mbutton

Introduction

mbutton is a program which displays a list of "applications" which can be loaded. If you indicate one of the items, then that item will be loaded, and the window will be removed.

The list of programs which can be started, comes from a special file which gives details about the name of the choices, the loader file which has to be used to start the application, and possibly also a path where the loader file can be found. If needed, you can also let the program ask for the proper disk to be inserted.

To function properly, mbutton assumes that the request and ProWesS loader executable things are available. These are normally loaded when ProWesS is started.

Usage

mbutton filename [-path path] [-name name] [-wait]
filename
The name of the file which has to be used by the ProWesS loader when the button is activated. If no path is given, then file will be searched on the data default device (and then on the program default device).
path
A path can be given. The file will be searched on the path given. A path can include several device_directory combinations, each separated by a semicolon (';'). A path can also include directories which start with the name of a "Global Variable".
name
Give a name to the mbutton program You can explicitly tell the button which name has to be displayed inside it. If you do not specify the button name, then the filename will be displayed.
wait
When this option is given, then the mbutton program will not terminate after starting the ProWesS loader. Therefore, the user can indicate more than one of the options.

Input file format

Each line in the input file, corresponds with a program which can be selected in the window. The length of each line is limited to be less than 160 characters.

Each line contains several tokens. Normally each word is a token, but words can also be grouped by putting them in double quotes. A token which starts with a dash (-) indicates a flag. If that flag has a parameter, then the next token is used as that parameter.

Each line should contain a token which indicates the name of the file which is used by the loader program to start the program. If several tokens exist which are not flags and not a parameter to a flag, then the last one will be used as filename.

Several flags are supported by mbutton

-insert
This indicates that the user is asked to insert the proper disk before the ProWesS loader is started to load the application program. this flag has no parameter.
-terminate After the loader file has been executed, mbutton will terminate, even if the -wait flag was passed on the command line.
-path
Specify the path where the ProWesS loader should try to find the loader file. If this is not given, mbutton defaults to first searching on the data device and then on the program device.
-name
Specify the name for this program, which has to be displayed in the menu. If this is not explicitly given, then the filename of the loader file will be used as application name.

PROGS, Professional & Graphical Software
last edited August 3, 1996