Shareware Grab Bag

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Shareware Grab Bag / Shareware Grab Bag.iso / 004 / assist.arc / GUIDE.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1986-01-30 | 37.6 KB | 883 lines

_________________________________________________ DOS ASSISTANT Version 2.2 _________________________________________________ USER'S GUIDE _________________________________________________ PCM SOFTWARE P.O. BOX 1915 GRAFTON, VA 23692 DOS ASSISTANT COPYRIGHT (C) 1985 JOHN HENSLEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED All rights to the software and documentation included in this package are the property of the author. This software is not public domain, it is "user supported." A Copyright has been applied for and issued under the provisions of section 410(a) of title 17, United States Code. Permission to distribute copies of this package is outlined on page 20 of this user's guide. WARRANTY This software is licensed for use without representation or warranties with respect to the contents hereof. Any implied warranty of fitness for any particular purpose is hereby disclaimed. The author reserves the right to make changes and additions to this publication without the notification of any persons of such revisions. In no event shall the author be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use these programs, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. IBM PC and PC-DOS are registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................... 2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................... 2 CONTENTS OF THE DISKETTE ............... 2 COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PROGRAMS ...... 3 MAKING A WORK DISKETTE ................. 3 LOADING THE HELP PROGRAM ............... 4 PROGRAM OPTIONS ........................ 5 USING THE HELP PROGRAM ................. 6 THE HELP LINE .......................... 6 MOVING THE HELP WINDOW ................. 6 FINDING THE HELP YOU NEED .............. 7 ENDING THE HELP SESSION ................ 8 RETAINING THE HELP WINDOW .............. 8 VIEWING THE TIME AND DATE .............. 9 THE HELP INDEX ......................... 9 THE DETAILED HELP WINDOWS .............. 10 REMOVING THE PROGRAM FROM MEMORY ....... 12 SUMMARY ................................ 13 COMMAND SUMMARY ........................ 14 THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM .............. 15 USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM ........ 15 TECHNICAL INFORMATION .................. 16 KEY CODES .............................. 17 GLOSSARY ............................... 18 PERMISSION TO COPY ..................... 20 INVOICE ................................ 21 DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 2. INTRODUCTION DOS Assistant is a computer program designed to add pop up help windows to the "IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System" (DOS). These help windows will aid you in effectively using all of the DOS commands and utility programs included on your operating system distribution diskette. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS DOS Assistant will operate on IBM PC, PCXT, PCjr, and PCAT computers or true compatibles using the PC-DOS operating system version 2.0 or higher, one floppy disk drive, 128KB of memory, and an 80 column video display. CONTENTS OF THE DOS ASSISTANT DISKETTE ASSIST.COM is a full version of the help program. SMASSIST.COM is a small version of DOS Assistant which does not include Debug and Edlin help windows. This small version requires only 20KB of resident memory while the full version requires 29KB. HELPCONF.COM is a menu driven configuration program that allows you to set various program options. GUIDE.DOC is this user's Guide. TUTOR.DOC is a tutorial to assist you in learning to use the features of your computer's operating system. REGFORM.DOC is a registration form for those whose would like to register their support for DOS Assistant. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 3. COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER PROGRAMS DOS Assistant was designed to be compatible with most programs available for the IBM family of personal computers. DOS Assistant will work with most application programs as well as other memory resident programs. However there are a few programs which you may find incompatible with DOS Assistant. These few programs replace your computer's standard service interrupts with their own routines. DOS Assistant's help windows will not be available when this type of program is running. MAKING A WORK DISK Never use a program's original distribution diskette for everyday use. To make a work copy of the diskette, place your DOS diskette in drive A: and enter: A>DISKCOPY A: B: Now press "Return" and when you are prompted to do so place your DOS Assistant distribution diskette in drive A:, a blank diskette in drive B:, and then press "Return". If you have only one floppy disk drive you must place your DOS Assistant diskette in drive A: and then replace it with the blank diskette when you are prompted to do so. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 4. LOADING THE HELP PROGRAM To use the help windows, the resident program must be loaded into the computer's memory. To do this, place your work diskette in drive A: and enter the command: A>ASSIST The help program will be loaded into memory, a copyright message will be printed on the screen and you will be returned to the DOS prompt. There are two other things that might happen when you load the help program. If you try to load the program while using DOS with a version number of less than 2.0, the following error message will be printed on the screen and you will be returned to the DOS prompt: Improper version of DOS, must be version 2.0 or higher. If you try to load DOS Assistant after it has already been loaded, the following message will be displayed and you will be returned to the DOS prompt. Help program is already installed. Press "Alt H" to display the help window. After you load the resident part of help program, it will be active until you remove it from memory, turn your computer off or do a "warm boot" by pressing the "Ctrl", "Alt" and "Del" keys at the same time. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 5. PROGRAM OPTIONS DOS Assistant has several options which may be set by the user. Options can be set by entering the option "switch" after the program name when loading the program into memory. Any number of the options may be included but each option must be preceded by a "/" character. The following is list of these options and what they do. Options: /F Use fast screen display method. This option instructs DOS Assistant not to wait for a horizontal retrace period before writing to a color video display.(may cause snow to appear) /Kxxxx Set "help key" to key "xxxx". This allows you to select the keystroke which will activate the help window. Key codes are listed on page 17. /M Remove the program color. This will force DOS Assistant to display a monochrome help window even if a color graphics board is installed. This is useful if you use a monochrome video monitor with the color graphics video card. /T Temporary program run. This will allow you to use the help program without leaving it resident your computer's memory. The program will operate like a standard application and exit to DOS upon completion. /? Display a list of these options. For example, to load DOS Assistant and have it use the fast screen display, "Alt P" to activate the help window and no screen color, enter the following command. A> ASSIST /F /K1900 /M DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 6. USING THE HELP PROGRAM After DOS Assistant is loaded into your computer's memory you can use the help window at any time by pressing a special "help key" combination. Initially the "help key" combination is "Alt H" (press the "Alt" key and the "H" key at the same time). If you have selected your own custom "help key" by loading the program with the /Kxxxx switch, you will need to press the new custom "help key" combination that you selected. When you press the special "help key", a help window will be displayed on your screen. If you press the "help key" while your computer is in a 40 column mode or in the high resolution graphics mode, you will hear a tone from you computer's speaker. This will let you know that DOS Assistant is active in your computer's memory, but cannot be used at the present time. THE HELP LINE Whenever the help window is displayed, the commands used to operate the help program may be viewed by pressing the "H" key. The bottom line of the window will show a list of commands and their action. The help line will scroll forward each time the "H" key is pressed and backwards each time the "Back Space" key is pressed. MOVING THE HELP WINDOW The help window may be moved from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen so that every portion of the old display may be viewed. To move window to the bottom of the screen, press the "-" key on the number pad or top row of the keyboard. To move the window back to the top of the screen, press the "+" key on the number pad or top row of the keyboard. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 7. FINDING THE HELP YOU NEED The help program is set up in two sections. The first section is an index which contains the name and a brief description of each DOS, Debug, and Edlin command. You can page through the index using the "PgUp", "PgDn", "Home", and "End" keys. "PgUp" will move back one page in the index. "PgDn" will advance the index one page. "Home" will jump to the start of the index. "End" will jump to the end of the index. The second section of the program is where detailed information for each command is stored. You may select a command by moving the highlighted bar over a command name. The highlighted bar is moved by pressing the cursor keys on the number pad. The bar will move in the direction the arrow on the key is pointing. The highlighted bar may also be moved by pressing the first letter of the direction in which you wish the bar to move. ie: "U" up, "D" down, "L" left and "R" right. When the highlighted bar is over the desired command, press the "Return" or "Enter" key to access detailed information about the selected command. After pressing the "Return" key, you will be in the detailed help section of the program. You may move through the detailed help the same way you move through the index, by using the "PgUp", "PgDn", "Home" and "End" keys. To leave the detailed help and return to the index press the "Space" bar. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 8. ENDING THE HELP SESSION To remove the help window and return to the DOS prompt, press the "Esc" key. The window will be removed and the screen will be returned to the way it looked before the help window was displayed. When you need help with another command, press the special "help key" again, and the help window will return just as it was last seen on the screen before the "Esc" key was pressed to remove it. RETAINING THE HELP WINDOW One of the best features of the help program is it's ability to keep the help window on the screen while you enter a DOS, Debug, or Edlin command. To use this feature, you must first locate the information you wish to keep on the screen and then move the window either up or down so that you can see the DOS, Edlin or Debug prompt on the display. By pressing the "Ctrl" and "S" keys at the same time, computer control will be returned to the level it was before the help was called, but the current help display will remain on the screen. If the window is not positioned correctly and your cursor comes on within the help window, press the "hot key" to reactivate the help program. Move the window up or down so the cursor will not be within the help text when it comes back on, and then press the "Ctrl" and "S" keys to exit and leave the window displayed. Now you may enter any DOS, Debug or Edlin command while viewing a help window which has been left on the screen. After the command is entered, press the "Return", or "Enter" key to remove the help window and execute the command. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 9. VIEWING THE TIME AND DATE Whenever the help window is on the screen, the current time and date may be viewed by pressing the "T" key to toggle the time and date display on. The time will be displayed on the top right of the window and the date will be displayed on the top left. Pressing the "T" key again will toggle the display off. Should you need to view the time or date while another application program is running on the computer, just pop the help window up with the "help key", toggle the time and date on, and then remove the help window with the "Esc" key. THE HELP INDEX The index portion of help program contains five windows with alphabetical listings of the commands used by the MS-DOS operating system, the programmer's utility Debug, and the line editor Edlin. Along with each command name is a brief description of the operation performed by the command. The index is designed to allow you see what operations you will be able to perform without going into great detail about how to use each command. This will reduce the time required to find a command which will perform a needed operation. Browsing through the index will give you a greater insight to many available operations which may be performed by your computer. The top line on each index page will let you know if the list of commands on the page pertain to DOS, Debug, or Edlin operations. The top line also contains a reminder to press the "H" key if you need assistance in using the help program and the "Esc" key to exit the program. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 10. THE DETAILED HELP WINDOWS Pressing the "Return" key while an index page is shown will display a window containing detailed information about the command that was highlighted in the index. Each detailed help page contains a title line showing the command name, a reminder to press the "Space" key to return to the index, and if the command is a DOS command, whether the command is resident or transient: <Space> Index DIR (Resident) A resident command is one that resides in your computer's memory as a part of the operating system. A transient command is one that must be loaded from your DOS work diskette before it can be used. An example of a resident DOS command would be the CLS command, which clears the screen. You can use this command even when you don't have a diskette in any of your drives because the command is a part of the operating system and always in the computer's memory. An example of a transient DOS command would be the FORMAT command, which you used to format your work diskette. To use the FORMAT command you had to put your DOS diskette in drive a: so that the program file could be loaded into the computer's memory. You may prefix a transient command with a drive designation to tell DOS on which drive the command's file resides. To format a new diskette in drive a: while the DOS diskette is in drive b:, enter: A>b:FORMAT a: All Debug and Edlin commands are resident to their respective program. Their title lines contain a reminder to press the "Esc" key to exit the help program: <Space> Index L (LIST LINES) <Esc> Exit DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 11. THE DETAILED HELP WINDOWS cont. The first line of text under the title line is will be a description of what the command will accomplish: "Lists the files of the specified directory." The line under the command description will show you how to enter the command at the DOS prompt. The command must be entered as shown on this command line if it is to work properly. When entering a command you may use either capital or lower case letters. The command names in the help program will always be shown in capitals to make them easier to identify. The command line will also show any required or optional parameters which may be used with the command: DIR [drive:][path\][filename] [/p] [/w] A parameter is a supplemental entry that may be included with the command name to give needed information to the command. This allows an operation to be done in a specific manner, or on a specific drive or to a specific file. Parameters that are enclosed in brackets, [], do not have to be included. They are optional parameters. Parameters that are not enclosed in