on the top line <F6> <Alt-L> <L> Alternate the lines in the Main Menu <F7> <Alt-L> <M> Modify the current menu file's macros <Alt-L> <S> Switch to alternate Main Menu screens <F8> <Alt-L> <T> Modify the current menu file's title lines <Alt-G> Change the blink speed of the cursor <Alt-G> <D> Set the date and time format <Alt-G> <G> Set items that affect the usage of HDM <Alt-G> Set up execution based on inactive time <Alt-G> <M> Change the mouse motion sensitivity <Alt-G> Specify the communication port & dial type <Alt-G> <S> Set screen save blank time and message <Alt-G> <T> Set up timed execution of menu entries <Alt-X> <D> Open DOS window & display last commands <F9> <Alt-X> <L> Log off a user if one was logged on <Alt-F3> <Alt-X> <M> Return to previous menu or logo screen <Esc> <Alt-X> Start, change, or remove project number <Alt-F5> <Alt-X> <X> Exit to the DOS prompt <F3> Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 49 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Add Entry This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu allows you to create a new menu entry in the Main Menu by adding a description and menu action to it. Press <Alt-M> then <A>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Add Entry" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Ins>. If "Add Entry" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Add Entry". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the location of the new Main Menu entry. The cursor will be on the next available empty location in the Main Menu. Press the number key associated with the blank entry you want to use or move the cursor to the location and press the <Enter> key. A new window opens and asks for a description of the new Main Menu entry and for the action to take when this entry is selected. Enter the description that will be displayed in the Main Menu, then press the <Enter> key. You can use up to 48 characters. Enter the action to take, then press <F2> to save your entry. You can use up to 255 characters. If you need help in building the menu action, press <F4>. This will open the Auto-Build window where you can enter the drive, directory, program, and parameters, if any. HDM will then build the menu action for you. For more information on this feature, see "Menu Action". After the entry is saved, you can press the <Enter> key to see if the entry works as expected. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 50 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Change Entry This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu allows you to change the description and menu action of an entry in the Main Menu. To change the security level, use "Set Security" in the "Security" pull-down menu. Press <Alt-M> then <C>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Change Entry" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F2>. If "Change Entry" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Change Entry". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the Main Menu entry that you want to change. Press the number key associated with the entry you want to change or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. If the Main Menu entry you want to change is password protected, you must enter the correct password in the password window before you can go on to the next step. A new window opens and asks you to change the description of the Main Menu entry and the action to take when this entry is selected. The current field is displayed in reverse video until a key is pressed. If a cursor movement key is pressed, the entry stays and allows you to modify it. If you press a letter, number, or special character key first, HDM erases the field so you can continue keying in a new entry. Change the description that will be displayed in the Main Menu, then press the <Enter> key. You can use up to 48 characters. Change the action to take then press <F2> to save your entry. You can use up to 255 characters. If you need help in building the Menu action, press <F4>. This will open the Auto-Build window where you can enter the drive, directory, program, and parameters and let HDM build the menu action for you. For more on this feature, see MENU ACTION. To test your changes, press <Enter> and see if the results are as expected. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 51 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Duplicate Entry This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu allows you to copy an entry in the Main Menu to an empty entry. This includes the description, menu action, and security level. The copy from entry will be unchanged. Press <Alt-M> then <D>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Duplicate Entry" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F4>. If "Duplicate Entry" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Duplicate Entry". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the Main Menu entry that you want to copy. Press the number key associated with the entry you want to copy, or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. If the Main Menu entry you want to copy is password protected, you must enter the correct password in the password window before you can go on to the next step. Another window opens at the top of the Main Menu that asks you to choose a blank Main Menu entry for the copy-to position. The cursor will be on the next available blank entry. Press the number associated with the blank entry where you want the copy to appear, or move the cursor to an empty entry and press the <Enter> key. Press <F2> to make any necessary changes to the new entry. Now try it out to see if it works. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 52 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Erase Entry This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu will delete a Main Menu entry, including its description and menu action. It will also set its security level to zero. Press <Alt-M> then <E>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Erase Entry" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Del>. If "Erase Entry" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Erase Entry". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the Main Menu entry that you want to delete. Press the number key associated with the entry you want to delete, or move the cursor to the entry you want to delete and press the <Enter> key. If the Main Menu entry is password protected, you must enter the correct password in the password window before you can go on to the next step. A small window then opens to confirm the Main Menu entry you want to delete. Press <Y> to delete the selection or <N> to cancel the deletion. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 53 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Move Entry This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu allows you to move an entry in the Main Menu to an empty entry. This includes the description, menu action, and the security level. The move-from menu entry will be left blank, and its security level will be set to zero. Press <Alt-M> then <M>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Move Entry" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Alt-F4>. If "Move Entry" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Move Entry". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the Main Menu entry that you want to move. Press the number key associated with the entry you want to move, or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. If the Main Menu entry you want to move is password protected, you must enter the correct password in the password window before you can go on to the next step. Another window opens at the top of the Main Menu that asks you to choose a blank Main Menu entry for the move-to position. The cursor moves to the next available blank menu entry. Press the number associated with the blank move-to entry you want, or move the cursor to an empty entry and press the <Enter> key. Press <F2> to make any necessary changes to the moved entry then try it out to see if it still works. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 54 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Switch Entries This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu allows you to swap two entries in the Main Menu. This includes their descriptions, menu actions, and security levels. Press <Alt-M> then <S>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Switch Entries" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Alt-F8>. If "Switch Entries" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Switch Entries". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the first Main Menu entry that you want to switch. Press the number key associated with the entry you want to swap, or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. If the Main Menu entry you want to swap is password protected, you must enter the correct password in the password window before you can go on to the next step. Another window opens at the top of the Main Menu that asks you to choose the Main Menu entry to switch with this. Press the number associated with the entry you want to swap with this, or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. Press <F2> to make any necessary changes to the switched entries. Now try them out to see if they still work. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 55 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Menu: Save Menu File This command in the "Menu" pull-down menu saves all changes made in the program to disk. This entry is not normally used because all changes are automatically saved by HDM whenever you run a menu entry, return to the logo screen, press F1 for help, or after one minute of keyboard/mouse inactivity. You may use this if you make some changes to HDM and then want to turn your system off or reboot it immediately. An * displays in the lower right corner of the screen when there are some changes that have not been saved. Press <Alt-M> then <*>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Menu" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Save Menu File" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press <*> while you're in the Main Menu. If "Save Menu File" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Save Menu File". All changes made in HDM since the last save are now written to your system's disk. You can undo the changes made to the menu before they are written to disk by pressing <Ctrl-U> while the * is still displayed at the bottom right corner of the screen. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 56 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Page: Compress Page This command in the "Page" pull-down menu moves all the menu entries to the top of the page and leaves all the empty ones at the bottom of the page. This moves the descriptions, menu actions, and the security levels of each entry. Press <Alt-P> then <C>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Page" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Compress Page" and press <Enter>. If "Compress Page" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Compress Page". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the page that you want to compress. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page you want to change; or move the cursor to the page, then press the <Enter> key. Press <Esc> to cancel the compress. If you press <Enter> all the menu entries move to the beginning of the page and the empty entries move to the end of the page. If there were no empty entries or all the empty ones were already at the bottom, nothing changes on the page. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 57 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Page: Erase Page This command in the "Page" pull-down menu allows you to delete all the entries in a page that have an equal or lower security level than your user security level, and optionally allows you to remove those entries with a higher security level. This will erase the description and menu actions and set the security level to zero for each entry on the page and also set the page security level to zero. Press <Alt-P> then <E>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Page" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Erase Page" and press <Enter>. If "Erase Page" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Erase Page". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the page where you want to delete all the entries with equal or lower security levels than your own. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page where you want to delete entries; or move the cursor to the page, then press the <Enter> key. A new window opens to confirm that you want to erase the entries in the current page that have the equal or lower security levels. Press <Y> to delete them or <N> to retain them. Pressing <Esc> will cancel the operation and return you to the Main Menu. If you confirmed the page to erase and any or all of the menu entires have a higher security level than your user security, HDM will ask you for a password for the highest security level found. If you enter a correct password all entries will be removed from the page, otherwise only the entries with the equal and lower security levels will be gone. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 58 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Page: Import Page This command in the "Page" pull-down menu allows you to import entries from a page in another menu file or from another page in the same menu file to empty entries in a page in the current menu. Press <Alt-P> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Page" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Import Page" and press <Enter>. If "Import Page" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Import Page". Next, a window opens at the bottom of the Main Menu asking for the menu file number and the page letter from which you want to copy entries. Enter a number from zero to 999 that corresponds to the copy-from menu file (HDM.000-HDM.999). Next enter the page letter (A-Z) of the copy-from entries you want. Now press <F2>. An error message will be displayed if the file doesn't exist or if you try to import from an old version menu file. A new window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to select a page in the current file for the copy-to position. Only the empty menu entries will be filled. Entries with an existing description and action will not be over-written. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page where you want the copied entries to appear; or move the cursor to the page, then press the <Enter> key. The empty entries are filled from the imported page. This includes the descriptions, menu actions, and security levels of the imported entries. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 59 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Page: Name Page This command in the "Page" pull-down menu allows you to change the name of a page in the Page Index. Press <Alt-P> then <N>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Page" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Name Page" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Alt-F2>. If "Name Page" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Name Page". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the page name in the Page Index that you want to change. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page you want to change; or move the cursor to the page, then press the <Enter> key. A new window opens and asks you to change the name of the current page in the Page Index. The current page name is displayed in reverse video until a key is pressed. If a cursor movement key is pressed, the entry stays and you can modify it. If you press a letter, number, or special character key first, HDM erases the field so you can continue keying in a new entry. The cursor is initially positioned after the last character in the page name. Change the name that is displayed in the Page Index, then press the <Enter> key. You can use up to nineteen characters. Press <Enter> to save the new page name. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 60 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Page: Switch Pages This command in the "Page" pull-down menu allows you to switch the menu entries and the page name of two pages in the current menu file. This also includes the descriptions, menu actions, and security levels of all the entries in the two pages. Press <Alt-P> then <S>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Page" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Switch Pages" and press <Enter>. If "Switch Pages" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Switch Pages". Next, a window opens at the top of the Main Menu asking you to choose the page that you want to switch. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page you want to switch; or press the page letter (A-Z), then press the <Enter> key. Now the window at the top of the Main Menu asks you to choose the page that you want to switch with the first page. Use the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys to display the page; or press the page letter (A-Z), then press the <Enter> key. The menu entries and the page names are now switched in the two pages, and you are returned to the Main Menu. You can press <Esc> at any time before the pages are switched to cancel the operation. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 61 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE SECURITY: Pull-Down Menu Commands HDM allows you to put security levels on just about everything in the program. These levels range from zero to 99. Security level zero allows access by anyone and security level 99 is the highest one available. Before any security levels can be assigned, you must add a password to at least one of these level numbers in the Master Password Table in the "Security" pull-down menu. When you try to access something with a security level higher than zero, you will be asked to enter a password. You can enter a password from the Master Password Table that has a security level equal to or higher than the level of the item you are trying to access. You can also have a security levels associated with User ID's. If you then log on with a security level higher than zero, you will be able to access everything with a lower or equal security level without having to enter a password. You can change the security level on any of the pull-down menu commands individually. Just move the cursor to the command in the pull-down menu where you want a security change, then press <Alt-F1>. A window will open with the current security level number for that command. Enter a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level of security. If your user security level is lower than the old or new number, HDM will ask you to enter a password for the higher level. Your user security level defaults to zero, a higher one can be assigned in the User ID Table in the "Security" pull-down menu. Passwords for the security levels are assigned in the "Master Password Table", also in the Security menu. Here's an example of adding security to a pull-down menu command: We want to stop all users with a security level below 35 from exiting HDM using the <F3> key or by picking "Exit HDM" from the "Exit" pull-down menu. First, pull down the "Exit" menu, then move the cursor to the "Exit HDM - F3" command. Press <Alt-F1> and a window opens with the current security level number of the Exit command. Enter 35 as the new security level. If your current user security is equal to or greater than 35 and the old security level, you're done. Otherwise HDM will ask you for the password for the higher of the two levels. Now if anyone with a security level less than 35 chooses "Exit HDM" from the "Exit" pull-down menu or presses <F3> to exit, HDM will ask for a password before allowing the exit to DOS. