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███████▒ ██▒ ██▒ ██▒ ██▒ ███████▒ ██▒ ███▒ ███████▒ FREEWARE
Version 3.0
Copyright 1994
by
David Roper
JULY 30
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███████▒ ██▒ ██▒ ██▒ ██▒ ███████▒ ██▒ ███▒ ███████▒ FREEWARE
Version 3.0
Copyright 1994
by
David Roper
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │█
│ This Copy Belongs To: │█
│ │█
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘█
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
JULY 30
┌───────────────┐
│ D R M e n u │█
└───────────────┘█
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
...a DOS menu system
COPYRIGHT 1992-94 by David Roper
I've got to grab your attention in the first few lines, so
here goes...five "grabbers" to cause you to want to use it:
1. First, this is FREEWARE; it costs you nothing to use
this program legally, anywhere. "Free" is affordable.
2. DRMenu runs ANY type files, ie. BAT's, COM's, and EXE's.
DRMenu does NOT use DOS "ERRORLEVEL" checks.
3. DRMenu has a slight "3-D" look, a moving Highlight Bar
for selecting your choices, and a Screen Blanker.
4. DRMenu can have 12 Screens, each with up to 17 Choices.
You can have a HELP screen for every Choice. Any VGA or
EGA system can have 8 more BRIGHT COLORS for backgrounds.
5. Most important, IT IS EASY TO DEVELOP and MAINTAIN.
There is only ONE ASCII file that contains the choices.
DRMenu 3.0 gives you an editor, a viewer, and a calculator.
This manual has two covers. Use the one that you like the best.
Legal "Limits" on the use of DRMenu are spelled out here, so read
them carefully. You will be amazed, I'm sure. It's Free.
DRMenu is Freeware. DRMenu is NOT Shareware. I do NOT require
for you to send me any money if you use it - even at your office.
However, DRMenu is NOT Public Domain. I, David Roper, own the
Copyright on DRMenu. This means that you can use it as you wish,
but that you cannot claim it as your own program. I Repeat, there
is NO CHARGE for using this program - ever - even at work.
Yes, you are also PERMITTED by me to include this package with any
commercial or any other shareware package as long as you include
the whole thing, the whole package, not just some of its parts. In
other words, you can use it when you install a Network for profit.
Yes, you are PERMITTED to put this DRMenu package on any BBS.
If you are in the SHAREWARE business, you CAN offer it in your
catalog for sale, so long as you state it's FREEWARE in the
description of the package. DRMenu is NOT Shareware.
Standard Disclaimer: Try DRMenu, and then Use DRMenu at your own
risk. If anything happens to your computer, your data, or anything
connected, David Roper cannot or will not be held responsible in
any way. If the DRMenu menu system doesn't work for you on your
computer, simply erase it and be glad that you paid me nothing.
CONTENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction............................................Section 1
A Quick Glance - A Demo.................................Section 2
What DRMenu Does........................................Section 3
Operating Systems, Memory, & Hardware Requirements......Section 4
The Files In This Package...............................Section 5
Installation - Uninstall................................Section 6
How To Select The Screens And Choices, the Blind........Section 7
Letter Sensitive Keys...................................Section 8
The Data file - Dot, Choice, and Remark Lines...........Section 9
The Required Dot Lines..................................Section 10
The (Other) Dot Lines Explained.........................Section 11
ALT-key, CTL-key Definitions............................Section 12
The Data File - Some Examples...........................Section 13
Passwords For Choices...................................Section 14
Colors..................................................Section 15
Unhiding "Hidden" Screens...............................Section 16
Help Screens............................................Section 17
The Notebook and Other Features.........................Section 18
The PICture/Logo Screen.................................Section 19
Problems and Solutions..................................Section 20
Exiting DRMenu..........................................Section 21
DRMenu in a LAN Environment.............................Section 22
Registration & The Latest Version.......................Section 90
Future Features, Past Differences.......................Section 91
Upgrading from an Earlier Version of DRMenu.............Section 92
Complaints..............................................Section 99
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ All sections are numbered from 1 to 99, yet │█
│ Not all the possible 99 numbers are used. │█
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘█
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INTRODUCTION Section 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu can be pronounced "Doctor Menu" if you want to,
although the name DRMenu is actually my initials (DR) and
the word MENU. I got the idea from PKZIP and others who do
this file marking. DRMENU is NOT affiliated with PKZIP.
I'm an MIS Director. Our corporate staff needs a menu system
with a screen blanker built in. If we leave our desks, we
need to be able to leave an "I'm at ...." message. Our staff
needs a menu system that can be easily edited by our MIS
people. We can write Batch files, but our secretaries forget
batch file names...It's not easy for them to remember.
Our management needs any menu system to be FREE, of course.
If you ever worked with the Novell .MNU system on your LAN,
you should read this document/manual carefully. I had to
quit using the "free" Novell MNU file system because it took
up so much RAM (it's a TSR) that other programs wouldn't run.
You may like DRMenu because it is probably pretty close to
what you're already using - if you use batch files. In fact,
YOUR BATCH FILES WON'T NEED TO BE CHANGED ONE BIT. Batch
files were an integral part of the version 2.1 DRMenu system.
And now, you can actually use COM's and EXE's as well.
This isn't a "Windows" application, but you can run Windows
from one of the batch files if you want to. I run version 3.1
We still use DRMenu by creating batch files to format diskettes
and to do daily backups of special, critical subdirectories.
It must work on a LAN. LANs can't use TSRs from the LOGIN
script. DRMenu is not a TSR. It "acts" like one, however.
A MENU system shouldn't use a lot of RAM. Even if you're
using DOS 7 (or greater), or a memory manager (like QEMM),
RAM-cram always seems to be a problem. Besides, there
probably ARE some TSRs that you do want or need to run.
I used to use the "TYPE SCREEN.TXT" and then change the prompt
to "PROMPT Enter Choice $G" Menu system. If you know what
this is all about, you'll like (....or love...) DRMenu.
Each batch file will take a cluster on your Hard Drive. Even
if you use the current maximum of 194 batch files allowable
by DRMenu, that's still less than 400k of disk space.
I have a 1.8 Gigabyte SCSI HD with 110 MEG of it partitioned
as Drive "C:" so that it falls under the 127MEG "limit" and
thus, each of its "allocation units" is only 2K. My drive "C:"
holds DOS 7, OS/2 for Windows, and my BATCH files. The rest
of the drive is set up as Drive "D:" (1.6+ GIGabytes) and
holds WINDOWS 3.1, compilers, and "everything else".
I wanted the DRMENU "data" to be simple ASCII text so it
could be changed using any editor that was convenient. It's
easy to edit this way. With Version 3.0, you get WCED, a
small, free ASCII editor. You also get a small VIEWER
named VIEW.COM and a replacement for PAUSE, called DRSCROLL.
QUICK GLANCE Section 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To use DRMenu, you need EXISTING batch files. It's easier.
The engine (DRM30eng.EXE) reads the lines of the data file
(DRM30dat.DAT) each time DRMenu runs and displays the Choices
in it. When you press the ENTER key, the engine creates a
small batch file with the Choice batch file written into it.
So what happens is that DRMenu effectively calls up your
batch file, runs the program and then returns to the menu
screens. This gives the impression that DRMenu is a TSR.
The MAKE-DATA program (DRM30mak.EXE) will make a data file
quicker than it took to read this far, but you will need to
have all your batch files located in one directory first.
DRMenu does NOT search your hard drive for .COM and .EXE
files to run. DRMenu uses the batch files that you already
have on your system.
Since DRMenu is supplied with a small ASCII editor, WCED,
you can write your batch files and modify your DRM30dat.DAT
file "on the spot." Thanks, Bill, for WCED...from all of us.
You can use your own, favorite ASCII editor, instead.
I personally use Qedit Advanced v3.0. Yep, it's registered.
A DEMO
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu is supplied with a small batch file named DRMDEMO.BAT.
Copy the DRMenu files DRMDEMO*.* and, also, DRM30eng.EXE onto
a diskette in A: and the DOS prompt set to A:, type DRMDEMO
and press enter. All the DEMO files will fit on a 360k disk.
This demo uses DRMDEMO.DAT (a fake menu) that allows you to
get a quick look and feel of DRMenu. Using the demo on a
floppy will be slower than if you were running it from the
hard drive, but you'll be able to see how easy it is to run.
It's very instintive - if you can use the Arrow Keys and the
Enter key. I hope you like the way it "looks and feels".
The 6 small, demo Batch files named/numbered DRMDEMO1.BAT, to
DRMDEMO6.BAT are used with the DRMDEMO.DAT file in the demo.
Please feel free to erase them after the DEMO.
Take a look at the Sample ".DAT" file. It's ASCII.
Your BATCH files are ASCII, too. ASCII is aka "DOS TEXT."
When you're ready to install the "real" system, use the file
DRM30mak.EXE and your real data file will be made in seconds.
ENJOY DRMenu. Hundreds of people worldwide already do.
WHAT DRMenu DOES Section 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu uses your existing .BAT files, the same ones you are
using now. Or, you can write new ones. Or, now with Version
3.0, you can use an EXE, COM, or BTM file, if you don't need
to write a BATch file. (BTM files are used in 4DOS.)
DRM30mak.EXE will create 2 files called DRMENU.BAT and
DRM30dat.DAT. It's this main DRMENU.BAT file that runs
DRM30eng.EXE, which is the file that reads DRM30dat.DAT.
There are three basic kinds of lines in DRM30dat.DAT.
"Dot Lines" instruct the engine; they start with a dot, aka
full stop or period. An example is ".COLOR Red on White"
"Remark" Lines are just that, they are there to assist you to
maintain and administer the DRM30dat.DAT file; they start
with a colon (:) just like remarks or labels in an ordinary
batch file. An example is: ": changed Batch file Feb 23rd 1994"
Choice Lines tell the system what to do; they have just a few
words, then the file name to be run in curly braces. For the
details on all of this, see the pages of this manual with
this title:
"The Data file, Dot, Choice, and Remark Lines - Section 9"
A CHOICE line looks like this: "Run Windows{RUNWIN}"
It consists of the words, like "Run Windows" and the batch
file name to run if you select this Choice line, RUNWIN.BAT.
The Highlight Bar moves over the Choices, then when you get
to the Choice you want to run, you press the ENTER key.
It is Instinctive to most people. However, you decide.
DRM30eng.EXE reads the DRM30dat.DAT file to get the Choices
and file names. As well as making the Highlight Bar move,
DRM30eng.EXE does other things like store the batch name and
Screen number so the system knows where to return to when you
finish using the program. When you press ENTER on your Choice,
DRMenu creates a batch file to run. Simple and fast, maybe not
elegant, but it works.
If you use DRM30mak.EXE to install DRMenu, then two of these
files will be created quickly for you. It's the best way.
The two files are: (1) DRM30dat.DAT and (2) DRMENU.BAT.
See Section 6 on Automatic and Manual installation, both.
Most of the files in DRMenu have "DRM30" in their titles, and
most of the important files used in this version 3.0 have the
number "30" in them to tell the difference between this 3.0
version and earlier versions. Future versions will also have
the number used, so you can tell them apart from each other.
OPERATING SYSTEMS, MEMORY, & HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Section 4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Systems. DRMenu can run using any DOS version from
2.0 to 6.x to 4DOS to Novell's DOS 7.0. You will want to
have Version 3.3 (or higher) of DOS because DRMenu needs the
"CALL" ability which is part of DOS 3.3 and later versions.
If you use DRMenu with a version of DOS that is below version
3.3, then you will have to add ".OLDDOS", a DOT line, to the
DATA file DRM30dat.DAT and, also, re-write each batch file so
that it returns and runs DRMENU.BAT after the batch file has
run. This method is not elegant, but it works.
DRM30eng.EXE was written and compiled using PowerBasic 3.0c,
then LZEXEv91 was used to reduce it to its current size. You
can UnLZEXE the Engine if you want, but its loading time is
faster if LZEXE'd. In RAM, the expansion is almost "instant."
The 175k of source code took 1.2 seconds to compile on a 90MHz
Pentium in the IDE. It used to take 23.2 seconds on a 486DX50.
It was compiled with the OP codes for the 8088 CPU, an option
to that DRMENU can be used on any machine, an 8088 to a Pentium.
Memory Requirements. DRM30eng.EXE needs about 171k of RAM to
run, but even that's actually needed only when you have
DRMenu's "MENU" on your screen. OTHER THAN THAT, the only
real memory needed is 144 bytes, plus whatever is needed for
DOS to hold a copy of your environment. So, even if you have
only 256k on your machine, DRMenu will run just fine.
It's DOS that uses the 144 bytes for each DOS "call". For
example, if your DOS environment is 128 bytes, then when you
run a program, any program, the total RAM used will be only
128 bytes + 144 bytes, a total of 272 bytes - plus the actual
memory requirements of the program to be run. See section 20
for hints on how to increase your ENVIRONMENT if needed.
Monitor Type. DRMenu supports mono, color, Hercules, VGA and
laptop screens. DRMenu autodetects color monitors. If you
have a monochrome screen laptop that "thinks" it's color,
DRMenu can be told to display black on white - or white on
black. Use a Dot line called .BW or one called .WB
The 8 BRIGHT background colors, NEW to version 3.0, are
available only if you have a VGA or EGA monitor - 16 in all.
