Category : File Managers
Archive   : PULL301.ZIP
Filename : UPGRADE.DOC

UPGRADE.DOC
===========

NOTICE: The ' character is NO LONGER THE COMMENT! Use ; for comments in
ALL PullDown files! The reason is that the ' character is too often needed
in titles, help, and other input dialogs.

Version 2.45 to v3.00
---------------------
** MAJOR UPGRADE **
PullDown becomes a commercial-grade product with this release.
* Menu Definition Indexer and Editor added
* Speed increased 30-100%
* More dialogs, full blanker support
* Rewritten memory allocation schemes to alert user to low memory conditions
and properly trap out of memory conditions.
* Rewritten File I/O for the flat files is now *FAST* and quite reliable.
We had to wrest control from a memory-intense but unreliable system that
was originally relied upon. (Nothing like a last-minute major flake
discovery!) This final PULLDWN1.EXE is buffered on output as well making
the load/save/load cycle very very fast.
* NETWORK ADMINISTRATORS: FILE I/O IS NOW 100% SHARED DESIGNATED.
>>The .IDX and .DCF files are READ ONLY and the bits are toggled as
needed by BOTH the server and node versions. IF IT IS A PROBLEM in
this beta release, we will make the reading of the .IDX and .DCF files
strictly SHARED READ only internally and eliminate the problem. We
don't expect problems because even though the NODE version opens the
file shared with read and write rights, it NEVER writes to the files.
* For the screen blanker externals, if you specify the external with curly
braces around it the system will look for a menu selection matching and
then execute it standalone. i.e. to run DAZZLE.EXE externally with a
menu selection "Dazzle" present in the currently loaded .DEF file you would
specify the standalone as {Dazzle} and select the external option in the
option button set above it. For a child process use no curly braces.
* For execution of a menu selection when ESC is pressed, specify the in the
same way with {SelectionName} within the password to ESC to DOS dialog.
* NEW *PassWordPrompt: same as ?, but does not echo back to user
* NEW LOADBASE command passed ONLY the basename without extention for
use with AutoCad/AutoSketch older versions.
* NEW full control over screen blanker operation and options! See
Options box 2 in the F2 setup screen.
* NEW support for 24 hour time format... as requested by Europe
* NEW internal .DEF edit system. "Smart" and automatically
indexes changed files for you, with interactive ERROR help
and checking.
* NEW static input box system. New .DEF command syntax is:
INPUTBOX=File,Heading$
Where:
File is a flat file of less than 22000 bytes containing valid
entries for the scrolling centered entry box. See STATIC.INP
for an example. Max 50 entries.
Heading$ is shown on the top line of the screen when the box
appears. See ADVANCED.DEF and STATIC.INP for an example.
If possible, the menu will roll-off to the right with arrow.
* NEW FillInput=String Keyword permits PRELOADING of ?Input commands
with custom strings! Use FillInput= to reset the input to NUL.
* Indexation system creates two files from your .DEF menu defintion
files that allow faster loading of all menus, full syntax checking
on all lines with interactive problem correction (more to come when
the editor is integrated prior to release) and faster execution of
selected menu options. We need someone with a slower system
to check the load speed increase in percentage terms vs. 2.45.
- The index system will prompt to create an index for existing .DEF
files that you already have the first time you try to load them
- If you wish to create a new index for a file when you use an external
editor (all you can do for the à test release 1/12/91) erase one
or both of the .IDX and .DCF paralell file(s) and the indexer will
prompt you automatically.
- See the file F_FORMAT.DOC for specifics on the file format of
both the .IDX and .DCF files. If you elect to write a utility
to modify these files (not recommended) you are on your own. We
have provided fault traps for most anticipated corruptions, but if
you really screw it up PullDown will exit on a fatal error message.
We cannot technically support modified .IDX or .DCF files.
* Upgrade (minor fault trap update) of VFILE.COM. A slight interest in
VFILE has been expressed, and we may pursue a major upgrade after
release of PullDown v3.00.
* !HelpLine: Now fully supported on top line menu items
* @DefFile now accepts a PATH optionally. IF you use a PATH here then
the PULLDWN and/or PULLDEF pathing options are OVERRIDDEN and you may
be bewildered by the result. If you specify NO path, then the
PullDown pathing setting is employed. (Appendix F: old v2.45 manual)
* NEW if help is not explicitly specified for any menu selection, the
screen under "%PullDown Help" will be shown.
* Extensive error correction came with the INDEXER and is present in
the new internal editor.
* LOADFILE and LOADBASE now scan the DOS device table and return ALL
valid drives across a network automatically. (Used to go to the
highest available contiguous drive)
* Fully configurable and flexible installation system. NO other package
comes close to this level of flexibility... including 'commercial'
software.

