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BRISTOL COMPUTING PROFESSIONAL MENU SYSTEM ------------------------------------------ USER MANUAL Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. Suite 162 200 Linden Street P.O. Box 9009 Wellesley, MA 02181 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents....................................................i License Agreement..................................................iii About This Document..................................................v Chapter 1 - Introduction.............................................1 Features ......................................................1 System Requirements.............................................3 Chapter 2 - Installing BCS Menu Program..............................4 1. Read the README file.......................................4 2. Copy the appropriate files to your fixed disk..............4 A. Using the Install Program.............................4 B. Copying BCS Menu Program with DOS.....................5 3. Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT........................................6 4. Customize the menus for your system........................6 Other Considerations............................................6 Using A Mouse...................................................6 The Sample Menu Files...........................................7 Chapter 3 - Using BCS Menu Program...................................8 A Little Geography..............................................8 Executing A Menu Item...........................................9 Getting Help...................................................10 Displaying Item Description Window.............................10 Turn Sound ON Or OFF...........................................10 Screen Blank...................................................11 Changing Keyboard Settings.....................................11 Exit To DOS....................................................12 DOS Exit Batch File............................................12 Changing Colors................................................12 Saving The Menu Definition File................................13 Other Keys.....................................................13 Key Summary....................................................13 Chapter 4 - Changing The Colors.....................................14 To Change A Window's Color.....................................15 Using The Mouse To Change Window Colors........................15 Changing Prompt Colors.........................................15 To Change The Color Of A Prompt................................16 Using The Mouse To Change Prompt Colors........................16 Changing Window/Prompt Colors..................................16 Changing Colors On An MDA......................................16 To Change Window Attributes On An MDA..........................17 Using The Mouse To Change Window Attributes....................17 To Change The Attribute Of A Prompt On An MDA..................18 Using The Mouse To Change Prompt Attributes....................18 Changing The Color Palette On EGA/VGA..........................18 To Change The Palette..........................................19 To Change The Palette Using The Mouse..........................19 Recall Colors..................................................19 Creating A New Menu File.......................................19 Editing A Menu File............................................19 Saving The Menu Definition File................................20 Key Summary....................................................20 BCSMENU.DOC Page i Chapter 5 - Editing A Menu File.....................................21 Menu Edit Screen Display.......................................22 About Menu Editing.............................................22 Key Usage In An Edit Window....................................22 Reserved Character.............................................23 To Change A Menu Item..........................................24 Entering/Changing The Menu Item Password.......................24 Entering/Changing The Menu Item Prompt.........................24 Entering/Changing The Item Description.........................25 Entering/Changing The Menu Item Commands.......................26 Loading A New Menu File........................................27 Specifying User Input Variables................................27 Examples Of User Input Variables...............................28 Command Helper Mode............................................28 To Interactively Build A Command...............................29 Editing A Menu Item Repeatedly.................................31 Getting Help...................................................31 Restore Menu...................................................31 Delete A Menu Item.............................................31 Inserting A New Menu Item......................................31 Changing The Title/DOS Exit Password...........................32 Set Spacing/Number Of Columns..................................32 Moving A Prompt................................................33 Sorting Prompts................................................34 Saving The Menu Definition File................................34 Other Keys.....................................................34 Key Summary....................................................35 Chapter 6 - BCS Menu Program - Operational Overview.................36 Loading Default And Alternate Menu Files.......................37 Menu Definition File Naming Conventions........................37 Location Of Menu Definition Files..............................37 Appendix A - About Bristol Computing Systems, Inc...................38 Appendix B - Error Messages.........................................40 Appendix C - Known Problems.........................................45 Appendix D - Customer Support.......................................46 BCSMENU.DOC Page ii Bristol Computing Professional Menu System E V A L U A T I O N L I C E N S E A G R E E M E N T Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. is furnishing you a copy of Bristol Computing Professional Menu System, hereafter referred to as BCS Menu Program, as shareware (user-supported software). The shareware concept means that you can evaluate this software on your own machine to determine whether you want to purchase it. BCS Menu Program is copyrighted software. It is not free software, nor is it in the public domain. You are granted a limited license to evaluate a copy of this software subject to the terms of this Evaluation License Agreement. This is a single copy software license granted by Bristol Computing Systems, Inc., Suite 162, 200 Linden Street, P.O. Box 9009, Wellesley, MA 02181. BCS Menu Program is licensed to you on a limited basis as outlined herein: o Bristol Computing Professional Menu System is copyrighted software. You may use it on a trial basis only for evaluation. Use of BCS Menu Program and/or affiliated files on any other basis or for a period longer than 30 days requires that you buy a copy of the software (see order form). o Anyone distributing BCS Menu Program for any kind of remuneration must first contact Bristol Computing Systems at the address below for authorization. This authorization is automatically granted to distributors recognized by the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering BCS Menu Program immediately (however we request that we be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of BCS Menu Program.). o You are encouraged to pass a copy of BCS Menu Program along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy. All registered users receive a copy of the latest version of BCS Menu Program on diskette along with a printed manual. o You may not modify, change, disassemble, or otherwise reverse engineer BCS Menu Program. o You may not modify or change BCS Menu Program documentation. o You are free, and encouraged, to modify the example menu files to fit your personal needs. BCSMENU.DOC Page iii o You agree to accept and use the software "as is." Bristol Computing Systems makes no warranties concerning BCS Menu Program, implied or otherwise. o Bristol Computing Systems accepts no liability for any damages whatsoever. YOU USE THIS SOFTWARE AT YOUR OWN RISK. o Your use of the software indicates your acceptance of the terms of this Agreement. U.S. Government Restricted Rights This program and documentation are provided with Restricted Rights. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions set forth in subparagraph (c)(1) of the "Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software" clause at 52.227-19 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Contractor/manufacturer is Bristol Computing Systems, Inc., Suite 162, 200 Linden Street, P.O. Box 9009, Wellesley, MA 02181. Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. Suite 162 200 Linden Street P.O. Box 9009 Wellesley, MA 02181 BCSMENU.DOC Page iv ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT This document describes the features and use of BCS Menu Program. The program was designed so you don't have to reference a manual to use it. On-line help is available to guide you through all functions. This document does itemize the features included in BCS Menu Program to make you aware of them so you can get the most out of the program. Detailed installation instructions and explanations for each function are included here. You will need to use this document for certain menu item editing functions (such as loading another menu file or User Input Variables) or as a reference for more detailed information. (c) 1990 Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. Information in this manual is subject to change without notice. Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. reserves the right to make changes in this manual or in the software it describes at any time. IBM, PS/2, Personal Computer AT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Personal Computer XT is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. SideKick is a trademark of Borland International. BCSMENU.DOC Page v CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION Bristol Computing Professional Menu System, referred to as BCS Menu Program, is a software tool to help you get the most productivity from your personal computer. It is designed to allow you to start other programs (applications) quickly and easily. BCS Menu Program adds security to your system by allowing you to assign passwords to prevent unauthorized use of your computer (Control Break and Control C will not exit the program). The built in editing capabilities of BCS Menu Program provide the mechanisms to customize screen display and menu content. The program was designed to provide extensive color control, allowing selection from 64 different colors on EGA and VGA equipped computers. You can generate aesthetically pleasing screens on both monochrome and color displays. FEATURES Overview of features provided by BCS Menu Program are: Easy Menu Selection - Menu selection bar may be positioned using the UP/DOWN arrow keys, by typing the first character of the menu item prompt or with a single click of the mouse. Executing the selected menu item is accomplished by then pressing the ENTER key or a double click of the mouse. True Mouse Support - Every function available from the keyboard may be performed using a mouse (except for text entry where keyboard use is required). Extensive Item Help - Each menu item may contain up to six lines of descriptive information that you can optionally display. The item description display is updated dynamically to correspond with the entry indicated by the selection bar. Number of entries - Each menu may have up to 100 selections. Unlimited menus - The number of possible menus is virtually unlimited (limited only by available