
                  ┌──────────────────────────┐
                  │ Welcome to the Main Menu │
                  └──────────────────────────┘


 This help  file contains  information explaining everything you
 need to  know to use this hard disk menu. The purpose of having
 a menu  simplifies the process of loading programs, making your
 application software  available from  the push  of a button, or
 the click of the mouse.

 To view  this help  file simply  use your arrow keys to move up
 and down.  Other keys  that might  be of  use are [PAGE UP] and
 [PAGE DOWN],  which will  move you  up or  down though the help
 file a  whole page at a time, whereas the arrows keys only move
 by a  line at  a time. Escape [ESC] will cancel the help screen
 and return you to the menu.

 Table of Contents
 ─────────────────

          1. Introduction
          2. How to use the Menu
          3. Modifying the Menu Items
               1. Using Editing Windows
               2. Menu Items
               3. Sub Menus
               4. Easy Add
               5. Editing Keys
          4. Modifying the Configuration
          5. Key Summary
          6. Printing the Documentation
          7. How the Menu Works

  ┌─────────────────┐
  │ 1. INTRODUCTION │
  └─────────────────┘

 HDMenu is  a menu  system  that  allows  quick  access  to  any
 software program  you have  on your  hard disk.  It provides  a
 consistent and  easy  to  use  user  interface  to  application
 software.

 With HDMenu  you no  longer have to see the DOS prompt and will
 never be  lost within  the confusing  sub-directory system. You
 will simply press one or two keys to execute any program.

 Passwords, and  various other  options can  be assigned to menu
 items and  the menu  can be  taylored  to  meet  your  specific
 requirements. The  number of  menus  and  sub  menus  are  only
 limited by your computers memory.

  ┌────────────────────────┐
  │ 2. HOW TO USE THE MENU │
  └────────────────────────┘

 If the  menu program  was already setup when you purchased your
 computer you  will have found that once turned on your computer
 will automatically  display the  menu,  and  that  the  initial
 installation of  the menu  and setup  has already been done for
 you. So your only problem at the moment is what program to load
 !

 There are  three ways  to choose  which item  you would like to
 load, these  are: Using  the arrow  keys to highlight the item,
 Pressing the  letter of  the option you would like to load, and
 Using the  Mouse to  click on  the selected  item. There is two
 ways to start the program you have chosen, and that is to click
 on the  item with  the mouse or with the [ENTER] key (sometimes
 referred to  as the  [RETURN] key). By pressing the letter key,
 the menu highlight bar will go to the chosen item and will also
 start the  program. When using the mouse to click on an item, a
 'double click'  is needed to start the program, which means the
 first click will move the highlight bar to the chosen item, and
 then the second click will start the program.
 
 Often options  are grouped  together under  a common heading to
 avoid cluttering  the main  menu screen.  eg.  You  might  have
 several programs that could be classified under 'Dos Utilities'
 or perhaps  you might  have several  Games, in these cases when
 you select  these sub-menus  you then  get the options that are
 available for that sub-menu, so if you selected a Games submenu
 then the  items relating  to that  sub-menu would be displayed.
 These sub-menus are just another menu, from a menu item.

 When you  select an option by pressing [ENTER], or by using the
 mouse, the chosen program will load, and then when you exit the
 program, the computer will return to the main menu again.

 Several functions  are available  from the  main  menu  screen,
 these are  [F1] for Help, [F5] for System Information, [F8] for
 menu maintenance,  and [F10]  to Exit.  Pressing [F1]  for help
 will display  this information that you are reading now. System
 Information gives a quick summary of your computer, things like
 how much  memory your  computer has,  what sort of disk drives,
 what type  of computer,  the Dos  version, and a few other bits
 and  pieces  that  might  be  of  interest  to  you.  Selecting
 Maintenance by pressing [F8] lets you modify the menu items and
 the menus  configuration, this  will be  covered  in  the  next
 section. Pressing [F10] quits the menu and returns you to DOS.

