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User's Manual for the MENUZIP Version 4.2 Copyright 1996, J. A. Marrero SHAREWARE MENUZIP 4.2 is a shareware program. Under the laws of shareware, you are entitled to view, use, and distribute this program. After using MENUZIP 4.2 for a period of time, more then 30 days, you are encouraged to register the program with the author. This is based upon the honor system. Also, by registering, you are supporting a product that can grow with your needs. It is my only hope that this product continues to grow with your help. NOTE: This is a fully functional program with nothing hidden. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY The author excludes any and all implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The author does not make any warranty of representation, either express or implied, with respect to this software program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. The author shall not have any liability for special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of or resulting from the use of this program. RECOGNITION Many thanks to Borland for Turbo Pascal 6.0 and to TechnoJock's Turbo Toolkit 5.0. Without them, this program would not have been possible. Recognition also goes to the authors of PKZIP and ARJ due to the fact that this program calls PKZIP, PKUNZIP, and ARJ from your drive. You need PKZIP 2.04g and ARJ 2.41 in order to execute your archive files from MENUZIP. If you do not have these programs, you can acquire them from any BBS or write to the following: For PKZIP and PKUNZIP 2.04g For ARJ 2.41 PKWARE, Inc. Robert K. Jung 9025 N. Deerwood Drive 2606 Village Road West Brown Deer, WI 53223 Norwood, MASS 02062 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION I - PREVIEW INTRODUCTION...........................1.1.1 WHATS NEW IN MENUZIP 4.2...............1.1.2 CONFIGURING MENUZIP....................1.2.1 CUSTOMIZING MENUZIP....................1.2.2 SECTION II - MAIN MENU ADDING items to the menu...............2.3.1 ADDING archive files to the menu.......2.3.2 REMOVING items from the menu...........2.4.1 EDITING items in the menu..............2.4.2 VIEWING the items in the menu..........2.4.3 MOVING items between menus.............2.4.4 SWAPPING menu groups...................2.4.5 OUTPUT Screen..........................2.5.1 SCREEN SAVER...........................2.5.2 DIRECTORY to ZIP or ARJ file...........2.5.3 LOCATING a ZIP or ARJ file.............2.5.4 TIME and DATE..........................2.6.1 CALENDER...............................2.6.2 CALCULATOR.............................2.6.3 CONVERSIONS............................2.7.1 CHANGING SCREEN COLOR..................2.7.2 SECTION III - DIRECTORY VIEWER VIEWING a disk DIRECTORY...............3.8.1 VIEWING a disk FILE....................3.8.2 MARKING or TAGGING files...............3.9.1 FILE COPY, RENAME, MOVE, DELETE........3.9.2 CREATING a DIRECTORY...................3.10.1 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES...............3.10.2 ENTERING DOS COMMANDS..................3.10.3 CHANGING DIRECTORY PANELS..............3.10.4 LOCATING A FILE........................3.10.5 SEARCH AND COPY........................3.11.1 PLAYING SOUND FILES....................3.12.1 Page 1 SECTION I - PREVIEW 1.1.1 - INTRODUCTION: MENUZIP 4.2 is a simple and efficient menuing program for launching and executing DOS or Windows applications. MENUZIP 4.2 has twelve groups of menus that can hold up to 672 locations for adding items for execution. Each group can hold up to 56 applications. One good feature that stands out is the ability to execute any ZIP or ARJ file without having to extract them first. NOTE: you can view this manual from within MENUZIP just by pressing F1 (the HELP key). 