If you use CGA you still have all 8 colors for background
choices. If you use Monographics, you have Black and White.
Version 3.0 of DRMenu will automatically detect EGA, VGA,
CGA, and Mono video cards and will try to use the 8 BRIGHT
colors whenever possible. If you try to use the 8 BRIGHT
colors for background colors and they start blinking... then
this software of mine and your system are "incompatible" and
you will be stuck with using JUST the original 8 colors. By
that, I mean use only the dull color such as GREEN instead of
being able to use both GREEN and, also, GRASS (BRIGHT Green).
See the section on Colors and then try all the colors using
the ALT-C feature if you have "turned on" the "C" somewhere
in the .SWITCHON line, such as .SWITCHON DCEFGHABXYZ.
^
THE FILES IN THIS PACKAGE Section 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In this package you will find the following files and a few
others that DRMenu creates. See the descriptions below.
They nearly all begin with "DRM" as the first three letters.
The ONLY ones really NEEDED to run the DRMenu system are marked
"YES" below. The two marked "NO" are still useful to use, too.
The files marked with a star "*" are created automatically by
DRMenu when it runs, so that it can perform its functions.
The ones marked with "$0", are free Utilities - gifts to you.
Filename Needed What it does
============ ====== ===================================
DRMENU.BAT YES the BATCH file you actually run to
use them all
DRM30dat.DAT YES users' Screens, Choices and batch
file names. This is "the DATA file"
DRM30eng.EXE YES the main engine that uses the DATA file.
It creates DRM30run.BAT as well.
DRM30pic.DAT NO the opening PICture, aka the LOGO screen.
It is seen only once a day.
DRM30mak.EXE NO this file "makes" two files for v3.0:
the DRM30dat.DAT and DRMENU.BAT files.
DRM30pul.EXE NO Used to make a new, smaller Document file
by pulling out certain lines and pages.
DRM30esc.DAT * DRMenu creates this when you press ESCape
DRM30run.BAT * DRMenu creates this when you press ENTER
DRM30sel.DAT * Remembers what Choice you SELected
DRM30cfg.DAT * It's created so you see LOGO only once a day
See .NEWDAY to increase viewing frequency.
DRM30err.DAT * A File which tells of the most recent ERRor
DRM30not.DAT Your ALT-N NOTebook containing your NOTes
DRM30bat.DAT All BATch files; Create it by Pressing ALT-Y
DRM30mat.DAT The DoorMAT where the .PWD2 "Key" is hidden
DRMENU30.DOC This Documentation file, aka "The Manual"
DRMDOTLN.LST A list of Dot Lines used in v3.0 and v2.1
DRMDEMO.BAT A Demo you can run on any diskette or drive.
Also, DRMDEMO1 thru 6 are part of the DEMO.
DRMDEMO.DAT The data file used for DRMDEMO.BAT above
DrSCROLL.EXE $0 a free, DOS Pause replacement (by me)
VIEW.COM $0 a free, ASCII viewer (by David Dibble)
WCED.COM $0 a free, ASCII editor (by William Cravener)
MATH.EXE $0 a free, Calculator (by Greg Kochaniak)
INSTALLATION - Automatic Section 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu comes with an "file creator" called DRM30mak.EXE.
DRM30mak.EXE asks you some simple questions, such as "What
drive to install it to" and "What subdirectory has your BATCH
files?" and "Do you want to continue?" It's very easy to use.
If it's a new installation and not an upgrade, then
DRM30mak.EXE will read your batch file subdirectory and create
a DRM30dat.DAT file for you, in seconds, so you can then edit
it (or not). If you run this Install on an existing DRMENU
system, old or new versions, DRMENU will save your old DATA
file....it will be renamed to DRM30dat.DAT for you.
DRM30mak.EXE will make a new DRMENU.BAT file for you.
If DRM30mak.EXE is used to make a new DAT file, it starts by
writing a few default Dot Lines to a new DRM30dat.DAT file
and then reads in all your .BAT files. It then builds the
DRMENU system based on those .BAT files. It's very fast.
However, if you use DRM30mak.EXE on "top" of an old version
2.1 system, it will NOT "stomp" on top of your old DAT file.
It will rename it, and not "stomp" on top of it.
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ See Section 92 for details on Upgrading from version 2.1. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
....Ahem, let's get back to installing a brand-new system....
DRM30mak.EXE will NOT alter your batch files in any way. Nor
will it delete any of them. Remember that DRMenu needs those
batch files.
See Section 9 for running files with extensions of .EXE,
.COM, and .BTM, too. These extensions will be "skipped" in
the automatic installation. You can add them back later
when you edit your DRM30dat.DAT file. Start DRMENU by using
the BATCH files you have, then "venture out" later on.
Then, move to the subdirectory where the batch files are and
run DRMENU.BAT - that will run the DRMenu system for you.
You need only DRMENU.BAT, DRM30dat.DAT, and DRM30eng.EXE
to have a system. DRM30mak.EXE writes the BAT and the DAT
for you, quickly, literally in 30 seconds or less.
Finally there's a simple MENU system for everybody - and best
of all, it's absolutely FREE to use. What's the catch?
None. It's Absolutely FREE, there is no catch. Enjoy it.
INSTALLATION - Manually Section 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While DRMenu is easy to install Automatically, you may wish
to install it yourself manually, but it's harder.
Here's how to:
1. Use your favorite ASCII editor and make a DRM30dat.DAT
file. Look at the examples in Section 13 for ideas.
2. Use your favorite ASCII editor and make a DRMENU.BAT
file with three lines in it. "Subdirname" will actually
be a real subdirectory name, like \BAT\ or \BATCH\.
SET DRMENU30_ENVIRMEM=%0
DRM30eng C:\Subdirname\DRM30dat.DAT
~~~~~~~~~~
CALL C:\Subdirname\DRM30run.BAT
~~~~~~~~~~
Of course, you should substitute the appropriate
subdirectory name where I've got "Subdirname" in the
example above. This might be: CALL C:\BATCH\DRM30run.BAT
~~~~~
The first line sets a "lengthy" environment variable so
that DRMenu can find its way back to where it came from.
The second line runs DRM30eng with the DRM30dat.DAT data
file. The final, third, line calls a file that isn't yet
created! DRM30run.BAT will be created only when you
make a selection to run a program.
If you're running DRMenu on a DOS below 3.3, then you
must take the word "CALL" out of the DRMENU.BAT file.
See Section 4 for more information.
3. Copy the main program DRM30eng.EXE, DRMENU.BAT and
DRM30dat.DAT into the subdirectory where your batch
files are located. This is important. You must make
sure that DRM30eng.EXE is in the same subdirectory as
your batch files (ie C:\BATCH). If would like a Logo
screen, copy DRM30pic.DAT into the subdirectory as well.
4. Change the PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT so that
it includes the subdirectory where DRMenu and your
batch files are located. Example: PATH=C:\;C:\BATCH
~~~~~
5. Finally, run DRMENU.BAT from the DOS prompt, or add it
to your LAN script file, or to the bottom of your
AUTOEXEC.BAT so that it will run automatically.
After you've done this once, try it using DRM30mak.EXE.
DRM30mak.EXE does most of these steps for you in seconds.
(See also, section 92 in this manual for more help.)
UNINSTALLING DRMenu
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To uninstall DRMenu (why would you want to?), delete all
files that begin with the letters "DRM". The other programs
in the package, all FREE, can be used for other purposes.
~~~~~~~~
HOW TO SELECT THE SCREENS AND THE CHOICES Section 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Choices. To find a Choice, press the UP or DOWN ARROW keys
until you get to the one you want.
Another way to select a Choice is to press the first letter
(the UPPERCASE or lowercase) of the Choice line.
Another way is to use the SPACEBAR to move down through the
Choices.
The HOME key chooses the first Choice on the Screen.
The END key chooses the last Choice on the Screen.
The Choices "wrap around" from last to first to last to
first and so on.
You press ENTER to RUN the selected Choice.
Screens. To select another Screen, press the left or right
arrow keys until you find the Screen you want.
You can use the function keys, too. Press F4 and you get the
4th Screen. Notice that if you use the Function keys, the
Screen must actually exist or you will get an error message.
If you have only 10 Function keys, you can still have 12
Screens, but you will need to use the arrow keys for Screens
11 and 12. If you press a Function key for a screen that
doesn't exist, you will hear a BADTUNE played (if Sound is
enabled).
Or...If you use the Arrow keys to select the screen and the
Screen doesn't exist, DRMenu will use the next valid Screen
it comes to.
Screens wrap-around too, from the highest number to the
lowest number to the highest number. Twelve are possible.
For the Blind
------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu has been designed for a Blind person to use, also.
There are twelve, 12, screens. Each screen can be directly
accessed by pressing the proper Function Key, ie, F3 gets #3.
On each of those screens, each CHOICE line can begin with a
different letter of the alphabet so that the worker can
access it directly, by simply touching the corresponding
Keyboard key. The first letter of each CHOICE line causes
DRMenu to jump to that line.
A good friend, Jo Anne Moore, is blind and tested DRMenu for
me. Thanks, Jo Anne. Others will thank you, too. Send any
mail for her to me and I'll see that she gets your letters.
To change the first letter of each CHOICE LINE to another
"hot" key instead, see how to in the next section 8.
LETTER SENSITIVE KEYS Section 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Normally, the first letter of each Choice line is letter
sensitive. It's the "hot" key. Press THAT letter and the
Highlight Bar jumps to THAT line, press again and it jumps to
the next same letter.
Nothing happens until you press the ENTER key, so you can't
hurt anything.
If your menu looked like this:
LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.01
LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.2
LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.3
LOWTIS 1-2-3 for Windows
the first time you hit "L", the Highlight Bar would go to
"LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.01". If you then hit "L" again, the
Highlight Bar would go to "LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.2", and so
on. Each of the four choices above begin with the alphabet
letter "L" - press "L" four times and you get the next "L"
choice - four times.
But what if you wanted to use a different key from the first
key - the first letter - on the choice line?
First, look at this.
The first letter of the "choice line" in this example:
Graphics Production{CHRT}
is the G of "Graphics".
If you wanted the P of "Production" to be the sensitive
letter instead of the G, then count what "place" the P
occupies in the string. It's in the 10th position,
INCLUDING the space. Put the position after the batch file
name, inside the brackets, and use a comma to separate the
two items, like this:
Graphics Production{CHRT,10}
You should really make the P stand out so the user will know
what the sensitive letter is. If you do that you will have
to change the position, as in this example:
Graphics (P)roduction{CHRT,11}
The sensitive letter, such as "P" in this example, will NOT
be reversed colored. You must use <P> or (P) to show its
difference from the other keys. If you want reverse-colored
keys, please write me and tell me. No requests, no changes.
THE DATA FILE - DOT, CHOICE, & REMARK LINES Section 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu uses just one file to store all the data used to
operate the DRMenu system. That file is DRM30dat.DAT. It is
a straight (plain vanilla) ASCII text file. Any ASCII word
processor (like PCWrite) or any editor like QEDIT or DOS'
EDIT can be used to edit it. Don't use any formatting codes.
There are three main types of line used in the DRM30dat.DAT file.
These are: Dot Lines; Choice Lines; and Remark Lines.
1. Dot Lines are referred to as Dot Lines because they
start with a dot, a period or a full stop (whatever you
call it). The dot must be in position #1 of the line.
The most important Dot Lines are .SCREEN, .TITLE, and
.END. The others are used to customize DRMenu, such as
.BARCOLOR, .COLOR, .BEGINWITH, etc., etc.
Example:
.TITLE My DOS Utilities
2. Choice Lines are what the user sees on each Screen.
(See Section 13 - "The Data File - Some Examples")
Basically, each Choice Line has two parts: the words
seen on the Screen; and, the (batch) file name contained
inside {curly braces}. An example here might be:
Run WORD PERFECT, Version 5.2{wp52}
On the Screen, the user will see ONLY the words before
the first curly brace "{" - such as:
Run WORD PERFECT, Version 5.2
When selected, this Choice will CALL the file {WP52.BAT}.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ To run an EXE or COM or BTM file put the whole filespec │
│ inside the curly braces like this: {C:\UTIL\PCUNZIP.EXE} │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If your batch file needs "%" parameters, just add them
in your description as part of the Choice Line. If DRMenu
sees a "%" or Invisible CHR(255) in the Choice Line, it
will pause to allow the parameters to be input first.
This feature is needed when you're running editors, etc..
For example:
Edit a File %1{RNpcw302}
or
Edit a~File{RNpcw302}
(where the ~ represents an invisible CHR(255) character!)
(psssst... it's easiest to hide it BETWEEN two words.)
3. Remark Lines are easy to create. Each Remark Line
STARTS with a colon in the first column position like
you use in batch files. An example is:
:this is a example of a Remark Line
Remember, when you run the DRM30mak.EXE program, it will
create a DRM30dat.DAT file with three types in it for you.
You can then edit the file with your editor to create your
own system. Also, look at the DEMO's Data file for fun.
THE DATA FILE - More than DOT, CHOICE, & REMARK LINES Section 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Three Additional line types have been added with version 3.0.
