MenuFinder, UTILITIES, Tool to build menu-driven interfaces MenuFinder for OpenVMS 1. What Is MenuFinder 2. Main Characteristics 3. MenuFinder is free for OpenVMS/VAX systems 4. How to install MenuFinder 1. What Is MenuFinder MenuFinder is a menu generator for OpenVMS systems (VAX and AXP). It has been created to give a simple but effective answer to the requirement of presenting the user with a set of functions via a menu interface. In particular, MenuFinder is an ideal instrument to - build on-line guides for the users of the computing centre - document and utilise management procedures of the system manager or the operator. 1. Main Characteristics Types of option in the menus DCL commands, text files, data files, programs, batch files and submenus can be associated with the options. Association of programmes or commands to files. For example, the program used to write a document can be associated with the letter: choosing the document from the menu, activates that program to read or write the document. Help text on the menu options A user may have to use many programs, although infrequently: it is not easy therefore, to remember even the simplest functions of a product. Often, shortcuts and contrivances are forgotten after a while. MenuFinder allows the possibility to associate a help text with each option of a menu, in which can be inserted instructions, annotations and useful indications both for oneself and other users. The means of accessing the menus are particularly powerful. Apart from being able to use the classic hierarchical submenu structure, it is also possible to jump from one menu to another specifying its name or supplying one or more words to search for in the description of the options. This capability is available not only from within MenuFinder, but also from the OpenVMS prompt ($). The navigation line Records the last 10 menus called-up, allowing an extremely rapid means to recall them. Rapid return to the last used menu In case it is necessary to exit MenuFinder and return completely under the control of OpenVMS, it is still possible to recall immediately the last menu used. It's simple to construct a menu MenuFinder is an easy to use product: it is sufficient to know a few DCL commands, be able to use EDIT, the standard OpenVMS editor and know the few (10 or so) instructions for the generation of the menus. The construction of a menu is interactive and every change has an immediate effect on the screen. Logical Names The use of Logical Names both for the personalization of MenuFinder and for the definition of logical directories, makes the management of the product extremely flexible and particularly suitable for a cluster environment. 3. MenuFinder is free for OpenVMS/VAX systems No licence fees are required for installing and using MenuFinder for OpenVMS/VAX. Visit the site http://www.itre.com/mf/download.html to download the OpenVMS/AXP installation kit and a free temporary Authorization Code for any number of OpenVMS/AXP systems. 4. How to install MenuFinder for OpenVMS/VAX - Read the file licence_terms_freeware.txt - Print the Administrator guide and the User guide: they are provided in PDF format for easy viewing/printing on any MSWindows, Apple Macintosh or Linux/Unix computer A TXT version is provided for occasional reference with a text based terminal A Postscript(tm) version is also provided for printing from OpenVMS - Read the Administrator guide in order to correctly complete the installation.