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______________________________________________________________________________
MSI Menu System
______________________________________________________________________________
User's Manual
______________________________________________________________________________
Larry B. Rice
2907 St. Tropez Dr.
Ontario, CA 91761
(714) 923-2599
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page i
MSI Menu System
User's Manual
Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice All Rights Reserved
This document is subject to change without notice. No warranty,
implied or express, is made with respect to the contents of this
document. The author specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of fitness for any particular purpose. Liability for
the information in this document, and for the service described
herein, shall be limited to the purchase price of the document.
When sharing copies of MSI, please include unaltered copies of
the documentation files. The printed and bound manual may not be
distributed or shared.
MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
PC-DOS is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page ii
MSI Menu System
Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice All Rights Reserved
- DISCLAIMER -
The MSI Menu System and the MSI User's Manual are distributed 'as
is'. The author make no warrants, either express or implied, as
to appropriateness or suitability for any particular use of this
product, or to the accuracy of this or other related
documentation, nor to the error-free operation of the software.
Except as may be provided by law, neither the author nor any duly
authorized representatives may be held liable for any damages or
loss resulting from the use of, or the inability to use, this
product.
The MSI Menu System is distributed as Shareware. Recipients may
evaluate without charge the MSI Menu System for up to 30 days.
The software must be registered for use beyond that time.
Vendor information will be found in the file, VENDOR.DOC.
OnLine technical support is being established for the MSI Menu
System on BBSs around the country. These boards, and the
Official Distribution BBSs for MSI are listed in the file
SUPPORT.MSI.
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR FULL NAME AND COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS
on all correspondence.
Larry B. Rice
2907 St. Tropez Dr., Ontario, CA 91761
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page iii
CONTENTS
Section I
Thank-You! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Who can use it?. . . . . . . . . . . 3
Installing MSI . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Program Files. . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Locating Program & Data Files. . . . 8
Section II
Using MSI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Starting the Program . . . . . . . . 10
Important Terms. . . . . . . . . . . 12
Special Menu Types . . . . . . . . . 14
Special Menu Commands. . . . . . . . 18
Section III
Creating Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Menus Editor . . . . . . . . . . 22
How Actions are executed . . . . . . 26
How Dual is executed . . . . . . . . 28
Creating a Sub-Menu. . . . . . . . . 30
Technical Note - Memory Allocation . 32
The Menu Settings. . . . . . . . . . . 34
The General Menu Settings. . . . . . 34
The Current Item's Settings. . . . . 38
Menu Editor's Function Keys & Commands 41
Text Editing Commands. . . . . . . . . 44
Section IV
Step-By-Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Creating a Sub-Menu. . . . . . . . . 50
Creating an Action . . . . . . . . . 50
Creating a Dual Action . . . . . . . 51
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page iv
List of Illustrations
Figure 1 - The MSI Menu Screen . . . . 2
Figure 2 - Setting the Home Directory. 5
Figure 3 - Modifying AUTOEXEC.BAT. . . 7
Figure 4 - The sample menus show you . 9
Figure 5 - Component parts of the menu 11
Figure 6 - A 'Stepped' menu. . . . . . 13
Figure 7 - Non-Prompted menus may have 13
Figure 8 - F1 displays the menu's Help 15
Figure 9 - E, S and P call 'Help'. . . 15
Figure 10 - The Control Key help line. 17
Figure 11 - CTRL-F2 lets you display . 19
Figure 12 - Menus are Locked when the. 21
Figure 13 - Unlocked menus may be. . . 21
Figure 14 - The initial Menus Editor . 23
Figure 15 - F2 adds or edits the . . . 25
Figure 16 - Command flow for an Action 25
Figure 17 - Command flow for Dual. . . 27
Figure 18 - Using Dual options to. . . 27
Figure 19 - Memory will be allocated.. 29
Figure 20 - The new sub-menu is drawn. 29
Figure 21 - The new sub-menu in normal 31
Figure 22 - Press N to add or edit a . 33
Figure 23 - Press P to add or edit a . 33
Figure 24 - Menu's Help screen opened. 35
Figure 25 - The top window settings. . 37
Figure 26 - Selectable items will be . 40
Figure 27 - An Action window opened. . 40
Figure 28 - Command Assistance Line. . 43
Figure 29 - ALT-D has been used to . . 46
Figure 30 - Checking PATH and MSIPATH. 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 1
Section I
Thank-You!
for your interest in the MSI Menu System. We believe that you
will find MSI a valuable enhancement to your computer system.
