Copyright: Copyright © by Ricky Freyre - All Rights Reserved


Contents

General Overview

Installing WinMenu

The Wconvert utility - please read

How to setup Winmenu

Setting the UserId and the Server name

Creating and Linking Group Codes

The Administration Facility

Menu sections

Menu items

General options

The 'Blue Ribbon' accessories

Customizing Winmenu

How to Register

 ACCESS THE AUTHOR FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT:

  Compuserve# 70154,2635

  INTERNET:   70154.2635@compuserve.com

  or FAX you questions to (404)907-4855

Obtain the latest version and information of Winmenu products from INTERNET !  Use your favorite Web browser at the URL:

http://www.halcyon.com/Winmenu/WWW/winmenu.html


The [Options] section

The [Options] section could manually be entered in the central WINMENU.INI file.  It is used internally by Winmenu to change or define the following options:

[Options]

AutoRestore=1

AutoMinimize=1

AllowLocalMenu=1

DisableLocalUpdates=0

MIV=1

ForceInstanceRecall=0

CacheAll=1

ConfirmExit=1

VerifyON=0

etc.

(Note: the only possible values are 1 for ENABLED and 0 (zero) for DISABLED.  Except for the Drive= parameter.)  Some of these options are automatically maintained by the online programs.

AutoRestore=    If WinMenu is minimized and all other Windows applications are closed or minimized, then Winmenu automatically opens the menu .  Usually used in combination with AutoMinimize option. The default is ENABLED.

AutoMiniMize=  It automatically minimize WinMenu when the user executes another application from within Winmenu. The default is ENABLED.

AllowLocalMenu= Enable to allow users to create and maintain their own menu items.  Users will be able to select any defined menu section under the group header [PERSONAL]. Winmenu stores each user's menu item in the user's directory.  NOTE:  DisableLocalUpdates= must not be enabled to allow Winmenu the use of a local directory for each user.  See also the Drive= switch.

ConfirmExit=  If enabled (=1), Winmenu will ask the user to confirm when exiting. The default is DISABLED. Note:  As a shell,  Winmenu will "ask" permission to each running application before exiting Windows.  If a running application refuses to exit because changes have not being saved, Winmenu will NOT exit .  This is regardless the condition of the ConfirmExit= switch.

MIV= This is the Multiple Instance Verification. Each time the user executes an application, Winmenu can verify if that application is already running. If MIV is enabled, Winmenu will notify the user (unless ForceInstanceRecall= is enabled)  and allow him to recall it or to execute another instance. The default is ENABLED.

ForceInstanceRecall= This option bypass the MIV prompt  and will automatically recall any running instance of the selected application.  This has the effect of not allowing multiple instances of the same program running.  The default is disabled (=0). NOTE: If MIV= is disabled, this option is ignored.

DisableRUN= When enabled (=1), the RUN window is disabled. The menu option can not be accessed.  the default is DISABLED. (The RUN window is enabled)

DisableLocalUpdates= Winmenu creates a small file (winmenu.ini) for each user in a local directory or in a directory mapped by the Drive= parameter.  User's specific information like the user's last menu section used  and the default color are stored in this small file to automatically reinstate the user choices when Winmenu runs again.    Enable this switch if you do not want Winmenu to allocate a directory for each user . If enabled, Winmenu will read the base directory to obtain initialization data when needed. The user will not be able to change some options nor automatically have reinstated their last menu section, or change any other configuration found in the Options menu at run time. Diskless workstations may used the DRIVE= parameter to map the local directory to a network drive.   The default is DISABLED.

Drive= The Drive= parameter holds the path for the user's directory.  This directory will be used to store user's personal information .   A full directory path should be entered here.  Also, the path should be unique for each user.  You may also use environment variables enclosed by the percent sign (%).  Winmenu will automatically replace the value of the environment variables at run time.  Example:   Drive=L:\LINK\%USER%   .  This option is perfect for diskless workstations.  The user must have write access to this directory.

VerifyON= When enabled (=1), Winmenu will verify the user's read permission to the file specified in the "permission on:" field of each menu item.  The "permission on:" field can be found in the   The Item's Maintenance Window of Winmenu when the user press the "Options" button.  Only administrators have access to this field.    If the user do not have read permission to the filename specified in this field,  the menu item will not be displayed unless the user is a Winmenu's administrator or  the user has update access to the entire menu section.  In that case, the menu item will be displayed with a small asterisk (*) by the item number.  This function is useful when you have a general menu section that must be shared by a large group of users but you also wish to "hide" some selected applications from the menu  to one or more users in the group.  Just enter a complete path+filename in the "Permission on" field and revoke the file read permission for the desired users that should not have access to that menu item.  You may use the same filename of  the command line for that menu item.   Winmenu will hide the menu ICON from the user and leave an empty box in the same position.  You may optionally instruct Winmenu to shift all menu items to the left and eliminate empty menu spaces when displaying any particular menu section.  See The [Config] Section  for information on AutoArrange= .

 Note: Enabling this function may slow down the time it takes for Winmenu to load and display the screen at startup.  The default value for this parameter is disabled (=0).

CacheALL= When enabled (=1), Winmenu will  load all the authorized menu sections, menu items and icons at startup to improve the response when the user changes from one menu section to another.   This is actually the default (enabled).  You may disable this command if you are running with very low memory.  Just enter a zero (=0) to disable the CacheALL command.  Disabling this command forces Winmenu to only load the menu section selected by the user.  Changing from one menu section to the other may take few seconds when this command is disabled.

Sound= Disables (=0)  or enables (=1) the sound effects.  The default is enabled.   NOTE:  If the user has no sound card installed, this parameter is ignored.  Winmenu comes with some of the sound files (.WAV) but not all that can be used.  To use your own .wav files, just  copy them into the Winmenu directory but rename them to match the names below. The following .WAV files can be used:

OPEN.WAV  - If Winmenu was minimized and automatically restores the display.

SECURE.WAV - When user clicks on the "key" ICON.

EXECUTE.WAV - Each time a program is executed from Winmenu.

WELCOME.WAV - When loading Winmenu

INCORREC.WAV - When displaying a message box.

SUPER.WAV - When you are recognized as a Winmenu administrator. You have write access to the central Winmenu directory.

NEWS.WAV  - At startup is company news have not being displayed.

MESSAGE.WAV - When new broadcast messages arrives to the workstation

OK.WAV - When the user makes any changes in the Options menu or  the Sections menu.

DISCONN.WAV -  When the user is not connected to the network but ihas engaged the "Standalone" mode.

CONN.WAV - When the user has engaged the "Network " mode.

NOTE: Winmenu looks for these files in the central directory where winmenu.exe resides. If not found, no sound is produced. You need to have a sound card installed or the SPEAKER.DRV .

 See also the [Config] section


The [Config] Section

Winmenu stores menu definitions in files with an extension of .GRP and "optional switches" or commands (i,e. ConfirmExit=1, Sound=0, etc.) in files with an extension of .INI .   A central WINMENU.INI holds global "switches" but there might also exist an INI file that corresponds to each menu section or .GRP file .  These INI files have the same name and path of the corrresponding .GRP file but ends with the extension .INI .   The [Config] section of the central WINMENU.INI holds different commands to those that can be used in the [Config] section of  the INI files associated with each menu section.

