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Text File | 1990-03-14 | 12.0 KB | 321 lines

MainMenuHelp 20 Use FILE for operations involving menu data files, such as creating a new file, loading a different file, getting a directory, changing file levels, etc. Use RECORDS for most operations on menu data re- cords, such as deleting, adding, changing records. Use MACROS to set up or print the macro strings to be associated with the function keys. Use SETUP to change the paramaters of the Menu-Matic or this installation program. Use AUTO EXEC to change or print the settings of the the menu options you wish to have executed at desig- nated times. Use EXIT to quit the program and save all records and settings, or to SHELL TO DOS. HelpAuto 35 To EXIT AND SAVE the changes you have made, use the F4 key. If you DO NOT WANT TO SAVE your changes, hit F5 key and say that you are sure when prompted. If you want to see a DIRECTORY, use the F2 key. You can move through the directory with arrow keys. Hit Esc to remove it. In the FREQUENCY field, enter -D- for DAILY, -W- for WEEKLY, -M- for MONTHLY, -O- for ONE TIME. Any other character, or a blank space stops the AUTO Execute. In the DAYS field, place a -Y- in the days of the week that the function should execute. The first day is Sunday. To execute on Sunday and Tuesday every week, the field should look like this: YNYNNNN. In the DATE field, enter the date upon which the function should execute. If it is to execute monthly then only the day of the month is relevant. If it is to execute one time only, then the month and the year are relevant also. In the TIME field, enter the time of day that the function should execute. This field must be com- pleted or the function will not execute. Only the hour and minute are necessary. Enter this field in in 24 hr. format. For instance, 11:15 p.m. would be entered as 23:15. To MOVE DOWN OR UP IN A COLUMN USE THE ARROW KEYS. To MOVE OVER IN A ROW, use the -Enter- Key. TO MOVE BACKWARDS IN A ROW, use the -Esc- Key. h1 39 OPEN loads a menu data file which has previously created. A window opens with the names of all the files in the current directory with the extension ".MNU". You choose one of these files to work with. NEW creates a new, blank menu data file. Type in a valid DOS file name of up to 8 characters. The extension ".MNU" is automatically added to the file. Use PRINT to print out your menu files. You may print EVERYTHING, the LEVEL you are on, a sel- ected RANGE, or an OVERVIEW, which shows you the overall structure of your system. Output is sent to the device you have chosen under SETUP as the Output Device. TOP LEVEL is the level of the menu choices which are displayed on the first screen in the menu pro- gram. These choices can either be executed them- selves, or they can be LINKED OPTIONS, i.e., choices which bring up sub-menus. In order to designate an option as a LINKED OPTION, place a dash '-' as the first character of the name. LINKED LEVEL is the level of the sub-menus. These are attached or linked to top-level options. These options are directly executed by the Menu- Matic. Use DIRECTORY to see a directory of your disk. You may specify wildcards and a path if you wish. The default is to show all files (*.*). ABOUT tells a little bit about the Menu-Matic. Yet, it is not merely a vanity added for no good reason. It also lists the size of the MENUMATC.EXE file and the MENUINST.EXE file. If the sizes listed do not match your copies, then the files may have been tampered with. h2 19 Use ADD to add new choices to the main level or the linked level. You may have up to 16 choices on the main level, and 5 choices in each of the sub-menus. Use CHANGE to change existing menu choices, at either the main level or linked level. Use DELETE to delete menu choices. This marks records to be deleted at the end of the session. If you do not exit normally, they will not be properly deleted. After marking a record in this way, you may go back and salvage it by restoring the original name. Be careful when deleting linked options, however, since this deletes all sub-menu options also, and is irrevocable, once you confirm your intent to do it. Use XCHANGE to change the placement of the options at the main or sub-menu level. h3 3 EDIT edits and PRINT prints to the device which you have specified under SETUP as the Output Device. C'est simple, n'est-ce pas? h4 35 RETURN TO specifies which menu data file should be loaded upon return to Menu-Matic. By default, the last data file in use is loaded, but you can return to a different file if you wish. OUTPUT TO is where you want the Menu Installation program to output PRINT's. This parameter does not affect the Menu-Matic main program (it doesn't print anything!). MESSAGE is the text that you want to be displayed on the third line of the Menu-Matic. The default message is 'Copyright 1988-90, BC Enterprises'. You might prefer to have your company name or some other message. The message may be up to 50 characters in length. PASSWORD sets a general password for the system. You can set a password for each option but since this would be tedious if you wanted to protect all options, this one password will do the trick. Place a '+' sign as the first character of the option (second character if you already have the '-' character to mark something as a linked option). COLORS lets you choose pretty colors for the Menu- Matic screens. Sorry, the Menu Installation Program (the one you are using right now) colors are writ in stone. But, if people express an