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1992-01-22
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MenuMatic 1.0
(c) 1991 JKS Computing
What is MenuMatic?
MenuMatic is a character based menu system that utilizes pop-up menus that
are configured by the user.
It doesn't have a lot of fancy options that add extra overhead. It is a menu
system. Period.
It was written as a general purpose menu system. However, MenuMatic may
even be used for a front end to an application composed of many EXE files.
------------------------------------
Requirements:
300K of free RAM to run. MenuMatic will work on a floppy.
The ability to write batch files.
MenuMatic 1.0
(c) 1991 JKS Computing
Section 1 ............ Features
Section 2 ............ Limitations
Section 3 ............ Getting Started
Section 4 ............ Setting Up Menu Files
Section 5 ............ The Config File
Section 6 ............ Command Line Options
Section 7 ............ Keys Used In MenuMatic
Section 8 ............ Misc.
Section 1
FEATURES:
MenuMatic has many options that allow you to control how the screen looks.
The foreground and background colors of the main screen, the menus, the
top and bottom messages lines of the screen may all be configured.
You determine what kind of border the pop-up menus will have, or even IF they
will have a border. You also determine that placing of the pop-up menus.
The background pattern may be determined by you as well. You may even have
a phrase as the background pattern.
The screen saver will blank your crt after a number of seconds that you
specify.
Password protect whole pop-up menus, or items in individual menus.
If you prefer, none of the above items require your intervention. The
built-in defaults work on both color and monochrome monitors.
MenuMatic takes 0K of the memory used to run your
applications.
----------------------
Section 2
LIMITATIONS:
MenuMatic allows 1000 lines per menu file.
A menu line must be no longer than 60 characters. This does not include
comment lines, or leading spaces in indented menu lines ( see mnumatic.mnu ).
Section 3
GETTING STARTED:
Put the disk containing MenuMatic into Drive A: and type the following:
A:INSTALL C:
C: is the drive you want to install MenuMatic on. A directory named
MNUMATIC will be created on the drive you indicate.
You may of course, use any drive or directory name that you like. Keep in
mind that if you choose to use a drive other than C: you will to modify
the file MATIC.BAT to reflect these changes. More on that later.
The MenuMatic files will now be copied to your hard drive.
After this is done, you will need to do one of two things to insure that
MenuMatic will work properly.
1.
Copy the file "MATIC.BAT" to your DOS directory or any directory that is
included in your PATH setting. Do this while in the directory where
MenuMatic is installed.
For instance, type:
COPY MATIC.BAT C:\DOS
To run MenuMatic, you would now simply type:
MATIC
Before doing that however, you will need to set up your menu file.
See SETTING UP MENU FILES below.
If you want MenuMatic to run each time you boot your computer, you will
need to add MATIC to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
2.
If you prefer, simply add MenuMatic to your PATH setting. You do this by
modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
If, for instance, your PATH looks like this:
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\;C:\WP
Simply change it to look like this:
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\;C:\WP;C:\MNUMATIC
Now DOS will always be able to find MenuMatic.
Section 4
SETTING UP MENU FILES
You are allowed up 1000 lines in a menu file. In actual practice,
300 lines or less works better (faster). Menu choices are virtually
unlimited, as you may load other menu files from within the menu.
Menu files may be indented for easier reading, but it is not required.
Each pop up menu may have up to 26 choices. This corresponds to the
letters in the alphabet, as each item may be chosen simply by pressing
the letter that precedes it.
An item on a menu can either be used to create the tmp batch file and run
your program, pop up another menu, or load a new menu file.
Take a look at mnumatic.mnu. The structure of the file is similar to a
simple program. The mnemonic MB means 'menu begin'. For each 'MB' there
must be a corresponding 'ME'. If there isn't, the program will abort with
a message.
Lines in the file are limited to 60 characters. However, the lines may be
indented so that the structure of the menu file will be easy to follow.
The 60 character limit does not include leading spaces. They are removed
internally at the time MenuMatic reads the menu file.
Before diving in to changing the menu, let's see it work.
From the directory that MenuMatic was installed in, type the following:
MNUMATIC
This is a simple example menu. You may navigate through the menu by simply
using the Arrow keys. The up-arrow and down-arrow will take you through the
choices in the current menu. The right-arrow will choose the option that
the menu bar is currently on. The left-arrow will exit to the previous menu.
