PC-SIG: World of Games

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Text File | 1992-02-21 | 18KB | 349 lines

Program Name: GMENU - Version 1.2O Written by: Garry Spencer (ShareWare) 5O27 Byron Rd Memphis, TN 38122 Files Used: GMENU.EXE - Main program GMENU.DAT - Data file for GMENU.EXE GMENU.DOC - Documentation (this file) Installation: From the root directory (C:\), execute the following commands with the GMENU disk in drive A: . MD \GMENU CD \GMENU COPY A:GMENU.* SET GMENU=\GMENU\GMENU.DAT If you have been using my earlier program (GAMES), you can copy the GAMES.DAT file to GMENU.DAT. The structure is similar. Be sure that the \GMENU directory is in your PATH statement! To start, type GMENU. The GMENU.DAT data file can be edited at the command line (or from within GMENU by typing the E key). Please read through the GMENU.DAT file before using it, to make sure that there are no syntax problems. Desired GMENU Function Required Command ──────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────────── Move cursor up one line Keyboard: Up-arrow Joystick: Push stick forward Mouse : Move mouse forward Move cursor down one line Keyboard: Down-arrow Joystick: Pull stick back Mouse : Move mouse back Move up one menu page Keyboard: PgUp or Left-arrow Joystick: Move stick to the left Mouse : Move mouse forward while pressing the right-mouse button Move down one menu page Keyboard: PgDn or Right-arrow Joystick: Move stick to the right Mouse : Move mouse back while pressing the right-mouse button Make a selection Keyboard: press the Enter key or Spacebar Joystick: press the FIRE button Mouse : press the left-mouse button Edit the current menu file using Keyboard: press the E key the editor specified in the EDIT= menu file command (default is ED ) Exit the program with the DOS Keyboard: press the ESC key command specified in the EXIT= menu file command (up to 14 (the Alt-X key exits without characters) executing any DOS commands) GMENU DATA FILE INFORMATION 1. First of all, this menu system was designed for those who are not intimidated by the DOS command line prompt. The menu file must be created/edited to meet the user's needs. This may not be as easy as some menu systems, but an experienced user can make the GMENU system very flexible. 2. The GMENU.EXE file MUST be located in a directory which is in the current path. The file GMENU.DAT should be located in a directory which is in the current PATH (e.g. C:\GMENU) -OR- the environment variable GMENU can be used to hold the directory and/or filename of the GMENU data file. The default filename, unless it is changed, is GMENU.DAT. 3. When the GMENU program is executed, the following actions are taken: The environment area is searched for a variable named GMENU. IF it is found, its string is searched for a valid directory path AND/OR filename. This value can be set at the DOS command line by using : SET GMENU=\path or SET GMENU=\path\filename or SET GMENU=filename . Be sure that the environment space is large enough for this information. The size of the environment area can be be changed (at bootup) by including the SHELL command in the CONFIG.SYS file. Check the DOS manual if necessary. The default filename of the GMENU data file is GMENU.DAT, but if a filename is specified in the GMENU variable, the new filename will be used. The program will attempt to locate the data file in the path (if one was specified), otherwise it will try the current directory, then the system PATH (if present). When the file is located, its contents are read into memory. If the file can not be located, an error message is printed on the screen. 4. Menu options are entered into memory by placing a # (menu option name tag) as the first character of a line. The NAME of the menu option is placed on the same line and immediately after the # (pound·sign). This text will appear on the screen. Only one line of text may be used for each menu option. The actions to be taken, when that option is selected, are placed on the next line(s). Several lines of normal DOS (batch) commands may be entered. GMENU creates a temporary batch file to execute these commands. If another batch file is to invoked, the CALL (DOS 3+) command may be used. To conserve file space, the (^ up·carat) may be entered in place of a cr·lf (carriage·return-line·feed) combination. For example, method 1 #UNO Card Game CD\GAMES UNO #NEXT-GAME etc. method 2 #UNO Card Game CD\GAMES^UNO #NEXT-GAME etc. Please note that command line arguments (%1 %2 etc.) can not be included in the execution of the temporary batch file. Any command with fixed command line arguments may be placed inside the temporary batch file. In addition to normal DOS batch file commands, the GMENU program looks for special GMENU system commands such as: COLOR= EDIT= EXIT= GOTO= INPUT= SCREENSAVE= TAB= TITLE= All of these commands are optional. If any of these commands are not found, the default values are used. The