  ┌─────────────────────────────┐
  │ 3. MODIFYING THE MENU ITEMS │
  └─────────────────────────────┘

 If you  want to  change the  way the  menu looks,  eg. add  new
 options, delete old ones etc... you will need to use the menu's
 maintenance mode.  Pressing [F8]  switches the  menu  into  the
 maintenance mode,  allowing the menu options to be modified and
 options to  be added  and  removed.  When  in  editing  mode  a
 'maintenance' message  is displayed on the screen and a summary
 of the  main functions available are displayed at the bottom of
 the screen,  however not  all the editing keys are displayed on
 the screen, so it is worth while to read this documentation.
 
 While in  maintenance mode the menu items can still be selected
 as normal  (with the arrow keys etc...), but programs cannot be
 started by  pressing [ENTER].  Now when  [ENTER] is pressed the
 editing window popups with the details for that item. There are
 two type of menu options, these are Menu Items (actual programs
 that are  available on the hard disk) and Submenus which access
 a group of Menu Items and/or Submenus.
 
  ┌───────────────────────────────┐
  │ 3.1 USING THE EDITING WINDOWS │
  └───────────────────────────────┘

 When changes  to the  various parts of the menu are being made,
 editing windows  will  be  displayed  containing  the  relevant
 information. The way that these windows can be used is the same
 throughout all  the  different  parts  of  the  menu,  and  the
 different windows.  Most of the editing windows will consist of
 several pieces  of information  or 'fields'.  For  example  the
 editing window  for a menu program has a menu description field
 a menu  password field,  and some  others. To  move about these
 editing windows  several keys  need to  be used,  as  described
 below. Initially the cursor will be placed of the first field.
 
 To move  to the next field press the [TAB] key. To move back to
 the previous  field the [Shift+TAB] key must be used. Finishing
 editing the  information  can  be  done  two  ways,  these  are
 firstly, by selecting the OK button placed at the bottom of the
 screen, or  by simply  pressing [F10].  To select the OK button
 you will  need to  press the [TAB] the key until you have moved
 the cursor  down to the OK button, then to select the OK button
 just press [ENTER].
 
 Cancelling or  aborting editing  the information  if you make a
 mistake can  also be  done in two ways. By selecting the CANCEL
 button, in  a similar  manner to the OK button described above,
 or by simply pressing [ESC].
 
 Shortcut keys  are also  available to  select the OK and CANCEL
 buttons. This  is done  by selecting  the Highlighted letter on
 each of  the buttons  in conjunction  with the [ALT] key. So to
 select OK you would press [ALT] and the 'O' key, and for cancel
 [ALT+C] would be used.
 
 The Pop  windows can  be moved  about the  screen, to  do  this
 either click  the left  mouse button on part of the top line of
 the window and keeping the mouse button down move the mouse and
 the window  will follow.  To move  a window  using the keyboard
 press [CTRL+F5]  and the  shadow for  the window will disappear
 and the arrow keys will move the window about the screen. Press
 [ENTER] to stop moving the window.
 
  ┌────────────────┐
  │ 3.2 MENU ITEMS │
  └────────────────┘

 Menu Items  are actual  items that  are available  on your hard
 disk and  can be loaded through the menu, for example you might
 have an  Antivirus program,  this would  be on the menu, and is
 referred to as a menu item.
 
 Each menu  item has  several fields  or pieces  of  information
 which relate  to how  it will work, all these can be viewed and
 changed from  the editing  screen that  appears when [ENTER] is
 pressed on  the selected  item. The following are a explanation
 of what each of them mean and do:
 
 Menu Description:  This is simply how this menu program will be
 displayed on  the menu screen, it is up to you what you type in
 on this description line to describe the program that it runs.
 
 Password: If you wish to limit who can use this program then by
 entering a password, the user will be prompted for the password
 every time that they attempt to run this program.
 
