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********************************* * Getting Started with T-SCREEN * ********************************* As it is a well known fact that nobody reads the manual anyway, this sheet has been added to give you the bare essentials to get you started. 1. DON'T use your master disk! Following the instructions in your DOS manual, DISKCOPY the master disk. While you're at it FORMAT a blank disk using the /S parameter as described in your DOS manual. 2. Copy MODE.COM and BASICA.COM (Needed only if you'll be converting T-SCREENS to a BASIC compatible format.) from your DOS system disk to the newly formatted system disk created in step 1. 3. With your master COPY in drive A: enter one of the following commands depending on whether you want a Color or Mono working version. Note that the Mono version is for systems with the IBM monochrome adapter card or equivalent. DEL A:*.TSC {For a Mono version delete the color screens.} DEL A:*.TSM {For a Color version delete the mono screens.} Next enter... COPY A:*.* B: If you have two disk drives insert the formated blank disk from step 1 in drive B. Otherwise swap disks as prompted on the screen. 4. Using the newly created working disk, enter one of the following commands depending on whether you created a Color or Mono version. COPY TMENU.MNO TMENU.CTL {For a Mono version.} COPY TMENU.CLR TMENU.CTL {For a Color version.} That's all there is to it. If you have a hard disk you may create a sub-directory as described in your DOS manual and copy all of the files from your master COPY into that sub-directory and then delete the screen files that aren't needed for the version you are using. OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO 1. Try out the demo loan amortization program. Using the working disk created above, type... loan <ENTER> 2. To get a listing of the source code type... type loan.pas >prn <ENTER> Be sure your printer is ready to go! T-SCREEN has lots and lots of help screens. Also if you are in doubt as to what the alternatives are at any point in the program, the bottom three lines of the screen will let you know what commands and functions are available. HAPPY SCREEN MAKING... ********************* * T-SCREEN INDEX * ********************* MAJOR FUNCTIONS ( an overview ) Page 1 ENTER/EDIT SCREENS Page 2-5 Terminology Page 2 Line Set ForeGnd/BackGnd Alt Num/Caps Enter/Edit Functions Page 3-5 ESC Exit/Cancel F10 Help F1 Draw F2 Alternate Characters F3 Save a T-SCREEN F4 Load a T-SCREEN F5 Frame an area F6 Paint an area F7 Move/Copy an area F8 Set Foreground attributes F9 Set Background Attributes DEFINE INPUT FIELDS Page 6-8 Field Definition Page 6-7 Display Attributes Mark Start Fill Character Mark End Type Message Re-display Attributes Reset Definitions Page 8 Print Definitions Page 8 CONVERT TO BLOAD Page 9 USING T-SCREENS WITH BASIC Page 9-10 T-SCREEN SYSTEM UTILITIES Page 11 Copy Screen Rename Screen Delete Screen How to Copy Diskettes How to Print Screens ********************* * T-SCREEN OVERVIEW * ********************* T-SCREEN is a tool. Like any good tool it has been precision crafted to give you benefits that far exceed its' cost when it is put to use. Also, like a good tool it has been designed to be easy to use, even for the apprentice. To this end 'help', in the form of information screens, is available for every function. Help is summoned by pressing the F10 key. In less than two seconds it will appear. When you are ready to go back to work a keystroke returns you instantly. MAJOR FUNCTIONS F1 The primary function of T-SCREEN is the design of useful data input and information screens to be used by your Turbo Pascal or BASIC programs. Selecting the Enter / Edit function ( F1 ) will give you complete access to the power and flexibility of your computer as you design these screens. F2 If the screens you are designing are to be used for data input, the Define Input Fields function ( F2 ) allows you to easily and quickly define the location, length, type, attributes, and message pointer for up to 70 input fields. This data is stored with the screen for easy access by your programs. F3 The Convert to BLOAD format function ( F3 ) converts T-SCREENs to a format that can be used by BASIC. See 'Using T-SCREENs with BASIC' for information on how to incorporate T-SCREENs into your BASIC programs. F4 Use the System Utilities function ( F4 ) when you want to see what screens are on the current drive. In addition, sub-functions permit you to copy, delete and rename screens. F5 This selection is not really a function. It is an index to the on line documentation. The screen names are listed for each of the help and information screens with a brief description of the content. Since any of these screens may be edited using T-SCREEN you may modify and/or add to the on line help. HOW TO ORDER This is the same program reviewed in the November issue of Computer Language magazine. It was listed at $29.95 for either the color or monochrome version (object code). I have decided to make it available on a user supported, "shareware" basis. For both the monochrome and color versions, including source code, (4 disks) send your check or money order for $20.00 to: precision logic systems 2012 Lake Air Drive Waco TX, 76710 or call: (817) 753-2182 with your Visa or Master Card number. Page 1 ************************* * T-SCREEN Enter / Edit * ************************* The Enter / Edit function permits the creation of new T-SCREENs and the modification of existing T-SCREENs. When using this function a number of sub-functions are available as described below. When you select the Enter / Edit