They are the plus-line (+), the percent-line (%), and the
question-mark-line (?).
The characters (+) and (%) and (?) must be in position #1, or
column 1, exactly like you place the dots (.) of dot lines.
If you place a plus-line below a normal choice line, then
the plus-line phrase will show when you move the CHOICE BAR
up and down the screen. It can be used to give additional
information to the user about a CHOICE line. Here's an
example used after a Choice Line below:
Run LOWTIS 1-2-3 Version 2.3{runLv23}
+Be sure to load large 15" paper into the printer
The percent-line allows you to specify the phrase to use
when you need to allow for percent, %, parameters to be added.
Note that the ASCII character 255 works as well as the % in
the CHOICE line itself. Here, we're talking about the line
beneath (under) the CHOICE line in the DATA file.
Run LOWTIS 1-2-3 version 2.4 %{RunLv24}
%Enter worksheet filename:
When somebody presses the "LOWTIS" CHOICE LINE above, the
prompt will be a helpful "Enter worksheet filename:".
If you have a .HLP file associated with a choice line, put a
question mark (?) in column one. DRMenu will alert you that
HELP is available when you highlight that choice line. If
there is, also, a special name and path for the HELP file or
DOC file you can put it after the "?" like this:
? D:\UTIL\DRSCROLL.DOC
You can use all three characters, each on a line, after a
choice line if you want.
Neither the plus-line, nor the percent-line, nor the question
mark-line count in the maximum total lines permitted per
screen. In other words, you can have 17 CHOICES - each with
its own Plus-line. and its own percent-line, and its own
question-mark-line if needed.
BLANK LINES
-------------------------------------------------------------
In the Top part of the data file, ie, DRM30dat.DAT, a blank
line will simply be ignored when DRMENU is run. Use these
blank lines, if you wish, to separate lines Visually when
you're editing the file.
However, in the screen definition area, ie, between the
".SCREEN" and ".END" CHOICE lines, if you use a blank line,
it will stay as a blank line on the screen. It will count as
one of the 17 lines allowed (maximum) per screen in each one
of your menus.
THE REQUIRED DOT LINES Section 10
------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two Dot Lines that MUST be included in every
DRM30dat.DAT file. The two lines are (in order of usage):
.SCREEN
.END
There is a .TITLE dot line that SHOULD be used or else
you get a title of your screen that DRMenu "invents" for
you like "This is SCREEN 2", etc, etc. Your description
of each Screen could be better using a .TITLE dot line.
The use of these, and the use of all the Dot Lines, is
explained in Section 13 - "The Data File - Some Examples".
------------------------------------------------------------
.SCREEN x
This Dot Line tells DRMenu that you are starting to define a
Screen. The number after the word SCREEN signifies the
Screen number. An example would be:
.SCREEN 9
to begin Screen 9. This must be the first Dot Line of each
menu in DRM30dat.DAT.
Screen numbers must be in ascending order, 1 to 12, but they
do not need to be consecutive numbers. For instance, screen
numbers 1,2,3,6,9,11 are okay to use, but the same numbers
used for screens such as 1,3,2,9,6,11 are not okay to use..
See also ".SCREEN x" in Section 11 - "The Dot Lines
Explained."
------------------------------------------------------------
.TITLE TitleMessage
Coming after a .SCREEN Dot Line, this Dot Line specifies the
title for that particular Screen. Make sure that this line
is no more than 56 characters long. Here's a simple example:
.TITLE Word Processing and Editors
There should be one of these .TITLE Dot Lines for every
Screen in the DRM30dat.DAT file.
------------------------------------------------------------
.END
There has to be a way to tell DRMenu when one Screen ends
and another one starts. This Dot Line tells DRMenu when one
Screen ends. You must have one of these for every .SCREEN x
Dot Line you use.
The .END Dot Line takes no arguments and no parameters.
Any text FOLLOWING and on the same line as ".END" will be
disregarded. You could use this to identify easily where one
Screen definition finishes and, so, where the next begins.
For example:
.END ===This=is=the=end=of=Screen 3===
If you get an error when running DRMenu, you might have
forgotten to use an ".END". Check the DRM30dat.DAT file.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
All the Dot Lines are listed in this section in alphabetical
order. None of these except .SCREEN and .END are required.
~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~
.ALARMLENGTH nn
This command allows you to change the length of alarm that
you get when you touch a "no-no" key. If you want the alarm
to sound for only 10 seconds, use a line like this:
.ALARMLENGTH 10
Default setting is 45. If you don't want any alarm, set this
to 0 (zero), such as:
.ALARMLENGTH 0
To set it using "MINUTES", add the word "minutes" after the
value, such as:
.ALARMLENGTH 2 Minutes (in UPPER or lower case)
------------------------------------------------------------
.AVE
"AVE" stands for "Append, View, Edit". You can place up to
17 files in "AVE" for safe keeping. You can decide beforehand
whether the file can be A-ppended, V-iewed, or E-dited.
Separate A,V,E parameters using a space. If you select V-iew
only for the CONFIG.SYS file, then your DOT line would be:
.AVE 1 C:\CONFIG.SYS V (using just the V)
If you wanted #1 choice to allow (E)diting and also (V)iewing
the AUTOEXEC.BAT, then your dot line would be the following:
.AVE 4 C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT EV (using both E and V)
If you wanted to setup a #5 file to add comments to, ie TO
APPEND a LINE, you would use the "A" chr. And to V-iew and
A-ppend to a file "PHONE-CA.LLS", then this is what you would
use as a dot line: .AVE 5 H:\OFFICE\PHONE-CA.LLS AV
You could add lines to it and view the file, that's all.
Presto, you have a phone call "LOG" for your office personnel.
To see your AVE files, you press ALT-A --if the letter A is
included in your .SWITCHON dot line defined by you. Then, for
example to "V-iew" item "1" from the list, ie. your own
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file defined above, enter "V1" or enter "1V".
To be able to Append or Edit, you must also have a "D" or an
"E" in .SWITCHON. To be able to View, you must have a "V".
------------------------------------------------------------
.BARCOLOR foreground on background
This is the color of the moving Bar. The background colors
can be dull or bright colors. Background colors can also be
bright. See Section 15 - "Colors" for information on the
16 colors available in this version of DRMenu.
The easiest way to change Colors is to use the ALT-C command.
An example line would be:
.BARCOLOR SNOW on BLUE
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.BATPATH
Allows you to use a different path back to the batch files
if you don't want to use the one that you specified in the
DRMENU.BAT file. Separate it from the path with a space.
An example is:
.BATPATH Z:\LAN\BATCH
------------------------------------------------------------
.BEEP
Causes a short tone instead of Playing "Tunes" - this may
sound more professional at work. (see also, .NOSOUND)
------------------------------------------------------------
.BEGINWITH x,y
Defines the Screen ("x") and Choice ("y") to start every
session with. The default is Screen 1, Choice 1. Use this
Dot Line only when want the user to start at a particular
Screen and you don't want to do a lot of editing to change
the Screens around. For example, to start every session with
Choice 5 of Screen 2, use:
.BEGINWITH 2,5
You can also use:
.BEGINWITH 4
to start with Screen 4 if you don't want to specify the
choice number.
------------------------------------------------------------
.BLANKERMESSAGE Message
This defines the Screen Blanker's message. Normally it says
"DRMenu". In this example
.BLANKERMESSAGE JHT's Computer Store
the message that will come up when the Screen blanker comes
in, is "JHT's Computer Store". Joe "T" gives DRMenu to
his customers when they buy a computer from his computer store.
That way they can run predefined Format Batch files
and CHKDSK batch files, etc. that he loads for new
customers. He also gives away a copy of DRMenu to any
customer who comes into the store and sees it running,
because they are a potential customer. Software sells
Hardware. Send me your success stories if you use DRMenu in
your business and it helps to sell a computer or a system.
Another user, Adrian, used this message:
.BLANKERMESSAGE Check the Bathroom
....Now, that takes nerves to do!
------------------------------------------------------------
.BLANKERPROGRAM filespec
This Dot Line lets you specify a screen blanker other than
the one built into DRMenu. Simply include the full path and
file name of the program, like this:
.BLANKERPROGRAM c:\util\raindrop.exe
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.BLANKLOCK
You must have Z in your .SWITCHON line for this one. It will
cause the Blanking routine to "connect" to the ALT-Z lockup
routine. Then, if someone tries to get into your computer,
the ALT-Z routine will ask for a password.
------------------------------------------------------------
.BOTTOMCLS
Puts a CLS line in the bottom of your DRM30run.BAT file
------------------------------------------------------------
.BW
Makes Black text on a White background. Mostly for Laptops.
See, also, .MONO and .WB
------------------------------------------------------------
.CHANGECOLORS
When the screen blanker "kicks in", it will stay on the color
that the screen was when it occurred. If you want DRMenu to
change the colors every time the message jumps, use this as
one of your dot lines in the DRM30dat.DAT file.
------------------------------------------------------------
.CHECK xxx yyy
An uncomplicated LAN feature. If you are on a LAN, you might
want to be able to tell WHEN you are attached and when you
aren't. A way to do this is to look at the PATH and see if
there's a drive Z: or drive X: somewhere on it. You'd know
you were on the LAN if Drive Z: was in your Path because
only on a LAN would a drive Z: exist normally in your PATH.
In the .CHECK Dot Line, "xxx" is where to check, "yyy" is
what to search for in the xxx. Here's how to use .CHECK to
see if the PATH contains a "Z:" in it:
Warning! The "Z:" is case sensitive, ie "z:" isn't the same.
.CHECK PATH Z:
You just have the ".CHECK" followed by a space, followed by
the environment variable to check, followed by a space,
followed by the character(s) you want to check for in the
nominated environment variable. In the example above, the
PATH variable is checked to see if "Z:" is there.
If you wanted to search for the \BATCH subdirectory on drive
X: in the PATH, you would have a line like this:
.CHECK PATH X:\BATCH
If you wanted to check whether the DOS environment variable
"USER" has "DD" (that's UPPER case DD!) in it, you would
do this:
.CHECK USER DD
If the .CHECK condition is true, ie someone had SET USER=DD,
then a check mark ("√") will appear in the bottom box at the
right side of every Screen. Use your DOS ENVIRONMENT area.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.CHECK2
.CHECK3
.CHECK4
.CHECK5
There are four more Check Environment Dot Lines for you to use
which work almost like the original .CHECK line on the
previous page.
These four Checks allow you, the user, to display whatever
symbol you want to display instead of using the same check
mark which is CHR(251) used in...
.CHECK
For instance, if you want to check a Variable called OS2DOS
to see if it's equal to OS2, then this is what you use
.CHECK3 OS2DOS OS2 115
Use only one space between each of the words on this dot line.
DRMenu will display a lowercase "s" in the MENU's bottom box
if OS2DOS=OS2 in the DOS environment. "s" is ASCII 115.
To set an environment variable, you will remember, it's
SET OS2DOS=OS2 done at the DOS prompt or in a BATCH file.
The environment variable (here, it's OS2) is sensitive to
the uppercase in which it was set. OS2 is not the same as os2.
If OS2DOS=OS2 then a small, lowercase "s" will show in the
lower box, right side, lowercase "s" is ASCII 115 if you
use the .CHECK3 example as above and OS2 is a variable.
-----------------------------------------------------------
There are six DOT lines here. They are used to "imitate"
the sound of a Westminister Clock Chime. To fully "imitate"
the five sounds, ie the sounds being made every fifteen
minutes, plus the Hour's number being "GONGED" for you, you
must use the first five Dot Lines (of the six here.)
.CHIME00
.CHIME15
.CHIME30
.CHIME45
.ONtheHOUR
.CHIME ##:##:##
Keep reading on the next page....
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Westminister Chimes visited....
The dot line
.CHIME00
will cause the computer to beep on the hour. It will not
chime in the middle of a program, because it's not a TSR.
The dot line
.CHIME30
will cause a chime at thirty minutes past every hour.
The dot line
.CHIME15
will cause a chime at fifteen minutes past every hour and
The dot line
.CHIME45
happens to sound at forty-five minutes past every hour.
Use all four for chiming every 15 minutes around the clock.
Note that there is no space between ".CHIME" and the
numbers for these four Dot Lines, ie. .CHIME 45 won't work.
Well, it will...but not like you want it to. See the
personal Chime below to see what it would do.
A special Choice line: .ONTHEHOUR
will Chime the number of bells ON THE HOUR, such as 4 bells
for 4:00 pm, or 4:00 am, like Westminister Chimes, but only
if .CHIME00 is used, too. They belong together naturally.
While "gonging" ON THE HOUR, if you need to stop the "gong"
just tap the space bar once - or really any key.
Then, there's a "personal" Chime that YOU can control...
---------------------------------------------------------
If you want the alarm to sound at a particular time every
day, use .CHIME with a specific time. For example:
.CHIME 14:25:10
will make the alarm sound at 2:25 and 10 seconds in the
afternoon (P.M.) *ONLY* if DRMenu happens to be running then.
Note that .CHIME 25:10 will chime at :25:10 of each hour.