 The [Config] section in the INI file associated to a single menu section or GRP file may hold the following command(s):

[Config]

AutoArrange=0

AutoArrange=When enabled (=1), Winmenu will automatically arrange the menu items and icons in the corresponding menu section to the left eliminating blank menu spaces between them.   This option is not recommended if you have changed the page descriptions to further organize a menu section  because the items can scroll out of the intended page.  For instance, if you delete an item in the first page, then all other items to the right will scroll to the left from all the pages. The default is disabled (-=0).  Note: This command can only exist in the INI files that are specific to a menu section or GRP file.

 You may also use the [Config] section to manually rename the display pages for each menu section.   See Renaming the menu pages

The [Config] section in the central WINMENU.INI file may hold these commands:.

The [Config] section in the central WINMENU.INI file is also optional and may be automatically updated by Winmenu at run time.  These command affects all menu sections.

examples:

[Config]

Default=General

LOAD=clock.exe,l:\share\mailmon.exe

DefaultDLLPath=1

UserVar=USER

ServerVar=SERVER

UserVar= and ServerVar=  See Setting the UserId and the Server name

Default=

This command is used to set a default menu section name.  If not used, Winmenu defaults the first time to the first menu section physically found in the Sections Menu.  The next time, Winmenu will automatically open the menu section used last by the user. (Unless DisableLocalUpdates is enabled) This information is stored in the user's local winmenu.ini file.  All the local INI files are automatically created by Winmenu.

Run= and Load=

 These commands allow you to automatically execute programs when Winmenu is initially loaded. Program names must be separated by a comma.   The LOAD= will execute programs in the background as minimized applications.  The RUN= will execute programs as normal applications and force  Winmenu. to minimize itself .   It works exactly as the RUN=  and LOAD= commands provided in the initialization file of Windows (WIN.INI).  In fact, you still can use  the WIN.INI run=  or load= lines for this purpose.   Winmenu will "look" for these keywords in the central winmenu.ini and also in each user's winmenu.ini file.   These give you an additional flexibility you may want to explore.   These parameters used in the central winmenu.ini will be executed for ALL the users when Winmenu starts.  These parameters used in a user's winmenu.ini will only be executed for that user.  There is currently no on-line facility to maintain these parameters and you must use a text editor to add them.   Examples:

[Config]

LOAD=C:\WINDOWS\CLOCK.EXE, N:\APPS\MAIL\MAILMON.EXE

RUN=L:\LINK\TODO.EXE

NOte:  As a shell,  Winmenu automatically executes any application defined in the startup group window of the Program Manager.

DefaultDLLpath=

 A value of one (1) to enable, zero (0) to disable.   Winmenu's DLL files are required to reside in the same directory where Winmenu.exe resides.  This is done to facilitate upgrades and ensure that  the correct versions of DLLs files are used .   The DefaultDLLpath can disable or enable the default path where Winmenu loads the DLLs.   If disabled (0), the DLL files MUST be found in a directory specified in the workstation's PATH= environment variable or the Windows system directory.   The default value for this command is one (1)  for enabled.


Manually defining the Menu Sections

 Winmenu organizes menu items under menu sections.  In turn, each menu section can be linked to a user's defined group code via the online administration facility ADMIN.EXE.  The network administrator may optionally add the desired menu section names manually in the central WINMENU.INI file.  Once the sections have being defined and linked to the groups, then the NA may create the menu items for each section,  on-line.  NOTE: Defining menu section names, linking them to  group codes and creating menu items is definitely easier with the administration facility  (admin.exe).  Click  Creating menu sections online   to see the administration facility instructions.

  Creating and manually linking menu sections with group names:

 For each group code that you defined in the [GROUPS] section , a header enclosed in brackets must be defined in WINMENU.INI.:

[GROUP_NAME]

INIfile1=Section Name, GRP filename

You can link up to 20 menu sections using INIFILE1=   to  INIFILE20= per group header.  The Section names must not be larger than 35 characters long.

Example:

We have three Novell groups that we wish use to "attach" menu sections. The  user defined group codes  EVERYONE, FINANCIAL and MANAGEMENT will be used in this example.   The users under the group EVERYONE will have access to the menu sections General,  Word Processing  and Communications.  The folks under the  group FINANCIAL will only have access to one menu section (each section may hold up to 72 menu items) .  The MANAGEMENT group have access to the menu sections Report & Utilities, Word Processing & Communications.

In the file WINMENU.INI, you must manually insert the following lines :

[EVERYONE]

INIFILE1=General,winmenu.grp

INIFILE2=Word Processing,wordpro.grp

INIFILE3=Communications,comm.grp

[FINANCIAL]

INIFILE1=Accounting,acct.grp

[MANAGEMENT]

INIFILE1=Report & Utilities,report.grp

INIFILE2=General,winmenu.grp

INIFILE3=Communications,comm.grp

etc...

Note: the.GRP files may  have a directory path specified.  Winmenu looks for these files in the source directory where winmenu.exe resides unless you have also specified a path.  The header names nor the keywords are case sensitive. [Management], [MANAGEMENT] and [INIfile1] are all correct entries.

 The above example defines the menu sections General, Word Processing and Communications for users who belong to the group EVERYONE.  In turn, each menu section is linked to a .GRP file.  This file is created and maintained by Winmenu and will eventually  hold the individual menu line definitions. You do not need to create manually the individual .GRP files. (Use admin.exe or run Winmenu )  Create all the group headers and desired menu section in WINMENU.INI as shown above.  Save the WINMENU.INI file in the central directory where Winmenu resides.  You are ready now to create the menu items on-line.  Run Winmenu  to create and or modify menu items under each section.  Running Winmenu directly to create the menu items will also require you to be a member of each group code.  Using the "Section" dialog of admin.exe instead, do not requires you to be a member .

 . See also Options Section .

NOTE:  Winmenu verifies your write access to the central directory where Winmenu resides. If you have such access, you are considered an administrator and have full access to change menu items and the configuration.  Hence, It is of most importance that only administrators have write access to the central directory of Winmenu.

.


Overview

Looks good but, what does it do for me?

How does it work?

  Support

 The author of Winmenu provides free support and fixes for the Winmenu software via Compuserve and INTERNET electronic mail.    If you can send mail to INTERNET addresses,  you can access the author (see Registering Winmenu for e-mail address).   If you do not have access to such e-mail services, fixes can be sent via US mail when necessary.  In some countries outside US, you may be required to pay shipping and handling.    Any bug or program error reported will be fixed and sent  immediately at no cost to the customer via e-mail.


Looks good! but, what does it do for me?

WinMenu GE is a cost effective corporate menu system that runs under Windows 3.1 , Windows NT , WFWG , Windows 95  and most networks.  The administrators can define menu items for all the users from a central place in the network and control the access to each network application .   Users will only see and have access to those network applications that were authorized by the administrator(s)..

Establishing a better control of who access what in your network is in your best interest due to licence agreements, company resources and security.

A consistent interface is one that allow users to find things where they were the last time they looked.   Menu items can not be moved or deleted by accident.  The program maintains a consistent display and functionality that allow users to learn it quickly and feel control over their session.  This is essential specially to ease the transition from the DOS environment to Windows.

 Administrators can setup company news to be automatically displayed on each user's workstation at startup.

