Fun & Games 9

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QUIKMENU USER'S GUIDE (Version 1.07) ------------------------------------ CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTING ---------------- For the steps below, we assume that you have installed QuikMenu in the directory C:\QUIKMENU, which is the default directory used by the install program. To start QuikMenu: o If you plan to use QuikMenu with a mouse, your mouse driver(usually MOUSE.COM) must be loaded first. Please refer to your mouse's user manual for more information. NOTE: A mouse is not required to use QuikMenu. o At the DOS prompt (C:\), type CD\QUIKMENU and press Enter. This places you in the QUIKMENU directory. If you installed QuikMenu in a different directory, substitute that name in place of QUIKMENU in the CD\QUIKMENU instructions above. o Type QM and press Enter. STARTING QUIKMENU ON A NETWORK To start QuikMenu on a network, type QNET [user name] and press Enter. For example, type QNET JOHN or QNET SALLY. Each user name must be unique to QuikMenu. You cannot have two workstations using the same name. For additional information about running QuikMenu on a network, please refer to the Appendix in the back of this manual. CHAPTER 2 USING QUIKMENU -------------- Once your menu is created, you can activate any program simply by pressing the speed key assigned to the software button (such as pressing W to activate a software button showing W=WordPerfect) or by clicking the button with your mouse. Running programs is only part of what QuikMenu can do. In the later chapters, we'll see how you can modify the menu, create phonebooks, send mail (networks only), maintain calendar reminders, generate reports using the Time Log and manipulate files with the File Manager. UNDERSTANDING THE QUIKMENU SCREEN As you've already discovered, the QuikMenu screen is divided into several sections. Let's take a closer look at each one. Page Title The title assigned to the currently active page. Command Buttons A list of command options at the top of the screen (Info, Modify, Page, DOS, Files, Utility, Exit, etc.). QuikMenu uses a system of buttons to help you activate many program functions. The buttons vary depending on the screen and function you are using. Use these buttons to control the basic features of QuikMenu. You can activate a command button one of two ways. If you have a mouse, just click on the button. If you are not using a mouse, hold down the ALT key and then press the underlined letter in the command button you want to use. This principle works for any QuikMenu function. For example, to activate Modify, either click on the button or press ALT and the M key.At the top of the screen are several command buttons used to control various aspects of QuikMenu. Info (ALT/I) Tells you how to register your copy of QuikMenu. Once you receive and enter your serial number, the "nag screen" reminding you to register no longer displays. Load (ALT/L) This button allows you to create new menus as well as load existing menus. This option can be protected with a password and is initially hidden (see Chapter 3: Modifying The Menu). Modify (Alt/M) Allows you to change the menu, including adding programs, setting passwords, changing page titles, screen colors,etc. This option can be protected with a password. Page (Alt/P) Displays a list of all the page titles you've created so far. Select a page from the box and that page displays on the screen. Up to 40 pages are available. You can protect pages 2 through 40 so that users are required to enter a password before the page will display. You can also create page buttons to move between specific pages. /\ \/ Use the up and down arrow buttons to display the previous or next page in the menu. You can also move between menu pages by pressing the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys on your keyboard. NOTE: You can only go to pages that have a menu item on them. To add an item to a blank menu page you must be in the Modify mode. DOS (Alt/O) Allows you to leave QuikMenu temporarily to perform DOS operations. Once you complete your DOS chores, return to QuikMenu by typing EXIT at any DOS prompt. This option can be protected with a password. File (Alt/F) Lets you use the File Manager feature to perform many DOS file management functions, except in a much easier format. You can copy, move, delete, rename files; copy, move, create, remove directories, etc. You can also protect this option with a password. Utility (Alt/U) Provides access to the built-in calculator, calendar, phone book, time log and on networks electronic mail. You can protect this option with a password. Exit (Alt/X) Leaves the QuikMenu environment completely and places you at the DOS prompt (C:\). This option can be protected with a password. Help (F1) Displays help screens that briefly describe QuikMenu functions and features. Use the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys to view the help or select the Print command to send the file to your printer. More detailed descriptions of help subjects are available in this manual. Status Line The line at the bottom of the screen that contains the current date and time. When performing most QuikMenu functions, a brief one-line explanation of that function will also appear in the status line. Work Area A window, occupying most of the screen, through which you view and manipulate your menu. Each menu may contain up to 40 pages - one of which is always displayed in the work area. The number in the top right corner of the screen indicates the currently active page. Dialog Boxes A box on the screen where you enter information needed to execute a command. While some QuikMenu functions work just by selecting a command button, others require more information from you before executing a command. A dialog box gives you a way to answer questions, type text or choose settings that determine how the selected command works. Some dialog boxes appear as an error message, and require that you merely respond by pressing Enter or clicking the mouse. Here are the components found in most of QuikMenu's dialog boxes. Text Box A place to enter information such as file names, dates, page titles, etc. You'll find a description of what's needed next to each text box (for example, "Page Title" in the Page Title dialog box). Some dialog boxes contain more than one text box. In that case, you can click the mouse on the field you want to change or use the Tab or Up and Down arrow keys to move around. Check Button Tells QuikMenu to activate or deactivate the option described in the text next to the button. You can select this option either by clicking the mouse on the button or holding down the Alt key and pressing the underlined letter. The option is active when an "X" or"diamond" appears in the box, inactive when the box is blank. List Box Allows you to select from a group of options, such as file names or page titles. The item with the dotted border around it represents the currently active item. If the list contains file names a solid bar across the top of the list box shows you which drive and directory is currently active. Choose a different item by using the Up and Down arrow keys along with the Page Up, Page Down and Home and End keys. When the dotted border surrounds the item you want, press Enter to select it. To advance directly to items beginning with a specific letter, simply type the letter and QuikMenu finds the first item in the list that starts with that letter. Continue pressing the letter to view the next item and so on. You may also use the mouse to scroll through the list and select an item. Clicking the up arrow and down arrow buttons will move the window one item at a time. Clicking and dragging the scroll button up or down allows you to scroll quickly through the list. You can also scroll one page at a time by clicking the shaded area between the up or down arrow buttons and the scroll button. Command Button A command button performs the command described inside the button.You will frequently use command buttons to exit a dialog box. Activate a command button by pressing the key shown in the button or clicking the button with the mouse. CHAPTER 3: MODIFYING THE MENU ------------------ The Modify command is used to add, edit, copy, size, move or delete menu items. In this mode, you may also change page titles, screen colors, passwords and change how you interact with QuikMenu. Before you can begin modifying the menu, however, you must first select the Modify option (Alt/M) from the command buttons at the top of the screen. This selection tells QuikMenu you want to change the appearance of your menu.If the Modify command is password protected (see Setup below), you will be prompted to enter the correct password before continuing.If the password has been typed correctly, you will see the Modify screen; otherwise, an error message will appear. ADDING NEW ITEMS TO THE MENU When you add an item to QuikMenu, it will appear on the screen in the form of a button. It's far easier to select a button by pressing a single key or clicking the mouse than it is to remember and type a long series of DOS commands. Buttons can greatly simplify large, complex tasks and make computing easier for novices and experts alike.The Add command at the top of the screen allows you to add new buttons to your menu. Once the Add (Alt/A) command is selected, a dialog box will appear. Choose the type of button you want to create. Each type is described is more detail below. ADDING SOFTWARE BUTTONS