~~~~~ ~~~~
To remind you at 5 minutes before each hour, it's 55:00
~~~~ ~~~~~
Note that, UNLIKE the other .CHIME Dot Lines, you MUST have
a space between the .CHIME and the first digit of the
specified time. You can have only one specific-time Chime.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.COLOR forecolor [TEXT] on backcolor [BACKGROUND]
In a Screen definition, a .COLOR Dot Line sets the two
colors for the particular Screen.
Look at these two examples:
.COLOR SKY on WHITE
.COLOR SKY TEXT on WHITE background
Both tell DRMenu to use bright blue text (SKY) on a white
background. The words TEXT and BACKGROUND are ignored and
are not required in a .COLOR line. Use them if you want to.
The color of the TEXT is the first word after ".COLOR". The
color of the BACKGROUND is the first word after "ON". The
word "ON" or "on" separates the two sections of colors.
If there is no .COLOR Dot Line in a Screen definition, the
Screen will use the default colors as defined in the
.DEFCOLOR Dot Line.
See Section 15 - "Colors" for information on the colors
available in DRMenu. You can also press ALT-C while using
DRMenu to see and set the color words to use.
The NORMAL and SPECIAL colors available for CGA, EGA, and VGA
are matched here. The normal colors on the left side and the
special colors on the right. With EGA and VGA, you can use
all sixteen colors for Background and Text (foreground).
Don't worry about remembering these colors, for they are
easily selected by utilizing ALT-C while running DRMenu.
NORMAL COLORS SPECIAL COLORS
(8 and 8) (all 16)
┌──────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────────┐
│ When using CGA color │ │ When Using EGA or VGA │
╞════════════╦═════════╡ ╞════════════════════════╡
│ Background ║ Text │ │ Use any of these words │
│ or Text ║ Only │ │ for Background OR Text │
├────────────╫─────────┤ ├────────────────────────┤
│ Black ║ Grey │ │ Black Grey │
│ Blue ║ Sky │ │ Blue Sky │
│ Green ║ Grass │ │ Green Grass │
│ Cyan ║ Sea │ │ Cyan Sea │
│ Red ║ Cherry │ │ Red Cherry │
│ Purple ║ Grape │ │ Purple Grape │
│ Brown ║ Yellow │ │ Brown Yellow │
│ White ║ Snow │ │ White Snow │
└────────────╨─────────┘ └────────────────────────┘
In other words, ".COLOR Cherry on White" is okay to use in a
CGA system, but ".COLOR Cherry on Snow" is not correct. If you
have a VGA system, however, you COULD use "Cherry on Snow"
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.CTLSWITCHON
Allows specific CONTROL-Key combinations - in a similar way
to the ALT-key dot line .SWITCHON which allows the ALT-key
combinations. As with the .SWITCHON dot line, a simple "*"
will allow all of the possible CTL key features in this
version of DRMENU. See also, section 12 for descriptions of
the ALT and, also, the CTL keys. BEGINNER, NORMAL, and
EXPERT switch names can be used here as well.
Examples:
.CTLSWITCHON ABLF
or
.CTLSWITCHON BEGINNER (same as ABE)
.CTLSWITCHON NORMAL (same as ABEFL)
.CTLSWITCHON EXPERT (same as ABEFLZ)
.CTLSWITCHON * (same as EXPERT)
------------------------------------------------------------
.DEFBARCOLOR forecolor [TEXT] ON backcolor [BACKGROUND]
This Dot Line allows you to specify default colors for the
Highlight Bar. You can set the colors for the Highlight Bar
for each Screen if you wish (see .BARCOLOR) and if you do,
that will over-ride the .DEFBARCOLOR setting for that
particular Screen only. See Section 15 - "Colors" for
information on the colors available in DRMenu.
This setting will make the text in the default Highlight Bar
bright yellow (the "Lemon" color) on a blue background:
.DEFBARCOLOR LEMON ON BLUE
------------------------------------------------------------
.DEFCOLOR forecolor [TEXT] ON backcolor [BACKGROUND]
This Dot Line allows you to specify default colors for all
Screens, but then they will all look alike. You can set the
colors for each Screen if you wish (see .COLOR), and if you
do, that will over-ride the .DEFCOLOR setting for that
particular Screen. See Section 15 - "Colors" for information
on the colors available in DRMenu.
This Dot Line will set the default Screen colors to bright
white on blue:
.DEFCOLOR SNOW ON BLUE
Starting with Version 3.0 of DRMenu, Bright colors CAN be
used for the BACKGROUND AS WELL AS THE TEXT on EGA and VGA
monitors. Try the ALT-C key to try the colors first.
------------------------------------------------------------
.DMY
By default, DRMenu will put the time on the Screen in a
Month-Day-Year format (mm-dd-yy), which is the standard in
the USA. If you have this Dot Line in your DRM30dat.DAT file,
DRMenu will format the Screen date in Day-Month-Year format
(dd-mm-yy), which is the standard in Europe.
(see also .TIMEDATE to switch the sides displayed)
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.EOF
You don't need this unless you want to stop a DATA file from
reading the whole file. DRM30eng.EXE will assume that the
DRM30dat.DAT file finishes when it finds a .EOF Dot Line.
------------------------------------------------------------
.ESCAPETO drive:\path
If you have a particular Drive and Path to exit to when you
press ESCAPE or ALT-X, use it here. Use a Drive and a Path.
If you use just a drive letter, the root will be selected.
Example:
.ESCAPETO C:\
.ESCAPETO F:\LOGIN
.ESCAPETO D:\UTIL\LAN\TEST
------------------------------------------------------------
.FILLCHR nnn
If you leave a blank line in your DRM30dat.DAT file, you can
tell DRMenu which ASCII character to use to fill the blank
line. For example,
.FILLCHAR 177
will use a "shaded box ▒". See your DOS manual for ideas. Each
Screen can have its own possible FILLCHR value. FILLCHR is 32
by default (a space character). Leave this alone, normally.
------------------------------------------------------------
.FLUSHLEFT
This will cause the Choices to line up FLUSH at the LEFT
side of the Screen. The "factory" default is for Choices to
Auto-center. Note that when auto-centering is performed,
each line read is measured from the left side of the file to
the left curly bracket "{", spaces included.
Here's some examples:
This has spaces at right of this bar {234}
This doesn't have space at the right of bar{234}
Run LOWTIS 1-2-3{DO-123}
WTEK {runWTEK}
Make Quizzes {makQiz}
-----------------------------------------------------------
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ Use this area below for Notes │
└───────────────────────────────┘
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.GOTO filespec
Your favorite file can be run from *ANY* menu if you define
it here using this dot line. Here's how to define a file
named Elftree, ET, which is a VERY GOOD SHELL Program.
.GOTO C:\BATCH\ET.BAT
If you want to run this program at any time, just press ALT-G
if the letter G appears in your .SWITCHON line.
------------------------------------------------------------
.JUMPDELAY
When the Screen Blanker jumps around on the Screen, the
interval between jumps is the JumpDelay in seconds. If the
Jumping is too fast, slow it down, and vice versa. Here's
how to make the delay equal to 6 seconds between jumps.
The word "seconds" is optional for you to use here.
.JUMPDELAY 6 seconds
------------------------------------------------------------
.KALC
Another way to spell KALC is CALC. So that .CALC will work
the same way - still using the ALT-K combination keys. This
allows you to have your favorite Calculator program at your
fingertips when you press the ALT-K combination. You specify
the name and path of the Calculator program you want to use.
DRMenu supplies a program in the package for you to use. It
was written by Greg Kochaniak in Pennsylvania, and he has
placed it into the Public Domain....so, I am including it.
It's called MATH.EXE. Two examples using it are shown below:
.KALC C:\UTIL\MATH.EXE
or
.CALC C:\UTIL\MATH.EXE
------------------------------------------------------------
.KEY nnn
When you press ALT-Z, you will stop other people from
getting access to your machine (see .BLANKLOCK). There will
be one key to press to get back to DRMenu. By default, it
is the SpaceBar. If you want to change it to be something
different, put a .KEY dot line in your DRM30dat.DAT file.
You nominate which key restores/unlocks your machine by
using the ASCII code of the character (the "nnn"). For
example, use 54 to have the "6" key as the restoration key:
.KEY 54
If you want to use a key to lock the Notebook, put it after
this key such as "duffie" (lowercase) Yes, it IS case sensitive.
You put the key to the notebook after using a colon as below.
IF you try to Find something in the Notebook (ie ALT-F), you
would have to enter the word "duffie", then, if that was done
successfully, you would enter what you REALLY wanted to find.
.KEY 54:duffie
You must define a KEY for your ALT-Z in order to define
a key for your notebook, ie 54 -then- ":" -then- duffie.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.LEFTEND nnn
By default, DRMenu does not have left arrows that point to
the Choices. It relies on a different color of the Highlight
Bar so you will know what your current selection is.
However, if you wanted a white Screen and a white Highlight
Bar, then the bar would be invisible and you would not know
what your selection is. Then, you could specify the ASCII
character to be used for the left side of the Choice. By
default, it's a space. To change it to a little, floating
BOX (ie ASCII character 254) use: .LEFTEND 254
Alternatively, a simple .LEFTEND -by itself- will produce
(by a built-in default in DRMenu) a small arrow.
------------------------------------------------------------
.MONO
If you have a Laptop with a black and white screen it
doesn't make sense to worry with colors. Instead, you have
three Dot Line options for the color settings:
.MONO is BLACK text on WHITE background
.BW is BLACK text on WHITE background
.WB is WHITE text on BLACK background
On a Laptop, sometimes Black looks White and vice versa, so
you might have to try both the .BW and .WB to suit your eyes.
------------------------------------------------------------
.MSGxx Message
Use this Dot Line if you want to add to the messages that
are built into DRMenu. This example adds message #9 to be
"Gone Home For the Day":
.MSG9 Gone Home For the Day
You can have 17 Messages. Here's an example for message 14.
.MSG14 Gone to the Break Room
You can replace the ones built in simply by using having a
.MSG line with the appropriate number - from 1 to 17.
DON'T USE A SPACE between the .MSG and the NUMBER!
It's:
.MSG9 Gone Home For the Day
and NOT:
~~~~~~~~ .MSG 9 Gone Home For the Day
~~~~~~
------------------------------------------------------------
.MYBADTUNE
Use the ALT-O feature to develop your own musical tune. Then
place it here to play when something "bad" happens in DRMenu.
For example:
.MYBADTUNE CD-EEFC
I am using PowerBasic Rules for this Music. Music Help is
available by pressing "?" when you are playing in ALT-O.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.MYGOODTUNE
Use the ALT-O feature to develop a tune to play everytime
something "good" happens in DRMenu. Are you Musical?
For example:
.MYGOODTUNE C.BF..ED+F+
------------------------------------------------------------
.MYTUNE
Use the ALT-O feature like above to develop a tune to play
whenever you are in the ALT-O section - just playing around.
Place your School Fight song there in case an old friend
comes into your office or room. I use "Hold that Tiger!"
An example:
.MYTUNE C..CC.E
------------------------------------------------------------
.NEWDAY
Forces DRMENU to think it's a "new day" when you leave it
via ALT-X by erasing the DRM30cfg.DAT file -OR- by pressing
ALT-/, that's ALT-SLASH, anytime at a menu. ALT-/ will cause
a beep to let you know it enabled NEWDAY for that session of
DRMENU. Here's a Memory hint: A "/" is a "part" of an "X".
.NEWDAY allows the Logo to be seen more than just once a day.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NOBOX
If you don't want the three boxes outlining your Menus, this
will get rid of them. See also, .NODATE and .NOTIME below.
Hope you like this one, Capt. Bob. See .NODATE and .NOTIME,
too. Use these 3 and you will have a "plain vanilla" screen.
....then....
For a STUNNING EFFECT, make the .Barcolor background and the
.Color Background and .Color text all three, the SAME. Then
make the .Barcolor text a bright color and watch the "magic."
-------------------------------------------------------------
.NOECHO
If you don't want "@ECHO OFF" to be written to all your batch
files, use .NOECHO. Using this Dot Line will cause all your
batch file commands to be echoed to the screen.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NODATE
Stops the System Date from printing in the Upper Box.
See also, .NOTIME on the next page.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NOHELP
You get the DRMenu HELP screen if you press the "?" mark at
any screen. However, you may not like having the reminder
on every screen.
.NOHELP will cause the reminder "HELP=?" to disappear.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NOSOUND
This command turns off all the SOUNDS and BEEPS when errors
and when succesful or unsuccesful routines occur.
(see also, .BEEP)
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.NOTEBOOK
ALT-N will allow you to write a line or phrase to your
notebook. This dot line defines where the notebook exists.
The default Notebook is "DRM30not.DAT" and 20,000 bytes.
You may wish to define your own Notebook name and size.
Here's an example of a new notebook on drive Z: of a LAN.
.NOTEBOOK Z:\PRIVATE\NOTEBOOK1.TXT MAX 25000
You set the maximum byte size permitted. When that maximum
is reached, DRMenu will tell you that it cannot add any more
lines of text to your notebook....25,000 bytes here as above.
If you want to use the default DRM30not.DAT name, but just
set the MAXimum size smaller of larger, be sure to use the
word MAX, then the size, and that's all. An example:
.NOTEBOOK MAX 40000
Use one space between the parameters required above.