Note:  A Winmenu version for users running in a Novell network is also available. It better integrates with the network services to provide more functionality like remote commands via IPX/SPX and other services.


How does it work?

WinMenu provides a clever and cost effective Corporate menu facility under Windows 3.1 or above.   Administrators may define menu items for all users.  You must define the company user groups that share the same applications access and then define menu section(s ) for each of the groups in your organization. This feature allows you  to display pre-authorized menu items to all the users based on the  group codes they belong to.  Since Winmenu GE uses a NNS (No Network Specific) approach, any network capable of assigning users rights to files and directories may use Winmenu.  There are many possibilities you can easily setup to meet your company needs and organization requirements.  You may define authorized menu sections by departments, application types, or any other conceivable unit.   All you need to do is to define a group code for each organization unit that you wish to assign menu sections.  Creating menu section, menu items and linking them to user group codes are simple steps you may do using your favorite text editor or the online administration facility of Winmenu.  Winmenu may be installed once in a Network directory or may optionally be installed at the user's hard disk.

 Winmenu allow the administrator(s) to authorize menu sections to group of users .   The administrator(s) create and organize all the  menu items or applications into "menu sections".  The menu sections should be based on your company needs and requirements.  Each menu section can then be linked to one or more user defiined group codes  providing an effective way to control menu access.

 At run time,  Winmenu scans the file WINMENU.INI to obtain all the available user defined group codes and then verifies and compute which group codes  the user belongs to.  A DOS file is associated to each group code to validate the user's access.  If the user can "see" or read the associated file, the user is automatically a member of that group code and have access to any menu section linked to the group code.  This effectively utilize your  current network file 's security services as an authorization mechanism for the menus.  All the menu sections linked to the authorized user's group codes are loaded and made available for the user.    Each menu section can hold up to 72 menu items.  Multiple menu sections can be associated to a  group code and each user may belong to multiple groups codes.  See Creating and Linking Group Codes for more information on creating group codes.

   The person(s) in charge to administrate Winmenu defines the menu sections and menu items using the administration facility program ADMIN.EXE and WINMENU.EXE .   Menu items can be "dragged-and-dropped" from the File Manager to Winmenu's ICON to facilitate adding new menu items.

 The users are not allowed to change the  menu items or configurations defined by the administrator but may optionally maintain at least one "personal" menu  for its own private use.   If the user belong to multiple groups, and each group has a series of menu sections defined in the central WINMENU.INI, then up to 20 distinct menu sections from all the authorized groups will show up listed under the "Sections" menu of Winmenu. Winmenu recognize distinct sections by the associated file name.  Creating menu sections, menu items and linking them to existing Novell group codes are simple steps you do using the online administration facility of Winmenu.   See Setting up Winmenu

 You may even setup Winmenu to discriminate some users for a particular application in a menu regardless the groups he or she belongs to.  This tool allows for a much easier transition to the Windows environment by providing an easy to use menu program which combine the conventional features found in DOS menus with state-of-the-art functions of the Windows graphical environment. All level of user's sophistication has been taken in consideration at design time.   You may replace program manager with Winmenu to obtain full control and minimize the support calls.

         See Installing WinMenu

NOTE:  Winmenu checks the write access rights to the central directory where Winmenu resides. If you have such access, you are considered an administrator and have full access to change menu items and the configuration.  Hence, It is of most importance that only administrators have write access to the central directory of Winmenu.


How to Register

Evaluation and Registration

This is not a free software. This license allows you to use this software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 20 days.  If you use this  software after the 20 day evaluation period,  a registration fee is required.  When payment is received you will be sent your registration license number and will be entitled to receive  the latest version of WinMenu  for NOVELL Netware.  Any "please register" windows will not show again after you enter your reg#.   .

Please make payment by check or money order (in US funds) payable

to: Ricky Freyre

    6373 Bell Haven Ln.

    Riverdale, GA 30296

    USA

CREDIT CARDS ONLY:

 NOTE: THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERING ONLY!. Also, when ordering, please specify the number of users license desired. No technical questions are  answered because this is an independent service and the author of Winmenu   can not be accessed here.  You can order with MC, VISA, Amex or Discover   from the Public (software) Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or (713)524-6394   or by FAX to (713)524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470.  You can also mail   credit cards orders to Psl at P.O. Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.

  Tell the operartor you wish to buy a license for Winmenu GE Corporate Edition. Specify the number of users you wish to buy the license for, and  the price as indicated below. Also, be sure the operator knows your e-mail address (Compuserve or INTERNET) because you can receive the registration number back in approximately 48 hours.  Also, your e-mail address is used to send you fixes and upgrade notifications.

ON-LINE VIA COMPUSERVE

You may also charge it to your compuserve account. Just GO SWREG and  enter the registration id# shown below  that corresponds to the number of users you wish to register.  The author of Winmenu will send your registration number in ~48 hours to your compuserve account mailbox.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY!!!

 Any question about the status of the shipment of order, registration options,  product details, technical support, volume discounts, dealer pricing, site  license, etc, must be directed to the author's Email address. (See below)  If you do not have Email access, FAX you questions to (404)907-4855.

 ACCESS THE AUTHOR FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT:

  Compuserve# 70154,2635

  INTERNET:   70154.2635@compuserve.com

  or FAX you questions to (404)907-4855

 The author of Winmenu  offers free support and fixes for the Winmenu software via Compuserve and INTERNET electronic mail.  If the customer do not have access to such e-mail services, fixes can be sent via US mail.  In some countries outside US, you may be required to pay shipping and handling.    Custom modifications can be arranged for a small fee.  Any bug or program error reported will be fixed immediately at no cost to the customer via e-mail.   Please, be sure you include an e-mail address if you have it.

LICENSE FEE PER COMPANY SITE / REGISTRATION FEE

The fees below are per company site .   Regardless of the number of LANs installed.  Building structures from the same company but  separated by at least one mile requires separate licenses.

                                                                                               on-line                 FYI

      # Users        Price          GO SWREG      Price

       -------       -------        Reg.id#:    per station

          1 - 4    $   60.00         1153	 $15.00

          5 - 9    $  100.00         1154	 $11.11

         10 - 24   $  200.00         1155	 $ 8.33

         25 - 49   $  450.00         1156	 $ 9.18

         50 - 99   $  750.00         1157	 $ 7.57

        100 - 199  $ 1200.00         1158	 $ 6.03

        200 - 299  $ 1500.00         1382	 $ 5.01

        Unlimited  $ 1800.00         1384	 less than $5

*Source code is never included.

Print Mail order form.


Order Form

WINMENU  GE for networks.       Please, print  and mail this form!

MAIL ORDER FORM:

Send via mail

to: Ricky Freyre

    6373 Bell Haven Ln.

    Riverdale, GA 30296

    USA

Indicate desired number of users license :  _______________________________________

Company site License Fee  $US _______________  (U.S. FUNDS ONLY)

Please specify the diskette size(s) that are acceptable for you:            ___ 5.25"    ___ 3.5"

        Contact Name :________________________________________________

               Company :_____________________________________________________

                 Address :_____________________________________________________

                               _____________________________________________________

                               _____________________________________________________

      Phone   ____________________    FAX #  ________________________

Winmenu's author will attempt to deliver your registration license number via Email, FAX or regular

US mail.  Please, indicate which is preferred : ________________________

 *   COMPUSERVE or INTERNET  e-mail address:__________________________________

     America Online, Prodigy, Others e-mail address:  _______________________________

      Where did you get WINMENU? __________________________________

      What version number of Wimenu you have?: __________

        Comments: ____________________________________________________________

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT!