diskspace and DOS file naming conventions). Date/Time display - Current date and time are continuously displayed on the menu screen. BCSMENU.DOC Page 1 Video Support - Support is provided for MDA, CGA, EGA, MCGA and VGA adapters. Palette modification is supported on EGA and VGA. Program Help - Program help provides online descriptive information. Program help is invoked by pressing the F1 function key. No Temporary Files - This program does not create temporary or batch files to execute menu selections. Memory Consumption - Memory consumption during command execution is only 2.5K. Passwords - Each menu item may have a password assigned to it. DOS Exit may be password protected. Screen Blank - The screen will automatically be blanked after a defined time period has elapsed without any keyboard or mouse activity. A small window containing a "screen blank message" is then displayed on the screen. Screen blank time and message are easily modified. Blank time may be set to any time between 0 and 99 minutes. A screen blank time of 0 disables screen blanking. The "screen blank message" may contain up to 60 characters of text. Execution Items - You can execute one or more DOS programs and/or commands (including batch files), or load another menu file from each menu item. User Input - Up to twenty items of user input may be prompted for prior to execution of a menu selection. Input is substituted into the commands. Easy Installation - An easy to use installation program is supplied, or you can manually install BCS Menu Program following the directions that appear in CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLING BCS MENU PROGRAM. Program Control - BCS Menu Program stays in control until you exit to DOS. There is no need to add additional commands to restart BCS Menu Program - it automatically restarts on completion of an executed menu selection. Not a TSR - BCS Menu Program is not a TSR. It will not stay resident once it is exited. BCSMENU.DOC Page 2 Color Editing - One of the most intuitive color changing (editing) screens available. Complete color control. Palette control on EGA/VGA (choose from 64 colors in standard text mode). Colors are defined in the menu file, not in the program, enabling different color selections for each menu file. Menu Editing - Edit existing menu files or create entirely new menu files. Menu text may be edited on line - no need to start a separate application to edit the menu files. Each of the following items may be edited on a per menu basis: menu title, DOS Exit password, screen blank time, screen blank message. You can add entries (up to 100 entries per menu), delete entries, or modify entries. The following items may be edited on a per entry basis: menu selection password, menu prompt, item description, DOS/BCS Menu commands, prompts for user input. Command Helper - This feature automates command building by searching your disk(s) for executable files (.COM, .EXE and .BAT files) or menu files (.MNU files) and allows you to interactively create commands from pop-up windows. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS IBM Personal Computer PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or 100% Compatible. DOS 3.0 or Higher. 512K Random Access Memory. Hard Drive or Network File Server recommended. Optional Microsoft compatible mouse. BCSMENU.DOC Page 3 CHAPTER 2 - INSTALLING BCS MENU PROGRAM BCS Menu Program is best utilized on computers that have a fixed disk and/or use a network file server. Although it may be used on a floppy disk system, this is not recommended. Installation should proceed in the following order: 1. Read the README file included with the BCS Menu Program files. 2. Copy the appropriate files to your fixed disk. (fixed disk is used throughout the remainder of this chapter to mean fixed disk or network drive.) 3. Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT. 4. Customize the menus for your system. 1. Read the README file. The README file may contain instructions that have been added since this manual was prepared. Directions that appear there supersede directions included here. You can read this file on the screen a page at a time by executing the following DOS command: TYPE README | MORE. 2. Copy the appropriate files to your fixed disk. An Installation program is supplied to automate this portion of program installation. You can either use the install program or copy the files manually using the DOS COPY command. It is recommended that you use the install program. A. Using the Install Program. To start the install program, type INSTALL at the DOS prompt (you might have to specify a drive and/or path name if the BCS Menu Files are not in the current directory). For example if the BCS package is in your A drive in the root directory you can start the install by typing A:\INSTALL. Answer the questions as they appear on the screen. The install program's final question will ask you for confirmation before it copies any files - this gives you the opportunity to abort before any files are actually copied. When the install program is activated the Bristol Computing Systems logo screen will be displayed. o Press a key, for example the Enter key, to continue. You are asked "Where To Install BCS Menu Program?". o Enter the drive destination and subdirectory name (eg. C:\BCSMENU). The subdirectory does not have to already exist. You are then asked "Where Are the BCS Menu Files Now?". o If the BCS package is in your A drive in the root directory you should type A:. BCSMENU.DOC Page 4 You are then asked to confirm your answers. o If you want to change any of your answers to the previous questions type "N" otherwise type "Y". If the installation subdirectory does not exist you are asked whether the installation program should create it. o Type "N" if you don't want the install program to create the directory (you will then be prompted to enter new directory names). Type "Y" to have the install program create the subdirectory. You are then asked "Proceed with Menu Installation?". o Type "Y". The BCS Menu Program files will then be copied to the drive/directory specified. o Type "N" to abort the installation. You will be returned to the DOS prompt. B. Copying BCS Menu Program with DOS. From the DOS prompt you can issue the following commands to manually install BCS Menu Program. It is assumed that the BCS Menu Program files are in the A drive and that the files are to be transferred to the C drive in the subdirectory C:\BCSMENU and that the subdirectory exists on the C drive. If the directory C:\BCSMENU does not exist, execute the following DOS command to create it: MKDIR C:\BCSMENU. COPY A:BCSMENU.* C:\BCSMENU COPY A:*.DOC C:\BCSMENU COPY A:*.BAT C:\BCSMENU COPY A:*.LST C:\BCSMENU If your system has a CGA adapter issue the command: COPY A:*.MNU C:\BCSMENU If your system has an EGA, MCGA or VGA adapter issue the command: COPY A:*.EGA C:\BCSMENU\*.MNU Otherwise, if your system has a monochrome display adapter (MDA) with a monochrome monitor issue the command: COPY A:*.MDA C:\BCSMENU\*.MNU BCSMENU.DOC Page 5 3. Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT. You should modify the file AUTOEXEC.BAT so that BCS Menu Program is started automatically each time you turn on your computer. (If you're not familiar with how to modify AUTOEXEC.BAT, consult your DOS manual.) The installation program automatically creates the file ADD2AUTO.BAT which contains the appropriate lines for inclusion in AUTOEXEC.BAT. You can copy the lines from this file to the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT, or, you can type the lines in manually. The following lines should be added (substitute the appropriate drive letter and directory name): C: (drive where BCS Menu Program is installed) CD \BCSMENU (directory where BCS Menu Program is installed) BCSMENU (to start BCS Menu Program) These commands should be the last lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT. If your AUTOEXEC.BAT currently starts another program automatically (such as a word processor or a spreadsheet program), you should remove activation of that program and make it a selection in a BCS Menu. Lines in AUTOEXEC.BAT that start TSR's (programs that Terminate and Stay Resident, such as SideKick) should be placed BEFORE the lines that you insert to start BCS Menu Program. 4. Customize the menus for your system. Refer to CHAPTER 5 - EDITING A MENU FILE to customize the menu files for your system. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS The menu files (menu program files and menu definition files) normally reside in a subdirectory together. It is possible to separate the menu definition files from the program files. If you decide to separate the program and menu definition files, the program files (BCSMENU.COM and BCSMENU.OVL) must be in the same directory. The default drive and directory at the time BCS Menu Program is started must be the directory where the program files are located. The menu definition files may be on any drive/subdirectory (including a network drive). If the menu definition files are on a different drive/subdirectory the complete path name must be specified whenever a menu file is referenced. These references occur at menu start up and within the menu definition file itself. More on this in CHAPTER 5 - EDITING A MENU FILE. USING A MOUSE BCS Menu Program checks for the presence of a mouse driver during initialization. In order to use a mouse, the mouse driver must be started before BCS Menu Program. (The mouse driver may be loaded in CONFIG.SYS or in AUTOEXEC.BAT - consult the documentation that came with your mouse.) BCSMENU.DOC Page 6 It is also recommended that if you use any TSR programs that they be loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file before BCS Menu Program or from the DOS prompt after exiting BCS Menu Program. This is to prevent memory fragmentation. TSR's started from BCS Menu Program can trap approximately 2.5K of memory that can be released only by uninstalling the TSR (if possible) or rebooting. See CHAPTER 6 - BCS MENU PROGRAM - OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW for more details. THE SAMPLE MENU FILES The sample menu that is initially displayed on your screen when you start BCS Menu Program contains a Mini-Tutorial in the "Item Description" window (the smaller double lined window in the center of the screen). You can get a good idea how to operate BCS Menu Program by reading these windows. Press the DOWN ARROW one time to read the next window; continue pressing the DOWN ARROW until you have read each of the windows. There are three sample menu files included with this version of BCS Menu Program. They are provided to act as a basis for the creation of your own, real menu files. Once you've read through these menus you should edit them to start applications that you run frequently. Please refer to CHAPTER 5 - EDITING A MENU FILE for complete details on editing the menu file. BCSMENU.DOC Page 7 CHAPTER 3 - USING BCS MENU PROGRAM If you have not yet installed BCS Menu Program on your system, please do so now (see Chapter 2). It's a good idea to modify AUTOEXEC.BAT to automatically start BCS Menu Program as outlined in Chapter 2. If you have modified AUTOEXEC.BAT, you can simply reboot your computer to start BCS Menu Program. You can, however, start BCS Menu Program manually by performing the following steps: 1. Make the drive and directory where you installed BCS Menu Program the default drive and directory. 