NOTICE: Logical Software and/or Daniel Winsor offers no warranty as to the validity of this manual or the programs described herein. Logical Software and/or Daniel Winsor will not be held responsible by any person or persons for damages caused by direct or indirect use or misuse of this product. By using this product, the user states the he or she has read this notice and understands this all that has been stated. (Whew! Now on to the good stuff!) ************************************************************ * * * --------------------- * ****************** PRO-MENU INSTRUCTIONS ******************* * --------------------- * * * ************************************************************ Thank you for choosing Pro-Menu. I hope that this product can provide a convienent, simple way of making the most of your computer and hard drive. This program is for you if : (1) You are tired of switching back and forth from directory to directory just to run a few programs. (2) You want those DOS utilities offered by those "other" utility software vendors at a fraction of the cost! (3) You want PC Security such as keyboard lock, file encryption and menu password protection. Consider this: You have just powered on your computer to update your checking program. On the screen is the familiar DOS prompt flashing away at you. First, you type DIR to find out the name of the directory that you have stored the files in. Second, you type into the computer CD\CHECKING to change to the check program directory. Third, you run the checking program. While the above example of works every time, it can become quite annoying if you have to jump between your check program and your spreadsheet 4 or 5 times a day. New users to the IBM system might find learning DOS and learning to run programs, with their many varied commands, extremely confusing. Now here is the same example after setting up your checking program as the third option on Pro©Menu. First, you toggle down to the checking programs name on the menu by hitting the down arrow three times. Second you hit enter to execute the program! Pretty Simple huh? Well, that's also how simple it is to install the program. INSTALLATION: ------------- When you first receive Pro-Menu it should contain the following programs: PROM.EXE : Main program PRO-WAIT.EXE : Used by main KM.EXE : Keymaster. MEDIT.EXE : Menu editor MENUINST.EXE : Install program GENMENU.EXE : Simple menu generator. PRO-MENU.DAT : Sample menu data PRO-MENU.DOC : Brief command list INSTRUCT.TXT : This file. PROMGR EXE : File Manager (no mouse support yet.) ANSI2PMA EXE : To convert ANSI picture files into a binary format. JESSICA PMA : A sample Pro-Menu formatted ANSI backdrop. From the directory that these programs are in, type: MENUINST and hit enter. The installation program will load and ask for the source drive. Type the drive that these programs are stored on now. If you have these programs in drive A: type 'A'. Now the program will ask for the destination drive. This is the drive that the program will be installed onto. NOTE : The source and destination drives may be the same. Next it will ask for the name of your Pro©Menu data file. If this is a first time installation just hit enter, otherwise; enter the name of the alternate filename containing menu data.Unless you have set up an alternate Pro-menu batch file which calls another pro-menu data file, you should always hit the ENTER key at this point. At this point program will now describe what is about to happen, and if you agree hit Y to continue. You should now see a '+' sign being displayed as each file is copied to your destination drive. If this is a first time installation it will ask if you wish your autoexec.bat be updated. It is a good idea to answer Y at this prompt. This will allow the program to be run from any directory on any drive just by typing PRO-MENU and hitting enter. If you feel that you will be running this program only from within your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file then answer N to this question (I recommend typing Y to this question). A backup of your current autoexec.bat file will be named AUTOEXEC.PRO. To update your autoexec.bat, make sure that you place the command PRO-MENU as the last command in your C:\AUTOEXEC file. If changes were made to your autoexec.bat file, then they will not be in effect until you re-boot the machine. If all went fine, then it is time to learn to set up your first menu! HOW TO REGISTER PRO-MENU: ------------------------- Although PRO-MENU can be used without registering the product, doing so will show me how much you really apreciated the year of work that went into this program (not to mention the time spent sitting up late at night typing in this manual!) and will also remove that annoying message that keeps appearing every 30 seconds! The $10 registration donation/fee is only asked to separate the casual user from the serious user. If you plan on using this program for a week, then why register? Use it for the week and the pass it on to a friend. For the serious user who needs a program to take control of the web