After evaluating the program you may use the form provided in
the file ORDER.MSI to obtain a registered version.
The registered version is only $10.00 (U.S.). This low price is
the result of Shareware distribution. Given the high cost of
commercial advertising, packaging and distribution, the MSI Menu
System would have to retail at between 3 to 4 times the $10
Shareware registration fee. The relative low cost of Shareware
distribution (no, it's not free...) makes this savings possible.
A printed and bound, typeset edition of the MSI User's Manual is
available. The most current pricing information may be found on
the order form which you may print by pressing F2, or by copying
the file ORDER.MSI to your printer.
COPY ORDER.MSI PRN:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 2
The MSI Menu System lets you replace this:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ C:\ > _ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
--------------------------------------------------------------------
with this:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ Your Programs ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 1. Editor ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ 2. Spreadsheet ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ 3. Paint Program ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ E)ditor Help ║ ║
║ █║ S)preadsheet Help ║ ║
║ █║ P)aint Program Help ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ Your Selection _ ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 1 - The MSI Menu Screen.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 3
Introduction
MSI provides individuals, dealers and consultants with a
convenient method of defining menus for easier access to the
various programs and functions of their computer system.
Individual users will find that the menus 'clean up the
workspace' while still providing fast and easy access to DOS when
it is absolutely necessary.
Dealers and consultants will find this an invaluable tool for
easing new users past DOS and into the applications for which
they purchased the computer in the first place.
Who can use it?
Anyone currently using DOS can use MSI. While no programming
skills are required or special 'script languages' need to be
learned, a basic familiarity with DOS is required and some
knowledge of DOS batch file commands.
Even if all you know is that "I type this..." to get a program
running, you can make efficient use of MSI. Each menu option can
be assigned an 'Action'. When the option is selected from the
menu, the Action is performed. The "I type this..." that you
normally entered as a command to DOS is entered as the Action
defined for a menu item. Now, instead of "I type this...", you
simply select the option from the menu and MSI issues the
command(s) for you.
Depending on the style of the menu created, an item might be
selected by highlighting it with a Cursor Bar and pressing ENTER,
or by simply pressing the first character of the item's
description. With MSI you can gather all of your hard-to-
remember batch file names into one or more easy-to-use set of
menus. Nearly all of the commands you will need to create your
menus will be conveniently found on screen while you work.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 4
Installing MSI
══>> Program Files
First, make sure that you have received the following files:
RUNMSI.BAT - This is the DOS batch file used to start MSI and
control 'Actions'.
MSI.EXE - The MSI program file.
MINSTALL.EXE - The MSI Installation Utility.
MSIINTRO.EXE - This is the MSI Shareware screen. This file
MUST be present or unregistered copies will not
run.
VENDOR.DOC - Complete vendor information.
! POLICY.MSI - Very important reading! This contains the MSI
support, pricing and upgrade information.
SAMPLE.DAT - A set of sample menus for you to explore.
MSI1 - MSI3.DOC - These are the MSI User's Manual files. If
you share a copy of MSI with a friend (and by all
means, please do!) make sure they have these files.
The printed and bound MSI User's Manual is
copyrighted and may not be copied and shared.
README.1ST - This file is MUST reading for first-time
MSI users or those upgrading to a new release.
SUPPORT.MSI - Lists the Online Regional Support BBS's
and Official Distribution BBS's for MSI.
INSTALL.MSI - This file contains installation instructions.
WHATS.NEW - Contains changes and new feature information for
the current MSI release.
PRINTQWK.BAT - A DOS batch file to print the supporting
documentation files.
MANUAL.BAT - A DOS batch file to print the manual files.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 5
Setting the Home Directory MANUALLY
1. With your Editor or Word Processor, create HOME.DIR
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ C: │
│ CD C:\MSI │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
│ │
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2. On the first line put the DRIVE LETTER of the disk drive where
MSI has been installed.
3. On the second line, put the DOS Change Directory Command (CD)
and the full pathname to the installation directory.
4. Save the new file.
Figure 2 - Setting the Home Directory (HOME.DIR)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 6
══>> Installation - The 'Home' Directory
When MSI is first started an Installation Utility will appear.
