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Text File | 1986-11-06 | 13.9 KB | 213 lines

HDM II The Hard Disk Menu System June 25, 1986 Copyright (C) 1986 by Jim Hass This program is a DOS shell that hides the underlying operating system from the uninitiated user, yet does not get in the way of the expert user. The basic system consists of ten menu pages with each page having ten selections to choose from. You start a selection in classic Lotus style by pointing to it with the cursor and pressing the return key or by pressing the number key associated with that selection. Each selection can start a program, run a batch file, or execute any DOS command. A selection can also have multiple steps which can include any or all of the possiblities above. You can change menu pages by pressing F1 thru F10 keys to go directly to page 1 thru 10 or use the PgUp and PgDn keys. Each page and each selection on each page has a user definable description. The slash key displays a 1-2-3 type menu at the top of the screen. The choices from the menu include: Help, Add, Change, Delete, Move, Page, Run, Exit, and Quit. If you select HELP you are presented with another menu and screens that explain how to use the Hard Disk Menu system. ADD, CHANGE, DELETE, and MOVE allow you to alter the description and action taken by a main menu selection. PAGE lets you change the description of a page. RUN allows you to execute any program, DOS command, or batch file from within the Hard Disk Menu program. EXIT returns you to the DOS prompt and QUIT erases the top menu and puts you back in the Hard Disk Menu. --------------------------------------------------------------------- TO INSTALL: Copy all the files from the HDM II diskette to the root directory or a subdirectory of your hard disk. Make that directory the default and enter HDM. Once in the system enter /H and read the HELP screens. INSTALLATION NOTES has info on a permanent install. --------------------------------------------------------------------- FILES CONTAINED ON THE "HDM II" DISKETTE: 1. HDM.DOC ...... This Hard Disk Menu documentation. 2. README ....... Install and Update documentation. 3. README.BAT ... Displays the README file on the screen. 4. INSTALL.BAT .. First time install of HDM. (usage: INSTALL C:\DIR) 5. UPDATE.BAT ... Updates existing HDM. (usage: UPDATE C:\DIR) 6. HDM.BAT ...... Starts the Hard Disk Menu system. 7. HDMX.BAT ..... Work file used by HDM to execute menu entries. 8. HDMENU.COM ... Main program used by HDM.BAT to display menus. 9. HDMENU.TXT ... Text file that holds all menu entries. 10. HDMHELP.CHN .. Help program and Help screens. 11. EPSON.COM .... Stand alone program for Epson print control codes. 12. IBMPRO.COM ... Same as EPSON, but for IBM ProPrinter. The last two programs can be used in menu entries to send print codes to your printer before running programs like 1-2-3, dBase, and others that don't provide easy methods of printer setup. An entry in HDM might look like this: C:~CD\DBASE3~EPSON~DBASE~ They can also be used with the dBase III run command as part of your own program to allow user selection of print styles. SOME COMMON QUESTIONS: Q: What language was the Hard Disk Menu written in? A: Turbo Pascal. Q: After I run a batch file from a menu selection I get a DOS prompt instead of returning to the Hard Disk Menu. What's wrong? A: When DOS runs a batch file (yours) from within a batch file (HDM) it does not return to complete the first batch file which would take you back to the menu. You can remedy the situation by using @@ in front of your batch file name. If DW3 is a batch file and your entry was: CD\DSPWRITE~DW3~ change it to: CD\DSPWRITE~@@DW3~ Q: When I press /E to exit HDM, sometimes I get the DOS prompt and other times I stay in the Hard Disk Menu. Why does this happen? A: The problem may be this: if you left HDM by using /E and then returned to the menu by keying in HDM, you would have called in a second copy of the Hard Disk Menu. While in a secondary HDM, the exit command (/E) returns to the primary Hard Disk Menu, not to a DOS prompt. The solution is to make sure you key in EXIT at the DOS prompt to return to HDM II. Another reason this could happen is that the program can't find the file COMMAND.COM. This file is located by the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you don't have a PATH command, add one that points to your DOS files. If you don't have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, see your DOS manual. Q: Some DOS commands work fine from the Hard Disk Menu while others give me a message that says "Bad command or file name". What should I do to fix the problem? A: The DOS commands that work are probably the internal commands. The system can't find the external DOS commands. See your DOS manual to see which are internal and which are external. The solution is a PATH command that shows where the DOS files are. Add this to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: PATH C:\DOS Replace C:\DOS with the directory that contains your DOS files. ADVANCED FEATURES: 1. The HDM command that should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file can have parameters. The first parameter is the page number to display, the second number is the menu selection on that page to highlight with the cursor. These two parameters are positional, if they are not used they will both default to zero. The other parameters all begin with a hyphen and can be in any sequence. -A would automatically start the procedure from the first two parameters. An example: if Symphony is on page four and is the tenth selection on that page, it can automatically be started by the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: HDM 4 10 -A The next parameters tell HDM II where to find certain files, they all require a drive and directory immediately following the codes with no spaces in between. -C shows the path to a second copy of the menu text file. This is useful for backup