AMS MANUAL FILE 1.1 Welcome to AMS 1.2 Registration Gives You .. 1.3 A note about Go Software 1.4 Go Software - ASP Members 1.5 A note for Dealers/Consultants/Distributers 1.6 A note about shareware 1.7 Disclaimer & Usage Agreement 1.8 AMS - A Shareware Product 1.9 A note about use after Licence Expiry 1.10 Licence Violations 1.11 AutoMan 1.12 2Convert - Convertion Factors 2.1 What Is A Menu ? 2.2 Menu Features 2.3 Information For Novell Users 3.1 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 1 3.2 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 2 3.3 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 3 3.4 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 4 3.5 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 5 3.6 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 1 3.7 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 2 3.8 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 3 3.9 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 4 3.10 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 1 3.11 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 2 3.12 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 3 3.13 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 4 3.14 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 1 3.15 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 2 3.16 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 3 4.1 Password Security 4.2 Trouble Shooting 4.3 Menu File Format 4.4 File information 4.5 Default Menu File Names 4.6 The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files 4.7 Creating New Menus 4.8 Disabling User Access To DOS 5.1 Main User Menu 5.2 Advanced Menu System Main Menu 6.1 Calculator 6.2 Calendar 6.3 Notepad 6.4 Dos Shell 6.5 View Dos Screen 7.1 Capture Frontend 7.2 NDir Front End 7.3 Send Frontend 7.4 UserPath Utility Program 8.1 Minimum Drive Space Configuration 8.2 Miscellaneous Configuration 8.3 Debug Modes 8.4 Status Check 8.5 Scan Drive for Applications 8.6 Add Call Statements To Menu Files 8.7 Editor 9.1 About AMS 9.2 Order AMS 9.3 AMS Key Number Entry 10.1 The AMS text editor 10.2 The AMS text editor - File menu 10.3 The AMS text editor - Edit menu 10.4 The AMS text editor - View menu 10.5 The AMS text editor - Search menu 11.1 Debugging functions 11.2 Debugging functions - Run menu option from start 11.3 Debugging functions - Run menu option from current line 11.4 Debugging functions - Breakpoints 11.5 Debugging functions - Step by step processing 11.6 Debugging functions - View DOS screen 11.7 Debugging functions - Shell to DOS 12.1 Function Keys Available In This Program 13.1 User Survey 1.1 Welcome to AMS þ Advanced Menu System Welcome to AMS from Go Software, ASP Members. We hope you will find this menu system the easiest to use of any you have encountered. If you have any problems with the system please contact us at the address or fax number shown in About AMS. If you like the system please feel free to circulate it freely. Although Business users of the software MUST register the software with us if they decide to continue using the product, PURELY NONE-BUSINESS users needn't. However if you are a none business user, and you like the product, we request that you circulate the program to three or more people, bulletin boards or companies. Thank You! AMS has been designed to be compatible with the Novell (TM Novell Inc) Network Menu System. Users of this system will be able to immediately switch to this program, using the same menu files, while giving them access to all available memory when running applications, and some very useful features. Single machine users, or other network users should not be put off by this. Indeed many features of the software have been included with the novice computer user in mind, while others have been designed to help users on any network. Configuration of the menu system is straight forward. The system virtually carries it out for you. When you install the AMS program files, default Menus are installed with a number of sub menu headings. Once the program is running, pressing ALT or F10 to access the main AMS menu, then System Management Menu, and Scan Drive For Applications, will allow you to automatically configure the Menu to run any applications already on your disk. Press F1 at any time for context sensitive help on any Topic. All Users should look at the section entitled Menu Features. Novell Users should also look at the section entitled Information For Novell Users. To start using this software, you should view one of the sections entitled Quick Start For ... You should pick the most suitable category. The Four categories are : Novell Lite Users [Applicable to Netware Lite] Novell Menu Users [Applicable to ELS, 286 & 386 Netware] Other Network Users [Applicable to 3Com, MainLan etc.] Standalone PC Users [Applicable for users not on any network] Once you have made use of the quick start documentation, please take the time to study the manual - most features are not covered in the Quick start sections. Novell, Netware, Netware Lite and ELS are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc. DRDos is a registered trademark of Digital Research Corporation. 1.2 Registration Gives You .. Registering of the software entitles you to the following benefits : þ The latest version of AMS, allowing removal of the delayed registration screen. þ A printed bound manual for the software. þ Multiple User manuals with multi-user licences. þ Command Line utilities for use in batch files. (Described in detail at the end of this section). þ On-Line context sensitive help for CONFIG.SYS commands. þ Possibility of Help in any one of four languages. þ Access to telephone support for the product. þ A shareware copy of two other Go Software products discussed under an option in the help menu. AutoMan, Automatic Network Management and 2Convert, giving you all the Convertion Factors You'll Ever Need. þ To encourage you to register, and to register early, we have arranged some special purchases to give away with the software. These offers are open to you WHICHEVER COUNTRY YOU ARE IN. þ A complimentary Classical Gold compact disk boxed set with music of Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Vivaldi. This is a very attractively packaged five CD set. Orders received prior to 31st March 1993 will instead receive Classical Library, a TEN compact disk set. Equally attractively packaged, this contains music from Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Liszt, Vivaldi, Brahms, Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven. More Quality Compilations ! þ MULTI-USER licence orders for 25 users or more will also receive complementary three button microsoft & mouse systems compatible mice, in order to allow you to take full advantage of the three button mouse awareness. Complementary gifts are as follows: Multi User Complementary Mice Supplied Licence Type For orders received From 1st Apr. 93 1st June 93 To 31st Mar 93 31st May. 93 Onwards 25 2 1 50 3 2 1 100 4 3 2 250 5 4 3 To qualify for the additional complementary gifts available prior to the above dates, orders must be received at the published offices of Go Software prior to these datee. If you have just got hold of the program and it's near the deadline date, please fax us and we will grant you a 28 day extension. Distribution of software is a haphazard thing, and it may be sometime after the above deadline date before you get a copy of the program. If you have received the program from another user WHO HAS REGISTERED THEIR PROGRAM within the last three months, we will still supply you with the additional complementary gifts (ie the extra five compact disks and, for 25, 50, 100 and 250 User licences, an additional mouse), provided you name your Contact and their Company name in the Comments section of the order form. Your order must be received within three months of their order being received. Don't wait, you wouldn't want your order to get lost in the post, and miss out on the free offers. Use the order option today! We look forward to hearing from you. To order the software, use the Order AMS menu option. If you've missed a deadline date, it may be worth your while obtaining the latest copy of the software from one of the distributers named in the AutoMan section - we may have more free offers on!!! If you would like confirmation, in writing of what you will receive if you register, please fax us, or mail us via CompuServe. Purely Non-Business users are exempt from registering the software, however, as way of payment, we request that should you find the software useful, you pass a copy to three other people, companies or bulletin boards. Please remember though that if you do register the software, you will still receive the latest version, and the complementary CDs - the attractive presentation makes them useful for a present if you don't have a CD player. þ Additional Command Line Utilities The following command line utilities are provided upon registration. AMFILL Fills the keyboard buffer with characters so that you can simulate keyboard entry each time a program loads (to automatically run a macro, prepare to load a file etc.). AMBEEP Makes the computer beep a variable number of times. AMCALC Command line expression evaluator, supporting all usual mathematical functions, together with trig & scientific functions. AMCAPS Turns Caps Lock on or off as required. AMNUM Turns Num Lock on or off as required. AMHIDE Hides / Unhides files. AMSLEEP Puts computers to sleep for any length of time. AMREBOOT Performs a warm boot of the computer. 1.3 A note about Go Software Go software provide quality services in two areas : þ Software solutions and programming Go software both write programs for the general market, and bespoke software for individual clients. We concentrate on software for the networking market. All our staff have more than ten years programing experience. þ Network consultancy and installation We've been installing and configuring networks since 1986, and have gained extensive knowledge of all categories of Novell's networking software (Netware Lite, ELS, Netware 286 & 386 and NFS for Netware-Unix connectivity). Our emphasis is on a complete, quality service. We hope you have found this apparent in our software. We ensure that we leave installations completely secure, with reliable backup systems established, off-site data storage, and disaster recovery arrangements, so that if the network grinds to a halt, it doesn't take the company with it. So if you need to move into networking, or are having trouble with an existing installation, and are within approximately 100 miles of Manchester, England, please fax us for a quote. We are sure you would receive the best service possible, at a very competitive price. Go Software York House Cross Road Heald Green Cheadle Cheshire England SK8 3LW Fax: 061-248-5427 CompuServe: 100024,2337 1.4 Go Software - ASP Members This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. 1.5 A note for Dealers/Consultants/Distributers AMS is also available as a retail software package to re-sellers. A number of dealers have expressed interest in the Shareware Version of the software, and have forwarded it to clients. If however you have a number of prospective customers and would prefer to sell the commercial version to them, please fax us or contact us via CompuServe for our generous discount rates and terms and conditions. The commercial package has a re-compiled version of the software, without Order AMS and Register AMS options, and is packaged with manuals and user guides. Documentation has no references to the AMS shareware version. A dealer demonstration version is available. Please include your CompuServe address if you have one, for prompt EMail delivery. þ Sole Distribution Rights We would be interested to hear from any company based in a country other than the UK, the US, Canada or Germany, which is interested in marketing the product and obtaining sole distribution rights for the retail version of the software (To the exclusion of shareware vendors distribution rights). Please submit your proposal to us via fax or CompuServe. 1.6 A note about shareware Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and purse, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. Also, because overheads are low, prices are low. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee - if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. As with commercial software, the user must still purchase the software if the user wishes to use it, however, with shareware you are first able to confirm that the software is useful and works. (You will realise the advantage of this if you have purchased any commercial software and subsequently found it to be riddled with bugs). Shareware has the ultimate "Try before you buy" test. You have an extended period of time in which you can trial the software and therefore be absolutely certain that the software is suitable for the task you apply it to. The same Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!). The main difference is in the method of distribution. The authors specifically grant the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. 1.7 Disclaimer & Usage Agreement Users of AMS must accept this disclaimer of warranty: AMS is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of AMS. AMS is a "Shareware Program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of Shareware software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using AMS and continue to use AMS after a 21 day trial period, you must make a registration payment to Go Software. The Single User registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. Multi-User Licences are available, and can be selected using the Order AMS option in the AMS Menu. This option will supply prices in whichever currency you wish to pay. After the evaluation period, if you wish to continue to use the software, you must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another, just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Multi-user Licences are analogous to many books! Commercial users of AMS must register and pay for their copies of AMS within 21 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Anyone distributing AMS for any kind of remuneration must first contact Go Software at the address below for authorisation. This authorisation will be automatically granted to distributors recognised by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering AMS immediately (However Go Software must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of AMS). 1.8 AMS - A Shareware Product The trial period for AMS is 21 days, ie, 21 days after you first use the software you are bound to pay the registration fee if you wish to continue using it. Purely Non-Business users are exempt from registering the software, however, as way of payment, we request that should you find the software useful, you pass a copy to three other people, companies or bulletin boards. Not only do you win by knowing the software works before you purchase it, you also win because Shareware distribution is a far less expensive way to market software than via standard commercial methods, and therefore the savings in overheads are passed on to you with the reduced price. The fact that the software may be cheaper than commercially marketed software, and freely available, in no way alters the fact that you are breaking the law if you continue to use the software after the expiry of the trial period. We look forward to hearing from you. To order the software, use the Order AMS menu option. You are encouraged to pass a copy of AMS along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the AMS system and Manual. For more information on advantages of registration please see the section entitled "Registration Gives You". 1.9 A note about use after Licence Expiry You are granted a 21 day trial licence to use this software. After expiry of this period the program will inform you that the evaluation period has ended, and your licence for use is then withdrawn. Further use of the software, until an order for the software has been raised and forwarded to Go Software, is illegal. For those people who wish to avoid paying for as much software as possible (be it that which is distributed as Shareware or as Commercial software), here's a little bit extra.... We've spent a few years developing this and other software, and can assure you that we would have earned far more by running the local Sweet shop than the income we receive from registrations. Why is this? Probably because people don't realise what they're doing. Let's draw an analogy. Mr Sweet Shop owner is a bit deaf and blind, but not stupid. He's got lots of sweets at the front of his counter, and knows that because his stocks go down so quickly, he's not selling all of them. Yes somebody's stealing them. They are stealing them because they are taking the sweets and "Using" them, without paying for them. He doesn't know who is, all he knows is that out of his shop there are thousands of children some of whom are going to pay only by getting bad teeth. What would happen if the parents of these children found out that they were stealing sweets? More than likely, (though this depends of course on how they think children should be disciplined), they would get a sore bottom. The analogy is here. We know people are using our software after the trial period. They are stealing because they are taking the software and using it after the trial period, without paying for it. They know it's wrong to use it. We can't find out who they are. We also can't understand why people will steal software when they know it's morally wrong to steal, and when they don't steal anything else. Can you? Anyway, we must stop lecturing. Even despite the moral argument, some people will still falter. This is why we've arranged the special purchases to give away with the software. We are giving away so much stuff that you can't fail to get good value for money when you register, and, at the end of the day when your Director questions you on why you've just started a new policy of buying all the software you use, you can answer, "Because it's the law" (and because then he won't get prosecuted if someone leaves with a grudge and informs the authorities that you're using software illegally). So come on, get that Order Option pressed, and look forward to going legal, and getting free CD's and Mice. Time to start a new policy ... If you don't, a lot of our friends and relatives will be getting CD's for Christmas.... 