*&* AUTOVER-enhanced GENMENU 5.0
*&* Lisa Slater Nicholls

The GENMENUL.ZIP file contains:

* -- this text file

* -- GENMENUL.PRG, my hacked copy of the (fixed) GENMENU.PRG

* -- AUTO_VER.MNX, a sample menu to show you both ways you can 
create an auto-incremented version:

    1) put a number in the prompt of the single menu option, and 
    let GENMENUL increment it 

    2) use code in the Comment memo field of this menu option, which 
    will be executed during the build, and which can do anything 
    else you want.
       
In this sample menu, since code exists in the Comment field and since 
this code has a special way it increments the prompt, you'll note that 
the code tells GENMENUL *not* to re-increment the number in the prompt, 
since otherwise you'd get a number that incremented by 2 each build. 
Code in the comment field uses the _UpdateVersion variable to 
accomplish this. 

What's the advantage of the code instead of the standard incrementing 
procedure? You'll see immediately, if you use the example code and place 
a decimal string of some sort in the prompt (try 1.a, or 1.1.1, or whatever). 

How do you use the results of AUTOVER?  Again, there are two ways. 

1) As you'll see after a build, the resulting .MPR from an AUTOVER menu 
isn't really a menu definition file at all.  The sample one will look
 something like this:

   LPARAMETERS tcVersionString
   tcVersionString = "Build 5.4 [1/26/97]"
   
This code results from the sample menu option's Procedure entry, which 
looks like this:
   
   LPARAMETERS tcVersionString
   tcVersionString = "Build 5.<<prompt>> [<<DATE()>>]"
   
If you wanted to use this result in your program, you might use a line 
like this:
   
   PRIVATE my_var
   DO AUTO_VER.MPR WITH my_var
   MyObject.BuildString = my_var && or whatever
   
2) As you'll see in the Comment code, you can also store the results of 
auto-incrementing to an outside location during the Project build (I'm 
storing it to an MC Framework definition application LOCALS table if one 
is available).  This means I can assign the buildstring to my MC Framework 
object at the same time as this object receives all its other attributes 
from this table, at run time. I don't DO AUTO_VER.MPR at all.  I just 
have to make sure that this menu file is Included in my project for the 
scheme to work.

A couple of additional features to note:

* -- the menu does not have to be called anything special.  If it 
*is* called AUTO_VER and you use GENMENUL, GENMENUL recognizes it as an 
AUTOVER-type menu without further effort, but you can also use a generator 
directive, *:AUTOVERSION, which I've put in the sample menu's Setup code for 
your convenience.

* -- whether you call it AUTO_VER or not, keep in mind that you'll want to have 
a separate auto-incrementing menu for each application in development, or 
your version numbers will not be kept straight!

* -- the code you put in the Comment version may have nothing to do with 
auto-incrementing.  I have successfully used this technique to pull a lot 
of build-time tricks on the Project Manager <g>.

* -- if you use an AUTOVER-type menu with the wrong _GENMENU during some build, 
don't worry, even if you've placed a DO AUTO_VER.MPR line in your code to 
make sure that this menu is Included in your project.  If you use the sample 
line you'll find in the sample menu's Cleanup code, the "real" MPR you'll get 
from GENMENU.PRG will define a limited menu but it will RELEASE harmlessly 
afterwards:

   RELEASE PAD auto_ver OF _MSYSMENU
   
Happy Fox Trails!   

>L< 

January 1997