CD-Menu Creator 2022 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2022, and some of the new features in the new version are:

• Supports the new Windows 11.
• All binary files has been code signed with a digital certificate from Sectigo.
• Alpha channel transparency for pictures (for example the logotype) is now supported.
• The glas effects for “glas buttons” are now much faster.
• Some social media icons have been modernized.
• Improved error handling.
• In the editor you can now customize the visual look of the editor more than before.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page.

You can now set an absolute position for a title

You can now in CD-Menu Creator set an absolute position for a title, subtitle and button group title. In the latest update of CD-Menu Creator we have added this functionality.

Normally the X and Y position of a title, subtitle and button group titles are set automatically by CD-Menu Creator. But now you can set the coordinates for these objects manually. This is useful if you really want to have total control of these objects’ positions in a menu window.

How to set coordinates
To set coordinates for a title, subtitle and button group titles, you can add a prefix before the actual title text. The syntax is the following:

[X,Y] My Title

Where X specifies the X position of the title and Y specifies the Y position of the title (in pixels). Below is an example where X and Y has been replaced with numerical values:

[10,50] My Title

In the example the X position is set to 10 pixels and the Y position is set to 50 pixels.

When you add coordinates to a title, the coordinates must be set between brackets, “[” and “]”, and the X coordinate and the Y coordinate must be separated with a comma (“,”). Like this:

[20,80]

The actual title must then be placed after the ending bracket. For example:

[20,80] My menu title

See also the picture below for an example. The main title coordinates have been set to [50,60] and the sub title coordinates have been set to [160,120]:

Also button’s positions can be set in this way
There is already functionality in CD-Menu Creator to set absolute positions for buttons (via the Button Options dialog box) but this new method can also be used for buttons, if you prefer it and want to be consistent with how to set coordinates for objects.

CD-Menu Creator 2020 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2020, and some of the new features in the new version are:

• Supports the latest version of Windows 10.
• You can now specify a position for the sub title text.
• You can change font size for the button’s tip text.
• Supports https in web links.
• New menu interface examples have been included.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page.

CD-Menu Creator: Creation date of a menu is automatically saved

A date field has been added to the Version tab in CD-Menu Creator’s editor. This new field will be automatically updated with the date of the last creation of the menu. Every time you create a menu, this field will be automatically updated with current date.

The picture below shows an example of how it may look (in the Version tab):

Last Created

You can now see in an easy way when you last created or updated a menu interface.

You can now change font for Visual Installer’s and CD-Menu Creator’s editor

Using one and the same font in a software with all versions of Windows, graphic cards, displays and DPI settings, and expecting the result always to be perfect, is nearly an impossible mission. And then you must also take into account that people also prefer different fonts.

To handle this situation in the best way in our software we have updated Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator to allow you to choose your own font for the editor. We have included some fonts that you can choose among, and we will increase the list with fonts with time.

Too large font size?
The new font handling in Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator will also solve the problem with “too large font size” that sometimes happens when a system font with a requested size is not available in the system and the substitute font (chosen by Windows) is somewhat larger and the text will therefore not fit in the space that is reserved for the text. This is a rare condition, but will happen in special circumstances *.

In the latest version of Visual Installer and CD-Menu Creator this problem does not exists anymore because both editors will automatically search for a font that has the same size as the font that has a problem. So the editors will automatically switch font if this problem occur. But you can, of course, choose another font manually if you prefer to do this.

How to change font for the editor manually
In Visual Installer you can change font by choosing the Editor options menu item in the Special menu. In CD-Menu Creator you can change font by choosing the Options menu item in the File menu. In both cases there will be a new Font tab available in the dialog box that is shown. Via this new tab you can change the font for the editor.