Software Buttons allow you to run programs, format disks, backup directories and perform other tasks. For example, a typical QuikMenu user might create a Software Button called WordPerfect to represent their word processing software. The button makes loading WordPerfect as easy as pressing a single key or clicking the mouse. Other Software Buttons might be used to format new diskettes, activate a telecommunication package or run a batch file.Basically, anything that can be done with DOS can be done quicker and easier with a Software Button. If you selected Software Button from the Add dialog box, you will see a screen with the following options: This is where you will enter information about the program you want added to your menu. Speed Key This is the key on your keyboard that will be used to activate the Software Button. Valid choices are the letters A through Z, numbers 0 through 9 and characters: @ # $ & * ( ) + { } [ ] : ; ? ! / | \" ^ - _ ~ . , < > = ` '. QuikMenu automatically assigns speed keys to each software button it creates during the install procedure. If you like, you can change any of those assignments to something else. For example, you may want to assign W as your word processor speed key. Each speed key letter on a page must be unique. Even if you decide not to use or display the speed keys (see Setup below), you must still assign a key for each button. Name This is the text that will appear inside the software button when it's displayed on the screen. The text entered here has no effect on the operation of the software, so you may type virtually anything you like. Keep in mind, however, that the text should describe what the button does - usually the name of the program or DOS option that the button will activate. You can instruct QuikMenu to display the button text as multiple lines by using a tilde (~) character to represent line breaks. For example, My~Word Processing~Program Location The location is the drive and directory where the program or DOS option is located. If you're a typical computer user, most of your programs are located in separate areas on the hard drive known as directories. Each directory contains a number of related files, one of which is usually used to activate the overall program. For example, the file used to run WordPerfect 5.1 is WP.EXE and is normally located in the WP51 directory on the C: drive. Therefore, WordPerfect's location would be C:\WP51.TIP: Using the F5=List Programs option is the easiest way to fill in the Location and Command fields. This method eliminates the need to remember and type a location and command (see List Programs below). Command This is the command that DOS uses to activate the program or DOS option. For example, if you normally load your word processor by typing WP at the DOS prompt (C:\), then enter WP here. Your software reference manual or your DOS manual is the best place to find this information (see List Programs below). If you want to automatically load a document, macro or some other file with the program, type the file's name at the end of the command line. For example, to load a document into WordPerfect named MEMO.LTR, located in the C:\FILES directory, type: WP C:\FILES\MEMO.LTR You may also include any command line options, parameters or switches required to make the program work. There are also a number of other options that can be added to the command line that make QuikMenu very powerful. User Input Placing a pair of [ ] brackets on the command line with a question between them will prompt you whenever the button is activated. For example, a command like: CHKDSK [Which Drive?] will prompt you with the question "Which Drive?" each time you activate the Check Disk button. Your response, if any, is then passed along to the CHKDSK program. You can even place multiple questions on the same command line. For example: CHKDSK [Which Drive?] [Options?] QuikMenu questions can even include an optional default answer. Users can then easily select the default response by simply pressing Enter when the question appears. Answers are indicated by placing a caret (^) symbol inside the [ ] brackets. For example, to establish A: drive as the default choice for the FORMAT button, use the command: FORMAT [Which Drive?^A:] Everything between the caret (^) and the closing bracket (]) becomes the default choice. Selecting a File You can also have the prompt display a list of files to choose from, simply by putting an equal sign (=) inside the [ ] brackets. For example, a command like: WP [Which File?=C:\FILES\*.DOC] allows you to choose from a list of files in the C:\FILES directory that have the extension DOC. The *.DOC is a standard directory mask used by DOS to display only certain types of files. See your DOS manual for more information about masks. By using two equal signs (==) instead of one, you can search for files across an entire drive. For example, a command like: WP [Which File?==C:\*.DOC] will find every file with the DOC extension on C: drive, regardless of which directory it's in. If you use the equal sign (=) or the double equal sign (==) without a mask, the List Files box will display only executable program files (*.BAT, *.EXE and *.COM). For example: [Select a Program=] Three equal signs (===) will display a dialog box that allows you to select only drives and directories. For example: [Path?===C:\] You may also combine the above examples and even place questions within questions. For example: WP [Select a File=C:\FILES\[Type of File?]] Advanced Options There's even more you can do with the command line. QuikMenu includes several command line options that you can use to insure a program doesn't run without advance warning or confirmation. Place these commands inside the [ ] brackets, followed by a comma, and then the message you want to see on the screen. Usage: [x,message] x=one of the options below: Option/Title What it does -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A (Alert) Displays a dialog box containing message and waits for the user to press Enter before continuing. C (Confirm) Displays a dialog box containing message and waits for the user to press Enter to continue the operation or Esc to cancel. Pressing Esc halts execution of the command line. D (Delay) Displays a dialog box containing message and waits approximately 5 seconds before continuing. You can optionally change the delay interval by placing a number after the D option. Usage: [D,n,message] where n = a number of milliseconds between 1 and 32000. Delay time vary according to CPU speed. Q (Query) Displays a dialog box containing message, up to 8 user defined buttons and a Cancel button. User defined buttons are separated by(|) characters and placed at the end of the message text. Usage: [Q,message|Button1|Button2|Button8] The Cancel button is added automatically by QuikMenu. When a user selects one of the buttons,the text inside that button is placed on the command line and passed to DOS as a parameter. The Alert (A) option can be handy for warning users when something is about to happen. For example, a command like: FORMAT A: [A,Place a diskette in drive A!] will prompt you with the message "Place a diskette in drive A!" each time you activate the FORMAT button. You can also place multiple commands on the same line. For example: FORMAT [Which Drive?^A:] [A,Place a diskette in drive %1!] The %1 tells QuikMenu to insert the response from the first question. Similarly, you can use the Confirm (C) option to give users the choice of continuing or canceling a QuikMenu function. For example,a command like: WP [C,Do you want to use word processing?] will display a dialog box with the message "Do you want to use word processing?" each time the user selects the word processing button. If you want to briefly delay the activation of a selected program button, you can use the Delay (D) option. For example: WP [D,WordPerfect will appear shortly...] will display the message "Wordperfect will appear shortly..." and after a brief delay activate the WP program. You can optionally change delay time placing a number after the (D) option and before the message. The delay interval can be any number between 1 and 32000. For example: WP [D,800,WordPerfect will appear shortly...] A more advanced command line option gives you an elegant way of allowing users to select from multiple options for programs and batch files. The Query (Q) option, displays a dialog box prompting the user with a multiple choice question. For example, the command: MYFORMAT [Q,Disk type to format?|1.2MB|360K] will display a dialog box containing the question "Disk type to format?" along with three buttons for the user to choose from. Two of the buttons are found in the command line separated by (|) characters (i.e. "1.2MB" and "360K"), the third ("Cancel") is added automatically by QuikMenu. The text inside the button selected by the user will be passed to the specified program as a parameter. Selecting "Cancel" returns the user to the QuikMenu screen. In our example above, the program MYFORMAT is a batch file containing the following commands: ECHO OFF IF %1 == 1.2MB FORMAT A: IF %1 == 360K FORMAT A: /4 Viewing and Editing Text Files There is also an option you can use on the command line for viewing ASCII text files. For example, to view your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, use the command: @VIEW=C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT Another command line option built into QuikMenu allows you to create and edit simple ASCII text files. For example, to edit your CONFIG.SYS file, use the command: @EDIT=C:\CONFIG.SYS You can even use the @VIEW and @EDIT options with other command line functions. For example: @VIEW=[View what?