Remember, this is for DRM30not.DAT, but with 40k Maximum size.
See Section 18 for more info on using this Notebook.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NOTIME
Stops the System Time from printing in the Upper Box.
See also, .NODATE on a previous page.
------------------------------------------------------------
.NOTOP CLS
If you don't want "CLS" to be written to all your batch
files at the top of the DRM30run.BAT file, add this to your
DRM30dat.DAT file.
-------------------------------------------------------------
.OLDDOS
DRMenu can run in any version of DOS below version 3.3 even
though the word "CALL" is missing from the Batch Language.
Simply put .OLDDOS in your DRM30dat.DAT file and modify the
DRMENU.BAT file (BAT, I said) so that the word "CALL" is
taken out. You must, also, modify EACH batch file you use
in the {curly} braces to change drives and paths to get back
to the BATCH subdirecory (usually) to be able to run the
DRMENU.BAT file which is there (usually.)
Here's 2 examples of running WORD PERFECT (WP) in Batch files
using DOS 3.1 (with .OLDDOS) and then, just using DOS 3.3
(using DOS 3.1 and .OLDDOS) (using DOS 3.3)
---------------------------- -------------------------
BATCH FILE: RUNWP.BAT BATCH FILE: RUNWP.BAT
---------------------------- -------------------------
C: C:
cd\wordperf cd\wordperf
WP WP
cd\batch
DRMenu
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.PAUSE
This Dot Line will cause the system to pause and wait for
the user to strike any key before continuing as each program
finishes and before returning to DRMenu.
If you have another program to use that "Pauses" you can put
the filespec after the word ".PAUSE". Here's an example:
.PAUSE C:\UTIL\DRSCROLL.EXE
Note: a copy of DRSCROLL.EXE is included in Version 3.0 for
you. It is a Moving message "Press any Key to Continue...."
------------------------------------------------------------
.PWD1 ##
.PWD1##
These Dot Lines (they are the same) allow the administrator
to access all the ALT keys, despite what might be defined in
the .SWITCHON Dot Line. This is so that you can stop a user
accessing the editor and exit keys, for example, but so that
you can have that access as and when you need it.
If you need access to all the ALT keys on a particular
machine, press ALT-= (that's ALT and the "=" keys). Then
enter the "password".
The "password" is the sum of the four digits of the
machine's time, PLUS the key number on the .PWD1 Dot Line.
So that makes the password change everytime you sign in!
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~
See Section 12 for more info on using ALT-= keys.
For example, if your Dot Line was:
.PWD1 10
and the time was 10:57am, the PASSWORD would be 23. That is
1 + 0 + 5 + 7 to get 13, plus the 10 (see above) to get 23.
YOU WILL NOT SEE THE PASSWORD ON THE SCREEN.
You don't have to worry about what the system time may be.
I'll tell you each time.
It doesn't matter whether the key number is next to .PWD1 or
one space away:
.PWD123
and
.PWD1 23
are the same thing. I put that in to add a bit of confusion
to the snooper who might be looking at the DATA file.
....continued on the next page....
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
....continued from the previous page....
To reverse the "open" access, simply hit ALT-= again, and
punch in an incorrect number.
Two notes about this. First, make sure that the key number
is less than 100 (one hundred).
Second, don't be fooled by the mis-direction. Enter the
password REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN. I use a
little of a Magician's "mis-direction" to add difficulty.
------------------------------------------------------------
.PWD2 ##
.PWD2##
This Dot Line is similar to .PWD1 above. However, rather
than using the time, .PWD2 uses the date. Also, .PWD2 is
used to control access the entire DRMenu system, rather than
just the Alt keys.
The "password" for .PWD2 is the sum of the digits of the day
PLUS the sum of the digits of the month PLUS the key number
on the .PWD2 Dot Line. So that makes this a dynamic password
too, although only on a daily basis. It changes everyday.
For example, if your Dot Line was: .PWD2 5
and the date was 03/06/1992, the password would be 14.
That's because 0 + 3 + 0 + 6 adds up to get 9, then add 5
(the PWD2 number above) to get the total of 14.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ YOU WILL NOT GET THE PASSWORD ON THE SCREEN. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
You don't have to worry about what the date may be. DRMenu
will tell you. Also, disregard all the digits in the year
(ie 1994). It doesn't matter whether the key number is
directly next to the ".PWD2" or one space away. For example:
.PWD223 and PWD2 23
are the "same" thing. That adds a bit of confusion to the
snooper in your files who doesn't have this manual. <grin>
The same two important notes that applied to .PWD1 apply
also to .PWD2. First, make sure that the password number is
less than 100 (one hundred).
Second, don't be fooled by any mis-direction. Enter the
password REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN. I use a
little of a Magician's "mis-direction" to add confusion.
If you "pass" the test, a file will be made so that you won't
have to "pass" this test but once a day. You will see a
little unlocked "padlock", such as "δ" to remind you that
your DRMenu is Password Protected - and unlocked. If you
want to lock the System up again when you leave the room,
Press CTL-Z and it's re-locked, "ô", then press ALT-Z and
even if you guess the ALT-Z key, the system is locked-up.
See section 12 for more explanation.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.RIGHTEND nnn
This will allow you to attach a Character to the Right end of
the moving bar. To make the right end of the moving bar a
small box, ASCII character 254, it's:
.RIGHTEND 254
See, also, the .LEFTEND dot line explanation.
------------------------------------------------------------
.SCREEN x (using two spaces between)
.SCREEN x (using an invisible CHR 255 between)
This Dot Line is used to "hide" a Screen. It may be that you
would like to have a Screen that includes some Choices that
shouldn't be generally available.
Things you might like to have here would be low-level
formatters, hex editors and so on...things that the average
user shouldn't need, but which you (as an administrator) may
need to have access to.
I always have my "Hidden" Screens as Screen 12. That way, I
know that whatever machine I have to work on, the
administrator's tools are on Screen 12.
The use of this Dot Line in the DRM30dat.DAT file is easy.
Rather than having one (1) space after ".SCREEN", you have
two (2) spaces. So, an UnHIDDEN screen definition, a normal
screen, in the DRM30dat.DAT file would start with:
.SCREEN 12
While the definition for a HIDDEN screen would start with:
.SCREEN 12
(notice the one space vs. two spaces between .SCREEN and 12)
~~~ ~~~
You can use an ASCII character 255 between the word .SCREEN
and the number to hide the screen as well. Then, it would
look "normal", since a space and a 255 are both invisible.
To access a 'Hidden' Screen, see Section 16 - "Unhiding
'Hidden' Screens".
------------------------------------------------------------
.SHADOW
Normally there is a thin black line that forms the "Shadow"
at the right of the Menu Box. This command makes that Shadow
into a double line so that there appears to be MORE SHADOW.
------------------------------------------------------------
.SHOWALT
Use this dot line so that when you press the ALT key, you
will see the .SWITCHON keys, ie the available ALT Keys.
------------------------------------------------------------
.SHOWCTL
Use this dot line so that when you press the CTL key, you
will see the .CTLswitchON keys, ie the available CTL keys.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.SHOWLINE
This Dot Line will show the line number of the highlighted
Choice at the lower right of the Screen. Use for Diagnostics.
------------------------------------------------------------
.SHOWSCREEN
Similar to the .SHOWLINE Dot Line above, except that this
Dot Line will show the Screen number at the lower right of
the menu Screen. Once again, mainly for diagnostics.
See also, .THERMOMETER which shows Screens and F-keys.
------------------------------------------------------------
.SLEEP #
If set, after # number of minutes, any screen blanking colors
will change to White on Black. Example to set for 5.5 minutes:
The word "Minutes" is optional for you to use.
.SLEEP 5.5 minutes
------------------------------------------------------------
.STARTBAT word
When you use DRMenu, it writes a Batch file which has the
line "%DRMENU30_ENVIRMEM%" in it which equals "DRMENU". If
you need to write a different file name to startup DRMENU,
use this. You probably won't ever use this, but here's an
example: .STARTBAT C:\LANBAT\THE_MAIN.BAT
------------------------------------------------------------
.SWITCHON ABCXYZ
These are the ALT switches which you want the user to be able
to have access to. (See Section 12 for the definition of the
ALT switches.) The order doesn't have to alphabetical, but it
DOES have to be UPPERCASE. In others words, "A" is not "a".
If you wanted the user to have privileges to use the ALT keys
of H, M, and X then your dot line would be this:
.SWITCHON HMX
This Switch setting is recommended for a "Beginner":
.SWITCHON BEGINNER (it has ABFHIKMNPX)
This Switch setting is recommended for a "NORMAL" Use
.SWITCHON NORMAL (it adds CGTV to BEGINNER)
If you want the user to have "ALL" the ALT switches, use
the word "EXPERT" (or a single asterisk "*") such as:
.SWITCHON EXPERT (it adds DEOPSUYZ to NORMAL)
(or .SWITCHON *) (ALL switches are ABCDEFGHIKMNOPSTUVXYZ)
------------------------------------------------------------
.TEXTBAR
This Dot command allows the Highlight Bar to move ON TOP OF
TEXT. Normally, the Highlight Bar will skip lines that are
Text (those lines without curly braces and Batch files).
------------------------------------------------------------
.THERMOMETER
This is new with Version 3.0 of DRMenu. It shows a psuedo-
organizational picture of the Screens you have, and shows
you which F-keys are currently available to use. You STILL
can use the Arrow keys, as well as pressing the F-keys.
THE DOT LINES EXPLAINED Section 11
------------------------------------------------------------------
.TIMEDATE
By default, DRMenu has the date on the upper left side of
each Screen and the time on the upper right of each Screen.
This Dot Line will reverse the sides so that the TIME is on
the left, and the DATE is on the right.
------------------------------------------------------------
.TIMEOUT x
The default setting for screen blanking is 3 minutes of idle
keyboard use. You can change it to whatever time period you
like by using this line. For example, to set screen blanking
to 7.25 minutes, use:
.TIMEOUT 7.25 minutes
Note that the word "minutes" is optional for you to use.
If you want there to be no screen blanking at all, set this
value to zero like this:
.TIMEOUT 0
------------------------------------------------------------
.VIEWER filespec
This Dot line allows you to assign the free VIEW.COM program
to the ALT-V key for a Viewer. VIEW.COM is supplied in
Version 3.0 of the DRMenu package. VIEW is Freeware for you.
Examples, using VIEW and LIST (LIST is by Vernon Beurg):
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Notice to all who may wonder (ie. a polite disclaimer):│
│ Mr. Vernon Beurg has NOT endorsed LIST with DRMenu use.│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.VIEWER C:\UTIL\VIEW
.VIEWER C:\MISC\UTIL\View.COM
.VIEWER C:\APPS\LIST.EXE
------------------------------------------------------------
.WB
See the .MONO Dot Line.
Note: Sometimes on Laptops, the White screen and Black Screen
get reversed. See also, the .BW in case you need it instead.
------------------------------------------------------------
┌─ .YOUR IDEA GOES HERE
│ Send me your ideas for Dot Lines you would like to see in
│ future versions of DRMenu. The best ones will get used,
│ I promise. I want YOU to make DRMenu into what YOU need.
│ I want DRMenu to remain a FREE program, but I can only do
│ this with your support and ideas.
│
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐
└────────────┤ This is not a real Dot Line, folks.│
└────────────────────────────────────┘
ALT KEY DEFINITIONS Section 12
------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember that each of these ALT keys can be used only if the
corresponding letter is in the .SWITCHON Dot Line in the
DRM30dat.DAT file. See the .SWITCHON explanation in Section 11.
Basically, by taking OUT a letter in the .SWITCHON Dot Line,
you deny access to that letter's ALT key. Here's 5 valid
keys for example. You can edit the DAT file to add more keys.
.SWITCHON ABCDE
ALL the ALT keys and CTL keys in version 3.0 are described:
(N/A means that this key is Not Used and Not assigned yet.)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ALT-A Shows the .AVE choices - 17 are possible to define.
ALT-B Displays for viewing, NOT editing (see ALT-E below)
the file of the currently highlighted Choice - if
the file is a BATCH file, of course.
ALT-C Changes the colors of menus in DRMenu easily.
ALT-D Edit DRM30dat.DAT. You will have use of the revised
file immediately after saving it. You must have an
.EDITOR Dot Line defined to use this ALT key.
ALT-E Edit a batch (only) file relevant to the highlighted
Choice. You must have an .EDITOR Dot Line defined
to use this ALT key. WCED is supplied in Vers 3.0
ALT-F Find a text string, i.e. data, in your Notebook.
(see ALT-N and Section 18)
ALT-G Go To "FavoriteFileSpec" from any screen. (see .GOTO)
ALT-H Help Screen (see Section 17 - "Help Screens").
ALT-I Information about DRMenu. Version date, number, etc.
ALT-J N/A _______Your idea could go here_____________
ALT-K Use a Calculator, or Kalculator (see .KALC)
MATH.EXE and MATH.DOC (PD) are included in DRMENU
version 3.0 for you, as written by Greg Kochaniak.
ALT-L N/A________Your idea could go here_____________
ALT-M Leave messages for others to see. Use the ones
supplied or type your own message. (See .MSG#, also)
ALT-N Notebook - for you to store personal info, notes, etc.
