Back-Menu V1.39 =============== Back-Menu is a program that allows you to define a pop-up menu on the Windows 3.0 background and use it to quickly run applications and tools. The idea came from using X-Windows and Sunview, where the user has a root menu that can be configured. It allows you to describe a set of actions and associate command lines with them. To bring up the menu simply click with the mouse button (let, middle or right) on the Windows desktop. This will bring up the description list. Selecting a description will cause the appropriate command line to be executed. There are six fixed options in the menu. The first five appear under the 'Back-Menu Options' walking menu. They are:- 1) 'Execute...' - allows a command line to be typed and executed. Back-Menu now supports a history mechanism, and will remember the last 10 commands typed. These commands are stored and will be available whenever Back-Menu is run. 2) 'Reload Menu From File' - makes Back-Menu read its configuration file again to update the menu contents. 3) 'Set Options...' - Brings up a dialog box from which you can set the default start-up menu and which mouse button activates the menu. 4) 'About...' - speaks for itself. 5) 'Remove Back-Menu' - un-installs the program. This option is only present if you are not using Back-Menu as the shell. 6) 'Exit Windows', which safely exits from Windows back to DOS. Configuration Files =================== By default, Back-Menu looks for a file called BACKMENU.INI in the same directory as BACKMENU.EXE. The menu file name can be changed by using the 'Set Options...' option. A configuration file is simply a set of lines (one for each description/command line pair). The syntax for a menu item is:- Menu Item description,application,optional start-up dir Blank lines may be placed between items, to cause a separator line to be placed in the menu. Eg. Gives: +---------+ Item 1,CMD1.EXE | Item 1 | |---------| Item 2,CMD2.EXE FRED.TXT | Item 2 | Notepad,NOTEPAD.EXE | Notepad | +---------+ This version of BACKMENU also supports cascading menus. A cascading menu item is one that has multiple options associated with it. By clicking on the item, another menu appears with the options on it. It is even possible to have further cascading menus associated with one or more items within that menu. Associating multiple items with a single menu item is simple. The definition is:- >Item Name Sub menu item 1,program Sub menu item 2,program ... ! That is, the sub-menu is enclosed between a '>' and a '!'. The text that follows the '>' is the text to appear in the menu (a description of the sub-menu). In the example, 'Name' will appear in the menu, and when clicked upon produce a sub-menu with the items defined. Definining items within a sub-menu is done in exactly the same way as for a main menu (even to the extent of adding a sub-menu to this sub-menu). Eg:- >Editors Andy's editor,AE.EXE Notepad,NOTEPAD.EXE >Word processors Word for Windows,WORD.EXE Windows Write,WRITE.EXE ! Multi-Pad,MULTIPAD.EXE ! ... There is no limit to the number of items you can have in any particular menu. Start-Up Directory ================== As of version 1.3, Back-Menu will change to the directory containing the executable program and then run it if a path is specified. Eg. Corel Draw,C:\CORELDRW\CORELDRW.EXE will change to the directory C:\CORELDRW and then run CORELDRW.EXE. If no path is specified, the application will be started in the current directory (whatever that happens to be). It is possible with Back-Menu to start up an application and set a different working directory for that program. To do this, specify the optional start up directory after the application. Eg. excel lives in c:\excel. We want to have excel start up in a work directory d:\data\excel. To do this, the menu option would be:- Excel + Work directory,c:\excel\excel.exe,d:\data\excel Using Back-Menu as the Start-Up Shell ===================================== Back-Menu can now be used in place of Program Manager as the default shell for Windows. To install it simply edit SYSTEM.INI which is in the windows directory. In the [boot] section of the file there is a line which will read shell=progman.exe. Replace it with shell=backmenu.exe and you're away. Choice of Mouse Button ====================== The choice of which mouse button to use dramatically changes the way Back-Menu "feels". If the left mouse button is chosen, the menu pops-up when the button is pressed and disappears as soon as the button is released. With the right mouse button the menu remains on screen until a bottom-level seleection is made, regardless of how many times the right button is pressed. Back-Menu also supports the middle mouse button. If you choose this and find that back-menu no longer functions then take the following steps:- 1) Exit Windows (or reset if Back-Menu is installed as the shell). 2) Edit WIN.INI in the Windows directory. 3) Find the line which has [Back-Menu] on it. Below this there will be a line Button=Middle. Change this to Button=Left or Button=Right. Ambiguous File-Name Support =========================== Back_menu now allows simple ambiguous file names as command line parameters to programs. If Back-Menu finds an ambiguous file name, it will prompt with a dialog box to let you choose. The path and filename are substituted in to the command line. If abort is chosen, the application is not started. Eg. Word, C:\WORD\WINWORD.EXE *.doc At the moment, paths cannnot be specified, and the command line may only contain the ambiguous file name. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS ======================= It is possible to make Back-Menu prompt for a command line, which is then passed to the relevant program. To do this, place a % after the program name in the menu file. Eg. Excel,c:\excel\excel.exe % Back-Menu will bring up a dialog box, which will allow the command line parameters to be typed. Anything following the % will be placed in the dialog box for editing. BUGS/FEATURES ============= V1.1 Fixed bug that prevented Back-Menu from being reloaded after it had been removed. Restructured code so that it should work with EMS systems. (Not tested fully). V1.2 Added cascading menus. V1.3 Locks up Compaq 386/25e sometimes when starting up DOS window. V1.31 Added ambiguous file name support. V1.32 Made Back-Menu process the windows command line when it is the shell. V1.33 Modified Open Dialog box to have dirs and files lists. Fixed problem if you type in path and filename to opex dialog. V1.34 Added '%' to prompt for command line for an application. Fixed bug where if you uninstall Back-Menu you get UAE. Added about box. Changed ambiguous filename support so that the open box has the directory specified. V1.35 Added support for setting start-up directory. V1.36 Whichever mouse button brings up the menu can now be used to select items from it (as well as the left mouse button) V1.37 Now supports extensions from win.ini (eg. MYTEXT.WRI will cause write to be started up on the file). Cured bug where if Back-Menu is the only task in the system, the menu doesn't stay up the first time the button clicked. V1.38 Changed line-reading to fix problems with reading the .ini file. Removed the limit of 15 items per menu. V1.39 There were problems if back-menu was the shell and a command line was given to windows which didn't have a path component (It said it couldn't find the file). This has been fixed. Added history mechanism to Execute... command. Re-ordered the fixed menu to place more frequently used items at the top. Modified % prompting to allow a command line to be edited (eg. %-t -r hello.pas will prompt with the rest of the command line present for editing). Any criticism/comments/praise/bugs etc can be directed to the author (me) as Ian Heath Postgraduate Research University of Southampton England mail: ih@uk.ac.soton.ecs or: ih@ecs.soton.ac.uk (whichever you prefer). This program is freeware. Share and enjoy!