=C:\*.*] Special Options To run a program without returning to QuikMenu, place the !BYE option at the end of the command line. For example, to run a hard drive parking utility, use the command: PARK !BYE Normally, when QuikMenu activates a software application, it does so by loading a temporary DOS command shell. The command shell typically requires between 2 and 6K of RAM. This method is very reliable and always assures that QuikMenu is reloaded after an application is terminated. There may be instances, however, when a DOS shell interferes with certain functions, such as loading and removing TSR's (Terminate and Stay Resident programs) or programs that require a large DOS environment space. The !NOSHELL option allows QuikMenu to run applications without invoking a DOS command shell. For example, to load WordPerfect using !NOSHELL: WP [File to Edit?=C:\FILES\*.WP5] !NOSHELL If this option is used when running batch files, you will need to use ONE of the following procedures to return to QuikMenu after the batch file is finished: 1. Place the DOS CALL option before the name of the batch file in the software button's command line. For example: CALL MYBATCH !NOSHELL -OR- 2. Include commands for returning to QuikMenu at the end of the batch file. For example: C: CD\QUIKMENU QM Multiple DOS Commands You can chain several DOS commands together by placing a tilde (~) character between them on the command line. For example, the command: CATCH -P12~WP~CATCH -Q !NOSHELL will load a screen capture utility, run WordPerfect and then unload the screen capture utility. NOTE: When used with multiple commands the !NOSHELL option affects all the commands. List Programs (F5) This is an alternative method for filling in the Location and Command fields. Selecting this option displays a dialog box containing an alphabetical list of all the drives, subdirectories and programs (*.BAT, *.COM and *.EXE) installed on your system.Drives, directories and program files each appear with a different icon symbol to the left of the item. Selecting a directory, such as LEARN, displays a list of all program files within that directory. Selecting the parent directory (..), moves you up one level in the directory tree, while the (\) symbol takes you all the way back to the root directory of the current drive. If there are more files and directories than will fit in the list box, use the scroll buttons to bring additional items into view (see Chapter 2: Using QuikMenu). Find (Alt/F) Allows you to change what type of files will be displayed in the List Programs window.You may use any standard DOS file name specifications; for example,the wild card options * and ?, parts of filenames, parts of extensions or even full file names. Leave the Directory mask field blank to display only *.BAT, *.COM and *.EXE files (this is the default). Select the Search Entire Drive option (Alt/S) to locate files regardless of which directory they're in. Once you have found the drive and directory where your program resides, use the arrow keys to highlight the appropriate file name. Press the Enter key to insert the information into the Software Button's Location and Command fields. If you have a mouse, simply click the file name to insert it. To cancel this option, select the Cancel button or press Esc. Password (F7) Allows you to prevent unauthorized users from running and/or modifying a button. If you use this feature, be sure to remember your password. A forgotten password means the button cannot be activated and/or edited again. Style (F9) Lets you change the appearance of the Software Button. You can control four different aspects of a button's appearance: Shape, Color, Font and Alignment. QuikMenu's default values will automatically take care of the button style if you do not make any of these selections. QuikMenu contains several predefined button shapes for you to choose from. To change the button shape press the Page Up and Page Down keys on your keyboard. If you have a mouse click the Prev and Next buttons. A preview of the new button shape, as well as its color and font, will appear in the large window in the center of the Style dialog box. Color (Alt/C) Allows you to choose separate colors for the Fill (Alt/F) area inside the button, the Text (Alt/T) inside the button and the Border (Alt/B) around the perimeter of the button. NOTE: If you have a monochrome monitor, your choices are limited since colors will appear as black, white or 50% gray. Font (Alt/F) Gives you a selection of fonts or type styles to choose from. Select a font from the F5=List Fonts box and then change the point size with the Up and Down arrow keys. You can preview the font in the window next to the Size box. Alignment (Alt/A) Lets you position text in the button either to the Left(Alt/L), in the Center (Alt/C) or to the Right (Alt/R). Pause (Alt/P) Select this option if you want the program to pause after it's finished and prompt you with a "Strike any key when ready..." message. This is extremely helpful when running a program that displays information on the screen and then terminates, causing QuikMenu to clear the screen before you've had a chance to read it. Ask For File (Alt/A) Inserts a question ([Select A File-*.*]) into the Command field requesting QuikMenu to display a list of files whenever this button is activated. The default directory mask is *.*, but can be changed to anything you like. For example, changing the mask to*.WK? will display a list of Lotus 123 worksheets. (See Command above.) Editor (F2) Starts QuikMenu's Batch Editor and automatically loads or creates any batch file found at the beginning of the command line. QuikMenu's Batch Editor allows you to create and/or modify simple ASCII text files. File width is limited to 128 characters and file length is limited by the amount of available RAM. The Text Editor recognizes the following keyboard commands: Keyboard Command What it does ------------------------------------------------- Up Arrow Up one line Down Arrow Down one line Left Arrow Left one character Right Arrow Right one character Page Up Up one screen Page Down Down one screen Home Beginning of line End End of line Control/Home Top of file Control/End End of file Tab Insert 5 spaces Insert Toggle insert/overwrite Control/T Erase current line Control/Y Delete line Enter Insert a line (insert mode) Delete Delete character right Backspace Delete character left Alt/S Save and continue editing Esc or Alt/D Save and exit After you have completed your modifications, choose the Done command (Alt/D) from the top of the screen. You will be asked if you want to save the changes. If the file already exists, you will also be asked if you want to replace it or save the changes under a new name. Backup files (*.BAK) will NOT be created in either circumstance. Positioning The Software Button Once you've selected ENTER=OK, QuikMenu gives you an opportunity to position the Software Button on the menu. The question "Where do you want to place this item?" appears at the top of the screen. The new button has a marquee-type moving border, indicating it is not yet permanently positioned. Position the button by using the arrow keys on your keyboard or by moving the mouse. To move the button to another page, press the Page Up or Page Down keys until the desired page appears on the screen. To anchor the button, press Enter or click the mouse. You can always move the button again with the Move command below. ADDING PAGE BUTTONS Page Buttons are used to move between pages within a menu. For example, page one might contain a button labeled "Games" which is linked to page five. Page five might contain several items related to game software as well as a "Go Back" button for returning to page one. Select the Add command (Alt/A) from the top of the screen. Next, select Page Button (Alt/P) and a dialog box with the following options appears: Speed Key This is the key on your keyboard that will be used to activate the Page Button. QuikMenu automatically assigns a speed key for you. However, you can change it as long as the speed key is not used more than once per page. Valid choices are the letters A through Z, numbers 0 through 9 and the characters: @ # $ & * ( ) + { } [ ] :; ? ! / | \ " ^ - _ ~ . , < > = ` '. (See Adding Software Buttons above.) Name This is the text that will appear inside the Page Button when it's displayed on the screen. The text entered here has no effect on what page the button is actually linked to, so you can type virtually anything you like. Keep in mind, however, that the text should describe what will happen when the button is selected. (See List Pages below.) As with Software Buttons, you can instruct QuikMenu to display the Name text as multiple lines by using a tilde (~) character to represent line breaks (see Adding Software Buttons above). Link To Which Page Number Type the number of the page you want to link with this button. Valid page numbers are 1 to 40. (See List Pages below.) If you place an asterisk (*) in this field instead of a page number, the button will always return to the previous page regardless of it's position in the menu. List Pages This serves as an alternative method for filling in the Name and Link To Page Number fields above. Selecting this option displays a dialog box containing a list of page titles for all 40 QuikMenu pages. Press the Up or Down arrow