Amoszine 10

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Amoszine 10 / Amoszine 10 (Disk 3 of 3).adf / menusys.lha / README.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-07-24 | 14.2 KB | 333 lines

Menu System Version 5.00A And 5.00B By Samuel Colak ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This program is SHAREWARE And Was Written Using AMOS PROFESSIONAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contribution This program has been classified as SHAREWARE. If you find this program of use then I would appreciate a samll contribution of say five quid. Doing so will result in continuous TECHNICAL SUPPORT and free upgrades when they come available. Files The following files accompany MSYS and may be removed from circulation if you need more disk space. SYS (dir) MSYSA MSYSB README.DOC SOURCE.DOC SOURCE_MSYSA.AMOS SOURCE_MSYSB.AMOS These files must be placed in the relevant directorys otherwise MSYS may not work. * C (Dir) * Run * Execute * Fonts (Dir) * Peridot.Font * Peridot (Dir) * 7 * Libs (Dir) * Diskfont.Library What Does It Do? Menu System is a control program which has been written to allow users to load files directly form the disk rather than go through the laborious tasks of loading workbench etc. ALSO this program only takes up a couple of files and so memory is saved on your disks. As a request by floppy users, I have included another version of MENU SYSTEM which is slightly smaller in size. This however means that this version lacks the editor. HARD DRIVE users will not find this of any use however it may save valuable disk space. The difference between both versions is the lettering after the version number. If it reads `A` then this version includes the editor otherwise the editor has been removed. Operating System This program is compatible with all versions of the AMIGA and has been tested on the following versions of KICKSTART. V1.3.4 [A500] V1.3.5 [A500] V2.0 [A500 Plus] V3.0 [A1200 AND A4000] Credits The following people have aided in the development of this package:- Bob Briggs - BETA TESTING And IDEAS Matthew Colak - DOCUMENTATION And BETA TESTING Giles Middleton - BETA TESTING June Hudson - BETA TESTING Loading To load this program enter the CLI and type `MSYSA` or `MSYSB` followed by return. (Read Documentation further for distinction) If the program has found all the files it requires, the program should boot and present itself to you with the credit screen. If not then please read the section of this document entitled PROBLEMS. Pressing the LEFT MOUSE button will move you into the menu editor. The Interface After loading MENU SYSTEM, the program should present you with a screen divided into 83 buttons. These are arranged in 20 rows of 4 and with 3 at the bottom. Please note that `MSYSB` does not included the Editor Or Prefs Options which are included in `MSYSA` due to memory limitations. If you click on a couple of buttons from the 20 rows you should notice that these will invert themselves and then return to their original state after you release the mouse button. Clicking like this when one of the bottom three read `EXEC` will cause the appropriate button to be executed. By pressing the button labelled `QUIT` MENU SYSTEM will automatically close and release the memory to the computer. The Editor - [Only Available In `MSYSA`] The Editor forms the most powerful section of MENU SYSTEM. To enter this you must click on the button labelled `EXEC`. Doing this should change the word inside to `EDIT` signifying that you are now in the Editor mode. After this has been done, click on one of the buttons above the set of three. Once you have done this the editor screen should appear infront of you. This screen is divided into 2 areas. In the top halve you will find buttons. RUN... This button is cyclic ie if you click on this button the word inside will change but will eventually return back to RUN. These words symbolise the function which will be carried out when you click on the button. These are listed below:- RUN - This is the equivelent to typing the following command directly into the CLI. RUN <NIL: >NIL: Filename This will execute the file whose filename is held in the region next to the button labelled `FILENAME`. EXECUTE - This is similar to the RUN command except that the command sent to the CLI is :- EXECUTE Filename This is especially useful when creating a button which needs to execute a shell script file such as the WORKBENCH script. MENU - This command is a MENU SYSTEM specific command in that the filename in the region next to the `FILENAME` button is the name of another menu definition held on disk. Clicking on this type of button will cause the computer to load the new menu definition into memory. DIRECT - This command sends the Filename held in the region next the `FILENAME` button directly to the CLI as if you had typed the filename yourself. TEXT - When this is shown it means that the text inside the text box will be outputted to a button but the button will not depress when clicked on. BLANK - This blanks the button on the main screen and places any text in the blank space. Again this button cannot be selected. Buttons labelled RUN, EXECUTE, DIRECT and MENU will all invert when the mouse button is pressed upon them. The others will not respond and so this fact can be exploited to use for messages. SIZE.. This button alters the physical size of the button in the horizontal direction depending on the structure of the buttons to its immediate right ie the button can be expanded by clicking on this button as long as the button on the right is of size 1. If it is possible to change the button the number in the box on the right will be incremented and the button in the other section of the editor will expand. If the button is unable to expand any further then the computer resets the size of the button to one. Physical changes can only be seen by selecting the EXIT button situated on the far right of the editor screen. DEF... This button resets all buttons to their defaults and clears any text currently assigned to that button. COLOUR. This Option dictates the physical colour of the button. See the documentation covering the PREFERENCES for information regarding the physical