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 62 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: All Main Menu Entries This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to change the security level number for all Main Menu entries in the current menu file. This one password protects all 260 entries in the Main Menu as a group. This can be overridden for one page by setting a page security level number using "Page Security" in the "Security" pull-down menu or for one Main Menu entry by setting an individual menu entry security level using "Set password". Press <Alt-S> then <A>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "All Main Menu Entries" and press <Enter>. If "All Main Menu Entries" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "All Main Menu Entries". Next, a window opens at the top of the screen that will ask you to change the current security level number for this group of menu entries. Enter a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level of security. If your user security level is equal to or higher than both the new and old security level, you're done. Otherwise you must enter a password for the higher of the two levels. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 63 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: File Change Protection This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to protect the current menu file from changes, but it does not affect the running of Main Menu entries. The "Menu", "Page", "Security", and "Local" pull-down menus are controlled by this security for the current menu file only. Other menu files are not affected. Press <Alt-S> then <F>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "File Change Protection" and press <Enter>. If "File Change Protection" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "File Change Protection". Next, a window opens at the top of the screen that will ask you to change the current security level number for menu file changes. Enter a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level of security. If your user security level is equal to or higher than both the new and old security level, you're done. Otherwise you must enter a password for the higher of the two levels. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 64 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Hide/Disable Top Menu This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to change the security level number that hides the Top Menu and the pull-down menus, and disables the <F10> and slash keys. To access the Top Menu when its hidden, key in "/UNHIDE" from the Main Menu, then key in a password of a security level equal to or higher than the level used to hide it. Press <Alt-S> then <H>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Hide/Disable Top Menu" and press <Enter>. If "Hide/Disable Top Menu" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Hide/Disable Top Menu". Next, a window opens at the top of the screen that will ask you to change the current security level number for hiding the Top Menu and disabling the Top Menu keys. Enter a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level of security. If your user security level is equal to or higher than both the new and old security level, you're done. Otherwise you must enter a password for the higher of the two levels. To access the Top Menu while it is hidden, key in "/UNHIDE" while you are in the Main Menu. When you press the slash key, nothing will happen; but, as soon as you press the letter "U", a small window opens where you complete the word. Now enter a password with high enough security and then you will be in the Top Menu. Remember, if your user security level is equal to or higher than the security level used to hide the Top Menu, it will not be hidden for you. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 65 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Log Off Automatically This command in the "Security" pull-down menu will automatically log off a user, if one was logged on, after a set amount of time with no keyboard or mouse activity. You can set the inactive time from zero to 99 minutes. If you set it to zero, there will be no automatic logoff. The second activity that can be set here is to automatically run a menu entry when you log off. This will happen if you're logged off automatically by setting the inactive minutes above or if you log off manually by pressing <Alt-F3> or <Esc> from the main menu. If you set the page letter and entry number to blank, there will be no automatic execution when you log off. These two activities are independent of each other. You can just have an automatic log off, just an automatic execution of a menu entry when you log off, or both. Press <Alt-S> then <L>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Log Off Automatically" and press <Enter>. If "Log Off Automatically" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Log Off Automatically". A window will open asking for the number of minutes of inactivity before the user is logged off, the menu file number, and menu entry page & number to run when logged off. Key in the number of minutes to set the automatic log off or zero for no automatic log off. Key in the menu file number, page, and entry number to set up automatic execution of that entry when you log off or leave the page and entry number blank for no automatic execution. To use the automatic log-off feature or the automatic execution at log off time, you must set up at least one User ID in the "Security" pull-down menu's "User ID Table". If the Table is empty, no automatic log off or automatic execution will take place. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 66 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Master Password Table This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to set up passwords for any of the 99 security levels. You must create at least one password in this Table in order to use any security in HDM. Since this is the center of HDM's security system, you must add a high level of security to it so that others cannot add their own passwords to the table. You do this by first putting a password on a high level number in the table. Then positioning the cursor over the "Master Password Table" command in the "Security" pull-down menu, and press <Alt-F1>. Enter that high security level number in the window that opens. If your user security is lower than this number, you must then enter the password associated with it. To access the Master Password Table, press <Alt-S> then <M>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Master Password Table" and press <Enter>. If "Master Password Table" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Master Password Table". When the Table is displayed, it will show which security levels have a password set. To add or delete a password, key in the level number, or click on the number with your mouse. If the number you pick did not have a password, HDM will ask for a new one, and then it will ask you to re-enter it for verification. If the number already had a password set, it will ask you to enter its password or one of a higher level and will then delete it. To change an existing password, delete the current one, and then add the new one. You can create multiple master passwords with this system. Just put passwords on the highest level numbers, but don't use these numbers to protect anything in the menu system. These can then be used to over-ride any other passwords since a password of equal or higher security can be entered when one is requested. This also gives you a way to delete forgotten or unknown passwords from the Master Password Table. So, for your own safety, at least put a password on level 99, write it down, and store it in a safe place. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 67 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Page Security Level This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to change the security level number for one page of Main Menu entries in the current menu file. This security level takes priority for the menu entries on this page over one set for all Main Menu entries as a group. The security level for an individual menu entry on the same page which was set using "Set Security" will take priority over this one. Press <Alt-S> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Page Security" and press <Enter>. If "Page Security Level" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Page Security Level". Next, a window opens at the top of the screen asking you to choose the page of Main Menu entries that you want to secure. Press the letter key associated with the page you want, or move the cursor to the page and press the <Enter> key. Another window will open with the current security level for the chosen page. Key in a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level. If your user level is lower than either the old or new security level, you must then enter a password for the higher of the two security levels. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 68 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Set Security This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to change the security level number of one Main Menu entry in the current menu file. This security number takes priority for this Main Menu entry over the security levels set on the whole page and on all Main Menu entries as a group. Press <Alt-S> then <S>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Set Security" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press <Alt-F1> which is the short-cut key for this command when you are in the Main Menu. If you press <Alt-F1> when you are on a pull-down menu command, HDM will set the security level for that command, not a Main Menu entry. If "Set Security" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Set Security". Next, a window opens at the top of the screen asking you to choose the Main Menu entry that you want to secure. Press the number key associated with the entry, or move the cursor to the entry and press the <Enter> key. Another window will open with the current security level for the chosen menu entry. Key in a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level. If your user level is lower than either the old or new security level, you must then enter a password for the higher of the two security levels. Now only users with a high enough security level or those that know a password to use can run, change, or move this entry. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 69 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: Top Menu: All Commands This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to change the security level number for accessing all commands in all pull-down menus. This group level security can be over-ridden for an individual pull-down menu command by placing the cursor on one, and pressing <Alt-F1>. To go to this command, press <Alt-S> then <T>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Top Menu: All Commands" and press <Enter>. If "Top Menu: All Commands" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Top Menu: All Commands". Next, a window will open with the current security level for the the group of pull-down menu commands. Key in a number from zero to 99 where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level. If your user level is lower than either the old or new security level, you must then enter a password for the higher of the two security levels. Now only users with a high enough security level or those that know a password for the pull-down menu commands in the Top Menu will be able to use them. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 70 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Security: User ID Table This command in the "Security" pull-down menu allows you to add, change, and delete user identification, user security level, initial menu file, initial menu entry, and, optionally, to set a user password. If any entries are made in the User ID Table, then users will be forced to log on to HDM with their user name and password (if set up) before they will be able to use the menu. Press <Alt-S> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Security" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "User ID Table" and press <Enter>. If "User ID Table" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "User ID Table". The "User ID Table" can contain up to 99 entries. To add a new user, press <Ins>, or press <Enter> on a blank line. Inserting a new user will add them on a new line just before the current one unless it's blank in that case, it will use the blank one. Enter up to 25 characters for the User ID, then press <Enter>. Enter the user's base menu file number (0-999), then press <Enter>. Now you can enter a menu entry if you want. If you enter just a page letter, you will be put on that page. If you enter both a page letter and an entry number, that menu entry will automatically run when the user logs on. Next, enter a security level for the user. If your user level is less than the one you entered, you will have to enter a password of equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. Finally you can enter a password for this user. If you do, the user will have to enter it, or one with an equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. If no password is entered, then the user only needs to key in the User ID to log on to HDM. To change any of the User ID information, move the cursor to the one you want to change and press the <Enter> key. If your user security is lower than that of the user your changing, you must enter a password with a security level equal to or greater than it. When you change the user's security level number, you will have to enter a password for the higher of the old or new levels if either one is higher than your user level. To change a user's password, delete the old one first, and then enter a new one. To delete a user from the Table, move the cursor to the user's name and press the <Del> key. If your the user security is lower than that of the user you're deleting, you will have to enter a password with a security level equal to or greater than it. To save the "User ID Table" with all your changes, you must press the <F2> key. To cancel the changes you made, press <Esc> and the "User ID Table" will revert back to the way it was. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 71 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Action Display This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to display the menu action in the title box at the top of the Main Menu for the highlighted menu description in the Main Menu. This in no way inhibits any other function of HDM. You can move the cursor through the Main Menu, start an entry, display the top menu, etc. This entry acts as a toggle. Choosing it again will display the user's titles. Press <Alt-L> then <A>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Action Display" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, you can press the short-cut key for this command: <F5>. If "Action Display" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Action Display". The box above the Main Menu will alternate between displaying the menu actions and the user defined title lines. Local: Border Lines This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to change the type of border lines used in all windows in HDM. The choices are single lines, double lines, thick bold lines, or no lines at all. This affects only the current menu file as other menu files can have different borders. Press <Alt-L> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Border Lines" and press <Enter>. If "Border Lines" has a higher security level then you do, you must first enter a password of equal or greater security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Border Lines". A window is displayed with the four border choices. You can move the cursor through the choices to see what each one will look like. Press <Enter> when the cursor is on the one you want to use, or you can simply press the first letter (S,D,B,N) of the border type you want. Press <Esc> to cancel the border window and keep the type of borders you currently have. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 72 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Change Colors This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to change the colors of the Main Menu, the status bars at the top and bottom of the screen, the pull-down menus, and the pop-up windows. You can choose from predefined color palettes or you can specify the color of each component in a palette. The components are the foreground color, the background color, the emphasized color, the window title color, and the window border color. These colors are for the current menu file only. Each menu file can have its own set of colors. Press <Alt-L> then <C>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Change Colors" and press <Enter>. If "Change Colors" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> with the cursor on "Change Colors". A window opens containing a list of what can be changed: the Main Menu panel, the status bars, and three levels of pop-up windows. Another window shows the current colors set for each of the items in the list. As you scroll through the list, the colors change in the sample box at the right. Choose an item in the list by moving the cursor to it and press the <Enter> key, or press the first letter or number (M,1,2,3,S) of the item. You can also use your mouse to click on your choice. If you choose the status bar, only two colors are used so a window is opened where you can choose the foreground and background colors only. Move the cursor up or down to choose foreground or background, and move it right or left to choose the colors. When you have the colors you want, press <F2> to save them. The colors will change in the status bar, and you will return to the Main Menu. If you press <Esc> to cancel the changes, you will return to the previous window. If you don't choose the status bar, a window is opened with the predefined color palettes and the user defined palette. As you scroll through the palettes, the sample color box at the right now shows what colors make up each palette. Choose a color palette by moving the cursor to it and press the <Enter> key, or press the first letter (S,B,G,C,R,M,Y,W,U) of the palette. If you don't choose the user defined color palette, the item you picked from the list will immediately have the predefined color palette that you chose, and you will be returned to the Main Menu. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 73 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE If you choose the user defined palette, a window will open with the five components of a palette and the colors for each component. Move the cursor up or down to go to the different components, or you can press the first letter (E,F,W,T,B) of the one you want to change. Move the cursor left or right to choose the colors. You can also choose colors with your mouse by clicking on any of the colors in any row. The sample color box will show you what the current color combination will look like. The reverse video cursor will use the background color for text and the foreground color as its background. Press <F2> to save the new colors and return to the Main Menu. If you press <Esc> to cancel the user defined palette window, you will return to the previous window. Local: Date/Top Menu This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to display the top status bar with the date and time, the top menu bar, or both. The entry acts as a switch. Each time you choose it, you will display the next configuration of the three choices for the top of the screen. This affects the current menu file only, other menu files can have different configurations. Press <Alt-L> then <D>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Date/Top Menu" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F6>. If "Date/Top Menu" has a higher security level then you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Date/Top Menu". The top two lines of the screen will switch between the three date/time and menu bar configurations. If you choose not to show the date and time at the top of the screen, the time will display in the lower right corner of the screen. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 74 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Lines in Menu This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to display different line configurations inside the Main Menu. The entry acts as a switch. Each time you choose it, you will display the next configuration of the four choices for the lines in the Main Menu. This affects the current menu file only as other menu files can have different line configurations. Press <Alt-L> then <L>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Lines in Menu" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F7>. If "Lines in Menu" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or greater security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Lines in Menu". The Main Menu and Page Index will switch from no lines inside the boxes, to a line at the top, to a line at the bottom, to lines at both the top and the bottom of the boxes. There are only two configurations for the exploded menu screen - with or without inside lines. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 75 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Menu Macros This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to add, change, or delete any of the ten available macros for the current menu file. These macros can be used in any of the 260 menu actions in this menu file. Other menu files will have their own set of macros. Press <Alt-L> then <M>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Menu Macros" and press <Enter>. If "Menu Macros" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password of equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Menu Macros". Next, a window opens with the ten macros over the Main Menu. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between macros, or click on one with your mouse. Each macro can contain up to 255 characters. This string of characters will replace the macro (& and a number) whenever it is used in a menu action in a Main Menu entry, in the DOS window, or another macro. A macro can contain anything a menu action can. See the section "Menu Action" for more information. If you move the cursor to a macro that contains characters, it will be displayed in reverse video. This indicates that the macro will be erased if you start keying in other characters without first moving the cursor. If you press a normal character key first, the macro will be replaced by the new characters you key in there. If you press a cursor movement key first, you will be able to make changes to the macro that is already there. If you make any mistakes, you can press <Ctrl-U> to undo the changes as long as you did not leave that macro line. To delete a macro, press <Ctrl-BackSpace> while the cursor is in that macro's line. To restore a macro to its original contents, press <Ctrl-U> before you leave that field. When you're done with the macro window, press <F2> to save all your additions, changes, and deletions; or press <Esc> to cancel all the changes you made and revert back to the way the macros were before you opened the macro window. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 76 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Switch Menus This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to switch the positions of the Main Menu and the Page Index; and to switch between the standard menu and the exploded menu interfaces. There are six different menu configurations to see before going back to the original screen. This affects the current menu file only, other menu files can have different screen configurations. Press <Alt-L> then <S>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Switch Menus" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F8>. If "Switch Menus" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or greater security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Switch Menus". The Main Menu and Page Index will alternate between the left and right sides of the screen for each of the three menu interfaces available making a total of six different screen configurations. One type is the original version of the HDM screen with no color border; another type is the same screen with filled in borders; the final type has exploded windows with shadows. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 77 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Local: Top Box Titles This command in the "Local" pull-down menu allows you to add, change, or delete any of the four available title lines in the current menu file. These title lines are displayed above the Main Menu in the title box. One, two, three, or four of the lines will display depending on the Date/Time and Top Menu configuration and the Main Menu screen type. This affects the current menu file only as other menu files can have different titles. Press <Alt-L> then <T>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Local" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Top Box Titles" and press <Enter>. If "Top Box Titles" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Top Box Titles". Next, a window opens with the four title lines over Main Menu. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between the titles, or click on one of them with your mouse. Each title line can contain up to 74 characters. You can use the menu action function {USER} to display the current User ID, if any, in any of the title lines. If you move the cursor to a title line that contains characters, it will be displayed in reverse video. This indicates that the title line will be erased if you start keying in characters without first moving the cursor. If you press a normal character key first, the title line will be replaced by the new characters you key in there. If you press a cursor movement key first, you will be able to make changes to the title that already exist in that field. To delete a title line, press <Ctrl-BackSpace> while the cursor is in that title line. To restore a title line to its original contents, press <Ctrl-U> before you leave that title line. When you're done with the title window, press <F2> to save all your additions, changes, and deletions; or press <Esc> to cancel all the changes you made and revert back to the way the titles were before you opened the title window. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 78 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Blinking Cursor This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to change the rate of the blinking of the cursor. This affects all the menu files. Press <Alt-G> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Blinking Cursor" and press <Enter>. If "Blinking Cursor" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Blinking Cursor". A window is opened that allows you to enter the blink speed. Enter a number from zero to 99. The lower numbers are a slow rate of blinking - the higher numbers are a fast rate of blinking. If you enter zero, the cursor will not blink at all. The cursor blink speed will not change until you save it. Press <F2> to save the new speed, or press <Esc> to cancel the change to the rate of blinking. Global: Date/Time Format This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to set the date format to American (MM/DD/YY) or European (DD/MM/YY) and the time format to standard 12-hour or military 24-hour clock. Press <Alt-G> then <D>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Date/Time Format" and press <Enter>. If "Date/Time Format" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Date/Time Format". A window is opened that allows you to pick the date and time format you want to use for all menu files. You can choose by pointing and clicking with your mouse, entering the highlighted letter, or by moving the cursor and pressing <Enter>. Press <F2> to save the new date and time formats. Press <Esc> to cancel the changes and revert back to the previous formats. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 79 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Global Settings This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to change the following Yes/No settings: 1. Confirm or not confirm an exit to DOS when <F3> is pressed. 2. Display or not display empty menu pages in the Page Index. 3. Display or not display empty menu entries in the Main Menu. 4. Wrap or not wrap to other pages when using the cursor keys. 5. Ask for or don't ask for project number when starting HDM. Press <Alt-G> then <G>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Global Settings" and press <Enter>. If "Global Settings" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Global Settings". A window opens with the current global settings that affect all menu files. If the box at the beginning of a line has an "X" in it, then it is set to "yes". To alternate between "yes" and "no", click anywhere in the line with your mouse; press the highlighted letter; or move the cursor to the one you want to change and press <Enter>. When you're finished, press <F2> to save your changes, or <Esc> to revert to the original settings. "Confirm <F3> Exit HDM" will pop up a window asking if you want to exit. Press <Y> or <Enter> to go to DOS; press <N> or <Esc> to continue where you were when you pressed <F3>. "Don't Show Empty Pages" will only display page names in the Page Index that have at least one menu entry in them. "No Empty Menu Entries" will only display numbers in the Main Menu that have a menu entry associated with it. "Same Page Cursor Wrap" will wrap the cursor to the first entry on a page when you go past the last entry, and it will wrap to the last entry on the page when you try to go up above the first entry. Normally the cursor would go to the next page or the previous page of menu entries. "Ask for Project Number" will automatically ask for project info when you first start HDM or when logging on. (from User ID Table) Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 80 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Inactive