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- HDM IV - Version 2
-
- The following features and functions have been added to the Hard
- Disk Menu IV version 2:
-
- HDM IV now works with DR-DOS, EZ-DOS, and 4DOS. The CALL
- command is no longer automatically added to the beginning of
- each command in X.BAT for users of DOS 3.3 and above. Instead
- you can use the CALL command to run batch files by putting the
- CALL right in the menu action like this:
- C:~CD\DSPLYWRT~CALL DW5~
- or you can use the @@ in front of batch file names:
- C:~CD\DSPLYWRT~@@DW5~
- The @@ has the advantage
- of working with all versions of DOS, @@ is replaced by COMMAND
- /C if your running DOS 3.2 or under, else it will be replaced by
- CALL. This was done because of compatibility problems with DOS
- clones. CALL did not work with 4DOS aliases, nor did it work
- with EZ-DOS/DR-DOS internal commands.
-
- New alternate user interfaces using the Local Switch <F8> menu
- entry. The new screen is more consistent with the opening logo
- screen. You can switch back to the HDM IV version 1 screen any
- time. <F8> also switches the Page Index and the Main Menu
- windows.
-
- The customized logo screen available using the -H startup switch
- and the HDM.HDR file now affect both boxes on the screen. A
- sample HDM.HDR file is included on the HDM disk.
-
- 1000 menu files now available, named HDM.000 through HDM.999.
- Use the UPDATE.BAT file to retain your current menu entries.
- New startup switches, -0 through -9 tell HDM where to find each
- set of 100 menu files. If you use the -T startup switch it will
- still tell where the rest of the HDM.000 - HDM.999 and the
- HDM.CFG (formally HDMENU.TGL) files reside. The default path
- for the files is the HDM startup directory.
-
- EXAMPLE: HDM -0C:\MYMENUS -1H:\NETMENUS -9D:\UTILMENU
- HDM.000 - HDM.099 files are located on C:\MYMENUS directory.
- HDM.100 - HDM.199 files are located on H:\NETMENUS directory.
- HDM.900 - HDM.999 files are located on D:\UTILMENU directory.
-
- The macro parameters %1 through %9 can now be put in braces so
- they are executed immediately instead of waiting until all other
- functions in braces are evaluated.
-
- EXAMPLE: {&0 {?Dir Name}}{run! dir {%1}}type {?File Name}~
-
- The help text has been separated from the HDMENU.EXE file so it
- won't be loaded if you don't press F1. The help text is in the
- file HDM.HLP and the executable program is HDM4.EXE. The
- program must still be started with HDM.BAT.
-
- New date and time formats have been added to the Global pull
- down menu for European date and Military (24 hour) clock.
-
- A log file is written to the HDM directory if a user is logged
- on (using an entry from the User ID table in the Security pull
- down window) and HDM is started with the -L switch like this:
- HDM -L or it can be written to a different directory if
- you add that path to the -L switch: HDM -LC:\LOGDIR
-
- The log file has the following format:
- YYYYMMDDHR:MNX[???]=description
- YYYYMMDD is the year, month, and day (19890728).
- HR:MN is the hour and minute of the 24 hour clock (14:25).
- X is the day of the week (1=Sunday,7=Saturday).
- [???]=description is:
- [LOG]=Name of person who logged on.
- [OFF]=Name of person who logged off.
- [RUN]=Description of what is being run.
- [END]=End of run.
-
- The three digit menu file number has been added to the User ID
- table so that each user can start at a different menu file when
- they log on.
-
- You can create your own individual help screen for each menu
- entry. A file that is named P#.###, where P# is the page letter
- and menu entry number and ### is the menu file number, is
- display if the cursor is on that entry and the F1 key is
- pressed. The help screen is 21 lines by 76 characters for each
- line. A sample file, A1.000, is included as an example.
-
- You can now password protect one page. The security levels for
- the main menu entries are now: Individual password overrides a
- page password which overrides the password for all entries.