Get rid of most of those small notes on your desktop.
Keep any ideas and plans, etc., in your Notebook.
(see ALT-F and Section 18) You CAN lock it up.
ALT KEY DEFINITIONS Section 12
------------------------------------------------------------------
ALT-O Octaves of Music. Compose a tune and Play it.
Music Help is available then by pressing "?".
ALT-P Printer - send a phrase or word or file to the printer.
The file you send to the Printer can have the lines
numbered for you. Use "@" and "#" chrs. Examples:
@A:\DRMENU30.DOC@ to print file to the printer
#C:\SRC\DRMSOURCE.CPP# to print file to Printer with
all of its lines numbered #.
You can also send a FormFeed or send a LineFeed to
the printer if you need to, by sending "FF" or "LF".
ALT-Q N/A________Your idea could go here_____________
ALT-R N/A _______Your idea could go here_____________
ALT-S Shell to DOS. Remember to type 'EXIT' at the DOS
prompt to return to DRMenu.
ALT-T Change or Adjust the System Time and/or Date.
ALT-U Used to UNHIDE a "Hidden" Screen.
(See Section 16 - "Unhiding "Hidden" Screens".)
ALT-V File viewer, as defined in the .VIEWER Dot Line
(a FREE viewer "VIEW.COM" is included with DRMenu).
ALT-W N/A _______Your idea could go here_____________
ALT-X eXit DRMenu; the same action as ESC.
ALT-Y Yank all BATCH files into one file: DRM30bat.DAT.
ALT-Z Lock up computer. Use a keyboard KEY to unlock
it. See, also, dot lines: .ALARMLENGTH and .KEY
CONTROL KEYS - These 5 Keys are valid via ".CTLSWITCHON"
------------------------------------------------------------
CTL-A Does a DIR on Drive A: with a pause /P.
You can then print an ASCII file when through.
CTL-B Does a DIR on Drive B: with a pause /P.
You can then print an ASCII file when through.
CTL-E Environment check. Performs a SHELL, then a SET.
It's actually a "copy" of the Master Environment.
CTL-F Sends a Formfeed (ASCII 12) to the printer which
ejects the paper in the printer, and then beeps.
CTL-L Sends a Linefeed and a Carriage Return to printer
ASCII 13, ASCII 10, and signals you it was sent.
CTL-Z ZAPS (Erases) your Password #2 file to Re-Lock
your system. See .PWD2 for more information.
ALT KEY DEFINITIONS Section 12
------------------------------------------------------------------
There is one more ALT key that is always "on". It is the
combination of the ALT key and the Equals key (=).
If you are a Supervisor and you need to have access to an ALT
key which the user does not have access, then this is for you.
For instance, Betty-Boop's DRMenu system may have just the H
and the Z keys allowed. This would be because there was a
dot line in the DATA file like this: .SWITCHON HZ
However, the Supervisor needs to be able to edit the DATA
file and, thus, needs the D key also. The supervisor does
not have to edit the DATA file to add the "D".
The supervisor simply uses Betty-Boop's PC and does a ALT-=
combination. There will be a time of day presented to you at
the bottom of Betty-Boop's screen. The supervisor adds the
digits of the time and the value in the .PWD1 dot line and
enters the sum.
For example: if the value 25 was the value in the .PWD1 dot
line, such as this,
.PWD1 25
and the time presented to you when you pressed the ALT-=
combination was 12:47pm then the sum of 1+2+4+7+25 is 39 and
this is the value that you answer with, when the System asks
you for the "new time."
No, 39 is NOT a new time of day, and that is the whole point.
DRmenu uses a Magician's "mis-direction" at this point.
DRMenu pretends to ask for the time of day, when actually,
you will be supplying the sum of the digits plus the ".PWD1"
value. In this example, the sum needed is 39.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ You may elect to remove this page for security reasons.│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
THE DATA FILE - SOME EXAMPLES Section 13
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dot Lines examples What they mean
------------------------ ------------------------------
.SWITCHON ACHIMX these ALT switches are Valid
.SCREEN 1 start of Screen 1 definition
.TITLE Memorial Hospital Screen 1 title
.COLOR SKY ON WHITE Screen 1 colors settings
.BARCOLOR SNOW on BLUE Screen 1 Highlight Bar colors
L-run LOWTIS {do123} Choice 1 for Screen 1
D-run DBase III {DB3} Choice 2 for Screen 1
W-run Word Perfect 5.2{WP52} Choice 3 for Screen 1
P-run ProComm 2.0 {PC} Choice 4 for Screen 1
.END end of Screen 1 definition
: All four CHOICES will be the same bar length on the Menu
: Screen. Why? The position of the left "{" on all four are
: "lined up".
A More Complicated Example
**************************************************************
:These three lines here are examples of Remarks in a 2 screen
:DRM30dat.DAT file. Then, the next 3 lines are called Dot Lines.
:
.SWITCHON HIXABCM
.SHADOW
.CHIME00
:===this is just a remark, too===It starts with a COLON (:)
:
:
.SCREEN 1
.TITLE Utilities on Hard Drive
.COLOR Cherry on white
.BARCOLOR LEMON on Black
Format drive A: as DSDD 720K disk {720}
Format drive A: as High Density 1.44 Meg {144}
+1.44 diskettes have two holes in them
Format Bernoulli drive {BERNIE}
.END ------------
:
:
.SCREEN 2
.TITLE Word Processors
.Color Blue on white
.Barcolor SNOW on Blue
.SWITCHON HIXABCM
P.C. Write Version (2).71%{PCW271,21}
%Enter filename:
P.C. Write Version (3).04 {PCW304,21}
+the Standard Shareware Editor
P.C. Write Vers (4).00 {PCW400,18}
Bill's Editor {C:\UTIL\WCED}
+64k limit, a freebie for us
:Look at WCED - it's NOT a Batch file
:the PCWrite versions can be selected by touching 2, 3, or 4
.END -------------
PASSWORDS FOR CHOICES Section 14
------------------------------------------------------------------
Each and every Choice on every Screen can have its own
password protection.
To protect a Choice with a password, simply include the
password on the Choice line in DRM30dat.DAT, directly after
the closing curly brace. There must be NO space between the
curly brace and the password. Including a space there will
disable the password. See examples below.
Passwords are case-sensitive, unless you use a "=" mark.
For example, if you wanted the password for access to ListCC
to be "davID", the Choice line would look like this:
List Credit Cards{ListCC}davID
This is a different password to "DAVid", because the
password is case-sensitive, remember.
CASE INSENSITIVE:
-----------------
If you want the password to be case insensitive so that DAVid
or DaviD or davID or DaVid will all work to gain access, then
place an equals mark after the second curly brace like this in
the example above {ListCC}=DaVid
The equals mark (=) MUST be next to the second curly brace
"}" for this CaSe InSeNsItIvE feature to work, or else the
password will be case sensitive as described above.
DISABLE:
--------
This example has the password DISABLED because of the space
after the RIGHT curly brace "}" and before "DaVid".
List Credit Cards{ListCC} DaVid
^
and next, we see the same example as above, but with the
password Enabled this time...
List Credit Cards{ListCC}DaVid
INVISIBLE:
----------
Use an ASCII character 255 for a password and they'll never
see it in the DRM30dat.DAT file.
PASSWORDS FOR CHOICES - HOW TO ENCRYPT Section 14
------------------------------------------------------------------
To encrypt a Choice password, simply start the password with
a number from 1 to 9 inclusive.
Using the example above:
List Credit Cards{ListCC}1DaVid
would change the password to "EbWje".
Looks complicated? It's easy, really. All that the number 1
does is to shift the password one (1) ASCII character higher.
This has the advantage of simplicity, but it can have a major
complication. So, don't use characters near the ASCII value
127 or you'll have to input characters which aren't on the
keyboard.
If your password is on the Choice line as "2BOY", the actual
password you would have to enter is "DQ[". The "2" would
change the "B" to a "D", it would change the "O" to a "Q" and
it would change the "Y" to a "[". You'll have to check the
ASCII chart to realize the last one.
"1BOY" would be the password "CPZ".
"3BOY" would be the password "ER\".
"123456" would be the password "34567".
...and finally (for examples)
"4abc" would be the password "efg" - which stays in
lowercase letters.
The "e" is four characters away from "a", etc.
Similarly, the lower-case characters in the ASCII table are
followed by some punctuation characters. Be warned of this.
Here's the "end" of the lowercase alphabet just for review.
ASCII character: t u v w x y z { | } ~
│ │ │
│ │ │
ASCII value: 116 122 126
You must be wary of what encrypted passwords are assigned to
Choices. It is strongly urged that you CHECK YOUR ASCII
CHART BEFORE ASSIGNING ANY ENCRYPTED PASSWORDS, just to be on
the safe side. Always, Keep it simple.
Encrypted passwords are always CASE SENSITIVE, so don't use
the equals mark (=) to try to make them "insensitive."
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ You may elect to remove this page for security reasons.│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
COLORS Section 15
------------------------------------------------------------------
You can assign 16 different colors for each of the 12 possible
Screens. You can make the "Utilities" Screen blue, the "Word
Processing" Screen white and the "DOS" Screen red for example.
You assign the text color and the background color in the
DRM30dat.DAT file.
You assign them using "color words", such as Blue and Red,
so that you don't have to guess at numbers and so on.
You can also select the colors for the Highlight Bar. It
doesn't have to be the same as the Screen's colors. In fact,
to see it better, it shouldn't be the same colors.
There are sixteen (16) words for text or background colors.
In addition to the original eight colors, there are eight
new, bright colors, for a total of sixteen (16) colors.
The 8 original CGA colors are the following colors:
Black, Blue, Green, Cyan, Red, Purple, Brown, and White.
The 8 new, bright colors are "different" to make it easier
for you to visualize. The bright-color words are: CHERRY
(bright red), LEMON (bright brown), SNOW (bright white), SKY
(bright blue), GRASS (bright green), GREY ("bright" black),
SEA (bright cyan) and GRAPE (bright purple). These are all
'objects' to help you remember the new colors.
Some VGA cards do not display the color "BROWN" properly.
Instead, they display "RED". You may want a new video card.
If the Alt-C switch is enabled in the .SWITCHON line of your
DRM30dat.DAT file, then you can try all the colors by simply
pressing ALT-C when running DRMenu and following instructions.
Write the colors back to your DAT file automatically when you
have obtained the desired combination by pressing "F10".
If you want to change existing .DEFCOLORS, then you press
"F5" (undocumented on the screen during an ALT-C session.)
You must already have the .COLOR and .BARCOLOR dot lines to
use the ALT-C method. Use .COLOR for the Screen color and
.BARCOLOR for the Bar color. Notice that you can choose to
use the extra words TEXT and BACKGROUND if it makes it easier
for you to read. DRMenu skips over those words when reading
the line. Example:
.COLOR SNOW ON RED
means the same as
.COLOR SNOW text on RED background
=========================== "ON" ===========================
The one word that you MUST use when describing a DOT line is
the word "ON" that separates the two colors. The TEXT color
is the color BEFORE the word "ON", the BACKGROUND color is
the color AFTER the word "ON". You can use "on" or "ON".
============================================================
Also, See .COLOR in Section 11 for additional information.
UNHIDING "HIDDEN" SCREENS Section 16
------------------------------------------------------------------
To unhide a hidden Screen, you use the ALT-U keys, if "U" has
been included in the .SWITCHON Dot Line.
Pressing ALT-U will pop up a "picture" at the bottom of the
screen of all the Screens that are defined in the DRM30dat.DAT
file.
The undesignated Screens will appear as a space which will not
show up on the screen.
Screens that are in use and VALID will appear as "■", a box.
Screens that are HIDDEN will appear as "h".
To change a Screen from hidden to UNhidden, simply enter the
number of the Screen and press ENTER.
Here's an example. On my current machine, I have Screens
1,2,3,5,6,7,and 9 in use and UNhidden. Screen 4 and screen 8
are hidden. Therefore, the picture will look like this, with
two "h's" where the "h"idden screens are:
■■■h■■■h■
│ │
1234567890
To UNHIDE Screen 4, you simply press "4" and the picture looks
like this:
■■■■■■■h■
│
1234567890
To hide it again, I press "4" again or simply run a CHOICE.
The boxes (■) represent viewable Screens. The "1234567890"
ruler is for your convenience here. It does not show up in
DRMenu when you are UNhiding screens. You have to count the
positions using the stars as a guide.
You can hide or UNhide ANY Screen in this way very quickly and
easily. The "UnHiding" is good ONLY UNTIL you choose one of
the screen choices, then it's Hidden again for you.
I like to hide "Diagnostic" Screens or Screens with "Tools" on
the same machine with the user. That way I have the "Tools" to
help them with a problem, but the user isn't experimenting
with the "Tools" when I go back to my office. They're Hidden.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ You may elect to remove this page for security reasons. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
HELP SCREENS Section 17
------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a little bit of on-line help in DRMenu. Press the
question mark "?" (a shifted key) and you'll get this help.
See, also, how to use ".AVE" to view predefined text files.
And, you can develop your own Help Screens for your own
Choices. DRMenu already knows how to access them.
All you have to do is to use an ASCII editor and type a few
lines or a whole screen full. DRMenu uses your own viewer.