Installing WinMenu

If upgrading from a version prior to 5.0

If you currently have a version of  Winmenu prior to 5.0, please follow these steps carefully:

  1) Create a new directory (i.e \WINMENU5 ) and store all the new v5.0 files.

  2) Copy all the .INI files found in your old \Winmenu central directory to the new v5.0 directory.

  3) Run WCONVERT.EXE in the new directory.  See Wconvert / A step up to 5.0

Otherwise...

Create a private directory (Read Only) in the network.  Copy all the files.

  Example: N:\APPS\WINMENU

  Be sure to copy all the WINMENU files to this directory.

     WINMENU.EXE	  	program file

     WINMENU.TXT	  	This document.

     WINMENU.HLP	User's Online help

     WINMNEWS.EXE	News broadcast

     WCONVERT.EXE	Convert program for prior users.

     ADMIN.EXE	Administration Facility Program

     ADMIN.HLP       	Administration Online help

     ORDER.TXT     	How to register online or by mail.

  The following files are needed in your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and

  should already be found there as part of the Windows 3.1 system files:

     COMMDLG.DLL

     SHELL.DLL

     TOOLHELP.DLL

     MMSYSTEM.DLL

 NOTE: For users in a Novell network, you may optionally include the file NWCALLS.DLL in the \WINMENU directory.  Winmenu will detect this file and use it for better networking.  Be sure that  NWCALLS.DLL has a datestamp of 1993 or above.  The DLL file may be downloaded for free from Novell forums (GO NOVFILES).

   Winmenu will create the directory C:\WINMENU on each workstation that runs the program. (Note: You may change the path used. See under  Options  .)

Only Winmenu's administrators must have write access to the central Winmenu directory.  Read the Overview  section for a basic understanding of how Winmenu works.  Create the menu sections  for each desired user defined group code using the administration facility.  Also, use the administration facility to "edit" the menu section names and create the menu items.

 Your users may now execute Winmenu.  Users will have access to the menu sections defined under each authorized group code.


Options

The Options dialog allows you to configure Winmenu's behavior.  These switches can be accessed from the Options menu item under the Config menu of ADMIN.EXE .  Note: Additional options exist which may manually be turn on or off. See the [Options] section

Create a directory for each user:

This option allows Winmenu to store personal data for each user in a local or network directory.  User's personal configuration choices  like Minimize on Use and Auto Restore options will be stored and restored  if this option is enabled (X).  This option is also required if users are allow to have their own personal menu.  Winmenu will create a directory (C:\WINMENU) in each user's workstation unless you have specified a path in the  "User path:" field.  For detailed steps on how to enable a personal menu for each user, see  Allowing users a personal menu.

User Path :  ______________________________________.

If "Create a directory for each user" is marked (X) or enabled,  Winmenu will automatically create the local directory C:\WINMENU on each user's workstation to store personal data.  You may  also instruct Winmenu to use a different directory path to store the data for each user.  Just enter here the full directory path to use.  The path must  be unique for each user .  Consider using an environment variable for this purpose.  For example,  you may enter a path like this L:\LINK\%USER%  which will be resolved by Winmenu at run time.  Winmenu will scan the workstation environment table to replace  the variable %USER% for the value found.  Environment variables can also be setup in the user's  login script.  For more information on environment variables, please consult your DOS manuals.  (Or ask me!)

Allow users to have a personal menu.

Users may have at least one personal menu where they can maintain their own menu items in Winmenu.  If you enable this option, you must also create at least one  menu section name under the code PERSONAL using the Sections dialog in admin.exe.  See Sections for more information.

"Run" window disabled.

 Mark (X) this option to disable the RUN window in Winmenu. The RUN window allows users to browse the disk drives directories and execute programs not found in the menu.

Enable sound effects.

Mark (X) to enable event driven sound effects.  Users equipped with a sound card or the speaker.drv may listen voice notifications and sound effects for some of the WInmenu events. You may also replace each sound with the .WAV of your choice by simply renaming as indicated below:

The following .WAV files are used:

OPEN.WAV  - When Winmenu restores the menu display after being minimized.

SECURE.WAV - When user clicks on the "Screen saver" button.

EXECUTE.WAV - Each time a program is executed from Winmenu.

WELCOME.WAV - When loading Winmenu

INCORREC.WAV - When displaying a message box.

SUPER.WAV - When Winmenu starts and it recognizes you as a Winmenu administrator.

OK.WAV - When the user makes any changes in the Options menu or  the Section menu.

NEWS.WAV - When new company  news are available .

ALARM.WAV - When Winmenu must notify a user of a critical even. (i.e Shutdown in progress).

NOTE: Winmenu looks for these files in its own directory. If not found, no sound is produced.

Force display of network news

Confirm Exit

  If enabled (=1), Winmenu will ask the user to confirm when exiting. The default is DISABLED. Note:  As a shell,  Winmenu will "ask" permission to each running application before exiting Windows.  If a running application refuses to exit because changes have not being saved, Winmenu will NOT exit .  This is regardless the condition of the ConfirmExit= switch.

Verify read permission for each menu item (VerifyON=)

 When enabled, Winmenu will verify the user's read permission for each menu item.  If the user do not have read permission to a menu item,  the menu item will not be displayed unless the user is a Winmenu's administrator or  the user has update access to the entire menu section.  In that case, the menu item will be displayed with a small asterisk (*) by the item number.  This function is useful when you have a general menu section that must be shared by a large group of users but you also wish to "hide" some selected applications from the menu  to one or more users in the group.  Just revoke the file read permission for the desired application to those few users that should not have access to that application but do have access to the rest of the applications in that menu section.  Winmenu will get the application's filename and working directory to obtain the user's read permission unless you have manually entered a value in the Permission on=.field of the Item's Maintenance window  See The Item's Maintenance Window

 Note: Enabling this function will slow down the time it takes for Winmenu to load and display the screen at startup.  The default value for this parameter is disabled (=0).

Load all menu sections at startup. (CacheALL=)

 When enabled, Winmenu will  load all the authorized menu sections, menu items and icons at startup to improve the response when the user changes from one menu section to another.   This is actually the default (enabled).  You may disable this command if you are running with very low memory.  Just enter a zero (=0) to disable the CacheALL command.  Disabling this command forces Winmenu to only load the menu section selected by the user.  Changing from one menu section to the other may take few seconds when this command is disabled.

Default Menu options

The following options may also be changed by each user if you have marked the "Create a directory for each user" option.   If so, you may set the initial default here.

Minimize on use  -  Allow Winmenu to minimize itself when a program is executed.

Auto Restore - Allow Winmenu to automatically restore the menu when minimized.

Verify Instances - Winmenu alerts users if the program is already running.

Sound - Enable or disable sound effects.


Force display of network news at startup.

You may setup network news to be displayed at each user's workstation when they initially run Winmenu.  Mark this option to force the user  to look at the news, otherwise, they will have the option to open the news at their convenience by clicking on the newspaper ICON.  See also Define Network News


Accessories...