EDIT=, EXIT=, INPUT= and SCREENSAVE= commands MUST be located BEFORE the first menu option name tag (a # in the first character of a line). The COLOR=, GOTO= and TITLE= may be put anywhere in the file, but the COLOR= takes effect on the next menu page. The following list shows the syntax of the GMENU data file system commands: COLOR=SCREEN(fb) TITLE(fb) POINTER(fb) NAME(fb) This command specifies the default foreground (f) and background (b) colors for the next page of menu options. This command is optional. If the COLOR= command is omitted, or if any of the 4 argument fields are omitted, then the system uses certain default colors or the last value assigned to the argument field. The SCREEN(fb) field is used to set the colors for the entire screen. The foreground color is not used in this version, but should be included to conform to the syntax. The TITLE(fb) field sets the colors for the title (top-line) of the menu screen. The POINTER(fb) sets the colors for the small arrow pointer on the left side of the screen, which is used to make a menu selection. The NAME(fb) field sets the colors for the name of each menu option on the screen. The 4 argument fields are optional and may appear in any order after the COLOR= command. Any error in the values (such as a background color other than O through 7) will cause GMENU to use previously defined values for the (fb) variables. The (fb) foreground·background values are as follows: Foreground colors (f) low-intensity bright low+blink bright+blink base-color ───────────── ────── ───────── ──────────── ───────────────── ┌── O 8 - * black/dark-gray │ 1 9 ! ( blue │ 2 A @ a green ┌───┤ 3 B # b cyan(blue-green) │ │ 4 C $ c red │ │ 5 D % d magenta(purple) │ │ 6 E ^ e brown/yellow │ └── 7 F & f gray/white │ └─ Background colors (b) are the same as the low-intensity foreground values (O through 7). For example, COLOR=SCREEN(OO) TITLE(E4) POINTER(FO) NAME(AO) would cause the screen foreground and background to be black (normal). The title (top·line) would appear as yellow on a red background. The pointer would be white on a black background. The name of each menu option on the page would be green on a black background. Experimenting with these values can yield some unusual effects. There is a way to (temporarily) change the name color by specifying the foreground and background colors (between commas starting in column 2) on the option-name-tag line. The background defaults to the current name-background-color if not specified. The change is in effect for that line only and reverts back to the previous values on subsequent lines(name-tags). For example: #,fb,Option Name or #,f,Option Name #,30,UNO Card Game or #,3,UNO Card Game EDIT= This command allows the user to specify a default editor which can then be used to edit the current GMENU data file. Note that if this command is not used, the default is ED . The GMENU data file(s) MUST first be created at the DOS command line level. After the file has been created and loaded in GMENU as the current data file, it can be edited from within GMENU. For example, EDIT=TED would be used to invoke Tiny-EDitor. EXIT= This command allows the user to execute a DOS command whenever the GMENU program is exited (by pressing the ESC key). At this time, the limit is 14 characters (after EXIT= and excluding the ENTER keystroke). For example, EXIT=CD\^DIR would cause the default directory to be changed to the root directory and then the DIR command would be executed. INPUT= This command selects a default input device to override the device selected by GMENU. The GMENU program checks first for a mouse and then a joystick. If neither are found, the keyboard is used. The syntax is: INPUT=KEYBOARD INPUT=JOYSTICK INPUT=MOUSE <══ 2OO dpi mouse (system default if attached) INPUT=MOUSE1OO 1OO dpi INPUT=MOUSE4OO 4OO dpi INPUT=MOUSE8OO 8OO dpi GOTO= Please see the section on sub-menus for more information on GOTO=. SCREENSAVE= This command is used to prevent screen phosphor burn-out caused by leaving a menu on the screen for an extended period of time. The value used with this function is in MINUTES. For example, SCREENSAVE=5 will begin the screen·saver function five minutes after the last keyboard activity (while in the menu mode). This does not apply to programs executed by GMENU. The minimum, default and maximum values are as follows: SCREENSAVE=.25 (.25 minutes = 15 seconds) SCREENSAVE=1 (default is 1 minute) SCREENSAVE=1O (maximum value allowed) If a number outside of this range is specified, the value used is the limit closest to the specified value. An error in the value specified will cause the default (1 minute) to be used. Once the screen·saver is invoked, any keypress will return to the current menu. TAB= This command sets the tab position for the TITLE and option-NAME-tags. The following (optional) fields are available: TAB=TITLE(mm) NAME(nn) where mm is 1 to 75 and nn=2 to 75. The default values are