Execution This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to set up a menu entry to run automatically from any menu file in HDM based on the amount of keyboard and mouse inactivity time. You will have fifteen seconds to cancel the running of this entry once the automatic execution warning window is displayed; otherwise, it will run as scheduled. This affects all menu files. Press <Alt-G> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Inactive Execution" and press <Enter>. If "Inactive Execution" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password of equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Inactive Execution". A window is opened that allows you to enter the number of minutes of inactive time. Enter a number from zero to 99 minutes. Zero minutes means no automatic execution. Next enter the menu file number (0-999 for HDM.000-HDM.999) and the menu entry (A1-Z0) page letter and entry number. Press <F2> to save the new inactivity minutes, menu file number, and menu entry. Press <Esc> to cancel the changes and revert back to the previous entries. Global: Mouse Speed This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to change the horizontal and vertical motion sensitivity of the mouse. This affects all the menu files. Press <Alt-G> then <M>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Mouse Speed" and press <Enter>. If "Mouse Speed" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Mouse Speed". A window is opened that allows you to enter the horizontal and vertical mouse speed. Enter a number from zero to 99 for each one. The lower numbers are a slower rate of speed while the higher numbers are a faster rate of speed. The mouse speed will not change until you save it. Press <F2> to save the new speed, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes to the mouse speed sensitivity. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 81 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Phone Parameters This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to change the communication port and the dial type for the {DIAL} menu action function. This affects all the menu files. Press <Alt-G> then ; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Phone Parameters" and press <Enter>. If "Phone Parameters" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Phone Parameters". A window is opened that allows you to choose COM1, COM2, COM3, or COM4 (communication port) and TONE or PULSE (dial type). The current parameter settings are displayed in the window title. Move the cursor to your choice and press <Enter>, or press the first number or letter (1,2,3,4,T,P) of your choice. You can also make choices by pointing with the mouse cursor and clicking with the right or left mouse button. Press <F2> to save the new communication port and dial type, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes and revert to the previous communications parameters. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 82 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Screen Blanker This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to change the number of minutes of inactivity before the screen is blanked out. This saves your monitor from screen burn-in if you leave it on for long periods of time. You can also enter a message that will be displayed in various positions on the screen to remind you that HDM blanked out the screen. When the screen is blanked out, you can press any key to restore it to the previous display. This affects all the menu files. Press <Alt-G> then <S>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Screen Blanker" and press <Enter>. If "Screen Blanker" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Screen Blanker". A window is opened that allows you to enter the amount of time (zero to 99 minutes) and a screen-blanker message up to 80 characters long. Entering zero for the number of minutes disables the screen save feature so the screen will never be blanked out. Enter the number of minutes of inactivity time and optionally enter your own screen-blanker message. Use the up and down arrow keys to move between the two fields or select it with your mouse. Press <F2> to save the new screen-blanker data or press <Esc> to cancel the changes and revert to the prior screen-blanker minutes and message. You can also select save or cancel with your mouse by pointing to the "F2=Save" or "Esc=Cancel" and clicking with the left or right mouse button. You can blank the screen out any time you choose without waiting for the time you set by pressing <Ctrl-B> anywhere in HDM. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 83 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Global: Timed Execution This command in the "Global" pull-down menu allows you to set up menu entries that will run automatically from any menu file in HDM based on the day of the week or month and the time of day. You must be in the HDM at the time an entry is to run in order for the execution to take place. You will have fifteen seconds to cancel the running of the entry once the timed execution warning window is displayed, otherwise it will run as scheduled. Press <Alt-G> then <T>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Global" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Timed Execution" and press <Enter>. If "Timed Execution" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Timed Execution". A window is opened that displays the Timed Execution Table. Up to 99 timed entries can be set up to run automatically. The information in the Table for each entry is the menu file number (zero to 999), the menu entry (A1 to Z0), weekly or monthly (W or M), the days of the week or month (enter up to seven days), and finally the time to run the entry. For weekly entries, the days of the week are: 1=Sunday, 2=Monday, 3=Tuesday, 4=Wednesday, 5=Thursday, 6=Friday, and 7=Saturday. For monthly entries, the days of the month are the actual date (1-31). Press <F2> to save a new or change timed entry, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes to the entry. You can add, change, or delete as many of the 99 timed entries as you need. When your finished with the changes, press <F2> to save the new Timed Execution Table, or press <Esc> to cancel the changes and revert to the way the Table was before you open the Timed Execution Table window. Examples: File Entry Days of Week or Month Time ---------- --------------------- -------- 000 A1 W 2 3 4 5 6 10:00 pm 256 Z0 M 12 24 6:00 am The first example will automatically run the first entry on page A from file HDM.000 at ten o'clock Monday through Friday nights. The second entry in the Timed Execution Table will run Main Menu entry zero on page Z from HDM.256 on the 12th and 24th of each month at six o'clock in the morning. The entries can run any normal HDM menu action, like a tape backup or a communications program. One thing to note is that you must leave your system with the Hard Disk Menu System active on the screen. If you're at the DOS prompt or anywhere else, HDM will not run your program automatically when the time comes. You can be anywhere in HDM, in any menu file, logged off at the logo screen, with the screen blanked out, etc., and the timed execution will work. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 84 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Exit: DOS Window This command in the "Exit" pull-down menu allows you to open a DOS window where you can key in any DOS command, batch file, or program and run it from HDM. Press <Alt-X> then <D>; or press the <F10> key, then move the cursor to "Exit" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "DOS Window" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F9>. If "DOS Window" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "DOS Window". The DOS window is opened. You can key in up to 64 characters that can contain anything you would normally include in a menu action including macros and functions. Press the <Enter> key to execute the entry, or press <Esc> to cancel the execution and return to the Main Menu. The DOS window remembers the last nine entries keyed into it. You can use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through them or select one with the mouse. Press the <Enter> key on a previous entry to run it again, or you can make changes to it first, then run it. Exit: Log Off This command in the "Exit" pull-down menu will log off a user if one was logged on and display the logo screen where another user can log on to HDM. Press <Alt-X> then <L>; or press the <F10> key and move the cursor to "Exit" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Log Off" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <Alt-F3>. If "Log Off" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number for this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Log Off". The HDM logo screen is now displayed. If the user must log on to get back into HDM, then the user must enter their User ID and possibly, a password. You can set up user ID's and passwords, (optional) in the "User ID Table" in the "Security" pull-down menu. If the Table is empty, you do not have to enter a User ID to get into HDM, just press any key. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 85 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Exit: Menu Exit This command in the "Exit" pull-down menu will return you to the previous menu file, if any, or to the initial logo screen. You must have used the {MENU} action function to go to another menu file or this will return you to the HDM logo screen. If you have User ID's in the User ID Table, HDM will ask if you want to log off before going to the logo screen. This command is similar to using the {RETURN} menu action function. Press <Alt-X> then <M>; or press <F10> and move the cursor to "Exit" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Menu Exit" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press <Esc> while you are in the Main Menu. If "Menu Exit" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number for this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Menu Exit". An example of using this command is: you started at base menu 100 by using the -M startup switch or because 100 was the starting menu recorded in your User ID record. If {MENU 175} was used to go to another menu, the "Menu Exit" command will return you to menu file 100 at the same menu entry that took you to menu file 175. Exit: Project This command in the "Exit" pull-down menu allows you to start, change, or remove a project number or project information. This data will be used by the {PROJECT} function in a menu action or in the title, and recorded in the HDM log file. Press <Alt-X> then ; or press the <F10> key, then move the cursor to "Exit" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Project" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press <Alt-F5> while you are in the main menu. If "Project" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number of this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Project". HDM will then ask for a security level number for the Project command. Enter a number from zero to 99, where zero is no security and 99 is the highest level. If you enter a number that is higher than your own user security, you will be asked for a password with equal or higher security. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 86 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System COMMAND REFERENCE Exit: Exit HDM This command in the "Exit" pull-down menu entry exits from the Hard Disk Menu to the DOS prompt. Press <Alt-X> then <X>; or press the <F10> key and move the cursor to "Exit" and press <Enter>, then move the cursor to "Exit HDM" and press <Enter>. As an alternative, just press the short-cut key for this command: <F3>. If "Exit HDM" has a higher security level than you do, you must first enter a password with equal or higher security from the Master Password Table. To change the security level number for this command, press <Alt-F1> while the cursor is on "Exit HDM". This security also affects the {EXIT} and {QUIT} menu action functions. Also if your user security level is lower than that of exit, the "F3=Exit" at the bottom of the screen will not display. The screen is cleared and the DOS prompt is displayed. You can do whatever you want while in DOS; and when you then want to return to HDM, just press the <X> key, then the <Enter> key and you will return to the menu at the location where you left it. The <X> key used to return to HDM can be changed to any one to eight character name that is not already in use by HDM, DOS, or any other program installed on your system. To change it, set the "X" environment variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file before HDM is started. This will also be the name of the temporary working batch file written out by HDM. Use "SET X=MENU" to use a work file named MENU.BAT and to key in "MENU" and press <Enter> to return to HDM from DOS. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 87 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System ERROR MESSAGES 000 ERROR LOCATING THE HDM STARTUP DIRECTORY The menu program could not find itself in the starting directory. Make sure you are in the directory that contains HDM before you start it and check to see that the EXE file has not been renamed. 010 ERROR OPENING "FILE" The menu program could not find the specified "file" in the expected directory or received an error from DOS while trying to open it. Make sure any specified directories really exist. 020 ERROR READING "FILE" The menu program received an error from DOS while reading the specified "file" from the directory in which it was opened. This may be a result of trying to read a bad block on disk. 030 ERROR WRITING "FILE" The menu program received an error from DOS while writing the specified "file" to a directory. The disk could be full or the file could be set to read only. 040 ERROR CLOSING "FILE" The menu program received an error from DOS while attempting to close the specified "file" that it was reading or writing. 050 CAN'T FIND "Path" HDM could not find the path on the specified disk drive. Check that all directories specified are correct. This could also come from a {DIR} or {FILE} menu action function with an invalid path. 055 CAN'T ACCESS "Disk Drive" HDM could not access the drive specified in the {CK} function or the drive for a needed file. This could also come from a {DIR} or {FILE} menu action with an invalid drive specified. 064 EXCEEDED MAXIMUM NUMBER OF INPUT FIELDS HDM allows up to 64 active input fields at a time. This could be an internal program error - contact MicroFox Company. 088 EXCEEDED MAXIMUM NUMBER OF NESTED READS HDM can handle up to eight windows with active input fields at a time. This could be an internal program error - contact MicroFox Company. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 88 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System ERROR MESSAGES 099 DOS ERROR (#) RUNNING AN INTERNAL PROGRAM This can result from HDM not being able to find its Help or Dial program. It can also happen when running your own programs internally using the {RUN} menu action function or the ! function. Either the program couldn't be found or there was not enough memory to keep HDM in memory while running the program. 310 WRONG PASSWORD! You entered the wrong password for a user ID log on or an invalid security level password was entered when requested. 322 UNKNOWN USER! You tried to log on with a User ID that was not found in the User ID Table. 333 ALREADY AT MAXIMUM NUMBER OF RECORDS! The User ID Table or the Timed Execution Facility Table is full. There is a maximum of 99 Users and 99 Timed Executions in HDM. 590 NUMBER TO DIAL EXCEEDS 36 CHARACTERS! The {DIAL #} phone number function has a 36 character limit. 595 - COMMAND # - "MODEM RESPONSE MESSAGE" (ERROR #) The {DIAL} menu action function tried to send the modem a command and received a modem error; or HDM could not open a COM# port. 599 PICK UP PHONE, THEN PRESS A KEY! This message is display after the dialing sequence is sent to your modem from the {DIAL} menu action function. Pick up the telephone to talk to the person you called, then press any key. The modem is disconnected from the phone line and you can continue with your phone conversation. 661 CAN'T READ MENU FILE HDM.??? The menu program could not find the HDM.000 through HDM.999 file in the current directory, the -T specified directory, or the -0 through -9 specified directory. 688 OLD FORMAT MENU FILE! This can only happen when trying to import a page from a previous version's menu file. To fix this, read in the old menu file using the {MENU} action function, make any change to it, then press <Esc> to return to the menu file you were using. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 89 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System ERROR MESSAGES 700 WINDOW MEMORY UNDERFLOW! HDM tried to close more windows than were opened on the screen. This is an internal program error - contact MicroFox Company. 716 WINDOW MEMORY OVERFLOW! HDM allows up to sixteen active windows at one time. This is an internal program error - contact MicroFox Company. 732 EXCEEDED MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MOUSE HOT SPOTS! HDM allows up to 32 active mouse hot spots at one time. This is an internal program error - contact MicroFox Company. 777 CAN NOT CHANGE COLORS ON A MONOCHROME MONITOR! You have a monochrome monitor or you started HDM with the -V switch to force monochrome mode because of an unreadable screen. 799 OUT OF MEMORY HDM requires at least 256K of memory. If you have more than this, then there is another kind of error - contact MicroFox Company. 834 PAGE LETTER NOT A - Z! The imported page letter must be in the A through Z range. 909 MENU ACTION EXCEEDS 255 CHARACTERS! The menu action length limit was exceeded because the expansion of menu action function, a macro, or a parameter caused it to be greater than 255. Use the || menu action function to continue to another menu entry. 951 CANCELLED, UNBALANCED {BRACES} IN ACTION TEXT! The execution of the menu action was stopped when the number of left and right braces didn't match. 953 CANCELLED, &MACRO CALLS ITSELF! The execution of the menu action was stopped because the macro called itself and would have resulted in a loop. 954 CANCELLED, %PARAMETER CALLS ITSELF! The execution of the menu action was stopped because the macro parameter called itself and would have resulted in a loop. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 90 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: What language was the Hard Disk Menu System 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 HDM. What's wrong? A: When running your batch file, DOS does not automatically return from the calling batch file (X.BAT created by HDM). You can remedy this situation by using @@ in front of your batch file name. The @@ is changed to CALL for DOS 3.30 and above, or to 4DOS or COMMAND /C for earlier versions. If DW4 is a batch file and your entry was: CD\DSPWRITE~DW4~ change it to: CD\DSPWRITE~@@DW4~ Q: When I try to run a batch file, I get a "Bad Command or File Name" message from DOS, then I go right back to the menu. I checked the batch file name, and it has the @@ in front of it and it's in the directory that I go to in my menu action. Why doesn't it work? A: You are running a version of DOS prior to 3.00 and HDM is trying to run your batch file with COMMAND.COM and DOS can not locate it. So the message is that it can't find COMMAND.COM, not your batch file. Make sure that the root directory, where COMMAND.COM is located, is in your DOS path so that it is always accessible. Here is an example of an AUTOEXEC.BAT: PROMPT $P $G $A PATH C:\;C:\HDM;C:\DOS CD\HDM HDM Q: When I exit from HDM by pressing <F3> and then key in <X> at the DOS prompt to return to HDM, I get a "Bad command or file name" message. Why does this happen? A: This happens because DOS can not find the file that HDM created called X.BAT. DOS must locate this file through the DOS path. Make sure you set up the proper path