November 1, 1990 QuickBBS Version 2.66 Page: i
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Selecting Menus To Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Editing Menu Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Menu Creator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Sample Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
November 1, 1990 QuickBBS Version 2.66 Page: 1
Menu System Documentation
INTRODUCTION
QuickBBS provides you with a complete set of working menus to
start with. You are free to modify these menus as much as you
wish so that your BBS will better reflect the uniqueness that you
intend. These menus will run "right out of the box" and provide
for a complete working BBS. Only the lowest level menus for
reading messages, transferring files and selecting Combined
Boards are fixed and cannot be changed.
There are more than 45 different menu commands, all described in
detail below. There is also a quick reference guide in the
appendix of the main QuickBBS manual. You have flexibility in
color selection, total menu look, and in your naming conventions.
The only exception to this naming flexibility is the main menu,
which MUST be called "TOP.MNU".
The Menu Master (MM.EXE) utility is used to create and edit your
menus. It saves each menu you create to the menu directory you
specified in QCONFIG and Menu Master's configuration utility
(MMC.EXE). Menu Master will also allow you to create a menu
template for your message base and file area menus and then Menu
Master will create a unique menu for each message or file area.
This greatly reduces the amount of time required to maintain your
BBS and is especially helpful for those SysOps who run larger
systems.
MENU DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Some bulletin board programs limit your menu topology to
"Operation Oriented Topology". In Operation Oriented Topology,
your menus are centered around the general operation. Such a
system would generally be divided into four main areas, Messages,
Files, External Programs, and Utilities. Under each main
operation heading there would be sub-menus that would allow you
to choose what message, file or other function your users wanted
to execute. You could have many different file areas, but in
order to get to a message area the user would have to return to
the main menu and then select the messages branch of the menu
tree.
Topic Oriented Topology is the other main menu design philosophy.
In Topic Oriented Topology your menus are designed around the
topic of interest rather than the operation being performed. In
this type of a system the main menu provides for a "tree"
structure, where there are "branches" for the various areas of
interest and then at the "leaf" level there will be choices to
access either message areas, file areas, or both. This type of a
system is a little more difficult to implement in the beginning,
but does allow greater ease of use for the end user.
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Menu System Documentation
It is recommended that you take a little time to plan your system
and what you want to offer your users before you actually start
to design your menus. A few minutes spent in the planning stage
will generally result in many hours saved during the
implimentation phase. One of the best tools here is to make up an
outline of the general areas of interest that your BBS will
cover, which file areas you will offer, and which message bases
you wish to support. If you want to have the primary basis of
your system to be games then then a possible idea would be to
have a message area for each game you will be offering so that
your users could trade stratagy and other conversation about
their games. These message areas would be located on the
individual game access menus so that they would be convenient for
the users to enter. It is very important to make your system as
easy to use as possible, but as fast to operate as possible for
the experienced user. It is also recommended that in any areas
where things may be complicated or difficult for the novice that
you put a menu item to display a text file. In that text file you
would put help information so that if a user gets lost they would
have ready access to the information they need.
QuickBBS will allow you to use either a operation or topic
topology. You can have multiple paths to the same area. Areas
that pertain to each other can be found on the same menus. You
can have menus for both an operation oriented topology and a
topic based topology in your system.
It will be easier on your users if each of your menus has
commands to return to the previous menu, to return to the top
menu and to logoff (preferably by going to a logoff menu to
prevent accidental logoffs). It is also recommended that you use
a common naming convention for these operations. One possible
suggestion is to always have the previous menu key be the "-"
key, and the "Return to Main Menu" be the "*" key, and "Logoff
the System" be the "!" key. If you implement your menus in this
manner, the users will quickly learn what keys to use for these
basic operations and will not have to constantly wait for the
menus to be displayed. This gives them a feeling of comfort with
your system quickly, and therefore will keep them calling back.