keys to reach the page title you want and press Enter. You may also select a page by clicking on its title with the mouse. The name and number information will be automatically entered into the appropriate fields in the Page Button dialog box. Style Use the Style option to select the color, font and alignment choices to represent the page link on the menu. (See Adding Software Buttons above.) Positioning The Page Button Once you've selected ENTER=OK, QuikMenu gives you an opportunity to position the Page Button on the menu. The question "Where do you want to place this item?" appears at the top of the screen. The new button has a marquee-type moving border indicating it is not yet permanently positioned. Position the button by using the arrow keys on your keyboard or by moving the mouse. To move the button to another page, press the Page Up or Page Down keys until the desired page appears on the screen. To anchor the button, press Enter or click the mouse button. EDITING MENU ITEMS The Edit option allows you to change the appearance and behavior of a button. After selecting the Edit command, the question "Which item do you want to edit?" will appear at the top of the screen. Select the button you want to change by typing its speed key (i.e.,the letter W if the button label is W=WordPerfect) or clicking the button with the mouse. A dialog box like the one used to create the item will appear. You can now change any of the options or fields. When you're finished, select ENTER=OK to save your changes. (See Adding Items To The Menu above.) COPYING MENU ITEMS Use the Copy command to make a duplicate of an existing button. Copied buttons can be placed anywhere on the current page or even moved to another page. This is handy when you want to place the same button on several different pages. To copy a button, select the Copy command (Alt/C) from the top of the screen. Next, select a button by typing its speed key or clicking the button with the mouse. Position the button using the arrow keys on your keyboard or by moving the mouse. To copy the button to another page, press the Page Up or Page Down keys until the desired page appears on the screen. To anchor the button, press Enter or click the mouse. MOVING MENU ITEMS The Move command allows you to change the position of a button. To move a button, select the Move command (Alt/M) from the top of the screen. Next, select a button by typing its speed key or by clicking it with the mouse. Position the button using the arrow keys or by moving the mouse. To move the button to another page, press the Page Up or Page Down keys until the desired page appears on the screen. To anchor the button, press Enter or click the mouse. TIP: From the Modify mode, you can also move a button simply by typing the button's speed key or by clicking the button with the mouse. SIZING MENU ITEMS The Size option lets you change the dimensions of a button. If you have a mouse, simply click the mouse on the size handle that appears in the lower right corner of each button. Then drag the mouse until the button is resized to your desired proportions and click the mouse. Using the keyboard, select Size (Alt/Z) from the commands at the top of the screen. The question "Which item do you want to size?" appears. Select a button by typing its speed key or clicking it with the mouse. Next, another question appears at the top of the screen: "How do you want to size this button?" You'll also see amoving marquee border around the button. Use the arrow keys or move the mouse until the button is resized to your satisfaction. To anchor the button, press Enter or click the mouse. NOTE: QuikMenu won't allow you to size the button smaller than the space needed to display the button's text. DELETING MENU ITEMS Use the Delete command to remove unwanted buttons from your menu.Select Delete (Alt/L) from the top of the screen. You will be asked: "Which item do you want to delete?" Respond by typing the button's speed key or by clicking the button with the mouse. You will then be asked if you're absolutely certain you want to delete the button. Press Enter to delete it or Esc to cancel. CHANGING PAGE TITLES The Title command allows you to assign menu headings for each of QuikMenu's 40 pages. Menu titles appear at the top of each page and may contain up to 40 characters. This allows you to identify your menu screens with descriptive names like "DOS Commands," "Games,""Sally's Programs", "ACME Supply Co." or whatever. When you select the Title command (Alt/T), a dialog box will appear with the title of the current page already displayed. To change the title, backspace over the existing text and type the new title. You can also change the title of other pages by pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys until the desired title appears in the text field. The number of the affected page is displayed at the top of the dialog box. PASSWORD PROTECTING PAGES The Protect command allows you to protect an entire page with a unique password. In this way, unauthorized users can be prevented from accessing or even viewing selected pages. All pages except the first page may be protected. To use the Protect command, go to the page you want to protect using the Page Up and Page Down keys. From the Modify mode, select the Protect command (Alt/P) from the top of the screen. Enter your password in the text field and press Enter. To remove a password, press Backspace until the text field is empty. USING THE SETUP COMMAND The Setup option provides you with the ability to personalize many features of QuikMenu. You can use Setup to change the background color, set the date and time, change the mouse speed, password protect many QuikMenu functions, set the Time Log and tell the Dialer where to find your modem. Screen When you select the Screen command, QuikMenu displays a dialog box with a number of options.Color (Alt/C) Changes the color of the selected QuikMenu item. To select an item, choose the F5=List button. A dialog box will appear containing a list of interface elements, such as the menu background, command buttons, dialog boxes, etc., that can be colorized. Scroll down the list using the arrow keys or the mouse until the desired item is highlighted. Press Enter or click the item with the mouse. Next, select a color by pressing Alt/O or Shift/Alt/O until the desired color is highlighted or click one of the colors with the mouse. Repeat for each item you wish to modify. Use PCX Image If you have any PCX graphics files created by draw or paint programs, you can use one of those files as your menu background. These files are stored on your disk with a .PCX extension. Select this option if you want to use such a file. See Choose File below. NOTE: This option requires expanded memory. Choose File (Alt/F) Lets you see a list of .PCX files (if any) on your computer system. Use the arrow keys to select a file and press Enter or click the file name with the mouse. Default (Alt/D) Lets you set all your screen color selections back to the original default values. Sound Effects (Alt/S) QuikMenu occasionally emits audible beeps and tones in response to certain menu actions. If you'd prefer not to hear them, simply turn this option off. Confirm Applications (Alt/C) Requests a confirmation (Yes/No) before running a program. Confirm also affects the DOS and Exit commands. A confirmation helps prevent you from accidentally activating an item you did not intend to use. This option has no effect on Page Buttons and is superseded by some password settings. 3-D Interface (Alt/I) Allows QuikMenu's three-dimensional interface to be turned off (this is the default for monochrome systems). This is handy if you are using QuikMenu on an older computer system. 3-D interfaces are generally more complex and, therefore, appear to run slower on some systems. Display Speed Keys (Alt/D) Allows the speed key character in front of the button text to be turned off. All speed keys remain fully functional; the only difference is that they are not displayed. Display Grid (Alt/G) Displays a visible grid to use as a reference when positioning and sizing buttons on the menu. Snap To Grid (Alt/N) Automatically snaps buttons to the grid when positioning and sizing them on the menu. The grid does not have to be visible to use this feature. Password The Password function is used to prevent unauthorized users from running the DOS Shell, modifying the menu, viewing the Time Log, using the File Manager and leaving QuikMenu. (To protect individual programs, see Adding Items To The Menu above. To protect individual pages, see Password Protecting Pages above.) Setting Up Passwords Select the Password command (Alt/P) from the Setup dialog box. Select the command you want to protect by using the F5=List option. You'll see a list of QuikMenu options that can be password protected. Use the arrow keys to select a option or click your choice with the mouse. Your selection will appear in the box next to the List option. Type your password in the text field. Select Hide This Button (Alt/H) if you do not want the button to display on the menu. Hidden command buttons cannot be accessed via the mouse. Keyboard access, however, is still available. Functions that are to have restricted access should also be password protected. Some commands cannot be hidden, others cannot be protected. The options available vary according to the command you select from the List Options box. For example, if a command cannot be password protected, the Password entry box will not be visible. If you