YE OLDE DISK MENU SYSTEM by Neil Davidson (C)opyright 1993 Neil Davidson Contents Page Section. Topic. 4 1 OVERVIEW 4 What is Ye Olde Disk Menu System? 4 How does Ye Olde Disk Menu System work? 5 2 INSTALLING THE MENU SYSTEM ONTO YOUR HARD DISK 7 3 RUNNING YE OLDE DISK MENU SYSTEM 8 4 CHANGING THE MENU SYSTEM CONFIGURATION 8 The System Configuration Form 12 Editing the System Configuration Form 14 5 CREATING NEW BATCH FILES 15 The Batch File Form 19 Editing the Batch File Form 22 6 USING THE MENU PROPER 22 Moving Around the Menu Proper 26 The Four Permanent System Functions 29 7 EDITING EXISTING BATCH FILES Contents (Continued) 30 APPENDIX A TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE 33 APPENDIX B LIST OF FILES USED BY MENU 33 Files in the Batch File Directory 34 Files in the Code File Directory 35 APPENDIX C REGISTERING INFORMATION 36 INDEX 1.) OVERVIEW What is Ye Olde Disk Menu System? --------------------------------- Ye Olde Disk Menu System is a DOS-based utility that provides an easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain on-screen menu of your games and applications. The main difference between this and other Menu programs is that, once it has been fully set up on your system, Ye Olde Disk Menu System can maintain an up-to- date list of the programs on your disks AUTOMATICALLY. You do not need to edit the Menu files yourself every time you install a program or remove one from your drives. Menu searches your drives for all the programs that you have told it about and only displays the names of the ones that it finds. You only have to tell the system about each program once and from then on it will appear on the menu every time you install it and disappear again whenever you delete it! When you run a program from Menu, very little of your 640K of conventional memory (sometimes called 'base memory') is used by the menu, in fact less than 700 bytes! Because of this low memory overhead, all of the programs that run from the DOS prompt should run from Ye Olde Disk Menu System without any difficulty, even games that demand over 600K of base memory! How does Ye Olde Disk Menu System work? --------------------------------------- As mentioned above, Ye Olde Disk Menu System can update the list of items displayed on the menu automatically. It does this by first scanning your batch file directory for all batch files that are compatible with it (batch files created within Menu are of course compatible). Menu then uses the information about your programs contained in these batch files to look to see if they are present on the specified disk drives. The descriptions of any programs found are sorted into sub-menu, priority and alphabetical order and the new list of programs is stored, along with the names of the batch files used to run them, in a file called MENULIST.DAT situated in the same directory as the menu code file, MENUCHCE.EXE. 2.) INSTALLING THE MENU SYSTEM ONTO YOUR HARD DISK To install Ye Olde Disk Menu System on your hard disk, place the system floppy disk into drive A: and enter A: to log on to the drive. Next, at the A:> prompt, type; INSTALL [] where is the full path of the directory where you keep your batch files, e.g. C:\BATCH (note the omission of a backslash, '\', at the end). , which is optional, is the path of the directory where you want to install the .EXE code files needed by Menu, e.g. C:\UTILS. If no is specified then is used. Either way, any directory given will be created if it does not already exist. It MUST be in the DOS path for the Menu system to work correctly. The path is initialized when you boot your PC by a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that starts 'PATH=','SET PATH=' or just 'PATH ' and might look something like; PATH C:\;C:\DOS;C:\BATCH;C:\UTILS Once installation has begun, you will be told which files are being copied to your Hard Disk and where they are being placed. At one point you will be asked whether you want to install the example batch files. If you press 'Y' then a large collection of pre-written batch files will be copied to the directory that you specified as your batch file directory. There are batch files for many popular games and applications included in the examples. Another question that the install program will ask you is whether or not you would like your chosen directory - or directories if you specified two - added to the DOS path for you. If you press 'Y' then the directories will be added to the path in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as well as to the current path, ie. you need not reboot your system to update the path. If either of the directories did not initially exist and install had to create them then they are unlikely to be in the path. After all necessary files have been copied to your hard drive, Install will ask if you want the command "CALL MENU" appended to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Doing so will mean that your PC will boot straight into the menu program when you switch it on or reboot. If you elect to have the line added then you will be asked whether you also want Menu to refresh the list of items whenever you boot your PC. This is done by adding the /R ('REFRESH') parameter to the Menu command, making it "CALL MENU /R". Once installation is complete, you will be asked whether you want to run the menu program immediately. If not, you can invoke Ye Olde Menu System for the first time by typing 'MENU /R' at the DOS prompt. The /R means 'Refresh', and tells Menu to refresh (or in this case create) the menu data file MENULIST.DAT by scanning your Batch File directory and looking in the specified directories for the relevant programs. Once this process is complete, the Menu proper will appear. At this point it would probably be a good idea to check the Menu system configuration. This is discussed in section 4. 