1.1.2 - WHATS NEW IN MENUZIP 4.2: MENUZIP 4.2 comes with many new features: * There are a total of 12 groups of menus. Each group can hold 56 items. * The total number of items comes out to 672. * The ability to move items between all 12 menu groups. This is extremely usefull for organizing your menu system. * Ability to swap menu groups around for better viewing.. * A larger disk directory window that allows you to navigate through out your drive or drives with easy. * Single or double directory window panels. * Can store up to 15 DOS commands for later use. * The ability to hi-light files. * The ability to COPY, RENAME, MOVE, or DELETE files. * The ability to CREATE, COPY, MOVE, or DELETE directories. * The ability to change file attributes. * The ability to Archive files or directories into ZIP or ARJ files. * The ability to Extract ZIP or ARJ files. * File finder that locates files in any drive. * File searcher that copies files automatically from any drive. * View graphics or play sound files with the help of MENUZIP.INF * Internal sound player that plays WAV, VOC, or MID files. Only for Sound Blaster users. * Change screen background color. * Built-in calculator. * A calender program from the year 1900 to 2075. * A conversion program for doing Metric to English conversions. * A conversion program for doing Scientific conversions. * A computer number conversion program. Page 2 1.2.1 - CONFIGURING MENUZIP: You can run MENUZIP without configuring as long as you are in the directory where MENUZIP resides. If you call MENUZIP from outside of the directory, you may stand a chance of losing your data. A better approach would be as follows: In the AUTOEXEC.BAT type the following: PATH C:\MENUZIP SET MENUZIP=C:\MENUZIP 1.2.2 - CUSTOMIZING MENUZIP: CHANGING SCREEN COLOR: (see section 2.7.2) MENUZIP creates or updates MENUZIP.INF when ever you go to the directory viewer. This file is a user definable file. Its purpose is for executing programs, such as, text editors, graphic viewers, sound players, etc. Once this file is modified by the user it will allow MENUZIP to execute a file with the extension that was set in the MENUZIP.INF file for the particular program to execute. Example 1: viewing a graphic file name PICTURE.PCX To view this file with a program called PICVIEW.EXE, you should modify the MENUZIP.INF file with the following. [pcx] picview or [PCX] d:\directory\picview d:\directory is the directory where PICVIEW.EXE is located. Example 2: playing a sound file name SOUND.WAV [pcx] picview [wav] playwav When you find SOUND.WAV or any file with the extension .wav and press the Enter key on that file, MENUZIP will call the sound player PLAYWAV and it will play the wave file. NOTE: If your system has a SoundBlaster board, you do not have to modified the MENUZIP.INF file to play sound files. MENUZIP will automatically play the sound file whenever you press the Enter key on the sound file. If you hi-light all the sound files, they will be played one after the other. Page 3 SECTION II - MAIN MENU 2.3.1 - ADDING items to the menu: (Press ALT-A) The very first time you execute MENUZIP, you will be prompted with a window that informs you that the menu is empty and another window for adding your new application to the menu. The ADD window contains four entries for entering the information that pertain to the application. "TITLE:" is the entry for the title description that you give your application. Such as: Word Processor "DIRECTORY:" is the entry for the directory where your application resides. You need to enter the drive with the full path. If the directory is C:\WP then you would enter: C:\wp "COMMAND:" is the entry for the filename to execute to start your application. If the filename is WRITE.EXE then you would enter: write "DESCRIPT:" is the an optional entry. You can enter a 50 character description to describe your application. Such as: Word Processor version 1.0 for DOS by WRITE, Inc. At the completion of the entries, you then can press F2 to save the entries. 2.3.2 - ADDING archive files to the menu: (Press ALT-A) To add a ZIP file or an ARJ file to the menu, follow the example: You want to execute the file INSTALL.EXE and this file is in the archive file called WP.ZIP. You would start by entering the title of the application into the the "TITLE:" field and then entering the directory where the ZIP file resides into the "DIRECTORY:" field. In the "COMMAND:" field enter the following: runzip wp install If you are adding an ARJ file then you just replace the runzip with runarj. Page 4 2.4.1 - REMOVING items from the menu: (Press ALT-R) When removing any item from the menu, just move the cursor to the item and press ALT-R. The program will prompt you with a message asking you if you really want to do this. If you answer yes then the item will be removed from the menu. To abort, just press N or press the Escape key. If the item happens to be a ZIP or ARJ file, the menu will ask you if you would like to delete the ZIP or ARJ file from your HARD drive or convert the ZIP or ARJ file into a directory. Either way, MENUZIP will delete the ZIP or ARJ file if you choose DELETE or CONVERT. Make sure you have a backup of your ZIP or ARJ file before you make the choice of DELETE or CONVERT. Keep one thing in mind; if you remove an item from the menu and you decide not to delete or convert the ZIP or ARJ file from your drive, that file will remain in your drive wasting disk space and you may not remember the next time that the file is in your drive. Something to think about. 