                            BESTMENU
                 THE FIRST SERIOUS MENU SYSTEM


                               By

                       Wild West Software
                          Austin, Texas


                      Ŀ
                       QUICK &  DIRTY 
                        INSTRUCTIONS  
                      ٰ
                        

* Full Working Demo....

This copy of BestMenu works exactly like the full version of  the
program.    There  is, however, an annoying Happy Face that jumps
across the screen everytime you  invoke  a  menu  selection.   We
think  that  you  would rather see the little face than a limited
version of BestMenu.  Of course, the  Happy  Face  is  not  there
strictly to annoy you.  Rather, it is a reminder that in order to
continue bringing you new versions of BestMenu, as  well  as  new
programs,  we  need your support.

There are other program utilities which you will only receive
with the FULLY REGISTERED version of BestMenu.  These include
SWITCH, the disk swapping utility; SHRTBOOT and LONGBOOT, the
Reboot utilities; LPTSWAP, the parallel port swapping utility;
and PASSWORD, password protection for your menu selections.

So, if you like BestMenu, send us a check or money order for:

                                     BestMenu $ 29.95
                                     Shipping $  6.00
                                             ----------
                                              $ 35.95

Become a registered BestMenu user and get rid of that stupid
happy face!  Please give a copy of this demo to your friends, and
remember to include all of the files that you received, so they
will have a complete set.  Make shareware work!

By the way, the file ORDER.TXT contains a registration form  that
can be used to make your order.




* Installing BestMenu....

Copy all BestMenu files to one diskette  or  subdirectory  on
your  hard  disk.  Make sure that the following files are present
on the disk:

BMDEMO.COM       Main Program - Type BMDEMO to start.
MAKEMENU.COM     Make Menu Windows
OVERLAY.COM      Overlay for BMDEMO.COM
CLOCK.COM        The World Time Clock (must download BESTCLOK.ARC)
CONFIG.BM        Configuration File Created by MAKEMENU.COM
MAIN.BM          Main Menu - Menu File
*.BM             Sample menu files
BESTMENU.TXT     Introduction to the product
BMQUICK.TXT      Quick And Dirty Instructions
ORDER.TXT        BestMenu Registration Form




* Starting BestMenu....

To start BestMenu, move to the BestMenu drive and directory,  and
type:

BMDEMO [ENTER]

The BestMenu Main Screen will appear.  From now on you  may  move
from one menu to the other by pressing the corresponding function
key or by using the arrow keys to point to the desired  selection
and pressing enter.




* Menu Windows....

BestMenu  uses  Menu  Windows  to display up to 10 selections per
window at 6 different levels.  That is 10 to the 6th, or 1,000,000
possible  selections for a single menu system.  If you are at the
MAIN MENU, press [F1], [F9], [F8] to see how menu levels work.




* Menu Files....

Menu  Files  are  all  files  terminated  with the extension .BM.
These files contain the information necessary to present  a  menu
window  on the screen, as well as the commands to be performed by
the selections inside the window.




* The MenuMaker....

The MenuMaker program is used to create and edit menu files.   To
start the MenuMaker type:

MAKEMENU [ENTER]

The Main Menu at the top of the screen allows you to:

Config: Change the environment colors of BestMenu Main Screen.
        Set time lapse for the World Clock to pop up.
        Toggle audio feedback from the keyboard ON and OFF.
        Tell BestMenu that you want to use a mouse.

Menus:  Create or Edit Menu Files.

Support: Support information.

Exit:   Returns to the operating system

The  MenuMaker  can  also be invoked from within BestMenu.  Press
[F8] BestMenu utilities and [F1] Build or Edit Menu Files.




* Editing A Menu File....

Load a menu file from The MenuMaker by entering:

   MAKEMENU [ENTER]
   M        ( for Menus at the main menu )
   F        ( for Files in Menus menu )
   L        ( for Load in the Files menu )

Now, highlight a menu filename and press [ENTER] to load it.
Going back to the previous menu you can:

Files Save: Save the menu file
Name      : Change the filename
Banner    : Change the banner at the top of the menu window
Color     : Change the foreground and background colors of the
            window.
Titles    : Insert, Delete or edit the selection titles
Commands  : Insert, Delete or edit the commands for each
            selection title.
Reset     : Erases all window information.
Exit      : Return to the main menu.

A typical operation consists of:

   a. reading an existing menu file.
   b. editing its Banner
   c. editing its titles
   d. editing the commands of one or more selection titles
   e. changing the colors
   f. saving the menu file back to the disk




* Creating A Menu File....

Creating a Menu file is just as simple as editing one.  Start the
MenuMaker program, but instead of reading an existing menu file,
enter a name for the new menu file to be created.  Build the
titles and commands from scratch, and don't forget to save your
work to the disk.




* The Commands....

You may enter up to 10 command lines per menu selection.  If more
commands  are  necessary,  you  should consider breaking the task
into two selections, or using a  batch  file  to  complement  the
command  set.  Any DOS command is a valid Menu command, including
batch file statements like PAUSE, IFs and REMs.  In  addition  to
DOS  commands, you may enter a program filename or batch filename
(EXE, COM or BAT).  Remember, ONE command per line!




* Connecting Two Menu Windows....

To move from one window to the other, you must enter the filename
of the menu file to be merged to on the command line.   To  merge
from  the  Main  Menu  (MAIN.BM)  to  the  System  Utilities Menu
(SYSTEM1.BM) using selection [F1] of the  main  menu,  we  use  a
command line in MAIN.BM that reads:

SYSTEM1.BM

and nothing else.  This simple approach is used  to  connect  all
menus  at  all levels.  To call a menu window to the screen, just
place the corresponding menu filename in  one  of  the  selection
command lines of the current menu.




* Mouse Support....

If  you  have a mouse, you should load your mouse driver as usual
and install the mouse from  within  The  MenuMaker  using  Config
Mouse Yes.




* The World Time Clock....

The  World  Time  clock  has  some  parameters  that  may  be set
according to your preferences:

CLOCK/S  Sets the local time and the four world times.
CLOCK/C  Toggles the hourly CUCO ON and OFF.
CLOCK/1  Uses Color Palette 1.
CLOCK/3  Uses Color Palette 2.

The clock will pop up on  the  screen  after  X  minutes  without
keyboard action.  X is set in MenuMaker.




* The Real User's Guide....

These  are  only Quick & Dirty instructions for BestMenu, and aim
solely at giving you  a  superficial  understanding  of  how  the
program works.  The Real Users Guide is 100 pages long containing
everything you will ever want to  know  about  BestMenu  and  its
utilities.    The  User's  Guide  is  fully  illustrated with Mac
quality pictures and typeset quality printing.

The User's Guide is accompanied by a 200  page  illustrated  book
called  "The  Wizard  of  DOS".    The Wizard of DOS covers every
aspect of the operating system, including tricks and traps.   The
book  is  composed of 14 chapters, 5 of which are totally devoted
to hard disk directories and hard  disk  maintenance.   Both  the
programs  and  the books were fully written by Wild West Software
staff members.

   Ŀ   Ŀ   Ŀ
                              BestMenu 1.22 
     The         BestMenu           _       
     Wizard      User's            ( )      
     of          Guide                     
     D O S                                 
                                           
   ٰ  ٰ  ٰ
          