function the screen is cleared to the current background color, and the cursor is positioned in the upper left corner of the screen. The bottom three lines of the screen provide information as to the the valid sub-functions available and the current status of the following items. Line Set: The term 'Line Set' refers to one of four complete sets of line drawing characters. The current line set may be accessed two ways. In the TEXT mode, which is the default mode when you select the Enter / Edit function the line set characters are displayed by holding down the Ctrl key while pressing one of the function keys. We will use the notation cF1 - cF10 to indicate that the Ctrl key is to be held down while the desired function key is pressed. In the DRAW mode ( see F1 below ) the current line set is used for drawing, using the cursor control keys. You may also change the selected line set while in the DRAW mode. ForeGnd: This refers the the foreground attribute and/or color that will be used for any character displayed. The foreground may be changed using sub-function F8. BackGnd: This refers the the background attribute and/or color that will be used for any character displayed. The background may be changed using sub-function F9. Alt: There are a number of special characters that your computer is capable of displaying that are not usually easy to access using the keyboard. T-SCREEN gives you easy access to all of these characters. They are displayed by Holding down the Alt key or the Ctrl key while pressing another key. To see what character is produced by which 'other' key do the following. 1. Select the Enter / Edit function from the Main Menu. 2. Press F2 to enable the alternate character set. 3. Press F10 for a special character help screen. Note that some keys display a different character depending on whether the Alt status is ON or OFF. The Alt status is switched ON and off using the F2 key as described below. Num/Caps: One complaint about the IBM-PC keyboard is the fact that you cannot determine the status of the Num Lock or Caps Lock key without pressing a key and seeing the result. The Num and Cap status indicators solve this problem when you are using T-SCREEN. The indicator will be high-lighted when the associated status is active. Page 2 ************************* * T-SCREEN Enter / Edit * ************************* Two functions that are available just about all the time you are using T-SCREEN are ESC (Exit or Cancel) and F10 (Help). Before describing the functions that are unique to Enter / Edit these two general functions will be briefly described. ESC Exit: You will find that the ESC key is just the thing when you make a selection and then decide, "Gee, I didn't really want to do this." In most cases ESC cancels a function and returns you to where you were before you selected the function. If you are at the "Main Menu" and press ESC you will be prompted to verify that you want to exit T-SCREEN. Pressing "Y" at that point ends the T-SCREEN session. F10 Help: This function is just the ticket when you are wondering "Now what am I supposed to do?". F10 keeps track of what you are doing, and usually can give you a quick answer to that question. When you press F10 a "Help" screen overlays all or part of the current screen. After you have the information you need pressing any key (except the 'shift' control keys) will instantly re-display the current screen and you may proceed. Now lets look at the other functions and mode selections that are at your disposal when you are using Enter / Edit to create or modify a T-SCREEN. F1 Draw: This is really more of a mode selection than a function. When you are in the DRAW mode you may use the F1 - F4 keys to change the current line set as described earlier. You may use the cursor control keys on the numeric key pad to DRAW using the current line set, hence the distinction between the DRAW and TEXT modes. In addition the rest of the keys may be used to display text as usual. Also the F5 - F9 keys may be used to perform the functions that are described below just as in the TEXT mode. F2 Alt: Again this is not so much a function as a mode selection. Pressing F2 toggles the alternate character sets available when you press certain keys while holding the Alt key. The set currently active is indicated by the Alt status indicator as described on the previous page. When the Alt indicator is high-lighted you may see all of the alternate characters and the key combinations that display them by pressing F10. Page 3 ************************* * T-SCREEN Enter / Edit * ************************* F3 Save: This function permits you to save your creations on disk so they may be used by your application program or retrieved for later modification by T-SCREEN. When you press F3 you will be prompted to enter a screen name. Screen names may be up to 8 characters long and may use any character A - Z or the digits 0 - 9 or the dash (-) character. One exception is that the first character must be A - Z. In addition you may specify a disk drive by entering a valid drive letter (A - P) followed by a colon (:) as a prefix to the name. E.g. B:TEST-SCR specifies a screen named TEST-SCR on drive B. The name of the current active screen will be displayed as a default. If you press <ENTER> that is the name that will be used. If no screens have been accessed the default name is NONE. It would probably be best not to use NONE as a screen name. If a screen already exists with the name you selected, you will be prompted to enter "Y" to verify that you want to update the screen or ESC to cancel the request. F4 Load: Use this function when you want to edit (modify) an