The Business Master (4th Edition)

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Text File | 1993-10-13 | 33KB | 653 lines

╔════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ▓▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▓ ║ ║ ▓▒░ MENU WIZARD HELP FILE ░▒▓██ ║ ║ ▓▒░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░▒▓██ ║ ║ ██████████████████████████████████ ║ ║ ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════╝ Menu Wizard is designed to allow users to design customized sets of menus for their personal computer system. >>----------------------<< >> MENU WIZARD FEATURES << >>----------------------<< Often used programs can be organized into Sub Menus and each individual program can be started with the press of a single key or the press of a Mouse button once Menu Wizard is set up for the individual system. Each program on your system can have it's own individual password or you can password protect whole Sub Menus of programs. ( Hide those Adult-Rated games from your kids) You can prevent the exit to DOS or the usage of DOS oriented features by activating a manager password known only to one or a handful of people. A handful of often used DOS features are available from an easily activated pulldown Menu which is visible at all times on the Menu Wizard screen. A choice of several attractive screen Blankers are built into Menu Wizard to protect your screen from Video Burn In when you are away from your desk. ( MENU WIZARD IS NOT A MULTI-TASKING SYSTEM AND MAKES NO PRETENSES.) ( THE SCREEN BLANKERS ARE NOT ACTIVATED WHEN YOU ARE IN A PROGRAM ) ( ACTIVATED BY MENU WIZARD. THEY ARE REACTIVATED WHEN UPON RET- ) ( URNING TO MENU WIZARD. ) The ''Desk top'' (a common term for a menu programs main screen) is not as flexible as some menu programs but is completely customizable for color and title. It suffers from no compatibility problems with even very large DOS packages that I have tried running under it. It is designed to be simple and effective to use and to take as little memory as possible away from the programs it may be asked to execute. ( The resident kernel MWIZ.COM takes approximately 2.5k bytes of Ram which is not a very big chunk. Particularly with DOS 5.0 and DOS and most device drivers loaded high.) > MENU WIZARD < > SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS < > ------------------- < > < > Operating System : MS or PC-DOS 3.0 or higher < > Video : 256K EGA or better required < > CPU : Will run on 8088 but 10 mHz 8086 or higher < > with 16 bit video card is recommended. < (Some of the screen blankers appear sluggish on a slower machine) > RAM : Has not been tested on any system under 640k < > but should run on 512k machine fine. A 256k < > machine probably won't run it. < NOTES: ----- 1.) Test Bed Programs include Word Perfect 5.1, WolfenStein 3-D,HARPOON, X-Wing Fighter and others any of which require a great deal of user RAM all Four of the above programs ran perfectly under Menu Wizard. So did several other game packages that take a great deal of RAM.) 2.) One disadvantage which may or may not matter is that text based Pop-Ups (i.e. TSR's) will not pop-up in graphics mode. You may still have them loaded but you need to invoke a DOS Shell or other Text based environment to Pop them up. 3.) Screen Blanker TSR'S Should not be used with Menu Wizard, it has it's own built in screen blankers. If you wish to try one, the results may be unpredictable. Menu Wizard has not been tested with any but it's own built in screen blankers. A graphics based screen blanker might work but I wouldn't try it. Menu Wizard has 15 built in screen blankers and 3 of them offer additional configuration options.) >The User Interface of Menu Wizard consists of 3 main parts.< ----------------------------------------------------------- >1. The Menu Screens.< These are the user configured menus for the system. Each Menu Consists of 20 small Buttons 2 Large Buttons and a PullDown Menu. Each small button will have a Title next to it (Or ITEM INACTIVE) Depending on what color this title is it either indicates a program or a Sub Menu. (Default Colors are White for a program, Red for a Sub Menu these colors are user configurable.) To [ PRESS ] a small button on the Menu Screen you either click it with the left Mouse button or press the key that is ind- icated on the button. >>PRESSING<< a button will either >1. Activate the program< >2. Switch to the Sub Menu< Each Sub Menu is a complete Menu Screen in it's own right and may have a completely different sets of programs or some of the same