EXECMenu 1.1 Documentation

EMENU.EXE created 02/21/91 by Tad Lewis
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This program was written in the language of C, primarily for use
as a computer consultant tool. It reduces the need for the knowledge
of DOS for users who may not be completely familiar with the
operating language. It also makes life easier for experienced users
who may be setting up a system for a general user population or
their own use.

Concepts for this program have been taken from AUTOMENU and NORTON's
USER MENU found in the NORTON COMMANDER.


Basic Overview
--------------

EMENU presents the user with a window of choices and indicates the
current working directory at the bottom of the menu. To make a
choice, the user must operate the arrow keys to move a gray sliding
bar through menu choices. When the desired function is highlighted,
a strike of the ENTER key EXECutes that function. Any thing from
general DOS copy,format etc.. commands to actual programs may be
performed without having to repeat long strings of keystrokes.

While a set of commands is being executed from the menu, EMENU
remains resident until it reaches the end of the command list and
then presents the user with the menu once again.


How to Setup EMENU
------------------

To SETUP a data file for emenu, the user must know how to create
an ASCII file. This can be achieved through any type of editor
that will create an ASCII file. Programs such as Word Perfect
can do this by using the TEXT IN/OUT function or editors like
QEdit which are primarily programming editors.

Before EMENU executes, it looks in the current directory for a file
named EMENU.ASC. This is the data file that EMENU will use to
find out what the menu selections will be and the functions to perform
for each of those selections.

Make sure to name the data file EMENU.ASC, otherwise EMENU will
display a message stating that it could not find EMENU.ASC.


The EMENU.ASC data file
-----------------------

The folowing lines are an example of what an EMENU.ASC file might
look like.

+View EMENU documentation
*cls
*type emenu | more
*pause

+Format a 3.5 inch disk in A: for 1.44 Mb
*format a:

+Format a 3.5 inch disk in A: for 720k
*format a: /t:80 /n:9

As you can see the first line of each grouping of functions is
preceded by a '+' sign. This indicates to EMENU that this line will
be a menu selection line. It will appear in the menu window when
the program is run. A '*' sign precedes any function that will be
executed for its subsequent menu selection line. EMENU will execute
any '*' line for for it's menu selection until it reaches another
'+' sign. When this happens the execution halts and the menu window
comes back. Any blank space or non '*' or '+' line that occurs in
the EMENU.ASC file will be ignored. This way you can make
comments about the functions without the program trying to
execute them.

Other Considerations
--------------------

The maximum number of menu selections per menu is 20 and each
menu selection line and it's functions cannot be more than 75
characters long. Although, there is an unlimited number of
functions that may be performed for each selection.

Try not to cram everything into one menu, you may make other menus in
seperate subdirectories. To execute those, simply have emenu change
into that subdirectory and it will pull up the new EMENU.ASC file.
As long as there is an EMENU.ASC file in the subdirectory, EMENU
will perform itself automatically.



One Last Note
-------------

Keys that work in this program are listed here with their respective
function:

UP ARROW - moves highlight bar up through menu
LEFT ARROW - moves highlight bar up through menu
DOWN ARROW - moves highlight bar down through menu
RIGHT ARROW - moves highlight bar down through menu

ENTER - executes highlighted function
ESC - quits from the emenu and gives DOS prompt
"QUIT" - menu selection that also quits from the emenu

All a user needs to know is how these keys work and that if they
exit from the EMENU to simply type emenu again to have the menu
come back.

Please distribute this program freely and use it when you are
helping a friend or business associate to make their computing
experience more enjoyable. Just make sure that this documentation
goes with the emenu.exe program and maybe a copy of an emenu.asc
file for reference.

Send remarks or questions to:

Tad Lewis
Computer Services Etc...
P.O. Box 452
Severn, MD 21144