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PCMENU.NEW
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1989-03-11
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REVISION HISTORY - PCMENU SYSTEM
Copyright (c) 1989, Bob Trevithick and Rick Kiss
*-----------------------------------*
| New in revision 3/11/89 of PCMENU |
*-----------------------------------*
-FULL SOURCE CODE NOW AVAILABLE for $5.00. See PCMENU.DOC file.
-Added PCMCOLOR.COM to further assist in selecting menu colors.
-Minor bug fixes. Probably the final version we will release.
*-----------------------------------*
| New in revision 2/19/89 of PCMENU |
*-----------------------------------*
-Changed name of "MENU.BAT" to "PCMENU.BAT", for Novell users who already have
a 'menu' command defined by Novell. The executable file name was then changed
from "PCMENU.COM" to "PCMS.COM".
-Changed name of environment variable from "PCM_EXEC" to just "PCM", and now
require that the '.bat' extent NOT be included in the name. This is so the
name can also be used to specify a menu file as well as the output batch file.
-Changed ALL options except the two command options ('/' and '<') to more
mnemonic 'dot' commands, which proved necessary as options became more
numerous. The changes are as follows:
OLD NEW
--- ---
* .e=0 turns off escape key
>text .a=text sets administrator password to text
?text .p=text sets default password to text
The program PCM_CNV.COM will read in a menu text file written in the old
format and generate one using the new 'dot' command format. This is due to my
feeling guilty about making everyone rewrite all of their menu files.
Syntax: PCM_CNV old_format_filename new_format_filename
-We also added some new options, as follows:
.t=text sets top line Title to text
.s=n sets number of seconds before Screen protection kicks in. Use
0 to disable this feature. Default is still 3 minutes
(s=180).
.b=1 forces screen writes to use only legal BIOS routines.
.c=n sets base Color to be used to value n (base 10).
---or---
.c=n1,n2 sets base Color to n1, hilite bar Color to n2.
.k=0 leaves all keyboard locks OFF when menu terminates.
-Added program "COLORS.COM" (with .doc file) to assist in selecting values to
use with the new '.c=' color setting commands.
-Added ability to insert comments in menu file. Any line which contains a
semi-colon in column one will be totally ignored by the system.
*-----------------------------------*
| New in revision 2/01/89 of PCMENU |
*-----------------------------------*
BUG FIX
=======
-Was saving the entire keyboard shift status byte from the BIOS data area. If
the Ctrl key was pressed at time of save, that state would be restored on
exit, with weird results. Now saves and restores byte with only the safely
manipulable bits, masking off the remainder.
-MAKEMENU now allows Esc and Ctrl-C/Break exits, and produces a slightly more
verbose set of error messages than before.
*-----------------------------------*
| New in revision 1/30/89 of PCMENU |
*-----------------------------------*
DATE & TIME DISPLAY ADDED
=========================
Many people requested this, so they would have an ongoing confirmation that
their system date and time were correctly set. Sounded reasonable to me.
ONLY 66 ITEMS PER MENU NOW ALLOWED
==================================
Adding a top line date and time display removed one available screen line, so
the maximum number of items which can fit on a standard screen is now 66.
Remember, if you need more than that it's a simple matter to chain to multiple
menus. This is also desirable from the standpoint of legibility. It's much
easier to work with small, logically grouped menus than with one monster one.
For example, set up 'Utilities', 'Applications', 'Games' and so on as
selections from the 'Main' menu.
NETWORK SUPPORT
===============
The name of the temporary batch file created by PCMENU can now be set via the
environment variable "PCM_EXEC". This will allow network users to each write
to their own file, preventing conflicts, while sharing the startup batch and
various menu text files.
LOAD ANOTHER MENU FILE
======================
The '<' character, used as a command and immediately followed by a filespec,
allows loading another menu text file directly into the display without having
to use the normal batch file approach. This is a much faster approach to
chaining multiple menus. The previous method of issuing a "MENU filespec"
command will still work, of course.
SCREEN PROTECTION
=================
A timed screen protection routine now kicks in after 3 minutes of no keyboard
activity. It slowly scrolls a message informing the user to hit any key to
return to the menu. Prevents burn-in of screen phosphor.
PASSWORDS NOW CASE INSENSITIVE
==============================
By popular request, case is no longer significant when defining or entering
passwords.
BUG FIXES
=========
-Fixed error parsing files when commands only indented by single space.