Hi!

The data editing application menu looks much similar to the menu system described by Craig.
the processing application menu have also a submenu 'Wizards'. One wizard is one business process with either process-centric form with pageframe, wizard or a set of the forms called one by one.

Reporting application have no menu. Instead, we have a single menu (reports menu and reports catalog/reports administration items in it) or a submenu in a main application. Or just a reports catalog called, administration called from it by a button. Report catalog represents a list of reports that user can run. Reporting application also could be run separately, it it pure VFP Top-level form that can work as a separate application.

Manegement application, that requires a lot of functional items and subitems, uses only standard menu. All other functionality is in the Tree View control that is visible constantly and used by much similar way as a menu or toolbar.

Finally, monitoring/administration applications: we limit the menu items for it to whatever is required for particular functionality in it, without such items as 'Help'. Such applications are used by little number of personnel, so it is not e problem to teach them to use it, so time could be saved on the development of comfortable features in such applications.

The data monitoring applications require very careful planning and designing of the functionality and interface. Data functionality and interface are very related in such applications, so the monitoring form usually have a toolbar for it with a buttons to control the data refreshing, some processes running etc. It could be a toolbar on the form or a pure VFP toolbar control. No additional menu items for such form, just running of it.


>>Hi!
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>>I always thought this is usually defined by Use-Cases and the type of the application use (data entering, processes controlling, reporting, management, real-time monitoring). The menu items you mentioned are best fit into the real-time monitoring application. What is really the type of application you build? Resume/suspend also last time associated for me with a toolbar button (pressed - suspend mode, up - running).
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> We have a top level application called JobControl, which controls and invokes all other independant applications. Each operation, which is done in house, is considered as a job consisting of several steps. For instance, the simplest kind of operations, which is under Getting Data Out menu item (with lost subitems) consists of 3 steps: Query the data into raw format, formatting it, then prepare a report. The last step, which is quite separate now, is to distribute this report to the customer. Therefore there are 4 applications involved in this job (actually, 5, but not go deep in specific): Query, XForm, Report + Distribution Module. Getting data in type of job consists of much more steps.
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> Inner applications don't have their own menu, so we have the main menu by JobControl.
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>>Just look to the Windows applications for samples.
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>>I can also describe the menu for some types of applications we have built here. Are you interested?
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> Yes.
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> Thanks a lot in advance.