Progress
Language Tutorial
for Character
Menus and Menu Options
Most of the tools in the Progress toolset have a menu bar. The menu bar appears at the top of the tool display and provides access to most of the functionality in the tool. Table 2–2 provides a short description of the functionality available on each menu in the Procedure Editor.
The exercises in this chapter show you how to use many of the options on these menus. For a complete description of the Procedure Editor menu bar, see the Progress Basic Development Tools manual.
Navigating the Menu Bar and Choosing Menus Options
To choose a menu or menu option, the menu bar must be active. For example, when Progress is running in a character client mode on either a UNIX or Windows platform, you can use the ENTER-MENUBAR (F3) key to toggle in and out of the menu bar. That is, you can activate the menu bar and direct all keyboard input to it when you initially use the ENTER-MENUBAR (F3) key. Then, when your are done entering your data, you can deactivate the menu bar using the same ENTER-MENUBAR (F3) key.
When Progress is running in a character client mode on Windows, you can also use the mouse to activate the menu bar. Move the mouse pointer (the arrowhead cursor that displays) across the menu bar and click on the menu bar to display the associated pull-down menu options.
Figure 2–3 displays the File pull-down menu of the Procedure Editor.
Figure 2–3: File Pull-down Menu
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You can execute menu options using your cursor keys. For example, to exit the Procedure Editor, you can choose the Exit menu command from the File menu. The following information explains how to choose the Exit option with the cursor keys:
- Press ENTER-MENUBAR (F3) to activate the menu bar. (Keep in mind that if you are running Progress in a character client mode on Windows NT, you can also use the mouse pointer to activate the menu bar.)
- Use the ¨ and
keys to navigate through the menus on the menu bar and highlight the File menu.
- Press the Ø key to pull down the menu.
- Use the Ø and ¦ to navigate through the menu options on the File menu and highlight the Exit menu option. Then press RETURN or ENTER to choose the highlighted menu option.
Another way to execute a menu option is to use mnemonics. A mnemonic is a character associated with a menu or menu option. If the menu bar is active, you can type a mnemonic to display a menu or to execute a menu option. All menus and menu options in the Progress toolset have a mnemonic. The mnemonic is the underlined character from the label of the menu option and must be unique within a menu or the menu bar. For example, the mnemonic for the Help menu is the character “H”.
Here is how to choose the Exit option from the File menu using mnemonics:
The cursor keys are the best ways to explore menus in a tool and find out about available menu options. Once you become familiar with a tool, mnemonics offer a quicker way to get things done.
Progress Menu Conventions
All menu bars, menus, and menu options in the Progress toolset share several important characteristics:
- The menu option that exits a tool is always the last menu option on the first menu.
- A Help menu is available on all menu bars in the Progress toolset and is always the last menu on the menu bar.
- Some menu options have symbols that provide information about how they work. Menu options that do not use symbols are commands and simply execute the function that they represent.
Table 2–3 introduces Progress menu symbols.
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