Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!ncar!noao!asuvax!mcdphx!estinc!fnf
From: fnf@estinc.UUCP (Fred Fish)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Menu builder programs under SCO Xenix
Message-ID: <89@estinc.UUCP>
Date: 24 May 89 04:20:06 GMT
Organization: Enhanced Software Technologies Inc., Tempe, Az
Lines: 41

Can anyone recommend any menu builder type programs for use under
SCO Xenix.  The basic idea is to build a menu system with a minimum
of hassle.  Some of the desired features, not necessarily in the order
of importance, are:

(1)	Ease of use for the developer.  Most menu systems I have seen
	use some sort of "menu language" in which you describe the
	menus and the actions to be taken in a custom language.  This
	language should be reasonably powerful and well documented.

(2)	Presentation quality.  In other words, does it use some of the
	fancier graphics capabilities to draw boxes, scroll bars, etc.
	Drawing boxes with the '|', '+', and '-' characters is only
	marginally acceptable.  Something along the lines of SCO's
	sysadmsh program is more reasonable.  (speaking of which, does
	SCO provide any sort of development package that would allow
	one to build the equivalent of sysadmsh?)

(3)	Reasonable runtime licensing.  If you wish to distribute binary
	copies of your system, and such distribution requires the inclusion
	of some sort of licensed runtime code provided by the vendor, the
	licensing should be "reasonable".  I.E., $100 per binary copy is
	not "reasonable".

(4)	Context sensitive help and selection.  If a particular field in
	the menu system or one of its "forms" requires user input, the
	user should be able to request help describing the required input,
	and if possible, a list of items to select from.  I.E., if a file
	name is required a pop up window with a list of file names to select
	from would be nice.

There are probably other factors that I haven't thought of that would
be important.  Having never built such a system before, I probably would
not discover them until I was about half way through the implementation.
Feel free to point them out if you have experience in building menu systems
for use by relatively inexperienced users.

-Fred
-- 
# Fred Fish, 1835 E. Belmont Drive, Tempe, AZ 85284,  USA
# 1-602-491-0048           asuvax!{nud,mcdphx}!estinc!fnf