PullDown Menu System v1.2 Copyright (C) 1994, by Cutting Edge Online All rights reserved. Programming and Documentation by John Marx Cutting Edge Online (318) 537-7089 Voice 6372-B Kucinski Street (318) 537-7746 BBS Fort Polk, LA 71459 Hayes Optima 28.8k U.S.A. FidoNet: 1:3817/9 PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 1 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Disclaimers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Program Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Program Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Possible Error Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Contacting the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Obtaining the latest versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Frequently asked questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 2 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Requirements The requirements for using this PPE are as follows: a. PCBoard 15.2+ (This program was created with PPLC v3.0 and will not work with any version less than 15.2.) b. Enough space on your hard drive for installation of the program. c. It's not needed but placing this PPE and all your PPE's into different subdirectories is helpful. This allows you to more easily update or remove a PPE with it's accompanying files. Plus if you place more than one PPE in a directory you may run into the program trying to use a file it shouldn't. This is all that is needed to run this program. PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 3 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer This is the part everyone hates. The disclaimer is the legalities to protect the programmer/writer of the program and documentation. It is here that we designate what and what not can be done with this program. You may NOT reverse engineer this program. Either by HEX editor or by decompiler (such as PPLD and variants.) You agree that you will not attempt to reverse compile, modify, translate, or disassemble the software in whole or in part. You are granted to try this software for upto 7 days. If after this trial period you feel this program is not worth the amount being asked for it then you must remove it, otherwise send in your registration fee so that you will not be running pirated software. You are granted that once you register this program that it will only be allowed on one system. This system can have an unlimited number of nodes, but these nodes must be in the same location. If you're business is operating with a WAN then each remote system connection must have a registered copy. This software is protected by United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You acknowledge that no title to the intellectual property in the software is transferred to you. You further acknowledge that title and full ownership rights to the software will remain the exclusive property of Cutting Ege Online or its suppliers, and you will not acquire any rights to the software except as expressly set forth in this license. You agree that any copies of the software will contain the same proprietary notices which appear on and in the software. We are not liable for any damages which you may incur using this software. In no event shall Cutting Edge Online or its supplies be liable to you for any consequential, special, incidental or indirect damages of any kind arising out of the delivery, performance or use of the software, even if we are advised of the possibility of such damages. This license will be governed by the laws of the State of Louisiana as they are applied to agreements between Louisiana residents entered into and to be performed entirely within Louisiana. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is specifically disclaimed. This is the entire agreement between you and Cutting Edge Online which supersedes any prior agreement or understanding, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter of this license. Should you have any questions concerning this license agreement, or if you desire to contact Cutting Edge Online for any reason, please call (318) 537-7089, or write: Cutting Edge Online, 6372-B Kucinski Street, Fort Polk, Louisiana 71459 PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 4 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Overview I would like to thank the Scott Eby who created the Pull Down Menu PPE which gave me the idea for this menu. I've taken what he started and pretty much copied his look and feel and made an entirely new and what I believe quite faster PPE. Some of the features which I copied off of Scott were the idea of a CTRL based menu hot key to select the menus. In his PPE he also had it so that you could use the command prompt line. This was not done in mine for I felt that most people who wished to use the command line would just choose the ordinary (default) language on my system. The menu names and structures were also used for it's my hope that users who used his fine program will like mine even more and all they will have to do is copy my program over theirs, minus the .men and .key files and will be up and running in less than a minute. I've made many enhancements to his PPE. The enhancements are as follows: ú External PROMPTS file for defining menu style and colors. There are sample PR-SAMP? files included within this file. ú Multiple language support. ú Checks for ANSI. His might have done this, but I've incorporated an external definition file also. If the required graphics mode is not found the program will revert to language 1. ú Checks for Carrier speed. His might have done this, but I've incorporated an external definition file also. Speed selectable by System Operator. If the required speed is not there the program will switch