*) This problem may occur if the connected display is over a certain resolution when Windows is first installed in the computer. Windows will then set the DPI to 120 instead of the usual 96, and the “MS Sans Serif” font that Visual Installer’s and CD-Menu Creator’s editor uses as default may be affected by this. The font may not be available in smaller sizes. If this problem happens, it does not help that you afterwards change the DPI from 120 to 96. The font size is still not available. More information about this problem is available in this blog post on Microsoft’s blog.

CD-Menu Creator 2018 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2018, and some of the new features in the new version are:

• Supports the latest version of Windows 10.
• You can now change font for CD-Menu Creator’s editor.
• Creation date of a menu is automatically saved in the Version tab of the editor.
• All redistributable binary files are now code signed with an EV digital certificate.
• Improved error handling.
• New menu interface examples have been included.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page.

CD-Menu Creator: Using wildcard characters in a file path

Normally you create a link between a menu button and a specific file on the disc or USB stick by specifying a file path to the file. For example: ‘Files\Button1\MyDoc.doc‘. When a user clicks on the button, the file (in this case ‘Files\Button1\MyDoc.doc‘) will be opened.

The 'Add Button'dialog box (example 1)

If the filename must be changed, for any reason, the whole menu must be created again when this technique is used. Otherwise the file will not be found when the user clicks on the button.

asteriskBut starting with version 8.5.3 of CD-Menu Creator, an alternative method can be used. Instead of specifying a file path to one specific file, for example ‘Files\Button1\MyDoc.doc‘, you can use a wildcard character (an asterisk: *) and specify a file path to the first occurrence of a file in a folder with a specified filename extension, for example ‘Files\Button1\*.doc‘. In this case the first file in the ‘Files\Button1‘ folder that has a ‘.doc‘ filename extension in its filename will be opened.

The 'Add Button'dialog box (example 2)

This technique allows you to change the filename of the file in the folder without re-creating the whole menu. The filename extension must be the same, but the rest of the filename can be changed freely on the CD/DVD/USB stick.

Works with documents and programs
This technique with a wildcard character can be used with the following three button commands:

Run Program
Run Program & Close
Show Document

Filename examples
Below are some examples of how filenames can be built when using this technique:

MyDoc1.doc
MyDoc2.doc
LatestNews-20170528.doc
LatestNews-20170529.doc
Journal-John-Smith.doc
Journal-Sam-Johnson.doc

File path examples
Below are some examples of how the file path can be built:

Files\Button1\*.doc
Files\Button2\*.xls
Files\Button3\*.exe

Files\Button4\journal*.doc
Files\Button5\app*.exe

An asterisk (*) is the only supported wildcard character. The asterisk must always be to the left of the dot that starts the filename extension.

Tip
When you create your menu for the first time, it can be a good idea to first select a source file and specify a complete file path to this file (do not use wildcards yet). After you have created your menu and everything works as expected with the selected file, you can change the file path to a file path that contains a wildcard character. Then you create your menu again. Henceforth you can change the filename of the file freely directly in the folder on disc or USB stick. You don’t need to create the menu again.

CD-Menu Creator 2017 has now been released

A new version of our menu designer tool CD-Menu Creator has now been released. The name of the new version is SamLogic CD-Menu Creator 2017 and some of the new features in the new version are:

• The support for Windows 10 has been improved.
• All binary files in CD-Menu Creator are now SHA-2 code signed. Read more.
• You can now create button groups with titles. Read more.
• We have added more symbolic icons for the menu window.
• New menu interface examples have been included.

A more detailed list with the new features is available on this page.

CD-Menu Creator: You can now create button groups with titles

We have added a new function to CD-Menu Creator 2017 that allows you to place buttons in groups and add a title to each group. If you have many buttons in a menu this will help your user find the correct button faster. Below are two menu examples that show how it may look like:

Example 1: One column with buttons + two groups with buttons + Exit button
Menu example 1

Example 2: Two columns with buttons + four groups with buttons
Menu example 2

It is easy to create button groups and add titles to the groups. In this new tip on our website we will show you how to create button groups with titles.