1.10 Licence Violations AMS places no restrictions on the number of times a program can be run concurrently. This opens the risk for Licence Violations with software which does not have it's own built in licence metering. A licence violation occurs when more users access a single program concurrently, than the number of licences there are for that software. This of course includes software which is used, but for which no licence has been purchased. The Software Publishers Association are now filing numerous lawsuits against companies for licence violations of any kind - including shareware licence violations. To combat this, we suggest you install a licence metering program. If you need such a program try contacting one of the following companies: NetWatch Secure Plus Aston Science Park Wollongong (England) Unit 1 44-(0)734 772944 Holt Court South Jennens Road Birmingham England B7 4EG Tel: 44(0)21-333-3401 Fax: 44(0)21-333-3170 SiteLock Brightwork Development Inc. 766 Shrewsbury Avenue Jerral Center West Tinton Falls NJ 07724 Tel: 908-530-0440 Fax: 908-530-0622 While providing this information to assist users of AMS, Go Software accepts no liability for any results or errors obtained through use of these programs. Neither do Go Software make any statement as to the suitability for use of the programs. 1.11 AutoMan Automatic Network Management. From Go Software AutoMan is designed to remove the everyday headaches from network operation. Automatic file processing, at any time, on any day enables all routine tasks (Transaction file cleardowns, Report generation, Virus detection) to be carried out automatically. The system monitors disk space, and critical data recording PC's, alerting supervisors and users of potential problems. See below for a more detailed description of features. Price : Sterling œ59, US Dollar $99. Other Currencies accepted by arrangement. Availability AutoMan is available as a shareware product. If you are unable to obtain a copy of the software through your local distributor, please contact one of the following distributors. United Kingdom SoftVille Computer Supplies Birmingham Int. Shareware 35 Market Parade 31 Bertram Road Havant Smethwick Hampshire Warley PO9 1PY West Midlands England England [ASP Member] B67 7NY Tel : 44 - (0) 705 - 498199 Tel : 44 - (0) -21-555-6335 Fax : Changing ..... Fax : 44 - (0) -21-558-8958 CIS : 100016,603 United States Public Brand Software Hytech Inc 3750 Kentucky Ave PO Box 805 Indianapolis Dearborn IN 46241 MI 4821 USA USA Tel : 1 - 317 - 856 - 2091 313 - 837 - 1796 BBS : 1 - 317 - 856 - 2087 ASP Member ASP Member Australia SME 666 Whitehorse Road Mitcham Victoria 3132 Australia AutoMan ... in more detail. 1] Automatic file processing AutoMan will automatically process any batch, executable or command file, at any time, on any day or days throughout the year. Configuration is done by inserting up to 250 "Parameters". Each time a parameter is processed, a record is placed in the Transaction Log file, the program unloads itself, the batch file or program is run, and the program then re-loads itself, ensuring the system does not restrict the memory available to run programs. A Command string, which may contain the current day, date and time, can be passed to any batch file or program. Various utility programs allow simulation of keyboard input. 2] Disk space monitoring AutoMan will monitor space on all drives and warn if any disk is filling. 3] Monitoring of critical data recording activity AutoMan can warn if a critical data recording PC on the network has failed. Applications may be for example, to monitor a Shopfloor data collection or Telephone logging PC. 4] Integral Batch file editor / De-bugger The AutoMan editor is designed for editing batch files. Standard pull down menu options make use of the editor straight forward. Useful features, (also included in AMS), include: þ View the current "DOS" screen at any time (F4) þ Jump into a DOS shell (Shift F4) þ Execute statements individually (F8) þ Execute batch files from start to finish þ Unlimited breakpoints þ View structure of batch file (Call & if statements etc) 5] Context sensitive & DOS help On-line, Context sensitive help is available on F1 for every DOS command, together with comprehensive help on all aspects of AutoMan. (As in AMS). 6] Other features A customised menu of programs can be created allowing easy access to programs which may relate to AutoMan, or to a preferred editor. 1.12 2Convert - Convertion Factors 2Convert - All the convertion factors you'll ever need - ready for when you need them. 2Convert is a shareware product from Go Software to allow you to convert between virtually any units or multiple units that you may encounter. The program allows : þ Standard conversions Convert figures between any of the 500 units listed with as little as six presses of the return key. Units are grouped into 30 standard unit groupings, covering everything from Length to Kinematic Viscosity. Selections are made of the two units to convert between, and the factor displayed. Further calculations can then be made with the built-in full function, expression evaluator. The most frequently used convertions can be preset. þ Customised convertions This allows almost ANY compound unit conversion factor to be evaluated. For example you may want to convert from, Foot Pounds per Acre Hour to MilliMetre Grams per Square Metre second. A strange combination indeed, but 2Convert will give the factor and then carry out calculations based on it! þ Currency Convertions Exchange rates for convertions between Fifty currencies are entered in the program. A simple to use update option allows you to quickly update any Exchange rates as and when required. þ Temperature Convertions Convert between Centigrade, Fahrenheit and Kelvin Temperatures. þ Dimensional Analysis Dimensional analysis is put in for people who know how to use it! The program will rapidly find all dimensionless units that can be made from a long list of variables. 2Convert will run on any standard PC. No special hardware is required. The Cost - Just œ20 (US$38). The general release date is scheduled for 1st July 1992. If you are unable to find a local Distributor with a copy please contact one of the following distributors. United Kingdom SoftVille PD Service Birmingham Int. Shareware 35 Market Parade 31 Bertram Road Havant Smethwick Hampshire Warley PO9 1PY West Midlands England B67 7NY [ASP Member] England Tel : 44 - (0) - 705 - 498199 Tel : 44 - (0) -21-555-6335 Fax : Changing .... Fax : 44 - (0) -21-558-8958 CIS : 100016,603 United States Public Brand Software Hytech Inc 3750 Kentucky Ave PO Box 805 Indianapolis Dearborn IN 46241 MI 4821 USA USA Tel : 1 - 317 - 856 - 2091 313 - 837 - 1796 BBS : 1 - 317 - 856 - 2087 Australia SME 666 Whitehorse Road Mitcham Victoria 3132 Australia 2.1 What Is A Menu ? A menu is a display of options which, when selected, carry out one or more tasks in the operating system. The menu allows the user to avoid having to learn anything about the operating system, as all commands which they need can be stored in a menu file. The AMS menu system allows creation of "Parent" and "Child" menus, where a menu option on the "Parent" Menu causes the program to display a "Child" menu. Menu options in this menu may in turn cause other "Child" menus to be displayed. This is a hierarchical structure, analogous to your drive and directory structure, where your main menu files would be represented by Drive letters, and sub menus by directories. AMS allows you to create as many Child menus as you wish, each belonging to a single "Parent" menu. This Menu Configuration is then saved in a single DOS file, usually with the extension .MNU. As many of these .MNU files can be created as required. AMS also allows loading of multiple menus at any one time. There are important implications in this if you are using a network, and you should read the section entitled The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files 2.2 Menu Features þ Utilities Menu On ALT [Also On F10] This Provides access to a large range of powerful features. The best way to find out what they are is to press ALT, and flick through the menu options. þ Zero Memory Overhead During Program Operation þ Multiple Menu Files In Memory Concurrently Designed to allow for creation of Local Fixed drive menus, User menus, workgroup menus and menus for Everyone. þ Easy Menu Configuration No need to load a text editor to create menus, simply press INS to insert on option, DEL to delete one or F3 to edit one. Press Shift-INS to insert a new sub menu and Shift-F3 to edit the menus attributes (Position and colour). þ Menu Option Editor And Debugger Menu Options can be debugged using the editors in-built debugging features, such as line by line execution and breakpoints. These allow you to check the menu options as you write them. Also included is context sensitive help on every DOS (TM Microsoft Inc) command you can think of. þ Screen Saver And Menu Password Security While your machine lies idle a screen saver comes in to play, and unauthorised access can then be prevented by using the Re-entrant Menu Password Security Feature, on Ctrl-F3. þ Automatic Checking of Drive Space Available On Loading The System can be configured to automatically check drive space when you load the menu program. þ Desk Utilities The program has an in-built Calculator, Notepad and Calendar. þ Debug Mode For Running Menu Options Redirect menu option output to the screen while developing menu options to ensure the correct menu format has been used. þ Automatic Menu Configuration Using Scan Drive For Applications, any program or batch files, on any drive can be automatically added to menus. þ Password Protection The program allows enhanced security via menu password protection. þ Sorting of Menu Options To enable menu options to be found quickly, options are sorted into Alpha-Numeric order as they are created. The menus are then stored in this order. þ Mouse Support for two and three button mice. þ Interactive User Input Users can be prompted for input prior to the processing of a menu option, the result of which can then be used as output. 2.3 Information For Novell Users In addition to the following features of AMS you will also find Menus already configured for use with Netware Lite, 286 and 386. Although these are ready for use, you may wish to taylor them further for your own use. The following item is applicable only to users of Netware Lite, all other items in this section are applicable to other Netware versions. þ UserPath, a standalone utility program Used in conjunction with AMS, allows individual login scripts to be created for each user on a network. The following section is not relevant to users of Netware Lite. This Menu System Differs From Novell's (Regd. TM Novell Inc.) MENU in many ways. You should study "Menu Features" and the following especially in order to gain the most from the program. þ Zero Memory Overhead During Program Operation Unlike Novell's (Regd. TM Novell Inc) menu system which occupies some of your memory during execution, AMS releases ALL it's memory to your applications once it has started your menu option going. þ Network Commands Frontends Use the easy to configure frontends to allow quick, sure, configuration of Capture, NDir and Send. þ Sorting of Menu Options With AMS, Menu options are sorted into Alpha-Numerical order prior to saving menus. This allows you to quickly find menu options when editing menu files with a text editor [Though it is likely that you will normally have no need to use anything but the in-built text editor]. In order to make original Novell menu script file options appear sorted, simply edit any menu option [F3], modify the item to register a change to the editor, then press ESC. þ Interactive Input This version of AMS allows only a single user input per menu line. To enable menu options to have more than one parameter passed to them, use the SET command. View an AMS sample menu file for more information. 3.1 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 1 þ Initial Menu Configuration AMS is a multi-menu system. It allows up to ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. This is designed to allow ease of use in a network environment, where user's work can normally be divided into four categories: Local hard disk work, Individual Network work, Workgroup or departmental work and work for Everyone. You should study the full manual soon to realise the programs full potential, however as a quick start, please follow the following actions, and read ALL the following information. Use Ctrl-D to enter a temporary DOS shell from any menu, if required. Press F1 for context sensitive help on any topic at any time. þ Login as supervisor on your main server. Use NET LOGIN SUPERVISOR þ Ensure you have an up to date backup. This should be standard practice before installing any software, as you may find program files from two systems have common file names. þ Copy all AMS files to a new empty directory (you may need copies of the original menu and batch files at some time in the future). The directory needn't be a shared directory, however a subdirectory behind \NWLITE would be an ideal place to store them, say \NWLITE\AMS To store the files in a new directory : C: CD \NWLITE MD AMS CD AMS COPY A:*.* [Or B: if you are using B: drive] If the only .EXE file copied is the archive file, AMSMNU.EXE, un-zip the file by typing AMSMNU The file will self extract þ Copy all AMS files to a directory with a search mapping to it, which is available to all network users. [Use REPLACE with the /A switch to ensure files are not overwritten]. We do not recommend using the \NWLITE directory for AMS, to avoid the possibility of accidents! If you do not already have such a directory, create a directory \PUBLIC on any drive, and in future store all your public program files in this directory. [You should avoid however placing full applications with many files in this single directory, these should be placed in there own separate directory. You could however create a batch file in the PUBLIC directory to call these applications]. If you have a D: drive, program files are probably better placed on this drive, leaving the C: drive for data files. This will now be referred to as the PUBLIC directory on your network. To create a new directory type : C: [or D:] To change to the correct drive MD \PUBLIC To copy the files use CD \PUBLIC COPY C:\NWLITE\AMS\*.