3.) RUNNING YE OLDE DISK MENU SYSTEM To enter the menu system, simply enter the command MENU (case is ignored) at the DOS prompt. You will be presented with the menu proper, a list of the programs that Menu knows about that are currently available on the drives that you have instructed Menu to search. You can make Menu refresh the item list when you run it by typing 'MENU /R' or 'MENU /REFRESH' instead of just 'MENU' at the DOS prompt. When you refresh the item list in this way Menu does not wait for you to press a key before continuing to the updated menu list. YOU MUST USE THE /R OR /REFRESH PARAMETER THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU RUN MENU to create the data file MENULIST.DAT. If you are running Menu from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that your system boots straight into the menu then it is advised that you use the /R option so that whenever you reboot your system the list of items on the menu is automatically refreshed. Note that using a disk caching program such as MS-DOS' SmartDrive will dramatically reduce the time it takes Menu to refresh the item list, and it is STRONGLY advised that you make use of such a utility if possible. The first time that you run Menu after rebooting your computer the Menu selection bar will always be over the first line on the menu, which is always EXIT TO DOS. However, if you return to the menu after running a program from it, or if you have previously exitted from the menu by choosing EXIT TO DOS and then re-enter it by typing MENU at the DOS prompt, you will find yourself at the last item that you selected, i.e. the selection bar will be where you left it. 4.) CHANGING THE MENU SYSTEM CONFIGURATION The configuration file MENUCHCE.CFG can be edited from within the Menu program by selecting the permanent Menu option, "EDIT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION". To do this, use the cursor down key to move the selection bar down the list of Menu items until the required item is highlighted (this particular option is always the third one up from the bottom of the list). Pressing SPACE will give you information about the highlighted option, and pressing RETURN will select it. Once you select the configure option, you will be presented with a form filled with the current configuration settings. There are five editable fields, as follows; The System Configuration Form ----------------------------- BATCH FILE PATH This is the path to the directory where you keep all your batch (.BAT) files. It is usually something like C:\BATCH\ or C:\BATS\. Note that when you enter this field, you must append a backslash, '\', to the end of the directory name. The specified directory MUST be in your DOS path, which is defined by the line starting 'PATH' in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. E.g. if the batch file path is C:\BATCH\ then the PATH statement must contain the clause C:\BATCH; (Note the omission of the trailing backslash this time). ALL ALLOWED DRIVES Menu has a built-in utility that allows you to create batch files for all your DOS games and applications that Menu can use to automatically update its list of items. One of the things that must be specified when creating one of these batch files is the letter of the drive on which the program can be found. This might be a floppy disk drive, a hard drive, a CD ROM drive or several other kinds of disk drive. Normally, Menu itself ignores floppy disk drives, but since the batch files created by Menu can be used directly by typing their names at the DOS prompt, Menu is capable of creating batch files for programs on any of your drives. This field is a list of every drive that you will want to create batch files for, and usually includes every drive available on your system. The last letter allowed in this list is that specified by the LASTDRIVE= line in your CONFIG.SYS file. E.g. if LASTDRIVE=G, then the allowed drives can be chosen from A, B, C, D, E, F or G. X should never be chosen, as it has a special function in the Menu system, as described below. The default value for this field is 'ABCD'. DRIVES TO SEARCH This is a drive letter list similar to ALL ALLOWED DRIVES above. Whereas the previous field is a list of every drive that the Menu's Batch File editor will allow, this is a list of those drives that Menu will search for games and applications specified in your batch files. Any drives that are in the list of all drives but not in this list will be ignored by Menu when it is searching your drives for programs that are present. Any of the drive letters in the list of all drives can be entered here. Normally, you would enter the letters of all your hard drive(s), and other large capacity drives such as CD-ROM drives that you may have several programs on. It is strongly advised that you OMIT floppy disk drives from this list, as it will take Menu a very long time to check for programs on these drives, especially if there is no disk in the drive! You should not use X as a drive here, as it has a special function in the Menu system, as described below. The default list of drives to search is 'CD'. DRIVES COVERED BY X Drive X is a special case where Menu is concerned. If you create a batch file where the specified program is on drive X, then Menu will search for it on a given list of drives, defined by this field. Normally, you would include only your hard drives in this list, as they are searched much faster than such as CD-ROM drives, and any program that