BBS Toolkit/BBS Toolkit.iso/qbbs/mm_102.zip/MM1.DOC

Text File | 1989-05-21 | 13KB | 306 lines

                             Menu Master
                 The Ultimate Menu Editor For QuickBBS
                      Preliminary Documentation




    Menu Master is designed to make your life much easier when creating
    and editing menus for QuickBBS.  Making menus with Menu Master has
    even been described as 'Fun'.

    Menu Master is menu driven and has full mouse support.
    If you have used a previous version of MM you will notice a huge
    difference in look and feel.  You may delete the old MMC.EXE and
    MM.CFG files.  They are no longer used.

    Due to the failure of the shareware idea, MM has an annoying new
    feature.  There is a delay upon loading of un-registered versions.
    It is not crippled in any other way.  I apologize for adding the
    delay 'feature' but MM has become VERY popular, yet VERY few have
    registered it.  Registration is only $10.  Please print the PRINT.ME
    file for more information.  If you are on a limited income (like me :-})
    and can't afford the ten bucks, give me a call at [phone] and
    we can work something out.

    MM1 must be run from your QuickBBS directory.  It needs some information
    from the CONFIG.BBS file.
    Load MM by typing MM1 at the DOS prompt.  A Sidekick like directory
    box will appear after the intro.  You can get help with the dir
    box with the F1 key.

    Use your cursor keys to highlight the menu you want to edit and
    press ENTER.  If you prefer, you can type the name of the menu
    instead of cursoring to it.  Entering a name the does not exist
    will cause MM to ask you want to create it.  You can also enter
    the name of a menu on the commandline and MM1 will load that menu
    without going through the directory display.
    Example:  MM1 MESS1
    Loads the MESS1.MNU file into the editor.


    Your menu is simulated for you constantly.  Every change you make
    will update the simulation.  The simulation is preset to level
    32000 and all flags ON.  This is so you can always see exactly
    what you have in your menu at all times.

    The top line tells you what menu you are editing, what level and
    flags settings the simulation is using, the time, and the simulation
    toggles.  The function keys change the simulation toggles.

    F1- Toggles ANSI or ASCII mode.
    F2- Toggles Data mode.  In data mode you are given brief information
        about each menu option instead of the display text.  Data mode is
        very usefull if you are making text file menus.  (Cntrl-A type)
    F3- Toggles the line numbers.
    F4- Toggles Cntrl-A mode.  In Cntrl-A mode the simulator will display
        any text file that you may be using for the menu.  You must have
        a cntrl-A type 40 menu option setup somewhere in the menu for this
        to work.  See the QuickBBS documentation for more info on type 40
        menus.
    F5- Toggles line wrap.  If line wrap is ON you get a more accuate
        simulation of what Quick will display.  Leaving line wrap OFF makes
        editing menus with long display lines a little easier.
    F6- Allows you to change the security and flags that the simulation is
        using.

    To change to another menu, simply hit the hotkey that activates it.
    MM supports the menu stacking of QuickBBS as well as displaying ASC/ANS
    files.  You can move through your menus just as if you were on your BBS.
    Other keys will pop up message boxes telling you what that particular
    option will do on your board.

    MM has its own set of hot keys that is uses to activate the editing
    options.  The command hotkeys are shown on the Menu Master main menus.
    For Example: ALT-E invokes the entry editor.  To activate the main menu
    hit ESC, F10, or the mouse button.  I will not go through each option
    available because most of them are self-explanatory.  There are, however,
    a few that need an explanation.


---Editing Entrys---
      (ALT-E)

    Editing entrys works just the same as menuedit with a few
    exceptions.  At any time you can hit the F10 key to get pop-up
    help with menu types.  You can cursor or mouse down to the menu
    type that you want and the appropriate number will be placed in
    the menu type field.

    You can put special characters in your display text using the
    SHIFT-Fkeys.  Change the current ASCII set used with the ALT-FKeys.
    The ASCII sets used are identical to those used in Thedraw.

    The keys in use are always shown so you
    dont put the same key in twice.  You can enter any number for the
    menu colors, however, unpredictable results will occur if you use
    values outside of 0-15 for Foreground and 0-7 for background.
    You can save the entry with either F1 or the [END] key.  [ESC]
    takes you out without saving the current changes.

---Global Changes---
      (ALT-G)

    You will be prompted for the type of data to globally change.  Use the
    cursor keys to select the type.  (Note: ESC gets you out of just about
    anything in MM)  You will be prompted for the search data and then the
    data to replace it with.  Then you will select the menu(s) in which to
    make the changes.  The spacebar toggles the menus to change.  There
    are lots of on-screen instructions so just play with it to get the hang
    of it.

---Make Menus---
    (ALT-M)

   This is a VERY powerfull command. You can make all your message board and
   file area menus with just a few keystrokes using the menu creator.
   Upon entering the creator you will be asked if you want to make <M>essage or
   <F>ile menus.

   No matter which one you chose, you will be asked the name of a 'source menu'.
   This is a special menu that you must make.  All menus that are made
   during this run will be based on this source menu.  The source menu
   should look just like any other menu with a few exceptions.  If this is a
   message area source menu, dont put any board numbers in the data fields for
   types 23 through 27.  MM will put the correct data in these fields.  If you
   do put something there, MM will ignore the entry and leave it the same in
   each menu it makes.  If its a file area source menu, dont put any data
   for types 29 through 34.  MM will fill in the correct path for each menu
   it makes.