use this feature, be sure to remember your passwords. A forgotten password means you will not be able to access the protected options. NOTE: If you hide the Modify button it can be activated by pressing ALT/M. Screen Blank The Screen Blank function lets you choose an option that displays if no keyboard or mouse activity occurs after a specified number of minutes. This screen-saver helps to protect your monitor if you leave your QuikMenu screen unattended for periods of time. NOTE: The screen blanker only works while you are in QuikMenu, not in other programs. Selecting A Screen Blank Option Select Screen Blank (Alt/B) from the Setup command dialog box. Next, select one of the screen blank options from the list by pressing the Alt key and the underlined letter in the option name. One option, Screen Shuffle (Alt/S), requires a choice of Small (Alt/F), Medium (Alt/M) or Large (Alt/L). Screen Shuffle displays a continuously overlapping series of rectangles on the screen. Your choice of Small, Medium or Large determines the size of the rectangles. Preview You can see how each screen blank option looks on your screen before you finalize your decision. Select Preview (Alt/P) to view a sample. The preview will stay on the screen until you move the mouse or press a key. Return to the screen to either change your selection or confirm it by selecting Enter. Interval Use the Interval option to enter how many minutes should elapse before the Screen Blank option is activated. Backspace (if necessary) over the existing number and type your selection. Enter a 0 (zero) here to turn the screen saver off. Date/Time (Alt/T) This is probably as simple as it appears, much like setting a digital watch. Backspace (if necessary) over the existing numbers and type the new information. Press the Tab key to move to the next field. Indicate whether the time is AM (Alt/A) or PM (Alt/P). Also,indicate whether you are using a 12-Hour or 24-Hour clock by clicking on the Hour option (Alt/H). NOTE: This function may not work correctly on some PC's and XT's since there is no standard among clock cards used by these machines. In any event, the worst that could happen is that your computer will forget the time when it's turned off. Log The Time Log option (Alt/L) allows you to turn the time log on or off and to change the name of the log file. The default name for the log file is QM.LOG. The information in the Time Log can be accessed via the Log command button in the Utility menu. The Log may be password protected (see Password above.) Mouse Use this option (Alt/M) to adjust the sensitivity of your mouse. The higher the setting, the less desk space you'll need to move the mouse across the screen. Dialer (Alt/D) If you're using a Hayes compatible modem, you can use this option to tell QuikMenu which port it's attached to by selecting the appropriate COM button (Com1 or Com2). If you have a modem, but you're not sure which port it's using, there is a general rule of thumb: if you don't have a mouse, your modem is probably on Com1, and if you do have a mouse, your modem is probably on Com2. You may also need to tell QuikMenu whether your telephone company expects a Pulse or Tone type phone. NOTE: The Com2 option in QuikMenu will allow access to some modems on Com3 or Com4, but not all. Palette (VGA color only) (Alt/E) If you have a VGA monitor, you can modify the palette of colors that QuikMenu uses to display your menu on the screen. For example, if you find that red isn't quite red enough, you can easily adjust it. The palette command allows you to change the percentages of cyan, magenta and yellow that compose each color. Select a color to modify by clicking one of the color boxes with the mouse or by pressing ALT/O or Shift/Alt/O. Next, click the (+)or (-) buttons next to the desired color control with the mouse. Using the keyboard press Alt/C or Shift/Alt/C for Cyan, Alt/M or Shift/Alt/M for Magenta, Alt/Y or Shift/Alt/Y for Yellow or Alt/B or Shift/Alt/B for Brightness. The percentage of color is indicated by the graph and numeric value next to the (+) button. The Brightness control adds (+) or subtracts (-) equal amounts from Cyan, Magenta and Yellow simultaneously.If your new QuikMenu colors, you can restore the original settings by selecting the Default button (Alt/D). NOTE: Color changes appear only while in QuikMenu and should not interfere with other programs. Mail (Networks only) (Alt/A) Select the Check Mailbox Continuously option if you want QuikMenu to check your mailbox every 10 seconds while QuikMenu is on the screen. You will be notified of new mail arrivals as they occur. If this option is turned off QuikMenu will only check your mailbox when: 1.) you first start QuikMenu, 2.) after running a program or DOS option or 3.) when you manually activate the Mail command from the Utilities menu. You can also specify a directory where QuikMenu will send and receive mail.NOTE: The Mail directory must be the same for all users accessing the Mail feature. The directory must be accessible to all users and all users must have Read, Write and Delete privileges in the directory. EXITING THE MODIFY MODE To exit Modify, choose Done (Alt/D). QuikMenu returns to the Main menu screen. CHAPTER 4 USING THE FILE MANAGER ---------------------- The File Manager is a powerful tool that makes it possible to perform many common DOS function without ever leaving QuikMenu. File Manager's graphical interface makes copying, moving, renaming and even deleting files easy. You can also create, copy, move and delete directories, view and print ASCII text files and display information about files, directories and drives. The Find option allows you to search for a specific file or group of files across an entire drive. These files can then be copied, moved, renamed or even deleted as easily as if they were all in the same directory. STARTING THE FILE MANAGER The File Manager is activated by selecting the File command (Alt/F) from the command list at the top of the screen. A dialog box containing the following options will appear: Path Box You can think of the path as a navigational aid, always pointing to your current location. The path consists of the current disk drive (i.e., A:, B:, C:, etc.) followed by the name of the current directory and the directory mask. QuikMenu's directory mask is exactly like the ones used by DOS' Dir, Copy and Del commands (see Find below). Directory Window This is the window through which you view and manipulate your disk drives, directories and files. Drives, directories, executable files and text files each appear with a different icon symbol to the left of the item name. Scroll Bar Often times a list of files will be larger than the space available in the Directory Window. QuikMenu's scroll bars allow you to quickly and easily move through large groups of files. (See Chapter 2: Using QuikMenu, for more information about scroll bars.) Command Buttons The Command Buttons are the controls used to operate the File Manager. These options affect only the files and directories that are currently selected (see Selecting Files and Directories below). Item Selector The dotted rectangle marks the currently selected item. To select another item, move the selector using the arrow keys or click the desired item with the mouse. SELECTING FILES AND DIRECTORIES Most File Manager options permit you to work with individual as well as multiple files. Before selecting a command option, you must first tell the File Manager which file or files you want the command to affect. The File Manager provides several methods for selecting files. A selected file will appear highlighted with white letters on a black background. If nothing has been highlighted, then the file inside the item selector is considered to be selected. Using The Keyboard Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move the item selector to the desired file. To change drives or directories, move the selector to any item with the drive or directory icon symbol (as illustrated above) and press Enter. To select multiple files or directories, hold down the Shift key and press Enter. Using The Mouse Position the mouse cursor over the desired file and click the mouse button. To change drives or directories, click twice on any item with a drive or directory icon symbol (as illustrated above). To select multiple files or directories, hold down the mouse button and drag the mouse over the desired items. To select multiple blocks of files or directories that are not contiguous to one another, hold down the Shift key and drag the mouse over each block of items you want to select. To select all files in the current window, press the Space Bar or click the Path Box at the top of the Directory Window. You can reverse the display order in the Directory Window so that files are listed before directories and drives. Simply click the mouse on the asterisk (*) button in the Path Box at the top of the list or press the asterisk key on your keyboard. A second click reverses the order once again. To advance the item selector directly to files or directories beginning with a specific letter, just type the desired letter or character. For example, if you type an "E", QuikMenu advances the item selector to the next item starting with E. Continue pressing the letter to scroll through all the items beginning with the selected character. FILE MANAGER COMMANDS Launching A Program QuikMenu allows you to launch, or activate a program, right from the File Manager window. Program, or executable, files are those that end with the extensions .COM, .BAT or .EXE. For example, WordPerfect uses the file WP.EXE.To launch a program, place the item selector over the executable file for the program you want to run. Next, press Enter or click the file name with the mouse. The Launch A Program screen will appear showing the current directory (Location) and the selected file name (Command). At this point you may change the Location and add any command line options required to make the program work. Select the Pause option if you want to wait for a keystroke after you exit the program. To launch the program press Enter or click the Ok button. Copy (Alt/C) This command is used to copy selected files and directories. When activating this command, a dialog box will prompt you to choose a drive and directory to copy the files to. As with DOS' Copy command, if the destination contains a file with the same name as the file you are copying, it will be overwritten by the new file. However, QuikMenu will ask your permission before overwriting any existing files. Move (Alt/M) The Move command is used to move selected files and directories. When activating this command, a dialog box will prompt you to choose a drive and directory to move the files to. As with many DOS commands, if the destination contains a file with the same name as the file you are moving, it will be overwritten by the new file. However, QuikMenu will ask your permission to overwrite the existing file or files before proceeding. Rename (Alt/R) Used to change the name of a file. When used with multiple files, you will be prompted to enter a new name for each selected file. You cannot use Rename to change the name of a directory. Delete (Alt/D) The Delete command is used to erase selected files or directories. Delete can even remove directories that contain files or other directories. Remember, the Delete command can be extremely destructive if not used with care. As with Copy and Move, QuikMenu asks your permission before deleting anything. Mk Dir (Alt/K) The Mk Dir command is used to create a new directory or subdirectory. This is similar to DOS' Make Directory (MD) command. Ch Dir (Alt/H) This command is used to change the currently active directory. You can also change directories by selecting them from the Directory Window (see Selecting Files and Directories above). Info (Alt/I) This option displays valuable information about files, drives and directories. For drives, Info shows you the total size, bytes used/available and a bar graph showing the percent of used and available space. For directories and files, Info shows you their size and the date/time they were last modified. You can also modify attributes for files (i.e. Archive, System, Read Only and Hidden).If you've selected multiple items, QuikMenu shows you the collective size and characteristics of the entire group. View (Alt/V) Used to view and print ASCII text files. Selecting the View command replaces the File Manager with a full screen text window. Use the Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys to view the file. You can also scroll with the mouse using the text window's scroll bar. To send the file to a printer, select the Print command (Alt/P) from the top of the screen. The default printer connection in QuikMenu is LPT1. To change the default setting, enter the name of the desired port in the text field (i.e. LPT1, LPT2, etc.) Make sure your printer is on-line and loaded with paper. Then select ENTER=Print from the print dialog box. You can also send the file to the Batch Editor by selecting the Edit command (Alt/E). See the Editor discussion in Chapter 3: Modifying The Menu. When you have finished viewing the file, choose the Done command(Alt/D) or press Esc. Find When you want to find a file but can't remember where it's located, you can use QuikMenu's Find command (Alt/F). This is one of QuikMenu's most powerful features. The Find command uses simple DOS wild card characters (*,?) to search for individual files or groups of files that have related file names and/or extensions. Searches can be restricted to the current directory or expanded to include an entire drive. This is a very unique and handy option since it allows similar files to be placed into one Directory Window, regardless of their location. You can then select items and perform any File Manager function. Directory Mask Displays certain types of files or groups of files with similar names and/or extensions. To search for groups of related files, you can use standard DOS wild card characters (*,?). For example, you could display only those files with the extension .BAT by entering *.BAT in this field. To find all files, use *.* (this is the default). Only files that match the criteria you specify will be displayed in the Directory Window. Search Entire Drive Applies the search criteria across the entire drive. Turn this option off to search only the current directory. LEAVING THE FILE MANAGER To end your session with the File Manager, select the Done command with the mouse or press Esc. CHAPTER 5 USING THE UTILITIES ------------------- QuikMenu's Utility Command offers you a host of features that make it easier for you to perform many office functions right from your computer. You no longer have to run separate programs to send electronic mail (networks only), jot down a quick reminder or check a phone number. QuikMenu lets you access these options - and more- in a single program. This chapter explains how to use the options available in the QuikMenu Utility menu. To access the Utility menu, select the Utility command from the top of the screen by pressing the Alt key and the letter "U" or by clicking the button with the mouse. USING THE CALCULATOR QuikMenu provides a useful on-screen calculator so you can perform some quick arithmetic while you're on the phone or in the middle of a project. From the Utility menu, select the Calculator option (Alt/C). Your screen automatically turns into a full-size calculator complete with a running tape that shows what you've entered. The calculator works on the same principle as a standard desk calculator. Use the keypad and action keys (add, subtract, multiply, divide) as you normally would. The "C" key clears the current calculations. Use the Mem Recall (Alt/R), Mem Save (Alt/S) and Mem Clear (Alt/C) keys to recall, save and clear numbers or totals you want to use in other calculations. Select Done (Alt/D)when you have completed your calculations. Any current totals are cleared from the calculator's memory. USING THE CALENDAR QuikMenu's calendar feature is a handy tool to help you keep your days organized so you don't miss important deadlines and commitments. You can create reminders that pop up on the day you've specified when you first start your computer. You can also use the calendar as a reference for prior and future months and years. From the Utility menu, select the Calendar option (Alt/A). Next, you'll see the Calendar for the current month with today's date highlighted. Viewing The Calendar To change the highlighted date, use the arrow keys on your keyboard or hold down the Shift key and position the mouse pointer over the desired date and click. Use the Up and Down arrow buttons on the top of the screen or the Page Up and Page Down keys to move backward or forward one month at a time. To move in greater increments, select the Prev Year (Alt/P) or Next Year (Alt/N) commands. To return to today's date select the Today (Alt/T)command or press the Home key. To move quickly to a specific date, select the Goto (Alt/G) command. The Goto screen gives you a place where you can enter a specific date. Use the Tab key to advance from one field to the next. You must fill in the month, day and year fields. Entering Reminders QuikMenu's Calendar gives you a place to type simple notes, appointments, etc. for a specific date. First, highlight the date you wish to attach notes to using the techniques described in Viewing The Calendar above. Once the date is highlighted, press Enter. If you have a mouse, you can simply position the mouse pointer over the desired date and click. A simple text editor will appear where you can enter your notes in a free form format. For information about the editor, see Chapter 3: Modifying The Menu. When you have finished with the editor, select the Done command (Alt/D) or press Esc. Dates that have reminders attached to them will appear on the calendar with a tiny page icon in the upper left corner. Delete (Alt/L) This command removes calendar reminders (if any) for the highlighted date. Load (Alt/O) Use the Load command to retrieve an existing calendar or create a new one. You can create separate calendars for different users or, for example, to keep business notes and reminders separate from your personal calendar. The first time you access the Calendar, QuikMenu automatically creates and loads a file called QM.CAL (or USERNAME.CAL on networks - such as F:\QUIKMENU\SALLY.CAL). Otherwise, the currently active calendar file shows in the File Name field. Enter the name of the calendar file you want to use. IF the calendar file does not exist, it will be created for you. Use the List Files (F5) option to view and select from existing files on your hard disk. Setup (Alt/S) This option controls various aspects of the calendar as described below. Password Calendars can be password protected so other users cannot alter your setup selections. Users will need to know the password before the calendar file can be loaded. To remove the password, press the Backspace