of directories and filenames then $10 is a extremely small price to pay for sanity! To register do the following: (4) Change the directory to \PRO-MENU (5) Type PROM /R (6) Write down the code that the program supplies, your name, and disk size 5.25 or 3.5 inch. (5.25 could AT style if you wish) (7) Send all the info listed in note (6)and a money order for $10 to: Daniel W. Winsor 178 Russell St. Everett, Ma. 02149 ( Please wait 1 - 2 weeks for reply. Thankyou! ) YOUR FIRST MENU (USING MEDIT): ------------------------------ When you installed PRO-MENU for the first time, MENUINST installed a file PRO-MENU.DAT onto your hard disk in a directory \PRO-MENU. For now, let's rename this file to a backup name. If you own a printer, you may find it helpful to print out this file. From within the \PRO-MENU directory type: RENAME PRO-MENU.DAT PRO-BACK.DAT and hit enter. Now load the menu editor by typing: MEDIT PRO-MENU.DAT This will load the editor and and then load the file pro-menu.dat. If this file does not exist, an empty file with this name will be created. The MEDIT program is very simple to use but does not contain any cut and paste facility. It also will not allow the ENTER key to be used to break a line into two sections. ENTER may be used to insert a new line only if the cursor is at the beginning or end of a line. Type this into the editor: !----------------------------------------! ! My first Menu ! !----------------------------------------! BEGIN MENUS MName = First Menu MDesc = Dir /w MExec = DIR MPara = /P END MENUS After typing the above program into the editor using MEDIT, you can check your work by hitting the F4 key. This will scan the text for any misplaced spacing or spelling errors. If the check went successful then proceed, otherwise fix the listed errors and keep trying the CHECK option (F4) until all errors are found and eliminated. Now let's break down exactly what this menu data does: Line Description --------- ------------------------------------------------ 1-3 Any line beginning with '!' is a comment and is ignored by Pro-Menu. 4 Tells Pro-Menu that this is a valid Pro-Menu data file and to begin processing. 6 MName tells Pro-Menu to name this menu 'First Menu'. All menu commands must have position 6,7,8 as ' = ' to operate. 7 MDesc sets first decription on menu to be 'Dir /w'. 8 MExec is the line that does all the loading and running of the program. When the above description is selected, this line will be loaded. In this case a DIR will be performed. 9 MPara is a list of parameters that will be added to the executing file named above. In this example a /W will be added to the above DIR. 11 END MENUS tells Pro-Menu that processing is complete. Any lines after this command will be ignored. SAVING A MENU WITH MEDIT : -------------------------- To Save your first menu program hit the F2 key. The program will ask you for a file name. Check the file name bewtween the brakets and if it is the name you would like then just hit enter, otherwise; type the new name now. EXITING MEDIT: -------------- Hit F10 to exit out of MEDIT. If you program has been modified then the save option will be selected first before exiting (see last paragraph). LOADING PRO-MENU: ----------------- To load Pmenu just type : PRO-MENU and then hit ENTER key. If your menu data is correct, the menu should pop up on screen in a second or two. If not then an error occured and the data file should be loaded into a text editor and fixed. EXITING PRO-MENU: ----------------- To exit PRO-MENU you must do one of the following: (1) Hit ESC twice within a one second interval from the main menu screen. (2) If the *EXIT* flag was placed as a menu item, it could be selected to exit from program (See *EXIT* menu data for more info. (3) Move the mouse cursor to the EXIT option at the top of the main screen. Click once on the left mouse button. USING A MOUSE WITH PRO-MENU: ---------------------------- To use a IBM or MICROSFT COMPATIBLE mouse with PRO-MENU you must do two things: (1) Follow the manufacturer's instructions for loading the mouse driver included with the mouse. (2) Make sure the mouse driver is loaded before you type PRO-MENU at the DOS prompt. If the mouse driver is loaded correctly and the mouse is attached to the correct port specified by the driver then a mouse cursor should now appear on screen. Select options by moving the mouse cursor over the words that you would like to execute. Now click the left button. MOVING THOUGH MENUS: -------------------- Moving through the option of a current menu is accomplished by pressing the up and down arrow keys. If your system has a mouse and the mouse driver for your particular mouse is configured correctly, then move the mouse cursor on any of the words inside the active menu and that option will be highlighted. Moving from menu to menu is accomplished by using the left and right arrow keys. If your mouse is configured correctly, you should move the mouse cursor to the top of your display where the words PREV MENU and NEXT MENU are located. Pressing the left mouse button will perform the selected item. RUNNING A MENU OPTION: ---------------------- To run any option located on a menu, just highlight the selected option and press enter. If you have a mouse hitting the left button will execute the highlighted option. ACCESSING THE DOS UTILITIES MENU: --------------------------------- To access the dos utilities menu, while holding down the ALT key press the F9 key and then release both keys. The DOS UTILITES menu should appear and any of the currently displayed items can be executed by pressing the key displayed to the left of the option. Again, if you have a mouse, you may move the mouse cursor over the selected item and press the left mouse button to activate. WHAT DOES ALT-F10 -- MENU EDIT DO? ---------------------------------- If you have typed ALT and F10 yet you probably noticed that it says not enabled by data file. This option is activated by the pro-menu data file in the form: MEDIT = PROGRAM.EXE If you want to load your own personal text editor, just substitute PROGRAM.EXE with your own personal editor. Your editor must be able to load a file from the commaned line. where the editor would load in the datafile for you. For now, if you would like this function to work, put this at the top of your datafile after BEGIN MENUS : MEDIT = MEDIT.EXE which is the editor that comes with Pro-Menu. This will load MEDIT.EXE and then load your pro-menu datafile into the editor. If you wanted Turbo C TC.EXE it would be: MEDIT = TC.EXE PRO-MENU SYNTAX --------------- Here is a listing (UPDATE TO THIS LIST IS IN PRO-MENU.DOC) of what each command in a typical pro-menu datafile will do: Each MExec EXE or COM extension is optional. All lines starting with "!" are comments. MSub1 will be displayed on line 1. Use "?" for parameters input. Example: MPara = ? !------------------------------------------------------------------------! ! ! ! Data file for use with Pro-Menu (c)1989 Logical Software,Daniel Winsor ! ! ! ! ! ! Notes: ! ! ! ! C:>PROM C:\PRO-MENU\PRO-MENU.DAT C: ! ! ³ ÀÄÄÄÄ Drive Pro-menu installed. ! ! ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ File containing menu data. ! ! (must include path) ! ! ! ! Each MExec line could also have a path. EG.: C:\DOS\FORMAT.COM ! ! The above line would change path to C:\DOS then run FORMAT.COM ! ! ! ! All Drive specifiers and paths after the EXE or COM or BAT ! ! Must be put on the parameter Mpara line. ! ! ! ! Example: ! ! MExec = Dir ! ! MPara = D:\*.* /P ! ! or ! ! MExec = C:\DOS\Print.com ! ! MPara = D:\Mydir\*.DOC A: ! ! ! ! ! ! Each MExec EXE or COM extension is optional. ! ! All lines starting with "!" are comments. ! ! MSub1 will be displayed on line 1. ! ! Use "?" for parameters input. Example: MPara = ? ! ! Must have a (space = space) on valid lines starting with ! ! 6th character of line. ! ! ! ! Use: ! ! MExec = CALL Filename.bat for CALLing BATCH files. ! ! = Filename.ext Run filename but pause after ! ! completed. ! ! = *SHELL* for DOS SHELL. ! ! = #Filename.ext for no pause after compl. ! ! ! ! = Filename.ext ::PASSWORD ! ! For adding password security ! ! before executing filename. ! ! Do not put a space after the ! ! two colons. ! ! = ~Filename.ext Blocks change of directory ! ! = *EXIT* to exit Pro-Menu. ! ! This is very useful when ! ! you set Mlock = ON and set ! ! password protection on this. ! ! ! ! = *EXIT*::PASSWORD Same as above only with ! ! password protection. ! ! ! ! MEdit = Filename.ext For Use of favorite editor ! ! as ALT-F10 option. ! ! Pro-menu data file will be ! ! loaded by editor. ! ! ! ! ! ! MTime = ON To display date on screen ! ! ! ! MSnds = ON To Use Sound (keyclicks,exit) ! ! ! ! MAnsi = C:\PRO-MENU\JESSICA.PMA To Use ANSI text pictures as ! ! backdrops on Pro-Menu. These ! ! are special ANSI formats that ! ! ANSI2PM.EXE creates from ! ! regular ANSI text pictures. ! ! Conversion is for speed only. ! ! ! ! MScsv = 300 Screen saver till ON in secs ! ! 300 = 5 mins ! ! ! ! MSvck = ON Show clock while screen is ! ! blanked during saver. ! ! ! ! MSClr = 2 Start color of first menu to ! ! appear on-screen. ! ! ! ! MBChr = 15 Backdrop fill character ! ! 177 178 and 179 are nice. ! ! ! ! MFClr = 15 Backdrop foreground color. ! ! ! ! MBClr = 15 Backdrop background color. ! ! ! ! ! ! MHorz = XXX Horiz mouse sensitivity ! ! Range 00-100. Default = 50 ! ! ! ! MVert = XXX Vert mouse sensitvity ! ! Same as MHorz ! ! ! ! MVert = XXX Mouse Double speed threshhold ! ! Same as MHorz ! ! ! ! MCntr = ON To center options in menus ! ! ! ! MZoom = NNNN To Zoom menus istead of them ! ! just popping on the screen. ! ! NNNN is a number 0-5000 ! ! larger numbers go slower. ! ! 1000 seems to work for XT's ! ! ! ! MLock = ON Locks Pro-menu so ctrl-c and ! ! ESC will not exit you from ! ! program. *SHELL* function ! ! is also disabled. Repeated ! ! hitting of ctrl-c will lock ! ! computer. Some options on the ! ! DOS Menu are also disabled ! ! ! ! MLock = ON::PASSWORD Same options as above, only ! ! this WILL ONLY exit if ! ! password is entered. ! ! Password is ignored if option ! ! is set to off. ! ! ! !------------------------------------------------------------------------!