The accessories are up to nine user define utility programs that can be executed from Winmenu's  accessories menu, the blue ribbon and the system menu while Winmenu is minimized.  These programs are common to all users and  can be accessed regardless of the current menu section the user is working on.  Use this option to define frequently use programs like e-mail, DOS (Command.com) , Calculator, etc..  You may create and/or change accessory programs using the Accessory dialog from the Config menu in admin.exe.

Creating or changing an accessory program.

Click once over the accessory button you wish to create or update.  Fill in a short description and the command line information. You may use the Browse button to browse the hard disk files.  Winmenu automatically extracts the associated ICON from the program file.  Use the Change Icon button if you want to associate another ICON to the program.  Press the SET button to store the accessory program information.  Repeat these steps for each accessory you wish  to add or change.  NOTE:  Changes made to the accessories will  be reflected at the user's workstation  the next time they execute Winmenu.


Sections...

  The "Sections" dialog of the administration facility allows you to create and maintain  menu sections and link them to existing user-defined group codes.  Menu sections are Winmenu's unit used to link related menu items to group codes or organization-units.     You can "link" menu section names to one or more group code defined in WINMENU.INI.  See Creating and Linking Group Codes  for instruction on how to create the group codes.

Select the group code to work with.

 Whether you wish to link a new menu section or change an existing menu section, you must first select the associated group code . The group codes most be previously defined in the [GROUPS] section of the central WINMENU.INI file . Select a group code from the list  to display the current menu section names that are authorized to the members of that particular group code.  All the menu sections you create or modify will be linked to the selected group code.  A light bulb picture by the name of each group code identifies which codes have one or more menu sections already linked.

    NOTE:  Besides the existing group codes, the code PERSONAL is included in the group code's list. This code is used internally by Winmenu.  Any menu section name defined under the PERSONAL group code will show on each user's workstation regardless the group codes they belong to.  Menu items under these sections can be changed and deleted by each user.  You must have defined the "Allow local menu" and  "Allow a directory"  switches as enabled.  See Allowing users a personal menu  .

Change a menu section name.

 To change an existing menu section under the selected group code,  click over the desired menu section name shown.  Make the desired changes to the name or the associated .GRP filename as  needed.  You may click the EDIT button to invoke Winmenu which will allow you to create or change the menu items for the selected menu section.   Click the "Add/Change" button to save the changes made.

   NOTE: You can not change the menu items for the menu sections under the group code PERSONAL  since each user maintain its own menu items.

Enter a new menu section name.

Once you have selected the desired  group code, fill in the new menu section name in the Menu Section Name field and also enter the associated .GRP file name.  The .GRP name must conform to DOS file naming conventions and must end with the extension .GRP file (i,e WORDPRO.GRP,  N:\APPS\WINMENU\MGMT.GRP, etc.).  Winmenu stores and maintain the associated menu items in this GRP file.  The .GRP file do not have to exist at this time but the name should be a valid DOS filename. The directory path is optional . You may also use an existing  GRP file that is already "linked" to another group code.  It is common to share  menu sections among group codes.  You may now click the EDIT button to create the menu items or click the ADD/CHANGE button to add the menu section name without creating the menu items at this time .

Note:  The .GRP file are automatically created and maintained in the same directory where WINMENU.EXE resides unless you have also specified a complete path.  You must have write access rights to this directory.   I recommend not to specify a directory path with your GRP file names and allow all your GRP files to exist in the Winmenu's central directory. This is the default and also the most sensitive way to ease the maintenance task.

Note:   When you click the "Edit Menu" button,  Winmenu is called in ADMIN-UPDATE mode. Under this mode, it only recognizes the current menu section name that you are creating or changing in the administration facility.   Exiting Winmenu will minimize Winmenu instead of ending the session.  This allows you to continue your administration tasks without delays.  Winmenu will return to its "normal" mode when you exit the "Sections" dialog from the administration facility.

Click OK when done or select another group code to work.

Note:

No more than 20 menu sections may be linked to a single group code.  Typically, you will use no more than two in a single group code.  Regardless, Winmenu will not display more than 20 menu sections for a single user.

You may also manually define and link the  menu section names . This is optional.  See Manually defining the Menu Sections


Define or change today's news

 You may enter up to 32k of network and/or company related news which will be displayed on each workstation when Winmenu is loaded.  The Edit menu allows you to paste text information from other applications. Press the CLEAR button to erase previous news, OK button to save the current text.  The text is saved in the DOS file NEWS.TXT in the directory where WINMENU.EXE resides.  You may also use your own text editor to create or change this file's content.

See also  Force display of network news


Allowing users a personal menu

You may create at least one menu section name under the  group code PERSONAL as defined in the Sections dialog of admin.exe.  This group code (PERSONAL) does not have to be defined  in the [GROUPS] section of the winmenu.ini file because is internal to Winmenu.  All menu sections  names defined under this group code are automatically treated as personal menus. Winmenu will allow each user to create and maintain their own menu items under these menu sections.  The Options section must be defined to allow user creating their own personal menus.  See  the Options dialog to enable/disable this feature.

Steps:

1) Enable the "Create a directory for each user" in the"Options" dialog of admin.exe.

2) Enable the "Allow personal menu" option in the "Options" dialog of admin.exe .

3) Optionally, define a full directory path (must be unique for each user) in the "User Path:" field of the "Options" dialog.  This is a good place to use the environment variables to compute a unique directory. Example :  L:\LINK\%USER%\PERSONAL  .   Note: If you do not specify a path, Winmenu defaults to C:\WINMENU  directory to store the user's personal data.

4) Define at least one menu section name and associated GRP file name in the "Sections" dialog. This section name is what the user will see and select from the "Section" menu in  Winmenu.


The [System] section

The [system]section currently holds one parameter.

SHUTDOWN= holds a zero (0) when disabled and a one (1) when enabled.  When this parameter is enabled,Winmenu will warn new users that the system is currently shutdown and that they must leave Windows.  For users in a Novell LAN, Winmenu  may also close all network connections in the user's workstation.  However, the file NWCALLS.DLL must be found in the central  \WINMENU directory .

  NOTE: Shutdown happens when the user starts Winmenu.  When you manually enable this parameter, the active Winmenu users will not get a "shutdown" messages until they exit and start again a Winmenu's session.


How to setup Winmenu

Create the list of group codes that will "group" the users for the authorization scheme

  You must create  a  "group code" list in the central initialization file WINMENU.INI    Each group code is what "links" and authorize related group of users to the menu sections.   Typically, you would create a group code for each department (i.e ACCOUNTING, MANAGEMENT, etc.) in your organization.   Also, it is recommended to create a group code named EVERYONE that will hold public applications that need not to be restricted to a group of users.

See Creating and Linking Group Codes

Planning the menu section names

  Basically, you must conceive the menu section names that will be authorized for each group code.  Typically, one menu section name is conceived for each group code and it match the name of the group code.   The menu section will hold the applications in an organized way but will allow access only to those users that are "member of" the associated group code.   For instance, if you defined a group code named ACCOUNTING,  you might create a menu section named "Accounting" to hold all the applications restricted to the accounting personnel.  Or, you may create multiple menu sections (i.e Accounting, Mainframe Apps., etc.) to further organize the applications for the users in Accounting.  The group code is what  bind  the users in your company and the menu section is what holds the authorized applications.

