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                         NEWS FOR SUPPLIERS ONLY

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  If you are a supplier and would like to retail OctaMED v6 when it is
  released in Jan 95, then please write to Ray at RBF Software.
  169, Dale Valley Rd, Hollybrook, Southampton. SO16 6QX UK
  or you can send a fax on: 01703 785680 giving your fax number etc.
  ( Information will be faxed to you approx one Month prior to release ).






---------------------------------------------------------------------

    Men’ V1.0

    Copyright © 1994 Teijo Kinnunen
    release date: 30.05.1994
    using SAS/C
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Description:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Men’  is  a  simple  and  short  menu utility for disk-magazines etc.
Earlier  versions  of  this  program  have already been use (e.g.  in
AM/FM),  and it has been found to be reliable.  Because I got several
requests to release this program separately, I've done so.  I renamed
it  'Men’', to separate it from earlier versions, and to finally make
some  use of the '’' character that doesn't exist in any language :-)
(Tip:  type Alt-k and y to enter it.)

Features:
~~~~~~~~~
* Fully multitasking and OS-compliant
* Works under any OS version since 1.2
* Short (only about 11 kilobytes)
* Reliable (I hope :-)
* Easy-to-use script language
* Can display a logo picture above the actual menus
* Flexible handling of sub-menus
* Can bring Workbench to front if desired

Basic operation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The  purpose  of this program is simply to launch executable programs
by  pressing  buttons.   These buttons are arranged as 'menus', which
are  laid  out by this program (note:  these menus are different from
Intuition  menus, they are actually arrays of gadgets).  You can also
create buttons that bring up new menus (sub-menus).

Suppose  you  want  to create a disk-magazine.  There's always a main
menu, which is displayed first.  Here's an example of such menu:

TITLE Men’ Users Group Journal
WITEM Editorial
more editorial.txt
WITEM News
more news.txt
ENDM

It's  very  simple  one, containing only two buttons.  The first line
contains  a  command  TITLE,  which displays the following text.  The
second  line  says  WITEM (Wide ITEM); it creates a button with label
'Editorial'.  The following line is the command that will be executed
when   the   button   is   pressed,  it  will  display  a  text  file
'editorial.txt'.   Another button 'News' does exactly the same thing.
Finally,  there's  an  ENDM  command  (END Menu).  Every menu must be
terminated with this command.

Here's a more complex example:

TITLE Men’ Users Group Journal
WITEM Editorial
more editorial.txt
WITEM News
more news.txt
TITLE
WMENU Mail from the users
UsersMail
ENDM

SUBM UsersMail
ITEM Suggestions
more suggestions.txt
ITEM V1.0 Bug reports
more bugreports.txt
SECCOL
ITEM Men’ User's Diary by X.X.
ENDM

Differences from the previous example:
TITLE with no text produces an empty line
WMENU produces a sub-menu button instead of an action button.
      The following line contains the name of the sub-menu.
SUBM specifies the beginning of a sub-menu.
ITEM produces a normal item (half of the width of the screen).
SECCOL starts a second column of half-width items

Look  at  the  file  'example_menu'  for  an  example  of most of the
features.

Usage
~~~~~
Currently,  Men’  can  be  started from CLI/Shell only.  (A Workbench
interface can be created with IconX.) The command line is simply:

    men’ <script>

Where  <script>  is  the menu description file.  The description file
can be no longer than 1000 lines long.

Using logo pictures
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If  you  specify  a  logo picture, it will be displayed on the top of
every menu page, all menu buttons below it.  This logo is global, and
can not be changed or removed.

Because  Men’  should  be  as  short  as  possible,  and because logo
pictures  are  not  changed  often,  there's  no IFF-loader built in.
Instead,  Men’  loads  the  picture in raw format.  I've provided the
public  domain  ILBMtoRaw  program (by Electronic Arts) just for this
purpose.

You  should  create an IFF-brush using a paint program, it should use
the standard WB palette (Men’ always uses the Workbench palette).  It
shouldn't  be  wider  than 640 pixels, and generally no more than two
planes deep (four colors).  Save the brush.

Now  enter  ILBMtoRaw brushname.  You get a raw data file called e.g.
brushname.hi.612x36x2.  This is the data file you should provide with
the menu, you can rename it if you desire.

The  first four lines of the script must define the parameters of the
picture.   They  *must* always be the very first four lines, and they
must appear exactly in the following order:

PICTURE brushname.hi.612x36x2
PICWIDTH 612
PICHEIGHT 34
PICDEPTH 2

You  get the dimensions from the name ILBMtoRaw produces.  If any one
of the above lines is missing or invalid, you get no picture.