You must have "H" in your Switchon line and have a Viewer
defined in your DATA file (DRM30dat.DAT file). A viewer
is supplied for you in version 3.0, VIEW.COM. Use it.
Then save the file with the same "name", but with a .HLP
extension. So, a file named GORDON.BAT would have GORDON.HLP
as its help file. Likewise, JTBASE.EXE would have JTBASE.HLP.
JTBase is a 1994 DBF database program that's FREEWARE, too.
Joe Thurber wrote it and it works great with DRMenu. Write
him at Internet: joe.thurber@mms.raleigh.nc.us for more info.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get the Help Screen, just press ALT-H for when the
Highlight Bar is on the Choice. See Section 9 for use of the
question-mark line type to identify when HELP files are
available for user. It, also, allows definition of filespec
for use with DOC files or Manual files, etc
DRMenu will look in the same directory where your DRMenu
BATCH files are located for HLP files. The Path statement
won't work here to help you because they don't execute; they
are ".HLP" files. See section 9 to use other filenames.
Help screens for .COMs and .EXEs and .BTMs have to be in the
same directory with the filespec given. See examples below.
You can have a Help Screen for each Choice in each Screen.
To use ALT-H for Help files, the Help Screens must exist and
there must have "H" in your .SWITCHON Dot Line.
Examples assuming BAT files are in C:\BATCH:
If the filename is: Then the Help filespec should be:
------------------- ---------------------------------
12345.BAT C:\BATCH\12345.HLP
D:\BTMS\FLEUR.BTM D:\BTMS\FLEUR.HLP
DUFFIE.BAT C:\BATCH\DUFFIE.HLP
TEE.BAT C:\BATCH\TEE.HLP
BIGBATCH.BAT C:\BATCH\BIGBATCH.HLP
C:\UTIL\ET.EXE C:\UTIL\ET.HLP
Z:\US\DA\READ.COM Z:\US\DA\READ.HLP
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
Notice that BAT files reside in the same directory with HLP
files - in these examples, they reside in C:\BATCH\
Help screens for .COM and .EXE files must be in the same
"filespec path" that you use inside the Curly Braces. For
example, in the above example, READ.HLP must be in Z:\US\DA
because you used {Z:\US\DA\READ.COM} in a CHOICE Line.
~~~~~~~~~
The Notebook and Other Features Section 18
------------------------------------------------------------------
The "Notebook" was added in Version 3.0 - put an "N" in your
.SWITCHON line to enable it. Then, press ALT-N to use it.
It is a flat, ASCII file into which you add lines by pressing
ALT-N and typing-in your data. The Notebook is meant to be a
replacement for those little 3 inch notes you leave all over
your desktop. If you add a dot/period/full stop after your
comment, the date will be added to the note. If you add two
dots to the end of your comment, the date and the system time
will be added. Use this for taking phone messages, etc
The default file name "from the factory" is DRM30not.DAT.
You can change it using the dot line .NOTEBOOK - see section
11 to change the name or its default size from 20,000 bytes.
You can find DATA stored in it by pressing ALT-F (for Find)
assuming an "F" is in your .SWITCHON dot line, of course.
If you don't want everybody in the office easily accessing
it, then add a "Locking Word" to your .KEY by adding a colon
and then your KEY to the LOCK.
For example, .KEY 64:tigers would give the KEY "tigers" to
lock your DATA file. It is case sensitive; i.e. "TIGERS"
won't be the same as "tigers" - so be careful.
If your DATA is locked, you will be given a "fake" prompt for
data to search for - it's a "Find:" with a colon ":".
If your "CAPS LOCK" is "ON" the word "Find:" will be "FIND:"
Find:
needs for you to issue the KEY word "tigers". If your data
is not locked, you will get the real FIND without a colon,
like this
Find
When you get this real "Find", you can query the database and
it will search for strings of data that you have issued or
stored which contain what you are trying to find.
If an intruder tries to get into your locked DATA, DRMenu
will fool them and write an intruder alert with time of day
into your file. You can look for the intruder by simply
searching for a slash "/" or any characters in the date.
If you are trying to find all the data with CLEMSON in it,
then your screen would look like this
FIND clemson
Don't worry about case sensitivity, the search will be done
as INsensitive so that it won't miss anything accidentally.
If you press Enter without issuing any data to search for,
the search string will be the system date. Thus, if you end
all of your notes with a dot, then you can find out at the
end of the day what you DID that day. Simple, not elegant.
Enter the word "ALL" or a "*" to find ALL of the records.
When ALT-F finds several items, it will show them on the
screen until it fills up, then it pauses for you. Then press
ENTER to see the next screen full. All "Hits" are totaled.
THE PICture/LOGO SCREEN Section 19
------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a file that has ASCII characters in it which make up
the DRMenu LOGO screen, the PICture. It's named DRM30pic.DAT
DRMenu will attempt to show this PICture file, if it exists,
only once a day. If the file doesn't exist, DRMenu doesn't
care. "I" care, but DRMENU doesn't care. <grin>
This PICture screen will last 5 seconds unless you press a
key before the 5 seconds expire. The factory PICture "counts
down" at a predefined location used by DRMenu.
To make the Logo PICture use your favorite color, simply put
a /slash IN the DRMENU.BAT file, AFTER the word DRM30dat.DAT
and then put one of the first eight color names after that.
The eight basic CGA background color names can be found in
Section 11 in the .COLOR explanation. A "green" example is:
DRM30eng C:\BATCH\DRM30dat.DAT /GREEN
You can also make your own PICture screen if you want...just
make sure it's an ASCII TEXT file, 25 lines high and name it
DRM30pic.DAT. The counting down feature is enabled by
putting an ASCII 255 character somewhere on one of the 25
lines. The count-down position on screen is fixed, so you
will have to plan around that position (line 24, column 68).
From the factory, the ASCII character 255 is on the Screen.
It's invisible.... like between these two quotes here " ".
The file DRM30pic.DAT can be longer than 25 lines, it's just
that only the first 25 lines that get used and get shown.
You can hide "property of me" messages there, perhaps.
The "factory" version of DRM30pic.DAT has tips in it for you
to read. Use "VIEW.COM" enclosed with DRMENU to read it.
To cause the Logo Screen, DRM30pic.DAT, to appear each time
you use the DRMENU system, put .NEWDAY in your DRM30dat.DAT
file. Then, when you exit using ALT-X, DRMENU will think
it's a new day and the Logo PICture will be shown the next
time you run DRMENU again. An "ESC" doesn't affect "Newday".
The dotword .NEWDAY in your DRM30dat.dat file causes the file
named DRM30cfg.DAT to be deleted when you quit using ALT-X.
It's this file, DRM30cfg.DAT which holds today's date when
the DRMENU.BAT file is run each day.
Normaly, you'll see the LOGO screen only once a day, ie. when
you first run DRMENU. Here's how to see it everytime you run
DRMENU if you want to. Use the ".NEWDAY" dotline or press
ALT-SLASH at any menu screen.
If you use ".NEWDAY", you'll get a LOGO screen everytime you
run DRMENU - IF YOU QUIT USING THE ALT-X METHOD.
If you use the ALT-SLASH (ALT-/), you'll get the LOGO screen,
but (also) only IF YOU QUIT USING THE ALT-X METHOD.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Section 20
------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Most of the problems occur when the batch file DRMENU.BAT
cannot find the DRM30eng.EXE file to run. So, my suggestion
is to put the DRM30eng.EXE file in the same directory with
the batch files or, at least, make the DRM30eng.EXE file
accessible by placing it in some subdirectory in your PATH
statement.
(2) If you have an error which states that there is no ".END"
line, or that you have too many choices described for a
Screen, then all you have to do is re-edit your DRM30dat.DAT
file and place an .END Dot Line after the seventeenth (17th)
or last Choice Line. Remember, the Remarked lines (:) do NOT
count in the seventeen maximum lines for each Screen. The
limit is 17 Choice lines, not just 17 total lines per Screen.
The "+" and "%" lines do NOT count in the limit of 17 lines.
(3) You may not have enough environment to set the variables
needed. To Increase your Environment, see your DOS manual.
"My" CONFIG.SYS has: SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /E:2048 /P
which gives me 2048 bytes of Environment...plenty of it!
~~~~
(4) If one of your DOT lines doesn't work, then maybe you have an
DRMENU "engine" version which is old, not current. Check it
out with ALT-I to see which engine version and DOS version
you have. The old DRMENU.BAT does't work with DRM30dat.DAT.
(5) If one of your Dot Lines doesn't work, then make sure you
have spelled the Dot Line WORD correctly. For example:
.JUMP DELAY 6 is wrong.
Instead, .JUMPDELAY 6 is right.
(6) Incorrect Dot Lines are thrown away. Only the legal "survive".
(7) If you can't see your screen very well, then try the .BW or
the .WB Dot Lines. Most LCD laptops are "color" but with a
black and white screen. You can overcome my "color detection"
by putting a .BW or .WB dot line in the DRM30dat.DAT file.
Try each, one at a time. Choose the best effect for you.
(8) If you get an unwanted extra white space at the right side
of your menu Choices, then there is probably a space between
the Choice text and the first curly brace. Edit your choice
lines so that the curly brace "{", (the left one of the pair)
TOUCHES the right side of the last word of the choice line,
like this:
example{xx}
....because, it probably has a space like this:
example {xx}
^
See the extra space there? The length of your Menu Choice
bar can be adjusted THAT WAY if you decide you want all the
bars, i.e. all the Choices, to be the same length on each
Screen. Personally, I like them to be different lengths
(sizes) on all of my Menu Screens. It's your choice. Pun.
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Section 20
------------------------------------------------------------------
(9) Programmers have a special need to use DRMenu to get them setup
into their IDE, or Programming Environment. It is annoying for
DRMenu to "return" to the DRMenu screen after a programming
session in C++ or Assembly Language, so-o-o-o DRMenu listened.
If the batch {filename } in curly braces has a space at the
RIGHT side of the name while still inside the curly braces,
then DRMenu WILL NOT return to the DRMenu screen after executing
the batch file.
Here's an example of the normal way to write a CHOICE line.
DRMenu will return after executing "RunCPP" - the normal action.
Write a Program using C++{RunCPP}
NOW....
Here's the same CHOICE line "for a programmer" because it WILL
NOT return to DRMenu after the batch file "RunCPP" has run:
Write a Program using C++{RunCPP }
^
Notice the one EXTRA SPACE inside the curly braces and at
the right side - after the word "RunCPP".
Remember....after running "RunCPP.BAT " inside the curly
braces, DRMenu will NOT return to the DRMenu screen as
it normally does. It will stay in/at DOS for you.
Change Directories and Drop to DOS
------------------------------------------------------------------
Another good use of this feature is to create a Batch file
that does nothing but change to the drive and subdirectory
that you desire and then drops you to DOS to "play".
Then, pressing this CHOICE in DRMenu can take you to a special
Subdirectory where you want to stay and "play" for a while.
There is NO password shown in this example. You may want one.
Here is an Example to take you to drive D: and then to
the subdirectory called PLAYGRND there:
Here is the Batch file name: PLAYSOME.BAT
Here is the CHOICE line:
PLAY for a While in the Playground on D:{PLAYSOME }
│
And here is what's "inside" PLAYSOME.BAT: ┌────┴───┐
│ Notice │
D: │ the │
cd \PLAYGRND │ Space │
└────────┘
EXITING DRMenu Section 21
------------------------------------------------------------------
To ESCape from DRMenu, just press ESCAPE, but for the ESCAPE
key to work, you must have an "X" in the .SWITCHON Dot Line.
Why? There are may be times when you don't want a user to be
able to break out of the DRMenu system, for example on a LAN.
Only ALT-X and ESCape allow the user to escape or quit.
To ESCape from the DRMENU.BAT file you must have some way of
getting to the bottom of the batch file so you can fall out
of the "loop" that is set up which makes DRMenu come back
and run over and over and over after running your
applications like your word processor, etc. etc.
If and when you press the ESCAPE key or ALT-X then DRMenu
will create a file named DRM30esc.DAT. The DRM30esc.DAT you
probably never will see. Don't worry! It is this lonesome
DRM30esc.DAT file that allows DRMenu to ESCape. It is
deleted in the same second that it is created. It has a
very short life on your disk. It is small and fits inside
one little cluster. IT WILL NOT FRAGMENT your disk in any way.
The ALT-X keys mimic the ESCAPE key. But, remember, ....the
ESC key won't work AT ALL unless the X is in the .SWITCHON
dot line, such as .SWITCHON ABCDFNXYZ
^
...and another escape route - explained again...
------------------------------------------------------------------
You could drop to DOS by creating a batch file that does
nothing, except move to a desired Directory. Then make sure
the Batch file, when run, won't return to DRMenu.
An example of what's inside the Batch file named GO2DOS.BAT.
C:
CD \DOS
See Section 20, item 9, which explains how to add one space
inside the curly braces, like this {Go2DOS }.
^
If you need to protect "everybody" from dropping to DOS, ie
"out" of DRMenu, you could password protect that particular
CHOICE line and give the password to ONLY those persons you
"trust" to drop "out" to DOS.