2. Type BCSMENU. Press ENTER. BCS Menu Program will start. Start BCS Menu Program (by rebooting your computer or starting it manually using the steps above). Once the program starts, you will see the BCS Menu Program logo screen while the program is busy initializing menu parameters and reading the menu definition file. When initialization is complete the display will change to a shareware notice screen. (Please send your check to Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. today if you've not already done so - we've spent a lot of time creating this program - your contribution will enable and encourage us to create other great software packages!) Press the SPACEBAR (or some other character generating key) to display the BCS Menu screen. A LITTLE GEOGRAPHY BCS Menu Program's Menu Screen is comprised of windows and a selection bar. A brief description of the items that make up the menu screen: Menu Window - This is where all of the menu item prompts are displayed. If there is a title, it is always displayed centered on the top line of this window (the top line of the screen). The time, day and date are displayed on the next line in this window. Selection Bar - The selection bar is the reverse video bar that highlights the currently selected menu item's prompt (initially, the first menu item). This bar can be moved by pressing the UP or DOWN ARROW keys, by typing the first character of the prompt, or by pointing to a prompt with the mouse and clicking once. BCSMENU.DOC Page 8 Item Description Window - is the smaller double lined window in the center of the screen. This window will display up to 6 lines of descriptive information associated with the currently selected prompt. Press the ESC key to remove the item description window from the screen (or point to the ESC message at the bottom of the window with the mouse and click). Press F2 to display it again. Key Definition Window - is displayed at the very bottom of the screen. This is used to explain an action that may be performed by various keys. Whenever there are more action keys than will fit in the window you can press F10 to see what other keys will do. (The action associated with the key does not change when you press F10, only the display in this window changes.) The description of the keys in this window can also be used to perform the action by positioning the mouse cursor on any letter of the key description and clicking. Program Help Window - this window is not displayed initially. Press F1 to display the program help window. The program help window contains a more detailed description of the available action keys. Press ESC (or point at the ESC message at the bottom of the help window with the mouse and click) to remove the Program Help Window. EXECUTING A MENU ITEM To execute a menu item, position the selection bar on the desired item to be executed and press ENTER or double click with the mouse. You can position the selection bar using the mouse, the UP/DOWN ARROW keys, or by pressing the first character of the prompt (if more than one prompt starts with the same character, you may have to press the character multiple times). If the item you have selected has a password assigned to it, you will be prompted to enter the password. Type in the password and press ENTER or press ESC to abort executing the menu item. If you make three wrong attempts at entering the password, the password entry window will be removed from the screen and you will be returned to the menu program. BCSMENU.DOC Page 9 If a variable has been defined in the commands that will be executed by the selected menu item, you will be prompted to enter the data for the variable. Follow the directions on the screen to enter the data. Press ENTER when you have finished entering the data or press ESC to abort executing the menu item. The data that you type is substituted into the command sequence that is used to start the application or function that you selected. BCS Menu Program sets a CHANGED flag when certain menu settings are changed. The CHANGED flag is checked whenever you execute a menu item or Exit to DOS. If the flag is set, a window will appear in the center of the screen that asks if you want to save the current menu settings. Press "N" or ESC if you don't want to save the current settings. Press "Y" if you do want to save the settings. You will then be prompted for a menu filename - see SAVING THE MENU DEFINITION FILE later in this chapter for further explanation. The application or function you have selected will be executed. Control will return to BCS Menu Program when you exit the function or application. GETTING HELP You can display the help window for the Menu Screen by pressing F1. DISPLAYING ITEM DESCRIPTION WINDOW You can display the Item Description Window by pressing F2. You can remove the Item Description Window by pressing ESC. The CHANGED flag is not affected by displaying or removing the Item Description Window. When you save the menu file, the current state of the Item Description Window is written to the menu file. If you saved the file with Item Description displayed, it will be displayed whenever you load that menu file. TURN SOUND ON OR OFF BCS Menu Program makes a distinctive sound when windows are initially displayed or cleared from the screen. You can turn the sound off or on by pressing F3. If the sound is ON, press F3 to turn it off. If the sound is OFF, press F3 to turn it on. (The Key Definition Window will always tell you what action F3 will take, it will turn the sound ON when the F3-Sound On is shown, or turn sound OFF when F3-Sound Off is shown.) Changing the sound setting sets the CHANGED flag that gets checked when you execute a menu item or exit to DOS. BCSMENU.DOC Page 10 SCREEN BLANK BCS Menu Program will automatically blank the screen when a specified time has elapsed without keyboard or mouse activity. You can set the time for screen blanking by pressing F4. An entry window will appear in the center of the screen. Enter the time in minutes for screen blank (from 0 to 99 minutes). If you enter 0 (or 00), you disable the screen blank function. If you press ESC, the screen blank time will remain unchanged. Enter the screen blank time and press ENTER or just press ENTER to leave the time unchanged. The entry window will change to the message that is displayed during screen blank. Type in a new message and press ENTER or just press ENTER for no change. The CHANGED flag is not affected by changing screen blank time or the screen blank message. The blank time and message will be written to the menu file if you save the menu file after changing these parameters. CHANGING KEYBOARD SETTINGS BCS Menu Program can configure the state of the NUM LOCK, CAPS LOCK and SCROLL LOCK keys when a menu is loaded. Each of these keys may be turned ON, OFF, or simply left as they are (Don't Change). BCS Menu Program may also be configured to clear the keyboard buffer on startup, or to leave it alone (Don't Change); more on this below. Keyboard Settings may be changed by pressing F7. BCS Menu Program responds by displaying a window in the center of the screen; the current settings are shown surrounded by chevrons (>> <<). Each key is on a separate line. You may select the appropriate setting by using the Left or Right Arrow keys, or by pointing at the desired selection with the mouse and clicking once. You can select a different key by using the UP or DOWN ARROW keys or by pointing with the mouse and clicking once. Setting Keyboard Buffer to "Clear" causes BCS Menu Program to discard keystrokes that are pressed prior to displaying the menu screen. Setting Keyboard Buffer to "Don't Change" causes keys that are depressed prior to displaying the menu screen to be processed. This allows you to type ahead; you can make a menu selection before actually seeing the menu screen. This feature is available only in the registered version of BCS Menu Program. BCSMENU.DOC Page 11 You can abort the selection process by pressing ESC. You can save the settings you have selected by pressing F10. When F10 is pressed to save settings, the keys are immediately set to the selected state. Once the menu file has been saved the keys will be set as specified every time the menu is loaded. Changing the keyboard settings sets the CHANGED flag that gets checked when you execute a menu item or exit to DOS. Note: The status lights on the keyboard of certain IBM compatibles do not light when "LOCK" keys have been activated under software control. Even though the lights on these machines do not light, the keys are active. EXIT TO DOS If the Program Help Window is displayed, press ESC to remove it. If the Item Description Window is displayed, press ESC to remove it. Press ESC to Exit to DOS. If the DOS Exit function has a password, you will be prompted to enter it. Press ESC to abort the Exit to DOS, or, type in the password and press ENTER. If you make three wrong attempts at entering the password, the password entry window will be removed from the screen and you will be returned to the menu program. On correct entry of the password BCS Menu Program will exit to DOS (see below for details). If there is not a password assigned, a confirmation window is displayed in the center of the screen. Press the letter "Y" to exit to DOS (see below for details), press "N" or ENTER to return to the menu. DOS EXIT BATCH FILE BCS Menu Program automatically executes the file BCSEXIT.BAT on Exit to DOS if it exists in the same directory as the program files. This allows you to execute a batch file before returning to DOS. This is typically used to change directories on exit but may be used for any purpose. It should be noted that BCSEXIT.BAT must exist in the same directory as the BCS Menu Program program files or it will not be executed. (The path is not searched for the file BCSEXIT.BAT.) CHANGING COLORS The colors used to display windows on the screen are saved in the menu definition file (not in the program). You can change the color settings from the Color Change Screen. Press F8 to change to the Color Change Screen. See Chapter 4 for a complete description of color changing. BCSMENU.DOC Page 12 SAVING THE MENU DEFINITION FILE You can save the current menu settings, in the menu definition file, by pressing F9. An entry window will be displayed asking you to enter the name of the file to save the changes to - the name of the current menu definition file is already in the entry field. If you want to save the changes to the current file, press ENTER, otherwise, type in a new filename (you can include a drive and path name if desired) and press ENTER. The menu file will then be saved. If an error occurs while writing the menu file, you will be prompted for a new name. Examples of errors that can occur are when the menu file has been marked Read Only or when your disk is full. If an error is encountered, try using a different filename or storing the menu file to a different drive. OTHER KEYS There are more keys defined for use than can be displayed with a clear description in the Key Definition Window at the bottom of the screen. To see how other keys are defined, press F10. Other key definitions will be displayed in the Key Definition Window. Pressing F10 does not change the function of keys, it simply shows how other keys are defined. KEY SUMMARY DOWN ARROW - Move selection bar down in circular fashion. UP ARROW - Move selection bar up in circular fashion. ESC - Action depends on current display. If a Help or Item Description window is displayed it will be removed, otherwise, Exit to DOS is performed. F1 - Display program Help Window. F2 - Display Item Description Window. F3 - Turn Sound On or Off. F4 - Modify Screen Blank Time, Screen Blank Message. F7 - Change Keyboard Settings. F8 - Change to Color Editing Screen. F9 - Save menu file. F10 - Show other key definitions in Key Definition Window. BCSMENU.DOC Page 13 CHAPTER 4 - CHANGING THE COLORS To change menu colors, display the Color Change Screen. Press F8 from the Menu Screen to enter the Color Change Screen. The color change screen displays a miniature of the menu screen. On the right of the screen are two additional windows that show the available colors that can be used in each of the windows. For each window on the menu screen you can specify a foreground color and a background color. If you have an EGA, MCGA or VGA adapter with a monochrome monitor, colors are gray scaled. EGA/VGA users can modify the color palette using BCS Menu Program (more on this later). If you have a Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA), colors are shown as BLANK, NORMAL or BOLD blocks. Arrows are used as pointers. The arrow on the left side of the screen will always point to a model of one of the following windows: Menu Window Selection Bar Item Description Window Program Help Window Key Definition Window There are also arrows in each of the color windows, the foreground color and the background color. The arrows in the foreground color window and the background color window show what the current setting is for the selected "model" window. Only one of the three arrows is active at any time; the active arrow is the blinking arrow. The blinking arrow can be moved by using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys. When the active arrow is on the left side of the screen and is moved between the model windows, the arrows in the foreground color window and in the background color window will also move to show the current color settings. The video mode used by this program allows use of 16 colors at the same time. The 16 colors are shown in the foreground color window. (Only eight colors may be used as background colors - the other eight colors cause the text to blink.) BCSMENU.DOC Page 14 TO CHANGE A WINDOW'S COLOR 1. Select the model window you want change. Use the UP/DOWN ARROW keys to move between the model windows. 