existing screen. If the current screen has been modified, (actually if any key has been pressed since it was last saved or loaded) you will be prompted to indicate whether or not you want to save the current screen before loading a different screen. After you have saved the current screen (if desired) you will be prompted to enter a screen name as described above. If the name you select does not exist a message to that effect will be displayed and no screen will be loaded otherwise the selected screen will be displayed. F5 Frame: Frame uses the current line set to draw a frame around any area of the screen that you select. When you press F5 you will be prompted to mark the "first corner" of the area to be framed. This is accomplished by moving the cursor to the desired location and pressing F5. Next you are prompted to mark the "opposite corner". Move the cursor to a position diagonally opposite the corner first marked and press F5 again. The frame will be drawn instantly. If the corners marked are on the same row or are in the same column a straight line is drawn instead of a frame. F6 Paint: The paint function is used to erase an area using the current background color and/or attribute. Optionally you may change the display attributes of the text in any selected area. First mark the area to be painted as described for the frame function above. After the "opposite corner" is marked you will be prompted to press F6 to change the attributes of the text or F7 to erase the area using the current background attribute. Page 4 ************************* * T-SCREEN Enter / Edit * ************************* F7 Copy: The copy function is used to copy or move an area from on place to another on the current screen or from one screen to another. Notice that when you press F7 to select this function you are given the option of copying or moving the area last marked in addition to the option of marking the "first corner". If you have already marked an area, even on a different screen, you may copy or move it to the cursor location on the current screen by pressing F6 or F7 as indicated. To mark an area to be copied/moved follow the procedure described for the frame function above. After the "opposite corner" is marked you will be prompted to mark the "Move To corner". At this point, if you want to move the marked area to a different screen press ESC to cancel the move, load the destination screen using the F4 function as described above and re-select the Copy function by pressing F7. Otherwise move the cursor to the upper left corner of the destination location. In either case you may now press F6 to copy the marked area to the current cursor location or press F7 to move the marked area to the current cursor location and ERASE the marked area ON THE CURRENT SCREEN. If you select the move option, overlaps are handled by erasing that portion of the marked area that is not overlapped. If you are copying from one screen to another you will probably want to use the copy option rather than the move option. F8 ForeGnd: This function permits you to select the foreground attribute for the text to be entered. If you are using the color version of T-SCREEN this includes all of the allowable color selections. All of the valid attributes are displayed and you make your selection by pressing the function key associated with the desired attribute. F9 BackGnd: This function permits you to select the background attribute for the area surrounding each character that is displayed. If you are using the color version of T-SCREEN this includes all of the allowable color selections. All of the valid attributes are displayed and you make your selection by pressing the function key associated with the desired attribute. Page 5 ******************************** * T-SCREEN Define Input Fields * ******************************** If the screen you are designing is to be used as a data entry screen in your application program this function makes it possible for that program to be "screen independent". Screen independent data entry is the concept that your data entry program should not have to be concerned with how the input screen looks, what attributes to use when the data is entered and how to re-display it after it is edited, or even where on the screen the data is entered. T-SCREEN makes this concept a reality by permitting you to include all of this information and more right along with the screen image you have created. In fact the concept can even be extended to the point that, for the most part, you can even specify the edit criteria and a prompt "help" message for each field. This is all accomplished using F2 Define Input Fields. When you select this function you will be prompted to enter a screen name. Enter the name of a screen as described for the F3 Save function on page 4. The screen will be displayed. If fields have been defined previously they will be marked. The steps involved in defining fields is outlined below. 1. Set Input Attributes Set the foreground and background attributes that you want used when data is being entered into the field. This only has to be done once if all of the fields on the screen will use the same input attributes. Use the F8 & F9 functions to do this. 2. Mark Start of Field To mark the beginning of a field press F5. At this point you also have the option of exiting (ESC), reseting all fields (F1), or printing the field definitions on the printer (F7). These options are described at the end of this section. 