brackets must be included for the command to work properly. When entering an optional parameter, do not type in the brackets. You may notice that some of the parameters after the command name are separated by a space, while others are not. It is important that you follow the command line format with regard to spacing between the parameters. If a space is required but not included, the command may not function properly. Also if no space is shown and one is included, the command may not function properly. The operating system will accept a comma, semicolon, equal sign or tab in place of a space between the parameters. The list "file1 file2 file3 file4 file5" is the same as "file1,file2;file3=file4 file5". DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 12. THE DETAILED HELP WINDOWS cont. Following the command line will be a description of what effect each of the parameters has on the command: /w Displays the directory in a wide screen format. The last entry in the detailed help will be a functional example of how to use the command, along with a small description of what the example will accomplish: Example: DIR /w (lists the directory in a wide format) REMOVING THE HELP PROGRAM FROM MEMORY The help program may be removed from the computer's memory if you need to free the space it occupies. Removing the program may cause undesirable results if these instructions are not followed completely. The help program should be removed only if it was the last resident program loaded into your computer. If you loaded the print spooler program PRINT.COM, any type of keyboard enhancement program, or any type of resident windowing program after you loaded the help program, "DO NOT" try to remove the help program from memory! First be sure the DOS prompt is on the screen and no other program is operating, such as Debug, Edlin, or any other application program. Now press the "help key" to bring the help window on the screen. When the help window is displayed, press the "Ctrl" and "E" keys and then press the "Ctrl" and "X" keys. This process will remove the help program from memory, replace the display that was on the screen and then return you to the DOS prompt. Should you try this process and nothing happens, it means that there was another resident program detected and the help program could not release itself from memory. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 13. SUMMARY These are the basic steps you should follow to effectively use the help program: - Activate the help program by pressing the special "help key". - If a detailed help window is displayed, press the "Space" bar to move to the help program index. - Page through the index until you find a command that will perform the desired operation. - Use the cursor keys to move the highlighted bar over the command name. - Press the "Return" or "Enter" key to access detailed help about the command. - Use the "+" or "-" keys to move the window up or down to allow the program prompt to become visible. - Press the "Ctrl" and "S" keys to exit and leave the help window displayed. - Enter the command name along with any parameters needed to perform the desired operation. - Press the "Return" or "Enter" key to remove the help window and execute the command. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 14. COMMAND SUMMARY - Back Space Scroll the help line backward. - Cursor Left or L Move the highlighted bar left. - Cursor Right or R Move the highlighted bar right. - Cursor Up or U Move the highlighted bar up. - Cursor Down or D Move the highlighted bar down. - End or 1 Jump to the last index or detailed help page. - H Scroll the help line forward. - Home or 7 Jump to the first index or detailed help page. - PgDn or 3 Move to the next index or detailed help page. - PgUp or 9 Move to the previous index or detailed help page. - Return Display detailed help for a highlighted command. - Space Return to the index from a detailed help page. - T Toggle the time and date display on and off. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 15. THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM The configuration program, HELPCONF.COM, is included so that you can permanently set the program options. You will then no longer have to set them each time the help program is loaded into memory. USING THE CONFIGURATION PROGRAM To use the configuration program, place your DOS Assistant work diskette in drive A: and enter: A>HELPCONF A menu will appear on your display, listing options you can select. To set the program options, enter the number corresponding the desired option and then follow any additional instructions given. Each option setting is displayed at the bottom of the menu and is updated as the settings are changed. After the options are set to your satisfaction you should select the option to write them to the program work diskette to make them the new default settings. If you have already loaded DOS Assistant into your computer's memory, you can write your new selections to memory by selecting the menu option to write the changes to memory. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 16. TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOS Assistant was written in 8088 assembly language on a Zenith Z-150 PC. The configuration program HELPCONF.COM was written in "C" using the Desmet C development package. When used as a resident utility, DOS Assistant intercepts system interrupts 16h and 28h to allow checking for the "HELP KEY." Both new interrupt routines do either a far call or a far jump to the original interrupt handlers to allow compatibility with other resident programs. When the "HELP KEY" is detected by the new interrupt 16h handler, a check of the system "critical flag" is made. If the critical flag is not set, the help window is displayed. If the critical flag is set, the help window will be displayed when the next interrupt 28h is intercepted. If the help window is activated by the interrupt 28h handler, an interrupt 28h will be initiated continually to allow concurrent programs such as the print spooler PRINT.COM to continue operation. The original text displayed in the program contained over 61K of information. The text was squeezed by coding select words and phrases and then packed by removing the eight data bit from each byte. The squeezed text requires only 22k of program space. Two disks with the complete, and documented source code to DOS Assistant and all of it's supporting files is available from PCM Software for $35.00. The source code is for personal use only and may not be sold or distributed. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 17. KEY CODES This is a list of the key codes to use when setting the user selected "help key" option for DOS Assistant. KEY Ctrl Alt KEY Ctrl Alt A 1E01 1E00 1 ! 7800 B 3002 3000 2 @ 0300 7900 C 2E03 2E00 3 # 7A00 D 2004 2000 4 $ 7B00 E 1205 1200 5 % 7C00 F 2106 2100 6 ^ 071E 7D00 G 2207 2200 7 & 7E00 H 2308 2300 8 * 7F00 I 1709 1700 9 ( 8000 J 240A 2400 0 ) 8100 K 250B 2500 - _ 0C1F 8200 L 260C 2600 = + 8300 M 320D 3200 [ { 1A1B N 310E 3100 ] } 1B1D O 180F 1800 \ | 2B1C P 1910 1900 Q 1011 1000 F1 5E00 6800 R 1312 1300 F2 5F00 6900 S 1F13 1F00 F3 6000 6A00 T 1414 1400 F4 6100 6B00 U 1615 1600 F5 6200 6C00 V 2F16 2F00 F6 6300 6D00 W 1117 1100 F7 6400 6E00 X 2D18 2D00 F8 6500 6F00 Y 1519 1500 F9 6600 7000 Z 2C1A 2C00 F0 6700 7100 DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 18. GLOSSARY boot The process of initializing the MS-DOS operating system. byte Represents one character to a computer. diskette A flexible magnetic disk used to store data. DOS The Microsoft or IBM Disk Operating System which controls the operation of the computer. drive The device which reads and writes data to and from a magnetic disk. file A group of text characters or program steps which are stored on a disk. hard disk A drive containing a non-removable magnetic disk which allows storing and retrieving large amounts of data very quickly. KB Represents 1024 characters to a computer. memory The part of the computer where data is stored while the computer is operating. It may also be call RAM. monitor Your computer's video display. parameter A character string which is entered with a DOS command to allow the command to perform a task in a specific manner. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 19. GLOSSARY cont. program A file containing a series of steps which will be used by the computer to solve a problem or perform a task. resident Refers to a program which has the ability to stay in the computer's memory so that it will not have to be loaded from a disk file each time it is used. software Computer programs. user supported A concept where the author of a computer program freely distributes the program, trusting the users to support his efforts. window A self contained display which is shown on just a portion of the video monitor's total screen area. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE Page 20. PERMISSION TO COPY DOS Assistant version 2.2 is distributed as a "user supported" software package. Permission is granted to anyone who wishes it to freely copy DOS Assistant version 2.2 and it's supporting documentation and files for their own use and to make copies for others to use. The program, documentation and supporting files must be distributed together and may not altered in any way. If you find the program useful, you are "encouraged" to become a registered supporter. You are under no obligation to register, it is purely voluntary. To register your support for "DOS Assistant" and to help with the development of other professional quality software, send $10.00 to: PCM Software P.O Box 1915 Grafton, VA 23692 If you would like a diskette with the latest version of "DOS Assistant", please add $5.00 to the registration fee to cover the diskette, copying and postage costs. To make registration easier, a registration and order form is include at the end of this guide. A sales invoice will be returned to you upon receipt of your registration fee. Software and hardware distributors and developers are encouraged to include DOS Assistant with their respective products. DOS ASSISTANT USER'S GUIDE PAGE 21. REGISTRATION FORM -------------------------------------------------------- Mail to: PCM Software P.O. Box 1915 Grafton, VA 23692 PRICE ITEM QTY EACH QTY PRICE ======================================================== Register a copy or copies of DOS Assistant. ______ $ 10.00 $_________ No VA sales tax on registration only. $ 0.00 Send a copy or copies of DOS Assistant diskette. ______ $ 15.00 $_________ 4% Virginia sales tax VA residents only. $_________ Send program source code. ______ $ 35.00 $_________ 4% Virginia sales tax VA residents only. $_________ TOTAL $_________ ======================================================== Name _______________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ City ____________________________State_____Zip______ THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT