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TheDraw Version 2.21 Color Screen Image Text Editor COPYRIGHT (C) 1986,87 TheSoft Programming Services and Ian E. Davis All rights are reserved by TheSoft Programming Services Written in Turbo Pascal on a Tandy 1000. I N D E X: Introduction ................................................. 1 Cursor Control ............................................... 2 Command Summary .............................................. 3 New Features in Version 2.0 .................................. 4 New Features in Version 2.1 .................................. 6 New Features in Version 2.2 .................................. 6 Command Descriptions: Alt-A: Change Text Color Attributes ........................ 8 Alt-B: Block Action Commands ............................... 9 Alt-C: Clear Current Screen ............................... 11 Alt-D: Set Default Clear Screen Color ..................... 11 Alt-E: Exchange Edit Screens .............................. 11 Alt-F: View Function Key Sets ............................. 11 Alt-G: Global Commands .................................... 12 Alt-H: Display Help Information ........................... 13 Alt-I: Insert a Line ...................................... 13 Alt-J: Select Animator Mode (toggle) ...................... 14 Alt-K: Delete a File ...................................... 15 Alt-L: Load Screen from Disk .............................. 16 Alt-M: Select Draw Mode (toggle) .......................... 17 Alt-N: Ruler .............................................. 17 Alt-O: Change Drive/Sub Directory ......................... 17 Alt-P: Paint/Fill Commands ................................ 18 Alt-Q: Redraw Screen (animator mode only) ................. 18 Alt-R: Restore Current Line ............................... 18 Alt-S: Save Screen to Disk ................................ 19 Alt-T: Tab Setup .......................................... 21 Alt-U: Use Color under Cursor ............................. 21 Alt-V: View a Screen (not load) ........................... 21 Alt-W: Edit Character (animator mode only) ................ 22 Alt-X: Exit TheDraw ....................................... 22 Alt-Y: Delete Current Line ................................ 22 Alt-Z: Erase Cursor Character (animator mode only) ........ 22 Alt-=: Toggle Macro Learning Mode ......................... 23 Alternate Color Change Options: Foreground Color Change ................................... 23 Background Color Change ................................... 23 The Solid Space ............................................. 23 Full Screen Operation ....................................... 24 Programmers Programming Tips ................................ 25 Revision History ............................................ 27 The Future .................................................. 30 Registration ................................................ 31 TheDraw Upgrade Service ..................................... 31 Warranty .................................................... 32 License ..................................................... 32 Comments .................................................... 33 I N T R O D U C T I O N: TheDraw was originally written as an improvement to AnsiDraw by Amrich Enterprises. Both programs provide similar operation, with TheDraw giving a much enhanced user interface. In addition, TheDraw does not utilize hardware blanking as AnsiDraw does (You can verify this by pressing CTRL-C before AnsiDraw displays its opening screen, and then doing a Dos directory). There have been reports that hardware blanking on a system using a Hercules compatible graphics interface can cause physical damage. This makes TheDraw safe for such computer setups. Lastly, AnsiDraw apparently fails to operate on newer Tandy 1000's; TheDraw works fine. The latest version of AnsiDraw (v3.0) no longer uses hardware blanking, but I have no information on its ability to work on the newer Tandy machines. TheDraw is designed to create, store, and retrieve screens of ASCII text, ANSI compatible color images, ANSI compatible ANIMATION sequences, BINARY files, and Basic BSAVE files. In addition it can produce source code compatible files for ASSEMBLER, PASCAL, and now C languages. For example, the Ansi and Ascii images can be used in batch files or with the RBBS Bulletin Board System. For any given application, if one screen of text is insufficient (the program can only handle a single screen image) then multiple screens can be linked together with the DOS copy append function (ie: COPY FILE1.EXT+FILE2.EXT FILE3.EXT). I have learned that someone is spreading a rumor that TheDraw can cause physical damage. This is either some immature person or someone who ran the program CHK4BOMB on TheDraw. Chk4Bomb reports that Bios level disk I/O is done. First of all, Chk4Bomb will say that about ANY program written in Turbo Pascal (MsDos v3.01). This is only a fluke in the scanning algorithm of Chk4Bomb seeing some sort of harmless text string. TheDraw Page 1 C U R S O R C O N T R O L: The cursor can be moved by using the following keys: Up Arrow : Up one line. Down Arrow : Down one line. Left Arrow : Left one position. Right Arrow : Right one position. Home : First column of current line. End : Last column of current line. PgUp : First line in current column. PgDn : Last line in current column. Ctrl-Home : First Character of current line. Ctrl-End : Last Character of current line (plus 1). Ctrl-PgUp : Upper-left position of screen. Ctrl-PgDn : Lower-right position of screen. Tab : Next set Tab position (see Alt-T). Shift-Tab : Previous set Tab position (see Alt-T). Enter : First column of following line. Naturally, if you are at a border no action will be taken. If no tab position follows the current location, pressing [TAB] will return you to column one of the current line. TheDraw Page 2 C O M M A N D S: TheDraw provides the following 28 command functions, available through ALT-Letter or CTRL-Letter key sequences: Alt-A Change Text Color Attributes Alt-B Block Action Commands Alt-C Clear Current Screen Alt-D Set