Commands
~~~~~~~~
Here's  a summary of all commands that can be used in the menu script
file.  The command names are not case-sensitive.

TITLE text

    Displays a line of text (3-D, centered). Displays an empty
    line if 'text' not specified.

ITEM label
cmd1
cmd2
...
WITEM label
cmd1
cmd2
...

    Creates an action button. When the button is pressed, the
    specified commands (cmd1, cmd2,...) are executed. You can
    specify as many commands as you wish. There are two special
    commands: 'WBToFront' and 'MenuToFront' which cause the
    screens to be organized. Helpful if you want to execute a
    program that opens its window on the WB screen, you can
    write:

        ITEM executeprog
        WBToFront
        programname
        MenuToFront

    The commands are executed synchronously. You cannot continue
    using the menus until the last command has returned.

    WITEM creates a wide (full-width) button, ITEM creates a
    half-width button.

MENU label
menuname
WMENU label
menuname

    Creates a sub-menu button. When pressed, it will bring up
    a sub-menu 'menuname' (see command SUBM). A white '»'-symbol
    marks a sub-menu button.

    WMENU creates a wide (full-width) button, MENU creates a
    half-width button.

HDR text

    Displays a text string on the current (left or right) column.
    Can be used to produce headers for two-column button arrays.

SECCOL

    Starts a new column of half-width buttons. The following
    button, if half-width, will appear below the last full-width
    item on the right column.

ENDM

    Ends a menu. Every menu and sub-menu must be terminated with
    this command.

SUBM menuname

    Marks the beginning of a new sub-menu.

ITEMQ label
WITEMQ label

    As ITEM and WITEM, but will cause the Men’ program to exit.
    They may not be very useful, as there's a Quit-button always
    displayed on the screen.

ISSUE text

    Can be used to print a short text (e.g. the number of issue)
    above the logo picture. You should provide enough space in
    the picture for the text. If you don't use logo picture, you
    shouldn't use this command (it only overwrites gadgets).

    This command can be used only once. Generally it should
    appear on the main menu.

PICTURE filename
PICWIDTH width
PICHEIGHT height
PICDEPTH depth

    See 'Using logo pictures' above..


Notes
~~~~~
Men’  uses a 640×STDSCREENHEIGHT-sized screen, but doesn't allow more
than  200 pixels for display.  This forces even unconcerned PAL-users
to  create  NTSC-compatible  menus.  The screen will be public (name:
Men’_Screen), and will not close until all visitors have closed their
windows.

The  source code is provided.  It has been compiled using SAS/C 6.51.
It  is for educational purposes ONLY.  If you have improved the code,
you can contact the author to get your improvements released.

Remember, the men’ exec is in the c dir, the example_menu is in the
          s dir and the raw picy is ( guess ), text is .......

Distribution
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Men’ is copyright (c) 1994 Teijo Kinnunen. All rights reserved.

The program is not released as public domain, rather, it is released
as FREEWARE, which basicaly means that you can use it without having
to pay for such use.
The source is fully copyrighted and if any user decides to alter it
then the altered source must NOT be released, instead you must send
ANY altererations with a covering letter, to Teijo Kinnunen.
This program and accompanied files may be distributed providing
the following conditions are met:

1) All files must remain unmodified. ( no alteration to .c file )

2) Distribution is allowed ONLY if a copying charge of NO MORE than
   the equivalent of £2.00 ( STERLING ) is charged for disk/copying
   post/packing by distributors.

3) The copyright owner reserves the right to withdraw this program
   from FREEWARE sale and if this IS the case, distributors of
   this program will be given one Months notice of any withdrawal.

4) Any future versions may NOT be freely distributed as a matter of
   course.

5) Only the Men’ executable may be distributed as an integral
   part of disk magazines, catalogs or wherever it is being used.
   (whether commercial or not) without any fees to the author.
   The source code and document file must not be included in
   such distribution, the executable must remain unmodified.
   (Packing allowed.)

4) Commercial & PD-distributors are allowed to sell the package
   without gaining permission from the author on the proviso
   that conditions  1,2,3,4 and 5 are strictly upheld.

5) No part/s of the disk as supplied by RBF Software are to be
   removed or altered, ( arcing disk for space is allowed )

Note: ILBMtoRaw is Public Domain. None of the above conditions
      apply to it. It's distributed here for your convenience only.
      PPSHOW is Public Domain.    None of the above conditions
      apply to it. It's distributed here for your convenience only.
      PPMM is Public Domain.      None of the above conditions
      apply to it. It's distributed here for your convenience only.

Author
~~~~~~
    Teijo Kinnunen
    Oksantie 19
    FIN-86300  OULAINEN
    FINLAND

History
~~~~~~~
V1.0    (30.05.1994)

    Initial release, based on earlier AMFMMenu/MUG menu Systems.