2. Change the active arrow. You can move the active arrow to the foreground color window by pressing the TAB key or RIGHT ARROW once. You can move the active arrow to the background color window by pressing the TAB key or the RIGHT ARROW key twice. 3. Position the active arrow by using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys to the desired color. The corresponding model window will change color as you move the active arrow in one of the color windows. 4. Repeat the process moving the active arrow back to the model windows. (You can also change the active arrow by using the SHIFT TAB key and the LEFT ARROW key.) USING THE MOUSE TO CHANGE WINDOW COLORS The active arrow is automatically updated based on the position of the mouse cursor when the mouse is clicked. 1. Select the model window you want to change by positioning the mouse cursor anywhere in the window and clicking. 2. Position the mouse cursor on the desired foreground or background color and click. The color of the model window will change accordingly. CHANGING PROMPT COLORS You can select a color for each and every prompt from the Color Change Screen. To change the color of one or more prompts press F3 - the prompts will now be displayed in the model Menu Window. The blinking arrow will point to the first prompt. The color windows will be replaced by a single foreground color window (the prompts are always displayed in the Menu Window on the background selected for that window, therefore, you cannot change the background color for an individual prompt). BCSMENU.DOC Page 15 TO CHANGE THE COLOR OF A PROMPT 1. Select the prompt you want change. Use the UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME or END key, or, press the first character of the prompt (repeat until on desired prompt); the blinking arrow will move correspondingly; scrolling will occur if necessary. 2. Change the active arrow to the foreground color window. You can change the active arrow by pressing the TAB key or the RIGHT ARROW key. 3. Position the active arrow using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys to the desired color. The corresponding prompt will change color as you move the active arrow in the foreground color window. 4. Repeat the process moving the active arrow between the prompts and the foreground color window. The TAB, SHIFT TAB, RIGHT and LEFT ARROW keys may be used to switch between windows. USING THE MOUSE TO CHANGE PROMPT COLORS 1. Select the prompt you want to change by positioning the mouse cursor anywhere on the prompt and clicking. 2. Position the mouse cursor in the foreground color window on the desired color and click. The color of the prompt will change accordingly. CHANGING WINDOW/PROMPT COLORS The F3 key is used to switch between the change window color screen and the change prompt color screen. As explained above the window color screen contains the model windows and the foreground and background color selection windows. The prompt color screen contains the prompts and the foreground color window. CHANGING COLORS ON AN MDA Obviously, you can't change colors on a monochrome display adapter (MDA)! You can, however, change the attributes used for displaying the menu screens. You can select from the following attributes: NORMAL White text on a black background BOLD Bright white text on a black background REVERSE Black text on a white background UNDERLINED White underlined text on a black background BCSMENU.DOC Page 16 The foreground color and background color windows only display blank, normal or bold blocks. It is not obvious how to position the color window arrows to achieve a desired attribute on an MDA. We therefore recommend the following procedure to change attributes: TO CHANGE WINDOW ATTRIBUTES ON AN MDA 1. Position the active arrow on the desired model window. 2. Change the active arrow to the Foreground window by pressing the RIGHT ARROW or TAB key. Position the arrow on the top most position in the window by pressing the UP ARROW if necessary. Press the DOWN ARROW the number of times indicated below for the desired attribute: Attribute Press DOWN ARROW NORMAL 7 times BOLD 15 times (or press UP ARROW 1 time) REVERSE 0 times UNDERLINE 1 time 3. Change the active arrow to the Background window by pressing the RIGHT ARROW or TAB key. Position the arrow on the top most position in the window by pressing the UP ARROW if necessary. Press the DOWN ARROW (for each press the blinking arrow will move down two lines) the number of times indicated below for the desired attribute: Attribute Press DOWN ARROW NORMAL 0 times BOLD 0 times REVERSE 7 times (or press UP ARROW 1 time) UNDERLINE 0 times 4. Repeat the process moving the active arrow between the model windows and the color windows as outlined above. USING THE MOUSE TO CHANGE WINDOW ATTRIBUTES The active arrow is automatically updated based on the position of the mouse cursor when the mouse is clicked. 1. Select the model window you want to change by positioning the mouse cursor anywhere in the window and clicking. 2. Position the mouse cursor on the desired foreground or background line and click. The attribute of the model window will change accordingly. BCSMENU.DOC Page 17 TO CHANGE THE ATTRIBUTE OF A PROMPT ON AN MDA You must first display the prompts in the model Menu Window (press F3 if the prompts are not displayed). 1. Select the prompt you want change. Use the UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME or END key, or, press the first character of the prompt (repeat until on desired prompt); the blinking arrow will move correspondingly; scrolling will occur if necessary. 2. Change the active arrow to the foreground color window. You can change the active arrow by pressing the TAB key or the RIGHT ARROW key. 3. Position the active arrow using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys. The attributes available for the prompt are dependent on the Menu Window's background color. Many of the attributes have the same settings so when you press the DOWN ARROW the displayed attribute may not change. 4. Repeat the process moving the active arrow between the prompts and the foreground color window. USING THE MOUSE TO CHANGE PROMPT ATTRIBUTES 1. Select the prompt you want to change by positioning the mouse cursor anywhere on the prompt and clicking. 2. Position the mouse cursor in the foreground color window on the desired line and click. Watch as the prompt changes in accordance with your selection. CHANGING THE COLOR PALETTE ON EGA/VGA There are 16 colors available in the video mode used by BCS Menu Program. The 16 colors that are available are defined in a palette. The EGA and VGA hardware allows reprogramming of the palette. This means that even though you can only use 16 colors at a time, it is possible to select which colors are used. There are 64 possible colors that can be used by the palette (numbered from 0 to 63). BCS Menu Program allows you to define the palette that gets used while it is active. The current palette number is displayed in the palette windows underneath the Foreground Color and Background Color windows. Palette windows are not displayed on an MDA or CGA. BCSMENU.DOC Page 18 TO CHANGE THE PALETTE 1. Position the blinking arrow at the color to be changed in either the Foreground or the Background color window. 2. Press the '+' key to add to the palette number. The number displayed in the palette window will change accordingly. 3. Press the '-' key to subtract from the palette number. The number displayed in the palette window will change accordingly. TO CHANGE THE PALETTE USING THE MOUSE 1. Click on the '+' or '-' sign in the palette window under the color window. The palette number will increment or decrement with each click of the mouse. As you change the palette definition of a color you will notice that anything on the screen that uses the color you are changing will immediately change to the new palette definition. Saving the menu will save the new palette settings in the menu definition file so that the colors are used every time you load that menu. RECALL COLORS Color settings are stored each time the menu file is saved. You can recall these color definitions by pressing F2. A window will appear on the screen asking you to confirm the command; this avoids losing color changes when the F2 key has been pressed accidentally. Press ESC to keep the current colors; press any other key to recall the stored color settings. CREATING A NEW MENU FILE A new menu file may be created by pressing F7 from the Color Change Screen. Your screen will change to the Menu Edit Screen; all menu items will be discarded and entry of a new menu item will commence with the menu item password window. Continue editing the entry as outlined in CHAPTER 5 - EDITING A MENU FILE. Add menu items as desired. Like other edit changes, the menu file must be saved prior to exiting BCS Menu Program. EDITING A MENU FILE The text portion of the menu can be changed from the Menu Edit Screen. Press F8 from the Color Change Screen. Your screen will change to the Menu Edit Screen. See CHAPTER 5 for more information. BCSMENU.DOC Page 19 SAVING THE MENU DEFINITION FILE You can save the color changes and all other changes made to the menu definition file by pressing F9. An entry window will be displayed asking you to enter the name of the file to save the changes to - the name of the current menu definition file is already in the entry field. If you want to save the changes to the current file, press ENTER, otherwise, type in a new filename (you can include a drive and path name if desired) and press ENTER. The menu file will then be saved. If an error occurs while writing the menu file, you will be prompted for a new name. Examples of errors that can occur are when the menu file has been marked Read Only or when your disk is full. If an error is encountered, try using a different filename or storing the menu file to a different drive. KEY SUMMARY DOWN ARROW Move selection arrow down in circular fashion. UP ARROW Move selection arrow up in circular fashion. + When a color window is selected increments the palette number in a circular fashion (Only on EGA/VGA systems). - When a color window is selected decrements the palette number in a circular fashion (Only on EGA/VGA systems). TAB/RIGHT ARROW Changes selected window by moving to the right in a circular manner. SHIFT-TAB/LEFT ARROW Changes selected window by moving to the left in a circular manner. ESC