copies of all variable data in the menu or as the permanent copy of HDMENU.TXT if HDM is used in a ram disk. If -C is not used, a second copy of the text file is not created. -H shows the path to the help file, HDMHELP.CHN (used by /H) -T shows the path to the text file, HDMENU.TXT (all menu info) -W shows the path to the work file, HDMX.BAT (created by HDM) If -H, -T, or -W is not used the current drive/directory is used. An example: HDM -Cc:\ramdisk -Hc:\help -Tc:\hdmdir -Wc:\ramdisk 2. If the 100 entries in the Hard Disk Menu are not enough for you, you can use multiple HDM's. Copy all the HDM II files from the original diskette to another drive or another directory. Then ADD the following entry to your primary HDM II: C:~CD\DIR~@@HDM~ where C: is the drive and DIR is the subdirectory that contains your secondary HDM II. When this entry is selected from the primary HDM II, your secondary HDM II is displayed and is in control. The /E command will return you to your primary HDM II. This is different than using /E in the primary HDM II which takes you to the DOS prompt. There is no limit to the number of secondary HDM's and they can all be called from the primary or from other secondaries. An alternate method of using secondary HDM's is to use the same Hard Disk Menu program, but different text (HDMENU.TXT) and work files (HDMX.BAT). This can be done using the -T and -W switches explained above. You will not need to copy any files, a new text file will be created when you add your first menu entry, the work file is created as needed. The action statement of your menu selection in the primary HDM should look like this: @@HDM -TC:\NEWDIR -WC:\NEWDIR~ The path C:\NEWDIR should be replaced by the directory that will contain the secondary text file. This directory must not be the same as the directory containing the primary Hard Disk Menu. 3. Variables can be set up and used in the action statement of any menu selection. They can also be use with the Run command (/R). There are ten variables available, numbered 0 - 9. They are set up by choosing Variables from the Top Menu (/V), then by choosing a number. You can then enter any information to be stored in that variable, even other variables, but be careful not to put the program into a loop by using a variable within a variable that directly or indirectly uses the original variable. Once a variable is set up it can be refered to by a menu selection by placing an & + number in it. So if you have variable number one set up and one or more action statements containing &1, the &1 will be replaced with the information that was stored in it. These variables can also have up to nine parameters, to use them you must enclose the entire variable and its parameters in braces { }. These parameters in turn can then also be used in any action statement, in any variable, or in the Run command. They are numbered 1 - 9 and are refered to by placing a % in front of it. The parameters can contain any information, including variables and other parameters (&1, &2, %1, %2, etc.). Again you must be careful not to put the program in a loop by circular variable or parmeter calls. An example of using a variable with a parmeter could look like this if &1 = COPY: C:~CD\LOTUS~{&1 FILE.WKS} %1 A:~ERASE %1~ Everying within the braces and the braces themself would be replaced by the contents of variable &1 which is "COPY". The parameter %1 contains "FILE.WKS" because it was the first entry (and only in this case) for the variable &1. Any %1's that are used after this are replace with the contents of parameter %1. In this case the action to take becomes: C:~CD\LOTUS~COPY FILE.WKS A:~ERASE FILE.WKS~ A more interesting version of this variable and parmater combination would be: {&1 {?ENTER NAME OF FILE TO COPY & ERASE}} This would first prompt the user for a file name, that file name would then be contained in the parameter %1 which could be used anywhere. As an alternative to this, the variable &1 could have contained: COPY %1~ERASE %1~ instead of just COPY. Then the action to take statement would have been simplified to: C:~CD\LOTUS~{&1 {?ENTER NAME OF FILE TO COPY & ERASE}}~ Both methods give the same result because the variable &1 now contains the %1's and the ERASE which are put in to replace the variable call {&1...} after the file name is prompted for. The rule is: Inner braces get evaluated before outer braces. Parameters within a variable are seperated by spaces, if a parameter contains spaces, it must be enclosed with braces to be evaluated a one parameter. An example of this is: {&2 THESE ARE SEPERATED PARMETERS} The result of evaluating this variable and parmeter combination is &2 will be replaced by the contents of Variable 2 as defined by the set up from the Top Menu (/V), and the following parameters contain this: %1 = THESE, %2 = ARE, %3 = SEPERATE, %4 = PARAMETERS, %5 thur %9 are null. Another example: {&3 {THIS IS ONE PARAMETER} {THIS IS ANOTHER}} This time the parameters contain: %1 = THIS IS ONE PARAMETER, %2 = THIS IS ANOTHER, %3 thru %9 are null. This may be a bit confusing, but once you understand it you can set up some very sophisticated menu selections that can make difficult tasks very easy for a user to perform. One caution: There is a 255 character limit to the final expanded menu action that could be exceeded when all the variables and parameters are expanded. (HDM II will tell you if this happens) --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a shareware product. Though HDM II is copyrighted, you are encouraged to copy and distribute this program to others. If you like this product and find it useful, please contribute $15 to encourage the author to continue in his software endeavor. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Also send any suggestions you may have to improve the Hard Disk Menu and/or any bugs you may have uncovered to: JIM HASS 7114 KENNETH PARMA, OHIO 44129-2956 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!