KIDSMENU: A very simple menu system for children

KIDSMENU is a simple (and small) menu system, which allows young children to
run their favorite games and educational programs without (much) adult help.

The program presents the child with a screen of large colorful "icons",
representing their favorite programs. A program may be selected by
typing the number displayed under the icon, or by clicking on it with a
mouse. Once a program is selected, KIDSMENU changes to the directory
where it is located, and runs the program using a preset command line.

A sample data file is included with entries for a number of popular
childrens programs.

This is not a graphical program, the "icons" are created using the extended
PC character set. It works with any display type, and will be happy to run
on your old 8088 or 286 which may have been passed on to the kids.
Best of all... Its FREE!



KMEDIT: the Kids Menu EDITor

KMEDIT is used to create and edit menu data files for use by the KIDSMENU
program. If no filename is specified, KMEDIT uses "KIDSMENU.DAT" in the
current directory.

You will be presented with a mini editing screen for the "icon" image,
as well as a display of directory and command to execute for the program
associated with that icon.

Operation of KMEDIT is fairly self-explainatory, however to summarize,
the following KEYS are used:

  Up/Dn/Rt/Lt   - Position the cursor in the ICON display
  F1            - Select & insert a graphic character
    Up/Down     - Scroll up/down one character
    PgUp/PgDn   - Scroll up/down 20  characters
    Home/End    - Goto char 00 / 80
    ENTER       - Select & insert character
    ESC         - Cancel character selection
  F2            - Insert a copy of last selected graphic character
  F3            - "pick up" a graphic char for insertion with F2
  F4            - Set/edit directory and command strings
  F5            - Select a new attribute for cursor locatin
    Up/Dn - Change FOREGROUND attribute
    Rt/Lt - Change BACKGROUND attribute
    ENTER - Select & set new attribute
    ESC   - Cancel attribute selection
  F6            - Set attribute at cursor to last selected
  F7            - "pick up" attribute at cursor for insertion by F6
  F8            - Change ALL attributes to last selected
  F9            - Select entry to edit by number
  F10           - Copy entry (by number) to current one
  PgUP          - Select and edit next entry
  PgDn          - Select and edit previous entry
  Home          - Arrange (re-order) entries in menu
    nn SPACE    - Select first entry to exchange
    nn ENTER    - Select second entry & exchange with first
    ESC         - Return to main editing screen
  ESC           - Exit KMEDIT

Normal ASCII characters may be inserted into the "icon" by simply typeing
them on the keyboard.



KIDSMENU: the Kids MENU program

KIDSMENU uses the data file created by KMEDIT, to present the child with a
screen of large colorful "icons", from which he/she can select a program to
run. Each entry has a number displayed below it. The child may select an entry
by typing the number (and pressing ENTER), or by clicking on the "icon"
with a mouse.

If used on a computer dedicated to small children, you may wish to place
KIDSMENU on the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so that the menu will be presented anytime
the child turns the computer on.

You may exit KIDSMENU by pressing CTRL-END. In this case, KIDSMENU will
terminate with a DOS errorlevel of 51.

If KIDSMENU is passed invalid arguments, or the option '?', it will
display a short usage summary, and terminate with DOS errorlevel 52.

The following command line options are available to KIDSMENU:

  B=batch_file

    This option causes KIDSMENU to create a two line "batch" file with the
    specfied name, whenever a menu entry is selected. This batch file
    contains the commands to 'CD' to the selections directory, and the
    command defined for the selection. After the batch file is written,
    KIDSMENU terminates with a DOS errorlevel of 50.

    If the 'b=' option is not specified, KIDSMENU 'CD's to the directory,
    and runs the selected command directly, while remaining in memory.
    If your system has limited memory, or you have programs which require
    every scrap of available RAM, you can use the 'b=' option to run
    them without KIDSMENU occupying memory.

    To use 'b=' you must run KIDSMENU from another batch file, similar to:

    :runmenu
    cd c:\
    kidsmenu b=go
    if errorlevel 51 goto quit
    call go.bat
    goto runmenu
    :quit

  D=data_file

    This option specifies the name of the data file containing KIDSMENU's menu
    definitions (created by KMEDIT). The extension ".DAT" is assumed. If not
    sepecified, the file "KIDSMENU.DAT" in the current directory is used.

  -Lock

    Locks KIDSMENU, by disabling the CTRL-END exit key.
 
  -Mouse

    This option disables the mouse, even if one is detected.

  V=video_mode

    Specifies the BIOS video mode which KIDSMENU will use to initialize its
    screen. If not specified, mode=3 is used, which results in an 80x25
    color display. KIDSMENU sets the video mode, because some games leave
    the video system in unusual modes.



KIDSMENU and KMEDIT are compiler with my MICRO-C compiler (see included
CATALOG). The source code for both program is included with the compiler as
example programs.

Dave Dunfield
Dunfield Development Systems
P.O. Box 31044
Nepean, Ontario Canada
K2B 8S8