* þ Make the public directory your default directory. [This is necessary for setup, but will not be necessary in future]. If your public directory is \PUBLIC use CD \PUBLIC þ Copy the Netware Lite standard configuration file over the file AMS.PRM as follows. Type COPY NWL.PRM AMS.PRM This may reduce the amount of configuration changes you will have to make before you start using the system. þ Type AMS [Program Should Load] þ Assuming the default .MNU and .PRM files were copied to the PUBLIC directory, a standard menu ought to appear. The configuration of the system now needs to be changed in order to suit your individual requirements. þ Press and release ALT to access the main menu. Select SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, then Minimum Drive Space Configuration. þ For each drive on your system, enter the minimum allowable MEGA-BYTES permitted on that drive. Each time AMS is loaded the system will very quickly check that the drive space available is greater than this number, and warn you if it falls below this number. You probably only have two drives available, C and D. Try putting a number equal to a tenth of your drive capacity next to that drive letter - if drive C has 40MB capacity, put the number 4 against drive C. If D has 80MB capacity, put 8 next to D. These values can be changed later if you find they are unsuitable. Each client that attaches to the network may use drives F: and M: to map to the server's C: and D: drives, therefore, also specify the same minimum values to drives F: and M:. If you are unsure which drives you will use to map clients to your server's disks, add these values for now, you can change them later. Press ESC to access other drive letters, and ESC again to return to the System Management Menu. 3.2 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 2 þ UserPath A utility program is supplied with AMS which allows you to create individual login scripts for all your users. This is an indispensible feature for all large networks, and we strongly advise you to install this feature on your network. Even if you only have two users, you will find this feature useful, and as we expect that you are hoping to expand your network and company sometime, installing this configuration now will make life far easier in the future. To install individual login scripts, press ESC repeatedly to exit the program. Issue the following commands to map drives F: and L: to the correct areas. NET MAP F: CDRIVE [Or your main data drive name] NET MAP L: CDRIVE [Or your drive name for the PUBLIC Directory] L: CD \PUBLIC Then please turn to the section of the manual entitled Novell Utilities, UserPath Utility Program Configure UserPath as outlined, until the section entitled "Use of UserPath". Once you have configured UserPath, return to this section. The following paragraphs apply if you have created individual Login scripts. þ Select Miscellaneous Configuration. The AMS system allows ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. These can all be specified on the command line, but it is more convenient to specify them in this option. Specify up to ten default file names to be loaded by users each time they load AMS. Menu names need not necessarily be full path names. The menu file configuration which comes with AMS specifies some default menus which also come with AMS. You should now change these to suit your individual configuration. Examples: If any users on the network have their own local hard disks, specify the first menu file as C:\USER.MNU You can clear any of the entry fields in the program by using ALT-C. This menu can then by used by each user if they want to operate their computer on a standalone basis, ie when they are not connected to the network. [If you wish each user to be able to use AMS on a standalone basis, you must also copy the AMS Program files to their local drive - read the full manual for more information]. If each network user has their own directory (the home directory) on your server, and that directory is mapped to F: for each user, (ie the drive used in the configuration of UserPath is F:, for example, a users login path is defined as F:\USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ) specify the second menu file as, F:USER.MNU. This will be the users main network menu, containing menu options for all work which they alone will carry out on the network. If users neither have their own local hard disk, nor a directory mapped to your server, don't worry - the next menu option will probably be suitable for them. Create a departmental menu for each department, or, if your network is small, for all members of the network. If you create a departmental menu, this should exist in each user's home parent directory. If you have mapped drive F: to each users directory, say, F: is mapped to \USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ (ie the parameter in UserPath's configuration is defined as F:\USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ), you could then specify the directory as F:..\DEPART.MNU The .. indicates that the system should look in the directory above the directory that F: is mapped to. If you don't have a directory for each user, use the PUBLIC directory specified earlier. If you map drive L: to this directory for each user who logs in, specify the third menu as L:DEPART.MNU The Menu system will when pick up departmental menus from the appropriate directory. Specify the fourth, fifth and sixth menus as menus for use by everyone. Specify the full path names for the menus. If the public directory is mapped by each user to L: specify the following menus as L:PUBLIC.MNU L:NWLITE.MNU L:DOS [Menus supplied with AMS] Other menus definitions that appear which were pre-configured will now no longer be needed and you can remove them using ALT-C. Multi-menus are an important feature of AMS, for more information on these options please see The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files. Note : You will also have to map the same drive letters on the server to the same directories used by client machines accessing your server. ie If you map drive F: to user directories, for each client PC, you must also map drive F: to user directories on the server. This would normally be carried out automatically if you use the two batch files supplied with the system, and follow the steps outlined in both Quick Start for Netware Lite, and Configuration of the UserPath Utility Program. Novell recommend using SUBST rather than map on your server, to improve performance, however you should leave this until you are more familiar with the command. Tip : You can turn a directory mapped to any drive letter with NET MAP, into a search directory, by adding the following characters to your path statement. F:. [For the F: Drive] So if your path currently reads C:\DOS;C:\NWLITE;C:\PUBLIC You could change it to C:\DOS;F:.;C:\NWLITE;C:\PUBLIC Then, wherever you change your F: Directory to, your system will always search that directory. Look in your DOS manual for information on changing the PATH statement. 3.3 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 3 þ Default System Password. You should specify a password in this box, and make the password known (by word of mouth) to all network users. This password will then be required to return to the menu system after the screen saver function has become active. Each menu file can also have a password associated with it. For a discussion of password options please see the section entitled Menu Features. þ Screen Saver Activation Period. This defines the number of seconds to lapse before the screen saver becomes active. The default if no time is specified, is 30 Seconds. Too short a time will probably annoy users, too long a time will compromise security. Five minutes (specified as 300 seconds) would be a reasonable compromise. þ Require Password On Menu Load. This option would normally be set to No. þ Path for Temporary Files This is best left blank until you have the menu system working. Once the system has been operational a few days, you can consider changing this, look at the Miscellaneous Configuration section of the manual for more help. Press ESC to move to the next configuration screen. þ Select Which Network You Have This should be set to Netware Lite. þ Are you using DRDos? If you use DRDos you should set this to Yes. We have included this option due to an original problem with DRDos 6. This may also apply to earlier versions of DRDos. If you are using a version other than 6.0, and the menu system does not work correctly when you select options, please reset this to No. þ Restrict User Access .... We advise you to leave these set to No when you first install the network. Review your configuration when the system is running smoothly. þ Log file path Again, we advise that you leave this blank initially. This option would allow you to record which menu options were being selected by which users at which times. þ Use European Date Format? Set to No for US date, Yes for European format. þ Command for first & second lines of temporary file Inserting the commands ECHO OFF and CLS in these lines will cause all DOS screen output to be suppressed when selecting options, keeping the users display much tidier. If you're using DOS 3.30 or later, use @ECHO OFF instead. Press ESC to return to the System Management menu. þ When you exit AMS (By repeatedly pressing ESC, or by pressing ALT-F10) and then re-load the program, the new configuration will become active. 3.4 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 4 þ Automatic Menu Configuration. This option allows you to automatically configure your menu to load any applications already installed on your hard disk. If you have configured the software to use individual menu files for different users and departments in their own home directories, copy the file USER.MNU to the root directory of your drive C:, and to your home directory, and the file DEPART.MNU to the parent directory of your home directory. Then change to your user home directory. To do this you should be in the public directory and type : COPY USER.MNU C:\ COPY USER.MNU C:\USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ [or your home directory] COPY DEPART.MNU C:\USER\ACCOUNTS Load AMS, the USER and DEPART menus just copied should also be loaded if the menu system has been configured properly. Select one of the menu files to add commands to (Simply highlight the Menu and press return). Press ALT, Select System Management, then Scan Drive For Applications. Select the drive to scan. After a pause dependant on the size of your disk, the system will prompt you with each directory, with their .BAT and .EXE files. Look at each file to see if you may want to add it to your menu, remembering that it is easy to delete the option later if it is not required. Press return to select a file to add. If the file is a Batch file, the first lines of the file will be displayed, which may help you decide whether or not to add the file. You can choose to either add the option to the menu file, or create a new sub menu behind one of the existing menus (Which you could then place the option behind). If any of the existing menu titles do not really suit the application you are about to add, or you are likely to add many options of the same type to any one menu, you are best to create a new sub menu. Select either Add The Menu Option, or Create A New Sub Menu. Select a menu to add the option (Or Sub Menu) to. If you decide not to add the option or any menus at this stage, you can press ESC to return to the directory selection menu. Creation of a sub menu does not automatically add the option to that menu. Avoid adding Applications to your main menu (place options under the Word Processing / Spreadsheet or other menus instead - this will keep your menu configuration tidier and easy to use), although you may add further sub menus to your main menu. Press Esc to return to the directory selection menu. Select another file or press ESC to step through all valid directories. Once complete, try selecting your options. Some adjustment of the menu options may be necessary if the option does not work correctly. To edit any menu option, highlight the option and press F3. The in-built editor will be used to edit the option. The editor has some very powerful features, and context sensitive Dos command help. You should study these features elsewhere in the manual. Press ESC to return to the main user menu. þ Once you are satisfied with the operation of the software, and you understand how the software operates (we hope our explanations were clear!), release the system to the users, copying an original copy of USER.MNU to each user's home directory, and DEPART.MNU to their parent directory. Configure each menu one at a time by loading AMS from each user's home directory. As many options for each department will be common to users in that department, and these should therefore be placed in the departmental menu, it is likely that the amount of individual configuration necessary to each user's menu will be negligible. We have supplied two batch files for use with Netware Lite, PCLOGIN.BAT & LITLOGIN.BAT, to allow easy configuration of your network. We suggest you now printout and read these files, then use them in the way suggested in each batch file. Add AMS to the end of the last batch file which users run to enter the network. Ensure that each users drive mapings are mapped to the correct directories on your server. The menu configuration should then be automatically picked up from the parameter file which you have configured. All these actions should be carried out automatically if you use the two login batch files and UserPath as suggested. þ Encourage users to password protect their own menus by using CTRL-F3. Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the menu file. When screen save becomes active, the system looks for the first Menu password available before resorting to the Default System Password. 3.5 Quick Start For Netware Lite Users - 5 þ Place a copy of AMS.EXE, AMS.HLP, and AMS.PRM on all local disks you wish to allow use of the menu system on. Configure AMS.PRM as required for each user by loading AMS.EXE from each local drive. It will not however normally be necessary to alter any configuration, except perhaps Require Password on Menu Load. (Errors will not be reported if drives are not available!). P þ Look through the manual! (Also available on F1!). Note especially the sections on the in built editor (With Menu Option Debug Functions, Line By Line Processing and Breakpoints - especially useful in a network environment where rights may vary). On Line, context sensitive Dos Command help is also available in the editor. þ Registration is required after the trial period of one month. Use the Order AMS option in the AMS Information menu. Complementary Classical Music Compact disks and mice are provided upon registration, with early registrations receiving an extra bonus! Please see Registration gives you ... for more details. 3.6 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 1 þ Initial Menu Configuration AMS is designed as a replacement for MENU. It is likely that no changes will have to be made to any of your existing menus. AMS is a multi-menu system. It allows up to ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. This is designed to allow ease of use in a network environment, where user's work can normally be divided in to four categories: Local hard disk work, Individual Network work, Workgroup or departmental work and work for Everyone. You should study the full manual soon to realise the programs full potential, however as a quick start, please follow the following actions, and read ALL the following information. Use Ctrl-D to enter a temporary DOS shell from any menu, if required. Press F1 for context sensitive help on any topic at any time. þ Login as supervisor. þ Ensure you have an up to date backup. This should be standard practice before installing any software, as you may find program files from two systems have common file names. þ Copy all AMS files to a new empty directory You may need copies of the original files at some time in the future. þ Copy all AMS files to the PUBLIC directory on your network. [Use REPLACE with the A switch to ensure files are not overwritten]. þ Make the public directory your default directory. [This is necessary for setup, but will not be necessary in future]. þ Type AMS [Program Should Load] þ Assuming the default .MNU and .PRM files were copied to the PUBLIC directory, a standard menu ought to appear. The configuration of the system now needs to be changed in order to suit your individual requirements. þ Press and release ALT to access the main menu. Select SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, then Minimum Drive Space Configuration. þ For each volume on your system Select a drive letter which is normally mapped to that volume, and enter the minimum allowable MEGA-BYTES permitted on that volume. Each time AMS is loaded by users the system will very quickly check that the drive space available is greater than this number, and warn users if it falls below this number. Press ESC to access other drive letters, and ESC again to return to the System Management Menu. 3.7 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 2 þ Select Miscellaneous Configuration. The AMS system allows ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. These can also be specified on the command line, but it is more convenient to specify them in this option. Specify up to ten default file names to be loaded by users each time they load AMS. Menu names need not necessarily be full path names. In order to minimise menu loading time, Menu files are each limited in size to approximately 18 KBytes. This is the maximum size your menu files can be, however we advise you to keep the menu size below about 15K, to ensure you still have full access to all facilities. This may require some configuration changes to your existing menus. The in-built editor can also only edit menu files up to 78 Characters wide. If you find you need any particular menu line to be wider than 78 characters, use the SET command to allow a reduction in the line length (Eg. set a variable equal to directory path - SET D=Z:\PUBLIC\AMS.HLP). The menu file configuration which comes with AMS specifies some default menus which also come with AMS. You should now change these to suit your individual configuration. Examples: If you wish any user with a local disk to have their own standalone menu option, specify the first menu as, C:\LOCAL.MNU [Copy the AMS Program files to their local drive to allow use on a standalone basis]. If the home directories for each user are mapped to V:, and users already have their own personal menu file, eg, USER.MNU, in that directory, specify the second menu file as, V:USER.MNU If you already have a departmental menu for each department in each user's parent directory, say called DEPART.MNU, specify the third file as, for example, V:..