Default Clear Screen Color Alt-E Exchange Edit Screens Alt-F View Function Key Sets Alt-G Global Commands Alt-H Display Help Information Alt-I Insert a Line Alt-J Select Animator Mode (toggle) Alt-K Delete a File Alt-L Load Screen from Disk Alt-M Select Draw Mode (toggle) Alt-N Ruler Alt-O Change Drive/Sub Directory Alt-P Paint/Fill Commands Alt-Q Redraw Screen (animator) Alt-R Restore Current Line Alt-S Save Screen to Disk Alt-T Tab Setup Alt-U Use Colors under Cursor Alt-V View a Screen (not load) Alt-W Edit Character (animator) Alt-X Exit TheDraw Alt-Y Delete Current Line Alt-Z Erase Cursor Character (animator) Alt-= Toggle Macro Learning Mode (registered version only). Ctrl-PrtSc Toggle Full Screen Editing mode. Additional commands are: Ctrl-Up Arrow Increment Foreground Color Ctrl-Down Arrow Decrement Foreground Color Ctrl-Left Arrow Increment Background Color Ctrl-Right Arrow Decrement Background Color Shift-Space Put a "Solid" space on the Screen. On the following pages are explanations of each of the above. TheDraw Page 3 N E W F E A T U R E S If you didn't notice up above, TheDraw has received a major new ability. The ability to animate those wonderful ANSI drawings you devised, to add a little more "color" to them. Animation basically is the apparent movement of objects on the screen from one spot to another. I say apparent since no actual movement takes place, only the overwriting of a new location with a duplicate of another. For instance, suppose you put a smiley face on the screen. To make it "move" to the right, first you would put a space (or something else) over the smiley face character then put a new smiley face to the right of the old spot. Repeat that over and over, and the smiley face will appear to move across the screen. Fun stuff! To support this new function TheDraw operates in two modes; Normal and Animator. Normal mode operates like TheDraw always has, with a few enhancements (such as line drawing). Animator mode supports the "sequencing" of characters. Sequencing simply means storing each character you type as an entry in a list. Each entry stores the character, and the location it appears on the screen. You can have up to 5000 characters in the list, which is enough to completely redraw the screen almost three times. Sequencing also allows you to put multiple characters at the same spot on the screen (since each character is a simple addition to the list). There is no direct overwrite of characters in Animator mode as there is in Normal mode. You must use a special command to edit characters (Alt-W) since anything you put over another character adds to the list, not replacing whats there. That is the major difference between the two modes. Normal is simply a piece of paper, which you can draw on, and easily change (akin to a limited word processor). Animator mode stores EVERYTHING you type, and special commands must be used to delete and overwrite characters. Because of the nature of the animation sequence, differences occur between how certain commands work in Normal mode and Animator mode. All command descriptions in this text are written with Normal mode in mind. Where there are differences, a note at the bottom of the command describes the changes in Animator mode. Animation isn't the only new feature added to TheDraw. Another is the ability to "draw" lines using the keys found in function key sets 1 through 4. When in draw mode (indicated by the word Draw at the bottom of the screen), moving the cursor via the TheDraw Page 4 N E W F E A T U R E S (cont): four arrow keys will produce a line in that direction. The program can handle any situation, even if you mix line types. See Alt-M for more details. Another interesting addition in the ability to copy/move a block of text UNDER other text. Previously, TheDraw could only move a block over other things. A file called DEMO.BIN should be present to better show this new facility. When moving the block under something else, it will show through any space character. To complement this new option, a "solid" non-transparent space character was added (available using Shift-Space). Looking at the extension to DEMO.BIN, you may be wondering what the BIN stand for. It stands for a Binary file, which is a simple memory dump of the TheDraw edit screen. Binary files are VERY useful for files edited often since they load and save very quickly. In addition to binary files, TheDraw now supports Assembler, BSave (for users of Basic), and Pascal (for users of...). Of course, the original two save methods are still available and TheDraw is upwardly compatible with any file made by earlier versions. Available in the registered version of TheDraw is a Macro Key ability. TheDraw now supports ten 255 character macro sequences. To teach TheDraw a sequence you merely type Alt-=, the macro key you wish to program, and start typing. When you are done, typing Alt-= will save the creation. Also, attempting to use another macro will save it. The second macro you specified will be in effect chained to the end of the original one. ie: Lets say you are programming sequence 5, and type Alt-6 (for sequence 6). From now on, whenever you type Alt-5, its contents will be output then TheDraw will automatically output what is in Alt-6. You can also have a macro call itself, creating an endless loop situation. Typing [ESC] will break out of it however. You might use an endless loop to fill a block with something, although the new additions to the block commands will do it much faster. Registered users will find TheDraw much easier to learn also, since it now includes pop-up help screens. The help information is specific to the area of the program you're in and is brought up by simply pressing Alt-H anywhere. TheDraw Page 5 N E W F E A T U R E S (cont): A couple of other new options are worth mentioning. TheDraw now supports Global operations on the screen (global color changes, screen moving, etc...), and screen Painting. Painting can be of either just color attributes, characters, or both (never say TheDraw doesn't give a choice). NEW IN VERSION 2.10... TheDraw v2.10 has received some new