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TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 1 TTTTTTTTTT SSSSSSS M M EEEEEEEEEE NN NN UU UU TT SS MM MM EE NNNN NN UU UU TT SS MMM MMMM EE NN NN NN UU UU TT SSSSSS MMMM MM MM EEEEEEEE NN NN NN UU UU TT SS MM MM MM MM EE NN NN NN UU UU TT SS MM MMM MM EE NN NNNN UU UU TT SSSSSSS MM M MM EEEEEEEEEE NN NN UUUUUUUU TSMENU - A Versatile PC Menu System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 SHAREWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WHAT MAKES UP TSMENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 WHAT IS A MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 MAINTAINING THE MAIN SYSTEM MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ADDING A NEW MENU SELECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHANGING A MENU SELECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Adding a command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Inserting a command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Changing a command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Deleting a command line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Changing the selection description . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Changing the selection directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Ending the selection change process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 DELETING A MENU SELECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SAVING THE NEW MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 CANCELING MENU FILE MAINTENANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CREATING AND MAINTAINING SUB-MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CHANGING THE MENU FIRST TITLE LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SAMPLE MENU ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 2 TSMENU - A Versatile PC Menu System. TSMENU will allow you to set up menus and sub-menus to get to all of your software packages without remembering the complicated command names and directory pathnames. Once an application has been set up under TSMENU, all that is required to access the application is to select the proper number from a menu. TSMENU will handle up to 30 menu selections per menu, and the number of sub-menus is limited only by the number of directories and/or the available disk space. The display of menu selections is automatically adjusted according to the number of selections on a menu from double spaced single column to single spaced double column display. TSMENU is designed for hard disk users, but will work on floppy systems as well. SHAREWARE This is a shareware program package. The existence of such software depends upon the honesty and integrity of user's. I know that a lot of people will use this package with no payment to me and not one twinge of their conscience. I feel that most of those people would obtain the software and use it even if it was sold in stores in a neat package and even (God forbid) if it was copy protected. This software was not written for them. It was written for those user's which have a need for a menu system and recognize a good value and are willing to pay a reasonable price for that value. So, here are the rules: You may copy and distribute this program freely, provided that: 1. No fee is charged for such copying and distribution, and 2. It is distributed ONLY in its original, unmodified state. This product is NOT free. If you use it you must pay whatever you think it is worth to you. The suggested contribution for TSMENU is $20. This contribution will entitle you to become a registered user. As a registered user you are entitled to: 1. Call or write for help in using the product. 2. Receive free updates to the product (you pay only for the medium and postage). 3. Receive free notice of new programs as they are released. You may not use this product in a commercial environment or a governmental organization without paying a license fee of $20. Site licenses and commercial distribution licenses are available. If you wish to register as a user, please send your check, name, address, and phone number to the address below. Address all correspondence to: Dick Whiteley BearWare Systems P.O. Box 506 Joelton, TN 37080 TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 3 WHAT MAKES UP TSMENU TSMENU consists of the following: 1. TSMENUFM.EXE - The Menu Maintenance program * 2. TSMENUDS.COM - The Menu Display Program * 3. TSMENU.BAT - The Menu batch file 4. TSMENU.OPT - The Menu Control file * 5. TSMENU.SCR - The Menu Screen file 6. 1...30.BAT - The Menu Selection file(s) * - These files are provided in the distribution package. The others will be created when TSMENUFM is executed. NOTES: 1. TSMENUFM.EXE and TSMENUDS.COM should be located in a directory which has a "PATH" specified in the autoexec.bat file. 2. TSMENU.OPT and TSMENU.SCR must remain in the root directory for the main menu. There will be another copy (different) of these files in each directory which has a sub-menu within it. 3. TSMENU.BAT, TSMENU.OPT, TSMENU.SCR, and the files 1.BAT ... 30.BAT will be re-written each time the menu is updated with TSMENUFM. WHAT IS A MENU A menu consists of a menu screen file named "TSMENU.SCR", and a batch file for each selection on the menu (e.g. "1.BAT"). The TSMENU.SCR file contains the screen image of the menu in a Basic "BSAVE" format. Each menu selection consists of a batch file to call the desired application. The batch files are named 1.BAT, 2.BAT, 3.BAT, ,,, 30.BAT; corresponding to the selections on the menu, thus to select a function the user merely enters the number of the function and presses the Enter key. Each batch file has certain commands at the first of it to turn echo off, set standard prompt, and change the current directory to the desired directory for the application, and at the end of the file to change the directory back and recall the menu screen. In between theses commands are whatever commands and batch statements the user inserts to execute the desired application. A menu may contain up to 30 selections, and each selection may contain up to 50 batch statements to perform the desired applications. A