Also, remember, you can make the password case-InSENSITIVE
using the equals mark:
Here's an Example of a Dot line in a DRM30dat.DAT file.
DROP to Operating System{Go2DOS }=eppie
The password for this "drop" to DOS is EPPIE, whether you use
lowercase "eppie" or Uppercase "EPPIE" or, even, "EppIE".
DRMenu IN A LAN ENVIRONMENT Section 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
You may be looking for "THE" menu system to use on your LAN
environment because the menu system that comes with the LAN
might use too much "RAM room" as a TSR.
The Novell menu system took about 140K or so (if I'm wrong,
somebody please tell me). I had to stop using it because my
available RAM shrunk so much that I couldn't run my database.
Imagine that....$3000 for a system with a 140K Menu TSR.
Now, Novell is putting other Menu systems in their software
systems to eliminate the problem. DRMenu is still easier to
understand and to maintain in a DAY TO DAY work environment.
M A I N T E N A N C E
=====================
DRMenu requires only DRM30dat.DAT, DRM30eng.EXE, and
DRMENU.BAT to run. That makes it easy for the LAN manager to
maintain. ....I know.... because I'm a LAN manager.
So, I will be adding LAN features as you tell me you need
them. This version 3.0 can tell you whether it's on the LAN
or not by a small Check Mark in the bottom box, such as
this, √. Check out the DOT line that describes .CHECK and
what to check for to tell if you're ON the LAN or not.
DRMenu uses the DOS CALL, so it does take up "some" memory - a
total of 144 bytes plus a copy of the environment. This should
be GOOD NEWS, even if you ARE using DOS 7.x and have lots of
RAM room.
While users are on your LAN, you can disable the ESCAPE key by
removing the "X" from the .SWITCHON Dot line.
This way, your users CANNOT get out of the menu EASILY by
pressing ESC or ALT-X. You can always break out of any BATCH
file attempting to run, remember, with CTL-Break.
I "COULD" create a .DISABLEBREAK dot line in future versions.
Please let me know if you really need it. Internet mail is
fine if you don't want to use the US Post Office Mail.
Future versions "COULD" also look at the DOS Environment and
allow screens and CHOICES according to who's Logged in or
who's a MEMBER of a GROUP. It may interest LAN Administrators.
If it interests you, please let me know about it.
Future versions "COULD" Log a user's activity with a file or
specific files, creating a LOG file for an administrator. I
HAVE thought about it, but what do "YOU" think? Send me all
of your ideas. Maybe they'll be used in the next version!
My Internet address is: david.roper@mms.raleigh.nc.us
My Post Office address is: David Roper
201 Winding Brook Drive
Garner, NC 27529
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Enclose a SASE if you want a written reply. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
REGISTRATION & THE LATEST VERSION Section 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This next line is for all the Auditors and Lawyers to read.
There is NO requirement to send me a dime. This is really
FREE to use. No registration needs to be done. Nada. None.
From time to time, I have to improve DRMenu because I am a
programmer. I tend to "fiddle" with programs until they are
FUBAR ("Fouled" Up Beyond All Recognition) or, if I'm lucky,
1 byte short of FUBAR. Therefore I will always be making new
versions when I can. Features are just documented bugs. <G>
GET THE LATEST FOR FREE IF YOU CAN SOMEWHERE. Ask mail order
shareware houses and companies for it and help me spread the
Program. It's a "free" menu system, remember. Tell them about
DRMenu. Tell them it's FREEWARE... no registration is needed.
FREEWARE doesn't mean you might not have to pay someone to get
a copy, but it DOES MEAN that you can use it on 1 computer or
100 computers WITHOUT REGISTRATION when you *DO* get a copy.
....I hope you will enjoy and promote FREEWARE with me.
REGISTRATION & THE LATEST VERSION Section 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
DRMenu is FREEWARE. This means you can use DRMenu without paying
me any money or having to register it. Then, WHY is there an Order
form like this? The answer is... "for your benefit" ...possibly.
DRMenu has a big following all over the world <Grin>. DRMenu is in
three countries besides the USA that I know about <Grin again>.
Many users have asked me to add this idea and that idea, this dot
line and that dot line. By having an order form, I can send out the
new versions, including all ßeta versions that I create BETWEEN the
Major releases. You can be a "ßeta tester" <grin>. You can help me
decide how to add new features and how they should work. Please.
The order form CAN BE FILLED OUT and returned to me with your
check for U.S. $10. This offer is not valid for foreign money or
foreign countries. And, I cannot process Purchase Orders for you.
In return, I will send you a new ßeta version *EVERY* time there is
minor version produced. AND YOU WILL GET THE NEXT MAJOR VERSION 4.0.
If this is successful for me and good for you (by your comments)
then I may repeat the offer with version 4.0. I'll decide later.
I have been quite pleased with the two or three Orders I get each
week and this is enough to keep me going with developing DRMenu for
you. I have met and made some nice computer friends this way.
Thanks,
╥─┐ o ╓
║ │╓╖ ╖╓╓╓╢
╨─┘╙╨┘╙╜╙╙╜
┌───────────────────────────┐
┌─ Cut out order form, │ David Roper │── I've been
│ and send it with a │ 201 Winding Brook Drive │ at this same
│ check to me: ────── │ Garner, NC 27529 │ address for
│ └───────────────────────────┘ over 12 years.
│ All Software will be sent on 3.5 inch, 1.44M diskettes.
------------------------8<------cut here------8<------------------------
Date:_____________ (this offer expires after July 30, 1996)
"Hey, David, I want to be a beta tester AND get ALL the versions of
DRMenu you make, up to, and including, Version 4.0. Here's my check."
(Please Print your Name and Address below:)
Name___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
City____________________________State_____ZIP__________
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ You may elect to take this page out of this Manual if you wish │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
FUTURE FEATURES, PAST DIFFERENCES Section 91
------------------------------------------------------------------
I have some ideas for future versions. If YOU have some
ideas about what YOU would like to see in future versions,
then please write to me and tell me YOUR ideas.
You must enclose a SASE if you would like a reply from me.
Here are a few of MY ideas for future versions:
1. Use of environment variables so GROUPS and USERS will see
certain Screens and/or Choices. I saw a $495 "LAN-based"
menu program that had this feature. I really liked that.
2. Mouse-able, point and click....I almost put it in this
version, but time did not permit. Are you a Mouser?
3. Multiple Versions of the DRM30dat.DAT file, EACH OF
WHICH can support 12 screens with 17 choices on each
screen. This version of DRMenu uses the extension .DAT
4. A LOG file so you can tell when and how long it takes
to run certain programs that you select to be watched.
5. .AUTOEXEC C:\WINDOWS\WIN :an example to automatically
"pass through" the boot up procedure and run Windows.
6. What's YOUR idea, or ideas? Send them to me, please.
Major Differences from earlier Versions of DRMenu
------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) The old, main data file named DRMENU.DAT file has had its
name changed to DRM30dat.DAT - ALL DATA files end in ".DAT"
The Version 3.0 DRMENU.BAT file has different words in it.
(2) DEMO the DRMenu system on a floppy. Run A:\DRMDEMO.BAT
(3) The Screen Colors are much easier to change. ALT-C allows
you to experience the color combinations LIVE and then
write them easily to the DRM30dat.DAT file by pressing F10.
(4) Two (Limited) Help screens are available if you press "?",
Also, you COULD view your DRMENU30.DOC file as an .AVE file.
(5) DRMenu, version 3.0, now comes with an Editor, WCED, also
MATH, VIEW, and a "Pause" utility named DRSCROLL.EXE.
(6) DRMenu, version 3.0, can run *ANY* file, not just BATCH
files as in Version 2.1. Include the FILESPEC inside the
curly braces. DRMenu will detect the ".:/\" chrs, and will
not append a ".BAT" to the end of the {filename}.
(7) DRMenu can send an ASCII file to the printer and, also,
number the lines of that file, if you desire.
(8) DRMenu can print like a typewriter - to the Printer. You
can type FF to send a FORMFEED (chr 12) to eject the page.
(9) ALT-Q is removed from use for now. Use ALT-X instead.
(10) DRMenu can be run on versions of DOS below version 3.3
Upgrading from an Earlier Version of DRMenu Section 92
------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are upgrading from version 2.1 of DRMenu, there are only
a few changes you MUST make. Check them off as you do the steps.
(Also, see section 6 of this manual for more help if needed.)
------------------------------------------------------------------
√ Check here when you have done each of these steps carefully.
____(a) Edit the DRMENU.BAT file to change the word "DRMENU.DAT"
inside it to reflect the new name for the Data file which
is DRM30dat.DAT. And, there's more to edit in DRMENU.BAT.
____(b) Also, the old "ENGINE" word was DRM-ENGN.EXE. Change the
word inside DRMENU.BAT to the new word of DRM30eng.EXE
For example, Version 2.1 of DRMENU.BAT has a line in it
which looks like this:
C:\BATCH\DRM-ENGN C:\BATCH\DRMENU.DAT
~~~~~~~~ ==========
Therefore, change both of these words in it to be
C:\BATCH\DRM30eng C:\BATCH\DRM30dat.DAT
~~~~~~~~ ============
____(c) While you're at it, also change the word DRM-RUN.BAT to
DRM30run.BAT. It's in the last line of DRMENU.BAT where
the word "CALL" normally appears.
Now, you're THROUGH editing DRMENU.BAT. Save it!!!!
____(d) Change the word "%DRM%" to "%DRMENU30_ENVIRMEM%"
Notice the Spelling and the underline. Be careful.
____(e) Last, actually RENAME the DRMENU.DAT file used in version
2.1 to its new name DRM30dat.DAT to be used in version
3.0. Remember how to do this using DOS? It's like this:
C:\BATCH>RENAME DRMENU.DAT DRM30dat.DAT
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Remember, DRM30mak.EXE will do steps (a) thru (e) for you. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
You may not have to do anymore,...but keep reading.
The question mark "?" does NOT cause a DOS parameter prompt
anymore. I received too many complaints from version 2.1
users who wanted to use the question mark normally. Oops!
Take a look inside your DRM30dat.DAT file. Look carefully.
█ █▀▀ you have any CHOICE lines with a question mark "?" in
█ █▀ them, you need to replace it with a percent "%" character,
█ █ or an invisible character ASCII 255, so that the Menu
CHOICE line will still PROMPT you for additional parameters
for the batch file. If you don't replace it, your choice line
won't work like it used to with version 2.1.
You may elect to put the invisible Character 255 BETWEEN two
words so that the user can't see it in the Menu CHOICE line.
However, if you have NOT used a Question mark (?), you can
skip this last step. Most people will skip this last step.
There's a Character 255 between these two quotes here " ".
(see also, Major differences, on the page preceding this one.)
COMPLAINTS Section 99
------------------------------------------------------------------
....also to be used for the PRAISE department and COMMENT
department and receiving all your IDEAS. Send them to:
┌───────────────────── David Roper ────────────────────────┐
│ 201 Winding Brook Drive │
└────────────────── Garner, NC 27529 ──────────────────────┘
Do not use the phone, I cannot support DRMenu by phone as
FREEWARE. Think about it and you'll understand, but...
If you are into EMAIL, you can reach me quickly...
┌─── Via Compuserve: 73155,1171 ────────────────────────┐
│ ...I check it on the weekends. │
│ │
│ Via InterNet: david.roper@mms.raleigh.nc.us │
│ ...I check it daily. │
└────── Notice 4 dots/full stops/periods ────┴──┘──────────┘
I hope you enjoy DRMenu, I've enjoyed "creating" it since
the first version in July 1992. The versions other than 2.1
and 3.0 did not get out to the public.
Special Thanks go to the following people for helping me:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...William Cravener of Pennsylvania for supplying WCED an
EDITOR which he wrote for the .EDITOR line. It's Freeware.
...Greg Kochaniak of Pennsyvania, also, for supplying
MATH.EXE (Public Domain) for the .KALC line for all of us.
...The "Australian Connection" for these DOCOs - his word for
DOCUMENTATION. Rory wrote most of this Manual. Thanks, Mate!
...(Ship) Captain Bob Werning of Florida who sent me ideas
via CIS for DRMenu when he was not making an ocean "voyage".
...Joe Thurber for helping me with the ALT-C routine and
helping me find "dumb logic", and for not laughing out-loud.
...Iris Powell for helping me beta test. Her innocent "honesty"
helped to make DRMenu even easier to use than version 2.1.
...Adrian Brancato for being my DRMenu "Guinea pig" since 1992.
...Ronny Richardson, PhD. for including DRMenu in his new Batch
Book (2Bpub.Jan 1995). I started reading his Batch Books in 1992.
...Jo Anne Moore who helped me to see DRMENU differently.
...Mary, Kay, Tee, Duffie, and JJ for being my loving Roper
family and being responsible for my overall successes in life.
...the MANY OTHERS who have ordered, written me, and
encouraged me to go on and keep improving DRMenu. Your
enthusiasm has been wonderful. One user wrote "It's the only
MENU program that doesn't bomb or Freeze-up my computer,
because I use TSRs and the others Freeze-up my machine."
...DRMenu runs any file you have...easily...and for free.
-----------------(end of DRMENU30.DOC file)-------------------
THIS PAGE IS TO INSURE A FORMFEED - throw it away