could be installed on one hard drive could just as easily by installed on another. E.g. if you list your hard drives as C, D and F and create a batch file for 'Galactic Invaders' on drive X, then Menu will look for it on drives C, D and F whenever it is told to refresh its list of available programs. This is a very powerful feature, and you will find that it is better to assign almost every program that will be on your hard drive(s) to drive X. Even if you currently have only one hard drive, it is still best to use X, in case you add another hard drive in the future. Any or all of the 'Drives to Search' can be included in this list. The default drives covered by X are 'CD'. OMIT ABSENT PROGRAMS This field is a flag and can only be 'Y' or 'N'. If it is set to 'N' Menu will not omit programs that are not found on the specified drives from the list of items. Ie. the programs listed in ALL of the compatible batch files will be displayed. When set to 'Y', only those programs that are available are included in the menu. On the face of it, displaying all programs may seem absurd, as the main strength of Ye Olde Disk Menu System is its ability to only show programs that are actually available. However, displaying all programs lets you access and so edit or delete batch files that are inaccurate or no longer required. If a batch file is not correct then, probably, Menu will not find the program that it describes, so it will not appear and the batch file will not be accessible from the menu! The default value for this option is 'Y'. Editing the System Configuration Form ------------------------------------- To edit the System Configuration Form use the keys listed below; Cursor RIGHT: Move to the next character in the current field. Cursor LEFT: Move to the previous character in the current field. Delete: Delete the character at the cursor position in the current field. Backspace: Delete the character to the left of the cursor in the current field. Home: Move the cursor to the first character of the current field. End: Move the cursor to the end of the current field. Cursor DOWN, Page DOWN, ENTER: Move down to the next field in the form. If you are currently on the last field (Omit Absent Programs) then Cursor Down and Page Down will wrap around back to the first field (Batch File Path), whereas pressing ENTER on the last field will instruct Menu that you have finished editing the form, and that the new values should be saved. You will be asked to confirm that the values are correct. Cursor UP, Page UP: Move up to the previous field in the form. If you are currently on the first field (Batch File Path) then you will wrap around to the last field (Omit Absent Programs). Escape: Exit the configuration editor, abandoning any changes that you have made. You will be asked to confirm this action. Typing any other valid key will insert it at the current cursor position. For each field in the form, a brief note of advice will be displayed at the bottom of the form. Menu will only allow you to type characters that are valid for the currently selected field, eg. spaces are not allowed in the batch file path. When you have completed your changes and press ENTER on the last field, Menu will check the form for simple errors, such as omitting the backslash '\' from the end of the batch file path. If no errors are found then you will be asked if the values are correct. If they are then the new configuration details will be written to the file MENUCHCE.CFG in the same directory as the Menu code files. If the values are not correct simply press 'N' to return to the editor. To leave the editor without saving any changes made, press ESCAPE. When you either save your changes with ENTER or abandon them with ESCAPE, you will be returned to the Menu proper. If you have changed any fields in the configuration, it is advised that you make Menu refresh its list of items by selecting the last option on the menu, 'REFRESH MENU ITEM LIST'. 5.) CREATING NEW BATCH FILES Menu works by looking at compatible batch (.BAT) files in your batch file directory for details of programs on your drives. It then looks for these programs in the specified directories on the specified drives and, if it finds them, includes their descriptions (also contained in the batch files) in the relevant sub-menu that is presented to you when you run the program. In this way, Menu uses your batch files as a database containing all the required information about your programs. Also, because they are still valid DOS batch files, their names can be entered at the DOS prompt to run your programs. The easiest way to create Menu-compatible batch files for your programs is to use the batch file creator/editor built into Ye Olde Disk Menu System. To invoke the editor, use the cursor keys to move to the item, 'CREATE NEW BATCH FILE', which is always second up from the bottom of the list of items. Press ENTER to select the item. You are presented with a form to fill in. There are several various fields in the form, as detailed below; The Batch File Form ------------------- BATCH FILE NAME Type into this field the file name of the new batch file. Do not add the extension, .BAT, as this is done automatically by the editor. Try to use batch file names that relate to your program. E.g. if you were creating a batch file for 'Galactic Invaders' then you might call the batch file something like GALACTIC or INVADERS. Remember that DOS file names can only be a maximum of 8 characters in length. This name is what you will type at the DOS prompt to run your program if you are not in the Menu. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Type here the description of your program as it will appear as a Menu item. Most ASCII characters are allowed (if the editor lets you type it, it's OK) and you can type right up to the end of the line. Use the entire name of the program to make the description more readable, e.g. something like "Galactic Invaders II - The Aliens Strike Back". You can also include in the description notes about the program, such as "Galactic Invaders (Doesn't work with a disk cache)". These descriptions are displayed in alphabetical order on the Menu. If you want a program to have a higher priority on the list, i.e. appear before the normal programs, place a space both before and after the description. If the program is higher priority still, type 2 spaces at beginning and end, etc. All programs with the same priority are sorted into alphabetical order. PROGRAM DRIVE This field is only one character in length and should contain the letter of the drive that contains the program executed by the new batch file. Any drive listed in the field 'ALL ALLOWED DRIVES' in the Menu System Configuration (Section 4.) can by used here, although menu itself will only look for programs on the drives listed in the configuration field, 'DRIVES TO SEARCH'. Do not include a colon, ':', after the drive letter, as the editor adds this itself. The one special case is drive X. If the Program Drive is given as X then when looking for the program Menu will search all drives listed in the configuration field, 'DRIVES COVERED BY X'. See Section 4. for more details of which drives to use in Menu. PROGRAM PATH This is the path of the directory in which the program can be found whenever it is installed. The drive letter and colon are not included as they are covered by the previous field, 'PROGRAM DRIVE'. The path must begin AND end with a backslash, '\'. E.g. if your program is in the directory GALINVAD which in turn is in the directory GAMES in the root directory, then the correct Program Path would be; \GAMES\GALINVAD\ The path can extend to the end of the line. PROGRAM EXECUTABLE This is the command that you would enter at the DOS prompt to run the program when you are in its directory. The instruction manual for the program will tell you what this command is. For instance if you ran your game 'Galactic Invaders' by running the file GALINV.EXE then the Program Executable that Menu requires would be GALINV. You should not include the file extension (in this case .EXE) as Menu will not be able to find your program if you do so. In most cases it is a good idea to make the Batch File Name, the first field, equal to the Program Executable, unless the latter is ambiguous (or you simply can never remember it!). As all DOS file names, the Program Executable file name may only be up to 8 characters in length. ARGUMENT #1/#2/#3/#4 These four optional fields allow you to pass up to 4 arguments to your program. When Menu runs your program, anything entered in these fields is appended to the program executable file name in the order that they appear, 1 to 4. Eg. if 'Galactic Invaders' needs to be run with two parameters, 'a' for adlib sound and 'v' for VGA graphics (i.e. you would type 'GALINV A V' to run it) then parameters one and two would be 'a' and 'v' respectfully. Each parameter can extend to the end of the line. PRE-EXECUTE COMMAND This field is optional. It can contain any valid DOS command that you could type at the DOS prompt. Any command entered here will be executed immediately BEFORE your program is ran. Example uses of the pre-execute command are 'CLS' to clear the screen or 'MOUSE' to load your mouse driver. The command can extend to the end of the line. POST-EXECUTE COMMAND This field is optional. It can contain any valid DOS command that you could type at the DOS prompt. Any command entered here will be executed immediately AFTER your program is ran, when you leave it. Some example uses of the post-execute command are 'DEL GAMES\GALINVAD\TEMP.$$$' to delete a temporary file used by a game or 'MOUSE /U' to unload from memory a mouse driver used by the program, or 'PAUSE' so that the program will wait for you to press a key before returning to the menu. The command can extend to the end of the line. PROGRAM SUB-MENU(S) This field is optional. If left blank for a particular program, then that program will appear on the Main Menu rather than any sub-menu. If you would like the program to appear in a sub-menu then simply enter the name of the sub-menu here. E.g. for Galactic Invaders you might enter GAMES. If you want to use further levels of sub-menus, separate the levels with commas. E.g. if you specified the Sub-Menu for Galactic Invaders as GAMES,SHOOT-EM-UP'S then it could be accessed from the sub-menu Shoot-Em-Up's, which would in turn be a sub-menu of the main, or root, menu. Do not insert a space before or after the commas in this field. All sub-menu names are treated as wholly upper-case to help the system recognize existing ones. At no time are you required to create any sub-menus yourself; Menu creates them whenever a program present on a drive uses one, and removes them when they are empty. Editing the Batch File Form --------------------------- To edit the Batch File Form use the keys listed below; Cursor RIGHT: Move to the next character in the current field. Cursor LEFT: Move to the previous character in the current field. Delete: Delete the character at the cursor position in the current field. Backspace: Delete the character to the left of the cursor in the current field. Home: Move the cursor to the first character of the current field. End: Move the cursor to the end of the current field. Cursor DOWN, Page DOWN, ENTER: Move down to the next field in the