If you are already at the top menu, it will exit MenuMatic.
Try choosing one of the spread sheet options. After exiting MenuMatic, type
the following:
TYPE MNUTEMP.BAT
This is the batch file that would be used to run your application. You can
see that the batch file would automatically run MenuMatic when you are done
with the application. This is how MenuMatic avoids using any of your RAM
when running an application.
There are 2 files that control MenuMatic. The menu file, and the
configuration file.
Strictly speaking, the configuration file is not necessary, so we will
consider the details of the menu file first.
First we will briefly look at the elements of the menu file.
Following are the mnemonics used in MenuMatic, with detailed explanations
after that.
MB> - indicates beginning of a menu
- coordinates for menu to appear after MB - required
O> ption - identifies options on menus to appear on screen
MS> - message to appear on bottom line of screen
- appears immediately after 'O' mnemonic
B> atch command - command performed via batch
P> assword - self explanatory.
C> omment - ditto. may appear anywhere
L> oad new menu - load a new menu
ME> - indicates end of a popup menu
upper or lower case is acceptable. don't mix case on individial mnemonics
however.
example: 'Mb' or 'mB' would be unacceptable
MB - Menu Begin. This will be the first line in any menu file.
( excluding comments )
it will be followed by two numbers. one to specify the menu row, and
one to specify the menu column.
Any value from 0 - 24 may be specified for the row. Any value from
0 - 79 may be specified for the colummn.
These values refer to the upper left hand corner of the menu.
MenuMatic will compensate for any values that would block the top
or bottom rows, or go off the edge of the screen.
example: MB 10 30
O - Option. the items that will appear in the menu
example: O Word Perfect
MS - Message Line. These will be used immediately after an 'O' option line.
The message will appear centered on the bottom line of the screen.
Lines that are too long will be truncated.
example: MS This Is Your Billing Program
P - Password. up to 10 characters in password. case is unimportant, and
spaces are not allowed. Passwords may be used to protect the
following options:
O - the password line should appear after the 'O' line, and after the
'MS' line if there is one
example: O Word Perfect
MS Write Your Letters Here
P foxtrot
B - the password may appear anywhere in the lines that create the batch
file. it would be a good practice to put them first, just for
ease of maintainence.
example: P tenfour
B c:
B cd \lotus
B 123
B cd \
B d:
B - Batch file lines. these lines are the ones that will be written out
to the temorary batch file used to run your program.
If a line is over 60 chrs, the program will abort and tell you the
line number to check in the file.
example: O Tapcis ( Compuserv )
MS Use This For Use In The Forum's
B e:
B cd \tapcis
B tapcis
B cd \
C - Any line beginning with a 'C' is treated as a comment.
L - Load another menu. For instance:
L /mNEWMENU.MNU ( the '/m' is required )
ME - Menu End. See examples.
The minimum menu file would be as follows
MB 10 20
O This Is A Minimum Menu
ME
This doesn't do much, but it is the minimum required menu.
A menu that would be slightly more practical would look like this:
MB 10 20
O Word Processor
B d:
B cd \wp
B wp
B cd\
B c:
ME
This menu only has one choice. But you can clearly see how it works.
This is how is would look with a message line and a password
MB 10 20
O Word Processor
MS This is where you write letters
P gonefishin
B d:
B cd \wp
B wp
B cd\
B c:
ME
Section 5
CONFIGURATION FILE:
Strictly speaking, this file is not necessary.
MenuMatic program has internal defaults for all of these options.
If this file is missing, it simply uses the internal defaults
Using this file will let you specify colors of menus, menu text,
background and foreground.
The default colors will be sensitive to monochrome or color monitor
adapters also.
The names are fairly descriptive, and defaults will be indicated
Legal colors - foreground, background, menubar and border
black
blue
green
cyan
red
magenta
brown
yellow
white
Foreground colors only
light_grey
dark_grey
light_blue
light_green
light_cyan
light_red
light_magenta
AUTORETURN will automatically add string contained
in AUTOBATNAME if set to YES ( if you haven't already included "matic.bat" )
This makes it unnecessary for you to remember to add the line at the end
of each batch file to re-call MenuMatic. It does it for you.
The name of the initial batch file to run MenuMatic
eliminates need to MATIC.BAT in your menu files.