Exit to Menu Screen. F1 Displays program Help Window. F2 Recall last saved color settings. F3 Change between prompts and window color editing. F7 Create a new menu. F8 Activate menu text editor. F9 Save menu. BCSMENU.DOC Page 20 CHAPTER 5 - EDITING A MENU FILE BCS Menu Program includes an on-line menu editor. You can add up to 100 entries per menu, delete all but one entry or modify existing entries. All menu settings are stored in a menu definition file. There is no need to load a separate module or a text editor to create or modify a menu definition file. This makes it easy to interactively design your menus - you can press ESC two times to return to the Menu Screen to view the current settings. You can go back and forth between the Menu Edit Screen and the Menu Screen and make changes until you are satisfied. You can edit either the currently displayed menu file, by pressing F8, or start a completely new menu file, by pressing F7 from the Color Change Screen. (If you're at the Menu Screen press F8 to get to the Color Change Screen and then either F8 to edit the current menu, or F7 to start a new menu file). Your screen will change to the Menu Edit Screen. If you have pressed F7, item editing will commence for a new menu item. The term "menu item" is used throughout the remainder of this chapter. The menu item consists of up to five parts. The parts of a menu item are: o The password (optional). o The prompt (the text displayed on the Menu Screen used for selection of the menu item). o The item description (optional - up to 6 lines of "help" for this menu item; displayed in the item description window of the Menu Screen). o The commands (up to 12 lines of DOS/BCS Menu commands that are executed when you select the menu item from the Menu Screen). o User Input Variables/Prompts (optional - you can prompt the user for input prior to executing a menu item - the input is substituted into the commands). The Menu Edit Screen allows you to perform the following actions: o Edit a menu item (you can edit all five parts). o Restore the menu (abort all edits). o Delete a menu item. o Insert a new menu item. o Edit the menu title. o Edit the DOS Exit password. o Set the spacing for prompt display on the Menu Screen (single, double or triple spaced). o Set the number of columns for prompt display on the Menu Screen (up to 10 columns). o Move a menu item. o Sort the menu items (alphabetically in ascending or descending order). o Save the menu definition file. BCSMENU.DOC Page 21 MENU EDIT SCREEN DISPLAY The Menu Edit Screen is similar to the Menu Screen. The differences are; the Menu Edit Screen uses a blinking arrow in place of the selection bar, there is no item description window, there is only one column of prompts aligned at the left side of the screen, and the Menu Edit Screen title is displayed. ABOUT MENU EDITING All changes (edits) are typed into an "edit window". An edit window will be displayed to allow you to change each element of the menu item, the menu title and the DOS Exit password. The windows are displayed sequentially. You can elect not to make any changes in a particular edit window by pressing ENTER or F10. You may press ESC while an edit window is displayed to abort the edit. KEY USAGE IN AN EDIT WINDOW The definition of keys used during editing is displayed on the bottom of the screen in the Key Definition Window. The mouse can be used to perform the function of the keys displayed in the Key Definition Window by positioning the mouse cursor on any letter of the description and clicking once. Each edit window contains a title that tells you which element you are changing. The bottom line of the edit window always lists keys used to end or abort the edit. You can position the mouse on any letter of these key descriptions and click once to select it. The key definitions and the functions they perform are: BCSMENU.DOC Page 22 KEY ACTION ---------- ------ ESC Abort the edit (all elements revert to their pre- edit state). This option is displayed on the bottom line of the edit window. BACKSPACE Delete the character to the left of the cursor (if the cursor is in the first position, no action is taken). LEFT ARROW Move the cursor left. RIGHT ARROW Move the cursor right. ENTER End the line - the text on the current line is saved. If the cursor is on the bottom line (or only line) of an edit window, the next edit window, if any, is displayed. This option is displayed on the bottom line of the edit window. DEL Delete the character at the cursored position. END Move the cursor to the end of the text line. INSERT Turn Insert Mode On or Off. Insert mode is ON when the cursor is full size. Insert mode is OFF when the cursor is an underscore. HOME Position the cursor to the start of the line. F10 The F10 key allows you to end the current edit window and to switch to the next edit window. Text on all lines of the edit window is saved. The F10 key is shown on the bottom line of the edit window. The following keys are active only if the edit window has multiple lines (item description and commands edit windows). F3 Delete the line at the cursor (moves following lines up by one line) F4 Insert a blank line at the cursor (moves following lines down by one line - if there is any text on the bottom line of the window it will be lost) UP ARROW Edit the line above the cursored line (no action if the cursor is on the top line of the edit window) DOWN ARROW Edit the line below the cursored line (no action if the cursor is on the bottom line of the edit window) RESERVED CHARACTER The Double Quote character (") is never allowed during text entry in an edit window. This character is reserved for use by BCS Menu Program as part of the Menu Definition File. If you need quote characters, use the single quote characters. BCSMENU.DOC Page 23 Certain characters are restricted from entry in particular edit windows. A password, for instance, may only contain alphabetic or numeric characters. If a character is not allowed in an edit window, it will not be displayed when you type it. The descriptions below explain which characters are allowed for each item. TO CHANGE A MENU ITEM o Position the blinking arrow so that it points to the menu item to be changed. (Use the UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME or END key; press the first character of the prompt [repeat until on desired prompt]; or, point with the mouse and click once.) o Press ENTER or double click with the mouse. If the menu item you have selected has a password associated with it, the password must be entered before you can change the menu item. If there is a password, a password entry window will be displayed. Enter the password and press ENTER. (You can press ESC to abort password entry which also aborts the edit.) If you incorrectly enter the password three times, the password window will be removed from the screen and you will not be permitted to edit the entry. ENTERING/CHANGING THE MENU ITEM PASSWORD If you correctly enter the password (above) or if there is no password associated with the entry you are editing, a password edit window will be displayed on the screen. Type in a new password or edit the existing password. If you don't want a password associated with this entry, delete all characters from the entry field. Press ENTER or F10 to save the password field and display the next edit window. You may press ESC to abort the edit. All menu item fields will revert to their pre-edited state. A password may contain up to 15 alphabetic and/or numeric characters. If you enter a password, the user will be prompted to enter the password before the menu item may be executed. ENTERING/CHANGING THE MENU ITEM PROMPT The password Entry Window will be removed from the screen and the menu item prompt edit window will then be displayed. (The menu item prompt is displayed on the Menu Screen - it is this item that is selected by the user with the selection bar.) A menu item prompt may be up to 76 characters long. Any displayable ASCII character is allowed (those that have an ASCII character value less than or equal to 128). BCSMENU.DOC Page 24 Edit the existing prompt. A menu item prompt must contain at least one character. Press ENTER or F10 to save the prompt field and display the next edit window. If you leave the field blank, an error window will pop-up informing you that you need to have at least one valid character. You may press ESC to abort the edit. All menu item fields will revert to their pre-edited state. Note: The display width of the menu item prompt is computed by BCS Menu Program based on the line spacing and number of columns of prompts on the Menu Screen. (You can select the line spacing or the number of columns; see SET SPACING/NUMBER OF COLUMNS below.) The width of the edit line in the menu item prompt edit window is this computed width. If your prompt is longer than the computed width the edit line will scroll horizontally to allow you to edit the entire entry. If the number of prompt columns changes the display width will be recomputed. ENTERING/CHANGING THE ITEM DESCRIPTION The menu item description edit window will be displayed overlapping the last line of the menu item prompt edit window. (Text entered here is displayed in the Item Description Window on the Menu Screen when the selection bar is positioned on the menu item prompt.) A menu item description can contain up to 6 lines, each line may be up to 68 characters long. Any displayable ASCII character is allowed (those that have an ASCII character value less than or equal to 128). Text in this window is optional. You may leave all lines blank, or you can type any text you wish. The line you are editing will appear at the left margin of the edit field; all other existing lines in the item description are centered. When you finish editing a line and press ENTER or the DOWN ARROW to edit the next line, the text in the line just edited is automatically centered. You can use the UP/DOWN ARROW keys to edit previous or next lines in this edit window. You can use F3 to delete the line at the cursored position. You can use F4 to insert a new line at the cursored position. If the cursor is at the last line in the window, press ENTER to save all lines of the Item Description and display the next edit window. You may press F10 at any time to save all lines and display the next edit window. If you leave all lines in the Item Description blank, the message "No further information available for this selection" is displayed in the item description window on the Menu Screen. You may press ESC to abort the edit. All menu item fields will revert to their pre-edited state. BCSMENU.DOC Page 25 ENTERING/CHANGING THE MENU ITEM COMMANDS When you have finished editing the Item Description, the window will be removed from the screen and will be replaced by the menu item commands edit window. (The menu item commands are the commands that get executed when you press ENTER or double click the mouse on a menu item prompt in the Menu Screen.) Menu item commands can contain up to 12 lines, each line may be up to 78 characters long. Any displayable ASCII character is allowed (those that have an ASCII character value less than or equal to 128). Enter a DOS command, the name of a batch file or the name of a program to be executed, one command per line. (You can also load another menu file or specify a user input variable on a command line, more on this later.) You can use the UP/DOWN ARROWS to move to the next or previous line. You can use F3 to delete the line at the cursored position. You can use F4 to insert a new line at the cursored position. The ENTER key will also move to the next line unless you are on the last line in the window, in which case it will end the commands edit session. Press F10 to save all commands and end commands editing. You may press ESC to abort the edit. All menu item fields will revert to their pre-edited state. DO NOT ADD COMMANDS TO RETURN TO THE BCS MENU