form. If you are currently on the last field (Program Sub-Menu(s)), then Cursor Down and Page Down will wrap around back to the first field (Batch File Name), whereas pressing ENTER on the last field will instruct Menu that you have finished editing the form, and that the batch file should be saved. You will be asked to confirm that the values are correct. Cursor UP, Page UP: Move up to the previous field in the form. If you are currently on the first field (Batch File Name) then you will wrap around to the last field (Program Sub-Menu(s)). Escape: Exit the Batch File, abandoning any fields that you have entered. You will be asked to confirm this action. Typing any other valid key will insert it at the current cursor position. For each field in the form, a brief note of advice will be displayed at the bottom of the form. Menu will only allow you to type characters that are valid for the currently selected field, eg. spaces are not allowed in the batch file name, program path or program executable. When you have completed your changes and press ENTER on the last field, Menu will check the form for simple errors, such as omitting the backslash '\' from the end of the program path. If no errors are found then you will be asked if the values are correct. You will be warned if a batch file already exists with the name that you have chosen or if the specified program cannot be found in the given path. If you press 'Y', the new batch file will be written to the file specified by Batch File Name (plus .BAT) in the same directory as the rest of the batch files, as specified by BATCH FILE PATH in the Menu System Configuration (Section 4.). If the values are not correct, simply press 'N' to return to the editor. If the program exists but Menu could'nt find it then you have probably typed the wrong Program Path or Program Executable. To leave the editor without writing any batch file, press ESCAPE. When you either save your batch file with ENTER or abandon it with ESCAPE, you will be returned to the Menu proper. If you have created a batch file for a program that is already on the specified drive then the program's description will be added to the list of menu items. If you install it later you can make Menu look for it by selecting the last option on the menu, 'REFRESH MENU ITEM LIST'. 6.) USING THE MENU PROPER Once you have installed any configured Ye Olde Disk Menu System and created some compatible batch files for games and applications on your drives you will be able to use the Menu to run your programs. Normally, when you enter MENU at the DOS prompt you will immediately be presented with the Main (or 'root') Menu of the Menu proper which is a list of programs that Menu has found on your drives along with 4 permanent system functions, described later. The currently selected item is indicated by a red bar stretching across the screen. To move the selection bar up and down the menu of items and to select items use the keys listed below; Moving Around the Menu Proper ----------------------------- Cursor DOWN, Cursor RIGHT; Move the selection bar down to the next item on the menu, ending at the last (bottom) item. Cursor UP, Cursor LEFT; Move the selection bar up to the previous item on the menu, ending at the first (top) item. Page DOWN; Move the selection bar down the menu ten items at a time, stopping at the bottom of the menu. Page UP; Move the selection bar up the menu ten items at a time, stopping at the top of the menu. HOME; Jump straight to the first item at the top of the menu. END; Jump straight to the last item at the bottom of the menu. ESCAPE; If you are currently viewing a sub-menu you will be returned to the parent menu, i.e. the one from which you accessed the current sub- menu. If you are already back in the main menu then pressing ESCAPE will immediately exit from Ye Olde Disk Menu System. No confirmation is required. Unless you ran Menu from such as the DOS Shell, Microsoft Windows (TM) or one of your own programs, you will be returned to the DOS prompt. ENTER; Run the selected program. If one of the four permanent system functions is selected, ENTER will invoke the requested function. See below for details. If a Sub-Menu is selected (Sub-Menus are always enclosed in square brackets, such as [Sub-Menu GAMES]), the chosen sub-menu will be displayed. The second item on any menu except the main menu, after the permanent item EXIT TO DOS, is always the parent sub-menu, i.e. selecting it with ENTER will return you to the menu from which you accessed the sub-menu. SPACE; Display information about the selected item. If one of the four system functions or a sub-menu is selected a brief description of the function will be displayed. Press a key to return to the menu proper. If one of your programs is selected you will be shown a screen similar to the Batch Form described in Section 5. The form will contain details of your program such as the batch file used to run it and the directory in which it can be found. See the form description in Section 5. for details of the meaning of each field in the form. Once you have pressed SPACE to display the information screen for one of your programs you can do several things, using the keys listed below; Alt-E Edit the displayed batch file. This is similar to the system function, CREATE NEW BATCH FILE. Editing existing batch files is discussed in Section 7. below. Alt-D Delete displayed batch file. You will be asked to confirm this option. You are advised not to delete batch files, even if you are going to remove the program ran by the batch file from your drive. If the batch file is still present when you install the program again in the future then Menu