 Options:

 Return to Menu: If this option is checked (contains an X within
 the square  brackets)  it  means  that  when  the  program  has
 finished running  the menu  will be displayed again for another
 selection to  be made.  Without being checked, (no X within the
 square brackets) means when the program is finished running the
 menu will  not be displayed again, and the computer will remain
 at DOS. The default is to return to the menu.
 
 Clear Screen:  When this  option is checked, the screen will be
 cleared before  the  program  is  started.  This  is  also  the
 default.
 
 Pause on  Return: When  this option  is checked,  a prompt will
 appear "Press  and key to Return to the Menu" after the program
 has finished  running, once  a key  gets pressed  the  menu  is
 displayed again.  This  is  sometimes  useful  if  the  program
 displays some  information you may want to see, for example the
 DOS command 'CHKDSK'.
 
 Menu Commands:
 This is  where the instructions on how the computer is to start
 the menu program are stored. Normal DOS commands can be entered
 where, up  to twenty  lines, to  start the  program. If a batch
 file is  going to be started it is necessary to start the batch
 file with  the CALL  command infront  of it  to ensure that the
 program returns  to the  menu. If  you  are  unsure  about  DOS
 commands there  is  an  easier  method  for  filling  in  these
 commands, by  using the [F8] key to select a file. That will be
 covered later.
 
 To add  menu items  simply press the [Insert] key, and an empty
 window will  appear for  you to fill in the details of how that
 program should  appear on  the menu,  and what  Dos commands to
 run. To  remove menu  items press  the [Delete]  key,  and  the
 current item  will be deleted. If you delete a submenu, all the
 items belonging to the submenu are also deleted.
 
  ┌───────────────┐
  │ 3.3 SUB MENUS │
  └───────────────┘

 As mentioned earlier, a submenu is another group of menu items.
 For example you might have a submenu called games and when this
 is selected the menu would change and display the list of games
 that are available. Submenus allow you to classify the programs
 on your  hard disk,  and as  there is  a limit of eighteen menu
 items on one screen, to have more programs.
 
 To add  a submenu  to the  current menu,  press  [F2]  and  the
 editing window  will be  displayed. Submenus  only require  two
 pieces of information unlike menu programs. These are:
 
 Menu Description:  This is  simply  how  the  submenu  will  be
 displayed on  the menu screen, it is up to you what you type in
 on this  description line  to describe the type of submenu that
 it is
 
 Password: If  you wish  to limit who can access the programs on
 this submenu  then by  entering a  password, the  user will  be
 prompted for  the password  every time  that  they  attempt  to
 access this submenu

 To move  into and  out of submenus you need to use the [F5] key
 and [ESC].  In normal  operation pressing  [ENTER] on a submenu
 will display  the submenu's items, but when in maintenance mode
 pressing [ENTER]  displays the  editing screen for the submenu,
 to change  to the  submenu you must press [F5]. To backout of a
 submenu simply  press [ESC]  and this  will return  you to  the
 previous menu.
 
 The title  of the  current menu screen is displayed in the menu
 box, this changes as submenus are selected. Initially the title
 will be  'Main Menu'  and then if a games submenu was selected,
 for example, the title would then change to 'Games'.
 
 Sometimes you  may want to indicate that an item on the menu is
 a submenu  by following  its name  with three dots (an ellipsis
 mark), for  example 'Games...'.  The  menu  will  automatically
 remove the  ellipsis from the submenu name when it is displayed
 as a submenu.

  ┌──────────────┐
  │ 3.4 EASY ADD │
  └──────────────┘

 The normal  method for  adding an item to the menu requires you
 to know  the DOS  commands to start the program, if you are not
 familiar with DOS or do not know the file name that starts your
 program then the alternative is to use this method.
 