TITLE(1) and NAME(3). The TAB command takes effect when the next TITLE page is generated. TITLE= This command is used to start a new menu page. The colors used on the new menu page may be set before or after the TITLE= command, as long as the colors are set before the next # (option name tag). The length of the title itself can be up to 8O characters in length. Each menu page can hold up to 23 options. If more than 23 options follow a TITLE= statement, a new menu page is generated with the same title as the last TITLE= statement. The system can handle up to 1OO menu pages. Note that it may be necessary to pad the title with leading or trailing spaces in order to center the title. Additional Notes: 1. RUNNING GMENU FROM INSIDE A BATCH FILE (GMENU @) Sometimes you might want to use the GMENU program for one particular type of application (e.g. games). You might be using another menu system to handle the other types of applications on your system, but want to be able to call GMENU from the other menu program. This can be done as follows: Create a batch file (e.g. GM.BAT) which contains the command (GMENU @ ) as the last command in the file. The @ (at-sign) signals the GMENU program to exit from the batch file and to run itself from the DOS command line. This batch file (GM) could then be invoked from the other menu system. The EXIT= command could be used to send the user back to the other menu system, (e.g. EXIT=MENU). Do not use the name GMNU.BAT or GMENU.BAT because these filenames are used by GMENU.EXE. The command (GMENU @) could be placed as the last line of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to run the GMENU program whenever the system is re-booted. 2. ON-LINE HELP The GMENU system does not have on-line help built into the system, but you can include a menu option to do this. For example, #ON-LINE HELP MORE < \GMENU\GMENU.DOC -or- any LIST/browse program #Next-option etc. 3. SUB-MENUS (Method 1 using the GOTO= command) The GOTO= command may be used to change the current menu page (in the current menu file). The syntax is: GOTO=title where title is the title of another menu page. This command is not case-sensitive which means that it will match upper or lower case characters. Leading or trailing spaces on the title are ignored. Note that the GOTO= must be the only command on the line after the option-name-tag (#). For example, the following will cause a "sub-menu" page (Bonus Games) to be shown when the user selects the (Some Games to Play) option. #Some Games to Play GOTO=Bonus Games #Next Option etc. dir TITLE= Bonus Games #UNO Card Game CD\GAMES^UNO #etc..... Note that the menu pages can still be accessed sequentially. SUB-MENUS (Method 2 using separate menu files) The GMENU system was basically set up as a flat-file menuing system. This means that the pages of menu options are accessed sequentially (like turning the pages in a book). You can access a sub-menu file by changing the file and/or path specification in the GMENU environment variable. For example, #ARCADE GAMES SET GMENU=\GMENU\ARCDGAME.DAT DEL GMNU.TMP #BOARD GAMES SET GMENU=\GMENU\BRDGAMES.DAT DEL GMNU.TMP #CARD GAMES SET GMENU=\GMENU\CRDGAMES.DAT DEL GMNU.TMP #Next-option etc. The GMENU program will cause the SET command to be executed as a menu option and then will reload itself with the new menu data file. The files specified in the example above must be created from the DOS command line. They can then be edited from within the GMENU program by typing the E command (if the EDIT= command specifies the correct editor for your system). Note that menu titles, colors, screen·save times etc. must be specified in each GMENU data file that you create. These files should have commands for implementing a return to the main GMENU.DAT file. For example, to go back to the main menu: #RETURN TO MAIN-MENU SET GMENU=\GMENU\GMENU.DAT DEL GMNU.TMP #Next-option etc. Note: The command, DEL GMNU.TMP , which appears after each SET GMENU= statement discards the temporary file used by the GMENU program to keep track of the page/option which was executed last. If the temporary file is not found, GMENU will default to page 1 and option 1. This is done in order to cause GMENU to select the first page/option of the new menu file. 4. Special Note: The temporary batch file (GMNU.BAT) has 3 exit points. (a) If the user simply allows the batch commands to exit normally, the default directory will be changed back to the directory from which GMENU was invoked. The GMENU program will then be restarted. (b) If the user puts a GOTO EXITGM1 in the batch commands, the default directory will be changed back to the directory from which GMENU was invoked, but GMENU will not be restarted. (c) If the user puts a GOTO EXITGM2 in the batch commands, the batch file will exit into the current default directory and GMENU will not be restarted. 5. I hope that you will find the GMENU system to be useful and reasonably versatile.