CIGAL has 4 different types of menus: pull-down, function, screen, and tablet
menus. Pulldown menus appear as names on a bar across the top of the screen (the toolbar).
Activate a menu by selecting one of the names on the bar. A function menu defines the commands
assigned to the function keys on the keyboard (F1-F10), the Escape key (ESC), and the buttons on
the mouse or tablet cursors. Screen menus are fixed on the screen and can appear in any format.
Within the screen menu display, certain regions are designated as cursor selectable "active zones".
Selecting an active zone causes the associated command sequence to be executed. Tablet menus function
just like screen menus except that nothing is displayed on the screen. A tablet menu is intended to be
used with a template placed on the surface of a digitizing tablet, where the template indicates the position
of the "active zones". Thus any position on the tablet can be assigned any combination of CIGAL command
sequences.
Pulldown and Screen Menus
Using the pulldown menus and screen menus should be self-explanatory. The display presents a list of choices
and you simply move the cursor to the one you want and press a button. You can move around the displayed menus
either by using the mouse or the arrow keys on the keyboard. You choose a particular command by moving the
cursor down with the mouse, or by pressing the down or up arrows on the keyboard. For the pulldown menus you
execute a command by moving the cursor until the desired entry is highlighted and then left-clicking to execute.
For the screen menus you execute an entry by moving the cursor and then clicking on the desired entry. If a screen
menu entry is highlighted by a dark border it can be executed simply by pressing the
Note: Occasionally the menu display disappears completely from the screen.
If this happens, you can get the menus back by typing the one word command:
menu
Usually when a menu is displayed and CIGAL is waiting for input you can enter a command either by selecting a
command from a menu or by typing on the keyboard. As soon as you start typing a command on the keyboard, however,
the menus become unavailable. You cannot issue menu commands while there are any typed characters on the command
line. There are also some menus that temporarily inactivate the keyboard in order to limit your options to only
those provided by the menu itself; the keyboard is reactivated when that menu is closed.
The Function Menu
The function menu is somewhat different from the other menu types in that
you select a function menu command by typing one of the special function keys
on the terminal keyboard. The meaning of the function keys is not normally
displayed on the screen but the F1 key is generally reserved as a help key
for the function menu, so to see a description of the function keys just type
F1. For more information on how to use the function menu see the help
listing under FUNCMENU[1].
Manipulating Menus
All four types of menus are controlled via the MENU command. The MENU command keeps track of all known menus in
an internal table, which is capable of holding up to 319 different menus simultaneously. MENU is used to load
new menus, to select which menus are currently active, and to display the active menu(s) on the screen. Creating a
new menu involves making a text file to specify the menu commands (see MENUFILES[1]) and then using the MENU
command to read that file and load it into the menu table. See MENU[2] for help on how to use the MENU command.
After using the menus for awhile and developing a feel for how they work, you might want to examine the menus
themselves to see what is actually going on when you select a menu item. You will also then discover just how easy
it is to create new menus appropriate for your particular applications.