An added benefit of using punctuation keys for these operations
will be that your letter keys will remain available for use in
selecting the primary options of your menus. Something else to
consider is that using a key that needs to be shifted (such as %
or &) can allow a degree of safety for an option that should not
be readily accessible or accidentally called.
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Menu System Documentation
--- Getting Started ---
First thing to do is to run MMC to set up a configuration file.
You will be taken into an edit screen. Here you can change the
default colors and such used by MM.
You will need to identify what sub-directories you will be
keeping your menus and text files in. When entering paths you
MUST specify the full path including the drive and a trailing
back slash "\" character. If you are using the default QuickBBS
setup then your menus will be kept in;
"C:\QUICKBBS\MENUS\"
and your text files will be located in;
"C:\QUICKBBS\TXTFILES\"
failure to do so will result in a runtime error when you try to
execute MM.EXE.
After you have made what ever changes necessary to the defaults
for Menu Master, press the
key to save your changes, or
to abort and exit with out saving. You can adjust your
defaults at any time by running the MMC.EXE program again; these
changes will become effective the next time you run MM.EXE.
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Menu System Documentation
--- Selecting Menus To Edit ---
Use your cursor keys to highlight the menu you want to edit and
press ENTER. If you prefer, you can type the name of the menu you
wish to edit instead of using the cursor to highlight and select
the file. Entering a name that does not exist will cause MM to
ask you if you want to create it. To exit to DOS from this screen
just hit ESCAPE a few times.
The directory of menus is sorted and the .MNU extension is not
displayed because all menus must have this for their extension.
{PgUp} and {PgDn} will allow easier movement through large menu
directories.
Menu Master v1.20 By Dale Barnes
The Ultimate Menu Editor for QuickBBS
Directory F:\QUICK\MENUS\*.MNU
AECHO 3173 11-9-89 23:27
AECHO FILE14 FILE15 FILE16 FILE17
FILE3 FILE4 FILE5 FILE6 FILE7
FILE8 FILE9 FILEAREA FILECTL FILEMAIN
FILESRC GAMES GENMSG GENUTILS GLOBAL
GRAPHICS HDCONF HUNT INTERUSE LOCALMSG
LOGOFF MEADOW MESS1 MESS10 MESS100
MESS101 MESS102 MESS103 MESS104 MESS105
MESS106 MESS107 MESS108 MESS109 MESS11
MESS110 MESS111 MESS112 MESS113 MESS114
MESS115 MESS116 MESS117 MESS118 MESS119
MESS12 MESS120 MESS121 MESS123 MESS124
Esc-quit to select PgDn
[ESC] to Exit to DOS
[F1]-Copy Menu, [F2]-Delete Menu, [F3]-Rename Menu
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Menu System Documentation
--- The Editor ---
After you have selected the menu you wish to edit Menu Master
will load the menu file and then display a screen similar to the
following. We have used the TOP.MNU file as distributed with
QuickBBS so that you can more easily follow along with the
following descriptions.
Top.MNU L:32000 FlagsA:XXXXXXXX B:XXXXXXXX C:XXXXXXXX D:XXXXXXXX (A-LD-)
Top.MNU
1: ** MAIN MENU ** Menu Master
2:
3: Press [M] for the Message Bases Add to Menu
4: Press [F] to access the File Transfer Areas Change an Entry
5: Press [B] for the Bulletins Menu Delete an Entry
6: Press [U] to use User options and information Move/Copy Entry
7: Press [N] for New User information and upgradi Simulate Menu
8: List Menu
9: Highlight Colors
10: Press [L] to Leave this System Insert an Entry
Prompt Settings
System Command: cReate Menus
Quit and Save
Get Another Menu
saVe as
No Save/Abort
Toggle ANS/ASC
tOggle Data
nUmbers Toggle
usE Auto Display
Word Wrap Toggle
Figure II
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Menu System Documentation
The current menu being edited is constantly displayed for you,
and every change you make will display just as it will when the
menu is in operation through QuickBBS. The simulation is preset
to level 32000 and all flags ON. This is so you can always see
exactly what you have in your menu at all times. You also have
the option of stripping the line numbers so it looks just like it
will on your system.