\DEPART.MNU The Menu system will then pick up departmental menus from each user's parent directory. If you don't already have departmental menus, create them in the user's parent directory (Assuming the parent directory is allocated to the user's department - Say \USER\ACCOUNTS\FREDIE). This will make future menu configuration much easier. It is possible that the departmental menu will contain so many options that it exceeds the maximum allowable menu file size. If this happens, split the menu into a "Management Menu" and a "Users Menu", and define both menus in the Menu configuration definitions. If you already have a common menu in PUBLIC, specify the fourth file as for example, Z:\PUBLIC\COMMON.MNU Other menus can be also be defined. We suggest also using these for public directory menus, however you may use them for any other menus if you wish. Other menus are supplied with AMS, which could also be defined if required. This is an important feature of AMS, for more information on these options please see The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files. þ Default System Password. You should specify a password in this box, and make the password known (by word of mouth) to all network users. This password will then be required to return to the menu system after the screen saver function has become active. Each menu file can also have a password associated with it. For a discussion of password options please see the section entitled Password Security. þ Screen Saver Activation Period. This defines the number of seconds to lapse before the screen saver becomes active. The default if no time is specified, is 30 Seconds. Too short a time will probably annoy users, too long a time will compromise security. Five minutes (specified as 300 seconds) would be a reasonable compromise. þ Require Password On Menu Load. This option would normally be set to No for Novell networks, as it is provided for standalone users or users with poor network security. þ Path for Temporary Files This allows you to store all the temporary GO_ files for all users in a single directory, enabling the network to be kept much tidier. Enter a path specification which all users should be given read-write access to. Press ESC to move to the next configuration screen. þ Select Which Network You Have This should be set to either Netware 386 or Netware 286/ELS. þ Are you using DRDos? If you use DRDos you should set this to Yes. We have included this option due to an original problem with DRDos 6. This may also apply to earlier versions of DRDos. If you are using a version other than 6.0, and the menu system does not work correctly when you select options, please reset this to No. If you are using both DRDos and MSDos, you will have to take advantage of the ability to use multiple parameter files. Please see the file information section of the manual for more information. þ Restrict User Access .... We advise you to leave these set to No when you first install the network. Review your configuration when the system is running smoothly. þ Log file path Again, we advise that you leave this blank initially. This option would allow you to record which menu options were being selected by which users at which times. þ Use European Date Format? Set to No for US date, Yes for European format. þ Command for first & second lines of temporary file Inserting the commands ECHO OFF and CLS in these lines will cause all DOS screen output to be suppressed when selecting options, keeping the users display much tidier. If you're using DOS 3.30 or later, use @ECHO OFF instead. Press ESC to return to the System Management menu. þ Upon re-loading the program The new configuration will become active. 3.8 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 3 þ Automatic Menu Configuration. It is unlikely that this option will be needed for current MENU users, however, it is possible that you may find it useful to tidy up all your batch files in to a single menu. Load AMS, select one of the menu files to add commands to (Simply highlight the Menu and press return). Select ALT, System Management, then Scan Drive For Applications. Select the drive to scan, after a long pause dependant on the size of your disk, the system will prompt you with each directory with .BAT or .EXE files. Press return to select a file to add. If the file is a Batch file, the first lines of the file will be displayed. Select either Add The Menu Option, or Create A New Sub Menu. Select a menu to add the option (Or Sub Menu) to. Creation of a sub menu does not automatically add the option to that menu. Press Esc to return to the directory selection menu. Select another file or press ESC to step through all valid directories. Try selecting your options. Some adjustment of the menu options may be necessary if the option does not work correctly. To edit any menu option, highlight the option and press F3. The in-built editor will be used to edit the option. The editor has some very powerful features, accessed via the F10 key, and context sensitive Dos command help. You should study these features elsewhere in the manual. Press ESC to return to the main user menu. þ Calling Batch Files From Your Menu With Novell's MENU, batch files can be treated exactly as other executables. Unfortunately, while AMS will still "Run" these menu options, the menu system will not restart unless the batch files were run using the DOS command CALL. Therefore, all occurrences of batch file names in menu files should be modified to include a CALL statement before the name. Menu scripts remain Novell MENU Compatible! Note, you do not necessarily have to convert menu files - you will only have to convert them if AMS does not reload after running a menu option. To make this a simple task, we have included a menu option, Add Call Statements to Menu Files, on the System Management Menu. This allows you to automatically add CALL statements to any batch command in any menu file. To make the system operate, you must first instruct the system which commands are batch files, rather than .EXE or .COM files. It is likely that you will not know the names of all batch files when you initially use this option, but the option can be re-run on any menu file at any time in the future. If you know names of any batch file commands which are not CALLed, select Add Call Statements To Menu Files, answer Yes to edit the file, add them to the parameter file, then select a Menu file to convert. The system scans the menu file, and adds CALL statements where necessary. For more information on this option press F1, or see the section entitled "Add Call Statements To Batch Files". þ Once you are satisfied with the operation of the software Release the system to the users. It is probable that you have a standard LOGIN batch file which calls MENU at the end. Replace MENU with AMS. Users must have read-write rights to their first menu file directory or their default directory at the time that AMS is loaded. AMS has a number of advantages for users over MENU other than those discussed here. See the section entitled Information for Novell Users. þ Encourage users to password protect their own menus By using CTRL-F3. Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the menu file. When screen save becomes active, the system looks for the first Menu password available before resorting to the Default System Password. 3.9 Quick Start For Novell Menu Users - 4 þ Place a copy of AMS.EXE, AMS.HLP, and AMS.PRM on all local disks you wish to allow use of the menu system on. Configure AMS.PRM as required for each user by loading AMS.EXE from each local drive. It will not however normally be necessary to alter any configuration from the configuration on the network. (Errors will not be reported if drives are not available!). þ Look through the manual! (Also available on F1!). Note especially the sections on the in built editor (With Menu Option Debug Functions, Line By Line Processing and Breakpoints - especially useful in a network environment where rights may vary). On Line, context sensitive Dos Command help is also available in the editor. þ Registration is required after the trial period of one month. Use the Order AMS option in the AMS Information menu. Complementary Classical Music Compact disks and mice are provided upon registration, with early registrations receiving an extra bonus! Please see Registration gives you ... for more details. 3.10 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 1 þ Initial Menu Configuration AMS is a multi-menu system. It allows up to ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. This is designed to allow ease of use in a network environment, where user's work can normally be divided in to four categories: Local hard disk work, Individual Network work, Workgroup or departmental work and work for Everyone. You should study the full manual soon to realise the programs full potential, however as a quick start, please follow the following actions, and read ALL the following information. Use Ctrl-D to enter a temporary DOS shell from any menu, if required. Press F1 for context sensitive help on any topic at any time. þ Login as the network supervisor if necessary Ensuring you have full rights to the network. þ Ensure you have an up to date backup. This should be standard practice before installing any software, as you may find program files from two systems have common file names. þ Copy all AMS files to a new empty directory You may need copies of the original files at some time in the future. þ Copy all AMS files to the main shared directory on your network, the directory where you store most of your executable files. If you do not already have such a directory, we suggest you create a \PUBLIC directory for all freely available applications. [To copy the files, use REPLACE with the A switch to ensure files are not overwritten]. þ Make this directory your default directory. This is necessary for setup, but will not be necessary in future. þ Type AMS [Program Should Load] þ Assuming the default .MNU and .PRM files were copied to the main program directory, a standard menu ought to appear. The configuration of the system now needs to be changed in order to suit your individual requirements. þ Press and release ALT to access the main menu. Select SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, then Minimum Drive Space Configuration. þ For each drive on your system, enter the minimum allowable MEGA-BYTES permitted on that drive. Each time AMS is loaded by users the system will very quickly check that the drive space available is greater than this number, and warn users if it falls below this number. Press ESC to access other drive letters, and ESC again to return to the System Management Menu. 3.11 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 2 þ Select Miscellaneous Configuration. The AMS system allows ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. These can all be specified on the command line, but it is more convenient to specify them in this option. Specify up to ten default file names to be loaded by users each time they load AMS. Menu names need not necessarily be full path names. The menu file configuration which comes with AMS specifies some default menus which also come with AMS. You should now change these to suit your individual configuration. Examples: If you wish each user with a local disk to have their own standalone menu option, specify the first menu as, C:\MENU.MNU [Copy the AMS Program files to their local drive to allow use on a standalone basis]. If each user will load the menu system from their own work directory, specify the second menu file as, USER.MNU If you wish to create a departmental menu for each department, which will exist in each user's parent directory, specify the third menu as ..\DEPART.MNU The Menu system will when pick up departmental menus from each user's parent directory. Specify the fourth and fifth menus as menus for use by everyone. Specify the full path names for the menus. If your main directory for all your programs is F:\PUBLIC, specify the menu files as say, F:\PUBLIC\PUBLIC.MNU and F:\PUBLIC\DOS.MNU [Menus supplied with AMS] Multi-menus are an important feature of AMS, for more information on these options please see The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files. þ Default System Password. You should specify a password in this box, and make the password known (by word of mouth) to all network users. This password will then be required to return to the menu system after the screen saver function has become active. Each menu file can also have a password associated with it. For a discussion of password options please see the section entitled Menu Features. þ Screen Saver Activation Period. This defines the number of seconds to lapse before the screen saver becomes active. The default if no time is specified, is 30 Seconds. Too short a time will probably annoy users, too long a time will compromise security. Five minutes (specified as 300 seconds) would be a reasonable compromise. þ Require Password On Menu Load. This option would normally be set to No for networks with good security, as it is provided for standalone users or users with poor network security. However if your network has no password protection installed, you would be advised to set this to yes. Press ESC to return to the System Management menu. þ Path for Temporary Files This allows you to store all the temporary GO_ files for all users in a single directory, enabling the network to be kept much tidier. Enter a path specification which all users should be given read-write access to. Press ESC to move to the next configuration screen. þ Select Which Network You Have This should be set to Other Network. þ Are you using DRDos? If you use DRDos you should set this to Yes. We have included this option due to an original problem with DRDos 6. This may also apply to earlier versions of DRDos. If you are using a version other than 6.0, and the menu system does not work correctly when you select options, please reset this to No. If you are using both DRDos and MSDos, you will have to take advantage of the ability to use multiple parameter files. Please see the file information section of the manual for more information. þ Restrict User Access .... This option is not available for Non-Netware Networks. Please leave all these options set to No. þ Log file path Again, This option is not yet available for other networks, please leave this entry blank. þ Use European Date Format? Set to No for US date, Yes for European format. þ Command for first & second lines of temporary file Inserting the commands ECHO OFF and CLS in these lines will cause all DOS screen output to be suppressed when selecting options, keeping the users display much tidier. If you're using DOS 3.30 or later, use @ECHO OFF instead. Press ESC to return to the System Management menu. þ Upon re-loading the program The new configuration will become active. 3.12 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 3 þ Automatic Menu Configuration. Copy the file USER.MNU to your home directory, and the file DEPART.MNU to your parent directory. Then change to your user home directory. Load AMS, the USER and DEPART menus just copied should also be loaded if the menu system has been configured properly. Select one of the menu files to add commands to (Simply highlight the Menu and press return). We suggest you start by selecting the user menu supplied with the system. Select ALT, System Management, then Scan Drive For Applications. Select the drive to scan, after a long pause dependant on the size of your disk, the system will prompt you with each directory, with their .BAT and .EXE files. Press return to select a file to add. If the file is a Batch file, the first lines of the file will be displayed. Select either Add The Menu Option, or Create A New Sub Menu. Select a menu to add the option (Or Sub Menu) to. Creation of a sub menu does not automatically add the option to that menu. Press Esc to return to the directory selection menu. Select another file or press ESC to step through all valid directories. Try selecting your options. Some adjustment of the menu options may be necessary if the option does not work correctly. To edit any menu option, highlight the option and press F3. The in-built editor will be used to edit the option. The editor has some very powerful features, available via the F10 key, and context sensitive Dos command help. You should study these features elsewhere in the manual. Press ESC to return to the main user menu. þ Once you are satisfied with the operation of the software, release the system to the users, copying an original copy of USER.MNU to each users home directory, and DEPART.MNU to their parent directory. Configure each menu one at a time by loading AMS from each user's home directory. As many options for each department will be common to users in that department, and these should therefore be placed in the departmental menu, it is likely that the amount of individual configuration necessary to each user's user menu will be negligible. Add AMS to the end of a standard LOGIN batch file which all users use to enter the network, after changing directory to the user's default directory. The menu configuration should then be automatically picked up from the parameter file which you have configured. þ Encourage users to password protect their own menus by using CTRL-F3. Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the menu file. When screen save becomes active, the system looks for the first Menu password available before resorting to the Default System Password. 3.13 Quick Start For Other Network Users - 4 þ Place a copy of AMS.EXE, AMS.HLP, and AMS.PRM on all local disks you wish to allow use of the menu system on. Configure AMS.PRM as required for each user by loading AMS.EXE from each local drive. It will not however normally be necessary to alter any configuration (Errors will not be reported if drives are not available!). þ Look through the manual! (Also available on F1!). Note especially the sections on the in built editor (With Menu Option Debug Functions, Line By Line Processing and Breakpoints - especially useful in a network environment where rights may vary). On Line, context sensitive Dos Command help is also available in the editor. þ Registration is required after the trial period of one month. Use the Order AMS option in the AMS Information menu. Complementary Classical Music Compact disks and mice are provided upon registration, with early registrations receiving an extra bonus! Please see Registration gives you ... for more details. 