It will prompt you for the Drive Letter and Directory where your
MSI files are stored, offering the current directory as the
default. The steps outlined below are for MANUAL INSTALLATIONS
ONLY. Using the Installation Utility that automatically appears
is faster and easier, and will correctly install MSI on most
systems. The instructions below are only offered for special
installation requirements. MSI may be re-installed at any time
by entering the Menus Editor (F5) and pressing CTRL-F6.
MSI needs to know how to get back to the Home disk and directory
when returning from an application or set of Action commands.
(The 'home directory' is the directory containing RUNMSI.BAT.)
Use your word processor or editor to create a new file called
HOME.DIR.
! NOTE: For MANUAL Installation ONLY!
1. On the first line of the file put the drive letter of the
disk drive where your MSI files are installed.
C:
2. On the second line, use the DOS Change Directory (CD)
command to move to the directory containing your MSI
files.
CD C:\MSI
FOR EXAMPLE:
If you've installed MSI on an F drive, in a sub-directory off of
a directory called UTILITY, HOME.DIR should contain these two
lines:
F:
CD F:\UTILITY\MSI
These allow MSI to return properly to the menus regardless of the
drive or directory you are in when a set of Action commands is
completed, or when you return from an application.
NOTE: Versions 1.5 and later include an Installation Utility.
However, if the file HOME.DIR is found in the current directory
when MSI is first run, the Utility will assume the program has
already been installed. Shared copies may include the file
HOME.DIR. IN THIS CASE, run the program, enter the Menus Editor
(F5) and press CTRL-F6 to re-install MSI to YOUR specifications.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 7
To add MSI to your AUTOEXEC.BAT
Use the Installation Utility
OR
With your Editor or Word Processor open AUTOEXEC.BAT...
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ (your commands) │
│ . │
│ . │
│ . │
│ REM Allow MSI to locate important files │
│ REM from anywhere on your system │
│ │
│ SET MSIPATH=C:\MSI │
│ │
│ REM Allow DOS to find the MSI program files. │
│ │
│ PATH=c:\;C:\MSI │
│ │
│ REM Call MSI to display your menus │
│ REM at power-on or re-boot. │
│ │
│ RUNMSI │
│ │
--------------------------------------------------------------------
...and add the lines above. 'REM' lines are optional.
Save the edited file.
The Installation Utility will add these lines for you, saving
your old AUTOEXEC.BAT as AUTOEXEC.BAK.
Figure 3 - Modifying AUTOEXEC.BAT
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 8
══>> Locating Program & Data Files
DOS uses the 'PATH' variable to locate program files. Figure 3
and the instructions on this page show you how to add your Home
directory to this variable. Also, the environment variable,
MSIPATH, was introduced with Version 1.5 to help MSI locate
important data files.
If you use the second part of the Installation Utility, this will
be done for you. The following instructions are for those who
would prefer to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT themselves. The Installation
Utility will allow you to quit, after the Home Directory is set
(this is required) but before the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is changed.
The Utility will also let you add MSI as a start-up program if
you like.
! NOTE: For MANUAL Installations ONLY.
You may want to start MSI from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that the
menus always appear when your computer is turned on or re-booted.
The AUTOEXEC.BAT file will be found on the root directory of your
boot drive. If you have a hard disk, this will probably be drive
C:.
NOTE: It is possible that AUTOEXEC.BAT may not be on your
system. DOS looks for this file on boot-up and, if found,
executes any commands it contains before presenting you with the
system prompt. AUTOEXEC is not a mandatory file but will be
found on most systems.
Figure 3 illustrates the changes required in AUTOEXEC.BAT.
1. MSI uses MSIPATH to locate important data files. If this is
not set to the proper drive and directory, MSI may not be able to
locate your menu definitions, among other things.
2. Adding the MSI directory to the DOS 'PATH' variable enables
DOS to locate program files regardless of the current working
directory. Unregistered copies of MSI MUST be able to locate the
program file MSIINTRO.EXE or MSI will not execute.
3. The example in Figure 3 uses C:\MSI for the Home directory.
Your Home directory may be different or you may have the program
files located in one directory and data files in another.