 Pressing [F8]  displays a  window that  lets you  view all  the
 files on  your hard disk that can start programs (which are the
 program ending  in: BAT,  EXE, and  COM). Using [TAB] to switch
 between the directory and file windows, and pressing [ENTER] on
 the directories  you wish  to view  the files  in. Each  time a
 directory is  selected the  files list  is updated. To select a
 directory or a file with the mouse simply 'double click' on the
 item, a  double click  is just  two clicks  of the  left  mouse
 button in quick succession. Once you have found the program you
 would like  to add  to the menu, press [ENTER] on the filename,
 or select  the OK  button, and  then the menu items window will
 appear with  the batch commands already filled in, all you have
 to do  is then  assign the  program the  menu description,  and
 press [F10].

  ┌──────────────────┐
  │ 3.5 EDITING KEYS │
  └──────────────────┘

 Several keys  are available to allow you to manipulate the menu
 items. Each of these will be covered separately below.

 Swapping menu  items can  be done  with the  [F3] key  while in
 editing mode.  Once [F3]  is pressed  a prompt  appears at  the
 bottom of the screen asking you to select the next item to swap
 with. Moving  the highlite  bar to  the next  item and pressing
 [F3] again  will complete  the swap, or [ESC] can be pressed to
 cancel the swap. Menu items and submenus can swapped ok.

 In addition rearranging the order of the menu items by swapping
 menu items,  some cut  and paste features are available to move
 and copy  menu items.  To move  a menu  item it  must be  first
 removed from  its current place, and then inserted into its new
 location, or cut and pasted as it is sometimes referred to.

 The keys  [Ctrl+Del] will delete a menu item and allow it to be
 inserted in  a new location. Once a item has been deleted it is
 held in  a buffer until you copy it out. [Ctrl+Ins] will insert
 the contents of the buffer at the current location in the menu.
 Items can  be stored into the paste buffer without having to be
 deleted from the menu as well, by using [Ctrl+Home] the current
 menu item will be copied into the paste buffer, and then can be
 inserted else  where in  the menu  with [Ctrl+Ins]. If Submenus
 are moved  in this  way, only  the submenu name gets copied and
 not all the items belonging to that submenu.

  ┌────────────────────────────────┐
  │ 4. MODIFYING THE CONFIGURATION │
  └────────────────────────────────┘

 Various  options   are  available  to  allow  the  menu  to  be
 customised for  each users  requirements. To  access  the  menu
 configuration menu  you firstly  need to  be in the maintenance
 mode, and  then from  there by  pressing [F4] the configuration
 menu is displayed.

 Colours: Selecting the colours option displays another menu for
 you to  select which  colour you  wish to  change, eg. the help
 screen colours,  the main screen etc... Each one of the various
 colour options display a window with the different colours that
 are relevant  to that  particular option. For each colour item,
 eg. The  colour of  the  border,  there  is  two  numbers,  the
 foreground colour, and the background colour. In some cases one
 of the  options may have N/A (for not applicable) as the colour
 is determined from another colour in the list.

 System Configuration: This contains the different password that
 can  be   assigned  to  various  options.  Exit  to  Dos,  Menu
 Maintenance, and  Menu Configuration  can all  have a  password
 assigned to them, so whenever one of these options are selected
 the user  will have to enter the password first. Also contained
 on this  screen is  the Exit  to Dos  commands, this allows for
 three lines for Dos commands to be entered. These commands will
 be executed  when ever  the user  exits the menu. Perhaps in an
 network a  logoff command  could be used here, or the hard disk
 could be parked.

 Display Options

 Various settings  to control  how the  menu looks on the screen
 are available. The single, double, and none for the main border
 an options border refers to the line thickness on the boxes.

 The  different   sound  options  control  what  beeps  will  be
 generated. When set to medium only error messages and important
 messages will  get a  beep. Set to full beeps for all messages,
 and emits  a little  click for  invalid keys  that are pressed.
 Selecting no sound will suppress all beeps.