3.14 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 1 þ Initial Menu Configuration AMS is a multi-menu system. It allows up to ten menu files to be loaded concurrently. If you are connected to a network of PC's, you should first consult the network supervisor as he/she will be able to configure the menu system as a more flexible tool for you. If you are using the system on a standalone PC, and do not intend to connect to any network, the system should be configured as follows. You should study the full manual soon to realise the programs full potential, however as a quick start, please follow the following actions, and read ALL the following information. Use Ctrl-D to enter a temporary DOS shell from any menu, if required. Press F1 for context sensitive help on any topic at any time. þ Ensure you have an up to date backup. This should be standard practice before installing any software, as you may find program files from two systems have common file names. þ Copy all AMS files to the main shared directory on your PC. This could be your DOS directory or any other application directory, but the directory should have a search path to it. [You could of course create a new directory with a search path to it, but as the number of files needed for AMS is small, it is probably better to use an existing directory].[Use REPLACE with the A switch to ensure files are not overwritten]. þ Make this directory your default directory. [This is necessary for setup, but will not be necessary in future]. þ Type AMS [Program Should Load] þ Assuming the default .MNU and .PRM files were copied to the main program directory, a standard menu ought to appear. The configuration of the system now needs to be changed in order to suit your individual requirements. þ Press and release ALT to access the main menu. Select SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, then Minimum Drive Space Configuration. þ For each drive on your computer Enter the minimum allowable MEGA-BYTES permitted on that drive. Each time AMS is loaded the system will very quickly check that the drive space available is greater than this number, and warn you if it falls below this number. Press ESC to access other drive letters, and ESC again to return to the System Management Menu. It is likely that your computer will only have C and D drives, and therefore you should try just specifying 1 besides these drive letters. þ Miscellaneous Configuration - Menu Path Names. These contain the path names to all menu files which you wish to load. These are likely to be all contained in the same directory as your AMS programs. Suppose this directory is C:\PROGRAMS, change the specification to point directly to these menu files. Specify the first file (User file) as C:\PROGRAMS\USER.MNU Specify the DOS menu as C:\PROGRAMS\DOS.MNU Clear any unwanted definitions using ALT-C. þ Default System Password. You should specify a password in this box, and make the password known (by word of mouth) to all people who may wish to use the computer. This password will then be required upon menu loading, and on return to the menu system after the screen saver function has become active. þ Screen Saver Activation Period. This defines the number of seconds to lapse before the screen saver becomes active. The default if no time is specified, is 30 Seconds. Too short a time will probably annoy you, too long a time will compromise security. Ten minutes (specified as 600 seconds) would be a reasonable compromise for a standalone PC. þ Require Password On Menu Load. You should set this option to Yes. The system password will then be required each time the menu program is loaded. þ Path for Temporary Files This allows you to store all the temporary GO_ files in a directory other than that of your first menu. Enter a path if required. Press ESC to move to the next configuration screen. þ Select Which Network You Have This should be set to Other Network. þ Are you using DRDos? If you use DRDos you should set this to Yes. We have included this option due to an original problem with DRDos 6. This may also apply to earlier versions of DRDos. If you are using a version other than 6.0, and the menu system does not work correctly when you select options, please reset this to No. þ Restrict User Access .... This option is not applicable. þ Log file path Again, This option is not applicable. þ Use European Date Format? Set to No for US date, Yes for European format. þ Command for first & second lines of temporary file Inserting the commands ECHO OFF and CLS in these lines will cause all DOS screen output to be suppressed when selecting options, keeping the users display much tidier. If you're using DOS 3.30 or later, use @ECHO OFF instead. Press ESC to return to the System Management menu. 3.15 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 2 þ Automatic Menu Configuration. Load AMS, select one of the menu files to add commands to (Simply highlight the Menu and press return). We suggest you start by selecting the user menu supplied with the system. This will have been automatically loaded if the configuration has been set correctly. Press ALT, then select Scan Drive For Applications in the System Management Menu. Select the drive to scan, after a pause dependant on the size of your disk, the system will prompt you with each directory, with it's .BAT and .EXE files. Press return to select a file to add. If the file is a Batch file, the first lines of the file will be displayed. Select either Add The Menu Option, or Create A New Sub Menu. Select a menu to add the option (Or Sub Menu) to. Creation of a sub menu does not automatically add the option to that menu. Press Esc to return to the directory selection menu. Select another file or press ESC to step through all valid directories, and select all program or batch files which you wish to add to your menu. When all directories have been searched, you will be returned to the system management menu. Press ESC twice to return to your user menu, which will now have been configured with your new menu options. Try selecting your options. Some adjustment of the menu options may be necessary if the option does not work correctly. To edit any menu option, highlight the option and press F3. The in-built editor will be used to edit the option. The editor has some very powerful features, and context sensitive Dos command help. You should study these features elsewhere in the manual. Press ESC to return to the main user menu. 3.16 Quick Start For Standalone PC Users - 3 þ Look through the manual! (Also available on F1!). Note especially the sections on the in built editor (With Menu Option Debug Functions, Line By Line Processing and Breakpoints). On Line, context sensitive Dos Command help is also available in the editor. þ Registration is required after the trial period of one month. Use the Order AMS option in the AMS Information menu. Complementary Classical Music Compact disks and mice are provided upon registration, with early registrations receiving an extra bonus! Please see Registration gives you ... for more details. 4.1 Password Security The program allows enhanced security via menu password protection. For standalone users it provides basic security to prevent people who are not familiar with DOS gaining access to any data. For network users, it provides one very important enhancement to security. IN NO WAY IS THIS OPTION DESIGNED TO REPLACE ANY SECURITY AVAILABLE VIA ANY NETWORK! One problem that companies may frequently encounter, is that users may leave their machine unattended for long periods of time, even overnight. This effectively grants any person in the same room (From your own or any other company) equivalent rights if the room is left unoccupied. To prevent this Network Supervisors should insist on users creating passwords for their individual menu systems. This password is then required after activation of the screensave facility, in order to regain access to the users menu. If the correct password is not entered, the machine can only be re-booted to resume operation, thereby logging the user out. Press Ctrl-F3 to password protect the currently active menu. Passwords are stored in the menu file, in encrypted form. 4.2 Trouble Shooting þ "AMS reports a message stating '.INS file is missing or .PRM file has been edited' when first loaded, and then returns to DOS." This is because either the .INS file has been deleted, or an editor has been used to edit the .PRM file. The .PRM file must never be edited with any editor as it is keycoded with the AMS.INS file. To solve the problem, either restore the .INS and .PRM files from a recent backup, or delete the .INS file and restore the original .PRM file supplied with the system (The AMS.BK! file is an identical copy of the original AMS.PRM file, which may also be used). þ "No menus load when I load AMS" This is because : No menu files were specified on the command line No valid menu file specifications exist in AMS.PRM The file MENU.MNU does not exist in the current directory Or All menu files specified were too large to be loaded The easiest way to overcome this problem is to change to a directory where there is a small menu file (Say less than 10KBytes), and type AMS MenuFileName You can then check the configuration of the file specifications in the parameter file by pressing ALT then selecting System Management and Miscellaneous Configuration. Ensure the file specifications that appear, correctly point to valid menu files. If menu files are too large to be loaded, split them into smaller menu files using a text editor, and specify each one in the Miscellaneous Configuration file specifications. þ "I have ten menus correctly specified in my configuration, but only eight of them load" You have probably reached the limit of your available memory. Try creating two menu configurations, with another copy of AMS on a different search path. Use the second version of AMS for menu files which you will only occasionally need to access. þ "I select a menu, but the message, Unable To Find Menu appears" This is because the line proceeding the menu title does not match with any SubMenu Title. It is likely that one of the two will have been accidentally altered. Using a text editor, check to see that the line following the menu title, and the SubMenu title are identical. þ "I select a menu option to run an application, AMS terminates, but the application doesn't start" This is probably because you don't have sufficient rights in the directory of your first menu file, or the current directory at the time AMS was loaded. The first menu file should always be your own personal menu, and should therefore be placed in your Home directory, where you should have both read and write rights. If you cannot have read-write rights to this directory, you could load AMS from a directory where you do have read-write rights. If you do have sufficient rights in your first menu directory, check the format of the menu option. Highlight the option and press F3 to enter the in-built ams editor. If all the menu option lines are correct, start to check each line one by one by highlighting a line, then pressing F8. This processes that command in a DOS shell, so you can be sure each command is working correctly. You could also set System Management / Debug Modes / Process Options to Screen, to Yes. Then, after highlighting the option and pressing enter, the text that is due to be processed will appear on the screen rather than be processed. This will reduce the time needed to "Debug" menu options. þ "When I select one of the options, the application runs correctly, but AMS never reloads" Check the menu option for any Batch Filenames. Batch files, if used in menu options, must be "CALL" ed. Perhaps you have a line in the menu option as follows : AUTOCAD.BAT Replace this with CALL AUTOCAD.BAT This can be accomplished automatically using the Add Call Statements To Menu Files option on the system management menu. þ "I'm using Netware, but the Novell Frontend Options don't work" Sorry, this version of AMS only supports Netware 286, and 386 for these menu options. þ "I've been using Novell's MENU, but now my menu options don't appear sorted" AMS actually sorts each menu option within the menu file, whereas Novell's MENU only sorts the options once the menu file is loaded. Hence you must first "tell" AMS to sort your menus. Do this by pressing F3 in the required menu, and altering the menu option in some way, to register a change, then press ESC. Menu options should then be sorted. þ "I've edited my menus, but the options are still not sorted" It is likely that the menu has become too large to be sorted, exhausting all available memory. Try either splitting the menu into Sub-Menus, or editing the menu with a text editor. þ When I select a menu option, I simply get an error report. This is almost certainly due to the current men containing two options of the same name. All menu options within a menu must have unique names. This also applies to the Menu File Selection menu, for example, you cannot have two "AMS Main User Menus" displayed at the same time. To solve the problem, edit the menu to ensure menu options are unique. Menu Titles are held in the first line of each Menu File. 4.3 Menu File Format þ Menu Design The AMS program allows for virtually limitless options per menu. However we advise against placing many more than sixteen menu options in each menu. This ensures that all menu options can be viewed when the menu is displayed, without some menu options disappearing off the end of the menu. All menu options MUST have unique names within each menu. Also, all Menu files which are loaded concurrently must also have unique Menu Titles (Held in the first line of the menu file). Failure to observe this will render one of the options inaccessible. Ideally, each menu option should also begin with a unique letter that relates to the application being chosen - this will allow you to go straight to each menu option by simply pressing the first letter of the menu. If you find you need more than sixteen menu options on any topic, break the topic into a number of sub topics, and create a number of suitably named sub menus using Shift-INS. If a menu already has too many options and you wish to split the menu into a number of sub menus, create the new sub menus within AMS, then move the menu options into the sub-menus, by using the editor cut and paste feature, or editing the file with a text editor. Before you use a text editor on a menu however, you should always make a backup of the menu file in case anything goes wrong. Use the following file format information to help you move options about in the editor. Try to position sub-menus so that you can still see the text from the menu which "Called" the sub-menu. This will enable you to see the logical path of the menu structure, and, if you have a mouse, access another menu tree by repeatedly clicking on an previous menu. þ Interactive Input To request input, use a command of the form, @n"Enter Your Question Here" Where n is a number from 1 to 9. Therefore to list a user specified directory, you could enter, DIR @1"Enter Directory To List" Or you could first store the input to variable @1, then use it on the following line, like this, REM @1"Enter Directory To List" DIR @1 þ Suppression of Batch File Creation If you wish to create an option after which you do not wish to return to the AMS menu system (For example, when you logout of the system), you can suppress the creation of the GO_*.BAT files by placing an ! before a program or batch file name. This program will then be run, without subsequently invoking the menu system. Menu options using this feature should contain only a single line of executable text, naming the program, with a complete path specified if necessary. þ Menu File Format The menu files are stored as text files, and can therefore be edited with any text editor. The Menu File Format is As follows. Notes %Main Menu Title,,,Pallet,Pass All Menus start with % Menu Option 1,,Help Info The Menu Title for an option Help info is an optional comment separated by two commas. Menu Op 1 Command 1 The commands for this option Menu Op 1 Command 2 Note all commands must be commence Menu Op 1 Command 3 in column 2 onwards. Sub Menu 1 %Sub Menu 1 Sub Menus start with %. The Submenu title must also be in the 2nd column + %Sub Menu 1,Row,Col,Pallet The Sub Menu1 called, together with Row, Column, Colour Palette attributes. The Main Menu can also have these attributes, and can also have the password attribute. [Passwords are stored in encrypted form]. þ Menu File Limits. Menu files are limited in size to approximately 18 KBytes. Menu files can contain up to 1100 lines of text, 500 menu options and 130 sub menus. This is unlikely to limit your options, especially as up to ten menus of this size can be loaded simultaneously (Memory permitting). We suggest that you keep menu file size below 15K. The only limit which you may encounter is that of the Menu file size. This limit reduces the time required to access all loaded menus, and the ability to load ten menu files concurrently, still allows you to load up to around 150 KBytes of menus! For more information on menu structure, look at a sample menu file! 4.4 File information All AMS program files must be kept in the same directory. Menu files can be held in any directory. Each User must have sufficient rights to create new