| The
Q-Menu system can be used as an alternative to commands. It enables
you to perform many of the Main Program functions by making selections
from menus rather than typing commands. It does not apply to model
building, but only to the analysis phase. With the menus you can
select and read a Geometry File, set light ship weight, add other
weights, load tanks (if applicable), etc. Then you can create a
report showing the hydrostatic properties and stability information
for the vessel in that condition.
The entire menu system itself consists of Main Program commands
and text files. That is, the menus and the actions which they perform
are all done with commands. In fact, the Q-Menu files are nothing
more than Run Files and text files containing documentation. Therefore,
a user who is thoroughly familiar with the commands can modify and
extend the menu system.
The menu system as distributed does not provide access to all of
the features available through the commands. If it did so, it would
certainly be unduly complex. However, as noted above, it is possible
to extend it and thereby to include almost any feature which you
might want.
It is also quite easy to switch back and forth between the menu
and direct commands.
Installation
These simple steps will install the Q-Menu system:
1) Copy all files in the Q-MENU distribution to the directory which
contains your GHS.KEY file. This is normally your GHS or BHS program
directory. The Q-MENU files are normally distributed on one of the
GHS or BHS distribution diskettes, in which case they will be copied
to the GHS or BHS directory along with the other during installation.
2) Rename the file QMENU.LIB to MENU.LIB.
3) If there is a file with the extension ".LIB" and the
name of the main program; e.g. GHS.LIB, either delete it or make
sure that it does not redefine the F function key. If such a file
is present in the program directory it will be run when the main
program starts.
Starting up the Menu System
1) Make the directory (folder) which contains the Geometry File
you wish to use the current directory. This can be done before running
the main program by opening that directory. Or it can wait until
after you have started the main program (see step 3).
2) Run your main program (GHS, BHS or BHSY).
3) If you have not already done so in step 1, change to the directory
which contains your Geometry File using the CHDIR command. You can
find out the name of the current directory by using the PROJECT
* command. This sets the project name to the name of the current
directory.
4) Unless it has been changed through the action of an initialization
Run File such as GHS.LIB, the F9 key will start up the menu system.
Using the Salvage Extensions
With GHS, the Q-Menu system has a variation which is more useful
for salvage work. To enable the salvage menu:
1) Edit the file QVERSION.LIB. Place a comment mark (`) before the
line which runs QMAIN-G and remove the comment mark before the line
which runs QMAIN-S.LIB.
Modifications
Modifications and extensions can be made to the Q-Menu system
without changing the files as distributed. This ensures that future
updates from the vendor will not overwrite the files you have changed.
You can put your extensions and modifications in new files and attach
them by adding lines to the QVERSION.LIB file similar to the one
which calls QUSER.LIB.
See QUSER.LIB for examples of how to add stability criteria and
extend the menu system. |