programs as the previous menu. The two large buttons are the EXIT and HELP buttons. If In a Sub-Menu the EXIT button has the word BACK on it and takes you Back to the menu above it (it's "Parent".) If you are on Main Menu which is always the highest level. Then Menu Wizard gives you a chance to abort before exiting the program. To press the EXIT button click on it with the Mouse or press the ESC key. The HELP button will display this file. To click on the HELP button. CLICK It with the Mouse or press Control/H. >2. The PULLDOWN Menu< The PullDown Menu is activated in one of two ways. a. By pressing the ALT key. This will highlight the first Letter of each title in the pulldown menu. You then activate a Menu by Keying the first letter of the menu you want. You navigate the menu with the arrow keys and press ENTER when the desired item is highlighted. (or ESC to abort without selecting an item) (once the menu is activated with the ALT KEY the Mouse is disabled until an item is selected or ESC is pressed) b. Place the Mouse Pointer over the title and hold down the left button. "Pull" down the menu with the Mouse Pointer. when the desired Item is highlighted release the Left button to select the item. (Click the Right Button or remove the Pointer from the menu box to abort without selecting an item.) >*FOLLOWING IS A DESCRIPTION OF EACH ITEM AVAILABLE ON THE PULLDOWN MENU*<. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The first Item on the Menu bar is the Menu Manager (MENU's) these are the items you will be using to build and modify your menu screens for your own system. New Item: When selected this item will prompt you for the location of your New Menu Item. After you indicate the location. You will be asked if you wish the new item to be an Item or A Sub Menu (An Item will executed a program, a Sub Menu gives you a new Menu Screen with more blank slots). After either option you will be given a Dialog Box to fill in certain information applicable to your selection. (Dialog boxes will be covered in detail later. Dialog boxes are navigated with the arrow and tab keys and accepted with F1 or aborted with ESC (or the mouse on the appropriate button) ) Items are added to the current Menu. (i.e. the menu currently displayed on screen) ESC will abort this option at any point. Edit Item: Same as above but the Dialog Box will be prefilled with existing information. Delete Item: Removes an item from the current Menu. Move Item: Allows you to move an existing Menu Item from one location on the menu to another or to a SUB-MENU. Auto Arrange: Arranges all menu items from F1 to J. with SUB-MENU's on top and items in alphabetical order by title. CONFIGURATION: This Item is the same regardless of which Menu is current. IT allows the User to change the following items. ------------------------------------------------- Manager PassWord (more on passwords later) Enable Manager Password Screen Blanker Style (choice of 12 screen blankers), Blanker interval (time interval until the screen is blanked when no Keyboard or Mouse activity is detected.) >Desired File Viewer program< --------------------------- Here you fill in the path and filename of the program you want to view files when chosing the view option from the file menu. This defaults to VIEWFILE.EXE a simple text based viewer supplied with Menu Wizard you may configure it to any file viewing utility you wish that takes a file name as a command line option. >Desired File Manager program< ---------------------------- This defaults to DOSSHELL if you are using MS or PC DOS 4.0 or higher and defaults to no file manager if you are using DOS 3.X (Menu Wizard will not run under DOS 2.X) You may configure it to call your own favorite File Manager program. (For example PCSHELL from PCTOOLs or the NORTON File Manager NORTON COMMANDER (NC.EXE) if you have one of these programs) Change Color: This changes the Color for the current Menu only. Each Menu will start out with the color of it's parent, but can have its color scheme changed independently of other menus. Refresh Screen: Clears the screen and repaints the current Menu on screen. You may have to use this option if you use one of the following features without the device driver ANSI.SYS installed. menu menu files menu Dos Menu print menu --------- ---------- --------- ---------- PACK MIF FILE COPY FILES FORMAT DISK PRINT SPOOLER STATUS COPY DISK CHECK DISK All these options run a utility program in a ''Window'' the method used in this program to restrict the programs output to the ''window'' requires that ANSI.SYS be