2.4.2 - EDITING items in the menu: (Press ALT-E) To EDIT an item in the menu, just move the cursor to the item and press ALT-E. A window will pop up with the information of that item. Use the arrow keys and appropriate keys to move about the edit fields. If you think you made some kind of mistake, just press ESC and the edit will abort. Press F2 when you think all is right. The fields that you should be careful with are the "DIRECTORY:" and "COMMAND:" fields. Make sure that you type the full path of the drive and directory in the "DIRECTORY:" field and in the "COMMAND:" field keep in mind what you want to execute. 2.4.3 - VIEWING the items in the menu: (Press ALT-V) To VIEW an item from the menu, just move the cursor to the item and press ALT-V. A window will pop up showing you the information for that item. 2.4.4 - MOVING items between menus: (Press ALT-M) You can arrange your menus by moving items between menus. This is done by moving the cursor to the item in particular and pressing the ALT-M keys. A window will pop up asking you where to move the item to. Enter the number of the destination menu and the program will update your menu system with the new changes. 2.4.5 - SWAPPING menu groups: (Press Alt-E, S) You can move and swap groups around by pressing ALT-E and selecting the "Swap Group" item by pressing the S key. Make sure you are on the menu group to move. After pressing the S key, enter the letter of the menu group to swap with. Page 5 2.5.1 - OUTPUT Screen: (Press ALT-O) The OUTPUT switch will allow you to view the display screen when MENUZIP returns back from an application. Some applications or utilities leave messages on the screen when they exit. Therefore, by pressing the "ALT-O" key you can always capture these messages. You can always return back to MENUZIP by pressing any key. 2.5.2 - SCREEN SAVER: MENUZIP comes with a built-in screen saver that will come on after 3 minutes if a key or mouse button is not pressed. To return back to MENUZIP from the screen saver, just press any key or a mouse button. NOTE: This screen saver is only for MENUZIP. The screen saver will not turn on when an application is running. 2.5.3 - DIRECTORY to ZIP or ARJ file: (Press ALT-U) MENUZIP will convert a directory into a ZIP or ARJ file. This is a good feature for saving disk space. To convert the directory, just press ALT-U (make sure that you are in the main screen) and then choose "Convert Directory To ZIP" from the UTILITY MENU, at this point, follow the same procedure for ADDING a ZIP or ARJ file. The directory will be converted and the ZIP or ARJ file will be added to the menu automatically. Make sure when entering the directory path in the "DIRECTORY:" field that you enter the root path for the directory to convert. In the "COMMAND:" field enter runzip first for ZIP or runarj for ARJ then enter the directory name next and then the file to execute. EX: You want to convert the directory JUNK into a ZIP file from the path C:\GAMES\JUNK and execute GO.BAT In the "DIRECTORY:" field enter C:\GAMES In the "COMMAND:" field enter RUNZIP JUNK GO 2.5.4 - LOCATING a ZIP or ARJ file: (Press ALT-U) MENUZIP will search your drive for any ZIP or ARJ files that are not in use with MENUZIP. From this search, you have the option to output the list to the printer. You will be surprised at the number of forgotten ZIP or ARJ files that you may have in your drive. You can even search a CD-ROM to create a list of ZIP files. From the main screen, press ALT-U and from the UTILITY MENU choose "Locate Unused ZIP files". Enter "Z" for ZIP or "A" for ARJ then choose a drive by entering the appropiate drive letter. Page 6 2.6.1 - TIME and DATE: (Press ALT-U) To change the TIME or the DATE, press ALT-U from the main screen and choose "Change The Date" for DATE or "Change The Time" for TIME. Use the left or right arrow keys to move the cursor to the proper field to change the appropiate number. The TIME or DATE will be set right after you press the Enter key. NOTE: Some games will alter the time or date on your computer. If you notice that the time on your computer is changing, its usually a game at fault. One way to tell if a game changed the time in your computer is by turning the computer off and then on. If the right time comes back then a game changed your time. If the time is still wrong, it is time to adjust the time. If the time still changes a lot, then the problem could be the clock or battery in your system. 