The top line tells you what menu you are editing, what level and
flags settings the simulation is using.
When editing a menu, Menu Master displays it's menu on the upper
right section of the screen. You can clear this by pressing
once and then press to bring it back. The following is a
description of the options provided;
The 'A' key lets you add entries to the menu. When you press 'A'
you will be switched to the menu item editing screen for the item
numbered one greater than the current highest item present on the
menu. In other words, you will be adding new items to the bottom
of the menu.
The 'C' Key will let you change any item. On your display you
will see that there are numbers next to each item. This is the
menu item number. (If this isn't the case, press the 'U' key to
turn the item numbers on.) When you select 'C' to change an item,
you will be asked to enter the item number that you wish to
change; enter the number and then press . That item will
be displayed for you on the item editing screen. You will be able
to change any attribute for that item.
The 'D' key will let you delete a single entry or a range of
entries. This also requests an item number for the beginning and
ending items that you wish to delete. If you wish to only delete
one item, put its number in both the beginning and ending fields.
The 'M' key lets you move or copy entries within the menu. You
will be asked for a beginning and ending item number to move or
copy and then the item to place the items before. You will then
be asked if you wish to delete the source entries after the copy.
Press 'Y' and you will perform a "move", or press 'N' and the
effect will be a copy.
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Menu System Documentation
The 'S' key allows you to simulate any security level and flag
settings. This option takes you into a QuickBBS type simulation
starting from the current menu. You are free to move through your
menus just as if you were on your own board. While in simulation
mode the following keys are active:
- Toggle ASCII / ANSI display. This performs the same
function as 'T' from the menu edit screen.
- Toggle Data display. This will toggle the display of
either the menu data or the menu prompt text.
- Toggle line numbers. This will turn on or off the item
numbers associated with each item on the menu during
simulation.
- Auto-display toggle. When turned on any type 5, 39, 40,
or 45 menus that use the Control-A (^A) autoexecute
feature will either function or be ignored.
- Return to the editing screen with whatever menu you
are currently viewing as the menu to edit.
- Return to edit mode with the menu you started the
simulation with as the menu to edit.
At the top right corner of the screen 4 flags are shown. These
flags represent the four simulation modes. The first flag will be
an A if ANSI mode if active, the second will be an S if show data
is active, the third will be an L if line numbers are active, the
fourth will be a D if auto-display is active.
'L' lists your entries with all the data associated with them.
For those familiar with the older MENUEDIT.EXE, this display is
similar.
'H' lets you change the highlight colors of the menu. (Anything
in the display string surrounded by carets (^) is highlighted
with the highlight color selected by this option). For a complete
list of the colors used by QuickBBS and their color numbers
please see the appendix.
The 'I' selection will allow you to insert new menu items before
the end of a menu. This is similar to the 'A' - Add selection
described above. After you save the current item you will be
given a new item to insert. When you are finished inserting items
just press and you will be returned to the menu display
screen.
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'P' changes the prompt string settings. The prompt is displayed
one line after the last item the menu that you have defined.
There is a default prompt that is defined in the configuration
program (MMC). You can use the 'P' command to override this
default. You may also adjust the foreground and background colors
for the prompt. You can highlight text in your prompt just as in
the text of a menu item.
The 'T' key will toggle ANSI / ASCII modes so that you can see
what your menus look like to either ASCII or ANSI callers.
The 'O' key will toggle the menu data on the menu screen. When
this is selected, the pertinent information on each menu item
will be displayed in place of the menu text.
The 'U' key will toggle the display of each item's line numbers
on the menu display screen.
The 'E' key will cause any auto-executing Type 5, 39, 40, or 45
menu entries to be executed and the associated text files to be
shown. If the current menu doesn't have any auto-execute commands
then this toggle will have no effect.
