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THE OTHER MACRODISK PROGRAM
The Main Menu program is available only when you first boot MacroDisk or when you quit Apple Writer to run Basic.System. After displaying a copyright message, the Main Menu program appears with a list of options and a time and date display in the bottom right corner. The menu contains utility routines that can only be used outside of the Apple Writer program. Not all of the routines are available for every system. For example, since 'Set Date and Time' is not necessary for those systems that contain a clock card a 'Set Clock' routine is installed in its place. If the system has a RAM disk, a 'Move to Ram' option is available. An additional feature is a Program Selector that runs other programs when they are selected from a user defined menu.
UTILITIES
• Copy Files: You can copy a single file or a complete volume or directory full of files. You can copy files to another directory or to the same directory. The utility recognizes the current prefix or any new prefix that you enter. If a file already exists, you will be given a chance to cancel copying that particular file. You will be given a second chance to cancel if the duplicate file is also locked.
Like all Main Menu utilities that work with volumes or directories, the copy files option copies volumes or directories three levels deep, displaying each file name as it does so. Here is a diagram of a volume or directory that is three levels deep:
Volume or Directory
Files and Directories
Files and Directories
Files
Note: The Catalyst 3.0 program alters the ProDOS directory format, disabling MacroDisk Main Menu utilities that search volumes or directories for filenames.
• Delete Files: You can delete a file or delete a volume or directory of files up to three levels deep. Each file name is displayed when deleting more than one file. If the file is locked, you will be given a choice whether or not to delete that particular file. An additional option deletes menu items from the Program Selector menu (see below).
• Lock/Unlock Files: Lock or unlock a single file or a volume or directory full of files. Displays filenames when locking or unlocking more than one file.
• Set Prefix: Set the prefix by slot and drive or by pathname.
• Create a Subdirectory: Enter new subdirectory pathname.
• Rename File or Volume: Rename file or volume.
• Catalog and Identify: Catalog a disk by slot and drive or by pathname.
• Set Date and Time: This option is available only for those systems that do not have a clock card. It allows the user to set a date and time which will remain in memory until the computer is rebooted or this routine is used again. A must for date stamping files.
• Set Clock: If your computer has a clock card, the date and time display at the bottom right corner of the Main Menu is not a static display but a real clock which will continue to update the time until an option is selected. The Set Clock routine must be supplied by the user since every clock card uses a different method for setting the time and date. Copy the Basic clock setting program (supplied by the manufacturer of your particular clock) to the MacroDisk volume as Set.Clock. Adjust the program so that it does not clear the screen and to end with the following line:
PRINT CHR$(4);"RESTORE Sys.Var":PRINT D$;"CHAIN Main.Menu, @150"
• Move MacroDisk to RAM: If you have a memory expansion card (from Apple, Applied Engineering, etc.) the Main Menu will contain the additional option of moving MacroDisk to RAM. MacroDisk in Ram is identical to MacroDisk on disk, except of course for the phenomenal increase in speed when executing MacroDisk commands and programs. Another Main Menu program will appear when the RAM disk is booted.
Unidisk 3.5 and hard disk owners will note that the volume name of MacroDisk in RAM is different than the volume name of MacroDisk on disk. This prevents accidentally crossing over to the wrong MacroDisk volume when running a MacroDisk program.
5 1/4" drive users who have a memory expansion card will have the same volume name for MacroDisk in RAM as MacroDisk on disk, but this works out fine because once a 5 1/4" drive user has copied MacroDisk to Ram, MacroDisk on disk is no longer necessary or even useful. For this reason the disk-based Main Menu program for the 5 1/4" drive memory expansion card user has only a few options to save space. Because it is assumed that the user will prefer using the speed of the RAM card, the full Main Menu program is not available until using MacroDisk in RAM. 5 1/4" drive users – note that the /Macro.Ram volume should be booted first to load MacroDisk to the RAM card.
To select which MacroDisk files are loaded to the RAM disk, edit the text file called Loader. This file uses a single line of text for each file loaded to the RAM disk. To subtract a file from the loading process, edit the Loader file with Apple Writer. Delete the line that contains the name of the file. Delete those files that you rarely use and the loading to RAM process will be speeded up accordingly. 5 1/4" drive users will also note that instead of one Loader file there are two files with 'Loader' as a suffix on both 5 1/4" disks.
• Quit: This option erases the Main Menu program from memory and clears the screen, returning to ProDOS Basic with the Copy command installed.
• Add Program: If you have a memory expansion card or a Unidisk 3.5 or a hard disk, yet another Main Menu option is available: a fully automatic program selector that runs up to ten different programs. The first program, listed as 'A. Apple Writer', runs the MacroDisk enhanced version of Apple Writer. The other nine programs can be entered at any time by using the Add Program option.
The Add Program option copys the program to the MacroDisk volume and then adds its name to the Main Menu.
Note that even though this option is available on both the RAM and the UniDisk 3.5/hard disk versions of the Main Menu program, only programs added to the disk Main Menu will remain on the menu after you turn your computer off! The RAM version will lose its program listings whenever your Apple is turned off.
Add Program will prompt you for some information about the program you want to add to the menu. It will want to know whether or not the program is a single file or a group of files, and it will also want to know whether or not the program is located on the MacroDisk volume or on another volume.
Next you will be asked to enter a 'Name for the Program Menu'. This name can be any name that you can think of since this entry is for display purposes only – it cannot affect the running of the program. Don't be too imaginative, however, or you'll forget which program is which. The name cannot be longer than 23 characters.
Notice the message at the bottom left of the screen when you are requested for a menu name: 'Press Return to Cancel'. If you press return at this point, any file(s) you have added will still be there; however the Menu information for those files is erased. If you make a mistake this is a good way to clear the error so you can start over.
Next Add Program will ask for the name of the system file, or the basic program, which will run the program. For Apple Writer, the system file is Aw.System, for Appleworks, Aplworks.System, etc. Essentially, this file is the program that you normally run with a '-' after setting the program's prefix. It can be a Basic program, a System program, or a Startup program. If the program you wish to add is not already located on the MacroDisk volume, Add Program will now copy the program to MacroDisk, displaying all filenames as it does so.
• Delete A Program: There are two ways to delete a program from the Main Menu. The first is to delete the program from the MacroDisk volume and then select the program name from the Main Menu. The Main Menu will automatically delete the menu name of any program it can't find. (This will also occur if you entered the wrong name at the 'System File or Basic Program to Run' prompt even though the program is still on the disk. To correct, select Add Program, answer 'Yes' to the question of whether or not the program is already located on the MacroDisk volume, and enter the correct program information.)
The second way to delete a program is to select Option 3 from the Delete Files option. This routine deletes all program files as well as the menu listing. Option 3 is the fastest way to delete a program that is listed on the Program Menu. This option is particularly useful for quickly creating extra space on a RAM card.
If you want to keep the program on the disk but want to delete the name from the menu, change the name of the program temporarily using the 'Rename a File or Volume' option. Then select the program from the Main Menu, which will erase the program's menu name since it won't be able to find it.
COPY
Copy adds the copy command to ProDOS. Written by Robert Delaney of Manchester, Missouri and contributed to the public domain, Copy can be used in your own programs. Type '-Copy', or have your program run Copy only once. Copy can be used in either the immediate or deferred mode of ProDOS Basic:
COPY Original File Pathname, New File Pathname
APPENDICES
| Appendix.A on the /Md.Create disk: | The Resident Master Program |
| Appendix.B on the /Md.Files disk: | Glossaries |
| MacroRam |
| Startups |
| Apple Writer Hints, Tips & Anomalies |
