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<META name="author" lang="en" content="Michiel Broek">
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
<!-- MBSEADVERT -->
<div align=right><h5>Last update 11-Oct-2003</h5></div>
<div align=center><H1>MBSE BBS Menu System</H1></div>
<P>Menus sections:
<A HREF="menu0.html">Global menus</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="menu100.html">File areas</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="menu200.html">Message areas</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="menu300.html">User settings</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="menu400.html">Onliners</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="menu500.html">BBS lists</A>&nbsp;
<A HREF="control.html">ANSI Control Codes</A>
</P>
<P>
<HR>
<H3>Introduction.</H3>
<P>
One of the most powerfull features of the BBS is it's menu system. You
have complete control over each individual menu item which can be restricted
according to criteria such as security levels.
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>ANSI Screens.</H3>
<P>
For the menus to work properly you can draw ANSI screens, this
is what the users will see. For GNU/Linux there is "Duh DRAW" written by Ben
Fowler, see sunsite.unc.edu /pub/Lunux/docs.
If you can't find it or have no internet access, you can also use
THEDRAW. This utility can be found on many BBS'es around the world. Unfortunatly
it is a DOS program so you will need dosemu on your GNU/Linux box or a seperate
DOS computer. You can define main screens and include screens for each
menu, the include screen may for example show the keys that you have available
in every menu. See the list of <A HREF="control.html">control codes</A>.
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>Display lines.</H3>
<P>
It is also possible to display menu lines with the buildin display option.
The used colors are selectable, a normal color and a bright color.
The normal color is the default, you can toggle bright on and of using
the ^ in the display line. If you end a menu display line with a ; then
no newline is send after that line. If you want to output teh ^ or ; characters
you need to escape them with a backslash like this: \; or \^. The order of menu
entries is important.
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>Automatic commands.</H3>
<P>
A menu function is usually executed when a user presses the hot-key
assigned to that particular menu item. But menu functions can also be executed
automatically. Each menu item contains an AutoExec field. By default this
field is set to No, but by toggling it to Yes, the menu item can be made
to execute when it is played back (displayed) by the BBS. </P>
<P>
As you read through the menu function types outlined in this chapter,
you may come to realize that this is a very powerfull feature. For example,
when used with the menu function that displays a text file, you can design
very elaborate, graphical text file menus that you wouldn't normally be
able to display in a line-by-line menu. </P>
<P>
Automatic menu execution can be used in many other instances as well.
Just to give you some ideas, it might be used to display a text file to
users who have a security level equal to or greater than a certain level.
Yet another use is to execute multiple function menus which are used to
execute several functions when a single command is entered.
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>Multiple languages.</H3>
<P>
For each language you can define a set of menus. Only for the default
language all menus must exist. It makes sense to make the filenames of
your menus for each language the same and not to translate them. If a menu
is missing for a non default language, the menu from the default language
path is used instead.
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>Editing a menu.</H3>
<P>
The order of the menu lines in the setup is not important except for
the autoexec menus, they must be placed in the right order from start,
ie. begin with the menu specific screen display, then the global include
display and finally show the prompt.
<P>
<IMG SRC="../images/e_menu.png" ALT='Menu editer' Border="0">
<OL>
<LI><B>Selection key.</B> This is the key a user must press to activate
this menu. This field is ignored when AutoExec is set to Yes. </LI>
<LI><B>Type nr.</B> this is the menu type to execute. For a description
of all available types see the links at the top of this page.</LI>
<LI><B>Optional data.</B> Some menus need optional data, for example the
function goto another menu needs the name of that menu file here. </LI>
<LI><B>Display.</B> What is to be displayed to the user. You can use this instead
of ANSI screens.
</LI>
<LI><B>Security.</B> This is the minimum security level to execute this
selection. The security is a level number combined with 32 bitmapped flags.
NOTE: level 0 and no flags means
everyone can select this menu. Good for logout options and all other options
everyone must be able to execute. </LI>
<LI><B>Min. age.</B> The minumum age the user must be to execute this selection.
You may want to restrict access to certain areas to users older than 18
years. If you leave this to 0, every one can execute this menu. </LI>
<LI><B>Lo-colors.</B> The normal display color for the display line.
</LI>
<LI><B>Hi-colors.</B> The bright display color for the display line.</LI>
<LI><B>AutoExec.</B> If this is an automatic executed selection. </LI>
<LI><B>Door Name</B> The name of the door that will be displayed to other users.
This name is also used to count the same doors running if the door only allows a
single user. It is important that you use the same name in every language menu
file for the same door. This item is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>Y2K style</B> Writes the dates in the door.sys file in the new style,
with 4 digit year numbers, else the old 2 digit style is used. This item
is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>No door.sys</B> Suppress writing of a door.sys file in the users
home directory. This item is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>Use Comport</B> Writes COM1: with 19200 as baudrate to the door.sys file,
this is for dosemu with the vmodem patch. This item is only visible with menu
type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>Run nosuid</B> If set to Yes the door will run in non-suid mode.
Most doors need this. This item is only visible
with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>No Prompt</B> If set to Yes then when the door is finished there will be
no prompt to press Enter, instead the bbs menu will show up immediatly. This
item is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>Single User</B> Set to yes of the door only allows one user at the same
time. Make sure you have set a unique name that must be the same for the door in
every language file so that the bbs is able to count the instances of the door
running. This item is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
<LI><B>Hidden door</B> Set to yes to hide the door from being visible for other
users. If someone is using that door the whoson list displays "External Door"
instead of the door name. This may be good to hide some special sysop only
doors. This item is only visible with menu type 7.</LI>
</OL>
<P>&nbsp;<P>
<H3>Final warning.</H3>
<P>
If a submenu is missing, the BBS falls back to the main menu. This menu
must be called &quot;main&quot; (or else set another name in the global
setup) or your BBS won't start and complain. Submenus may be nested 50
levels deep.
<P>
<A HREF="../index.htm"><IMG SRC="../images/b_arrow.png" ALT="Back" BORDER=0>Back</A>
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