The 'R' key will take you to the menu creator. This function is
discussed in detail below, and will create one or all of your
message and file menus in one operation from templates, greatly
reducing the SysOp's work load in maintaining their system.
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Menu System Documentation
--- Editing Menu Items ---
When you select Add, Change, or Insert, you will be presented
with a separate screen that allows editing of all the parameters
for one Menu Item. A sample of that screen shows in the following
box;
Editing Entry #: 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345
^<^N^>^ Display the System ^N^ews
Optional Data:
news
Menu Type---=>5
Security----=>1 Keys in use
??????NCTUA?MFRBXHGQ?OL?
ForeGround--=>9
BackGround--=>0
A Flags-----=> --------
B Flags-----=> --------
C Flags-----=> --------
D Flags-----=> --------
[F1] to Finish and Save Changes, [ESC]-Abort Edit
[Alt-D]-Delete Current Field, [Alt-E]-Delete ALL Fields
[HOME]-Beginning of Line, [END]-End of Line, [INS]-Toggle Insert Mode
[F2]- Center Display Line, [F10]-Menu Type Help
Figure III
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Menu System Documentation
Below is a detailed discussion of each of the parameters for a
menu item.
The first line, (under the numbers), is the display line. Enter
the text that you want to appear on the menu here. There are
several keys that perform special functions when included on the
display line:
The caret '^' highlights the string.
The tilde '~' displays the time remaining.
The semi-colon ';' causes the next line to be appended to the
current line beginning at the position of the semi-colon (it
removes the carriage return from the display).
If you press the key the text on this line will be centered.
Optional Data is determined by the command Type. Basically the
optional data will indicate where and with what special options
the Type should be executed.
Type indicates what the menu selection will do. (See Menu Types
and Optional Data for more information).
Security is the minimum security level that the user must have to
see and select this menu option.
Key is the command key you must press to select the menu option.
Most of the keys on the keyboard can be used. Letters are not
case sensitive. Ctrl-A is a special case; see "Automatic
Execution from Menu" elsewhere in this manual.
The foreground and background options allow you to override the
default color settings. The color choices are listed in the
Appendix.
The flags further restrict access to a menu command. Any flags
set here must also be set in your users' userlog records in order
for them to see and access the menu selection.
Each menu may have up to 50 entries.
At any time you can hit the F10 key to get pop-up help with menu
types. The selection keys in use for this menu are always shown
so you don't use the same selection key in your menu. Press
to save this item or to abort the changes made.
You can center the display line by pressing . The END key
takes you to the end of the line.
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Menu System Documentation
--- The Menu Creator ---
This is a VERY powerful command. You can create all your message
board and file area menus with just a few keystrokes using the
menu creator.
Upon entering the creator you will be asked if you want to make
essage or ile menus.
No matter which one you chose, you will be asked the name of a
'source menu'. This is a special menu that you must make. All
menus that are created during this creation run will be based on
this template. The source menu should look just like any other
menu with a few exceptions.
Message area source menus have the following special
considerations: leave the Optional data sections of your Type 23
through 27 items blank as Menu Master will put the correct data
in these fields when it generates the individual menus. If Menu
Master finds data in the Optional Data field, Menu Master will
consider this a fixed entry and will not place the current
message board number in. This function is very useful if you want
to put a "Message to SysOp" or "Comments" pointing to a fixed
message area on each menu.
File area menu templates have the following special
considerations; leave the Optional Data for Types 29 through 34
blank, Menu Master will put the correct information in to these
when it generates the individual menus. If you do put information
in the Optional Data field, Menu Master will assume that this is
a fixed item and will not make adjustments on this item.
Otherwise, Menu Master will take the data in FLSEARCH.CTL and
insert the correct path information for each menu it creates. A
possible use of fixed versus adjustable menu items could be:
Let's say you wanted the same path on a certain command, such as
the pload command. You want all uploads to go to a certain
directory. Just fill in the path for this command in the data
field and Menu Master will leave it as you have entered it for
each menu it makes.