Technical Notes for Prior Version Users:
----------------------------------------
- MAXDEFS now has no purpose, but is FLAGGED by the indexer for deletion
- Indexer will refuse to index a file that has too many titles for
the monitor type you are using. e.g. titles exceed 19 for any menu
DOWN the page on a Hercules monochrome or CGA system. TRUNCATES
automatically in this version with a warning only.
- Menus with too many lines for the screen mode trigger an attempt to set
the mode to its highest postion. If the mode setting fails or the
screen still cannot support the number of titles down the page (e.g.
44 line menu on EGA system) you will be prompted for another menu to
load. If you fail to specify a menu, you will be given an error message
and will exit to DOS. -WE NEED THIS FEATURE TESTED-
* Ron Hocutt joins the team as the installation system developer

v2.41 to v2.45
==============
* Menu selections now supported if directly under a top menu. i.e.
.
.
%Help
SCROLLBOX=HelpFile,Heading
ABORT

Will work properly under all conditions, even if it is the only thing
in the file.
* Potentially fatal error in LOADFILE dialog system found and corrected.
(Exit with XXXX:XXXX style message if NO files found and selection
attempted under some circumstances)
* Documentation file corrected for presence of an escape code causing
premature termination of printing on IBM/EPSON printers at page 35.
* PULLDWN.CNF is no longer a read-only file. Attribute is stripped on load

v2.40 to v2.41
==============
* Obscure bug fix: if a user DELETED many top line DEF menus, and RESUME
was on, and a menu was active on exit that was higher than the remaining
menus after an edit, the system would exit "Subscript out of range in
module SPULLDN1 at ####:####" - to avoid it with any prior version, start
PULLDWN CANCEL or delete the PULRES.FIL file.
v2.30 to 2.40
=============
* NOFILL command line option. To see how this STUNNING feature
works, be sure you have ANSI.SYS loaded and use TEST.BAT to start the
system. TEST.ANS is the background, and ALL video modes (text) are
supported, with the underlying screen at startup used to fill in the
background.
* Only one minor difference remains in the unregistered version...
Functionally identical to the system in the registered state
* Help screens externalized to SYSTEM.HLP to cut load time and speed
performance.
* Code tightened up a bit where possible.
* Time/Date Display added to blanker message
* Time and date display added to bottom line in main menu.
* New environment/pathing setup to reassign the default startup menu
filespec from PULLDWN.DEF to anything you want. Variable is PULLDFT
and is used exactly like all the others. (Requested by client 11/14)
* 100% CUA Compliance with help lines and menu titles added.
* Fault trap: corrected untrapped %TitleString too wide for screen mode
* Fault trap: corrected bug on over allocation of DEFs
* Errors on RESUME now properly identified by type and class. NUL file
ignored.
* ASP Approved Version... MicroDynamics became a member of the ASP 11/90

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.DEF COMMANDS ADDED
_____________________________________________________________________________
$MenuTitle - Defines a menu title on the top bar. If not present,
a standard title is assumed.
* Up to 80 characters
* If it is too wide it is truncated
* Multiple uses permitted, but the last is the one that
is used.

!HelpLine - Help Line at the bottom of the screen for a given menu
selection. Place right after a %Title definiton. If not
present, a standard title is assumed.

NEW OPTIONS SELECTIONS CONTROLLING TITLE BAR AND HELP LINE
_____________________________________________________________________________
Within the SETUP screen, Options 1 dialog box, two new toggles are present:

[ ] Show Menu Title on Top Row
[ ] Show Help Line on Bottom Row

Where if you toggle one, or both ON, then the lines will appear and the
menu will be moved accordingly. With this change, PullDown is now 100%
CUA compliant.

ASP Requested Changes:
____________________________________________________________________________
* Unregistered users may now save default color sets of their choice.
* Unregistered copies contain a special tagline that goes away when
the product is registered. Likewise, the dialog on exit from the F2
OPTIONS screen goes away when the product is registered.


Fully Customized Dialog Boxes
_____________________________________________________________________________

You may request FULLY customized dialog boxes, including mixing any
available objects. We will design the box to your specification, and
pass the responses of your users to batch files as %1 ... %0 per your
definitions. This work is an additional cost, and available only to
site users of the system. Work is billed at $100/Hour, and for information
concerning UNLIMITED site licenses contact MicroDynamics. Dialog boxes do
not generally take more than one to two hours to fully design and implement,
but this varies with the complexity of the request.

Custom bottom line tags are available to site users at no additional
charge.

v2.17 to v2.30
==============
- New syntax for HLP files. (Leading % to title headings)
- LOADFILE=ValidPath[,CommentHeading] - Powerful & elegant file loading
dialog - 286/386 overlay version now available.. Larger on disk, smaller in
memory, slower to load and execute. Call the tech support BBS for both
of the 286/386 specific versions. Download the overlay version ONLY if
you have a fast 80386 or better (25 Mhz+). Otherwise, download the
compact fully loading version.
- Extensive pathing support for LAN installations and custom requirements
- Correction of omission in PULLDWN.BAT for wise use of ERRORLEVEL, which
is set non-zero by PULLDWN1.EXE on fatal error exits.
- Upgrade of the complimentary utility VFILE.COM - now with internal
file loading system.
- !AUTO! .DEF keyword command will automatically execute a selected set
of ANY valid .DEF commands. See AUTOEX.DEF on how this is done. Also,
new command line parameter to force PullDown to ignore the !AUTO! presence
is IGNOREAUTO.
- Flexible LAN class pathing support for multiple pathing options as
needed. ***

Upgrade Notes: **IMPORTANT** Syntax change within *.HLP files
=============================================================
In order to better eliminate the chance of duplication of HELP file headings
withing .HLP files, PullDown now REQUIRES the %TitleString format for the
headings. e.g. what used to be Help for %Quattro Pro:

Quattro Pro
Help Text
.
.
.
###

is now...........