files in their first Menu directory or the directory which they are in when they first load AMS. To enable easy loading, program files can be in a directory with a search mapping to it. Please see your DOS manual for information on setting up search paths, using the PATH command. Help on this command as with all other commands, is also available via the help menu. þ AMS Files Supplied With Program AMS.EXE is the main executable program. AMS.PRM contains all default configuration information. More than one Parameter file can be used (Read on...) AMS.HLP is the help file. AMS.LST is the manual file. AMS.CVT is a parameter file used to add CALL statements to menu files. USERPATH.EXE is a utility for Netware Lite users only. *.MNU are useful sample menu files which you might wish to use. *.BAT are batch files which you may find useful when setting up a Netware Lite Network. AM*.EXE are useful utility programs for use in menu options. README.AMS contains important information on AMS -Please Read it. MENU.BAT Can be used to allow AMS to emulate the calling of MENU.EXE AMS.INS Will appear when the program is first executed. This file must not be deleted! So doing will necessitate re-installation of the software. AMS.REG Will appear when you have registered the software and entered the correct key. AMS.LOG Will appear if the Audit trail option is installed. GO_*.BAT These files are temporary work files used to process menu options. These are normally deleted when a menu option has been completed. However, over a period of time a number of these files may accumulate in user's directories. These can merely be deleted, provided the user's menu is not in use. If you find you are finding a great number of these files, you could probably do with using the ! menu command option. See Menu File Format for information on this command. þ Parameter Files The default parameter file is AMS.PRM, however more than one parameter file can be used, in the same directory as the AMS.EXE program, if the AMSPRM environment variable is set. To use a new parameter file, set the variable as follows, in dos: SET AMSPRM=NEWAMS.PRM The system will then look for the file NEWAMS.PRM in the same directory as the executable file, and, if it does not already exist, it will be created. This allows you to use different parameter files for different types of users - you may need to do this if you are using both DRDos & MSDos on the same network. Add a SET command to their AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or other batch file that they run before loading AMS. þ VERY IMPORTANT! The AMS.PRM file is key-coded with the AMS.INS file. Neither the AMS.INS file must be deleted, nor the AMS.PRM file edited with any editor, or the system will no longer operate. If the .INS file is deleted, or the .PRM file edited with an editor, ensure the .INS file no longer exists is the AMS.EXE directory, and re-install the original AMS.PRM file (or the backup AMS.BK! file, renamed to AMS.PRM). When the software is next executed, the program will then re-install itself, and the system can be re-configured. Alternatively, you can restore both the AMS.PRM and AMS.INS files from a recent backup which backed up the two files at the same time. 4.5 Default Menu File Names The default extension for all menu files is .MNU This extension will be added to all menu files if no extension is specified. The default menu file which is created if no other menu is found is the file MENU.MNU, in the current directory. The system can load up to ten menu files at once. This allows you to create menus for different users and groups of users. If no valid menu file names are specified on the command line when the system is loaded, and no default file names have been set up, the system will try to load the file, MENU.MNU, in the current directory. 4.6 The Advantages Of Using Multiple Menu Files Multiple Menus allow you greater flexibility in menu option creation. As ten menu files can be loaded simultaneously, we suggest that you create four types of menus as follows : þ Local Drive Menus Create a menu for each user's local hard drive. This would then be the default first menu, defined as C:\MENU.MNU for example. Provided the user has a copy of AMS.EXE on his local drive, he can then use the same menu system when he is disconnected from the network. þ User Network Home Directory Menus The second Menu might be the User's Network Menu, say stored as W:MENU.MNU, where W: would be mapped to the user's Home Directory. This should be customised for that user, to contain only the features which he alone needs access to. þ Work Group Menus The Third menu may be the WorkGroups menu, say stored as W:..\MENU.MNU, ie the parent directory of the user's Home directory. This may be the Accounts Department menu, which should therefore contain all programs which Accounts should be allowed access to. Remember that if you are using a network system with enhanced directory security (Such as Novell's), you can create menu options for use by only two people in the department in the WorkGroup Menu, using the network security features to prohibit access by other workgroup members. This will greatly ease the task of configuring menu options if the same option is required by more than one person, and it reduces the risk of leaving out of date options available. þ Menus For Everyone The fourth and other menus could be used for everyone, which may exist in a public directory, say Z:\PUBLIC\PUBLIC.MNU, containing all programs which can be used by anyone on the network. This allows you to place all options which are available to most people on the LAN in two or more menus. Try using one menu for all network utilities, another for miscellaneous applications. Again, directory network security could be used to restrict access of certain menu options. Note that full directory paths need not be specified for menu file names, enabling each user to pick up their own individual menu. Note that because each user loads menus as soon as AMS is loaded, and then closes AMS menu files, options can be edited while menus are in use. Changes however cannot be made if a menu has been changed by another user since it was loaded. If any menu specified cannot be found, or there is insufficient memory to load any menu, the system will display a brief warning and continue loading other files. If the menu is just small enough to be loaded, it may still be too large to be displayed. A warning message will then appear when the menu is selected. In either case, reduce the size of the menu using a text editor, transferring some menu options, or a sub menu, to a new menu file. Other group menus could be created, for example a senior managers menu, which should be placed in a directory which only senior managers have access to. 4.7 Creating New Menus If no menus files are specified on the command line, no valid menus are recorded in the AMS.PRM parameter file, and the default menu file, MENU.MNU, is not found in the current directory (Phew!), then the system will ask you if you wish to create a new menu file. If you answer Yes, the file MENU.MNU will be created in the current default directory. You can then use the Scan Drive For Applications feature to automatically configure the menu for you, or use INS (Insert Option) and Shift INS (Insert Menu) to manually configure the menu. Alternatively, you can copy another menu file to a new directory, and either Scan Drive For Applications, or edit the file using the standard AMS function keys. All AMS menu files are standard text files and can therefore also be edited with any text editor, or word processor, SAVING FILES IN TEXT MODE. 4.8 Disabling User Access To DOS While the program allows Netware Supervisors to prohibit users from accessing DOS by pressing ESC, ALT F10, or Ctrl-D, the user still enters DOS each time a menu option is executed. To disable user access to DOS, it is possible to disable use of Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break. This must be done by installing a device driver. One such driver available, and there may be others, can be obtained from Diss Micro Consulting. Their board addresses are as follows: CIS: 71270,341 GEnie: BDiss Plantz: ID1119 While providing this information to assist users of AMS, Go Software accepts no liability for any results or errors obtained through use of this program. Neither do Go Software make any statement as to the suitability for use of the program. 5.1 Main User Menu Press F1 To see your function key assignments. Use Page Down and Up to view these menu pages. Use TAB to move to the Help Menu. To access the main program menu, press ALT [or F10]. þ To Select an option Use the cursor direction keys to highlight the option then press return. The Menu program will then either present you with another menu or cause another application to start running. To go direct to a menu option without using the cursor keys, hit the first letter of a menu option. Alternatively, move your mouse into the area of the currently active menu, highlight a menu bar, then briefly click the left button. (When the option is "Run", the message Batch file Missing may appear. This is normal). þ To Edit a menu option Highlight the menu option and press the F3 Key. This places the option's data in the editor. You can then add, delete or modify the text as required, pressing ESC to return to the AMS menus. Use F10 in the editor to access the editor menu. þ To Edit the position or colour (The Attributes) of a Menu Press shift F3. Edit the parameters as required. The Menu row and column numbers specify the position for the CENTRE of the menu. The colour attribute specifies one of ten colour pallets available. þ To Change the password for the currently active menu file Press CTRL-F3. Enter any password. Passwords are not case sensitive. þ To insert a new menu option Press INS. Menu options can be imported from batch files if required. Learner mode simply prompts you for a menu title and ensures menu option commands appear in the correct column. If you are unsure about configuring menu options we advise you to use Learner Mode. Enter a Title for the menu option and press enter. To ensure a menu option appears at the top of a menu, place a 1 before it. Enter a help description for the item if required. This would be used by network users to help them identify which option to choose. To select a batch file, enter the file name or press ENTER for a list of names. Enter a new file specification if required. Use TAB to move to the file and directory display window. Directories are displayed in upper case, files in lower. Once selected the menu option is automatically created. We advise you to then check the format of it with F3. þ To create a new menu option in the editor Simply enter all your Dos commands. Use F1 to get help on any Dos Command, and F10 to access the useful debugging features available within the editor. If learner mode is not being used, Commands for each menu option must not start in column one of the editor! þ To insert a new Sub-Menu Press SHIFT-INS. Using Sub Menus allows you to organise your Menu Options into logical groups which will enable you to find each program more quickly. Each Sub menu can also have more sub-menus as options. Create as many sub-menus as you need in order to make organisation of programs as easy as possible. þ To delete a menu option Press DEL. Confirm the deletion is to take place. 5.2 Advanced Menu System Main Menu Access this menu by either pressing ALT or F10, or by briefly clicking the right mouse button. þ Desk Utilities Menu This gives menu access to a number of useful desktop utilities, a Calculator, Calendar and Notepad. It also allows the user to temporarily exit into a Dos Shell or view the last Dos Screen. All these options are also available directly in all parts of the program via function keys. þ Novell Utilities Menu This menu option is specifically for users of Novell networks. It provides the user with a user friendly front end to the Capture, NDir and Send commands, and Netware Lite Users access to the configuration of user login scripts. þ System Management Menu This allows the System administrator to set various defaults, and to check the status of all available disks. It also allows Auto Creation of menus via an Application Scan feature. þ AMS Information Menu This supplies information about AMS, Go Software, and allows entry of the AMS Network key number. þ Help Menu All Help Pages, including DOS and Context sensitive help pages can also be accessed via the help menu. þ Exit Exits the program. 6.1 Calculator This pop-up calculator, available in the program via the Ctrl-C Key, supports calculations up to 100,000,000,000, to an accuracy of 2 decimal places. It is not intended for scientific use, but merely as an easily available utility for working with basic numbers. To use the calculator, Enter your first number, Press the required operand (+ - * /) Enter your next number Press the required operand ...... Only when all calculations are complete should you press return. Press ESC to exit the calculator. 6.2 Calendar This displays a calendar. The current date is highlighted (or flashes). Move from month to month using cursor left / right. Move from year to year using cursor up / down. 6.3 Notepad This loads the file AMS.NOT, from the same directory as your first menu file, provided you have Read-Write rights to that directory. [A number of menu files from different directories can be loaded at the same time]. When ESC is pressed, if Save Changes? "Yes" is selected, the file is saved, and the previous note file overwritten. Use the notepad to store any information you wish, such as reminders, a things to do list, or even suggestions about how we could improve AMS for you! Note, if the first menu file is too large to be loaded, the menu file will not be loaded, but your notepad file will still be stored in the directory of that menu file. If you do not have Read-Write rights to your first menu directory, your notepad will be stored in the current directory, at the time of loading AMS. 6.4 Dos Shell This allows you to temporarily return to Dos by entering a Dos Shell. If you wish to execute a single command, enter the command when prompted for a Dos Command. If you wish to temporarily return to Dos, simply press Return. The program remembers the last Dos Shell Command request. To clear a Dos Shell request from the input line use ALT-C. This option allows you to search or list directories, or execute SMALL programs. Do not try to execute large programs while in the Dos Shell or the system may crash. This option is also available via the Shift-F4 and CTRL-D keys. 6.5 View Dos Screen This displays the state of the Dos Screen which was active immediately before the program was loaded, or re-entered after an exit to the Dos Shell. This is also available via the F4 and CTRL-V keys. 7.1 Capture Frontend The first three options are only suitable for Novell Users (Excluding Netware Lite). They are easy to use "Front Ends" for Novell commands. These commands must be available on a search path for these menu functions to work. The fourth is only suitable for use with Netware Lite. Capture Frontend This enables users to easily select different queues to direct their work to, without having to know the complex command switches required. Fill in the options as required. Press ESC to move to the next option page. þ Name of Print Queue ... Enter the name of the print queue which you wish to send the output to, eg, PRINTQ1. Your network supervisor will be able to tell you the names of print queues available to you. þ Network Printer Number ... If you have not selected a print Queue, you should select a Printer Number here. Your network Supervisor will be able to tell you the Numbers of Network Printers available to you. þ Release Print ... Answering Yes (The default) to this option will mean that all data printed will be held in a queue until you next exit the program, or return to Dos. This allows you to keep a number of prints together to be printed at the same time. Answering No will release each Print Job to the printer as soon as it has been processed. þ Time To Wait ... This allows you to specify the time to hold a print job open after the last print request data has been received from the computer. Use this option to enable a number of print screen requests to be produced as a single listing, without form feeds separating them for example. þ Name of Print Job ... Enter the name of a print job configuration which you wish your print job to be printed with. Your Network Supervisor could supply you with a list of available print job configurations. This option is not normally required. þ Number of Copies ... Enter the number of copies of each print job you want to be produced. þ Suppress printing of banner page ... This allows you to suppress the printing of the leading banner page which is normally produced before a print job. þ Banner Page User Name Enter the User Name to appear on the banner page. The default name is the current users name. þ Banner Page Identification. Enter a description for the banner page (Optional). þ Form Type ... Enter the Form Type or number to use for the printjob. This is Optional, but the Network Supervisor could supply you with a list of form types available for each printer. þ Form Feed After ... Enter Y to produce a form feed after each print job. Normally this option will not be necessary as most applications generate form feeds automatically after the end of each print. þ Disable Form Feeds ... This allows you to suppress form feeds at the printer by answering Y. þ Local Printer Port Specify the Local printer to capture. Generally LPT 1 will be selected. Select 1,2 or 3 as required. þ Server To Direct ... Enter the name of a server to direct the output to. The current File Server is the Default Server. þ Keep All Data ... This ensures that all data from the PC will be kept in the event of a PC system failure. All print collected up to that point will be released to the print queue when the server is reconnected to the network. þ Tab Spacing ... This will convert Tab characters into a number of spaces. This is only necessary if the printer is unable to recognise Tab characters. þ Network File Name Specifying a file name in this option will direct all output to a file instead of a printer. Answer Yes to Process Redirection Request to change the print queue as specified. 7.2 NDir Front End The first three options are only suitable for Novell Users (Excluding Netware Lite). They are easy to use "Front Ends" for Novell commands. These commands must be available on a search path for these menu functions to work. The fourth is only suitable for use with Netware Lite. This frontend to NDir provides access to all major options, but does not provide comprehensive access. You should check your manual to be aware of other options. þ Select Which Version ... The format of the NDir command varies slightly between different Netware Versions. Select the network type which is running. þ File Specification to search Enter the file specification to search. Wildcard characters can be used. þ Switch Options Up to sixteen switch options can be used in conjunction. Date Requests Dates should be entered in US format. BEFORE The default is to list files before a date. Enter N to list files after date. NOT If you wish to list files which do NOT agree with the specified format answer Y, otherwise leave as the Default, N. To list files equal to a specific date, include an = sign just before specifying the date, ie =01/24/92 will last files on the 24th Jan 92. þ File Attribute Options To activate an option, select Y for that option. Eg, answering Y to Activate Hidden Files Option, will list only hidden files. Answering Y to NOT will list only Visible files [NOT Hidden]. þ File Information to Sort On. Select the order in which to sort the directory listing. þ Reverse Sort Answer Yes to reverse the order of this sort. þ View Directories Only This will only include Directories in the listing. þ View Files Only This will only include Files in the listing. þ Macintosh Files Only This will only include Macintosh files in the listing. þ View Brief Listing This lists information in a shortened form. þ View Subdirectories This recursively lists all entries in subdirectories as well as in the current directory. þ Process Directory Request Answer Yes to process this selection. 7.3 Send Frontend The first three options are only suitable for Novell Users (Excluding Netware Lite). They are easy to use "Front Ends" for Novell commands. These commands must be available on a search path for these menu functions to work. The fourth is only suitable for use with Netware Lite. Use this option to make sending messages to fellow Network Users easier. Firstly you will be provided with a list of users logged in to the network. Select the user, or the group Everyone, or the menu entry Group to send the message to. If you select Group, you will then be prompted for a Group name. Enter your message to be transmitted. The program will then parse the message into as many short strings as required in order to ensure the full message reaches the requested user. This option requires both SEND and USERLIST to be available on a search path. 7.4 UserPath Utility Program This Program is only suitable for use with Netware Lite. UserPath is a standalone utility program which can be used to execute individual login scripts for each user attaching to a Netware Lite network. It effectively enables users to be granted their own "Home" directories, and to have an easily configurable, individual login file, executed each time the user logs in. This feature is available in other versions of Netware, and is a very powerful, useful feature. There are two actions necessary to make use of UserPath. þ Parameter Configuration. This configure's users and login scripts. This should be used before attempting to use UserPath. þ Add UserPath to a login batch file. This will then "run" the users login script batch file. þ Configuration To configure UserPath, you should first log in to the network as supervisor, on the main server. Decide where to create each users home directory. This will be the directory where the user's login script will be stored, and will effectively "Belong" to that user. We suggest that you use a directory structure similar to the following, to ensure your configuration won't need to be changed as your company expands! You need not create these directories, the system will create them for you if they don't already exist. Place all Login Scripts behind \USER Behind this directory, create departmental directories. These could be, for example, ACCOUNTS, SALES and MARKET. Even if you only have two users, still create a departmental directory, but call it for example, COMPANY. Behind the departmental directories, create the user directories. A full user path may then appear like this, \USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ Now load AMS, press ALT, select Novell Utilities then Netware Lite UserPath. An empty menu ought to appear, which should now be configured for the users who are to attach to the network. To add a user, press INS. You are prompted for the login name of the user. Note this must be the name the user types in to log in to the system, not their real name. Press return. You are then prompted for the login path for the user. Type in the users directory path, with a drive specification. The drive specification should be the drive that each user will use to map to their own "Home" directory. If you are using (or going to use) the login batch files supplied with AMS, the F: drive would be mapped to the user's path. The file named ULOGIN.BAT will be added to this directory path to form the users login batch file. Ensure the directory name is entered correctly. Press return. An example of a menu path is F:\USER\ACCOUNTS\LIZ You are then passed to the editor, where you should create the users login file. The users login file can contain any valid batch file commands, including all Novell Lite utility commands. We suggest you place commands similar to the following in the batch file. We are assuming a user Liz in the Accounts department. CD G:\WP\ACCOUNTS\LIZ CD H:\SPREADS\ACCOUNTS NET CAPTURE LPT1 LASER AMS You can use the debug functions within the editor (such as F8 to process each line separately) to ensure the Login Script file is correctly configured. Press ESC to return to the UserPath menu, after saving changes. Add all users in a similar fashion, then press ESC to return to the main AMS menu, and save changes. For more information, see Quick Start for Netware Lite Users, and the accompanying batch files supplied with AMS. þ To change a users login name or path. Press F3. Change the fields as required. þ To edit a users login script. Highlight the user to edit, then press return. You will be passed to the editor. As the login script files are standard batch files, you can also edit them with any text editor, as can users. However, only user SUPERVISOR can edit all the login scripts from within AMS. þ To delete a user from UserPath Highlight the user to be deleted. Press DEL. Confirm that the user is to be deleted. þ Use of UserPath Immediately after logging in, each user should run this command. This command would normally be placed in a batch file, and is considered further in Quick Start for Netware Lite Users, and in the accompanying batch files, PCLOGIN & LITLOGIN. UserPath first changes the default drive to that specified in the users configuration, then changes directory to the configured directory, then runs the batch file ULOGIN.BAT Hence, the drive letter which is specified in the UserPath configuration, is automatically mapped to the user's home directory. Userpath can normally be run without any command line arguments being passed to it (That is, USERPATH is sufficient). However, if any user is to load the program from a directory in which they only have READ rights, you must pass a directory name to the program, to which UserPath can both read and write. [If you have setup your network to have read-write rights for all users (the default), you needn't worry about this]. To pass the directory name, simply type USERPATH DirectoryName eg, USERPATH M:\ALLRIGHT 8.1 Minimum Drive Space Configuration This allows you to specify the minimum space that should be remain on any disks available to the system. If any of the drive space parameters are non-zero, the system quickly checks the space on those disks before loading menu files. If the disk space falls below the drive space parameter for that drive, the user will receive a warning when the menu system is loaded. Specify the minimum number of megabytes which should remain available on each drive. Press ESC to specify minimum space for the remaining drives. Leave the field blank to leave a disk un-checked. 8.2 Miscellaneous Configuration þ Default Menu File Names Use these fields to specify default menu file names which should be loaded if no corresponding menu files are specified on the command line. For More information on Multiple Menus see the section entitled The Advantages of Using Multiple Menu Files. þ System Password Use this option to specify a default password for the system, for use when no menu password is found. This password will then be required before the menu system can be used, if Request Password On Menu Load has been set to Yes in Miscellaneous configuration, and to return to the program once the screen saver facility has become active. þ Screen Saver Activation Period This allows you to vary the time taken before the screen saver becomes active. Specify the amount of time in seconds that should elapse from the last key press to the screen saver becoming active. The minimum time allowed by the program is thirty seconds. þ Request Password On Menu Load This option allows suppression of a request for a password when the menu system loads (The password will still be required after the screen saver function has become active). The default for this option is No, which is suitable for a password protected network setup. If your network does not have password protection, or you are using a standalone PC, we advise you to set this option to Yes. þ Default Directory for all Temporary files AMS creates temporary batch files [GO_?????.BAT] to allow options to be processed. In order to keep your network more tidy, you can store all of these files in a single directory, by specifying that drive and directory in this option. An invalid directory name, or insufficient rights to that directory will cause the temporary files to be stored in the usual place. Users should be granted full rights to this directory in order to ensure the system works correctly. We suggest using the directory Z:\PUBLIC\WORKING þ Select which Network you have Select the type of network installed. þ Are you using DRDos? Users of DRDos may experience problems running the menu system due to differences in the way DRDos handles batch files. If you find the menu is failing to execute menu options once selected, and you are using DRDos, you should set this option to Yes. If you are using both DRDos and MSDos on a network, you will probably then have to set up two Parameter files, using the SET AMSPRM command. Please see the file information section for more details. þ User access restrictions For Netware users only! User access (ie access from users other than SUPERVISOR) to a number of options can be disabled. Simply answer Yes to restrict user access to any of the items listed. If you need some users to have access to these options, but not others, make use of the SET AMSPRM environment variable, discussed in file information, to allow two different configurations. þ Log File Path If you wish to make use of the Audit trail feature of AMS, enter a path in this option, which all users have read write access to. All transactions carried out by all users will then be logged to the file AMS.LOG, enabling you to look at the history of users actions. Please beware if you are using this option that for large networks, this file's size will increase rapidly, therefore you must monitor its size. þ Use European Date Format? This is for use of date storage in the Log File. Leave as No for US date format, YES for European. þ Command For First/Second Line Of Batch File You can use these two entries to add two standard lines of text to every temporary batch file you create. If you add ECHO OFF (or @ECHO OFF for DOS 3.30+) for the first line, then CLS for the second line, no batch file commands will be displayed before the program loads. 8.3 Debug Modes To enable configuration of menu options to be as simple as possible, two debug modes are provided. þ Learner Mode Learner Mode prompts the user for additional information before the editor is entered. While learning how to use the program we suggest you use this option. As you become more proficient with editing the files, and understand the file format, you need not use this option. þ Process Menu Options To Screen This enables you to check menu options, by outputing to Screen the information that would be executed in Dos. This may considerably reduce the time needed to correct menu options. Note that far more powerful debugging options are available from within the editor, such as line by line processing of menu options. 8.4 Status Check This Checks all drives available to the system, displaying formated drive size and space available. 8.5 Scan Drive for Applications This allows you to automatically configure your menu system, by allowing the system to automatically search any hard drive for applications. Both .EXE and .BAT files are searched for. þ Select The Drive To Scan Select which drive to scan for applications. Once selected the system will search for all directories on the drive and return a list of files found in the first application directory. If there are many directories, and the currently selected menu is already large, the program may have insufficient memory to complete the scan. To avoid this problem, select a small menu file to add the options to, if necessary. Repeatedly select any files you wish to add to your menu system, by highlighting the files and pressing return. If the file is a batch file, the first lines of the file will be displayed in the background. Select Add Entry To Existing Menu to add the file specification to a menu which already exists. Select Create A New Sub Menu to create another Sub Menu. Select which menu to add the program or sub menu to. The entry will then be accessed through that menu. Enter a title for the program or sub menu entry. If creating a new menu, specify the placement and colour attributes of the menu. Row and Column figures specify the centre positions of the menu. The colour specifies one of ten colour palettes available. Press ESC to Return to the file selection menu. Press ESC to move to the next scan directory. Menu options are not sorted into order during use of the application scan feature, to reduce processing time. Once menus have been configured, simply edit an option in any menu which needs sorting, and edit the menu in some way (For example, use RETURN to create a new line, then CTRL-Y to delete it). 8.6 Add Call Statements To Menu Files With Novell's MENU, batch files can be treated exactly as other executables. Unfortunately, while AMS will still "Run" these menu options, the menu system will not restart unless the batch files were run using the DOS command CALL. Therefore, all occurrences of batch file names in menu files should be modified to include a CALL statement before the name. Menu scripts remain Novell MENU Compatible! To make this a simple task, we have included a menu option, Add Call Statements to Menu Files, on the System Management Menu. This allows you to automatically add CALL statements to any batch command in any menu file. This will change from menu options like: AutoCad F: CD \DATA\AUTOCAD AUTOCAD.BAT To: AutoCad F: CD \DATA\AUTOCAD CALL AUTOCAD.BAT All that needs to be done is to add the AUTOCAD.BAT filename to the conversion batch file. To make the system operate, you must first instruct the system which commands are batch files, rather than .EXE or .COM files. It is likely that you will not know the names of all batch files when you initially use this option, but the option can be re-run on any menu file at any time in the future. If you know names of any batch file commands which are not CALLed, select Add Call Statements To Menu Files, answer Yes to edit the file, add them to the parameter file. A single command word should be added exactly as it would appear in the menu file. The conversion program scans the menu file, looking at the first word of each menu line, and compares the word to each key word in the parameter file. When the system finds a match, it simply inserts a CALL statement prior to the batch file name. As the match must be exact, you may need to make two entries for each batch file, one without an extension, and one with a .BAT extension. Once all known keywords have been added to the parameter file, press ESC, save the changes, then select a Menu file to convert. The system will then scan the menu file, adding CALL statements where necessary. The original menu file is re-named with a .CVT extension. Remember, if you find other batch files which are not called, you can add those keywords to the parameter file, then re-execute the Conversion program on the menu file. 8.7 Editor This provides access to the AMS editor, for editing any batch (or other text) file, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, or your CONFIG.SYS file. This option may be disabled if you are a user and Restrict User Access To Editor has been disabled by the network supervisor. If edit Batch File is selected, you are presented with a file selection window from which you can either change directories, or type a file name. To edit AUTOEXEC.BAT, or CONFIG.SYS, select the appropriate option, then select your boot drive. Provided the maximum file width (78) and length (300) are not exceeded, the file is loaded into the editor. The editor allows access to the useful batch file debugging features, such as line by line execution of batch files, breakpoints, and on-line context sensitive help. If you find your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is too wide due to your PATH command exceeding 78 characters, you could reduce the width of the command if required, by using the set command. For example the following two sets of commands would result in equivalent PATH commands. PATH D:\P\QB45;D:\P\DOS;D:\P\WORKS;C:\SOURCE\BIN;C:\SOURCE\BATCH SET DP=D:\P\QB45;D:\P\DOS;D:\P\WORKS; PATH %DP%C:\SOURCE\BIN;C:\SOURCE\BATCH 9.1 About AMS This displays information about AMS, and Go Software, including our address and fax number. 