Supervising the Network

6-8
Creating Menus
Getting Acquainted with NMENU
1 Plan and design your menu. Before starting, answer the following questions:
• Who is it for?
• What do the users need access to?
• Should they have access to a NetWare prompt?
• Should they be forced to log out when exiting?
• How complex is the menu? Will it need to be in multiple files?
2 Use a text editor to create your menu file with an .SRC extension.
3 Compile the .SRC file with the MENUMAKE program. This will create a .DAT
version of the file.
The results of any errors occurring during the compile process, including
detailed error messages per line of script, are displayed on your screen. Fix the
errors in the .SRC version of the file according to the error messages, and then
recompile.
When you have eliminated all the errors, continue with Step 4.
4 Run NMENU filename.dat to verify that it does what you expect.
5 Change the program if needed, as described in Step 3, and then repeat Step 4.
When Step 4 is successful, go on to Step 6.
6 Provide access to the intended users by placing the .DAT file in an appropriate
directory and granting sufficient rights to the users.
Information on placement of files and required rights is in “Making Menus
Work” in this chapter.
Following these six steps can help you learn how to use the scripting
language and how to manage the menu files you create.
Use of the NMENU program is almost unlimited. When considering the
uses for menus, remember that they can be as simple as presenting available
application programs (see Figure 6-5).