   You may want the same path on a certain command.  For instance the
   <U>pload command.  You want all uploads to go to a certain directory.  Just
   fill in the path for this command in the data field and MM will not change
   it for each menu it makes.

   On the text line of a menu entry you can put a 
 (ASCII 1) character and
   the maker will put the area name in place of it in each menu it makes.
   You can also put the 
 in the prompt of the source menu.

   Example:
   
 Message Area

   Would turn out to be:
   Hard Drives Message Area

   if you happend to have included that message area in your creation run.

   If you place a '|' character as the LAST character in the display text
   of the source menu, the maker will automaticly center the display line.

   During the make run, MM goes through each area you have selected to create,
   It looks at each entry in the source menu and checks to see if it needs to
   have some special information added to the data field.  It also checks the
   display text for the special control-a and pipe character.  If it finds
   an entry in the source menu that needs some special data, it inserts it.
   IE: if you were making message menus and it found a type 27 (post message)
   entry AND you left the data space blank for that entry, it would insert
   the proper message board number in the data field.

   Now you are probly wondering, How does it know what information
   to put in each menu?

   For message menus, it gets the information from Config.BBS.  After typing in
   your source menu name, it reads the config and presents you with a selection
   screen where all your message areas are listed.
   If a board has a checkmark next to it, it will be created on this run.
   Toggle the boards with the spacebar.
   When you have chosen all the boards that you want to create hit ENTER.

   Each menu will be simulated as it is made.  MM will put the board name as
   defined in Qconfig everywhere you put a 
 in the source menu and the board
   number in the data field everywhere it finds a type 23-27 command in the
   source menu.  It will NOT put the board number in the data field of an
   entry if you already have something there.

   You might want the option <L>eave Feedback on each message menu.
   That is a type 27 (post message).
   In your source menu you could enter the appropriate
   board number in the data field of that entry along with /T=Your_Name and
   MM will not change it in each menu it makes.

   MM will name each message menu it makes MESSxxx  Where xxx is the board #
   defined in Qconfig.

   The menu it makes for board 4 would be called MESS4.MNU.

   For file menus MM gets the information from a control file.  Each line
   of the control file should have the following format.
   <path>  <sec>  <AreaName>
   You can use your FLSEARCH.CTL file for the control file.

   After specifing the control file name,  you will be presented with a
   selection screen similar to the message area one.  MM will put the AreaName
   as defined in the control file everywhere it finds a 
 in the source menu
   display text and the appropriate path everywhere it finds a type 29-34.
   It will save the menu with the name
   FILExxx where xxx is the line number in the control file.  Up to 200 file
   area menus can be defined in one control file.  This should help those
   with CD-ROM drives make thier menus quickly.  Some sample source menus are
   enclosed.

   I know this sounds complicated but once you play with it a little, there is
   nothing to it.  Experimentaion is the key to success with the Make option.
   After a little experimentation youll get the idea of how powerfull this
   feature is.


   Thats it for the docs.  Everything else if self explanatory.  Have fun!


---Update History---

v0.00
-Does what menuedit does.  Just does it with a little more speed and
 color.

-Auto-Simulation added.

v0.01
- Added MMC so the user can customise colors used by MM.  You can also
move the main menu somewhere else if its interfering with the
auto-simulation.

- Added flag support in the simulation mode.

- Popup help window in the editor.

- Keys in use are now shown in the editor.

- You can now type a cntrl-A in the key field.

- You can save the menu entry with either F1 or END.

- The SAVE AS feature lets you make copies of the current menu.

- Added a Abort option to load another menu without saving the current one.

- Fixed the flag routine.  It was saving the flags in reverse.

- Cleaned up some of the grafics and colors.

v0.02
-Copyright secured on Menu Master

-Fixed bug in flag simulations

-Changed MMC so the cursor moves more pleasantly.

-Added ability to copy, rename, and delete menus from the directory
screen.

-Beta versions made available to brave Sysops.


v0.30  Major update

o  You can just begin typing the name of the file instead of having to hit ESC
    first.  ESC will exit the program.

o  Highlight colors are now correctly shown in the prompt.

o  The simulation mode has been greatly enhanced.  The display of the simulation
    is about 25% faster on CGA cards and 650% faster on all other cards than
    normal TP4 direct screen writes.  Unusual menus are correctly simulated.

o  Menus are only re-saved if a change was made to them.



v0.31  Function key fix for .30

v0.32  Minor bug fix in simulation mode.

v0.34  Minor bug fix.  Added line wrap toggle.
       Added auto-centering in the Make facility.

v1.00  Major update.

       User interface changed drasticly

       Added global change.

       Shift-Fkeys in editor.

       Simulation active all the time.

       DESQview aware screen writes.

       MMC dumped.

       Released through SDS software echo.




Thanks for using Menu Master.

Rob Fletcher
Data  918-585-3763 Fido (1:170/211)
Voice 918-585-8514

QuickBBS is copyrighted by Adam Hudson