9.2 Order AMS This prints an order form and invoice for AMS to make registering of the software as easy as possible for you. Ensure LPT1 is available when using this option. A number of selections need to be made before the forms are printed. þ Currency Select the Currency which you wish to raise the cheque in. Non - UK Companies If you select Other, you may be prompted to obtain a quote and exchange rate for purchase of the software in another currency. If you are prompted so, please Fax a quote request to Go Software (Number in About AMS). If you select any other currency than Sterling, and your order value is less than œ100, you must answer whether your cheque can be made payable to an individual. This is to allow us to avoid a charge when paying in a cheque into our account. If your cheque must be made payable to a company, a surcharge is added to the Order. If you find the exchange rate significantly out of date, and you would like to use a more up to date one, please contact us and we'll re-quote you. þ UK Companies Only Please enter the current VAT rate. þ Order Number Enter an order number if known, for reference purposes. þ UK Companies Only. If a cheque is not sent with the order for the program, an official order or order number must be forwarded. Companies Based Outside UK, A CHEQUE MUST BE SENT WITH YOUR ORDER ! þ Extra Updates If you would like to order additional updates at the time of purchase, please select the required option. Extra updates, which will NOT be major new releases, will be despatched as and when new versions of the program become available. þ Licence Type Please select the type of licence which you require. Licences are all for a single site only. If you wish to purchase licences for multiple sites you must increase the "Quantity of Licences" in the following question. If the software may be used by more than one person at any one time then a multi-user licence must be purchased. þ Number of AMS packages to Purchase Enter the number of the previous type of licence which you wish to purchase. þ Media Type Select the Preferred Media Type for the software. High density disks will only be used if necessary (ie the software requires more than 360K or 720K of disk space. þ Mail Delivery Type Select the type of delivery which you require. Special Mail Delivery. Please obtain a quote for any special mail delivery prior to completing this application. [Orders of value greater than œ100 are automatically sent by Special Delivery]. þ Preferred language for help Other languages for the help file may be available. Select the language which you would prefer the help to be in. þ Company information Please complete all relevant fields with your company information. Once all information has been entered, press ESC to continue the Order Process. þ Delivery Address Please enter the delivery address if different from that specified in Company information. Once all information has been entered, press ESC to continue the Order Process. þ Network Type And Version Enter the network type and version, if any. If you are standalone, please enter NONE. An example of network type and version, would be Netware, Version 3.11, or Netware Lite, Version 1. þ Any Comments If you have any comments (or complaints!) about the software, or would like to see any other features in the software, please enter them here. 9.3 AMS Key Number Entry This option allows you to remove the Registration Screen once you have purchased the Software. Removal of the screen is done by supplying the program with a "Key" number. Once you have purchased (and paid for) the program, select this option, then answer No to the question "Have you obtained a key ....". Select Yes to print the Key Request Form to your local LPT1 port. Answer the questions with appropriate answers for your Company. If you do not have a fax number your key will be returned by post. Please return the form by Fax (Preferably) or Mail to Go Software. We will then return your key number. Once you have the Key Number, select this option again, answering Yes to "Have you obtained a key..." and enter first your Company name, as written on the key request form, then the key number. If the correct key number is entered the key will be saved to disk and the registration screen will not then appear. 10.1 The AMS text editor Editing and creation of menu options can be done with the built in text editor which allows editing of text up to seventy eight characters wide. Menus should be kept to no more than seventy eight characters in width in order to ensure you can use the editor. [This will only be a problem if you were using Novell's MENU before AMS, or you edit menu files with a text editor. Use the dos SET command to set a long variable to a short variable name if you need a longer menu line]. The AMS Text editor menu is accessed by pressing F10, or by holding down the ALT key and pressing the first letter of a menu (ie E for Edit menu). ALT R will not however display the Run menu. Press ESC to exit the AMS editor. If the first word on the current line is a DOS keyword, pressing F1 while in the editor screen will display help on that command. For help on other commands press TAB to display the Help menu, then select DOS Command Menu. This editor has a few features that will allow you to create menu options more quickly than you have in the past, with fewer errors. The scroll bar on the right of the editing screen shows your current cursor position relative to the position of the last line of text in the menu option. The editor is simple to use, but does not incorporate word wrap (which is not suitable for creation of menu options). The AMS text editor - Editing functions Most standard cursor movement keys are supported. Cursor right and left can be used to move the cursor without disturbing the text which it is moved over. Home and End move the cursor to the beginning and end of the line respectively. Page up and down displays the next and previous screens respectively. Insert toggles the editors insert mode on and off. Insert mode is always returned to when a new line is moved to. Delete deletes the character at the current cursor location. Return always inserts a line AFTER the current cursor position. Pressing backspace normally removes the character preceding the cursor location and moves the cursor one position to the left, but if the cursor is in the first column the previous line will be removed, provided the line contains no text. ALT-C clears a line of all text, while ALT-R will restore the text originally in place before ALT-C was used. See Menu File Format for more information on the way to create menu files. 10.2 The AMS text editor - File menu þ Exit Esc Exits the editor and returns the program to the main AMS menu. þ Merge with This allows you to merge the current text with another text file (The merge file). The merge file is inserted at the current cursor line position. If the file is invalid or to large to be merged no merging will take place. Selecting this option will prompt you for a merge file name. This can be any valid filename, and need not be a full path definition. Pressing Return allows listing of different directories and file specifications. Press TAB to move to the files display window. þ Print This option will print the current menu option to your LPT1 port. þ Dos Shell Shift F4 CTRL-D Loads a version of the command processor. This is also available at any time in the editor using Shift F4. The last Dos screen is also restored before the command processor is loaded. Type EXIT to return to the program after selecting this option. 10.3 The AMS text editor - Edit menu þ Insert line ALT I This inserts a blank line at the current cursor position. þ Delete line CTRL Y This deletes the line at the current cursor position. þ Upper case This converts the whole option to Upper case ("Capitals"). þ Lower case This converts the whole option to Lower case ("Small letters"). þ Proper form This prompts for whether to convert both comments and commands. If the answer is Yes, all text in the option will be converted. If no, only the Comments and Remarks will be converted. Convertion involves the changing of the first letter of each word to upper case, and the remainder of the word to lower case. þ Cut, Paste and Copy These three options allow you to delete, move or copy more than one line of text within the option, or from one option to another (The "Cut" text is "Remembered" when you exit the editor). Cut and Copy both take a copy of selected text and hold the text in memory. Cut however removes the text from the option, while copy leaves the text unchanged. Selection of text is carried out by holding the shift key down while using the cursor movement keys. Selected text is then highlighted. Cursor keys supported are Up, Down, PG Up, PG Down, CTRL-Home, CTRL-END. þ CTRL-Y (Edit / Delete line), acts in the same way as Cut, by selecting, deleting and holding a copy of a single line in memory. This can therefore be pasted elsewhere in the option. Paste inserts the text last selected into the option in the line above the current cursor position. Pasting cannot take place if there are insufficient free lines at the end of the option, or if no text has previously been selected. Text can be cut or copied from one option to another, even between menu files. 10.4 The AMS text editor - View menu þ View F4 CTRL-V This temporarily restores the last Dos screen to enable viewing of the last actions in DOS. Press any key to return to the AMS program screen. þ View structure This shows the basic structure of the menu option, the statements which affect the program flow. All labels, .BAT's, CALL's GOTO's and IF's are shown. This is for viewing only, press ESC to return to edit mode. þ View remarks & structure As view structure, but additionally shows remarks. 10.5 The AMS text editor - Search menu þ Find This allows for location of any string of characters in the option. Searching is carried out without regard to capitalisation. Enter the characters to be searched for and press return. Searching can then be repeated using the repeat last find option. þ Repeat last find F3 Repeats a search for the last "Find" requested. þ Change This allows changing of text. The string to be searched for must be entered, followed by the string that this will be replaced with. Searching for text begins on the first line. Confirmation is required for each change - press Y to change the text, N to leave the text unchanged. 11.1 Debugging functions One of the problems with menu options is that they are normally difficult to get right first time. The AMS editor gives you a number of debugging functions to make your menu option writing easier. þ Step by step processing þ Run current menu option from start þ Run current menu option from current line þ Breakpoints þ View DOS Screen þ Exit to DOS Shell 11.2 Debugging functions - Run menu option from start Menu F10 Run Option Short key Shift F5 This "Runs" the current menu option from the start to finish, unless a breakpoint is encountered, where execution will stop. Execution is step by step (Line by line). See also Step by Step processing. Execution also can be stopped by holding down the ALT key. Note: A menu option being edited in the editor is not saved until you exit the editor. You are therefore advised to save the menu regularly while developing a menu option, especially while using the Debug options. 11.3 Debugging functions - Run menu option from current line Menu F10 Run Continue Short key F5 This option is similar to run menu option from start, but this "Runs" the current menu option from the current line to finish, unless a breakpoint is encountered, where execution will stop. Menu Option execution is step by step. See also Step by Step processing. Execution also can be stopped by holding down the ALT key. Note: A menu option being edited in the editor is not saved until you exit the editor. You are therefore advised to save the menu regularly while developing a menu option, especially while using the Debug options. 11.4 Debugging functions - Breakpoints Menu F10 Debug Toggle Breakpoint Short key F9 To clear breakpoints Menu F10 Debug Clear breakpoints Breakpoints will cause menu option execution to halt when processing reaches that line. Any number of breakpoints can be set. Breakpoints can be removed using Toggle Breakpoint [F9], which will toggle the current line to or from a breakpoint, or by Debug Clear Breakpoints, which clears all breakpoints. Data in the menu option is not affected in any way by breakpoints. Use breakpoints to stop execution just before a place where you know there is a problem. Using shift F5 will then run the menu option straight to this point. 11.5 Debugging functions - Step by step processing Menu F10 Run Step Short key F8 The AMS editor provides a debugging feature, which allows you to execute commands one by one (Provided free memory allows) allowing you to check each command as you write it. Either the short key or the menu option causes the current line to be executed in DOS. AMS then switches to the DOS screen, and once the command has been processed displays the original and current path, remaining in this screen until another key is pressed, when AMS returns to the editing screen. This option is especially useful when working on a network disk as rights to directories often vary. Note: There are limitations to the effectiveness of this debugger. Each command is processed individually in a new "Shell", therefore new DOS memory variables cannot be set, and commands that branch to elsewhere in the menu option will have no effect. Other commands may not necessarily work so be aware of this possibility! This manner of operation also means that the amount of memory you have available is restricted. Do not expect to be able to run large executable programs with this option. It is designed to allow you to check directory paths are set correctly prior to loading programs. Note: A menu option being edited in the editor is not saved until you exit the editor. You are therefore advised to save the option regularly while developing a menu option, especially while using the Debug options. 11.6 Debugging functions - View DOS screen Menu F10 View Dos Short key F4 Ctrl-V You can view the DOS screen at any time while in the program by pressing Ctrl-V or F4. This allows you to view the result of the last DOS command. 11.7 Debugging functions - Shell to DOS Menu F10 File Dos shell Short key Shift F4 Ctrl-D Exit to DOS temporarily at any time while using the program by pressing Ctrl-D or Shift + F4. To return to the program you must type EXIT and press return. 12.1 Function Keys Available In This Program F1 Help Page Down View Next Page Page Up View Previous Page ESC Go Back One Step INS Insert A Menu Option DEL Delete A Menu Option F3 Edit A Menu Option Shift INS Insert A New Sub Menu Shift F3 Edit A Menu's Position And Colour Attributes Ctrl F3 Edit The Current Menu File's Password ALT Display Main AMS Menu F10 Alternative AMS Menu Key ALT F10 Exit ALT-C Clear An Entry Field Of All Text ALT-R Restore Text To A Cleared Entry Field CTRL-C Calculator CTRL-L CaLendar CTRL-N Notepad CTRL-D Dos Shell [Also available on Shift F4] CTRL-V View Dos screen [Also available on F4] AMS Editor Keys . F10 Access AMS Menu ALT-F File Menu ALT-E Edit Menu ALT-V View Menu ALT-S Search Menu ALT-D Debug Menu ALT-H Help Menu ALT-I Insert Line CTRL-Y Delete Line 13.1 User Survey We welcome any comments, criticisms, or advice you may have about the software. If you would like to see any new features in the software we would be only to pleased to hear from you. Please fill in any of the following items you wish: Name : Company : Address : Tel : Fax : Network : Main DOS Version : Main Processors: Do you use Windows : Average RAM : Employees : Network Users : No Of DP Staff : How did you obtain a copy of AMS? : Comments, Criticisms, Bugs, Requests etc ... Please Fax or Post To : Go Software Fax 44-61-248-5427 York House Cross Road Heald Green Cheadle Cheshire England SK8 3LW