%Quattro Pro
Help Text
.
.
.
###

This is also true for ALL SCROLLBOX=File,Heading$ calls. Do NOT place the
leading % indicator inside the SCROLLBOX calls.... instead, place the leading
% indicator in front of all of your existing Heading$ positions. Please note
also that all leading/trailing blanks within a defined title are stripped
when the search for the heading is conducted. So, if you had a definition
like this in a .DEF file:

% Quattro Pro
..

The help file heading is STILL only:

%Quattro Pro
.
.
###


** PLEASE READ PULL235.ZIP! ***

v2.15 to v2.17
==============
- REQUIRED and NOTREQUIRED keywords to toggle forcing of non-blank user
reply to ?Input Commands.
- Minor cosmetic change in PLEASE WAIT initial flag... full box was bothering
the author and others!
- DOS v2.xx now confirmed to be supported, but not desirable due to absence
of ability to retrieve the path to the executing program. That is,
PullDown MIGHT not run correctly when no path is returned. This condition
is not tolerable.
- Policy change: P286386.ZIP with the 80286+ version now available to all
callers on the tech support BBS. (Popular)

v2.01 to v2.15
==============
NOTICE: The version number belies the extent of the upgrade. This is not
typical ".xx" upgrade.

* New keywords and features in .DEF files:

- SCROLLBOX=HelpFileSpec,HeadingString
) Pops a user-defined scrollable help box, just like F1
) Up to 50 lines, 69 characters max line width
- ABORT
) Halts menu execution. Usually used in demo files (see ADVANCED.DEF
for specfic examples) or after a SCROLLBOX call on a HELP ONLY
menu selection.
- OKBOX=TextString
) Pops the familiar dialog box with text in it. Pressing ESC
will halt menu execution, ENTER continues.
- ?PromptString replies now carried directly to a command line, so that
all batch language extensions are supported. & is now treated as a +

* Fault trap: width of top menu items in total too large.
* Fault trap: too many menu items loaded for desired screen mode.
e.g. user has a 39 line menu loaded and selects 25 line screen mode.
System will simply go to highest number of rows supported by monitor
to accomodate the menu selections in memory. On load, a file that is
too long is truncated with only one dialog popping on the
screen.
* Password (Optional) to Exit to Dos
* Password (Optional) to Modify Options/Colors
* Internally dialog boxed options menu, command line support
deleted....
* Debugging messages displayed on startup ONLY if DEBUG is on the command line.
* 43 line VGA mode support
* Video mode change "on the fly" on exit from options menu
* Attempt to deal with the LogiTech Mouse on exit when mouse disabled
* Correction of very occasional failure to accurately read a QEDIT created
text file as a .DEF
* Passwords no longer echoed to screen

Other Versions:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

v2.00 to v2.01
==============
* Bug fix... HIRES failure to set screen mode before configuration.

v1.11 to v2.00
==============
Major upgrade. Following features added to the system:
* Command line supports for configurations not previously offered:
NOMOUSE COLORPASS HIRES LOWRES BLANKFLAG FASTMOUSE SUPERMOUSE
RESUME CANCEL NUMON NUMOFF
* .DEF file support for the following new features:
Passwords, Command line paramters with user-defined prompts (up to 10, with
reset/nest), Dialog Box with user-defined messaging, .DEF file nesting
(branching)
* SET PULLDWN=D:\Path override option
* Parse/Load time minimized, and speed of system on selection increased manyfold.
Overall load speed up about 5x over v1.00
* Availability of a true 286/386 specific overlay version with EMS support.
(Registered only)...........
* Availability of custom versions for Consultants/Dealers and Customers.

v1.10 to v1.11
==============
Upgraded Screen Blank routine to show screen on any mouse button press, (all
three on a three button mouse), or any mouse movement at all. Updated
documentation.

v1.00 to v1.10
==============
* Mouse sensitized the FKey definitions on screen
* Disabled Right Mouse Button and corrected kludge in 1.00 of exiting without
warning on mouse click outside windows.
* Corrected CGA detection error. Color is now assumed on all systems EXCEPT
Hercules Adapter/Old Monochrome

* On error, batch file is erased.
* Registered user name is validated and displayed on exit
* Mouse color is always inverted on both front and back (avoids a disappearing
mouse!)

.5 OMEGA and .8
===============
Versions under 1.00 do not have color and a host of features like the help
subsystem. Admittedly these were trivial versions in trial mode only.