features. Monochrome screens are now supported, and a incompatibility problem with the Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-Down foreground color change keys is fixed. IBM PC's and certain "exact" clones have Bios errors that prevent those keys being recognized. TheDraw has a new pre-Bios keyboard driver that cures the problem. A setup program is included that allows users to "program" those two keys to TheDraw. TheDraw comes configured for both a IBM PC and Tandy 1000. To see if you need the setup utility, run TheDraw. Next try to use the Ctrl-Up/Down keys. If they don't appear to work then run the Setup utility and follow the simple on-screen directions. Other new features are text operations (box drawing, outlining, left/center/right justification, etc...) and Ansi file slowdown. Ansi file slowdown basically makes Ansi files that display veerry slowly (see Alt-S). Lastly, most prompts in TheDraw have been revamped to be clearer, and the fill screen operations are now consistent. NEW IN VERSION 2.20... Full Screen (25 line) editing has finally been added. This will be immensely useful for programmers and the like. TheDraw supports the full-screen mode everywhere except in the creation of Ansi/Animator files. They are limited to 24 lines because of linefeed problems making the screen scroll. Can't have your cake and eat it too I guess... To toggle full screen editing mode type CTRL-PRTSC (or CTRL-PRINT on Tandy keyboards). The one drawback of Full-Screen editing is YOU must remember where you are. TheDraw doesn't have anywhere to display prompts anymore, to it'll display them, wait for you to type something, then remove them from the screen. Another new feature is multiple output modes for Pascal, Asm and now C language (-new-) screen save operations. TheDraw can produce Crunched, Ascii-only, or the old Normal type files. See the ALT-S section on these new modes. TheDraw Page 6 N E W F E A T U R E S (cont): You may have noticed TheDraw also supports C in the above. The structure format used is that of modern C, whereby a array is declared using double quotes (") on multiple lines to contain all the array elements. Where control codes must be output, TheDraw uses the hexadecimal format of "\xhhh" where hhh is a three digit hexadecimal notation. I could have used octal, but that would have been inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. Last on my list, is the support of command line filespecs. You can specify a file for TheDraw to load upon running. This is a convenience for heavy users. The syntax is simply: THEDRAW <filename> <filename> is any filespec you would enter from TheDraw. If no extension is included, TheDraw assumes ".ANS". TheDraw displays its normal title screen, then immediately loads the file. Enjoy!!! TheDraw Page 7 Alt-A: Change Text Color Attributes This function allows you to change the colors text will be displayed with. The current settings are represented in the status line with the word "Color". You can select from the following foreground colors: 0 Black 8 Dark Gray 1 Blue 9 Light Blue 2 Green 10 Light Green 3 Cyan 11 Light Cyan 4 Red 12 Light Red 5 Magenta 13 Light Magenta 6 Brown 14 Yellow 7 Light Gray 15 White Characters can be made to blink by selecting colors from the range 16 through 31. These match the above listed colors exactly, except they blink. Background colors can be any of the first eight (0 through 7) colors listed. There are no background colors available that allow blinking. A current setting for either foreground or background can be maintained by simply pressing <ENTER> at the appropriate prompt without any number entry. You can also change the colors by using the arrow keys. The Up and Right arrow keys increase the color with the Down and Left decreasing the color. Using the arrows also updates the color example in the middle of the screen, so you can see what you'll get before exiting. Note: It is possible to change the colors without using this option. See Ctrl-Arrow Key commands below. Monochrome screen users will find background colors useless except for a background color of 7 and a foreground color of 0 or 16 (black). TheDraw Page 8 Alt-B: Block Action Commands The block action commands are one of the more useful utilities TheDraw offers. It allows you to change a block (from 1 character to the entire screen) to the current color attributes, copy or move a block to another position, erase a block, delete a block, save a block as a mini-image, or load/merge part of another image into the current one. To use any of the above commands, first the block must be defined. This is done immediately after typing Alt-B. Go to the upper-left corner of the wanted block and press [SPACE]. Then move to the lower-right corner and press [SPACE] again. The current block will have all attributes reversed to make it obvious. If you move above or left of the upper-left block corner (once defined), no block will be shown inverted. Upon pressing [SPACE] the second time you will be presented with the available options: [C]opy allows you to copy the defined block to another position. Use the arrow keys to move the block. You can [S]tamp extra copies, [E]xchange the screens (thus copying an area of one screen into the other), and toggle movement [U]nder all characters (only seeing the block through spaces). Press [ENTER] once satisfied with the new position. [M]ove operates identically to [C]opy except the original position is erased (see following option). [F]ill gives you several additional options. All are related to filling the block with something. [A]ttribute Change all attributes in the block to the current ones. [F]ore Change only the foreground attributes to the current setting. [B]ack Similar to [F]ore except changes the background attributes instead. [U]se Similar to [A]ttribute except it uses the attributes under the cursor when you first pressed Alt-B. [C]haracter Prompts for a symbol, and then fills the block with that symbol, leaving the attributes unchanged. [B]oth Combines [A]ttribute and [C]haracter. These changes to the fill option hopefully are clearer and more usable