PROGRAM DIRECTORY AND START BCS MENU PROGRAM AGAIN. BCS MENU PROGRAM WILL DO THIS AUTOMATICALLY. Each line that contains a command must have at least one character. Blank lines are not allowed. If you press ENTER or the DOWN ARROW on a blank line, an error window will pop-up informing you that you must have at least one character per command line. It is not recommended that you start TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs from BCS Menu Program. This may cause memory fragmentation which can only be fixed by rebooting your computer or by unloading the TSR if that is possible. BCSMENU.DOC Page 26 LOADING A NEW MENU FILE You can load and execute a new menu by indicating the name of a menu file preceded by the at sign (@) as the first and only line in the commands edit window. For instance, to load a menu file called DOSMENU.MNU, the first and only command line should be: @DOSMENU.MNU Other commands inserted after this command will not be executed. The @ character as the first character on the first line in the commands edit window indicates that the name of a menu file follows. The @ character may be used freely in any other position on any line of the commands edit window. A new menu will only be loaded if this command is on the first line in the commands edit window. If this appears on any other line, DOS will attempt to execute this as a command and will generate an error message. SPECIFYING USER INPUT VARIABLES You can prompt the user for input prior to command execution by inserting one or more User Input Variables on any line in the commands edit window. The variable may be used as a part of a command line or as the entire command line. The percent sign (%) followed by up to 8 Alphabetic and/or Numeric characters indicates the name of a User Input Variable. The first non-alphabetic or non-numeric character (or the 9th character) indicates the User Input Variable name has ended. This character may begin a new User Input Variable name or is a part of the DOS command line. You can specify up to 20 User Input Variables per menu item (per commands edit window). Additional variable names will be ignored by BCS Menu Program and will be passed on to DOS as executable commands. The text the user types when executing this menu item is substituted in the command buffer at the location of the variable. When you have finished editing the COMMANDS EDIT WINDOW and press F10 to end the edit, the edit buffer is searched for User Input Variables (for the percent sign). If any variable names are found windows appear, one after another, for each variable name found in the commands buffer. You are requested to enter a prompt that will be displayed when the user executes this menu item. Enter a prompt suitable for the information you are attempting to obtain from the user. Prompts for User Input Variables may be up to 64 characters long. Any displayable ASCII character is allowed (those that have an ASCII character value less than or equal to 128). BCSMENU.DOC Page 27 EXAMPLES OF USER INPUT VARIABLES An example of how user input variables might be used is given here. The commands edit window for a menu item that allows the user to run any program on any drive might appear as follows: %DRIVE: CD \%DIRECTRY %PROGRAM You will be requested to enter a prompt for the %DRIVE variable (the colon is not alphabetic or numeric so it ends the variable name). A suitable prompt might be "Enter the Drive the Program Resides On". If the user types "C" then the letter "C" replaces %DRIVE resulting in "C:" as the command passed to DOS. You will then be requested to enter a prompt for %DIRECTRY. (%DIRECTORY is 9 characters long and is therefore not a valid variable name. If you entered %DIRECTORY, only 8 characters are valid as a variable name so %DIRECTOR would be the resulting variable name; the letter "Y" would be passed to DOS as part of the command.) A suitable prompt for this variable might be "Enter the Directory Name of the Program". If the user types "WORK", the resulting command will be "CD \WORK". You will be requested to enter a prompt for %PROGRAM. A suitable prompt might be "Enter the Name of the Program to Run". If the user types "WP" for word processing, the resulting command passed to DOS will be "WP". A program by the name of WP will be started. If the user responds by typing the items indicated above, the resulting commands passed to DOS will be: C: CD \WORK WP COMMAND HELPER MODE You can press the F1 key to activate Command Helper Mode at any time while the commands edit window is displayed. This allows commands to be created interactively by choosing a drive, directory and file from lists displayed in the pop-up command helper window. BCSMENU.DOC Page 28 When Command helper mode is activated a window is displayed allowing you to choose the type of command you want to create. The available command types are: Menu File - used to load another menu. This selection is only available when the cursor is on the first line of the commands edit window. Single Line - builds a one line command as in: C:\WP\WP Multi Line - This selection is not available when the cursor is on the last line of the commands edit window. Builds a multi line command as in: C: CHDIR \WP WP Choose one of the above command types using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys or by pointing and clicking with the mouse. Press Enter or double click with the mouse on your selection. The command entry format window will disappear and a new window will pop-up displaying available Drives, Directories and Files, each in a separate sub-window. You can use the UP/DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME, END keys or the mouse to choose an item in a given sub-window. The TAB, RIGHT and LEFT ARROW keys can be used to switch between the three sub-windows. Press ENTER to select the chosen item. When you select a new drive and/or directory by pressing ENTER, the selected disk is searched for directories and matching file names; all of the sub-windows are automatically updated to reflect the new selection. The matching criteria for file names depends upon the selected command type. When Menu File has been selected, files that have an extension of .MNU are displayed; when Single Line or Multi Line have been selected, files with .BAT, .COM, or .EXE extensions are displayed. TO INTERACTIVELY BUILD A COMMAND: During command building, the command being built is displayed in the Command Helper window just under the sub-windows. Perform the following steps until you have built up the command you want. Press F10 when you are done. The command will then be copied into the Commands window. o Select a drive. Position the selection bar on the desired drive; press ENTER or double click with the mouse to select. All sub-windows will be updated to reflect your selection. BCSMENU.DOC Page 29 o Select a Directory. Move the selection bar to the Directories sub-window; position the selection bar on the desired directory name; press ENTER or double click with the mouse to select. Again all sub-windows will be updated to reflect your selection. You can repeatedly select directories until you traverse an entire path. You can also back up to a previously selected directory by selecting the top entry (..). o Select a File. Move the selection bar to the Files sub- window; position the selection bar on the desired filename; press ENTER or double click with the mouse to select. o Press F10 to exit Command Helper Mode and save the current state of your command. After you are finished creating a command and have pressed F10, one of the following will occur: Menu File - the newly created command replaces whatever is on the first line of the commands edit window. Single Line - If the cursor is on a line in the commands edit window that contains a command, and the newly created command will fit on the same line as the existing command, you will be given an opportunity to add the built up command to the end of the line (this can be used to pass command line arguments to the program being started) or to replace the line. In all other cases the newly created command replaces whatever is on the current line of the commands edit window. Multi Line - If the cursor is on a line that contains text in the commands edit window, you will be given an opportunity to have the newly created command over write the current commands or be inserted in front of the existing commands. If you select Insert, all subsequent lines are moved down in the Commands window (this can cause lines to be lost if there are more lines than will fit in the commands edit window). You can create commands by combining both Multi Line and Single Line Modes using Command Helper. For example, you might ordinarily run your word processor from a "work" directory containing document files that is different from the word processor program file directory. This can be accomplished by building the command up in steps. First, select Multi Line mode to create the command to change to the appropriate directory by selecting from the Drive and Directory sub- windows; press F10. An example of what the resulting command might look like is: C: CHDIR \WP\WORK BCSMENU.DOC Page 30 Next, select Single Line mode. Now build up a command that will start the word processor. An example of the final command sequence might look like: C: CHDIR \WP\WORK C:\WP\WP EDITING A MENU ITEM REPEATEDLY You may edit each menu item as many times as you like. You can skip over editing any particular window by pressing F10. The next edit window will then be displayed. GETTING HELP You can display the help window for the Menu Edit Screen by pressing F1. RESTORE MENU Edit changes are stored each time the menu file is saved. You can restore a menu to it's pre-edited state by pressing F2. A window will appear on the screen asking you to confirm the command; this avoids losing changes when the F2 key has been pressed accidentally. Press ESC to keep the current menu file; press any other key to restore the stored menu file. DELETE A MENU ITEM You can delete a menu item (and all of the fields associated with it) by positioning the blinking arrow on the item to be deleted and pressing F3. If the menu item has a password associated with it, you will be prompted to enter the password before the menu item can be deleted. If you enter the password correctly, the menu item will be deleted. You may press ESC during password entry to abort the delete. You can restore deleted items prior to saving the menu file by pressing F2 - Restore Menu. Entries that have been added since the last time the menu file was stored will be deleted. INSERTING A NEW MENU ITEM When editing a menu file that contains less than 100 entries BCS Menu Program allows you to add new menu items. Position the blinking arrow at the point of insertion and press F4. The new menu item will always be inserted before the menu item pointed to by the blinking arrow. BCSMENU.DOC Page 31 You can also add an item to the end of a menu by positioning the blinking arrow so that it is one line past the last menu item. Press ENTER or F4. The maximum number of menu items allowed in a single menu is 100. There is no limit to the number of menus. If there are 100 entries, a window will pop-up indicating that this menu already has the maximum number of entries. Press any character producing key (such as the SPACEBAR or ENTER) to remove the pop-up window. If there are less than 100 entries, a space will open up for the new menu entry and you will be prompted to enter a password for this entry. Editing is exactly the same as editing any other menu item except that all entry windows will be blank. If you press ESC to abort the edit, the space will close up and no new entry will be inserted. If you complete the edit successfully, the new menu item will appear at the point of insertion that you specified. Restoring a menu prior to saving it will cause inserted entries to be