A. Set PATH to locate PROGRAM files.
B. Set MSIPATH to locate DATA files.
4. Add the RUNMSI command to have your menus available when
the system is turned on or after re-booting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 9
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ MSI Sample Menus ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 1. Lots of Stepped Menus ║ ║
║ █║ A 'Text Only' Option... ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ 2. Non-Stepped Menus ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ ...could be additional help. ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 'Text Only' cannot be selected. ║ ║
║ █║ ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ 3. Password Menu (PW = Pass) ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ 4. Print Document Files...! ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 4 - The sample menus show you how various menus are
constructed, and let you experiment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 10
Section II
Using MSI
Starting the Program
If you have entered your MSI Home Directory into the DOS PATH
variable and set MSIPATH to your data file directory (normally
the same as the Home Directory), as described in "Locating
Program and Data Files", then from any drive and/or directory on
your system you simply need to enter;
RUNMSI
MSI will search the MSIPATH directory, or the current directory
if MSIPATH is not defined, for a menus data file, MSI.DAT. If
one is not found then MSI will search the same directory for the
Sample Menus file, SAMPLE.DAT. If SAMPLE.DAT is found, a new
MSI.DAT file will be created with them. The resulting MSI.DAT
file will be placed in the directory given by the MSIPATH
variable, or in the current directory if MSIPATH is not defined.
If MSI cannot locate either MSI.DAT or SAMPLE.DAT, a default data
file will be created. The default file will contain a single
menu and a Help Screen to go with it. This is a good place to
start after you have experimented with the Sample Menus and are
ready to create menus for your own system.
After examining and experimenting with the Sample Menus, enter
the Menus Editor and press CTRL-F10. This is the delete all
menus command, so use it carefully! You will be asked to verify
that all the menus are to be deleted. Press Y (Yes). A single
menu will be created, titled MAIN MENU. The rest is up to you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 11
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Today's Time & Date ║
║ System Prompts ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ Menu Name on this line. ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ Item #1 ║ ║
║ █║ Item #2 ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ . ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ . ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ . ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ . ║ ║
║ █║ . ║ ║
║ █║ . ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ Item #9 ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ Prompt Line goes here. ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991 L. Rice & MSI ShareWorks ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 5 - Component parts of the menu.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 12
Important Terms
Most of the terms encountered here will probably already be
familiar to you. If you don't have a working knowledge of Batch
File commands and would like to know more, consult your DOS
manual. There are a number of these commands, and it is beyond
the scope of this manual to detail them all.
There are only a few terms that you will need to be familiar with
to use this manual effectively: Menu, Action, Selection Options,
Resident and non-Resident.
Menu - The Menu is the largest bordered window area on the
screen. The Menu contains an optional Name at the top, an
optional Prompt at the bottom and the Selection Items lying
between them. Menus may have up to nine items if a Prompt Line
is used, or up to eleven if it isn't.
Menu Items - These are the selectable and non-selectable strings
which you define on a menu. Figure 5 shows the location of the
items on the menu.
Actions - A selected Item may send a set of commands to DOS.
These commands are defined in an 'Action Window'. A set of
Action commands is identical to a set of batch file commands. In
fact, your Action may call a batch file. The Action Windows
simply give you a convenient place to store and maintain batch
commands. Since most of your Menus will use Actions, they are
covered in detail later in this manual.
Resident & non-Resident - MSI can remain in memory and send
Action Commands to DOS. In this mode MSI is said to be
'Resident'. RSIDNT and DUAL items execute in Resident mode.
MSI will NOT be in memory when Options set to ACTION are selected
and the Action commands executed. This is the non-Resident mode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 13
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║╔══════════════════════════════════════╩╗ ║
║ ████████████ ██║ Stepped Menu ║ ║
║ ██║ ║ ║
║ ██║ 1. Edit Month-End Report ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ██║ 2. Year-End Report ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ ██║ 3. Telephone List ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ ██║ ║ ║
║ ████████████ ██║ Note: #1 Due by the 5th ║ ║
║ ██║ Note: #2 Due by 1-15 ║ ║
║ ██║ #3 - Office Numbers ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ ██║ ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ ██║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ ██║ My Selection _ ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ ██║ ║ ║
║ ██████████████ ██╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991 L. Rice & MSI ShareWorks ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 6 - A 'Stepped' menu. (Last three items are 'Text Only')
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ Prompted Menu ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ Item #1 ║ ║
║ █║ Item #2 ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ . ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ . ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ . ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ . ║ ║
║ █║ . ║ ║
║ █║ . ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ Item #9 ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ Prompt String Here _ ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 7 - Prompted menus may have up to 9 items.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MSI User's Manual Page 14
Special Menu Types
MSI lets you create three special types of menus:
1. Stepped
2. Prompted
3. Help Only
A sample of each of these has been defined in the Sample Menus
found in the file SAMPLE.DAT.