will find it and add it to the list of items automatically the next time the menu item list is refreshed. This is the primary feature of Ye Olde Disk Menu System, and it relies on the presence of a comprehensive set of batch files for your games and applications. One justifiable reason for deleting a batch file could be that it runs an obsolete program. If a batch file is deleted, its specified program is instantly removed from the menu. Alt-X Delete the displayed PROGRAM from your drive(s). You will be required to confirm this option. Once invoked, this option will delete ALL FILES AND DIRECTORIES of the displayed program from your drive(s), i.e. the directory of the program as specified in the batch form is removed, along with its contents. If the specified drive of the program is drive X then Menu will delete it from any of the 'Drives Covered by X' as specified in the Menu System Configuration. See Section 4. for more information about 'Drives Covered by X'. The batch file for the program is NOT deleted by this function. THIS IS A POWERFUL DELETION TOOL AND SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION. One case where use of this function could be disastrous is the case of having more than one program in the same directory. For example, you might create a batch file to run the DOS command CHKDSK so that you can check your hard drive from the menu. This command, CHKDSK.EXE, would naturally be located in your MS-DOS directory. If you tell Menu to delete the program it will remove it for you - along with the rest of the files in your DOS directory and the directory itself! Be CAREFUL!! Any program deleted will instantly be removed from the menu. Pressing any other key returns to the menu proper. The Four Permanent System Functions ----------------------------------- There are four permanent items present on the main menu, as well as on every sub-menu, which provide various system functions as described below; EXIT TO DOS This function is always the very first item on the menu, at the top. Selecting this option with ENTER quits Menu immediately, returning to whatever program ran the menu, usually leaving you at the DOS prompt. You are not required to confirm this action. EDIT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION This function allows you to alter aspects of the menu system configuration such as the path to your batch files and which of your disk drives you want Menu to deal with. See Section 4. above for details. This function is always third from the bottom of the list of items on the menu proper, either on the main menu or on a sub-menu. CREATE NEW BATCH FILE Use this function to create new batch files that Menu can then use to find out which programs to look for on your drives. Once you have batch files for all the programs that you regularly use then Menu will be able to keep the list of items that you can choose from up to date automatically. This function is discussed in Section 5. This function is always second from the bottom of the list of items on the menu proper. REFRESH MENU ITEM LIST Selecting this function with ENTER instructs Menu to search for programs on your drives. It does this by first scanning your batch file directory for all batch files that are compatible with it (all batch files created within Menu are, of course, compatible). Menu then uses the information about your programs contained in these batch files to look to see if they are present on the specified drives. The descriptions of any programs found are sorted into priority and alphabetical order and stored, along with the names of the batch files used to run them, in a file called MENULIST.DAT situated in the same directory as the menu code file, MENUCHCE.EXE. Menu displays information about what it is currently doing while it is searching for your programs. When it has finished, Menu waits for you to press a key before returning you to the menu proper using the new list of items. The four permanent system options are unaffected by refreshing the list of items. You can force Menu to refresh the item list first when you run it by typing 'MENU /R' or 'MENU /REFRESH' instead of just 'MENU' at the DOS prompt. When you refresh the item list in this way Menu does not wait for you to press a key before continuing to the updated menu proper. If you are running Menu from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file then it is advised that you use the /R option so that whenever you reboot your computer the list of items on the menu is automatically refreshed. Note that using a disk caching program such as MS-DOS' SmartDrive will dramatically reduce the time it takes Menu to refresh the item list, and it is STRONGLY advised that you make use of such a utility if possible. The Menu Refresh function is always the last item on the menu proper, at the very bottom of the list. 7.) EDITING EXISTING BATCH FILES This is very similar to the procedure for creating new batch files, discussed in Section 5. To edit an existing batch file, move the selection bar on the menu proper to the program whose batch file you wish to edit, and press SPACE to display details of the program. Next, hold down ALT and press E to display the batch file form, described in Section 5. You can now move around the form and edit it in exactly the same way as described in Section 5. The only real difference between creating a batch file and editing existing ones is that in the case of the former you are presented with an empty batch file form whereas in the case of the latter the forms initially contain the current values as defined in the selected batch files. As when creating a new batch file, pressing ENTER whilst the last field in the form ('PROGRAM SUB-MENU(S)') is selected instructs the editor that you have finished editing the form and that the new batch file should be saved over the old. If you have changed the batch file name, ie. renamed the batch file, then a new batch file will be written and the old one will be deleted. Any effects that your batch file changes have on the list of items on the menu will take place immediately. To quit the editor and abandon any changes you have made to the batch file press ESCAPE. You will be asked to confirm this action. If you do abandon your changes then none of your batch files will be altered and the list of items on the menu will remain unaltered. Appendix A.) TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE Listed below are several things that could go wrong with Menu, along with the probable causes of each symptom and a possible remedy; SYMPTOM: Entering MENU at the DOS prompt does not run Menu, but instead produces the error, 'BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME'. CAUSE: Either or both directories used by Menu aren't in your DOS path. The batch file and code file directories that you specified when you installed Menu MUST be in the path. The path is defined by the line starting PATH in your autoexec.bat file. If your batch file path is C:\BATCH and your code file path is C:\UTILS, then the two clauses C:\BATCH; and C:\UTILS; must be present somewhere on this line after the PATH. REMEDY: Add the missing directory(s) to your DOS path as described above and reboot your system. Refer to your DOS manual for more information about the PATH command. SYMPTOM: You have installed a program for which there is already a batch file compatible with Menu but the program does not appear on the menu. CAUSE: You have not told Menu to refresh the list of items. REMEDY: Select the last item on the menu, REFRESH MENU ITEM LIST, or run menu with MENU /R or MENU /REFRESH. SYMPTOM: When you refresh the list of menu items some or all of the programs on your drives do not appear on the menu. CAUSE: i) There is no Menu-compatible batch file for the program. ii) There is a batch file, but it is incorrectly defined. REMEDY: Create a new batch file for the program by selecting the menu item, CREATE NEW BATCH FILE. This will overwrite any existing invalid batch file. SYMPTOM: Menu displays the error 'Too many menu items'. CAUSE: The maximum of 1000 menu items have been used! REMEDY: Remove some items from the menu by deleting the programs or their batch files. SYMPTOM: Menu stops with the error 'Unable to open MENULIST.DAT'. CAUSE: Menu's data file does not exist, perhaps because you have just installed Menu, or the file has been inadvertently deleted. REMEDY: Run menu with MENU /R or MENU /REFRESH to create the data file. SYMPTOM: When I return to menu after running a program or quitting to DOS with ESCAPE I am back at the top of the menu every time instead of being where I left it. CAUSE: There was not enough DOS environment space to store the values of where you were in the list of items. REMEDY: Increase the amount of DOS environment space by increasing the number following the /E parameter on the line beginning SHELL= in your CONFIG.SYS file. Refer to your DOS manual for more information about environment space. SYMPTOM: A program appears on the menu, but when I select it with ENTER I am returned almost immediately to the menu. CAUSE: The program executable may be a COM file, i.e. it has an extension of .COM. Some versions of DOS have a quirk that prevents you from running COM files from programs in other directories, such as Menu. REMEDY: From the DOS prompt, use CD to go into the directory containing the program and type DIR .COM to get a list of all the COM files in the directory. If one of them is the program executable as defined in the batch file for the program then use a DOS text editor to create a batch file in the program's directory called GO.BAT. Type the name of the program executable, i.e. the COM file, into the file and save it. Next, run the menu and edit the batch file for the program by moving the selection bar to the program's description, pressing SPACE then pressing Alt-E to invoke the editor. Move down to the PROGRAM EXECUTABLE field and delete the current value, replacing it with GO. Press ENTER a few times until the editor saves your changes (you will have to confirm the change). Return to the menu proper and run the program using ENTER. SYMPTOM: I am in the menu but haven't pressed a key for a minute or so. Suddenly, the screen is replaced by a scrolling message that moves in a wave-like motion across the screen! CAUSE: Don't worry! That is just the built in screen saver, included to prevent Menu from burning its data into your monitor screen. REMEDY: Press a key to return to what you were doing. SYMPTOM: After installing version 6 of Menu over version 5 and typing MENU to run it, the menu that is displayed is utter gibberish! CAUSE: The old data file is not compatible with the new version of Menu. REMEDY: Run Menu with MENU /R to create a new data file. Appendix B.) LIST OF FILES USED BY MENU Ye Olde Disk Menu System makes use of several files that may be found in two different directories on your hard drive. To install you were asked to specify a path for batch files and a path for code files. If you omitted the code file path then the batch file path wad used for both, and all of the below files will be found in your batch file directory. Files in the Batch File Directory --------------------------------- File name Contents MENU.BAT The main Menu batch file that calls MENUCHCE.EXE to find out what you want to run and then