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Menu Master will replace a Control-A (^A) on either the Text line
or the Prompt of a menu with the name of the message base or name
of the file area. For example;
If one of your menu items had the text line:
"^A Message Area"
(where ^A is the smiley-face symbol representing Control-A) and
the name of the message area was "Hard Drives", Menu Master would
adjust the menu item to the following:
"Hard Drives Message Area"
If you have a vertical bar or "pipe symbol" ('|') as the last
character on the text line, Menu Master will center the line
after any insertions have been made. This is convenient for
making things pretty.
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Menu System Documentation
--- Menu Creation - Source Data ---
Message Menus:
Menu Master will take the information contained in CONFIG.BBS
to make up the individual menus based upon the menu template.
After selecting the template menu name, Menu Master will read
CONFIG.BBS and display a selection screen where all your
message areas are listed (similar to how Combined does it). If
a board has an ON next to it, it will be created on this run.
If it is OFF, it won't be created. You can enter a range of
boards to toggle. ie: 23-45 would toggle boards 23 through 45.
You can also turn all OFF at once or all ON at once or enter
each board number you want to toggle. Separate each board
number, range, or ON/OFF command with a space.
When you have chosen all the boards that you want to create
hit 'B' to begin creation. Each menu will be simulated as it
is made. Menu Master will put the board name as defined in
CONFIG.BBS when it finds a Control-A (^A) on the Text line or
Prompt in the template menu and the board number in the data
field everywhere it finds a Type 23-27 command in the source
menu. It will NOT put the board number in the data field if
you already have something there. ie: you might want the
option eave Feedback on each message menu. That is a Type
27 (post message). You could enter the appropriate board
number in the data field along with /T=Your_Name and MM will
not change it in each menu it makes.
Menu Master will use the following naming convention for each
message menu; The base name is "MESS" followed by the message
base number as defined in CONFIG.BBS. For Example:
The menu name for area 4 would be called MESS4.MNU and area
163 would be called MESS163.MNU.
The menus that are created by Menu Master are complete menus
and may be edited for further refinement if you wish, but it
should be noted that if you do make changes to the generated
menus, Menu Master will overwrite these the next time you
generate menus, unless you specifically turn that message area
off.
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Menu System Documentation
File Menus:
Menu Master will take its information from a flat ASCII
control file. Each line of the control file should have the
following format.
This is the same format as FLSEARCH.CTL as used by QuickBBS
and you can use this file if you wish. Only the first and
third 'words' are used by Menu Master. The middle word can be
whatever you want but for FLSEARCH.CTL this would be a
security level. The areaname and path can contain NO SPACES.
Use the underline character ("_") instead.
After specifying the control file name, you will be presented
with a selection screen similar to the message area one.
Toggle the file areas ON that you want to create and hit 'B'
to begin creation. Menu Master will put the Area Name as
defined in the control file when it finds a ^A on the Text
line or in the prompt, and will put the path on the Optional
Data line for each Type 29-34 item in the template. It will
save the menu with the name FILExxx where xxx is the line
number in the control file. Up to 200 file area menus can be
defined in one control file.
This sounds complicated, but once you play with it a little, you
will find it fairly simple and it is far easier than trying to
maintain all those areas manually. Experimentation is the key to
success with the auto generation of your menus. Create a few
menus then load them in and list them out or simulate them.
You'll get the idea of how powerful this feature is. The ^A is
the key to making each menu LOOK different and the data fields
are the key to making each menu operate differently. You can have
several control files and several source menus if you like.
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Menu System Documentation
Menu Command TYPEs and Optional Data
Menu Commands:
0. Text Line (Not Considered a Command)
Optional Data: None
This is used to display text on the menu.
1. Goto New Menu
Optional Data: 