Menu Selector v2.12 - This consists of Program Selector, Launcher, Menu Editor, and Automatic Reminder. Copyright (c) 1990-5 by Tom Beversdorf This program is $5.00 - $15.00 shareware. You are free to evaluate this program within 90 days. After 90 days, please either pay at least $5.00 shareware fee, or distribute to other users or destroy it. If you pay the shareware fee, not only the shareware notice will be disabled, but also an event calendar from main menu and easy-add program to menu will be enabled. Please make check payable to Tom Beversdorf. Price: Feature: ------ -------- $5.00 Sharware notice will be disabled plus an easy access calendar will be added to scroll through notes and easy-add program to menu after launched. $10.00 Same as above plus you will get next free upgrade. $15.00 Same as above plus you will get a lifetime free upgrade. If you don't like this software, run UNINSTALL from your distribution disk. It will remove all of your Menu Selector from hard disk. This runs on IBM-PC compatibles; 512K; DOS 5.0; QBasic (included with DOS 5). Please distribute this program to everyone you know. This set of files consist of: FILE_ID.DIZ (File Description In Zip about Menu Selector) README.TXT (This file) REGISTER.FRM (Shareware Register Form) MENUSEL.BAS (Menu program) INSTALL.BAT (Installer for Menu Selector) INSTALL.BAS (Program Installer from QBasic for Menu Selector) UNINSTAL.BAT (Uninstaller from Menu Selector) UNINSTAL.BAS (Program Uninstaller from QBasic Menu Selector) MENUAUX1.BAS (Menu Editor program - internal run only) APPOINT.BAS (Appoint/Reminder Editor program) Note about Shareware: --------------------- I haven't received any single amount of shareware since I've been working hard to make time to work on this program. That's because I first distributed this for Apple computers but many people were not interested. Please support the shareware fee so I can continue working on this program. If any of the programs have been modified, it may not be operational. Installation for IBM-PC computers: ---------------------------------- Go into the floppy drive or hard disk directory and type INSTALL at the DOS prompt. This will install the Menu Selector onto your PC. It will make some necessary changes for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Saving the old version as CONFIG.OLD and AUTOEXEC.OLD if any. ------------------------------------------ Operation of This Program for IBM-PC: Program Selector: ----------------- You may use an arrow key to move cursor and press ENTER to select. You may press ESC key to change your mind. You may also press the first letter or number to select it. When running the program from Program Selector, it will take up only 160 bytes of memory before returning the menu. More Keys you can press: ------------------------ F2 -- shells to DOS leaving Menu Selector in memory. When you get out of the shell, type EXIT and press ENTER. F3 -- run any DOS command, this will take up only 160 bytes of memory. F4 -- if you have windows installed, run windows. F5 -- launch application, this will take up only 160 bytes of memory. F6 -- go to current date reminder if other date is displayed. F6 (register version only) - displays the calendar with reminder note. F7 -- previous reminder date; Shift for week, Ctrl for month, and Alt for year. F8 -- next reminder date; Shift for week, Ctrl for month, and Alt for year. F10 -- exit to DOS. PgUp, PgDn -- if you see arrows on the reminder notes, pages through the notes. * -- edit the appointment. Ctrl-6 -- edit the menu. Ctrl-V -- Displays the version box if the reminder notes is being displayed. To return to the reminder notes, press PgDn key. Ctrl-Alt-Del -- reboot computer. When you see a C:\> prompt, type 'M' to return to the main menu. Program Launcher: ----------------- You may use the arrow keys to move cursor and press ENTER to select drive, set directory name, select file in directory, or even type a command. You may also press the number to select it. Then the file directory will be displayed. You may use an arrow key to move cursor and press ENTER to open subdirectory or run file. You may press BACK SPACE key to close subdirectory, and press ESC to go back to Launcher menu. The file directory on the Program Launcher lists only the DIR, EXE, COM, and BAT. It will also display DOS to select any DOS command. Type: Description: ----- ------------ DIR Subdirectory file you can go into. COM Command executable file. EXE DOS Executable file. BAT Batch executable file (ASCII Batch) DOS DOS Command Line. DOS Command inside Menu Selector -------------------------------- Type any DOS command or press Ctrl-E to select executable file or press Ctrl-F to select any files. Displaying Calendar from Main Menu (** Registered Version Only **) ------------------------------------------------------------------ It displays the calendar with events and reminder notes. Use on-line help to move cursor on the calendar. An event, such as holiday or special occasion (i.e.: Valentine, Easter, Labor Day, etc.), is automatically displayed as you move