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	Submission Name: simple_menu
	Environment: Unix
	Number of shar parts: 3

                              -----------
                              Description
                              -----------

I wrote this program to make it easier to create, maintain, modify,
and extend menus of common operating system tasks for our users.
Typically, our users need to run fairly complex pipelines and/or shell
scripts.  Command line execution is not an option, especially for
clerical personnel [even more so for executive personnel].  This is
especially true for infrequently executed tasks.  Writing menus in
shell script did not prove satisfactory because:
  -  writing the prompt-request-response-execute/Error loop for the
     zillionth time is a drag
  -  modifying a shell script menu often breaks the code
  -  The shell menus become excessively large, so that I found I had
     to actually read and understand the old code in order to make
     modifications. 

  This programs addresses those problems by:
  -  implementing the prompt-request-response-execute loop in a pretty
     clean way.
  -  embeds the shell script which does the work in a higher level
     language.
     -  This keeps the individual shell scripts small.
     -  It isolates individual tasks from each other and makes them
        easier to find.
     -  each shell script executes in its own isolated environment, so
        that modifying one script does not break another [unless you
        really want to, of course.  but you have to work at it a bit]
     -  The menus still work even if you break a script
   -  supports modifying and setting shell variables in controlled
      ways.  Each settable variable has a user displayed prompt
      associated with it and may have a default value, so that *users*
      never have to deal with the shell or options in any cryptic way
   -  supports sub-menus
   -  supports a minimal set of menu cosmetics

The use of a menu language is unavoidable.  I've tried to keep it
minmal so that it is easly learn, re-learn, and relatively non-cryptic.

This program is known to compile and run on SCO Xenix 2.3.x and on Sun
SPARC's SUNOS 4.1.1.  It is known to have some problems on an alliant,
but I don't know what they are.  


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