to language 1. ú Configuration file. ú Checks for keyboard inactivity. When running his program I left my computer for about two hours and the program was still there. (It didn't time out and automatically logoff, it does now.) ú He had it so that if the menu files were missing the program would lock up the system. I didn't want this to happen so I've also added checking for all of the required system files and if any or all are missing then the program will not be run and switch to language 1. ú If you must have the use of the command line then you do have the capability. If you want to display the command line you can press the ESCape key and then enter the command you want. When you press the ESCape key it will display a ? on line 21 of the display. ú There is an "initial logon" display file which will be displayed anytime the program gets displayed from the start of the program (i.e. you view file directories, change conferences, etc). This display file (if it exists) will be displayed. It may be used to show the user what keys do what. ú There are bound to be items which I've forgotten about, but these are the ones which have popped into my head while typing the documentation. ú Ability to use a background file (called BACK). This file is language, security and graphic capable. ú Ability to use the 2,4,6,8 keys for cursor movement. PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 5 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Installation To install this program you will need to do the following: 1. First unZIP the archive into its new subdirectory. * NOTE: If you're upgrading from a previous PullDown Menu System or the Pull Down menus by Scott Eby you may wish to back up your .men and .key files so that you don't erase your hard work you've done. 2. The first thing which must be done is edit the language file you wish to use with this. After you've done that you will have to do the following: a. MKPCBTXT PCBTEXT.[language] b. Press F3 c. Enter 396 for the record number to update d. Add the following line to your PCBTEXT file: (1) ![drive:][path]\pull.ppe * NOTE: It's extremely important that you add the ! in front of this. * NOTE: The [drive:] is the drive where the PPE is located * NOTE: The [path] is the path where the PPE is located e. Press the ESC key. 3. Next you will want to edit your configuration file if you wish to change it. Most people will likely not need to change this file. 4. If you wish to change your .men files or .key files now is the appropriate time. Here's the layout of the files: M?.MEN M?.KEY ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Description Line Action Line ú Upto 16 characters wide. ú Does what ever is described (If wider it will be for thee line in the menu. This truncated to 16 characters.) may be either a PPE (defined in ú Upto 16 items (lines). Any the CMD.LST file or any internal line over 16 will not be PCBoard command. displayed. * NOTE: There are 5 menus. All 5 menus MUST exist or the program won't run. The appropriate .KEY files must also exist. * NOTE: You will not want a BRDM.[language] or BRDS.[language] file to exist for the language you are using for this program. On my system I've created a BRDM and BRDS for this language which contains absolutely nothing so I know nothing will get displyed. * NOTE: You must have multiple languages enabled! If you don't the program may not work correctly for this PPE was designed to be part of our complete PullDown/Light bar menu system and if any errors occur it will change the language to the default language (language 1). PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 6 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Possible Error Codes There are several reasons for error codes. The main reason is something went wrong in the program. Even though all efforts have been made to remove any and all possible errors there still may be some configuration we haven't thought of. As such we've included extensive error checking in all of our programs to eliminate any and all possible errors. Errors will be shown to the caller on the screen explaining what went wrong and why if the program can determine without a doubt what it was. All errors will be logged to the callers log! This allows you to correct any problems that your users might not tell you. A lot of times when an error occurs the users like "that's nice." We feel that even as nice as it would be for the user to explain to the SysOp what they were doing when such errors occur, we know not to expect it so we've added this to the code as well. When it logs this information to the callers log it also logs the exact saying that it gave to the user. This gives you the most complete information we can. You may also wish to check out the "Frequently Asked Questions" at the end of this document for it may cover a question you are currently having about PCBoard and PPE's. PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 7 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contacting the Author I can be reached on either my BBS or through my home phone number at any time. If I'm not home and you receive the answering machine just leave your name and number with a short explanation, if you can, of the problem. I WILL call you back as soon as I can and if you gave me a description of your problem will more than likely have an answer for you when I do call you back. When you do call us with information about a bug in the program please give us the following information. This information will help us determine what the problem is: 1. Program name and version number. 2. Type and brand of computer, hard disk, plus any peripherals. 3. Version of DOS plus any TSRs or device drivers in use. 4. Explanation of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. 