command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT before starting HDM. The path must include the HDM directory; or, if you used the -W switch when starting HDM, the work directory. Here is an example using a work directory: PROMPT $P $G $A PATH C:\;D:\WORKDIR;C:\DOS CD\HDM HDM -WD:\WORKDIR Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 91 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: Some DOS commands work fine from HDM 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 points to the DOS files. Add the DOS directory to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as shown in the previous two examples. Q: We run HDM on a 3COM network with the HDM program on the server. When a user returns to the menu from a program, strange things happen. Sometimes we get "Batch file missing" and remain at the DOS prompt. Sometimes there will be a lot of "Bad Command or File Name" messages in a row before returning to HDM. Other times a user will return, but will be in another user's menu. We use the -T switch to point to each user's unique menu file. What's going on? A: The temporary work file called X.BAT is being overwritten by each user every time they run a menu entry. The HDM directory on the server is the default work directory for X.BAT. Each user must write the work file to their own read/write directory because it can not be shared unless the "X" environment variable is used. Use the -W switch to point to a different work directory for each user or use "SET X=" to rename the working batch file. Here is a startup example: CD\HDM HDM -TH:\MENUTEXT -WC:\MYOWNDIR Q: If I start a program or batch file from the menu and it runs for a long time and I didn't really want to run it, can I abort it and get right back to HDM? A: DOS will let you cancel a batch file by pressing <Ctrl-Break>. When you do cancel it you will end up at the DOS prompt, just key in <X> and press <Enter> and you'll be back where you were in HDM. Q: HDM III let me put a password on just one of the top menu commands instead of all of them at once, I don't see anything in the "Security" menu that will let me do that in HDM IV. A: You're right. There is nothing in the "Security" pull-down menu to accomplish that, but it still can be done. Make sure you have at least one password set in the Master Password Table. Then put the cursor on the command in the pull-down menu that you want to protect and press Alt-F1. You can then key in a security level number that affects just that one command. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 92 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: How can I password protect the F3 key so you can't access DOS? A: The answer is really the same as the previous answer because F3 is just a short cut to the "Exit HDM" entry in the "Exit" pull-down menu. Press Alt-X, move the cursor down to "Exit HDM F3", then press Alt-F1. Enter a security level number that is higher than the level of the users you want to keep from going DOS. Make sure you have a password set on that level or higher in the Master Password Table. Now both F3 and the "Exit HDM" menu command are protected. Q: We run 3270 emulation on our PC to connect to our company's mainframe. When we hot key over to the mainframe side, the key lock status, date & time, and the cursor from HDM bleed through to our mainframe application. How can we stop this? A: This happens because HDM continuedly writes those items out to the screen as it's waiting for keyboard or mouse entry. Use the -K startup switch and the key locks will not be displayed, and the date and time will only be updated when a key is pressed or the mouse is used. Also set the blinking cursor speed to zero as this will stop HDM from blinking the cursor so it will not have to keep writing the changing cursor to the screen. (HDM -K) Q: I have a Hercules compatible video card and I'm having a problem with my cursor. When I go into Word Perfect the cursor shows right in the middle of a character instead of below it. This makes it very difficult to see the cursor. What can I do? A: This seems to be a problem with some Hercules clones and certain PC programs. HDM itself does not change the cursor, it saves the way the cursor looks and uses its own cursor. When it runs another program, HDM restores the cursor to its saved shape and size. You can fix the problem by using one of HDM's built in menu action functions. The {CURSOR} function can set the cursor to the way you want it to look: {CURSOR 12 13} C:~CD\WP60~WP~ Q: I need to pass a parameter to Word Perfect that includes the left curly brace character. When I include it in the menu action and try to run it, I get a message that says unbalanced braces and it aborts. What can I do to get this to work? A: The curly braces are used to identify menu action functions, and HDM checks to make sure they're used in pairs. To pass a single one, use these substitute characters: <Ctrl-Q> for the left curly brace; and, <Ctrl-P> for the right curly brace. The other problem character is the tilde (~) since it's used as a command separator. Use <Ctrl-Z> if you need that character in a command or program. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 93 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: When a user logs on to HDM, we automatically log them in to our network by putting the menu entry with their network login in the User ID Table. Is there a way to automatically log them out of the network when they log off of HDM? A: Yes there is. In the "Log Off Automatically" command in the "Security" pull-down menu, you can enter a menu file number and a menu entry's page and number. This entry automatically runs when the user is logged off by HDM when the automatic log off time is up or if the user manually logs off of HDM. Q: The Timed Execution Facility works great -- except if you're on a network. We have a tape backup that we want to run from the server at two o'clock in the morning, monday through friday, but all the computers on the network try to run it. Since the Timed Execution is a global table, how can we get just the server to run it? A: The easiest way is to use the {CK} function to verify a drive that only the server has access to, like this: {CK T}TBACKUP C:~. When the other computers on the network hit the {CK T}, the menu action will be cancelled for them. A second way is to set an environment variable on the server: SET TAPEBACKUP=TBACKUP C:~ Then use this menu action: {%TAPEBACKUP%} which will be replaced on the server by TBACKUP C:~ and will become empty on all the others so that nothing will run. A third way is to run a menu action like this {MENU 400}{KEY Z 7} and use the -4 startup switch so that the server will run menu entry Z7 from a different menu file than all the others. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 94 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System Send to: MicroFox Company Order Info: (216) 659-9489 P.O. Box 447 Richfield, OH HDM431 44286-0447 U.S.A. QUANTITY $ AMOUNT Registration of HDM IV ............. $50 each ________ ________ Single Computer Version Includes: 1. Latest HDM Program Disk 2. Printed HDM User Manual 3. Tech Support (Mail, Phone, CompuServe) 4. Notice of Upgrades 5. Additional Programs HDM Network License ......... $200 per Server ________ ________ Includes all of the above plus a License for unlimited usage on one network. HDM Site License .......... $700 per Location ________ ________ Includes all of the above plus a License for unlimited usage at one site. HDM Corporate License ................. $1500 ________ ________ Includes all of the above plus a License for unlimited usage for one company. Additional HDM User Manuals ........ $10 each ________ ________ with any of the above licenses. Additional HDM program disks ........ $5 each ________ ________ with any of the above licenses. U.S.A. .......... $3 each Canada .......... $4 each SHIPPING CHARGES ________ ________ All others ...... $7 each (Please include shipping charges) SUBTOTAL _____________ Ohio residents add 5.75% SALES TAX _____________ DISK SIZE: 5 1/4" _____ 3 1/2" _____ TOTAL ============= Contact ________________________________________________________ Company ________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Phone ________________________________________________________ Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 95 HDM IV REFERENCE MANUAL Hard Disk Menu System CREDIT CARDS: American Express, Discover, Master Card, and Visa You can order by sending check, cash, money order, or company purchase order to MicroFox Company at P.O. Box 447, Richfield OH 44286. You can purchase the $50 (plus S & H) registered HDM IV package with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from the Public (software) Library by calling 1-800-2424-PsL or 1-713-524-6394; or by FAX to 1-713-524-6398; or by CompuServe Mail to 71355,470. These numbers are for orders only. To insure that you get the latest version, PsL will notify MicroFox the day of your order and we will ship the product directly to you. Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, registration options, product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, network licenses, site licenses, corporate licenses, etc. must be directed to MicroFox by calling 1-216-659-9489 or by sending CompuServe Mail to 73057,3113. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O. Box 35705, Houston TX 77235-5705. TECHNICAL SUPPORT If you have purchased a license to use the Hard Disk Menu System, you are eligible to receive technical support by telephone. Before contacting MicroFox Company, we suggest that you first look at the Table of Contents and the Question & Answer section of this manual as your question may already be answered there. If not, phone (216) 659-9489 Monday through Friday, from 10am to 6pm eastern time, and ask for Jim. All users can get support for HDM through CompuServe. Just send electronic mail with your questions to Jim at 73057,3113. You can also write to MicroFox Company at Post Office Box 447 in Richfield, Ohio, 44286-0447 U.S.A. Copyright (c) 1986-1991 by Jim Hass, MicroFox Company Page 96