key to blank out each character in the field. Auto-Remind (Alt/A) Select this option to automatically display calendar reminders for the current date when you first power up your computer. Require Password To Delete Reminders (Alt/P) Select this option to require users to enter the correct password before they can activate the Delete option. Remove Reminders After [Number of Days] (Alt/R) Select this option and enter a specified number days (1 to 99) to help manage your Calendar. QuikMenu will automatically remove reminders after the specified number of days. If this option is turned off, reminders are removed only at your request. Leaving The Calendar To end your session with the Calendar, select the Done command (Alt/D) or press Esc. USING THE PHONEBOOK The QuikMenu PhoneBook is a mini database where you can store names and phone numbers of business associates, friends or anyone you contact frequently. If your computer system includes a modem, the PhoneBook can dial your telephone for you. PhoneBook sorts names in alphabetic order and can print a list of all or selected names and addresses. From the Utility menu, select the PhoneBook option (Alt/P). Viewing The PhoneBook To view records in the PhoneBook, press Page Up and Page Down or click the Up and Down arrow buttons with the mouse. Across the top of the PhoneBook screen you'll see a set of letters (A,B,C,etc.). Use these letters just like a set of index tabs. Press the Control key and the Left or Right arrow keys to scroll through the file. If you have a mouse, click the tab with the letter you want view. The first record beginning with the selected letter will be displayed on the screen. Select the asterisk (*) to locate entries that start with numbers or unusual characters. Adding Records To The PhoneBook Use the first text field on the top of the screen to enter the name you'll use to recall the PhoneBook record. It's easiest to enter individual names with the last name first (for example: Smith, John). You can also enter company names in place of individual names. Just remember that sorting will be more effective if the most important word is first on the line (such as Jones Company, The). If you entered The Jones Company, PhoneBook will sort this record in the T's, instead of the J's. Use the Tab key and the Up and Down arrow keys to move from field to field on the screen. The address field is the large box below the name. This is a six line free-form text field where you can type anything you like. Phone numbers are entered in the boxes on the right. QuikMenu automatically fills in Work Phone and Home Phone as field titles. However, you can change these titles to meet your needs. You may want to use one field for the work phone and the other field for the fax or modem number. Use the blank field below each title to enter the appropriate phone number. If you intend to use the Dial feature, be sure to enter the phone number, including 1 for the long distance and the area code where needed (for example, 1-800-555-1234). Find (Alt/F) The Find option allows you to search the database for a specific record or related records. You will be asked, "Find What?". Enter a letter or complete word to narrow the search even further. Select Search Index Only (Alt/S) if you want QuikMenu to look only at the name field of each record. Otherwise, QuikMenu looks at complete entries to find the first occurrence of the letter or word you specify. Find Next (Alt/N) Advances to the next record in the PhoneBook that matches your search criteria (see Find above).Add(Alt/A) Pulls up a blank screen where you can enter a new PhoneBook record. Delete (Alt/L) Removes the currently displayed record from the PhoneBook. Dial (Alt/D) If you have a modem, this option will automatically dial the phone for you. Your communication ports must already be installed and set up with the proper configuration before you can use the Dial command. If you aren't sure about how your communication ports are set up, please consult your modem manual or someone who has experience in this area. Print (Alt/P) Use this option to Print PhoneBook records. Print the Current record (Alt/C), Found records (Alt/F) or All records (Alt/A). To select Found, you'll first have to use the Find feature on the main PhoneBook screen and define your search criteria. If you want the printer to stop between pages, select Pause Between Pages. You will have to press Enter at the end of each page so QuikMenu knows when to resume printing. Load (Alt/O) Select Load to retrieve an existing PhoneBook or create anew one. The default PhoneBook name is QM.PB on single user systems and USERNAME.PB on networks. You will be asked to enter the name of the PhoneBook you want to use (such as C:\QUIKMENU\SALLY.PB). Leaving The PhoneBook To end your session with the PhoneBook, select the Done command with the mouse or press Esc. USING THE TIME LOG QuikMenu's Time Log is a valuable resource for consultants, secretaries, lawyers or anyone who keeps track of expenses on the basis of time. The Time Log allows you to view, sort and print a variety of reports based on how long and how often you use your computer. The log keeps track of programs by the name you assign to your Software Buttons. It may be helpful to keep a separate page of Software Buttons for specific projects and give each button a unique project name. For example, page 6 could have a "Jones Word Processor," a "Jones Database" and a "Jones Spreadsheet." Activating The Time Log All Time Log information is stored in a file, usually in the QuikMenu directory on your hard drive. The default log file name is QM.LOG. You can change the name of this file, as well as turn the Time Log on and off, from within the Setup dialog box (see Chapter 3: Modifying The Menu). Once the Time Log is activated, it becomes completely transparent to the user. Simply use the menu as you always have - running programs, DOS operations, etc. and QuikMenu will automatically record when and how long you access each program. To use the Time Log to its full potential, there are a few basic elements to be aware of when creating your menus. For example, suppose your favorite client, Mr. Jones, calls and requests that you prepare a multi-page proposal for an upcoming sales meeting. The proposal will incorporate information from Lotus 123, WordPerfect and dBase. Of course, you'll want to bill Mr.Jones for all your hard work. Your regular Lotus, WordPerfect and dBase software buttons just won't do because you'll never be able to separate the Jones Project from all your other work. Fortunately, with QuikMenu, the solution is simple. Create a page on your menu to be used exclusively for the Jones Project. Copy or create software buttons for the programs you'll be using on this page and give the buttons new names such as "Jones WordPerfect", "Jones Database" or "Jones Report." Make sure that "Jones" is the first word in each name. The rest of the name can be anything you like, as long as the first part of each software button name is the same. This will make it easy to produce a report based on the amount of time you spend on the Jones Project. Viewing The Time Log From the Utility menu, select the Log (Alt/L) option from the list on the screen. QuikMenu will generate a report detailing all of your menu activity. This may take several seconds, depending on the complexity of the report and the number of entries in the log file. After creating the report, QuikMenu will display a list of programs based on the current search criteria. Creating Your Own Reports To change the search criteria, the date range or the format of the Time Log, select the Search (Alt/S) command button from the top of the screen. A dialog box containing the following options will appear. Report Title This is the heading that will appear at the top of each page when your report is printed. The heading can also be seen at the top of the QuikMenu screen in the Title Bar along with the name of the current log file. Sort By Select the Program button (Alt/P) to sort log entries alphabetically by name. Choose the Date button (Alt/D) to sort log entries in chronological order. View As This option controls the level of detail displayed by the Time Log.The Summary (Alt/S) option displays each log entry only once and shows the total number of times and percentage of total daily time each item was used. The Detail (Alt/D) option shows user name (networks only), time in, time out, and total time for each item. Find Programs Beginning With Use this option to locate specific programs or projects within the Time Log. For example, typing "Word" might find entries for "WordPerfect," "Wordstar" and "Word Processing," anything that begins with "Word." Items like "The Word" and "Windows Word" would not be found because they do not begin with "Word." The search is not case-sensitive, so don't worry about capitalization (i.e.,searching for "JONES" yields the same results as "jones" or"Jones.") To find all entries, leave this field blank. Start Date You may want to create a report for a specific range of dates. In the text fields, type in the month, day and year for the beginning of the report. Use the Tab key to move from field to field. Leave these fields blank to search from the beginning of the file. End Date In the text fields, type in the month, day and year for the end of the report. Use the Tab key to move from field to field. Leave these fields blank to search from the start date to today's date. NOTE: If both the Start Date and End Date are blank, all