3. Define Field with "fill character" Enter a number of "fill characters" equal to the maximum allowable field length. A fill character is simply a character that is used to make it easy for the person entering data to see how long the field is. The period and the underline character are popular choices. If you are using the input attributes to define the field, (reverse video for example) you might want to use a space for the fill character. If a field has been previously defined starting at the location marked you may view the current definition by pressing F7. 4. Mark End of Field After the field is defined with fill characters, the cursor will be one position past the end of the field. Press F5 at that point to mark the end of the field. Page 6 ******************************** * T-SCREEN Define Input Fields * ******************************** 5. Enter Type Code Next you are prompted to enter a type code. The type code can be any character that you can enter from the keyboard. You should set up a "convention" or "standard" that you use consistently so that your application program will be able to determine from the type code what standard edits should be applied to that field. Press F10 for help at this point or look below to see a suggested convention that we have found useful. Suggested Type Codes A Alphanumeric D Date N Numeric Only O Output (Display) Only Keep in mind of course that this is merely a suggested convention. Your application program determines what (if any) significance is attached to the type codes. 6. Enter Message Pointer After you enter the Type code you are prompted to enter a "message pointer". This can be any number from 1 - 255. This number may then be used by your application to indicate which of a series of prompt or help messages to use with the field. 7. Enter Re-display Attributes Next you will have an opportunity to change the re-display attributes. This permits you to re-display the edited field using attributes different than those used as the data is input. In this way the input data can be made to stand out from other information on the screen. Once the re-display attributes are set you may press enter at this point to leave them unchanged. At this point the field definition will be displayed in the message area and you are prompted to press any key to continue. When you press a key the cycle is repeated starting at step 2. When all fields have been defined press ESC to return to the main menu. The definitions are automatically saved. Page 7 ******************************** * T-SCREEN Define Input Fields * ******************************** F1 Reset Field Definitions Field definitions are stored in the order that the fields are defined. You will find that it is useful define the fields in the order that the data will be entered. By doing so the input section of your application may be reduced to a simple loop. While it is possible to change the input definition of an existing field you cannot change it's location or it's sequence. When changes of this type are necessary use the Reset Field Definitions function. All of the field definitions will be cleared (after a verification prompt) and you may re-define the fields as needed. F7 Print Field Definitions Prior to marking the start of a field in step 2, you may print a report listing the definitions of each field on the screen. You will find it helpful to have a field definition report as you work on your application, and may want to include it with the application documentation. After a field is defined you will be prompted to prepare the printer. This report may be canceled at any time by pressing ESC. PAGE 8 ***************************** * T-SCREEN Convert to BLOAD * ***************************** This function converts a screen that you have created using T-SCREEN to a disk file that can be loaded into video memory by a BASIC program. The BASIC command that loads such a file is BLOAD so we will refer to it as a BLOAD file. Technically it is a binary file, but we don't need to get technical. When you select F3 Convert to BLOAD format, there will be a short delay while T-SCREEN passes control to a BASIC program that does the conversion. After the BASIC program takes control you will be prompted to enter the name of the screen to be converted. Enter a file name as described for the F3 Save function on page 4. If the file doesn't exist an error message will be displayed and you will be prompted to enter another name. After the screen is converted it is be displayed and you are prompted to press any key to continue. When you press a key you are prompted to enter another screen name for conversion. If you don't want to convert any more screens enter END instead of a screen name. You will then return to the T-SCREEN main menu. ***************************** * Using T-SCREEN with BASIC * ***************************** Once you have converted a T-SCREEN to a BLOAD file it is an easy matter to get it onto the video screen using a BASIC program. The BASIC subroutine to do so follows. Before you call this routine (using GOSUB) set SCRFILE$ to the name of the screen to be loaded plus a file extension of ".BSV". If some of the terminology is unclear refer to your BASIC reference manual under SCREEN (Statement), BLOAD, and DEF SEG. 99 REM ** Set text mode using video page 1 without changing burst mode and clear the screen. 100 SCREEN 0,,1,1: CLS REM: Use SCREEN 0,,0,0 for the monochrome version 105 REM ** Unless you are using a hard disk it takes about two seconds to BLOAD a screen. If you want to display a 'wait message' do so at this point. 109 REM ** Set data segment to start of video memory. 110 DEF SEG &HB800: REM ** Use &HB000 for the monochrome version 116 REM ** The string variable SCRFILE$ should be assigned the name of 117 REM ** the screen to be loaded plus a file extention of ".BSV" 118 REM ** before this subroutine is called. 