menu selection may call another menu in a sub-directory which has it's own set of files and functions, thus allowing an unlimited number of functions to be under menu selection. TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 4 MAINTAINING THE MAIN SYSTEM MENU The Main System Menu is generated by TSMENUFM.EXE using a file called "TSMENU.OPT" which is created at installation time and updated by the user as desired using TSMENUFM. For assistance in entering commands to make up a menu selection refer to the "Batch" section of your DOS manual. The Menu File Maintenance Program updates the "TSMENU.OPT" file and re-creates the menu files when changes are made. This program provides the facility to make changes to the Main System Menu, and to create and maintain various sub-menus. The user may add, change, or delete menu selections on a menu, create new menus, and change menu titles. No provision is made for deleting complete menus. This must be done using DOS commands. To run this program, from the Root Directory enter TSMENUFM followed by Enter. The program will first ask: Do you wish to work with the Main System Menu? (Y/N) Do you wish to work with the Main System Menu? (Y/N) Press the "Y" key to allow changes to be made to the Main System Menu. The program will then display the message: READING OPTION FILE READING OPTION FILE After a short delay the menu screen will be displayed with the following prompts at the bottom of the screen: Press key in () for option desired Press key in () for option desired (A)dd selection (C)hange selection (D)elete selection (A)dd selection (C)hange selection (D)elete selection (S)ave new menu (Q)uit - don't save (T)o change colors (S)ave new menu (Q)uit - don't save (T)o change colors The previous screen display will be referred to as Screen 1. At the completion of any function, the program will return to Screen 1. On occasion, when returning to Screen 1, the program will display a flashing message "Please Wait" on the screen for 2-5 seconds. This will only occur if several changes have been made, and is caused by some "housekeeping" the program must do. The remainder of this section will concern itself with the six options displayed on Screen 1. First is the Add option which will be used to add a selection for Menu File Maintenance itself. ADDING A NEW MENU SELECTION To add a selection to the end of a menu, simply press the "A" key at Screen 1. The following screen will be displayed with the menu title at the top: Add new selection Add new selection Enter Selection description for menu display : Enter Selection description for menu display : The line (up to 33 characters) which will be displayed on the menu for this selection will be entered here. For our example to add a selection for Menu File Maintenance, enter the following: Menu File Maintenance TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 5 Followed by the Enter key. The following prompt will be displayed: Enter Directory for new selection Enter Directory for new selection (Press <Enter> alone for root Directory) (Press <Enter> alone for root Directory) Directory name = : Directory name = : The Directory pathname for the this selection will be entered here. All menu selections contain a "CD" command prior to any other command lines. If it is necessary to change the directory again within the selection, "CD" commands may be entered on command lines. For our example, just press the Enter key, as the Menu File Maintenance program must always be run from the root Directory. The following prompt will be displayed: Press <Enter> alone at command entry to end selection. Press <Enter> alone at command entry to end selection. Enter command line 1 : Enter command line 1 : The batch commands to perform the desired function for this menu selection may now be entered one per line followed by the Enter key. After each line is entered, a new "Enter command line x :" prompt will be displayed where Enter command line x : "x" is the number of the next command line. After all necessary lines have been entered, press the Enter key again and the program will return to Screen 1 with the new menu selection added to the menu. For our example, enter the following for command line 1: TSNENUFM followed by the Enter key. This entry is incorrect, but we will correct it below in the following section. Press the Enter key again at the prompt for command line 2 and the program will return to Screen 1. This completes the Add function. CHANGING A MENU SELECTION To change an existing menu selection (including one just added), from Screen 1 press the "C" key. The following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: (Enter 0 to abort change function, enter 98 to change menu Title) (Enter 0 to abort change function, enter 98 to change menu Title) Enter selection no. to change : Enter selection no. to change : To change an existing menu selection, enter the number listed on the menu for that selection followed by the enter key. To change the menu title at the top of the menu, enter 98 followed by the Enter key, then enter the new title followed by the Enter key, and the program will return to Screen 1 with the new title. If you pressed the "C" key by mistake, enter 0 (zero) followed by the enter key and the program will return to Screen 1. For our example, enter the number of the Menu File Maintenance selection and press the Enter key. The following screen will appear, which will be referred to as Screen 2: TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 6 Change menu selection Change menu selection Selection no. nn, Description = Menu File Maintenance Selection no. nn, Description = Menu File Maintenance Directory = \ Directory = \ Command line 1 = TSNENUFM Command line 1 = TSNENUFM . . . . . . Press character in () to select option or Press <Enter> alone to end change Press character in () to select option or Press <Enter> alone to end change (A)dd command (I)nsert command (C)hange command (D)elete command (N)ew (A)dd command (I)nsert command (C)hange command (D)elete command (N)ew desc. desc. (\)directory change page (F)orward page (B)ackward (\)directory change page (F)orward page (B)ackward Where "nn" is the number of the menu selection chosen from the previous prompt. In most cases the entire menu selection will be displayed on Screen 2 as in our example and the "page (F)orward" and "page (B)ackward" prompts will not appear. However if there are more than 10 command lines, only the first 10 lines will be displayed, and the "page (F)orward" and "page (B)ackward" prompts will appear. In this case the "F" and "B" keys may be used to view the entire selection, 10 command lines at a time. Prior to making a change which will affect a command line, that command line must be on the displayed screen. The remaining six options are as follows: Adding a command line To add a new command line to the end of the selection, from Screen 2 press the "A" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: New line to be added after line no. nn New line to be added after line no. nn Command line = Command line = Where "nn" will be a number one higher than the last command line currently in the selection. At this point, enter the new command line to be added followed by the Enter key and the program will return to Screen 2. Inserting a command line To insert a new command line before an existing command line, from Screen 2 press the "I" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Enter command line no. to insert new line before : Enter command line no. to insert new line before : Enter the line number following where you wish to insert the new command line and press the Enter key, or press the Enter key only to return to Screen 2. If you entered a line number, the following prompt TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 7 will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: New line to be inserted before line no. nn New line to be inserted before line no. nn Command line = Command line = The new command line may now be entered, followed by the Enter key and the program will return to Screen 2. Changing a command line To change an existing command line, from Screen 2 press the "C" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Enter command line no. to change : Enter command line no. to change : Enter the line number of the command line you wish to change and press the Enter key, or press the Enter key only to return to Screen 2. If you entered a line number, the command line selected will be blanked out on the screen and the cursor will be positioned at the beginning of that command line. The new command line may now be entered followed by the Enter key and the program will return to Screen 2. For our example, we wish to correct command line number 1, so enter "1" followed by the Enter key, then enter the following: TSMENUFM followed by the Enter key. The program will now return to Screen 2. Deleting a command line To delete an existing command line, from Screen 2 press the "D" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Press <Enter> alone to return to change options. Enter command line no. to delete : Enter command line no. to delete : Enter the line number of the command line you wish to delete and press the Enter key, or press the Enter key only to return to Screen 2. If you entered a line number, the command line selected will be deleted from the selection and the program will return to Screen 2. Changing the selection description To change the description (the text to be displayed on the menu screen) of the selection, from Screen 2 press the "N" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 8 Press <Enter> alone to leave unchanged Press <Enter> alone to leave unchanged Enter new description : Enter new description : Enter the new description (up to 33 characters) followed by the Enter key, or press the Enter key only to leave the description unchanged. In either case, the program will return to Screen 2. Changing the selection directory All menu selections automatically contain a "CD" command prior to any other command lines, the directory for which is entered here. If it is necessary to change the directory again within the selection, "CD" commands may be entered on command lines. To change the initial selected directory for the menu selection, from Screen 2 press the "\" key and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: Enter 'MAIN' for root directory, <Enter> alone to leave unchanged Enter 'MAIN' for root directory, <Enter> alone to leave unchanged Enter new directory : Enter new directory : Enter the new directory pathname followed by the Enter key, or press the Enter key only to leave the directory pathname unchanged. In either case, the program will return to Screen 2. Ending the selection change process Once all changes have been made to a menu selection, from Screen 2 press the Enter key and the program will return to Screen 1. This completes the discussion of selection change options. DELETING A MENU SELECTION To delete a menu selection from the menu, press the "D" key at Screen 1, and the following prompts will be displayed at the bottom of the screen: (Enter 0 to abort delete function) (Enter 0 to abort delete function) Enter selection no. to delete : Enter selection no. to delete : Enter the number listed for the selection you wish to delete followed by the Enter key and the program will delete the selection and return to Screen 1. If you wish to return to Screen 1 without deleting a selection, just press the Enter key. SAVING THE NEW MENU To save the new menu with the changes made, from Screen 1 press the "S" key and the program will display the following while it creates a new menu: Creating 'xxx...xxx' Menu Creating 'xxx...xxx' Menu where "xxx...xxx' will be replaced by the menu title. There will be a short delay while the program creates all the files for the menu, then the menu screen will be displayed and the program will terminate. If this is TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 9 the first time Menu File Maintenance is run the system will return to the C> prompt. If Menu File Maintenance has been run from the menu selection created as directed in this section, the system should return to the main menu. CANCELING MENU FILE MAINTENANCE If you wish to cancel Menu File Maintenance and not save any changes, from Screen 1 press the "Q" key and the program will immediately terminate. All menu files will be left as before. CREATING AND MAINTAINING SUB-MENUS Menu File Maintenance will allow the creation and maintenance of sub-menus in Directories. Sub-menus may not be created in the root Directory due to file naming conflicts. Menu maintenance on sub-menus differs very little from that of the main menu. The following outlines those differences. To enter sub-menu maintenance, run the Menu File Maintenance program, and when the first prompt: Do you wish to work with the Main System Menu? (Y/N) Do you wish to work with the Main System Menu? (Y/N) appears, press the "N" key and the following prompt will be displayed: Enter Filename for Submenu (Press <Enter> to use 'TSMENU') : Enter Filename for Submenu (Press <Enter> to use 'TSMENU') : This prompt is for the filename of the menu batch file. It is suggested that you press the Enter key to use the default name, however you may enter a 1-8 character filename here if desired. The only place this name will be used is here and in the main menu if you enter a selection to call this sub-menu. There will be no conflict with the Main System Menu name, since the next prompt will force you to place this menu in a Directory: Enter Directory name for Submenu : Enter Directory name for Submenu : The Directory pathname must be entered here. This is the name of the Directory where the sub-menu will be created or updated. It may not be the root directory. At this point the program will proceed the same as if you had selected the Main System menu, except you will be working with a sub-menu in a Directory. When a sub-menu is first created, the program will automatically create a menu selection to return to the Main System Menu, then proceed to Screen 1. The only other difference for a sub-menu is that when you are prompted for a directory for a sub-menu selection, the program will give an option to press the Enter key to select the same Directory which contains the sub-menu, or enter 'MAIN' to select the root Directory. All menu selections contain a "CD" command prior to any other command lines. If it is necessary to change the Directory again within the selection, "CD" commands may be entered on command lines. Once you have created a sub-menu, you should enter Menu File Maintenance again using the Main System Menu and enter a selection to call up the sub-menu. This selection should be entered by specifying the Directory TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 10 pathname of the sub-menu for the Directory entry, and "TSMENU" (default menu name), or whatever file name you specified when creating the sub-menu, for command line 1. You will then be able to switch between the Main System Menu and the sub-menu by selecting menu items from each menu. CHANGING THE MENU FIRST TITLE LINE The first line of the menu title will always be "TSMENU" unless you change it using this procedure. This line may not be changed by the TSMENUFM program. To change the line, edit the file TSMENU.OPT with your favorite ASCII editor, and insert a new line as the first line of the file. This new line must have a capitol "C" as the first character of the line; the remainder of the line will appear on the first title line of the menu. Save the file and run TSMENUFM and save the menu to have this change take effect. SAMPLE MENU ENTRIES Having read this far, it may now be clear how to use TSMENUFM, but quite unclear what to input for your menu entries. In the case where there already exists a batch file to call your application, simply TYPE the batch file, make a note of the commands, then enter these commands into TSMENUFM, keeping in mind that TSMENU provides the Change Directory command at the start of the file and it will return you to the menu directory after the application has finished. For example, I had a batch file called LEARN.BAT which called WordPerfect using the WORDP\LEARN directory for data which looked like this: CD \WORDP\LEARN WP /R CD \ To change this to use TSMENU, the following entry was added using TSMENUFM: Selection no. 4, Description = Word Perfect Learning Selection no. 4, Description = Directory = WORDP\LEARN Directory = Command line 1 = WP /R Command line 1 = I then deleted the file LEARN.BAT, and used the menu selection no. to call WordPerfect. Most menu entries will be as simple as this one, with only a directory change, and a one-line command. Most Spreadsheets, Word Processors, and Graphic programs will require only the single command line. TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley TSMENU Ver. 2.9 Page 11 A more complicated example is the one I use for Cornerstone, a relational database package. Here the command which actually calls the application is "MME [/ext] database". The complete TSMENU entry is as follows: Selection no. 9, Description = Cornerstone Selection no. 9, Description = Directory = \CORNER Directory = Command line 1 = unkey Command line 1 = Command line 2 = if %1x==x goto default Command line 2 = Command line 3 = if %2x==x goto doit Command line 3 = Command line 4 = mme /e%2 %1 Command line 4 = Command line 5 = goto end Command line 5 = Command line 6 = :doit Command line 6 = Command line 7 = mme %1 Command line 7 = Command line 8 = goto end Command line 8 = Command line 9 = :default Command line 9 = Command line 10 = MME SAMPLE Command line 10 = Command line 11 = :end Command line 11 = Command line 12 = KEYS Command line 12 = The understanding of this entry will require some knowledge of DOS Batch language. The line-by-line explanation is as follows: 1) disables the custom function keys which I use; 2) tests for a database name and if there is none, goes to line 9 which calls up the default database; 3) tests for a second parameter and if there is none, goes to line 6 which calls up the specified data base; 4) calls up the specified database with the second parameter passed with a "/e" prefix; 5) goes to line 11 to exit after the database work is complete; 6) is a tag for branching; 7) calls up the specified database; 8) goes to line 11 to exit after the database work is complete; 9) is a tag for branching; 10) calls up the default database; 11) is a tag for branching; and 12) re-instates the custom function keys. TSMENU (c) Copyright 1986, 1987 Dick Whiteley 