5. Description of what is in memory from the MEM command (DOS 4 and above users only) or a similar utility. 6. The exact problem you are having. Please be as specific as possible. Having a printout of the screen and/or being at your computer will be helpful. The Cutting Edge Online BBS operates 24 hours a day, is using a Hayes Optima 28.8k modem, PCBoard 15.2/10 and the number is (318) 537-7746. You will be able to download if you wish on the first call. There are no callback doors. We do use CALLER-ID for just this purpose. I personally don't like callback doors and am sure many others feel the same. I'm available also on the PCBoard Support BBS, Salt Air. I only call once a week, normally on Saturday so the replies won't be as quick as you may like. I'm also in the FidoNet PCBoard, PCB-Net conferences. Our FidoNet address is 1:3817/9. If you have a problem, suggestion, comment, download or just wish to talk please call and we will be more than glad to serve you. We're not happy until YOU are happy so let us know if we're doing something wrong. If we're doing it right tell your fellow PCBoard SysOps, if not tell US! PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 8 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Registration A registration fee is required for use of this program and any other program we create that is used of 7 days. This registration will be used to help further the development of this and other fine PPE's. The complete set of PPE's can be bought in for one small fee which will entitle you to all future PPE's for FREE. There will never be an upgrade cost to upgrade a previous PPE to future PPE's. Even if there is a complete re-write of the code; there will NOT be an upgrade fee, EVER! By register our products you are allowing us to continue to improve online computer systems for the better. We have a continued commitment to see the online community grow for it's this growth which will allow all of us to further increase our knowledge. We hope that you will try our PPE's and find them of us to you. If you see a PPE which costs more and would like to see it offered by us, if you want to see an improvement, if you're having a problem call us up and let us know. On the following page is a complete order form for this product. We hope that you will enjoy our PPE's enough to show support for the continued improvement of our PPE's. Thank you. Make checks or money orders payable to: John Marx Send orders to: John Marx ATTN: PPE Registration 6372-B Kucinski Street Fort Polk, LA 71459 PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 9 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order Form ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Operator: ___________________________________________________________ BBS Name: __________________________________________________________________ Above line must be exact for the Registration code is based on it. Address: ___________________________________________________________________ City: _________________________ State: ________________ Zip Code: __________ Voice Phone: (_____) _____-_______ Data Phone: (_____) _____-_______ Login Password: ___________________________________________________ (minimum of 6 characters, maximum of 13 characters) Available Products: Description Released Cost (each) Quantity Total ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Automated File Uploader Yes $10.00 __________ __________ Clear Locked Node Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Enter Replacement Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ File Menu Yes $10.00 __________ __________ Graphics Mode Changer Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Alias Changer Yes $ FREE __________ __________ New File Scanner Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Offline File Grabber Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ OneLiners Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Page Length Changer Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Personal Statistics Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ PPE Loader Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Quote of the Day Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Quick Scan Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ Who's Online Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ eXpert mode Changer Yes $ 5.00 __________ __________ PullDown Menu System Yes $10.00 __________ __________ Entire Package (all PPE's and future PPE's) $50.00 __________ __________ Sub-total __________ Delivery Costs (pick one): FidoNet (CRASH MAIL, we send it to you!) $5.00 __________ By US Mail (3.5" HD disk, with all recent PPE's) $8.00 __________ By US Mail (5.25" HD disk, with all recent PPE's) $8.00 __________ You call and pick up (must provided name/password) Free __________ Tax (Louisiana residents add 7% tax) __________ Grand Total __________ PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 10 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obtaining the latest versions The latest version of our PCBoard PPE's are always available on our system as FREE/NO TIME downloads, even to the first time caller. Our PPE's will also be available for download from the following systems. 1. Cutting Edge Online -- (318) 537-7746 2. Salt Air (PCBoard Support BBS) -- (801) 261-8976 3. Software Creations -- (508) 368-7036 These systems will always have the most current copy of our programs online. PullDown Menu System v1.2 Page 11 of 11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequently asked questions This section is currently left blank. This area will grow as the questions begin to come in. This area will be for future references to problems some users are experiencing.