the cursor. Press ENTER to view the reminder notes. When there are more than four notes, use Shift-PgUp and Shift-PgDn to scroll through the notes. (Different than PgUp / PgDn which scrolls the calendar.) Menu Editor and Configuration ----------------------------- It displays the menu to set up the screen colors, edit menu, Windows option (F4 key enabled/disabled), and exit with save option. Screen Color Editor (If you have color monitor) ----------------------------------------------- There are foreground and background colors for text, highlighted text, and title. There is also a screen border. Use left and right arrows to select the type of color. Use up and down arrows to adjust colors. ENTER to accept new color, and ESC to cancel the color change. Menu Editor ----------- There are two columns on the menu editor. The first column is category, and the second column is program. The menu will be saved as MENUFILE.DAT, an ASCII text file on the MENUSEL subdirectory. Each column can be accumulated up to approximately 15 entries, and total entries can be accumulated up to approximately 150 entries. If you tried to add beyond the limit, it would not let you to do it. If you want to add the first column item, use Alt-I and type the name and press [ENTER] key, then type an unique letter or number corresponding the name. Then it will let you to insert the second column. You must add the first item on the second column in order to keep the first column entry or it will be deleted. If you want to change the first column item, use Alt-R and type the new name or [ENTER] for default and then letter or number, or [ENTER] for default. If you want to delete the first column entry, press Del to delete an entry and all the lower-level menu. If you want to move an item at the first column, use Alt-M and use arrow keys to move into new location and press ENTER. If you want to copy an item at the first column, use Alt-C and use arrow keys to duplicate into new location and press ENTER. Then, press the key correspondence item. To add an entry on the second column, use Alt-I to insert the name, key, directory, and command name. The program may be used as EXE, COM, and BAT. Otherwise, use any DOS command. To edit an entry or change the file on the second column, use Alt-E to edit the name, key, directory, and command name. Use [ENTER] for default value for name and key. It will also prompt you to change drive, directory, file name, command, or accept change. To remove the entry on second column, press Del to delete an entry. To move or copy the second column, use the same procedure as the first column. To change the file: It will give you a menu of drive, directory, file, command, and accept change unless the directory is empty or invalid. If the directory is invalid, it will instead display the drive or directory menu. Then, it will list the filenames. Use arrow keys to move cursor, press ENTER to accept file or open subdirectory, BACK SPACE to close subdirectory, ESC to change drive or directory. If you select DOS command, type any DOS command or Ctrl-E for executable file or Ctrl-F for any files. If you press Ctrl-E or Ctrl-F, it will give you a list of filename in the current directory. Use arrow keys to move cursor, press ENTER to select file or open subdirectory, BACK SPACE to close subdirectory, and ESC to change device. Easy-Add program into menu after launching (** Registered Version Only **) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After pressing F5 from main menu to launch program, then go into the configure menu and select Menu Editor. At either column, press Alt-A to add the last program ran into the menu. Type in the name and the key. It will add the rest of the information into menu. Reminder in Menu ---------------- The automatic reminder will display up to four messages at a time on the main menu. If it exceeds, it will let you know to see more reminders by pressing PgDn key. PgUp key lets you review previous page of reminders. The reminder can be added up to approximately 150 messages. Since the system date from BIOS is good through the year 2099; however, the reminder date from Menu Selector is good through 2049. The reminder is automatically displayed about the shareware on the top of the menu depending on the system date after 90 days of usage. Editing the Reminder -------------------- Press * key to go to the reminder editor. You will see the at least an INSERT message with new appointment. You may also see an ACTIVE one and sometimes an obsolete one that is displayed "Delete" under the STATUS column. You may use up and down arrow keys to scroll through the messages. You may also press [TAB] key to toggle the date show on/off in front of the messages. When the date is on, it will show the beginning date and the ending date as format: "MM/DD/YY Day" as you have seen on the "Insert" status. An asterisk (*) denotes as generic item. For example: "09/25/ *" that occurs September 25th of each year. You may also see "NN days to MM/DD/YY" that is the number of days to the end date; or "MM/DD/YY for NN days" from starting