installed for the output to have the proper appearance. If you run any of these options with out ANSI.SYS installed they should still function properly but Screen Aesthetics will be disrupted. This was the main reason for including the Refresh screen option. (May also prove useful if a pesky TSR refuses to restore your screen properly in Graphics mode.) Pack MIF file: If you are a person that constantly changes his menu arrangement you may want to use this utility. When Menu Wizard deletes a Sub Menu it does not actually delete the menu from the Menu Information file (MWIZ.MIF) it merely cut's it's links to it. MWIZPACK.EXE 'squeezes' out that extra information that is no longer being used by the program. Reducing the file size of MWIZ.MIF. Exit Program: This exits the Menu Wizard from any point in the program. If The Manager password is enabled the user will be prompted for it before Menu Wizard Exits. >The Next Item on the menu bar is (FILE's) file management< --------------------------------------------------------- M.anager: Calls the desired File Manager program when the file manager option is chosen from the Files Menu defaults to DOSSHELL when running DOS 4.0 or higher not available unless installed by user on lower DOS versions. V.iewer: Allows a user to view a Text File with out leaving Menu Wizard. You also get to pick what program is used here, but it defaults to VIEWFILE.EXE which is supplied with Menu Wizard. E.ditor: Invokes a text editing program. Program used here is specified in the CONFIGURATION option. Defaults to EDIT.COM for DOS 5.0 and higher, EDLIN for 4.0 and 3.X version of DOS. (!* EDLIN *! YucK !! Set up a better program in the configuration menu immediately if you are not using DOS 5.0 yet.) Copy Files: Self Explanatory Delete Files: Self Explanatory > The Next Item is The DISK item < ------------------------------ FORMAT DISK: Allows a user to format disks with out leaving Menu Wizard. (Requires the DOS program FORMAT.COM to be pres- ent in the DOS Path. and the Device Driver ANSI.SYS to properly format screen output.) COPY DISK: Allows the DOS DiskCopy command to be executed with- out leaving Menu Wizard. (Requires the DOS program DISKCOPY.COM to be pres- ent in the DOS Path and the Device Driver ANSI.SYS to be installed to properly format screen output.) CHECK DISK: Allows the DOS CHKDSK command to executed with- out leaving Menu Wizard. (Requires the DOS program CHKDSK.COM to be pres- ent in the DOS path and the Device Driver ANSI.SYS to be installed to properly format screen output.) > * OS Shell item * < --------------------- GO to DOS : Put's you back to the DOS command line MENU WIZARD is still in the background use the DOS [ EXIT ] command to return to MENU WIZARD DOS COMMAND : Enter a DOS command in a dialog box and execute it. >*The Next Menu is the Printer Menu*< ------------------------------------- a. PRINT FILE: Prints a file to the printer on LPT1: (If you only have one printer it is probably on LPT1:) You can not do anything else while the file is printing ! All the below items from Print Manager require that the DOS program PRINT, a TSR that comes with DOS be installed prior to Menu Wizard being activated. This program allows you to print a file in the background while continuing with another task. QUE A FILE: Places a file in the print que for background printing. DEQUE A FILE: Removes a file from the que. If it is currently being printed that print operation is aborted and the next file in the Que begins printing. QUE STATUS: Displays the current status of the print que. CANCEL FILE QUE: Cancels the currently printing file and all files in the que. PAUSE FILE QUE: Pauses the file que so you can reload paper, change printer ribbon, etc. While printing files. RESTART QUE: Restarts a paused que If you put files in the Print Que and then exit Menu Wizard they will continue to print. All of the above functions can be accomplished with the DOS program PRINT with different command line options. Check you DOS reference. >* ABOUT *< ----------- 1.) About Menu Wizard copy right notice box and version # 2.) About System give you a short summary of your system capabilities statistics. Available conventional,EMS,and XMS Memory , Mouse Installed ?, Video card and CPU Type. gives you some quick useful information about your system. > * DIALOG BOXES * < -------------------- 3. The third part of the Menu Wizard user interface are Dialog boxes similiar to those which are common in many software packages. The simplest Menu Wizard dialog boxes ask for FileNames or other command line