1. Stepped Menus (Figure 6)
A stepped menu will not display directly atop the previous menu.
Instead, it will be offset slightly so that a portion of the
previous menu is still visible. The purpose of the stepped menu
is to provide a visual reference to the user's location within a
set of sub-menus. If several sub-menus are defined, the stepped
menu can help to keep the user oriented with respect to the main
(first) menu. See option #1 of the Sample Menus. See option #2
for samples of non-stepped menus.
2. Prompted Menus (Figure 7)
A Prompted Menu has a Prompt Line defined at the bottom of the
menu. The normal underline cursor will appear immediately
following the prompt string. The prompt has historically been
used to indicate to a user that the computer is awaiting a
command. The prompt option has been provided pretty much for
this purpose only. To allow for more responsive operation, MSI
will execute an option just as soon as a valid key is pressed, or
when the RETURN key is pressed on a highlighted option. Using
the prompt will reduce the maximum number of selections on a menu
to 9. Options #2 and #4 of the Sample Menus display prompted
menus.
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MSI User's Manual Page 15
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ┌────────────────────────┐ ║
║ ┌──────█│ Press ESC when Done. │ ║
║ █│ F1 - █└────────────────────────┘════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└──────█████████████████████████───────────────────┐ ║ ║
║ █████████████│ │ ║ ║
║ █│ Each Menu may have a Help Screen │ ║ ║
║ █│ │ ║ ║
║ ┌──────────█│ like this one which you define. │ ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU█│ │ ║ ║
║ █└──────────█│ The blank lines you see here are │ ║ ║
║ █████████████│ │ ║ ║
║ █│ shown for example only. There are │ ║ ║
║ █│ │ ║ ║
║ ┌───────────█│ 10 full lines for your use. │ ║ ║
║ █│ ESC to QUI█└──────────────────────────────────────┘ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus███████████████████████████████████████ ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 8 - F1 displays the menu's Help screen.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ Your Programs ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 1. Editor ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ 2. Spreadsheet ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ 3. Paint Program ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ E)ditor Help ║ ║
║ █║ S)preadsheet Help ║ ║
║ █║ P)aint Program Help ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ Your Selection _ ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ MSI Menu System 1.60 Copyright (C) 1991, 1992 Larry B. Rice ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 9 - E, S and P call 'Help' menus.
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MSI User's Manual Page 16
3. Help Only Menus
Actually each menu can contain both selectable and non-selectable
('Text Only') items. However, the Help Only menu can be a useful
feature. For this type of menu all Selection Items used are
defined as 'Text Only'. MSI will only allow the ESC key to be
active, in this instance, so that the user can return to the
previous menu.
Each menu does have a Help Screen which can be displayed by
pressing F1. While sufficient for most situations, there may be
instances in which additional help space would be useful. You
can define a Text Only item on the menu itself to expand on an
item's description. This is illustrated on the main Sample Menu.
However, you might want to create a menu like the one shown in
Figure 9.
The first three options, 1, 2 and 3, select Actions to execute an
Editor, Spreadsheet or Paint Program. The E, S and P options
each display a sub-menu containing additional help on the use of
each program, or perhaps goals and deadlines for a project. Each
Help menu may have up to 11 lines of text. That's quite a lot of
extra help!
Note: The last line on a Help only sub-menu might be:
Press ESC to Return...
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MSI User's Manual Page 17
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ 9:46 April 21, 1991 ║
║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ ║
║ █│ F1 - HELP │ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ MSI Sample Menus ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 1. Lots of Stepped Menus ║ ║
║ █║ A 'Text Only' Option... ║ ║
║ ┌───────────┐ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ F5 - MENU │ █║ 2. Non-Stepped Menus ║ ║
║ █└───────────┘ █║ ...could be additional help. ║ ║
║ ████████████ █║ ║ ║
║ █║ 'Text Only' cannot be selected. ║ ║
║ █║ ║ ║
║ ┌─────────────┐ █║ 3. Password Menu (PW = Pass) ║ ║
║ █│ ESC To QUIT │ █║ ║ ║
║ █│ MSI Menus │ █║ 4. Print Document Files...! ║ ║
║ █└─────────────┘ █╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ ║
║ ██████████████ ████████████████████████████████████████ ║
║ ║
║ ║
║ CTRL/ F1: Use DOS F2: Dir On/Off F3: Reserved F4: Reserved ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Figure 10 - The Control Key help line.