than those in previous versions of TheDraw. TheDraw Page 9 Alt-B: Block Action Commands (cont): [T]ext allows simple operations to be done on text within the block. [B]ox Draws a box around the edges of the defined block area. [O]utline Similar to Box, except this command examines the text within the block. The block will be expanded to accommodate any words not fully contained by the original block. [C]enter Text contained in the original block will be centered within the block area. [L]eft Text contained in the original block is left justified. [R]ight Any text in the block is right justified. These additions should be helpful in making menu displays or short letters etc... [D]elete does what is implied. All characters to the right of the block are shifted over, with the area they occupied changed to spaces and the attributes set to the current default background and currently defined foreground color. [E]rase is similar to Delete, except the area to the right of the block is not shifted. The block itself is cleared (as described above). [S]ave operates identically to the save screen command except only the defined block is output (see Alt-S). [L]oad allows you to import data from another image (saved on disk). The current image is stored, and you are prompted for the import filename (this operates just like Alt-L). The new image is loaded onto the screen and a inverted block of the size defined appears in the upper-left corner of the screen. Move this block (using the arrows) over the wanted part of the screen and press [ENTER]. That portion will then appear in the position of the original block. [R]escan is available in animator mode only. It operates just like the ALT-J animator rescan option, except only the screen in the block is rescaned. The defined block is first erased from the animation sequence, then the contents of the screen are scanned and added onto the sequence. Animation Notes: The [L]oad and [S]ave options are not available. The screen [E]xchange option is not available under the move/copy block commands. TheDraw Page 10 Alt-C: Clear Current Screen This should be a fairly obvious option. You are first prompted to verify the command. If changes have been made to the current image, you are then asked if you want to save the current image. After that, the screen is cleared with the color specified in the following ALT-D command. Animation Notes: All sequences are erased. The default color is NOT used to clear the screen, it is cleared with a black background using the currently defined foreground color. Alt-D: Set Default Background Color The default background is used to 'paint' the entire screen a given color upon invoking the ALT-C command. This color is also used in various block action commands. Any block command which moves or erases text will paint the area cleared with this color. Some commands are: Move, Delete, Erase, Text operations, etc... The same restrictions of colors apply here as to the background colors available in Alt-A. Alt-E: Exchange Edit Screens TheDraw supports the use of two edit screens instead of one. This allows you to load two screens simultaneously and copy/exchange different parts from one to the other (using the block action commands). When you are in the exchange screen, a 'Ex' will appear approximately in the center of the bottom line. Animation Notes: This command is not available. Alt-F: View Function Key Sets This displays on the screen all 10 sets of available special characters. These character sets can be selected in the editor mode by using ALT and pressing a function key 1 to 10. ie: ALT-F1 Selects set #1. ALT-F10 Selects set #10. (The Ctrl and Shift keys used in older versions are no longer supported by TheDraw). TheDraw Page 11 Alt-G: Global Commands Global commands allow quick and dirty changes to the attributes of all characters on the screen. Also, you can copy the current screen into the exchange screen and can "move" the screen around. Upon pressing Alt-G you are shown the following options: [C]opy simply copies the current screen into the exchange screen, or if you're already in the exchange screen into the normal screen. [M]ove allows you to move the screen around. You could duplicate this using the block commands, but this is a faster method. Use the arrows to rotate the screen around and press [ENTER] when you like where it is. [F]ill gives you several additional options. All are related to filling the entire screen with something. [A]ttribute Changes all attributes on the screen to the current ones. [F]ore Changes only the foreground attributes to the current setting. [B]ack Similar to [F]ore except changes the background attributes instead. [U]se Similar to [A]ttribute except it uses the attributes under the cursor when you first pressed ALT-G. [C]haracter Prompts for a symbol, and then fills the screen with that symbol, leaving the attributes unchanged. [B]oth Combines [A]ttribute and [C]haracter. These changes to the global fill attributes options make them compatible with the block action fill commands. This will hopefully make TheDraw easier to learn. TheDraw Page 12 Alt-G: Global Commands (cont): [T]ext allows various operations to be done upon the entire screen. The options are identical to those in the block action Text commands. [B]ox Draws a box around the border of the screen. [O]utline Similar to Box, except this command looks at the text on the screen. Any text on a screen border will prevent a line from being drawn. [C]enter Any text on the screen will be centered. [L]eft Any text on the screen is left justified. [R]ight Similar to above, but right justifies. Animation Notes: The [C]opy and [M]ove commands aren't available. All other commands operate normally, except they only change those characters that are in the animation sequence. Alt-H: Display Help Information This displays a couple of short help screens briefly describing these command options. Note: The registered version of TheDraw supports pop-up help in the ENTIRE program. By typing Alt-H wherever you are stuck, you will be displayed function specific help. Try it, you'll like it! Alt-I: Insert a Line Inserts a line at the current position. The current line and everything below it is shifted down. The bottom line is lost. This command is not reversible, so use it carefully. (Used to be Alt-N in previous versions of TheDraw). TheDraw Page 13 Alt-J: Select Animator Mode This is in effect two functions. When toggling from normal to animator modes, you are prompted as to how TheDraw should enter the screen into the animation sequence. You can control the method of scanning with the following options: [T]op. Scans from the upper-left to lower-right corners of the screen, going across the screen. [B]ottom. Does exactly the opposite to [T]op by scanning from the lower-right corner to the upper-left corners. [L]eft. Similar to the [T]op option, except it scans going down the screen (in vertical line). This option can produce a really interesting effect. [R]ight. Exact opposite of [L]eft, scanning from the lower-right corner to the upper-left, going Up the screen. This option produces even odder effects. [S]cramble. This is definitely a unique feature you won't find anywhere else. This command scans in a completely random order. Makes for either impressive or real funky displays. Animation mode is indicated by the letters 'An' appearing in the middle of the bottom line, and a [0000,5000] structure appearing on the line above. The first number tells you how many characters are entered, and the second how much space is left. If you select the ALT-J function FROM animation mode, you are given these three options instead: [N]ormal will prompt you to verify the command, and then converts the screen into normal Ansi. All animation is lost. [R]escan will simply rescan the screen as specified above. Once you use this command, any previous sequence is lost. [M]ovement toggles whether or not TheDraw stores the movements of the cursor in addition to simply what you type. TheDraw will remember ANYTHING you type or anywhere you move if this option is on. You can tell you are in movement store mode if the 'An' indicator is flashing. Also, of course, the animation entry count will change every time you move. Remember, these options will only appear when you are ALREADY in the animator mode. TheDraw Page 14 Alt-K: Delete a File This option allows you to free up some disk space if the need arises. It displays the current directory so you can easily identify those files which you don't want. Simply type in the appropriate filename and press <enter>. TheDraw then checks to see if the file exists. If it does, you are asked if you really want to delete the file. This is your last chance before you delete something you might regret later. TheDraw Page 15 Alt-L: Load Screen from Disk This allows you to load any ANSI color compatible, ANSI Animation compatible, ASCII text, Binary, or BSave file. The ANSI.SYS driver must be installed to load a ANSI color image. This can be done by adding a 'DEVICE=ANSI.SYS' statement to your CONFIG.SYS file. If you do not have a CONFIG.SYS file, you can create one by typing the following in your root directory: COPY CON CONFIG.SYS<enter> DEVICE=ANSI.SYS<enter> ^Z<enter> If you have a CONFIG.SYS file, append the sequence with: EDLIN CONFIG.SYS<enter> #I<enter> DEVICE=ANSI.SYS<enter> ^Z<enter> E<enter> If the current screen image has not been saved, you are prompted before the load continues. The current directory is displayed for convenience. Simply type in the appropriate filename and press [ENTER]. The file extension ".ANS" is assumed if none is specified. Binary files can only be loaded if they have ".BIN" as a file extension. Similarly, a BSave file must have a ".BSV" extension. You may specify a file without an extension by placing a period as the last character of the filename (ie: TESTFILE. ). Assembler, Pascal, and C files can not be reloaded, except as Ascii text, so keep a binary copy of those screens safely somewhere. Binary and BSave files are loaded as full 25 line images. If you are in normal (23 line) mode the extra lines are stored until you toggle into full screen operation. Only the first 24 lines of Ansi and Ascii files are loaded. Any extra are discarded. TheDraw automatically determines if a Ansi screen is an animator sequence by the following process: If the cursor suddenly moves to a place it normally would never go, it is an animator file. Extremely complex algorithm huh? TheDraw Page 16 Alt-M: Select Draw Mode TheDraw allows the "drawing" of lines very easily, using the characters normally available with the function keys. TheDraw "draws" using the current function-key set of lines. If you do not have a function-key set with lines selected, the first set (single lines) is used. Draw mode is indicated by the word "Draw" at the bottom of the screen. All commands operate normally, and typed characters still appear. The only change is that using the arrow keys makes a line appear in the direction moved. Fun stuff! Note: This command used to be block action commands in earlier versions of TheDraw (see Alt-B). Alt-N: Ruler Guess what this one does. In case you have no idea, cross bars appear intersecting where the cursor currently is located. Move the ruler using the arrow keys. Pressing [ENTER] locks the new location in place. Pressing [ESC] returns you to where you were. Use this command for lining up various lines of text or figures. Alt-O: Change Drive/Sub Directory This command requires the use of DOS 2.0 or higher to operate, and should be appealing to those hard drive users out there. This option allows you to change to a different directory if your need requires it. This is the only way you can change the directory displayed in the Load or View Screen commands. All sub-dirs in the current directory are displayed for you, but you are in no way restricted to using just those. You may enter any valid CHDIR (or CD) command (I am not going to explain the details of sub-directories. Refer to your Dos manual for that). This command, unlike the CHDIR of Dos, allows you to change the current drive. For example, if you were on drive C: in a sub-dir called 'GAMES', you could switch to drive D: sub-dir 