parameters to pass to programs. Dialog Boxes have titles for each field which indicate what information is to be entered in the field. Fields are navigated with the Up and Down Arrow Keys and the Tab Key, pressing Enter will also take you to the next Field. Dialog boxes will have certain buttons in them also. Normally an F1 Button will indicate that the entered options are to be saved or acted upon and the ESC button will signal an Abort and a restoral of previous information. The Main Configuration Dialog Box also has 2 Fields which are "Button Boxes", The Screen Blanker Choice Box and the Blanker interval box these are used to make the choice of Screen Blanker style. (Menu Wizard has 11 built in Screen Blankers and a plain blank option.) and the interval at which the screen will blank when no user activity (i.e. Mouse,KeyBoard) is detected. These Buttons are [PRESSED] in by the Mouse or the Key indicated on the button. If a Word is on the button it will be activated on the Keyboard either by the First letter in that word OR the first letter in that word in conjunction with the Control key. A Yes/No Field in a Dialog Box can be Toggled with the Space Bar or Right and Left Arrow Keys, or explicitly filled in with the Y or N keys on the Keyboard. ( Some text string input fields allow the entry of strings longer then the field is. In these fields the string will scroll from right to left as it extends past the edge of the field. ) Text input fields will allow you to enter a text string that contains the information requested in the Field Title. You will be confronted with your first Dialog Box when building your Menus. The Dialog box for Menu items requests the following information. Field #1 - Title -> This can be any thing at all. For instance if you have a Word processing package you could enter "Word Processor" "Words", "My Writing Tools" etc. You can also spruce it up with astericks and the like. This will be the Title beside the Item's Button when you are done. Field #2 - Run Directory -> This information is not mandatory but it can serve two important purposes. If you wish, this directory can be made current before the program runs. If your program is not in the DOS path the information furnished here is used to search for the program in addition to the DOS Path variable. This can be used to execute programs that are not on the Dos Path without changing Directorys. If your program is in the DOS path and it is something such as an Editor or other software package which generates a lot of files you may wish to switch to a special directory before running it to store it's files. This use does not require that the program be in the Run Directory. Field #3 - Program File Name --> This is the FileName your program is stored under. This can be a .COM,.EXE or .BAT file. If the extension is not supplied Menu Wizard searches for the file extensions in the above listed order. If an explicit extension is given the program will be executed slightly faster, (particularly .BAT's because they are the last searched for) because the search will be shorter. The DOS Path is searched first followed by the Directory path given in RUN Dir- ectory if the program is not found in the DOS Path. .EXE's and .COM's are activated by Menu Wizard directly, in order to execute .BAT files Menu Wizard Needs to have access to COMMAND.COM as it loads a secondary copy of this file to execute BATCH files. (You will probably only need to worry about this if you are running off of a FLOPPY based system. Menu Wizard will need a system disk in the boot drive to execute a BATCH File. Menu Wizard is not rec- ommended for use on a FLOPPY based system.) Field #4 - Pause on Return --> Certain programs will display informa- tion on the screen and then terminate. You may not want Menu Wizard to auto- matically come back and obliterate this screen information. Putting a Y in this field will cause a prompt to appear on the bottom line preserving what ever else is on screen until you press a key indicating you are done with it. Field #5 - Enable Password --> If you put a Y in this field the menu Item will be password protected. The user will be prompted for a password before Menu Wizard allows the Item to Execute. Field #6 - Ask for options --> If you want the user to be ably to enter command line options for a program put a Y in this Field. Field #7 - PassWord --> You enter in this field the password that will be used if password is enabled the password is encrypted by a fairly sophisticated algorithm before being saved in the MWIZ.MIF file. Field #8 - Change Dir to Run -> Put a Y in this field if you want Menu Wizard to change to the path in the Run Directory Field prior to the program executing. Field #9 - Permanent Command -> Type in any DOS command line options Line Options that you want routed to the program eah time it executes. (Optional) This can be used in conjunction with Ask for Options. If a string is entered in the Permanent Options Field it will appear as the default in the Ask for options Dialog Box that will be presented to the user prior to the program running. Field #10 - Prompt for Command -> This is the prompt that will be presented Line Options to the user if the ask for options field is marked with a Y. For example for a text editor you might put the message * ENTER FILE NAME * in this field. The Sub Menu Dialog Box is a greatly abbreviated form of the above dialog box. Having only the Title, Enable PassWord , and PassWord Fields. It is filled out in much the same way. > * PASSWORD PROTECTION * < ------------------- In Addition to individual Menu items having a Password protection option their is also a >>MANAGER PASSWORD<< that can be enabled from the Main Config Dialog Box. When the Manager PassWord is enabled the following functions are password protected by the Manager PassWord. 1. All DOS Menu functions. 2. File Manager 3. Exiting the program , you can deny access to the DOS command line by having Menu Wizard up and running. > * FILES USED BY MENU WIZARD * < ------------------------- MENU WIZARD USES SEVERAL FILES WHICH MUST ALL BE KEPT IN THE SAME DIRECTORY. MWIZ.COM - The Menu Wizard "Kernel" MWIZ.EXE - Most of the Menu Wizard program. MWIZ.HLP - This File VIEWFILE.EXE - Text file viewer, supplied with Menu Wizard. ( You may get rid of this and configure Menu Wizard to use another file viewer using the CONFIGURATION screen if you prefer. ) MWIZPACK.EXE - The MIF packing utility (Not available with DEMO) > MWIZ.MIF ( Menu Information File) < -------------------------------- MWIZ.MIF is automatically created by MWIZ when starting if it does not all ready exist. It contains all Menu information for Menu Wizard (Program & Color Information) ****************************************************************************** >****************************************************************< >----------REQUIRED CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT COMMANDS---------< > < > If you are not familiar with editing your CONFIG.SYS or < > AUTOEXEC.BAT files please consult your DOS manual. < > < >****************************************************************< >* CONFIG.SYS *< ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILES = 10 ( Minimum ) STACKS = 9,256 ( On 8088 and 80286 machines this is necessary but have had no trouble on 386 and higher processors with out this command. 8088's and 80286's crash consistently with out this command when running Menu Wizard. {For those of you who are programmers I believe this is due to the amount of processing that is done in the 5 Interrupt service routines that are a part of Menu Wizard} ) DEVICE = C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS (Format and copy disk options will disrupt screen output with out this device driver installed.) DEVICE = C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS (optional but this or mouse.com in AUTOEXEC.BAT is necessary if you want to use a mouse.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >* AUTOEXEC.BAT *< { All autoexec.bat commands are optional } ----------------------------------------------- C:\DOS\PRINT /D:PRN (Optional but installs the DOS print spooler for use with the print menu) C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM (optional and not necessary if MOUSE.SYS is loaded in CONFIG.SYS. This or MOUSE.SYS is required to use a mouse with MENU WIZARD.) ****************************************************************************** ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Any Problems with Menu Wizard should be addressed in writing to the ║ ║ programmer. I will be happy to answer any inquiries to the best ║ ║ of my ability. ║ ╟>─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────<╢ ║ ║ ║ Anthony W. Henry ║ ║ C/O Carol Anne Henry ║ ║ 880 SchoolHouse Lane ║ ║ Lewisberry, PA 17339 ║ ║ ║ ╟>─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────<╢ ║ ║ ║ A Written reply is guaranteed to all Menu Wizard registered users. ║ ║ If you are not registered see the file ORDER.FRM that ║ ║ come with Menu Wizard. ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ End Of Menu Wizard Help....