This will cause MenuMatic to append the command line to re-run MATIC.BAT
when leaving your application. The default is YES
AUTO RETURN=yes
The name of temporary batch file to create and run - this is default value
AUTO TEMP BAT=mnutemp.bat
The name of the batch file to start MenuMatic - This is default value
AUTO BAT NAME=matic.bat
Protect menu edit function
Default is nothing
EDIT PASSWORD= edit
No exit to DOS without password
Default is nothing
EXIT PASSWORD= exit
Character for screen background - this is default
This may be a phrase, or any character you like.
SCREENCHAR=<░> or
SCREENCHAR=<Mollies Cookie Cutters, Inc. >
This is the text that will be displayed at the top of the screen
Does not work in the shareware version
TOP BAR TEXT = "JKS Computing"
!! Monochrome monitors:
If using a monochrome monitor, don't specify any colors.
The defaults will work fine.
Screen background
Default is blue
SCREEN BACK COLOR = blue
Foreground color
This is default
SCREEN FORE COLOR = light_grey
Menu text color
This is default
MENU FORE COLOR = yellow
Menu background color
This is default
MENU BACK COLOR = cyan
Menu frame color
This is default
BOX FRAME COLOR = light_magenta
Menu frame background color
This is default
BOX BACK COLOR = cyan
Menu bar text color
c default is light_blue
MENU BAR FORE COLOR = light_green
Menu bar background color
This is default
MENU BAR BACK COLOR = white
Frame type - panel, double, single
This is default
FRAMETYPE=single
Text bar color at top of screen
Default is cyan
TOP BAR COLOR = blue
Message row color
Default is cyan
BOTTOM BAR COLOR = blue
Screen Border Color
This is default
BORDER COLOR = cyan
Specify the editor to use when editing files
If using 'edlin' don't specify a path
Otherwise, specify drive and path
Any ascii editor will work
EDITOR=c:\q\q.exe
How many seconds before screen saver kicks in
This is default
SAVE SCREEN TIME = 300
If you have video problems(your computer isn't a clone) , set
to YES - default is NO
USE DOS VIDEO = NO
Clear screen when when running batch file? - default is no
If set to YES, MenuMatic will clear the screen when exiting.
EXIT CLEAR = NO
Use mouse?
Default is no - however, MenuMatic will use the mouse if it finds one
Unless you specify NO here
USE MOUSE = YES
Section 6
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
to run the program, use MATIC.BAT. you may specify the /edit parameter
when calling MATIC.BAT or just put it in the batch file
these may be changed in the batch file matic.bat
this program may be installed in any directory, with the following caveats:
the file MATIC.BAT must be located in the PATH.
MATIC.BAT must be modified to reflect the location of mnumatic
For instance, if you installed MenuMatic on Drive D:, you must
change all references to drive 'C:' in MATIC.BAT to 'D:'.
/m the menu to load EXAMPLE: /mmnumatic.mnu
/c the configuration file EXAMPLE: /cconfig.mnu
/edit allows editing the menu and configuration files from within
MenuMatic
Section 7
KEYSTROKES
A-z: choose option on menu
PageDown, PageUp, Down/Up Arrow, Home, End, Mouse: scroll through menu
ENTER, Right Arrow, Left Button On Mouse: choose current item
ESC, Left Arrow, Right Button on Mouse: exit menu
ALT-Q : leave immediately
ALT-E : edit menu or configuration file. only works if /edit was
entered on command line
ALT-B : blank screen immediately
ALT-V : show version of MenuMatic
Section 8
MISC.
What is shareware?
It is a try before you by arrangement.
You try MenuMatic for 30 days. If you like it, and continue using it, please
register it. An order form is included for your convenience. It is called,
appropriately enough, ORDER.FRM.
MenuMatic is reasonably priced at $20. When you register, you will receive
a copy of MenuMatic that doesn't always remind you that you haven't
registered yet.
You will also be helping someone that is trying to making a living at writing
software that works, and selling it for a reasonable price.
Consultants; if you like MenuMatic, and would like to install it on your
customers machines, you may purchase 10 copies of MenuMatic for $100.
Any who are interested in a Site License agreement, please contact me by
writing:
JKS Computing
126 South Meridian
Fresno CA 93702
or calling:
(209) 454-8803
or email:
Compuserve: 73617,3036
GENIE: JSTILL2
Bugs:
If you find a bug in MenuMatic, please notify me by filling out
BUG.FRM and mailing it to the above address. Or email it.
Enjoy!