'UTILITY' by entering "D:\UTILITY". You could then get back to the 'GAMES' directory by simply entering "C:" (no backslash). TheDraw Page 17 Alt-P: Paint/Fill Commands Never say a computers job is never done. TheDraw allows you to fill boxes and objects with just the attributes, just the character, or both attributes and character that are under the cursor. Objects are defined as any shape made using the function key line sets, or the draw mode. [A]ttribute changes the all attributes (not characters) in the object to the current attributes. [C]haracter first prompts for a character to use. Next it changes all the characters (not attributes) in the object to the one that you specified. [B]oth does both of the above. First it prompts for a character, then paints the area with that character using the current attributes. Painting has been made significantly faster, and the algorithm now works in a more logical fashion. Animation Notes: If using the Character, or Both option then ANY character painted is added to the animation sequence. Any previous characters in the object are not changed. The Attribute function only changes the attributes of characters currently in the animation sequence, with no new characters added. Alt-Q: Redraw Screen This is an animator mode ONLY command. It simply redraws the animation sequence on the screen. You can adjust the speed from 0 (fastest) to 255 (crawl). A value of about 50 is generally a good speed to view at. Be warned that 255 literally is a crawl speed, displaying only about two characters per second. Alt-R: Restore Current Line This allows you to erase any changes made to the current line. If you type something and realize it was in the wrong position, pressing Alt-R will restore the line to its original contents. All changes are permanent once you move to another line however. The command works equally well in either Normal or Animator mode. TheDraw Page 18 Alt-S: Save Screen to Disk This command will save the entire screen to disk in ANSI, ASCII, ASM, Binary, Bsave, Pascal, or C formats. Please note that all color attributes are lost in an ASCII file. ASM produces a list of DB statements for use by assembly language programmers. Binary is simply a straight dump of the screen. Bsave is the same as binary except loading codes for Basic are added at the front. A Pascal file is similar to the ASM output, except it is in a Turbo Pascal compatible 'const' statement (see notes below for programming examples). A C file is again similar to the ASM output, except it uses a modern C compatible variable structure. You are first prompted for which storage format to use. If you select ASCII, you are prompted if you really want a non-color image made before continuing. Selecting ANSI gives you a few more options (all of which will use defaults by pressing [Enter]). If you are in full screen mode, TheDraw first warns you saying line 25 will not be saved. Answer Yes if you wish to continue with the save or No if not. You are next asked how you want the video initially prepared. You can have the screen cleared, the cursor simply homed (returned to upper-left corner of screen), or leave the screen as is. Secondly, you are prompted for the maximum output line length. It is conceivable that TheDraw could generate over 1300 characters for just one line of text (if every character had a differing color combination). If for some reason an external program is to be used, it's doubtful so many characters could be handled (ie: the message entry routine in the RBBS Bulletin board). This option tells TheDraw to limit the output line length, sacrificing display time (because of all the extra codes which must be included). If length is no problem, specify [N]one to make the most efficient file. Lastly, you are prompted for the Ansi display speed. This is a number from 0 to 50, and operates similar to the ALT-Q animator function. This works by adding harmless codes after everything that is displayed. A value of 50 is equivalent to a ALT-Q speed of 255 (extremely slow). A lot of parameters, but it does allow a lot of flexibility in the files you create. TheDraw Page 19 Alt-S: Save Screen to Disk (cont): Selecting Asm, Pascal, or C (abbreviated by APC) gives you some options also. You can specify to Crunch, output only Ascii characters, or dump a normal APC file. Crunching uses a custom method of compressing color changes and strings of identical characters to make the smallest possible file. To display a crunched file you must use the uncruncher routine included separately with TheDraw. The routine includes comments on how to use it. A APC Ascii file is similar to the normal dump except color attributes are not output. Only the characters themselves. The normal file is simply a 4000 byte binary dump of the screen, converted to a assembler/compiler compatible format. Following the above preliminary prompts, you are prompted for a filename. If the file already exists, you are prompted to verify the save. The program assumes the file extensions ".ANS" for ANSI compatible files, ".ASC" for ASCII text files, ".ASM" for assembler files, ".BIN" for binary dumps, ".BSV" for Bsave files, ".PAS" for Pascal files, and ".H" for C files. A file without an extension can be specified by placing a period as the last character of the filename (ie: TESTFILE. ). The screen is then output to disk (assuming a valid filename was entered). Notes: Many people may find their need only requires, say, three or four lines of text or only half the screen. You can have TheDraw output a mini-screen by using the block action save screen command (see Alt-B) instead of this option. Block action commands allow a screen of any dimension from any position on the screen to be saved. BSave files have a restriction however, in that they must be the screen width. This is restriction of Basic, not TheDraw. For suggestions on using the screen files created by TheDraw see the section "Programmers Programming Tips" below. Animation Notes: Animation mode forces the use of ANSI output. TheDraw simply bypasses the first prompt. If you wish to output just copies of what is currently on the screen, you must convert the screen to a normal file using the Alt-J command. TheDraw Page 20 Alt-T: Tab Setup This command allows you to specify at what positions you want the [TAB] key to stop at. Initially the positions are at every tenth column. You can [S]et additional ones, [C]lear a setting, [R]eset the tab line to the initial settings, [E]rase all tab settings, or set tab points at every [I]ncremented position. With the incremented option, you are prompted for a step size. From the current position, every nth location is set. This allows you to quickly specify, say every fourth position if your need requires it. Press [ESC] to exit this mode. Alt-U: Use Colors under Cursor This commands provides a convenient way of changing the current color attributes to those under the cursor. Alt-V: View a Screen This command allows you to look at another image from disk without erasing the current one. You might use this in conjunction with the data import function in the block action commands. It works similar to the load screen command (Alt-L) except the image is not stored. Once the image is displayed you must press <Enter> to return. Otherwise the prompt disappears so you can view the entire image. After about 30 secs, the prompt reappears to remind you that you are still viewing a file. This command can also use this to verify that a save was done properly. Simply view the file after saving it. If you EVER discover TheDraw did not do it right, please send a little card describing the problem in detail. If you're the first to report a particular error, you'll be credited in the revision history below. Thanks! TheDraw Page 21 Alt-W: Edit Character This is an animator ONLY function. Since overwrite doesn't exist in Animator mode (because anything typed over a character is simply added onto the sequence), a command for overwriting had to be added. After pressing Alt-W you are prompted to type a new character. ALL commands including arrow keys, are deactivated except for the color attribute function (Alt-A) and Ctrl-Arrow keys. Alt-X: Exit TheDraw This should be obvious. You are prompted to verify before leaving the program. Alt-Y: Delete Current Line Should be an obvious command. Everything below the current line is shifted up one position. The bottom line is left cleared. This command is not reversible, so use it carefully. Alt-Z: Erase Cursor Character This is akin to typing a space in normal mode over something you don't want. Alt-Z erases the top-most character from the animation sequence at the current cursor position. TheDraw Page 22 Alt-= Toggle Macro Learn Mode (available in registered version only) This function allows you to teach TheDraw a new macro sequence. You are prompted for which key to program (0-9), and that's it. From this point on, anything you type will be stored. When you are satisfied with what you've typed, using Alt-= again will save the macro. To use the macros just type Alt followed by a number key 0 through 9 (NOT the ones on the keypad). That's all there is to macros. Enjoy! Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-Down Arrow: Foreground Color Change This command is a convenient way of adjusting the current foreground color. By pressing Ctrl-Up (increment color) or Ctrl- Down (decrement color) and watching the word "color" at the bottom of the screen, you can select the color you want. You might find this more useful than the Alt-A command. Notes: TheDraw has a special keyboard driver program installed to handle these keys. If they aren't working on your machine run the SETUP.COM utility and configure TheDraw to your keyboard. Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right Arrow: Background Color Change This command works identically to the above option except it changes the background color instead of the foreground. Use Ctrl-Right to increment the color and Ctrl-Left to decrement it. Shift-Space: Solid Space Character With the addition of moving blocks UNDER other objects, the need for a non-transparent space became apparent. This command fills the need. When you move the cursor onto a Solid space, the current background color will flicker as an indicator. A Solid space is nothing more than the code #255 (which is a blank IBM graphics character). TheDraw Page 23 Ctrl-PrtSc: Full Screen Mode Toggle This key sequence toggles the screen mode TheDraw operates in. Either 23 line (normal) or 25 line (full-screen) mode. Normal mode is simply what TheDraw always has been up until now. Full- Screen mode makes heavy use of pop up windows for prompts and messages. While useful, it can be awkward since YOU must remember where you are at all times. For instance, block marking and etc... It is easy to become confused unless you are careful. If all else fails, hit ESC a few times to abort the current command. Some people may prefer this mode which is fine. Nothing forces you to use either mode for anything. Ctrl-PrtSc only operates from command mode. It is not available under any sub commands (such as Block, Global, etc...). There are no restrictions on full screen use in animation modes. TheDraw Page 24 Programmers Programming Tips: This section is for those people interested in using TheDraw for their programs. Effort was put into TheDraw to make it a convenient utility. Assembler programmers will find the file in standard data byte format, using the DB operator. Asm files can have varying sizes depending upon the APC save mode used. Dimensions and length of the save are displayed at the top of all assembler dumps. If you Crunched the screen, you will have to use the uncruncher routine provided in ASM source code. Register requirements are documented in the file. APC Ascii files must be read as bytes and saved on the screen as words. This can be achieved using LODSB and STOSW instructions. LODSB loads into AL the character. You store into AH the attributes to display with. STOSW then writes the two bytes onto the screen. A normal 4000 byte dump is the easiest to display, using the REP MOVSB instruction. To display the image, point the ES:DI pair to B800:0000 (for color screens) and DS:SI to