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-
-
- KBBSMENU DOCUMENTATION
- ----------------------
-
-
- IMPORTANT INFORMATION
-
- By installing KBBS on your system, you agree to the following
- terms and conditions:
-
- ANDERSON RESEARCH MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESSED
- OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
- MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
-
- LIMITATION OF LIABILITY - In no event shall Anderson Research be
- liable for any special, indirect, consequential, exemplary, or
- incidental damages whatsoever (including, without limitation,
- damage for loss of profits, loss of information, loss of
- goodwill, or other pecuniary loss) whether based in contract,
- tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise, even if
- Anderson Research has been advised of the possibility of such
- damages.
-
- This document contains propritetary information which is
- protected by copyright. No part of this document may be
- photocopied, reprinted, or translated without the prior written
- consent of Anderson Research.
-
- The information in this document, and all included documents, is
- subject to change without notice.
-
-
- TEST VERSION
- ------------
-
- This is an early release version of KBBSMENU that will be included
- with KBBS vZ.21. Please test and report bugs ASAP... thanks.
-
-
- OVERVIEW
- --------
-
- KBBSMENU is a separate utility now included with the regular
- KBBS releases that allows sysops to effortlessly add highlight
- bar menu support to their existing ANSI menus.
-
- This program does not draw menus-- you will still need to use
- your ANSI draw package to produce the color ANSI menu that this
- program will modify.
-
- NOTE: This was a quickly-written-by-demand program, so although
- it does the job, future releases will have more features
- and more capabilities (such as mouse support).
-
-
- INSTALLATION
- ------------
-
- Copy KBBSMENU.EXE into your KBBS directory... the same directory
- where KBBSEXEC.EXE resides.
-
-
- TECHNICAL INFORMATION
- ---------------------
-
- 32 LINE LIMIT
-
- Because of the way KBBS displays menu files, you are limited to
- an ANSI menu screen of 23 lines in length. This limitation will
- be done away with in a future release.
-
-
- OPTIMIZATION
-
- ANSI screens are saved in an optimized form for display by
- KBBS systems. Once you have added highlight bars to a screen,
- you won't be able to modify the screen with your ANSI draw
- package. KBBSMENU saves the original .ANS file in a directory
- named ORIGINAL under your TEXT path.
-
-
- STEP BY STEP EXAMPLE
- --------------------
-
- For the most part, it's pretty self explanatory. The following
- steps are an example of how to add highlight bars to a menu
- MAINMENU.ANS.
-
- 1. Make sure MAINMENU.ANS is in your TEXT path. That is where
- KBBSMENU looks for all .ANS files, although you can save
- them to another location. (This will be enhanced later,
- also.)
-
- 2. Type KBBSMENU at the prompt. A list of .ANS files will
- be displayed. Select MAINMENU.ANS. KBBSMENU will then
- display the screen in a window.
-
- 3. If you previously added highlight bars to this ANSI menu
- screen, a picklist will list those highlight bars. Otherwise
- it will display "No highlight bars defined in this menu."
-
- 4. TO ADD A HIGHLIGHT BAR, press INSERT. The picklist will
- disappear, and a highlighted block will appear in the upper
- left hand corner of the screen. The following keys allow
- you to position and modify the bar:
-
- ARROW KEYS Move the bar around
-
- CTRL-LEFT and
- CTRL-RIGHT Re-size the bar
-
- PAGEUP and
- PAGEDOWN Change the foreground color of the bar
-
- CTRL-PAGEUP and
- CTRL-PAGEDOWN Change the background color of the bar
-
- ENTER Accept the bar in its position and
- begin editing the attributes for that bar
-
- At this point you must choose a "grid"
- position for the bar, and the HotKey that
- the bar activates when selected in the
- KBBS menu online. See "About Grid
- Positions" below for more information.
-
- ESCAPE Abort-- return to the picklist
-
-
- 5. TO DELETE A HIGHLIGHT BAR, press DELETE on the bar you wish
- to delete. KBBSMENU will prompt you before deleting the bar.
-
- 6. TO EDIT AN EXISTING BAR, press ENTER on the bar you wish to
- delete. At this point you may change the position/color of the
- bar similar to #4 above, then you may edit the attributs of that
- bar.
-
- 7. TO SAVE/EXIT, press ESCAPE or F10. You will then be prompted
- whether or not you wish to save the screen or abort without
- saving.
-
- That's it! You can now define the ANSI display menu in your menu
- tree or MENU() commands and KBBS will activate highlight bars in
- the positions you chose.
-
-
- ABOUT GRID POSITIONS
- --------------------
-
- KBBS allows you to choose the "grid" position for each menu. This
- gives you complete control of where the highlight bar moves when
- the arrow keys are pressed. Examine the following grid table:
-
-
- Columns
-
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
-
- 1
- Rows
- 2 <-- left and right move this way -->
-
- 3 ^
- |
- 4
- up and down move this way
- 5
-
- 6 |
- v
- 7
- .
- .
- .
-
- No matter where the highlight bar is on the ANSI display, each
- highlight bar is assigned a "Grid" position. This tells KBBS
- what relationship each bar is to the rest. The left and right
- arrows will always switch to highlight bars along the grid
- columns, and the up and down arrows will always switch to
- highlight bars along the rows. They don't have to occupy
- grid positions next to each other-- if you have a highlight
- bar defined as Row 1 Col 1, another as Row 1 Col 3, with none
- defined in Row 1 Col 2, a right arrow press will move the
- highlight bar from 1:1 to 1:3.
-
-
- COMMENTS AND BUG REPORTS
- ------------------------
-
- Please comment and report bugs in the ARI_KBBS conference, or
- send netmail to
-
- Keith Anderson at 1:312/100 (Fidonet)
- 888:7101/1 (ARInet)
-
- Internet e-mail:
-
- keith.anderson@mtnswest.com
- keith.anderson#ARI@hdh.com
-
- Or call Megalopolis BBS:
-
- 801-489-7910 28.8
- 801-489-1947 14.4
- 801-489-1946 12.0
-
-