-
- Free disk space can now be displayed at the bottom of the
- screen. If you want to see available space for a disk drive use
- the -D startup switch. Example: -DD will display available disk
- space on the D: drive. If -D is used without a drive letter,
- then the drive that HDM was started on will be used.
-
- New menu action function: {COLOR Fg Bg} sets DOS color. Fg is
- a foreground color numbered from 0 to 15, Bg is a background
- color numbered from 0 to 7. This will set the DOS screen color
- for the current menu entry only. It will not work if ANSI.SYS
- is loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file. 0=Black, 1=Blue, 2=Green,
- 3=Cyan, 4=Red, 5=Magenta, 6=Yellow, 7=White, 8-15 are the bright
- versions of these colors. Example: {Color 15 1} is bright white
- on blue.
-
- New menu action function: {REBOOT} Used to re-boot your
- computer. This can be used to change the setup of your
- CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and then restart your system for
- another application like Windows, Desqview, etc. with HDM
- automatically starting it with the -A switch. Example:
- COPY C:\CONFIG.NEW C:\CONFIG.SYS~COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.NEW
- C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT~{REBOOT}
-
- New menu action function: {SELECT prompt~choice1~choice2~...choice9}
- This will display a menu of
- choices in a window with the "prompt" used as a title. The
- users choice from the list will replace everything in the braces
- in the menu action. Use the tilde (~) to separate the prompt
- and the choices. A choice can be selected with the mouse or
- keyboard arrow keys and the <Enter> key. You can also select a
- choice by pressing the first letter, if two or more choices have
- the same first letter, the last one with that letter will be
- selected. Example:
- DIR {SELECT Pick a directory~C:\DIR1~C:\DIR2~C:\DIR3~C:\DIR4~C:\DIR5}
-
- HDM no longer automatically adds the directory that contains
- X.BAT to the path if it isn't already there. This has caused
- problems for some network users. You must insure that the DOS
- path includes the directory that X.BAT will be written to. It
- will be either the HDM default directory or the one pointed to
- by -W if that startup switch is used.
- Example: PATH C:\;C:\HDM;C:\DOS
- If you don't include this directory in the
- path, you will probably get a "Bad command or file name"
- message from DOS when you key in X to return to HDM.
-
- -P is a new HDM startup switch that can be used in the command
- line or the DOS environment to stop the cursor from wrapping to
- the previous page or to the next page when you try to go past
- the top or bottom of a page. This also causes the cursor to
- stop at all menu entries, even the empty ones. This is probably
- most useful for people who use a mouse, moving up and down will
- go to menu entries in the same page while moving side to side
- will move through the pages. Command line: HDM -P
- DOS environment: SET HDM=-P
-
- Alt-1 through Alt-0 are new alternate keys for A - J to go
- directly to a page.
-
- You can now protect a menu file from being changed while still
- allowing the entries to be run without a password. Use the
- "File change password" in the Security menu to protect Menu,
- Page, Security, and Local menus for the current menu file only.
-
- The number of users available in the USER ID TABLE has been
- increased to 99.
-
- A new entry has been added to the MENU pull-down menu, SAVE MENU
- (Alt-F5). This entry will save all changes to disk. You will
- normally not need to use this because HDM IV automatically saves
- changes to disk when you run a menu entry, when you display the
- logo screen, when you exit to DOS, use the DOS window, or after
- one minute of keyboard/mouse inactivity. The reason for this
- new command is if you make a change and want to turn your system
- off or reboot immediately, you should save the changes you made
- first by pressing Alt-F5 or choose "Save menu".
-
- A new starup switch, -K, causes the Key lock status to not be
- displayed, and does not update the on-screen date & time. This
- is needed if you run another program with HDM in the background
- and the Key status, date, and time bleed through to that screen.
- Put HDM -K or Set HDM=-K in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
- When you create a new menu file with the {menu ###} action function
- the new menu file will take on the attributes of the menu file it
- was created from. That is the colors, borders, user interface,
- titles, and macros will be the same.