119 REM ** e.g. SCRFILE$ = "TEST-SCR.BSV" 120 BLOAD SCRFILE$,0: REM ** Load the BLOAD file identified by SCRFILE$ 129 REM ** Restore the data segment to BASICs' default. 130 DEF SEG 139 REM ** Flip to video page 0 which now contains the screen. 140 SCREEN 0,,0,0 150 RETURN As shown the screen will fill the top 22 lines of the video. Lines 23 - 25 will be unaffected. If you prefer to use the top three lines as your command area with the screen below change the ,0 to ,480 following BLOAD SCRFILE$ in line 120 above. E.g. BLOAD SCRFILE$,480 Page 9 ***************************** * Using T-SCREEN with BASIC * ***************************** When input fields are defined using T-SCREEN the information about the fields is stored right along with the screen. BASIC is not able to get to the data when it is stored this way. So, When a T-SCREEN is converted to BLOAD format the field parameters (location, attributes, type, etc.) are separated from the screen image and are saved in a separate disk file. We refer to that file as the field parameter file. That file will have the same name as the screen with a file extention of ".PRM". To see how the parameters are used by an application study a listing of the LOAN.BAS program that is included as a sample application. The subroutine at 500 - 590 is a controled input routine that will not result in string "garbage" being accumulated. The variable definitions in line 100 are required for this routine. The subroutine at 40010 - 40085 reads and interprets the data in the field parameter file. Note that the dimension statements in line 135 are required in addition to those in this subroutine. The subroutine at 41000 loads and displays the input screen as described above. The routine at 41100-41130 loads and displays the help screen. Due to the limited memory management available from BASIC we are resticted to dealing with entire screens. As a result we cannot store our input prompts etc. in a T-SCREEN and call them from BASIC as we can with Pascal. Note that the main data entry loop is from 5065 - 5290. The field indicated by IPTR is initialized based on the data from the parameter file. Then the input routine at 500 is called. This routine also relies on the information passed in the parameter file to determine the length, type and display attributes of the field. The input data is validated by the subroutine calls made from 5200. The validation routines are from 1000 - 1320. After the data is entered, validated and accepted the code from 5400 - 5730 handles the calculation and output of the results. While the performance of the BASIC version is far below that of the Pascal version it is still a useful application. With some modifica- tion the BASIC version could probably be compiled with a substantial improvement in performance as a result. Page 10 ***************************** * T-SCREEN System Utilities * ***************************** When you select F4 System Utilities from the Main Menu, the screen is cleared and the names of all of the screens in the current directory are displayed. Also the command area displays the sub-functions available at this point. If all you want to do is see what screens are available just press ESC to return to the main menu when you are ready. Also F10 Help is available with a brief description of each of the sub-functions. Those sub-functions are as follows. F1 The Copy Screen function permits you to copy a screen. You will be prompted to enter the name of the screen to be copied and the name it is to be copied to. Enter the screen names as described for the Save screen function on page 4. If the screen to be copied does not exist an error message is displayed. If the name it is being copied to already exists you will prompted to verify that you want to copy over it. F2 Using this function you may change the name of an existing screen. You are prompted to enter the name of an existing screen as described for the Load screen function on page 4. If the screen exists you will be prompted to enter a new name for the screen. The name must be a one that is not already used otherwise an error message is displayed. If the names entered meet those requirements the name is changed. F3 The Delete Screen function is used to remove a screen that you no longer need. As above you are prompted to enter an existing screen name. If the screen exists it will be displayed and you will be prompted to verify the deletion by pressing "Y". You may cancel the deletion at that point by pressing ESC. F4 This is really an information screen rather than a function. It displays the steps to be followed in copying an entire disk using the DISKCOPY program provided on your DOS disk. Those steps are as follows. 1. End the T-SCREEN session using ESC as usual. 2. Place you DOS system disk in Drive A and type... a: <ENTER> 3. Type... diskcopy a: b: <ENTER> 4. Insert the source disk (disk to be copied) and destination disk (disk that is to be copied onto) in the drives as prompted. 5. Follow the prompts on the screen until the copy is complete. 6. If you wish to restart T-SCREEN place a T-SCREEN disk in drive A and type... tsc <ENTER> for the color version or tsm <ENTER> for the monochrome version. F5 This is also an information screen which describes the procedure used when you want to print a T-SCREEN on your printer. It is in fact a simple matter of loading the screen as if you were going to edit it using the F4 Load Screen function. When the screen has loaded just hold the Ctrl key and then press the PrtScr key. Non-printing characters will be printed as blanks. Page 11