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------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1 Distribution Diskette Menus Included on the Distribution diskettes for SYSTEM MASTER, are 16 menus with approximately 300 functional sample menu options. We shall discuss these menus in this section of the documentation and also try to discuss the basic application menu definitions. 10.1.1 The BASE MENU The first of the sample menus is what is called the BASE MENU. The BASE MENU is the menu which is loaded when you enter SYSTEM MASTER. The BASE MENU can be layed out in any fashion you wish, but we will give you some of our recommendations. 1) You should locate all of your frequently run applications on the BASE MENU, or design an option which will 'J'ump you directly into a menu box on a different menu page or menu level which contains your Applications. 2) You should Categorize your processing tasks, and put each of these tasks on its own menu. (We have done this with the DOS function menus and the System Configuration Menus). 10.1.2 The DOS Function MENU The DOS Function Menu contains 131 Menu Options (Which includes the 'MORE...', '...BACK' and the 'Return to Base Menu' Options). These DOS functions are First Grouped by Four Major Categories: 1) DISK 2) DIRECTORY 3) FILE 4) SYSTEM 10.1.2.1 DISK The DISK Category contains a Listing of the Commands which will perform operations on a Disk or Disk Drive: Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ ASSIGN │ ▓ │ CHKDSK │ ▓ │ DISKCOMP │ ▓ │ DISKCOPY │ ▓ │ FORMAT │ ▓ │ LABEL │ ▓ │ VOL │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ As one of these DISK command functions are selected from the menu, a 'J'ump is made into the Menu Level, Page and Menu Box that contains all of the related function options. For Example this is the Menu Box for the DISKCOPY command: ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Copy Disk In Drive A: │ ▓ │ Copy Disk In Drive B: │ ▓ │ Copy Disk - Drives A:/B: │ ▓ │ Copy Disk - Drives B:/A: │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Each of these options performs a very specific task or combination of tasks. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.2.2 DIRECTORY The DIRECTORY Category contains a Listing of the Commands which will perform operations on the Disk Drive Directory structure. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ DIR │ ▓ │ JOIN │ ▓ │ PATH │ ▓ │ TREE │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As one of these DIRECTORY command functions are selected from the menu, a 'J'ump is made into the Menu Level, Page and Menu Box that contains all of the related function options. For Example this is the Menu Box for the DIR command: ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ View Paged Directory │ ▓ │ View Wide Directory │ ▓ │ Print Directory on LPT1 │ ▓ │ Write Directory to File │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Each of these options performs a very specific task or combination of tasks. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.2.3 FILE The FILE Category contains a Listing of the Commands which will perform operations on the Disk Files. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ ATTRIB │ ▓ │ BACKUP │ ▓ │ COMP │ ▓ │ COPY │ ▓ │ DEL │ ▓ │ MORE │ ▓ │ RENAME │ ▓ │ REPLACE │ ▓ │ RESTORE │ ▓ │ TYPE │ ▓ │ VERIFY │ ▓ │ XCOPY │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ As one of these FILE command functions are selected from the menu, a 'J'ump is made into the Menu Level, Page and Menu Box that Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- contains all of the related function options. For Example this is the Menu Box for the COPY command: ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Copy File(s) to Disk │ ▓ │ Copy File(s) to LPT1 │ ▓ │ Copy File(s) to CONsole │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Each of these options performs a very specific task or combination of tasks. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.2.4 SYSTEM The SYSTEM Category contains a Listing of the Commands which will perform operations on the Computer System. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ BREAK │ ▓ │ DATE │ ▓ │ PROMPT │ ▓ │ SET │ ▓ │ TIME │ ▓ │ VER │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ As one of these FILE command functions are selected from the menu, a 'J'ump is made into the Menu Level, Page and Menu Box that contains all of the related function options. For Example this is the Menu Box for the TIME command: ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Set System Time │ ▓ │ View/Set System Time │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each of these options performs a very specific task or combination of tasks. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.3 The SYSTEM MASTER Configuration Options Menu The Configuration Menu contains 167 Menu Options (Which includes the 'MORE...', '...BACK', 'Load Configuration Menu' and the 'Return to Base Menu' Options). These Configuration functions are First Grouped into Five Major Categories: 1) COLORS 2) PALETTES 3) SWITCHES 4) MISCELLANY 5) ACCESS 10.1.3.1 COLORS The COLORS Category contains a Listing of the Commands which will allow you to customize the SYSTEM MASTER Screen Display Attributes. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Edit Base Screen Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Scrn Header Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Scrn Footer Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Menu Pad Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Menu Box Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Tools Menu Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Menu Button Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Option Input Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Option Menu Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Help Screen Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Screen Blank Color │ ▓ │ Edit Time & Date Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Message Box Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Mode Bar Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Access Code Colors │ ▓ │ Edit Misc Window Colors │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As one of these COLOR Configuration functions are selected from the menu, a 'J'ump is made into the Menu Level, Page and Menu Box that contains all of the related function options. For Example this is the Menu Box for the 'Edit Base Screen Colors' command: ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ S/N Text Color │ ▓ │ Menu Title BackGround │ ▓ │ Menu Title Text Color │ ▓ │ Desciptive Text BackGnd │ ▓ │ Desciptive Text Color │ ▓ │ Edit CurrUser Background │ ▓ │ Edit CurrUser Text Color │ ▓ │ Edit Shade Background │ ▓ │ Edit Shade Char Color │ ▓ │ Edit Displayed Shade Chr │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.3.2 PALETTES The PALETTES Menu contains a Listing of the Commands which will allow you to customize your systems color palette registers. The Color palettes are used to assign a specific value to each of the available 16 colors. (I.E. When your system is booted, the black screen you see is color palette 0 and has a value of 0. You could change the color of the black screen to blue by setting palette register 0 to a value of 1). NOTE: When you exit SYSTEM MASTER, all of the color palettes are reset to the values preset into your system at bootup. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Modify Palette Reg. #00 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #01 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #02 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #03 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #04 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #05 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #06 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #07 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #08 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #09 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #10 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #11 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #12 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #13 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #14 │ ▓ │ Modify Palette Reg. #15 │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ 10.1.3.3 SWITCHES The SWITCHES Menu contains a Listing of the Commands which will allow you to customize the SYSTEM MASTER Operating preferences. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Toggle System Sound +/- │ ▓ │ Toggle Error Sound +/- │ ▓ │ Toggle Security +/- │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ 10.1.3.4 MISCELLANY The MISCELLANY Menu contains a Listing of the Commands which will allow you to customize the SYSTEM MASTER Screen Blanking Function and the COMSPEC variable. Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Time Blanking Interval │ ▓ │ Screen Blank Message │ ▓ │ Message Shift Interval │ ▓ │ Specify Cmnd Processor │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ 10.1.3.5 ACCESS The ACCESS Menu contains a Listing of the Commands which will allow you to customize SYSTEM MASTER Access Level Values. ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Number of Menu Levels │ ▓ │ Access to Option Editor │ ▓ │ Access to User Profiles │ ▓ │ Access to Menus/Levels │ ▓ │ Access to DOS │ ▓ └──────────────────────────┘ ▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Each of these options performs a very specific task or combination of tasks. These menu options can be modified to perform tasks specifiic to your own needs. They can be left unchanged and executed as provided, or any or all of the menu options can be copied and pasted into any location within the shell using the F2 Edit SYSTEM MASTER function. 10.1.4 Special Error Handling Options In addition to the DOS & Configuration menus, we have included a set of 5 error handling menu options. These Option should NOT be called from the menu, but are designed to be 'I'ncluded into other menu options to handle error conditions which may arise during command processing. These error handling routines can be found on menu level 99, Menu 8. Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.2 Let's Design some practical Menu Options 10.2.1 Move a File In order to move files within the constrains of DOS, we must perform two distinct operations: 1) We must COPY the File to a Destination FileSpec. 2) We must DELete the file from the Source location. There is, unfortunately, more to take into consideration when you are about to perform a combination of DOS commands under strict control of DOS. You must provide a means of checking and handling various error conditions as they relate to the success or failure of the task at hand. Let's say that we just Invoked the MOVE operation as outlined above. Let's also say that you are moving your data files onto a diskette in drive A:. PROBLEM: If the disk in drive A: had been write protected, DOS would give you an error message with the notorious Abort/Retry/Fail? prompt. If you aborted the copy option with an Abort, the COPY command would cease, but the DELete command could still be processed thus causing your files to be erased.) So we MUST add a means to check for certain conditions and then act on them should they arise: 1) We must verify that the Source file exists. 2) We must COPY the File to a Destination FileSpec. 3) We must verify that the file has actually been COPIED and exists at the destination. 4) We must DELete the file from the Source location. 5) We must verify that the source file has been DELeted I hope that I have impressed upon you the importance of handling as many of the potential error conditions that could arise during the execution of a batch command process. NOTE: Be aware that wildcards should NOT BE USED when Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10- 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- executing a command of this type as the error handling confines will not operate on multiple files. 10.2.1.1 Writing the MOVE Command into SYSTEM MASTER I will assume that you have found the just right location for your new MOVE command and will proceed under that premace. You would Enter all the information as prompted on the primary option editing screen. Next, comes the actual speciying of the SYSTEM MASTER prompting, and the Specification of the batch command process. The Structure is as follows: [W] [!] 2 [?] S Enter the Name of the File to MOVE: [!] [?] S Enter the Destination FileSpec: if NOT EXIST %1 goto NOSRC if EXIST %2 goto ISTAR copy %1 %2 if NOT EXIST %2 goto NOTAR del %1 if EXIST %1 goto ISSRC goto EXITBAT [I] 988101 [I] 988102 [I] 988103 [I] 988104 [I] 988105 NOTE: This is the Same Basic Error Handling Used in the Third Example given in Section 9 Used for Copying files. The Only Exception is that a DEL command has been added, and 1 Additional Label was added. 10.2.2 Executing Programs thru SYSTEM MASTER In order to execute any PC Program software, you must first define the menu option processing instructions that will govern the software loading request. Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10-10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 10 Menu Design Examples ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You must have 5 pieces of data available: 1) The drive where the application program resides. 2) The path where the load file is located. 3) The Filename of the Execution file. 4) The drive where SYSTEM MASTER resides. 5) The path where the SYSTEM MASTER files are located. Once this data is available to you, the menu option can be added to the menu by using the F2 'EDIT' option. Assuming that the primary definition screen has been completed, we will start entering the processing commands into the command entry window. We will be adding Word Perfect 5.0 to the menu system with this discussion. ■ D: {change to the programs drive} ■ CD\WP5 {change to the programs path } ■ WP {load the execution file } ■ C: {return to the SYSTEM MASTER drive} ■ CD\SM {change to the SYSTEM MASTER path } ■ [L] C {reload SYSTEM MASTER calling option} This is a very basic program loading example, but will suffice in approximately 80% of the application programs that most of us utilize. Some software products will require you to enter a number of additional commands (PATH=..., Set X=Y..., ...). SYSTEM MASTER has the capabilities to handle any program execution requirements. Release Date: 21 January, 1991 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Master 3.2 Page 10-11