differences between the two types of button. FILENAME.. This option reveals a hidden area in the editor. This area is used to enter text by clicking on the button labelled `TEXT` or it allows you to select a filename using a requester. The area next to the button labelled `FILENAME` must contain some text for the RUN, EXECUTE, DIRECT or MENU options to work. Clicking the `TEXT` option will allow you to enter characters from the keyboard, each inturn will be displayed in the editing window beside the button. This option updates the previous contents held in the option selected and so if you make a mistake then it can be ammended simply by re-selecting the option. Selecting the `FILENAME` option automatically amends any previous text in this option by adding the filename returned from the requester. The current text in the requester will only be returned if the Q button is pressed when you have finished entering teh text. X..... This has been implemented to allow extended filenames such as holding parameters to pass to programs when they execute such as the filename of a piece of music which has to be passed to the module player otherwise the program won`t work. At the base of the editor you will find a centralised button which appears to be blank. Clicking on this button will allow you to enter text which will be displayed on the main menu. This applies to all menu buttons. MENU / CLI.... This options dictates to the menu system where the output should be directed. If `MENU` is present the the computer assumes that you wish to keep the menu system memory resident otherwise the program automatically closes down once the command has been sent to the CLI. SHRINK / MENU. This option has been included to determine the screen which is brought to front when a command is executed and may only to selected when the button beside it (See information on button before this one) reads `MENU`. This is mainly due to the program being notified that you wish to keep the menu system memory resident and that before an option has started executing the menu system knows what to do. Selecting `SHRINK` will cause the menu system to disappear until the program has stopped executing. Once this has taken place the menu system will move back into view. The other option `MENU` tells the menu system that the menu is to remain resident in view at all times. This is very useful if you wish to make options which play music in the background etc. Saving A Menu Definition [Only Available In `MSYSA`] This option brings up a requester which allows you to save the present menu definition to disk. To reload it in future simply type the following :- MSYS [Filename Of Menu Definition] This will automatically boot in your menu definition and display it. The Preference Editor - [Only Available In `MSYSA`] This option allows you to change the colour format of the screen to whatever colours you want. This is made easy by the use of three horizontal bars with small sliders within them. These can be used by depressing any mouse button on the slider and moving the mouse left or right, [Warning:The slider is very sensitive and in order to move the slider the mouse must remain inside the colour bar until movement has stopped or the movement will stop prematurely]. This will increase or decrease the amount of pigmentation in the colour depending on which way you move the slider, moving right will increase the pigmentation with left doing the opposite. There are three types of pigmentation Red, Green and Blue which allow up to 4096 colour combinations which is the maximum amount for the standard Amiga anyway. There are eight colours incorporated into the program and each affects a certain feature: 0 - Background Colour 1 - Text Colour 2 - Colour of Text Bar 2 3 - Border of Text Bar 2.1 4 - Border of Text Bar 2.2 5 - Colour of Main Bar Type 1 6 - Border of Text Bar 1.1 7 - Border of Text Bar 1.2 Another option of the the Preference Editor is the `Sys Dir` option for hard disk users. This enables the MENU SYSTEM to locate the system commands such as RUN and EXECUTE by looking in the area dicatated by this option for the `C` folder. If this cannot be found problems will arise and the program will remain in its ready condition. This also applies to the Execute command!! Software Support I`m constantly ungrading this piece of software and so and thoughts you may have would be gratefully recieved. If you wish to contact me about anything for interest sakes then write to me at the following address. I will reply to all letters. Samuel Colak 5 Meteor Road, Manby, Louth, Lincolnshire. LN11 8UB Also I`m in the process of setting up a club to exchange AMOS software. Its free and worth it.. If you want to join then send your letters to the address above... History MSYS has had a varied history regarding its creation. Version 5.00 is the result of continuous software support and BETA testing by my close friends. However careful you are in programming there is always the chance that a bug may creep into the clockwork which is overlooked for some unexplained reason and so this is were you come in.. If at any time you find something that is unexplained or something which crashes your computer completely then write to me at the address above and i`ll send you a new version with the bug removed. At present the history of MSYS is as follows... VERSION 1.00 Primary Version Release - DATE 12th NOVEMBER 1992 - NOT RELEASED !! Bugs appeared when the computer attempted to load a string containing a comma. Solved by replcing the command `INPUT# 1,string` with `LINE INPUT# 1,string`. VERSION 2.00 Editor Amendment - DATE 3rd JANUARY 1993 - NOT RELEASED !! Unsafe passing of `PARAM` command crashed system on A500`s but not A500 plus`s. Solved by rewriting routine. VERSION 3.10 Editor Amendment - DATE 5th MAY 1993 - NOT RELEASED !! Window routines added to allow MSYS to communicate with CLI. VERSION 4.10 - PUBLIC DOMAIN Program Finished - DATE 11th JUNE 1993 - AMIGA FORMAT V1 !! Editor and Separate program sent to AF for inclusion on DISK.. VERSION 5.00 - SHAREWARE [This Version] Progarm Finished And Cleaned Up - DATE 17th JUNE 1993 - AMIGA FORMAT V2 !! Sent to AF for inclusion onto DISK.. 100% bugs found and removed. (I HOPE)