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Updated (9/13/95) and edited by Bro
This document is intended to show you how to write menus for the Alachua Free-net (AFN) menu system. You can produce menus for your organization.
The goal of this tutorial is to show you:
Do not let yourself be intimidated by the process of creating a menu. While the process looks complex, in reality it's not all that difficult. It is just like following a recipe to make a cake. Just relax and read the following tutorial.
This tuturial is only intended to cover the text style menu system such as the one that AFN itself uses. The more graphical HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) style of homepages is covered elsewhere.
In general you will need three types of files for your menu:
Each menu will have one and only one list file in that menu space.
In general most of you will use only use doc files in your menus.
A remote site is a Internet resource that is located somewhere other than AFN. This can be a gopher, WWW, FTP of other type of site. We will cover all these different types below but most of you will not use remote sites but will only use local doc files.
We will now look at how to write a list file.
A list file is a description of how you want your menu to look. It is just like a recipe that you create for us to use to create a menu for you.
We take the list file and compile it into a form that AFN will use as a menu.
Lets start by learning one very important rule: a list file can only contain 15 lines. This does not count the title line.
More lines will produce a non-working menu. Fewer lines are OK.
Each list file consists of at least 2 and no more than 16 lines. Since each list file must have one title line and at least one subject line this gives us the lower 2 line boundary.
(The maximum size comes from one title line and the maximum 15 subject lines that I mentioned above. )
Lets look at the anatomy of a list file line:
3:0:The Zork Explorer's Club ( Menu = zork ):zork.sh:title figure 1
There are five parts or fields to all list file lines these parts are:
The top level menu, or level 0, is the first or main menu that you see when you log on AFN. Computer programmers always start counting at zero so your organizational menu will usually be 4 levels down or 0, 1, 2, 3. Thus the 3. If you have submenus under your main menu these would be level 4 and so on. Don't worry too much about this field, we will fix any problems so just start with a 3.
The Zork Explorer's Club ( Menu = zork )
* option is planned for future implementation
1. What is the Zork Club
2. What is xxzzy?
3. Common questions about UR-GRUE
4. The Coconut of Quendor Web site
5. How to grow Morgia Root
6. Zork Telnet site
7. Zork newsgroup
8. Moss of Marelion
figure 2
Lets look at the twelve different types of objects. Since these are the same as the type, we will also be looking at the 12 type types.
These types are:
The first object type is the title line:
3:0:The Zork Explorer's Club ( Menu = zork ):zork.sh:title
Menu = zork )
[Top] [List of types]
3:1:What is the Zork Club:zork.doc:doc
[Top] [List of types]
When the user selects this item AFN will jump to the other menu. For instance if the zork menu called another menu called xxzzy the line would look like this:
3:2:What is xxzzy? :xxzzy.sh:menu
The sh extension indicates to afn that this is another menu, you must append the .sh to the name of the menu.
[Top] [List of types]
3:3:Common questions about UR-GRUE:gopher.zork.com;urgrue.disclaimer:gopher
NOTE: that the object in this case has a semicolon and
the file name of the disclaimer file ;urgrue.disclaimer.
We will talk about disclaimers below,
but all the types from here on down will require disclaimer files ( except future ).
[Top] [List of types]
3:4:Coconut of Quendor Web site://www.quendor.edu;coconut.disclaimer:http
Note the address in http site has a // before it, this is required.
3:8:Moss of Marelion://www.afn.org/~zork/;moss.disclaimer:html
[Top] [List of types]
3:5:How to grow Morgia Root:ftp.morgia.org;root.disclaimer:ftp
3:6:Zork Telnet site:zork.com;telnet.disclaimer:telnet
NOTE: This type is restricted and you'll have to get permission to use a telnet site in your menu.
[Top] [List of types]
future.doc as a filler,
this file future.doc does not have to exist because
AFN will never look for it. The file future.doc does not have to exist.
3:7:Zork newsgroup:alt.game.zorkworld;zorkworld.disclaimer:usenet
[Top] [List of types]
The twelve types are exactly the same as the twelve objects:
title script telnet doc gopher future menu http usenet exe ftp html
[Top] [List of types]
What does our final list file look like?
3:0:The Zork Explorer's Club :zork.sh:title 3:1:What is the Zork Club:zork.doc:d 3:2:What is xxzzy? :Xxzzy.sh:menu 3:3:Common questions about URGRUE:gopher.zork.com;urgrue.disclaimer:gopher 3:4:Coconut of Quendor Web site://www.quendor.edu;coconut.disclaimer:http 3:5:How to grow Morgia Root:ftp.morgia.org;root.disclaimer:ftp 3:6:Zork Telnet site:zork.com;telnet.disclaimer:telnet 3:7:Zork newsgroup:alt.game.zorkworld;zorkworld.disclaimer:usenet 3:8:Moss of Marelion://www.afn.org/~zork/;moss.disclaimer:htmlThis list file generates the afn menu that we see in figure 2 .