discarded. CHANGING THE TITLE/DOS EXIT PASSWORD Both the title and the DOS Exit Password are changed by pressing F5. An edit window will appear with the current title displayed. Edit the menu title or delete all characters in the edit field for no title. Press ESC to abort the edit. Press ENTER or F10 to save the new title. The title may be up to 78 characters long. Any displayable ASCII character is allowed (those that have an ASCII character value less than or equal to 128). If a DOS Exit Password exists, a password entry window will appear when you press ENTER or F10 to end the title edit. You must enter the current password in order to change it. (Press ESC to abort DOS Exit Password editing.) Enter the current password and press ENTER. The password entry window will be removed from the screen and an edit window will be displayed with the current password. Edit the password. If you don't want a DOS Exit password, leave the field blank (delete any characters in the field). Press ENTER to save the current edit field as the new DOS Exit password. The DOS Exit password may be up to 15 alphabetic and/or numeric characters. SET SPACING/NUMBER OF COLUMNS The prompts for each of the menu items are displayed on the Menu Screen. You can select the spacing for prompt display, and the number of columns of prompts for the Menu Screen. To change the Spacing and/or Number of columns press F6. BCSMENU.DOC Page 32 A window will appear that shows the available choices for spacing. If there are 70 or fewer menu items, you can select Single, Double or Triple spacing. If there are more than 70 menu items, you can only select between Single and Double spacing. Use the UP/DOWN ARROWS to select the desired prompt spacing, or point to the desired spacing option with the mouse and click. Press ENTER or double click with the mouse on your choice to record your selection. The spacing will be set to the value you have selected. If you select triple spacing and later add menu items so that the total becomes greater than 70, the spacing will automatically be adjusted to double spacing. The Spacing window will be removed from the screen and a Columns window will be displayed. You may select from one to ten columns or Best Fit. If you select Best Fit, BCS Menu Program will compute the optimum number of columns based on the number of menu items and the line spacing option in effect. Make your selection by using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys, or by pointing to a selection with the mouse and clicking once. Record your selection by pressing ENTER or double click with the mouse on your selection. Note: When you are finished editing and you press ESC to return to the Color Change Screen, or, when you Save the Menu File, BCS Menu Program checks the number of menu items and formats them for display on the Menu Screen using the spacing and column options you have chosen if possible. Nineteen (19) prompts will fit in each single spaced column; 10 prompts will fit in each double spaced column; 7 prompts will fit in each triple spaced column. If you have selected 1 column and you have 20 menu items, BCS Menu Program will format the entries to be displayed in 2 columns (since only 19 will fit in 1 column). If you have selected triple spacing and have added menu items to bring the total greater than 70, BCS Menu Program will change the spacing to double spacing. BCS Menu Program will use the settings you have selected unless it cannot fit the prompts in the spacing/column choices designated. MOVING A PROMPT You can move menu item prompts so that they appear in a different order. To move a prompt, select the prompt to be moved by positioning the blinking arrow at the prompt using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys or point at the prompt with the mouse and click once. Press F7. The entry will be highlighted and a window will appear with further instructions. Position the blinking arrow to where you want to move the prompt to - press ENTER, or, point to the position to move the prompt to and double click with the mouse. The prompt will be moved in front of the second prompt selected. BCSMENU.DOC Page 33 Inserting and moving prompts works in a consistent manner. Prompts are always inserted or moved to the position specified by the blinking arrow. Therefore, moving a prompt to the last position is a two step process. Move the desired prompt to the second to the last position and then move the last prompt to someplace in front of it. SORTING PROMPTS You can sort the menu item prompts alphabetically (ASCII character value order without regard to case) in ascending or descending order. To sort prompts, press F8. A window will appear with ASCENDING (A to Z) and DESCENDING (Z to A) as choices. Use the UP/DOWN ARROW keys or point to either choice with the mouse and click. Press ENTER once you have made your selection or double click with the mouse on your selection. The entries will be sorted in the order you have chosen. The new sorted order will appear on the screen. (This could take a second or two if you have many entries.) SAVING THE MENU DEFINITION FILE It's a good idea to save the Menu Definition File whenever you've made changes. The Menu Definition File may be saved from any screen (the Menu Screen, the Color Change Screen and the Menu Edit Screen). To save the menu definition file, press F9. An edit window will appear with the name of the current menu file (the filename may include the drive, path and complete filename). To save the menu file using the current name, press ENTER (or click on ENTER with the mouse). You can change the name to any valid DOS filename, including a different drive, path and complete filename. The menu file will be saved using the name in the edit field. If an error is encountered, while writing the menu file, an error message appears on the top line of the edit window and you will be prompted to enter a new name. Examples of errors that can occur are when the menu file has been marked Read Only or when your disk is full. If an error is encountered, try using a different filename or storing the menu file to a different drive. OTHER KEYS There are more keys defined for use than can be displayed with a clear description in the Key Definition Window at the bottom of the screen. To see how other keys are defined, press F10. Other key definitions will be displayed in the Key Definition Window. Pressing F10 does not change the function of keys, it simply shows how other keys are defined. BCSMENU.DOC Page 34 KEY SUMMARY ESC Aborts any in process edit, removes the help window, or returns to the Color Change Screen. ENTER Ends a line during edit, or, selects a menu item to be edited. F1 Display Menu Edit Help Window or invokes Command Helper mode if the commands edit window is displayed. F2 Restores menu to last saved menu definition. F3 Deletes a line if editing an item description or commands window, otherwise, deletes the menu item pointed to by the blinking arrow. F4 Inserts a line if editing an item description or commands window, otherwise, inserts a menu item before the menu item pointed to by the blinking arrow. F5 Edit the menu title/DOS Exit Password. F6 Select Prompt Spacing/Number of Columns. F7 Move a menu item. F8 Sort menu items (in ascending or descending order). F9 Save all current settings in a menu definition file. F10 If editing, save current edit fields and skip to next window; otherwise, show other key definitions in the Key Definition Window. UP/DOWN ARROW If editing the item description or commands selects the previous/next line for edit, otherwise, move the blinking arrow up or down to select a menu item to edit. INSERT During edit, toggles between Insert Mode On (full sized cursor) and Insert Mode Off (underline cursor). BACKSPACE During edit, deletes the character to the left of the cursor. DEL During edit, deletes the character at the cursored position. LEFT/RIGHT ARROW During edit, moves the cursor left/right one character position. Will scroll edit field if necessary. END During edit, moves the cursor to the end of the text in the current edit line, otherwise, positions the blinking arrow at the last menu item. HOME During edit, moves the cursor to the start of the edit line, otherwise, positions the blinking arrow at the first menu item. PAGE UP/DOWN If there are more menu items than will fit on the screen, scrolls menu items to next/previous screen full. BCSMENU.DOC Page 35 CHAPTER 6 - BCS MENU PROGRAM - OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW In order to run BCS Menu Program, you must have at least the two BCS Menu Program executable files (BCSMENU.COM and BCSMENU.OVL) and a minimum of one Menu Definition file. Additional files including menu definition files and documentation files are also a part of this package. When you start BCS Menu Program, the directory where the program files are located must be the default directory. You can start BCS Menu Program from this directory by simply typing "BCSMENU" (without the quotes). This command instructs DOS to start BCSMENU.COM. BCSMENU.COM will load and execute BCSMENU.OVL. BCSMENU.OVL must be in the same directory as BCSMENU.COM which must be the default directory when the program is started. BCSMENU.OVL contains the heart of the menu program. It is BCSMENU.OVL that reads and translates the Menu Definition File. When you select a menu item to execute from the Menu Screen, BCSMENU.OVL will validate the password (if any), prompt the user for input if a User Input Variable is found in the command sequence and format a command buffer for BCSMENU.COM. BCSMENU.OVL then exits passing control once again to BCSMENU.COM. BCSMENU.COM then executes any commands it finds in the command buffer, or exits to DOS when it finds an empty command buffer. Since BCSMENU.COM executes each command, it must be in-memory during command execution. BCSMENU.COM takes up approximately 2 1/2 K of memory while it is executing commands. (The execution of a command can start an application such as word processing. When you exit the word processor or other application and return to DOS, the next command in the command buffer will be executed.) Once all commands have been executed, BCSMENU.COM returns to the drive and directory where it was started from and once again loads and executes BCSMENU.OVL. This circle of execution is maintained until you perform a DOS Exit from BCS Menu Program. BCS Menu Program does not create batch files to execute commands. Instead, all commands are stored in and executed directly from memory. More than half the size of BCSMENU.COM is devoted to a command buffer used exclusively for this purpose. Small batch files created and deleted frequently can result in disk fragmentation. BCS Menu Program does not contribute to this fragmentation by creating temporary batch files. BCSMENU.COM is not a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program. When you exit to DOS, BCSMENU.COM returns to DOS without leaving itself in memory. BCSMENU.DOC Page 36 LOADING DEFAULT AND ALTERNATE MENU FILES When BCS Menu Program is run it will load a menu definition file by the name MENU.MNU. If this file is not found an error message is displayed and the program exits to DOS. You can alternately type the name of a different menu file on the DOS command line (or in a batch file used to start BCS Menu Program) and that menu file will be loaded instead. For example: BCSMENU OTHER.MNU This causes BCS Menu Program to load OTHER.MNU. MENU DEFINITION FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS BCS Menu Program does not enforce Menu Definition File naming conventions. You may name a Menu Definition File using any valid DOS filename. You can then load the menu file from the DOS command line by specifying the full filename after BCSMENU.COM, or you can load the menu file from another menu file by specifying the full filename in the command sequence. It is recommended that you use the .MNU extension for menu definition files. Command Helper mode relies on the fact that menu files have a .MNU extension. When creating a menu item to load another menu file, only files with this extension will show up in the Command Helper mode "Files" window. LOCATION OF MENU DEFINITION FILES Menu Definition Files may be located on any drive in any directory (including a network drive). If the menu file is not in the same directory as the BCS Menu Program files, you must specify the complete Drive, Path and Filename so that BCS Menu Program can find and load the menu file. You can also specify the complete Drive, Path and Filename in menu item commands used to load other menu files. BCSMENU.DOC Page 37 APPENDIX A - ABOUT BRISTOL COMPUTING SYSTEMS, INC. Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. was formed by two computer software professionals who have over thirty years combined experience in the computer industry, much of that time working exclusively with PC's. During the course of that time they have had occasion to train many individuals from the seasoned professional to the new user. Their goals include making computers easier for the novice to use and more efficient and less error prone for all users. This program has been found to meet these goals as well as increasing productivity allowing you to get the most out of your computer. They each own a personal computer and are accustomed to working with top shelf software products. Top shelf software products can be too expensive a proposition for the typical home user. This helped in shaping their goals to develop high quality software at a price that is easily affordable for home as well as office use. Thus Bristol Computing Systems slogan: "Reliable Software Products at a Reasonable Price" We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please forward mail to: Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. Suite 162 200 Linden Street P.O. Box 9009 Wellesley, MA 02181 You can also contact us electronically: CompuServe 71341,1463 BIX ntiedemann GENIE N.TIEDEMANN BCSMENU.DOC Page 38 _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware- related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. BCSMENU.DOC Page 39 APPENDIX B - ERROR MESSAGES The following error messages may appear when using BCS Menu Program. A brief explanation of each message follows. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Menu file not found - Exiting to DOS PROBLEM The program tried to read a menu file that it could not find on the disk. This can occur at startup if the default menu file "MENU.MNU" is not in the same directory as the program, or if the menu file specified on the command line is not found. This error can also occur when attempting to load a menu file from an existing menu file. SOLUTION This error can occur if the menu file is not in the current directory, or, if the menu filename was not typed correctly. Make sure the file exists in the directory you're attempting to load it from (use the DOS DIR command for this). If it doesn't exist, try copying the file MENU.MNU (or the menu file you're attempting to load) to the desired directory and restart BCSMENU. If a menu file filename was specified on the command line, be sure the name is spelled correctly and that the entire name is used. Minimally the filename and extension are required. Whenever the menu files are not in the same directory as the program files you should always include the complete DOS filespec for the menu file (drive, path, filename and extension). ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Error reading menu file PROBLEM A disk read error occurred when the program read the specified menu file (MENU.MNU if no menu file was specified, or the menu file specified on the command line). SOLUTION The menu file may have become corrupt. It is recommended that you backup your menu files once you have edited them. If you have backed them up, copy the backed up menu files to the appropriate directory. If a backup copy is not available, copy the menu files from the distribution diskette again and edit them for your system. This might also be indicative of a hard disk problem. If this happens repeatedly, have your system serviced. BCSMENU.DOC Page 40 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Invalid Menu File - Exiting to DOS PROBLEM The menu file is not in a format recognized by BCS Menu Program. SOLUTION The menu file is not a valid BCS Menu Program menu file. The file may have become corrupt, or the name of the file specified is not a BCS Menu Program menu file. Start by making sure you know the name of the menu file you're trying to load. If this error occurred by typing the menu file name from the DOS command line, make sure the name was typed correctly. If the error occurred as a result of loading from an existing menu file, make sure the name is correct in the commands associated with the selected prompt in the menu file. If you suspect the menu file may be corrupt, restore a backed up copy of the menu file and try again. If you don't have a backed up copy of your menu files, copy the menu files from the distribution diskette and edit them for your system (make a backup copy of edited menu files). This might also be indicative of a hard disk problem. If this happens repeatedly, have your system serviced. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Error Encountered Opening File - Please Enter Another Name PROBLEM A disk error occurred when the program attempted to write an updated version of the menu definition file. SOLUTION There are several possible reasons why this error can occur; the name specified for the menu file is invalid. Try typing the name again; be sure to use a valid DOS filename. The menu file is marked read only. Try specifying a different menu file filename. The disk you are trying to write to is full. Write the file to an alternate drive. The drive you are attempting to write to is a network drive. Check with your system administrator to be sure you have write permission on the specified drive. BCSMENU.DOC Page 41 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Fatal error processing menu file - please re-start program PROBLEM Each edit to a menu item consumes additional memory. When the menu file is saved to the disk the additional memory is released and the menu file is read again. An error occurred when the menu file was re- read. SOLUTION Restart BCS Menu Program again. If the symptom persists, the most probable cause is a physical problem with the disk. You should seek professional advice to solve this problem. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Invalid Password - Please Try Again PROBLEM The specified operation is protected by a password. You typed the password incorrectly. SOLUTION An exact match, without regard to case, did not occur therefore the entered password is in error. Enter the correct password. (Three tries at entering the password are permitted before the operation is aborted.) ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE ERROR - insufficient memory to run program exiting to DOS (or) Insufficient memory to run program PROBLEM BCS Menu Program could not find enough memory to execute and to place the menu file into memory. SOLUTION There must be approximately 384K of FREE memory to run all functions of BCS Menu Program. Run DOS CHKDSK to see if your system has this amount of memory available. Try running BCS Menu Program without loading any TSR programs. BCSMENU.DOC Page 42 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE ERROR - Insufficient memory to edit menu Insufficient Memory to Complete Edit - This Edit Will be Aborted PROBLEM Additional memory is required to edit menu items. Each menu item edit requires still more memory. Your system could not provide the memory required to perform the edit operation. SOLUTION If you have been editing entries, save the menu file (press F9). This will free additional memory being used by edited entries. If you cannot enter the Menu Edit Screen at all, your system does not have enough free memory to perform the edit operation. Make sure your system has enough available memory (approximately 384K free memory required - run DOS CHKDSK to see if enough free memory is available). Try starting BCS Menu Program without loading any TSR programs. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE ERROR - Prompt must contain at least 1 valid character PROBLEM You attempted to edit a menu item prompt and pressed ENTER or F10 with the edit line blank. SOLUTION Each prompt must have one or more characters. Press any code producing key, such as the spacebar, and enter a suitable prompt. If you are attempting to leave blank lines between prompts, use the line spacing option instead (select double or triple spacing). The Escape key may be used to cancel the edit. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE ERROR - Command must contain at least 1 valid character PROBLEM You pressed ENTER or the DOWN ARROW leaving a command line blank. Blank lines are not allowed between command lines. SOLUTION Press ESC to abort the edit, or press F10 to save all command lines and end the edit. BCSMENU.DOC Page 43 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE Cannot Insert - this menu has reached the maximum number of entries allowed PROBLEM Each menu may contain up to 100 entries. You attempted to insert an entry when the menu file already had 100 entries. SOLUTION It is hard to imagine a menu that has more than 100 entries! Create an additional menu file and move some of the entries to that file. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERROR MESSAGE BCS Menu Program only supports DOS Ver. 3.0 or later You are running DOS Ver. n.n PROBLEM BCS Menu Program is written to use features that are incorporated into DOS version 3.0 and later. BCS Menu Program will not run under earlier versions of DOS. SOLUTION Upgrade the operating system on your computer to DOS 3.0 or later. BCSMENU.DOC Page 44 APPENDIX C - KNOWN PROBLEMS If you experience any difficulties using BCS Menu Program, please contact us (see Appendix D for Customer Support information). Our customers have uncovered the following problems: ------------------------------------------------------------ PROBLEM Using the DOS APPEND command with the /X Option. This has been found to be a problem using MS-DOS V3.3. BCS Menu Program cannot Exit to DOS when the /X option is used with the Append command. This problem does not occur in IBM's version of DOS; this has been tested using IBM PC-DOS V3.3 and IBM PC-DOS V4. The possible solutions to this problem are: 1. Don't use the /X option with the Append command. Add the directory(ies) to the PATH statement instead. 2. Change to an IBM version of DOS. 3. Don't Exit to DOS from BCS Menu Program. 4. Discontinue using BCS Menu Program. ------------------------------------------------------------ PROBLEM Using a LOGITECH Mouse. One customer found that his Logitech mouse wouldn't work with BCS Menu Program. He obtained a new mouse driver from Logitech and the problem disappeared. BCS Menu Program uses standard mouse driver function calls. The mouse driver supplied with your mouse should be 100% Microsoft compatible. If you have had your mouse for a while and it does not work with BCS Menu Program, chances are you need to have the mouse driver updated. BCSMENU.DOC Page 45 APPENDIX D - CUSTOMER SUPPORT Customer Support is provided via CompuServe, BIX (Byte Information Exchange) and U.S. Mail. Registered users of BCS Menu Program are given the opportunity to join CompuServe; this offer includes a $15.00 usage credit (nearly half the price of BCS Menu Program!). We may be reached electronically as follows: CompuServe 71341,1463 BIX ntiedemann GENIE N.TIEDEMANN We may be reached by U.S. Mail at: Bristol Computing Systems, Inc. Suite 162 200 Linden Street P.O. Box 9009 Wellesley, MA 02181 BCSMENU.DOC Page 46