2.6.2 - CALENDER (Press ALT-U) From the main screen, press ALT-U and choose CALENDER. A window will appear with the current month and day of the week. To view another MONTH, use the UP or DOWN arrow keys. To view another year, use the LEFT or RIGHT keys. If you are using the mouse, just click on the arrows on the top of the calender. To leave the Calender, press the Esc key or right mouse button. 2.6.3 - CALCULATOR: (Press ALT-U) After pressing ALT-U, a calculator will pop up on the screen. Using the calculator is straight forward. To calculate an equation, just enter the numbers as if you were writing them on paper. To get help for the calculator, press the F1 key. The calculator may look a bit strange at first, but in time you will get used to it. Page 7 2.7.1 - CONVERSIONS: (Press ALT-U) After pressing ALT-U, a window will appear with different items to choose from. The items to choose for conversions are: * COMPUTER NUMBERS * GENERAL CONVERSIONS * SCIENTIFIC CONVERSIONS. If you choose COMPUTER NUMBERS, you will be prompted with a window that contains conversions for computer numbers. Move the cursor to the particular unit to convert and enter a number and then press the Enter key to accept the input. The program will show you the conversion results for the other units. The same is true for the GENERAL CONVERSIONS and SCIENTIFIC CONVERSIONS. If you want to see the conversions for keyboard characters, just move the cursor to the CHAR choice and press any of keys. To view the ASCII numbers from from 1 to 255, move the cursor to the DEC choice and enter a 1 then press the RIGHT arrow key to increment the values. The values will change and the characters will follow showing the under the CHAR choice. GENERAL or SCIENTIFIC conversions allows for viewing numbers in Scientific Numbers or Real Numbers. Pressing the ALT-S key will display the numbers in Scientific Numbers, ALT-R will display the the numbers in Real Numbers. Once the results are displayed, you can then use the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys to round-off the numbers for better viewing. If you want to do some math calculations, just press the ALT-C key and a calculator will pop up on the screen. You can then get help for the calculator, just by pressing the F1 key. The calculator may look a little strange at first, but in time, you will get used to it. 2.7.2 - CHANGING SCREEN COLOR: (Press ALT-U) Pressing ALT-U will bring up the UTILITY window. Pick the first item "Change Background Color" for changing the screen background color. A window will appear with the current color. The Up and Down arrow keys will show all the different colors to choose from. The LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys will show a different shade or pattern for that particular color. You can use the mouse by clicking on the arrows on top of the window. After selecting a color, you have the option to accept the color or cancel the selection. Page 8 SECTION III - DIRECTORY VIEWER 3.8.1 - VIEWING a disk DIRECTORY: (Press ALT-D) Pressing ALT-D from the MAIN MENU will bring up a window of the directory in your disk drive. From with in this window you can navigate through out your entire drive or drives. You can view TEXT, ZIP or ARJ files, or execute ZIP or ARJ files. Another feature of this directory window is the ability to execute DOS commands. In viewing a ZIP or ARJ file, a window will come up showing the contents of that file. From that window, you can then scroll until you find the file to execute and then press enter and the program will be executed. In viewing a TEXT file, a viewer will come up showing the contents of that file. Once the file is in the viewer, you then can search or output the file to a printer. Using this directory window along with the menu can give you a lot power at hand in running your system more efficiently. 