As we mentioned above you need a separate and unique disclaimer file for each off-AFN site you use.
All HTML files either local or on a remote site require a disclaimer file.
Now lets look at a template of a generic disclaimer file:
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REMOTE SYSTEMS
DISCLAIMER NOTICE: You are leaving the Alachua FreeNet to connect to another
Internet site. Material inappropriate for children and objectionable for adults
may possibly be found there. Parental supervison may be advisable.
SYSTEM NAME: < PUT THE NAME OF YOUR SITE HERE >
INTERNET NAME: < THE OBJECT FIELD FROM YOUR LIST FILE >
DATA AVAILABLE: < A 2 OR 3 LINE DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE CAN >
< GO HERE ANY SPECIAL INSTRUCTION ALSO GO HERE >
< SUCH AS INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO FIND A FILE >
EXIT SEQUENCE: q exits back to Alachua Free-Net
SPECIAL NOTES: Use the arrow ( cursor ) keys to move up or down menus
then press the < Enter > key or use the right arrow to select.
Use the left arrow return to a previously selected item.
Press the < SPACE > bar to see the next page
MENU MADE BY: < PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HERE > updated:< DATE >
figure 3
OK, some comments:
My advice is to cut the above template out and just change the fields
that need entries. You then save the file with the new file name:
zork.dis or whatever you want to name the file.
OK, now you have created your list file, all your doc files and one disclaimer file for each off-AFN site: you are ready to upload your files!
Here is how to do it.
Alachua Free-Net Main Menu (Menu = main)
* option is planned for future implementation
1. About Alachua Free-Net (Overview, HELP, & News)
2. About Alachua County, Florida
3. Community Calendars
4. Setting Up and Maintaining Your Account
5. Mail Service for Registered Users
6. Local Free-Net Services
7. Information by Subject (A - L)
8. Information by Subject (M - Z)
9. Disabilities Information
10. Additional Internet Services
(m) main menu (p) previous menu (x) Exit
Your Choice:
figure 4
Alachua Free-Net Local Services (Menu = local)
* option is planned for future implementation
1. About Local Services
2. pre of registered users
3. Listing of users currently logged on
4. 'Talk' Service (Menu = talk)
5. Home Directory File Services (Menu = homefiles)
6. Home Directory File Services (alternate view)
7. Customizing Your Environment (Settings and Options)
8. Instructions on creating a menu
9. Format of the .list file
10. Create a menu space
11. Problem Reporting
figure 5
Now a note on menu names.
If you look in the upper right corner of the menu you'll see a notation:
(Menu = local).
This is the name of the menu space this menu uses. You can just type in that name and jump directly to that menu. As you may recall, I told you that you could type in 'local' to jump to this menu. Try to pick menu names that relate to the menu that you want your menu to appear under.
For instance: if I want zork to appear under the menu called
hobby then I could name it hobby-zork.
The 8.3 character name limit in DOS does not apply to unix
so you can have long file and directory names.
By naming the menus in a way that is simular to the parent menu you will make it easier for AFN workers to work with your menus since they will all be located close together in the directory.
HOME DIRECTORY FILE SERVICES (Menu=homefiles)
Current Directory is your home directory
1. List All Files (abbreviated display)
2. List All Files (unix display)
3. View A File
4. Delete A File
5. Download A File
6. Upload A File
7. Edit a File
8. Rename a File
9. Change to a subdirectory
10. Change to home directory
11. Create a sub directory
12. Encoding and Decoding Files
(m) main menu (p) previous menu (x) Exit
Your Choice:
figure 6
hobby-zork for example.
( homefiles ) after this.
If you use kermit to upload your files then AFN will ask you
for the name of the file, so a file called zork.txt on your home
system can be uploaded as hobby-zork.list,zork.dis
can be uploaded as zork.disclaimer, etc.
But if you use zmodem then the file will be uploaded with the same name as your home system, you can then rename it.. Again: DOS 8.3 file names don't apply.
IMPORTANT: the list file name must be the same as the name of your menu space with .list appended. So since I called my menu space hobby-zork, I must name my list file hobby-zork.list.
8) When you are done, use item one to check that all the files needed are there. The files that should be there are:
Here is more information on troubles you may encounter while Uploading
When you are done send a message to newsupplier telling us that you are ready to install a menu. We need to know the following:
Multiple listings are generally discouraged but if you have a good argument we will allow listings in two different places.
Hypertext formatted by Intersoft Solutions, Inc. as a public service to AFN.
Updated Sept 13, 1995