 Each menu section can hold up to 72 menu items or applications. The menu sections helps you organize and assign menu items to related group of users who share the same application needs.   An application may exist in more than one menu section.

Use the "Sections" dialog in ADMIN.EXE to enter and link the menu section names.

The Sections dialog in the ADMIN.EXE program allow you to link the menu section names to the user defined group codes. It also allows you create the menu items for each menu section.

PLease refer to Sections... for more information.


Customizing Winmenu

 Winmenu automatically creates a central Winmenu.ini file in the same directory where the Winmenu.exe resides. Only administrators should have write access to this directory. The Winmenu.ini file is a text file that holds site specific information as configuration switches and relevant data.  The following information describes additional information  and configuration switches that you may enter to further customize Winmenu at your site.  The following options, if used, must be entered or edited manually in the central WINMENU.INI file.

The [Options] section

Allowing users a personal menu

The [Config] Section

The [System] section


The Administration Facility

Use the administration facility (admin.exe) to create menu sections, link menu sections to user's defined group codes and create/maintain menu items

Options

The blue ribbon accessories

Menu Sections...

Menu Items

Renaming the page names in a menu section

Define or change today's news


Menu Items

Winmenu / Maintaining the menu items

Use the "Section" dialog from admin.exe to maintain menu section and menu items.

The Item's Maintenance Window

Running Winmenu as the Windows shell

The "Video Screen" picture

Using Wconvert.exe for massive changes


Running Winmenu as the Windows shell

 Make a backup of the file SYSTEM.INI which is found on your \WINDOWS directory.

Use your favorite text editor to load the SYSTEM.INI and look for the line that start with

SHELL= ,   modify the line to look like this:

           SHELL=C:\WINMENU\WINMENU.EXE

    Save the file!.  The next time you run Windows, WINMENU will be

    displayed instead of the Program Manager. If you ever decide to

    restore the Program Manager, just modify the SHELL= line to look

    like SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE and save it. Or restore SYSTEM.INI with

    your backup copy.

 Note:  As a shell, Winmenu will automatically execute the startup group window as defined in the Program manager. Also, the LOAD= and RUN= lines in the WIN.INI are executed as startup.


The "Video Screen" button

The "video screen" button or menu selection allows users to immediately invoke their favorite screen saver.  The  option can be accessed from the accessories menu, the main display or while Winmenu is minimized using the system menu.  It is recommended that you set up your screen saver to ask for a password.  This way, you may use your screen saver as a security layer. So, next time you are working on a sensitive e-mail and the phone rings or you need to walk out, click over the "Video Screen" button to hide your display and secure your workstation.   NOTE: you may setup your screen saver in the Desktop option of the the Control Panel.


The Item's Maintenance Window

The Menu Entry Dialog

This window allow you to define and maintain menu items.  You must click the EDIT MENU button in the Sections dialog of the administration facility and then select the Add or Change menu item options from the Options menu.

Command Line - Enter the full command line to execute the desired application.  You must also include any parameters needed.  Example:  MSMAIL.EXE

Work Directory - Enter the default directory or path for the application.  This is optional. Winmenu will made the directory the current default directory before executing the command line. Example: C:\MSMAIL

NOTE: Winmenu also support automatic insertion of environment variables.  Any  word between the percentage characters (%) is interpreted at execution time. Winmenu will replace the %variablename% with the corresponding value found in the environment.    If none found, Winmenu replaces the %variablename% with  a  space.  NOTE:  This feature is  only available for the fields Command Line, Work Directory and MAP=.  Also, the variable search is case sensitive. (Upper and lower case letter are not the same).

Password - Enter desired password.  This is also optional.  Winmenu will prompt for this password before executing the command line and when opening the Menu Entry dialog.

Run Minimized - When marked, this indicate WinMenu to execute the application as an ICON.  Leave unmarked for normal execution.

The Options button

 The Menu Entry window  provides one additional capability for the administrator via the Options button.   This button will expand the menu entry window to show the following additional field :

 Permission on:   If you have enabled the VerifyON= command (see the [Options] section) , you may optionally enter here a full path+filename that will be used to validate the users read permission to  this application.  If you leave it blank or empty, Winmenu will NOT verify permission rights . If the VerifyON= is not enabled, this field is ignored!.

Press the OK button when finished,  CANCEL to abort changes,  BROWSE to pop-up a window that helps locate files.  Note:  the DELETE button is disabled when entering new menu items.

The Change Icon button allows you to setup or "attach" an ICON to the menu line for displaying . Just select the desired ICON or click the browse button to extract the icon from another file. NOTE: make sure the file is available for the users.

 The menu item will be saved under the current menu section .


Wconvert / A step up to 5.0

 Previous versions to Winmenu 5.0 used INI files to store the menu items definitions.  Starting with 5.0, Winmenu now stores the menu items in a different file format with extension .GRP.  These files are quite different from the INI files.  The most striking difference with the GRP files, is that they can not be viewed or  modified with a text editor.  The GRP files can only be modified online using Winmenu and the administration facility. The problem with INI files in previous version was the side effect of slow loading time when a lot of menu items and menu sections were defined.  The main cause of this side effect resided in the fact that Winemnu displays the ICON of each application and was forced to physically extract this ICON at load time.  Considering that the applications are stored in the network drives, extracting all the ICONS could have taken a minute or more, depending on the network trafic and related factors.  This is where the GRP files come handy. The ICON is now extracted when you define a menu item and it is stored in the .GRP file using a device-independent format along with the menu item information.  This has the effect of releasing Winmenu from having to extract the ICON at load time and should maintain an acceptable load time regardles of the amount of applications and menu sections you are using.

 If you are upgrading your copy of Winmenu from a version prior to 5.0,  you must convert the existing INI files into GRP files .  This is accomplished  by using the utility program WCONVERT.EXE included with the Winmenu 5.x files. Copy all the .INI files from your old \WINMENU directory (i,e  N:\APPS\WINMENU ) to the new directory (i,e  N:\APPS\WINMENU5). This is important because it FORCES wconvert to generate the GRP files in the new directory.  Then, follow the following 4 steps:

1) Run your favorite text editor and create a new file in the new directory.

2) Create the following lines:

[WCONVERT]

INIFILE1=filename

INIFILE2=filename

INIFILE3=filename

etc.

 where filename is the complete path+filename of each of your INI files that holds menu items.  You may look in the old winmenu.ini file to find all the INI files used.  Up to 60 INIFILEx= lines may be processed by Wconvert.exe  at once.   Example:

[WCONVERT]

ConvertTO=GRP

INIFILE1=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\GENERAL.INI

INIFILE2=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\ACCT.INI

INIFILE3=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\MANAGMNT.INI

INIFILE4=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\WORDPRO.INI

etc.

Note: the line ConvertTO=GRP is optional when converting from INI to GRP file format.. It indicates the destination format for the Wconvert routine.

 The directory path of each filename must reflect where the INI files are stored. If you have copied some or all of your INI files to your new v5.0 directory, then be sure the path of these INI files reflect the new directory path.

3) Save the new file as WCONVERT.INI in the same directory where WCONVERT.EXE resides.