runs it. RUNPROG.BAT A program that is called by every one of the batch files that you create using Menu's built in batch file utility. RunProg makes sure that the requested program is present before attempting to execute it. EXECUTE.BAT A short program used by RUNPROG.BAT to execute programs. CALL.BAT A substitute for the internal DOS command, CALL, which is not available in early versions of DOS. LASTCHCE.BAT A file written by MENUCHCE.EXE that contains information used by MENU.BAT to execute the programs that you select. READCWD.BAT A short batch program written by the code file WRITECWD.EXE that, when executed, changes the Current Working Directory to a previously held value. Examples Many sample Menu-compatible batch (.BAT) files. Files in the Code File Directory -------------------------------- File Name Contents MENUCHCE.EXE The main bulk of the Menu system. All major functions of Ye Olde Disk Menu System are controlled by you from this code file. WRITECWD.EXE A short program that stores the current DOS Current Working Directory by writing a short batch file called READCWD.BAT in the batch file directory. When run, this batch file returns you to the directory that you were in when you ran WriteCWD. Using this utility, quitting back to DOS from Menu returns you to wherever you were on your drives when you ran it. MENUCHCE.CFG The configuration information for MENUCHCE.EXE and WRITECWD.EXE. This information can be edited from within Menu using the system function 'EDIT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION'. MENULIST.DAT Details of the programs that appear on the menu proper. You should not edit this file yourself, as Menu maintains an up-to- date list of available items AUTOMATICALLY. MENUDOC.TXT A DOS text version of this manual. MENUDOC.WRI A Microsoft Windows (TM) Write version of this manual. VENDOR.TXT A DOS text document that all shareware vendors should look at. Appendix C.) REGISTERING INFORMATION If you have registered your copy of Ye Olde Disk Menu System then thank you very much; you have helped to maintain the quality of shareware by making it worth the author's time to produce decent, useful software. Well done! If your copy of this program is unregistered then please try to remember that SHAREWARE IS NOT FREE! You are using the program for evaluation purposes only, and if you find it useful and plan to continue to use it for some time, you should pay for it! If people don't pay for shareware software then the people who write it will just give it up, meaning an end to quality software at low prices. Also, registering often provides you with newer, enhanced versions of the software, as well as news of new products available. Please register! To register your copy of Ye Olde Disk Menu System please send a cheque or postal order made payable to NEIL DAVIDSON for 20 Pounds Sterling (No foreign currencies please!) to; NEIL DAVIDSON, 60 PETER STREET, WORKINGTON, CUMBRIA. CA14 3DJ. ENGLAND. Don't forget to include your address and any comments about the software, such as what you would like to see included in it in future versions. If you have any queries about registration or about the software itself then please feel free to contact the author, Neil Davidson on UK (0900) 603775. INDEX /E parameter, 31 /R parameter, 6, 7, 28, 30, 31 A (ALL) ALLOWED DRIVES, 9, 10, 16 ARGUMENT #1/#2/#3/#4, 17 AUTOEXEC.BAT, 5, 6, 7, 8, 28, 30 B BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME', 30 batch file, 4, 5, 8, 9 - 11, 14, 15, 17, 19 - 27, 29 - 34 batch file form, 15, 19, 23, 25, 29 batch file name, 15, 17, 19, 20, 29 batch file path (BatchPath), 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 20, 27, 30, 33, 34 C CALL.BAT, 33 CD-ROM, 9, 10, 11 CodePath, 5 COM file, 32 CONFIG.SYS, 31 configuration, 6, 8, 13, 16, 20, 26, 34 conventional (base) memory, 4 creating new batch files, 14, 24, 27, 29, 31 Current Working Directory, 33, 34 D disk caching, 7, 28 DOS environment space, 31 DOS file name, 15, 17 DOS path, 5, 8, 30 DOS prompt, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30, 32 DOS Shell, 23 drive X, 9, 10, 11, 16, 25 Drives Covered by X, 11, 16 Drives to Search, 10, 11, 16 E EDIT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION, 8, 26, 34 EDITING EXISTING BATCH FILES, 29 evaluation, 35 example batch files, 5, 33 EXECUTE.BAT, 33 EXIT TO DOS, 7, 26 F file extension, 17 Files in the Batch File Directory, 33 Files in the Code File Directory, 34 FILES USED BY MENU, 33 floppy disk drive, 9, 10 H hard drive, 10, 11 I installing, 5 - 6, 30, 31 L LASTCHCE.BAT, 33 LASTDRIVE, 9 M Main (root) Menu, 18, 22, 23, 26 memory overhead, 4 Menu data file, 4 menu proper, 6, 7, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34 MENU.BAT, 6, 7, 33 MENUCHCE.CFG, 8, 13, 34 MENUCHCE.EXE, 4, 27, 33, 34 MENUDOC.TXT, 34 MENUDOC.WRI, 34 MENULIST.DAT, 4, 6, 7, 27, 31, 34 O Omit Absent Programs, 11, 12, 13 P PATH, 5, 8, 30 permanent system function, 8, 22, 23, 26, 27 Post-Execute Command, 18, 19, 20, 29 Pre-Execute Command, 18 priority, 15, 27 PROGRAM DESCRIPTION, 15 PROGRAM DRIVE, 16 program executable, 17, 20, 32 Program Path, 16, 20 R READCWD.BAT, 33, 34 refresh, 6, 7, 11, 13, 24, 27, 28, 30, 21, 27, 31 REFRESH MENU ITEM LIST, 13, 21, 27, 30 REGISTERING, 35 RUNPROG.BAT, 33 S screen saver, 32 selection bar, 7, 8, 22, 29, 32 SHAREWARE, 34, 35 Sub-Menus, 4, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32 System Configuration Form, 8, 12 T Too many menu items, 31 TROUBLE SHOOTING, 30 V valid character, 13, 20 W Windows, 23, 34 WRITECWD.EXE, 33, 34 ******************************************** All Trademarks Acknowledged ********************************************