US Tray Menu 2
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US Tray Menu 2 : Introduction | Implementation | Language support | cmd problem | Defensive | Binaries
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| UniServer 5-Nano US Tray Menu 2. UniServer 6-Carbo |
Introduction
The previous tutorial concluded with a new UniTray. Other than UTF-8 support, it offered no new features. It mimics the original menu, so menu items are static and the control files are command line based. When running the menu on a dark background, a noticeable ghosting effect is produced.
This tutorial covers adding new features and making our menu more user-friendly. It also addresses that undesirable ghosting effect.
Due to a lack of interest for a plugin, there is an interesting final twist!
User feedback
To start and stop either of the individual servers or both, currently our menu uses individual buttons. This applies to running as a standard program or as a service. Other than looking pretty, the icon to the left of each button provides no additional information.
There is no real reason why an icon should not indicate current server status (e.g., green running and red not running). Also, why use two buttons when a single toggle button will do? Unlike with a third party menu program, we have no constraints. This allows us to change anything we like.
Configuration file
The text displayed on each server button (menu item) toggles between start and stop, hence we need to supply these two pieces of text. Since they are user translatable (different language) they cannot be hard coded, so they are part of the configuration file. In addition our script needs to known what functionality a button is performing. Assigning a command to each button and letting the script decide its current state (in real time) accommodates the above.
Similarly there are menu items (buttons) that become active only when the servers are running. Assigning commands to these buttons allows for alternative text to be displayed. These again are defined in the configuration file.
Status Icon
The left icon of each button toggles showing the current server status (red stopped, green running). This can be difficult to achieve, however a feature inherent in our menu makes this very easy. Clicking any button automatically minimises our menu. On restoring, the whole menu is redrawn using data from the master array. This is used to great effect; before redrawing, we update master array with current server status (real time) and appropriate button text.
This technique can be applied to any menu item.
Commands
Our current architecture caters for the above additional commands. A menu item has the following format:
item[] = "Start UniServer (Apache MySQL Program)" ; display menu item action[] = "runh" ; run, runh , sub, separator file[] = "php.exe" ; file name or sub-name parameter[] = "-n ../main/start_servers.php 7" ; parameters to pass icon[] = "7" ; icon id number
Each menu item consists of five lines. Depending on the action (command) selected, a line can have alternative functionality. Expanding this concept is key to adding our new features.
Actions run and runh are executed as is, however sub and separator are intercepted and manipulated according to their functionality. Applying the latter to our new features gives the following generic command:
item[] = "Optional text" ; display menu item (Text 1 or Text2 action[] = "xxxx" ; run, runh , sub, separator (xxxx new command) file[] = "Text 1" ; Item inactive text parameter[] = "Text 2" ; Item active text icon[] = "Optional Id" ; Optional icon id number
Converting the above gives:
item[] = "" ; Empty string action[] = "cmd_servers_pall" ; run, runh , sub, separator (xxxx new command) file[] = "Start UniServer (Apache MySQL Program)" ; Item inactive text parameter[] = "Stop UniServer (Apache MySQLProgram)" ; Item active text icon[] = "" ; Empty string
Note: A side effect is that some array names no longer perform what’s implied. To avoid confusion these should be changed.
Using generic names removes any implied functionality.
men1[] = "Long text" ; display menu item (Text 1 or Text2) men2[] = "xxxx" ; run, runh, sub, separator (xxxx new command) men3[] = "Text 1" ; Item inactive text men4[] = "Text 2" ; Item active text men5[] = "Optional Id" ; Optional icon id number
Another advantage is that we can apply new functionality as we wish so long as it’s explained to an end user in the final release.
Note: men1[] is a special case. It is set to whichever text (Text1 or Text2) is the longest. This text is used for calculating the width of main or sub-menu. Duplication applies only to commands xxxx.
Define commands
To serve as a reference here, it's worth defining commands we intend to use.
| cmd_servers_pall | – Run both servers as a program |
| cmd_server_papache | – Run Apache server as a program |
| cmd_server_pmysql | – Run MySQL server as a program |
| cmd_servers_sall | – Run both servers as a service |
| cmd_server_sapache | – Run Apache server as a service |
| cmd_server_smysql | – Run MySQL server as a service |
| cmd_apanel | – Run Apanel |
| cmd_phpmyadmin | – Run PHP MySQL Admin |
| cmd_www_root | – Display root www in default browser |
| cmd_ssl_root | – Display root ssl in default browser |
| cmd_server_information | - Display Apache server info in default browser |
| cmd_server_status | - Display Apache server ststus in default browser |
| cmd_php_info | - Display PHP information in default browser |
Note: The above list reflects current menu options. This may change depending on final requirements.
Summary
This introduces the concept of dynamic menu items and hints at how these can be implemented. The menu structure now includes additional predefined commands and a generic naming convention.
Next page takes one of these commands and details how to integrate it into our tray menu.