4) Run WCONVERT within Windows. Be sure you specify the full path + filename of the wconvert.ini file in the command line parameter. Example:

WCONVERT  N:\APPS\WINMENU5\WCONVERT.INI

 Wconvert will display the progress of the convertion process as it executes. For each INI file specified in the "INIFILEx=" lines., Wconvert will create a corresponding .GRP file in the same directory.  The INI files are not destroyed or modified! If Wconvert ran succesfully, you may execute Winmenu.  NOTE: The INI files are still used by Winmenu to store other relevant information like configuration's data and switches. In fact, Wconvert only translates the lines found under the INI section [MenuItems] to the GRP file.  If Wconvert ran ok, you may manually erase all the text lines under this section.  You can always recreate the [MenuItems] section in the INI files using Wconvert as described below.

WCONVERT MAY ALSO TRANSLATE BACK TO INI FILES!

 This functionality may help you when doing massive changes to the menu groups. You normally will use the online programs when adding and or changing menu definitions.  Nevertheless, there might be times when massive changes to the menus are needed and you could use another approach for faster delivery.   Wconvert can translate .GRP files to INI files which can then be modified using your favorite text editor or other utility programs. The advantage is that you may perform global search-and-replace functions to the INI files because they are in text or ascii format.  Once you have finished with your massive changes, you must use Wconvert again to translate the INI files back to .GRP files.

NOTE: It is strongly recommended to backup your .GRP and INI files before doing any massive changes to them!. In fact, you should periodically backup these files as standard procedure. A simple copy to a floppy disk may take few seconds and save you a lot of time in case of a power interruption or any other problem that may occur while using Wconvert.

To convert the GRP files to INI files

 Just add the line  ConvertTo=INI under the [WCONVERT] section in your Wconvert.ini file. Example:

[WCONVERT]

ConvertTO=INI

INIFILE1=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\GENERAL.INI

INIFILE2=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\ACCT.INI

INIFILE3=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\MANAGMNT.INI

INIFILE4=N:\APPS\WINMENU5\WORDPRO.INI

  The above example will convert the .GRP files to INI files.  Wconvert automatically ignores the .INI extensions in the above example because the ConvertTo= command indicates the destination extension and Wconvert automatically computes the source file extension. Since the destination file extension is .INI, Wconvert figures that it must find .GRP files.  In other words, you do not need to change the lines above to have the extension .GRP because Wconvert is smart enough to figure that out.  To translate the .INI files back to .GRP files, just change the line ConvertTO=INI to  ConvertTO=GRP and re-execute Wconvert.  Check the screen messages and the file log that Wconverts creates for errors. If Wconvert was interrupted, just restart.  If Wconvert can not translate for some reason, restore the .GRP files from your backup!  The produced INI file will have a new section name [MenuItems] that holds the text definition for each application. For more information on this section, see The [MenuItems] section

CAUTION!: The fact that GRP files actually store a copy of the ICONs for each menu item means that Winmenu do not need the ICON's source file to exist when displaying the menu.  However, if you convert your GRP files into INI files and back to GRP files again, there is the possibility that some menu items will not show the originally selected ICON because the ICON's source file may no longer exist.  The possibility increase for DOS applications in the menu which you originally selected an ICON from another file like an ICON library and the ICON's source got move or deleted later in time.


Renaming the menu pages

  Each menu section has four pages represented by the "tab" buttons.  The default page description is "Page 1" through "Page 4". You may optionally rename or delete each  page description to further organize the menu items in the desired menu section.  Run the administration facility of Winmenu (admin.exe) and open the "Sections" window under the "Config" menu.  Click the "Edit Menu" button after selecting the desired menu section.  In Winmenu,  select the "Rename Pages.."  option from the "Options" menu and do the desired changes.

  The "Rename Pages" dialog in Winmenu allow you to modify the page names for the selected menu section. You may also "hide" a page by entering the upper case word HIDE in the page field.

 Manually renaming the menu section pages:

 For each GRP file, there may exist a corresponding INI file that holds additional configuration data for the menu section. Look in the directory where the GRP file resides and modify or create a corresponding INI filename. The INI filename must be the same filename of the GRP file but with extension .INI . For instance, if the menu section you wish to rename the pages is store in the file MAIN.GRP, then you may edit or create the file MAIN.INI in the same directory.

Add or modify the following lines to the corresponding INI file:

[Config]

Page1=page desc 1

Page2=page desc 2

Page3=page desc 3

Page4=page desc 4

 NOTE: Only the first 15 characters of the page description are used.

Example:

[Config]

Page1=Main

Page2=Main II

Page3=Utilities

Page4=HIDE

In the above example, the fourth page will not be shown for the corresponding menu section.


The [MenuItems] section

The [MenuItems] section holds the menu lines in each individual INI file. This section is generated  by the Wconvert utility.

The first line must contain the header:

 [MenuItems]

     The second line must contain:  NoOfItems=xx

     where xx is the highest menu line number used. (i.e NoOfItems=20).

     The next lines will hold each menu line information. 6 keywords

     are used for each menu line:

         AppNamexx=       ( holds the menu description (Maximum 35 characters long)

         AppFileNamexx=   ( holds the command line.  Program file name + command  parameters)

         AppWorkDirxx=    ( the default directory. Maximum 64 characters long. (optional) )

         AppRunTypexx=    ( 0= Normal Run, 1=Minimized )

         AppIconxx=  (holds the full path of a program, DLL or .ICO file where the ICON is found.

                                    If left blank, Winmenu defaults to the file found in AppFileNamexx.  You

                                   may also specify the ICON position number, starting from zero, tha you wish

                                   to extract:   Example:  AppIcon1=C:\WINDOWS\PROGMAN.EXE,3

                                   Will extract the fourth icon in progman.exe.  NOTE:  All this can be done

                                   automatically online.   Check WINMENU.HLP file.

        AppVerifyxx= (holds the full path + filename that Winmenu will use to verify the user's read permission.  See VerifyON= parameter under the The [Options] section  for more information.  If VerifyON is disabled, this parameter is ignored.  Note: This field is optional and not commonly used. You may ignore this line completely.  If needed, you must enter the value manually.

     where xx is the menu line number of reference (from 1 to 72).

     The following example defines two menu items:

    [MenuItems]

    NoOfItems=20

    AppName1=Word For Windows 2.0

    AppFileName1=e:\%USER%\winword.exe

    AppWorkDir1=d:\winword

    AppRunType1=0

    AppIcon1=

    AppName2=Quicken 6.0 - My CheckBook

    AppFileName2=c:\quick\quicken.exe  myfile

    AppWorkDir2=c:\quick\

    AppRunType2=0

    AppIcon2=MYICON.ICO

 Winmenu also support automatic insertion of environment variables.  Any  word between the percentage characters (%) is interpreted at execution time. Winmenu will replace the %variablename% with the corresponding value found in the environment.   In the example above, the word %USER% will be replaced for the value found in the environment variable USER= .  If none found, Winmenu replaces the %variablename% with  a  space.  NOTE:  This feature is  only available for the fields AppFileNamexx and AppWorkDirxx.  Also, the search is case sensitive.

The following example will force Winmenu to use the file manager associations to obtain the underlying application for files with the extension .XLS .   If the association is not found in the [Extensions] section of the WIN.INI,  then Winmenu will not be able to execute it.

    AppName3=My Spreadsheet report

    AppFileName3=D:\EXCEL3\EXPENSES.XLS

    AppWorkDir3=D:\EXCEL3

    AppRunType3=0

    AppIcon3=

    etc,etc...