 The date  format will  adjust how  the date is displayed at the
 bottom of  the screen.  To selecting  a different  date use the
 arrow keys  to select  the desired  option and press [SPACE] to
 change the marker to the current item.

 Screen blanking  will blank  the screen after the set period of
 time if  no activity  had occurred on the keyboard - to prevent
 damage to the computers screen. The screen will blank after the
 chosen time, and then will alternate between a blank screen and
 the suppliers  logo screen.  To restore the menus normal screen
 simply press any key.

 Finally, the  display options  control several other aspects of
 how the  menu looks.  The key  status will  indicate on the top
 right of  the menu  screen what  the status of the 'lock' keys.
 The Caps  lock, Num  lock, and  scroll lock.  The Time and date
 options will  turn on/off  the display  of the time and date at
 the bottom  of the  menu screen.  If only  one of  the items is
 selected then  it is displayed in the centre of the screen. The
 greeting will  give the user a message 'Good Morning...' etc...
 If this item is not selected then this message is removed.

  ┌────────────────┐
  │ 5. KEY SUMMARY │
  └────────────────┘

 In normal operation:

          F1 : Display this help file
          F5 : Display the system information screen
          F8 : Switch the menu into maintenance mode
         F10 : Exit to DOS
     UP/DOWN : Move highlight bar up and down
       ENTER : Start the currently highlighted item
  LETTER KEY : Start the item corresponding to the letter key
         ESC : Exit a submenu screen
 
 In maintenance operation:
 
          F1 : Display this help file
          F2 : Insert a Submenu item
          F3 : Swap menu items
          F4 : Display the configuration menu
          F5 : Change to submenu (if the item is a submenu)
          F8 : Insert a item by selecting the file
          F9 : Abort changes and exit maintenance mode
         F10 : Save changes and exit maintenance mode
      INSERT : Insert a new menu item
      DELETE : Delete the current item
 CTRL+DELETE : Cut the current item (store it in a buffer)
 CTRL+INSERT : Insert the item in the buffer
   CTRL+HOME : Copy the current item into the buffer
     UP/DOWN : Move highlight bar up and down
       ENTER : Edit the currently highlighted item
  LETTER KEY : Edit the item corresponding to the letter key
         ESC : Exit a submenu screen
 
  ┌───────────────────────────────┐
  │ 6. PRINTING THE DOCUMENTATION │
  └───────────────────────────────┘

 The menu documentation is the file HDMENU.HLP on the hard disk,
 it can  be viewed  from the  menu by pressing [F1] or it can be
 printed if you have a printer.

 The help  file (this  file) is  a simple text file which can be
 printed on all printer that can print the IBM character set. To
 print the menu documentation follow the following steps:

    1. Exit to the Dos prompt
    2. Change to the menu directory, to do this type:
       CD \MENU [enter]
    3. Make sure the printer is turn on and has paper loaded.
    4. Send the help file to the printer, to do this type:
       COPY HDMENU.HLP LPT1 [enter]

  ┌───────────────────────┐
  │ 7. HOW THE MENU WORKS │
  └───────────────────────┘

 The menu  operates with  DOS batch files, each time a menu item
 is started  the batch  file gets adjusted to start the selected
 program, once  the program  has finished running the batch file
 will return to the menu.

 If another  batch file  is started  then it  will be  unable to
 return to  the menu  unless the  DOS command  'CALL' is  placed
 before the  batch file.  For example  if one of the command you
 wish to  run is called 'NETWORK' and this is a batch file, then
 it is necessary to enter 'CALL NETWORK' to menu reload once the
 batch file has finished running.

 Files required to run HDMenu:

   MENU  .BAT - Batch file required to start HDMenu
   HDMENU.CFG - Configuration file (colours, options, etc...)
   HDMENU.DAT - File for Menu items
   HDMENU.EXE - Menu Program
   HDMENU.HLP - Help File (Text file - Optional)
   HDMENU.SCN - Screen blanking Logo file
