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KBBSMENU.DOC
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1995-12-13
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KBBSMENU DOCUMENTATION
----------------------
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
By installing KBBS on your system, you agree to the following
terms and conditions:
ANDERSON RESEARCH MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESSED
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY - In no event shall Anderson Research be
liable for any special, indirect, consequential, exemplary, or
incidental damages whatsoever (including, without limitation,
damage for loss of profits, loss of information, loss of
goodwill, or other pecuniary loss) whether based in contract,
tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise, even if
Anderson Research has been advised of the possibility of such
damages.
This document contains propritetary information which is
protected by copyright. No part of this document may be
photocopied, reprinted, or translated without the prior written
consent of Anderson Research.
The information in this document, and all included documents, is
subject to change without notice.
TEST VERSION
------------
This is an early release version of KBBSMENU that will be included
with KBBS vZ.21. Please test and report bugs ASAP... thanks.
OVERVIEW
--------
KBBSMENU is a separate utility now included with the regular
KBBS releases that allows sysops to effortlessly add highlight
bar menu support to their existing ANSI menus.
This program does not draw menus-- you will still need to use
your ANSI draw package to produce the color ANSI menu that this
program will modify.
NOTE: This was a quickly-written-by-demand program, so although
it does the job, future releases will have more features
and more capabilities (such as mouse support).
INSTALLATION
------------
Copy KBBSMENU.EXE into your KBBS directory... the same directory
where KBBSEXEC.EXE resides.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
---------------------
32 LINE LIMIT
Because of the way KBBS displays menu files, you are limited to
an ANSI menu screen of 23 lines in length. This limitation will
be done away with in a future release.
OPTIMIZATION
ANSI screens are saved in an optimized form for display by
KBBS systems. Once you have added highlight bars to a screen,
you won't be able to modify the screen with your ANSI draw
package. KBBSMENU saves the original .ANS file in a directory
named ORIGINAL under your TEXT path.
STEP BY STEP EXAMPLE
--------------------
For the most part, it's pretty self explanatory. The following
steps are an example of how to add highlight bars to a menu
MAINMENU.ANS.
1. Make sure MAINMENU.ANS is in your TEXT path. That is where
KBBSMENU looks for all .ANS files, although you can save
them to another location. (This will be enhanced later,
also.)
2. Type KBBSMENU at the prompt. A list of .ANS files will
be displayed. Select MAINMENU.ANS. KBBSMENU will then
display the screen in a window.
3. If you previously added highlight bars to this ANSI menu
screen, a picklist will list those highlight bars. Otherwise
it will display "No highlight bars defined in this menu."
4. TO ADD A HIGHLIGHT BAR, press INSERT. The picklist will
disappear, and a highlighted block will appear in the upper
left hand corner of the screen. The following keys allow
you to position and modify the bar:
ARROW KEYS Move the bar around
CTRL-LEFT and
CTRL-RIGHT Re-size the bar
PAGEUP and
PAGEDOWN Change the foreground color of the bar
CTRL-PAGEUP and
CTRL-PAGEDOWN Change the background color of the bar
ENTER Accept the bar in its position and
begin editing the attributes for that bar
At this point you must choose a "grid"
position for the bar, and the HotKey that
the bar activates when selected in the
KBBS menu online. See "About Grid
Positions" below for more information.
ESCAPE Abort-- return to the picklist
5. TO DELETE A HIGHLIGHT BAR, press DELETE on the bar you wish
to delete. KBBSMENU will prompt you before deleting the bar.
6. TO EDIT AN EXISTING BAR, press ENTER on the bar you wish to
delete. At this point you may change the position/color of the
bar similar to #4 above, then you may edit the attributs of that
bar.
7. TO SAVE/EXIT, press ESCAPE or F10. You will then be prompted
whether or not you wish to save the screen or abort without
saving.
That's it! You can now define the ANSI display menu in your menu
tree or MENU() commands and KBBS will activate highlight bars in
the positions you chose.
ABOUT GRID POSITIONS
--------------------
KBBS allows you to choose the "grid" position for each menu. This
gives you complete control of where the highlight bar moves when
the arrow keys are pressed. Examine the following grid table:
Columns
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
Rows
2 <-- left and right move this way -->
3 ^
|
4
up and down move this way
5
6 |
v
7
.
.
.
No matter where the highlight bar is on the ANSI display, each
highlight bar is assigned a "Grid" position. This tells KBBS
what relationship each bar is to the rest. The left and right
arrows will always switch to highlight bars along the grid
columns, and the up and down arrows will always switch to
highlight bars along the rows. They don't have to occupy
grid positions next to each other-- if you have a highlight
bar defined as Row 1 Col 1, another as Row 1 Col 3, with none
defined in Row 1 Col 2, a right arrow press will move the
highlight bar from 1:1 to 1:3.
COMMENTS AND BUG REPORTS
------------------------
Please comment and report bugs in the ARI_KBBS conference, or
send netmail to
Keith Anderson at 1:312/100 (Fidonet)
888:7101/1 (ARInet)
Internet e-mail:
keith.anderson@mtnswest.com
keith.anderson#ARI@hdh.com
Or call Megalopolis BBS:
801-489-7910 28.8
801-489-1947 14.4
801-489-1946 12.0