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SRMENU.DOC
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1990-04-01
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SR-MENU - A Programmable Multi-application Master Menu
from Southampton Research and Development
I. INTRODUCTION
SR-Menu is a application facility that allows you to integrate all of
the functions of your computer under the control of one intuitive menu.
While SR-Menu is certainly not the first product of this kind, it does
have some innovative features not found in the others.
SR-Menu is distributed under the "Shareware" concept. What this means
is that you are free to copy and distribute the evaluation version of
the product within certain constraints:
A. All parts of the product must be included in their original form
when it is distrubuted.
B. SR-Menu must be distributed free of charge.
C. If you like the product and use it on a regular basis, then you are
morally bound to obtain a licensed copy. This provision is
obviously quite unenforceable but it is the what "Shareware" is all
about. I have spent a huge amount of time developing SR-Menu - yet
I only ask $10 for a licensed copy. So much for the guilt trip.
On a more positive note, registered users of SR-Menu will have
several advantages over the "Shareware slugs".
1. First and foremost, your registered copy of SR-Menu will not
have the annoying blinking banner at the top of the screen.
Instead, I will inscribe your copy with whatever slogan or
saying you desire.
2. All registered users will receive updates to SR-Menu free of
charge.
3. All registered users of Southampton Research products are
offered "pre-release" versions of new products as they are
developed.
4. Product Support - if you have problems, questions, or
suggestions about SR-MENU, We will be happy to address them.
This service is free of charge to registered users. Further
information about how to obtain support will be included with
your personalized copy of SR-MENU.
II. ABOUT THE PRODUCT
A. INSTALLATION
The installation of SR-MENU basically consists of copying the files
onto your hard disk. I suggest that you do it as follows:
1. Make a separate sub-directory for SR-Menu. If your primary
hard drive is 'C' then the DOS command would be:
MD C:\SRMENU
2. Copy the files into that directory. If you have the SR-Menu
files on a floppy disk, then the DOS command would be:
COPY A:*.* C:\SRMENU
3. If you would like SR-Menu to execute automatically when your
computer is powered on or rebooted, then add two lines to the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory of your primary hard
disk. For just about everyone this file will be in the C:\
directory. For those of you with text editors or word
processors that will output text files simply add these lines
to the end of c:\autoexec.bat:
CD \SRMENU
SRMENU
If you are lost at this point, do the following:
CD \ <Enter>
COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT + CON AUTOEXEC.BAT <Enter>
The system should respond:
AUTOEXEC.BAT <----(this line will not appear if
CON you do not have an existing autoexec.bat
file)
At this point, type the following:
CD \SRMENU <Enter>
SRMENU <Enter>
Lastly, hold the CTRL key down and press the Z key. Then press
Enter on more time. The system should respond with:
1 file(s) copied.
4. To test your installation, reboot your computer by holding the
CTRL key, the ALT key, and the DEL key down at the same time.
When the computer is finished re-booting, you should be in the
SR-MENU program.
B. ABOUT THE SR-MENU SCREEN
1. THE HELP BOX - this is the box just below the banner on the
right side of the screen. It always displays a list of keys
and the corresponding functions they perform. For example the
function 'Exit to DOS' is executed by pressing the ALT key and
the X key at the same time - there is a line in the help box
which reads: 'Exit to DOS Alt-X'.
For the most part, the information in this box does not
change. The one exception is when you are in the option
editor (discussed later).
2. THE STATUS LINE - This is the line at the bottom of the
screen. It provides additional information about what you are
doing or about to do. Each option on your customized menu has
a custom status line associated with it. When you highlight
an option, its status line is displayed at the bottom of the
screen (more on this later). When you are customizing your
menus, the status line will provide hints for what to do next.
3. THE BANNER - This is the first two lines at the top of the
screen. If you are using the shareware version of the
program, then the banner will provide information about how
you can obtain a registered copy of SRMENU. If you are a
registered user, then those two lines contain your name plus
whatever else you requested. In the upper right corner of the
banner is the current system time.
4. THE MAIN MENU - When you execute SR-MENU for the first time,
the MAIN MENU will contain several options including a DOS
functions, Spreadsheet, Word Processing, and Database. These
options (with the possible exception of 'DOS Functions') are
intended as examples of how you might incorporate various
applications into SR-MENU.
C. SELECTING MENU OPTIONS
SR-MENU is almost entirely menu driven. Each time a menu is
displayed, there will be one option that is highlighted using
different colors. That highlight is called the 'menu bar'. To
execute the highlighted menu option, simply press the Enter key.
The menu bar may be moved up and down through the menu options
using the up and down arrow keys. If you have an older PC, then
these will be the 2 and 8 keys on the numeric keypad (with Num Lock
off).
A short hand method to move the menu bar is to press the option
number. For menus with more than 9 items, the 1 key will move the
menu bar to the next option beginning with a 1. Pressing the 1 key
again will proceed to the next, an so on.
D. CUSTOMIZING SR-MENU
1. ADDING OPTIONS
Looking at the HELP BOX you will see that the command to
maintain a menu is 'Alt-M'. For those of you new to PCs, this
means hold the ALT key and press the M key. When you do this,
the menu is moved down to the bottom of the screen for
modifications. At that time, a small menu will appear with
the options 'Add', 'Change', and 'Delete'. Highlight the
'Add' option (the default) and press Enter.
A box will appear with 3 items to fill in. The first is the
menu item Type. Menu options normally execute other programs
on your computer but they may also