interest, we may allow you to set these colors in a later version. You can force the program to run in monochrome by adding 'mono' to the command line. OTHER SETUPS lets you specify settings for a number of other little options. h6 8 Shell to DOS puts you back out at the system prompt while keeping the Menu Installatin program in memory. Type EXIT at the prompt to return to the program. THIS IS A TEMPORARY EXIT AND DOES NOT SORT FILES PROPERLY FOR USE BY MENU-MATIC. EXIT PROGRAM writes all files and ends the program. This is the proper way to exit this program. helpdata1 72 Use arrow keys to move up and down between fields. To EXIT AND SAVE the changes you have made, use the F4 function key. If you do NOT WANT TO SAVE your changes, hit F5 and say that you are sure when prompted. To view a DIRECTORY, hit the F2 function key, then give a path when prompted. Once the directory comes up, you may use arrow keys to select a file. When you hit -Enter- the file name will be copied into the data entry screen. Otherwise, remove the directory by hitting -Esc-. AUTO-GENERATE searches for a file name which you input. The file name you give must be complete, IN- CLUDING EXTENSIONS such as '.EXE' or '.COM'. You must then specify which drive the program is on (just hit -Enter- if it is on the current drive). The pro- gram then searches for your file. If it finds your file it will write the data entry record for the Menu Matic. It will include an Option Name if you used the 'pick-from-list' function. F6 will RUN THE BATCH FILE created by the cur- rent data entry record. It should work properly if Menu Installation program is in the same directory as your Menu-Matic. F7 DELETES THE CURRENT LINE and moves the following 'Command #' lines up. It does not affect the De- scription line or the Password line. If entered from the Option Name line, it deletes that line but does not move the others up. F8 INSERTS A LINE AT THE CURRENT LINE and moves all following lines down. It has no effect if entered from the Option Name lines and it does not affect the Description line or the Password Line. Command 10 is lost. ACTIVE KEYS AND KEY COMBINATIONS Arrow keys: Up, Down, Left, Right Ctrl Arrows: Word Left, Word Right Home & End: First or Last Character of Line PgUp & PgDn: First or Last Data Entry Line Ins: Toggle Insert Mode on and Off Ctrl-End: Erase from cursor to end of Line SPECIAL CHARACTERS Menu-Matic uses some special characters to perform certain functions. YOU CAN SET UP PERFECTLY WORKABLE MENUS WITHOUT EVER USING ONE OF THESE SPECIAL CHARACTERS. However they will increase functionality. - First character of option name denotes that this option BRINGS UP A SUB-MENU + First (or second, if used with "-") character of an option name denotes PASSWORD PROTECTION * First character of a Command 1-10 line denotes that this option ALLOWS FURTHER PARAMETERS WHEN EXECUTED " Used in conjunction with the "*" to GIVE A PROMPT TO THE USER when entering a run-time parameter # Used as the first character of Command 1, loads a new MENU DATA FILE helpdata2 27 To exit and save the changes you have made, use the F4 key. If you do not want to save your changes, hit F5 key and say that you are sure when prompted. If you want to see a DIRECTORY, use the F2 key. You can move through the directory with arrow keys and pick a file name to be inserted in the macro if you choose. Otherwise, just hit Esc to remove it. MACROS MAY BE UP TO FIFTEEN CHARACTERS LONG. They consist only of printable characters, i.e., you can't use function keys, or other special keys. Use the <!> character to signify a CARRIAGE RETURN. Example: 1Emyfile! Picks option 1 submenu choice E, argument myfile, and return. ACTIVE KEYS AND KEY COMBINATIONS Arrow keys: Up, Down, Left, Right Ctrl Arrows: Word Left, Word Right Home & End: First or Last Character of Line PgUp & PgDn: First or Last Data Entry Line Ins: Toggle Insert Mode on and Off Ctrl-End: Erase from cursor to end of Line HelpSetups: 42 WINDOWS lets you specify what kind of windows you want. Exploding windows grow on the screen when they come up. Mild windows simply appear. USAGE TRACKING writes a file which tells you what options you picked and how long you worked in them. You may track by each day in lots of little files, or cumulatively in one big file. DISPLAY DATE AND TIME lets you specify whether you want these items displayed on the menu or not. The setting of this has no effect on screen blanking or on automatic execution of menu items at preset times. BLANK SCREEN lets you decide whether you want the screen blanking feature of the Menu-Matic enabled or disabled. If it is disabled, the Menu screen will remain up all the time you are in the menu. SECONDS TO BLANK lets you decide how long a time of inactivity should elapse before the menu is cleared off the screen. Obviously, if you have disabled screen blanking, this has no effect. DISPLAY MESSAGE ON BLANK tells the program to display a short message when the screen blanks. This lets you (and everyone else) know that your computer is on and running, so it won't accidentally be tampered with (hopefully). PASSWORD EVERTYHING lets you require a password to choose any option from the menu, whether you have used the '+' sign or not. You can give every option its own password if you like. If any option does not have its own password, the system password is used. RESTORE SCREEN ON EXIT tells the Menu-Matic to restore the previous screen after you choose an option and exit from the menu. Otherwise, the screen will simply be cleared.