6.0667 Menu Software; R and Q (2/62)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 13 Apr 1993 17:39:05 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0667. Tuesday, 13 Apr 1993.


(1) Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 23:00:07 EDT (35 lines)
From: mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (W. McCarty)
Subject: menu programs

(2) Date: Sat, 10 Apr 93 18:16:02 EST (27 lines)
From: Dorothy Day <DAY@ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: RE: 6.0641 Qs: Signatures; Menu S/W

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 23:00:07 EDT
From: mccarty@epas.utoronto.ca (W. McCarty)
Subject: menu programs

Thanks to all those who made suggestions and recommendations in
response to my query about software for providing a top-level shell to
several existing DOS programs. In the end (if it is the end of my
search) I found a large number of things in the SIMTEL mirror,
wuarchive.wustl.edu, in the /mirror/msdos/menu/ subdirectory -- a
whole night's downloading, in fact. Along with the software I
discovered that my question had several answers I had not anticipated.
What I wanted, and may have found, is software for generating a
free-standing executable file with the following characteristics:

1. no financial or legal strings attached, so it can be freely
distributed (i.e. neither commercial nor share-ware);

2. very little consumption of RAM;

3. the ability to pass command-line parameters to the programs
called through it;

4. some screen-designing capabilities, without necessary dependence
on any particular hardware or software configuration;

5. recursive execution.

I think the answer is a extended batch language with a compiler, but
we will see. In any case, further suggestions, preferably with the
name of the program and its Internet location, will be most gratefully
received.


Willard McCarty

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------38----
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 93 18:16:02 EST
From: Dorothy Day <DAY@ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: RE: 6.0641 Qs: Signatures; Menu S/W; 18c HyperCard; Printer (4/73)

There have been several responses to Willard McCarty's request for
a well-behaved menu program for MS-DOS, but no one has mentioned
Point & Shoot, a program used by many Indiana libraries, and very
popular in the IU libraries. It can be set to load on bootup, and
takes up very little memory. It allows very flexible design of menus
and submenus; scripts are basically like batch files, but save the
multiplication of tiny batch files on your hard drive. Any level of
menu access or modification can be password protected, including exit
from the menu to the DOS prompt. It is NOT a TSR, but its routines
to launch programs return to the P&S menu upon exiting a program. That
makes it very well-behaved. It runs on any DOS machine, 8088 on up.

There is no shareware version, but it costs about $50 for a single
copy, with good pricing for site licenses, network versions. etc.
Contact:
Varteck, Inc.
3 Regent Street
Livingston NJ 07039
(201) 740-1750

Dorothy Day, Indiana University
Bitnet: DAY@IUBACS
Internet: day@ucs.indiana.edu