date effective for the number of days. Even though there is two-digit year, it is good through the year 2049, but NOT 1999, keep in mind. Alt-I to insert the message, Alt-E to edit date and/or message, and Del to delete the message. When you edit the reminder, first it displays the calendar for starting date or latest date. Use on-screen instructions to move cursor or change calendar and press enter to select the date. The default date is initially current date or preset starting date. Then, you will see another calendar for ending or offset date. Use same procedure as starting date and press enter to select date. The default date is initially the same as starting date or preset ending/offset date. If there are 21 days or less difference, it will ask you for the ending date as offset days. When offset is selected, the offset date can be used before or after the starting date, otherwise it will switch the dates to the correct sequence if it is out of sequence such as ending date before the starting date. After all the date is completed, it will give you another menu. GENERAL option, that is effective as non-offset dates only, is numeric Month, Date, and Year. ANNUAL option will replace the year with asterisk (*). MONTHLY option will replace the month and year with asterisks. WEEKLY option, that is effective as non-offset dates only, is asterisked in Month, Date, and Year; the day of the week is automatically supplied by the correspondence dates. Finally, enter the appointment text. The default is the current message or "Appointment Message" when inserting. NOTE: If you want to make a reminder for one week until the first Wednesday of each month, use "07 days to */07/ * Wed". The first "07" is the number of days, that is seven, or one week. The first asterisk is every month, the second 07 is the latest date - that is the end of the first week, the last asterisk is every year, and Wed is the day of the week of Wednesday. Here is how to enter: First, select the cursor to "7" on the calendar because "7" is the latest date for first Wednesday of each month, then press TAB key and select "We" on the day of the week and press Enter. Next, move cursor up by once, that is as same as 7 days before the event, and press Enter. Note: Don't worry about the month change as you move up the cursor, it will calculate an offset date. Then, press "Y" when prompted as offset date. Finally, select MONTHLY from the Annual/Monthly menu and then you do on your own. If it is Wednesday the fourth, it will be the last day of each month unless it becomes active around the end of each month. If it is Tuesday the seventh, it is not active because Wednesday the first is the last day of active. If you want to make a note from second Tuesday of May for two weeks, use "05/08/ * Tue for 14 days". The "05" stands for May, "08" is the earliest date for the second week, asterisk is for every year, "Tue" is for Tuesday, and "14" is the number of days. Again, here is how to enter: Change calendar to May by using Page Up/Page Down and select "8" on the calendar because "8" is the earliest date for second Tuesday, then press TAB and select "Tu". Next, move cursor down by two times, that is two weeks or 14 days after the starting date. Then press "Y" for offset date prompt, and select ANNUAL from the menu and type in text. Leaving from Remind Editor -------------------------- Press [ESC] and press 'Y' to confirm. Then, it will prompt you to save it. If it is not saved, it will effect for only the temporarily until you launch other program. If there are some obsolete messages, it will prompt you to destroy the obsolete messages while saving. The appointment will be saved as APPOINT.TXT, an ASCII text file on the MENUSEL directory. ------------------------------------------ Bugs and Deficiency: Some of the unusual color combination from the default screen color may cause to be missing text or wrong color. The directory list may not handle over 500 files in a directory. The percent sign (%) may not work right under working directory and command name. Instead, use double percent sign (%%) to alleviate the problem. When entering an unusual calendar dates, such as 31st day of this month and 30th of next month as fixed dates with Monthly selection, the ending date may be undefined. When you edit the dates with the current month of January, then the ending date is undefined on February because they tried to reach February 30th but there is no such things. If you encounter any bugs, please contact me by E-Mail or U.S. Mail and jot down what the bugs are so I can fix it on the next release. Troubleshooting: If you see the message "Can't run the menu - use installer", you were copying the files by hand. Please use an installer to install from the distribution disk into your hard drive. If you see the reminder note about the shareware fee and can't find it on the editor, this is a shareware version - it displays the reminder note after 90 days of trial period. To get rid of the message, pay the shareware fee. ------------------------------------------ Chronological Update: Version 1.0 (9/4/1989) Menu completed with top four selection with exit to Basic and two column menu. (Boot from floppies, Go to 16-bit GUI environment, and Exit to Basic. Main menu and sub menu) - First on Apple II computers. Version 1.0.1 Added to the menu of Quit to DOS. Version 1.0.2 Move auxiliary files to SYSTEM directory. Version 1.0.3 Renamed the file to fix the problem on the new operating system. Version 1.0.4 Added the holidays on the main menu. Version 1.0.5 Added the screen saver feature, that will blank out the screen with a dim message. Version 1.0.6 Added an ESC key to go back to first column instead of exiting to Basic. Version 1.1 (12/15/1989) Added the quit code to return to menu (Apple II version) Version 1.1.1 Added an automatic menu to Reboot hard disk selection. Version 1.1.2 Fixed the bug so it will be able to display a graphics without any distortion after running an application. Version 1.1.3 Bug fixed from version 1.1.1 Version 1.1.4 Added little more holidays, removed the right arrow key so you won't accidentally launch it. The menu program updates the date after screen-saver. Version 1.1.5 Fixes the bug from using with 80 column text. This also adds an option to select the directory from MENUSEL. Version 1.1.6 - First released as Shareware for Apple II computer. Bug fixed after blanked out screen that caused to mess up the last category's program menu. Version 2.0 - Major Changes (1/1/91) This adds a lot of features such as Program Launcher, displaying the date and time, displaying three columns of main menu instead of two with 80 column display, more holidays, removed user menu from hard coded DATA statements to the data file, and also supporting a screen color option. Version 2.0.1 Fixed bug on the empty menufile with color, fixed Martin Luther's King traditional day, fixed error handler, fixed bug upon entering date, fixed for new operating system, and added more events. Version 2.0.2 Bug fixed upon error on directory entry. Cleared error detector when exit to Basic. Version 2.0.3 Keyboard buffer cleared when selecting the drive/directory menu, fixed the quit code from false signature. Version 2.0.4 Fixed the bug for Easter Holiday and Election Day, system date setup, and reminder date. Version 2.10 (Version for IBM-PC compatibles) Changed to multiple colors for IBM-PC, modified an automatic menu for IBM-PC so you can run Windows. Version 2.10a Minor bug fixed to fix the recursive problem of MenuSel. Version 2.10b Minor bug fixed of displaying the shareware notice. Version 2.10c Bug fixed that caused to get an Invalid Directory and other error message instead of executing the program when trying to change to one- or two-character subdirectory. Version 2.11 Added the F-keys to navigate with the reminder dates and reduces the steps when inserting the file after the directory. Bug fixed on the reminder note on January and February of the leap year and 21st century. Major bug fixed that prevents from running the MenuSel without Windows installed due to the false positive of being tampered. Version 2.11a Fixed the appoint date leap year bug on the remind editor. Version 2.12 New file/directory selection menu consists of Drive, Directory, File, and Command on the launcher and program editor. Calendar has been added for the appointment date selection. Added an Escape key for full function except on the main menu. Bug fixed after changing mind of entering file directory. Minor bug fixed when on-screen date change at midnight. Minor bug fixed setting up the date for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. ----------------------------- Registered version features: ---------------------------- This version will have a calendar right from the main menu. This includes an event or reminder note. This also has an Easy-Add program into menu. After pressing F5 to launch program, then configure the menu to add the program last ran with only few steps! After using Alt-A to insert an Easy-Add program, all you have to do is just ENTER for default file name and a letter or number for key. Coming Attractions: ------------------- The future release will have a lot more color selections and more options such as disabling the warning beep, screen saver option, etc. This will automatically detect Windows 95 on your system to modify MSDOS.SYS file in addition of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to run Menu Selector under Windows 95. This will also be released by Quick Basic or Visual Basic for DOS instead of QBasic. This will also add an additional prompt when launching applications or programs on the PC. It will handle multiple levels of menu such as select single column or many columns of menu. (The current release has two-column only user menu.) It will have a help feature on each item on the menu, and an user-defined help feature. It will give you an option to automatically change the Daylight Saving Time. Have fun! U.S. MAIL: Tom Beversdorf 5758 Brockton Ct. Apt #6 Indianapolis, IN 46220 InterNET E-Mail: beversdo@moose.cs.indiana.edu Phone: (317) 726-0109 ---end of readme---