3.8.2 - VIEWING a disk FILE: (Press ALT-V) From the directory window, you can view the contents of a file by moving the cursor to the filename and pressing ATL-V or using the Enter key or clicking the left mouse button. The contents of the file will appear on the screen. You can scroll the screen by using the down and up arrow keys or if you choose to use the mouse then click the black line at the bottom or the black line at the top of the screen to scroll. To page up or down, use the page up or page down keys. To page up or down with the mouse, click at the screen right above the bottom line or at below the top line. To print the file to the printer, press ALT-P. You can search for a string by pressing ALT-S. This will hi-light the string when the the string is found. Page 9 3.9.1 - MARKING or TAGGING files: (Ins, Del, + , -) You can MARK or Tag a file by using the Ins key. When the file or files are MARKED, a marker on the left of the file will show. Also, the color of the marked file will change. You can UNMARK a file by using the Del key. You can select different files to MARK by using the + key. When this key is pressed, a window will appear with the characters *.*. The *.* is the default for marking all files. If you want to mark files that end with the extension .EXE, than you just change the *.* to *.EXE. The * and ? characters are wild. To UNMARK files use the - key. The process will be the same as the + key. At the bottom of the directory viewer, you will see a tally of all the files that are MARKED and the total file size of these files. The color of these two statuses will change to yellow. When the files are MARKED, you then can COPY, RENAME, MOVE, DELETE, the files or change the file attributes. 3.9.2 - FILE COPY, RENAME, MOVE, DELETE: (Press F5, F6, F7, F8, ALT-F) See section 3.8.1 for MARKING or TAGGING files. Move the cursor to the file and do the following: To COPY a file press the F5 key. To RENAME a file press the F6 key. To MOVE a file press the F7 key. To DELETE a file press the F8 key. or Pressing the ALT-F key will bring up a window that will show you what choses to pick from. If any files are MARKED then those files will be acted upon. You can also COPY, MOVE, or DELETE directories. Move the cursor to the directory and press one of the F5, F7, or F8 keys. When working with directories, you need to be very cautious. For example, when you DELETE a directory, the directory and its sub-directories will be deleted. Page 10 3.10.1 - CREATING a DIRECTORY: (Press F9, ALT-F) To create a directory just press F9 and the program will prompt you for a directory name. If you do not include a path with the name of directory that you want to create then the directory will be created under the root directory. 3.10.2 - CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES: (Press F4, ALT-F) See section 3.8.1 for MARKING or TAGGING files. To change the attributes of a file or files, move the cursor to the file and press F4. A window will appear showing the attributes of the file. From this window, you can change the file attribute. The SPACE BAR will toggle the attribute. When you are done, press Enter and the file will be saved with the new attribute. 3.10.3 - ENTERING DOS COMMANDS: (Press ALT-D) You can execute DOS commands by pressing the ALT-D key. At the Bottom of the directory veiwer you will see a window that will allow you to enter any DOS command. When a DOS command or an application is executed, MENUZIP will release itself from memory to give you more memory for your applications. For your information, MENUZIP takes up about 195KB of memory when it is in use. The only portion of MENUZIP that stays in memory when an application is running is about 6KB. The program will keep a history of commands (up to 10) that you entered. To get back a command that you entered, use the UP or DOWN arrow keys. This feature is like the DOSKEY in DOS. 3.10.4 - CHANGING DIRECTORY PANELS: (Press ALT-P) You can view one or two DIRECTORY PANELS by pressing the ALT-P key. With the two panels, copying files or directories becomes an easy task. To switch between the two panels, just press the TAB key. To switch back to a single panel, just press the ALT-P again. Pressing the TAB key in a single panel causes the panel to view the directories and files in a different format. Also, in the single panel, the attribute of the files are displayed. The format for the dates are different between the panels. 