MED |
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The MED command creates or modifies a menu definition.
Format
MED {file.name {menu.name}}
where
If the file or menu names are omitted from the command line, MED prompts for these. When prompting for menu names, MED will edit the given menu and then prompt for a further name. This is repeated until a null menu name is entered.
Menus are normally stored in the VOC file but can be stored in any file of the application designer's choice if an R-type (remote) VOC record is used to point to the menu record in the other file.
If the menu does not exist, MED prompts for confirmation that it is to be created.
The display of a typical menu might appear as shown below:
Title :ORDER PROCESSING SYSTEM : MAIN MENU Subr :OPS.MENU.VALIDATE Prompt: Exits : Stops : -------------------------------------------------------------- Text 1:Customer Maintenance Action:CUST.MENU Help :Enter customer maintenance menu Access:CUST Hide : -------------------------------------------------------------- Text 2:Order Entry Action:RUN BP ORDER.ENTRY Help :Runs the order entry system Access:ORDERS Hide : -------------------------------------------------------------- Text 3:Invoice Management Action:INV.MENU Help :Enter invoice management menu Access:INVOICES Hide :
VOC ORDERS F1=Help Access control subroutine key for this option
MED uses a subset of the SED full screen editor default key bindings to allow the user to move around within the display and enter or modify text. These are:
Ctrl-A Home Move to start of line Ctrl-B Cursor left Move left one character Ctrl-D Del char Delete character Ctrl-E End Move to end of line Ctrl-F Cursor right Move right one character Ctrl-G Cancel Ctrl-K Kill line Ctrl-L Refresh screen Ctrl-N Cursor down Move down one line Ctrl-O Insert Toggle overlay mode Ctrl-P Cursor up Move up one line Ctrl-V Page down Move down one page Ctrl-X C Ctrl-X Ctrl-C Exit Ctrl-X S Ctrl-X Ctrl-S Save Ctrl-Y Esc-Y Paste Esc-V Page up Move up one page Esc-< Ctrl-Home Move to top Esc-> Ctrl-End Move to bottom Backspace Backspace F1 Help F4 Show menu
The leftmost few characters of each line display a line type key. The remainder of the line is editable and the line on which the cursor is positioned will pan if required to allow text data wider than the display device.
The bottom line of the screen displays a single line help prompt at all times. Pressing F1 will display a help page appropriate to the line on which the cursor is positioned. Pressing F1 again while this help text is displayed will display help on the key bindings.
The first section of the menu data displayed by MED contains information that relates to the entire menu: The menu title line The access control subroutine name The prompt text Exit codes Stop codes
The remainder of the displayed data is a set of sections corresponding to the menu options in the order in which they will appear on the menu. Each section contains: The option text The action sentence. Terminate with a semicolon for an automatic "Press return to continue" prompt Help text for the option The access subroutine key A flag indicating whether the option is to be hidden if it is unavailable
The separator line between each section has some special features. Pressing the return key while on this line inserts a new menu option entry under the line. Use of the kill line function (Ctrl-K) on this line deletes the menu option under the line, placing it in the kill buffer. Repeated use of the kill line function places all of the deleted menu options in the kill buffer.
When the kill buffer contains one or more complete menu options, use of the paste function (Ctrl-Y) inserts the kill buffer content under the current option. Use of kill and paste can be used to move options within the menu.
When on a text line, the kill line function deletes all text after the cursor, placing it in the kill buffer. The paste function can be used to paste this text into another line.
See VOC M-type records for more details of menu definitions. |