entries will be searched. Match User With (Networks Only) Enter a name in this field to limit the log report to a specific user. Leave this field blank to show activity for all users. Printing The Time Log Printed Time Log reports are very similar to the ones displayed on the screen, with the exception of page breaks, page headings and page numbers. To send the Time Log report to the printer, select Print (Alt/P) from the top of the screen. Make sure your printer is on-line and loaded with paper, then press Enter. The default printer connection in QuikMenu is LPT1. To change the default setting, enter the name of the desired port in the text field (i.e., LPT1, LPT2, etc.). You may also send the report to a disk file by entering a file name instead of a port. Time Log reports can then be imported into WordPerfect, Wordstar, Microsoft Word or any other program capable of reading ASCII text files. SENDING AND RECEIVING MAIL (Networks Only) If you have installed the network version of QuikMenu, you can use the Mail option to communicate with other QuikMenu users on your network. Mail will work with any DOS-based network. Finding The Mail Waiting Symbol If mail has arrived for you, you'll see an envelope symbol in the upper left corner of the QuikMenu screen. The number next to the envelope tells you how many messages are waiting in your mailbox. Activating The Mail Option From the Utility menu, select the Mail option (Alt/M). The QuikMenu Mailbox appears. Your user name and number of messages waiting for you appear at the top of the box. If you do have messages, the mailbox lists the date, time, sender and subject of each message.From here, you can view messages, send and reply to mail, or print,save and delete messages. NOTE: You can also access the Mail option if you have mail in your mailbox by clicking the envelope symbol in the upper left corner of the screen. Sending Mail You can send electronic mail (E-Mail) to anyone on your network who has installed QuikMenu. Select Send Mail (Alt/S) from the mailbox screen. Then you have a choice of selecting Use Mail Editor (Alt/E) or Send Text File (Alt/F) to send an ASCII text file created in another program, such as a word processor. Using The Mail Editor When you select Use Mail Editor, QuikMenu displays the Mail Editor screen where you type the text for your messages. See the Editor discussion in chapter 3: Modifying The Menu. When you're ready to send the message, select Send (Alt/S) from the top of screen. Next, enter the name of the person you wish to send mail to in the To field. You can select from a list of current users by selecting the List Users (F5) button. To send mail to multiple users, enter the additional names separated by spaces. Choosing Send To All Users (Alt/S) will bypass the To field and send mail to everyone in the List Users box. Subject is optional and will appear on the message line in the receiver's mailbox. Sending A Text File To send a text file (Alt/F), you must first create the message in another program on the computer. This feature is handy when, for example, you've already written a memo in your word processor and want to send it to another user. Viewing Mail To view a message, use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight the desired message and press Enter. QuikMenu immediately displays the selected message on the screen. Responding To Mail Once you've reviewed an E-mail message, you can choose one of the command buttons at the top of the mailbox screen. Reply (Alt/R) Allows you to quickly send a response to the user who sent the message. Type your message in the text editor and select Send (Alt/S). The message will be automatically addressed and sent. Forward Mail The Forward (Alt/F) option lets you pass the message along to someone else on the network. Again, you can forward to more than one person by entering more than one user name in the To field. Copy to File Use the Copy (Alt/C) command to save messages outside of QuikMenu. The dialog box lets you tell QuikMenu where to send the file. For example, you may want to save a message to a file in your word processor's directory. You will need to enter the complete path along with a file name (i.e. C:\WPFILES\MEMO.WP5). Print Print (Alt/P) a paper copy of the a message for reference. QuikMenu will ask where to send output and fill in the default printer identification it finds for your system (such as LPT1). You can enter a different printer or printer file name. Select Pause Between Pages if you need to load single sheets in your printer. You will also be asked if the printer is on-line and loaded with paper. Delete Removes (Alt/L) old messages from the list. Messages stay in your mail box until they're deleted. Done Ends (Alt/D) viewing and sending mail for this session. The screen will ask if you want to delete the current message before exiting Mail. NOTE: On LANtastic and Novell networks, QuikMenu can intercept and display broadcast messages that originated from a network command. For example, if you are entering text in a word processor (in a non-graphics mode) and someone on your network sends a broadcast message, a message bar appears at the bottom of your text screen. If you are in QuikMenu, the message is displayed right on your screen. Exiting Mail To end your Mail session, select the Done command with the mouse or press Esc. APPENDIX COMMAND LINE OPTIONS -------------------- You can specify several options when starting QuikMenu. An option consists of a slash (/) followed by an option letter followed by information about that option. Up to 4 command line options can be used at the same time. VIDEO MODE SELECTION (/G) QuikMenu automatically determines what type of monitor you have and loads the appropriate software driver. If you have an unusual video card, you may want to override the built-in video detection routine. The /G command allows you to run QuikMenu in a variety of different graphics modes. WARNING: CHOOSING AN INCOMPATIBLE DRIVER MAY CAUSE UNEXPECTED RESULTS AND IN SOME EXTREME CASES, DAMAGE YOUR MONITOR OR VIDEO CARD. DON'T TRY THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Usage: /Gx x=one of the commands below. Video Mode Command ------------------------------- Hercules 7.0 CGA 1.4 EGA 3.1 EGA 64K 4.0 VGA 9.2 AT&T 8.5 IBM 8514 640x480 6.0 IBM 8514 1024x768 6.1 Example: QM /G1.4 STARTING QM WITH A HELLO MESSAGE (/H) The /H option displays a simple greeting message each time QuikMenu is loaded. Possible messages include: "Good Morning", "Good Afternoon" and "Good Evening" depending on what time of day it is. Usage: /H Example: QM /H USING MULTIPLE MENUS (/M) This option can be used to create or access other QuikMenu menu (*.MNU) files. Usage: /Mx x=filename Example: QM /M C:\QUIKMENU\MYMENU.MNU If you specify a non-existent file name, QuikMenu will create a new menu. Be sure to include complete drive and path when using this feature. QuikMenu will use the new menu file until you tell it not to. To return to your original menu type: QM /MC:\QUIKMENU\QM.MNU You can even use the /M option from within QuikMenu by creating a special Software Button. For example, a button with the following commands: Location: C:\QUIKMENU Command: QM /MC:\QUIKMENU\MYMENU.MNU !BYE will exit and reload QuikMenu with the file MYMENU.MNU. To return to your original menu, simply create another button replacing MYMENU.MNU with QM.MNU. NOTE: You can also load additional menus by using the Load command. See Chapter 3: Modifying The Menu. RETURNING TO PAGE ONE (/P) The /P option forces QuikMenu to return to page one after running a program or DOS option. Usage: /P Example: QM /P RELOCATING QUIKMENU'S TEMPORARY FILES ------------------------------------- QuikMenu lets you relocate its temporary and information files on both network and stand-alone systems. These files include QM_APP.BAT, QM.INF, etc. For example, to change the location of the temporary files to C:\TEMP, follow these instructions: Stand-Alone PC Users Use an ASCII text editor to change QuikMenu's QM.BAT file to the following: ECHO OFF QM_PROG %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %QUIKMENU%QM_APP Next, place the following command into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET QUIKMENU=C:\TEMP\ Be sure to include the backslash (\) at the end of the path and don't use any spaces. Network Users Use an ASCII text editor to change QuikMenu's QNET.BAT file to the following: ECHO OFF QM_PROG /N %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %QUIKMENU%%1 Next, place the following command into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET QUIKMENU=C:\TEMP\ Be sure to include the backslash (\) at the end of the path and don't use any spaces. You may specify a different directory (local or network) for each person if you like. NOTE: Some early versions of DOS may have trouble with this option. USING QUIKMENU WITH TSR'S ------------------------- This option is for those who like to use those handy Pop-Up calculators, note pads, outliners, etc. These are commonly known as terminate and stay resident utilities or TSR's. QuikMenu includes a handy TSR window that allows you to easily access your favorite TSR utilities. Simply load your TSR's as you normally do, then activate QuikMenu. From the QuikMenu main screen, press the F3 function key. QuikMenu's graphical display is replaced by a rather plain text-only window. At this point, input the key combination required to bring up your TSR. When you're finished, press the Esc key to return to the original QuikMenu screen.