3.10.5 - LOCATE A FILE: (Press F2, Alt-F) Pressing F2 or selecting "LOCATE A FILE" from the FILE SYSTEM menu will bring up a window for searching a file. The first item you see is the current drive. You can change the drive or press the Enter key to select the drive. After that you will see *.* for all files. If you accept this, MENUZIP will search for all the files in your drive and show you where they are located. You can type the name of file or use wild cards to select different files. You can also type the directory path with the name of the file. Do not include the drive letter with the path because it will cause an error display. Page 11 3.11.1 - SEARCH AND COPY (Press F10, Alt-F) Pressing F10 or selecting "Search and Copy" from the File System menu will bring up a window for searching a file and automaticaly copying the file to the current directory. The first item you see is the current drive. You can change the drive or press the Enter key to select the drive. After that you will see *.* for all files. If you accept this, MENUZIP will search for all the files in your drive and show you where they are located. You can type the name of file or use wild cards to select different files. You can also type the directory path with the name of the file. Do not include the drive letter with the path because it will cause an error display. For example, suppose you are searching for files that have the file extension MID. In the FILENAME field you would enter *.MID and press Enter. The Search and Copy routine will search the entire drive that you chose and locate every file that ends with MID and copy those files to the current directory. Depending on how many files there are, the process may take a while to Search and Copy. A word of advise and warning is to be very careful on how you use the Search and Copy. It would be wise to use the LOCATE A FILE (see section 3.10.5) routine first to see just how many files are involve or how much disk space these files take before using the Search and Copy routine. Also, be careful how you use the wild cards for selecting files. If you Search and Copy for *.*, you will search the entire drive and copy all the files into the current directory!! Always use an empty directory to start from. Doing this will prevent mixing files with the Search and Copy files. Page 12 3.12.1 - PLAYING A SOUND FILE: MENUZIP comes with its own sound PLAYER for playing wave, voice, and midi files. This PLAYER only works on Sound Blaster boards only and only if your CONFIG.SYS contains the drivers for the Sound Blaster. If you do not have a Sound Blaster, you can override the PLAYER with your own PLAYER. To play a wave file, for example, locate the file with the extension .WAV and press Enter on the file. If all goes well, you should hear the wave file playing on your speaker. The same goes for the .VOC or .MID file. You can highlight all the sound files and MENUZIP will play all those files one at a time. You can always press the DOWN ARROW key to go on to the next sound or press the ESC key to stop the PLAYER. To override the MENUZIP PLAYER, all you have to do is modify the MENUZIP.INF file will your own PLAYER. To do this, do the following: Find out where the PLAYER for your sound board is located. Make sure that the driver for the PLAYER is loaded first, if it needs one. For example, lets say that the name of the PLAYER is WPLAY.EXE and that its located in a directory called C:\SOUND. In the MENUZIP.INF file, enter the following: [WAV] C:\SOUND\WPLAY.EXE Now every time you hit the Enter key on a WAV file, the WPLAY player will play the wave file. For the MID and the VOC files, follow the same procedure as for the WAV files. The only thing that will be missing when you use your own player is the DOWN ARROW key. [WAV] C:\SOUND\WPLAY.EXE [MID] C:\SOUND\MIDPLAYER [VOC] C:\SOUND\VOCPLAYER When playing a MIDI file with the MENUZIP internal midi player, you have the control to adjust Volume, Treble, Bass, Tempo, and Transpose. You can even select whether you would like the sound to play an external midi instrument or the internal Sound Blaster synthesizer. You also have the option to select the format type, such as, BASIC, GENERAL, or EXTENDED. Four other controls are Stop, Next, Previous, Repeat, and Pause. If you highlight the selected midi files that you intend to play, the midi player will give you control to play the current, previous, or next songs. - eof -