  NOTE:  Please have in mind that creating menu lines manually is OPTIONAL. You

  can and should create the menu lines on-line .


Creating and Linking Group Codes

 Winmenu was designed to allow users access to multiple menu sections.    Menu sections can be compared to the group windows in Program Manager.  However,  Winmenu "links"  menu sections to user groups (or categories of users) to effectively  restrict  application access to the corresponding group of users.   Each menu section  can hold up to 72 related menu items in Winmenu.   Each group of users can have many authorized menu sections.

 You must first manually define the user group codes and then define one or more menu sections for each group code.  A group code is used to relate users that share the same line of work, or the same applications.  To relate  each user to the corresponding group codes,  Winmenu checks for the user 's file scan access to the group code's control file as explained below:

Defining group codes:

 Use your favorite text editor, and create the followiing section in the file WINMENU.INI which resides where winmenu.exe is:  (Note: you may create the file winmenu.ini if it does not exist)

 [GROUPS]

Group1=groupname , group_control_filename

Group2=groupname , group_control_filename

etc.

  Where:

 groupname is a single word up to 40 character long (may not be separated by a space or special characters) that describe a desired user group name.

 group_control_filename is a DOS directory name or a full DOS filename including the  path.  This file is essentially a  dummy file or directory  that exist  as a flag to indicate which users are "member of" or "pertaiin to" the related group code.  If you do not specify a directory or file as group control,  then all users will automatically be members to this group.   You need to assign file scan access rights for this directory to each user that pertains to this group code .   If the user can "see" this file or directory, Winmenu assumes that he or she have access to the menu sections and menu items associated with this particular group code.  The actual file contents is irrelevant because Winmenu only check for the existence of this file or dir. .  You may use your current network utility programs to setup each user rights.  Novell network users may assign the file scan access right by setting the user as a trustee to this file.  Check your network manuals for more information on changing or assigning effective rights to files and directories.  Group codes may share the same group control filename (or dir) and a user may have access to more that one group code.

 Typically, one group code is needed for each department or organization unit in your company that shares the same applications.  Although the examples below show a typical use of the group codes, you may create group codes with different user contexts (i.e  WORDPRO,  COMMUNICATIONS,  DEVELOPMENT,  PROJECTX, etc.)

 Examples:

[GROUPS]

Group1=PERSONNEL, O:\SECURE\PERS

Group2=MANAGEMENT, O:\SECURE\MANAGMNT

Group3=EVERYONE

Group4=INVENTORY, O:\SECURE\INV

Group5=ADMIN, O:\SECURE\ADMIN.TXT

etc.

  In the above example,  the administrator must then go and create the directories and/or files above described and assign file scan access to each user in the LAN that should have access to the corresponding group code.  This is the last manual step when setting up Winmenu.  You may then proceed to use the online facility admin.exe to define and link menu sections and menu items.   You may also choose to continue setting up this information manually using your text editor.

  Manually creating and linking menu sections to group names:

NOTE: Once you have create the group codes as described above, you may execute the online program admin.exe to create the menu sections and menu items.  Run admin.exe and select the "Sections" option under the Config menu.  The information below shows you how to create and link menu sections to your groups  manually.

 For each defined group name or code, a header enclosed in brackets must be defined.:

[GROUP_NAME]

INIfile1=Section Name, GRP filename

 where Section Name is the menu section name . Should not be larger than 20 characters. This is what the users see online and can select to switch from menu sections. Examples:   Accounting,  Reports, General Access, etc. .

where  GRP filename is a valid DOS filename with the extention .GRP .  You may optionally include the full directory path.  The filename does not have to exist because Winmenu will create it and maintain it when you define the menu items.

Example:

[FINANCIAL]

INIFILE1=Accounting,acct.grp

You can link up to 20 menu sections using INIFILE1=   to  INIFILE20= per group header.

A hypothetical example for your benefit:

We determined that we have two group of users in our company.  The users in the financial department and  management.   Also,  some applications need to be available to all the users.  The  group codes  EVERYONE, FINANCIAL and MANAGEMENT will be used in this example.

in the file WINMENU.INI, you must manually insert the following lines to create the group codes:

 [GROUPS]

Group1=EVERYONE

Group2=FINANCIAL,O:\SECURE\FINAN

Group3=MANAGEMENT,O:\SECURE\MGT

  We create the private directories O:\SECURE\FINAN and O:\SECURE\MGT in the network.  Using our existing network tools, we then assign trustee access rights (file scan and read access) to the ..\FINAN  directory only to the users in the financial department.  We then grant read access to the users in management for the directory \MGT .

 Note in the above example,  that no control file or directory is needed with the group code EVERYONE because this is an unrestricted group.  In the file WINMENU.INI,  we manually insert the following lines to define the menu sections:

[EVERYONE]

INIFILE1=General,winmenu.grp

INIFILE2=Word Processing,n:\apps\sections\wordpro.grp

INIFILE3=Communications,comm.grp

[FINANCIAL]

INIFILE1=Accounting,acct.grp

[MANAGEMENT]

INIFILE1=Report & Utilities,report.grp

 The users in Management have access to all the menu sections but "Accounting" which is restricted to the FINANCIAL group. The users in the Financial dept. will have access to all the menu sections but "Report & Utilities" which is restricted to management.  All the menu sections under EVERYONE are unrestricted so all the users will have access.

Note: the.GRP files optionally have a directory path specified.  Winmenu looks for these files in the source directory where winmenu.exe resides unless you have also specified a path.  The header names nor the keywords are case sensitive. [Management], [MANAGEMENT] and [INIfile1] are all correct entries.

Each menu section is linked to a .GRP file.  This is a file created and maintained by Winmenu and will eventually  hold the individual menu line definitions. You do not need to create manually the individual GRP files. (Use admin.exe or run Winmenu )  Create all the group headers and desired menu section in WINMENU.INI as shown above.  Save the WINMENU.INI file in the central directory where Winmenu resides.  You are ready now to create the menu items on-line.  Run Winmenu  to create and or modify menu items under each section.  Running Winmenu directly to create the menu items will also require you to be a member of each group code.  Using the "Section" dialog of admin.exe instead, do not requires you to be a member .

 . See also Options Section .

NOTE:  Winmenu verifies your write access to the central directory where Winmenu resides. If you have such access, you are considered an administrator and have full access to change menu items and the configuration.  Hence, It is of most importance that only administrators have write access to the central directory of Winmenu.


Setting the UserId and the Server name

Most network sites make the userid and the server name available to the workstation via the environment variables. Winmenu GE may extract this information to display it when the menu is maximized in the screen. All you need to do, is to specify in Winmenu.ini which environment variables holds the userid and the server name.  The [Config] section of the central winmenu.ini file may be modified as follows:

[Config]

UserVar=

ServerVar=

 Where UserVar= holds the environment variable name used to hold the userid. ServerVar= holds the environment variable name that holds the server name. Example:

[Config]

UserVar=USER

ServerVar=SERVER

 The above example instructs Winmenu GE to get the userid from the environment variable USER= and to get the server name from the environment variable SERVER= .  You may define the environment variables in the login script or the autoexec.bat for each workstation.

The value in UserVar= and ServerVar= must be in the same letter case used to define the environment variable.