the screen in your program. Also load CX with the number of bytes to display (4000). Monochrome screens are based at segment B000. Direct display onto the screen will cause snow on some color videos, so you may want to move the screen a word at a time only when the video is in a vertical retrace. Vertical retrace can be detected at I/O address 3DA by testing bit 3 of that location. Pascal programmers have similar ease with bringing in a screen normal screen. You can also flash the image in a similar fashion to the Asm program using the Move procedure. Define a variable at the absolute address of the screen. ie: type ScreenType = array [0..3999] of Byte; var Screen : ScreenType absolute $B800:0000; The importance of defining such an array will become obvious below. Next do a move similar to: Move (ScreenImage,Screen,4000); Assuming ScreenImage is the name of the pascal image dump. This is only for a full screen. To display a screen block is slightly more difficult. We must use a loop and move a line at a time in this case. ie: for X := 1 to Depth do Move (ScreenImage[(X-1)*Width*2],Screen[X*160+Offset],Width*2); TheDraw Page 25 Programmers Programming Tips (cont): Depth is the number of lines in the block, and width is the number of characters across the block. This moves a line from ScreenImage to the video at a given Offset one line at a time. The address in ScreenImage is advanced to the location of the next line in each loop, with the video address advance 160 characters each time (the true width of the video). Turbo Pascal users also have another interesting option. You can include a .BIN file into a turbo program and then display it using the above techniques. Define a dummy external procedure using the name of the .BIN file. ie: procedure DummyProc; external 'DEMO.BIN'; begin end; This makes the binary file part of your pascal program. Next, you must set a pointer variable to the address of that procedure. ie: (assuming DummyPtr : ^ScreenType); DummyPtr := Ptr(CSeg,Ofs(DummyProc)); The last part is simple. All we have to do now is replace all references in the above examples to ScreenImage with DummyPtr^. Don't forget the up arrow symbol at the end (otherwise you'll get some interesting results). ie: Move (DummyPtr^,Screen,4000); It can be fun to play around with this concept, all you have to do is be careful with the pointers. Use of crunched files requires use of the UNCRUNCH procedure included with TheDraw. See the file for details on its use. APC Ascii files can be displayed similar to strings and the like. Basic programmers are a little more limited, not because of lack of commands, but lack of speed. Therefore TheDraw creates the BSave files with all addressing information already programmed. All you have to do is type BLOAD "filename.BSV". The screen segment is automatically set, so you don't have to bother with DEF SEG=etc... TheDraw allows partial block saves for basic meaning the blocks must be 80 characters wide. This is a limitation of BLOAD which we all must live with. They can start and end at any line however, so you could load a full screen then just load small block images to update those parts of the screen needing it. Make sure you build the partial-block images in TheDraw in the exact screen location you want them to finally appear. If you save a block starting on line 5, and ending on line 8 that's where it appears in Basic. If you figure out any more ideas for this section, or have suggestions for me to work on I'd be glad to hear about them! TheDraw Page 26 R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y 05/01/86 - Version 1.00 Program completed. 05/05/86 - Version 1.01 Carl Ehmann noticed a glitch in text creation that caused highlighting and blinking attributes changes to go unnoticed. This has been corrected. 06/05/86 - Version 1.02 Steven Mills discovered a bug in the file loading routine that caused TheDraw to flag valid filenames as invalid. It has been squashed. Changed the program to not allow the user to enter a code #26 or code #27 into a text screen. A code #26 is the Dos end of file marker, and entering it means loss of all following text upon displaying the file or reloading it back into TheDraw. A code #27 is the ANSI driver signal character. Supposedly ANSI ignores invalid sequences, but allowing the code created "false" ANSI codes which caused loading problems. 07/31/86 - Version 1.03 Upon prompting from Carl Ehmann, output line length limiting has been added. This will facilitate other programs which cannot load lines conceivably going over 1300 characters (such as RBBS). Color changes can now be accomplished using the Ctrl-Left and Right arrow keys to increment the fore and background colors respectively. 08/15/86 - Version 1.10 (later changed to v2.00) Changes in a big way. New features include: ANSI Animation, Line Drawing, Ruler, movement of blocks UNDER other text and much more!! Quick color change keys have been expanded to use the Ctrl-Up, Down, Left, and Right keys in a more logical manner. 09/13/86 - Version 2.01 A few more enhancements to TheDraw. Pop-Up help, and macros have been added to the registered version of the program. Also a few aspects of the animation editor have been sped up. TheDraw Page 27 R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y (cont): 09/19/86 - Version 2.02 Fixed a slight bug which was causing TheDraw to display the wrong Help Screen (in registered version). Also, the registered version wasn't keeping track of where its overlay was. 09/27/86 - Version 2.03 Carl Ehmann noticed yet another glitch (what would I do without him?). The Ascii save routine was using ANSI codes to advance the cursor to the next line. 11/28/86 - Version 2.04 Ray Buti discovered a oddity with the Pascal screen save. If you used a single quote "'" TheDraw didn't compensate for it. Therefore when Turbo Pascal compiled that screen it complained. Ray also noticed that characters under #32 were missing the "#" required by Turbo. These have both been cured. In addition, the animation load routine has been made more reliable. Occasionally movement just involving the cursor (no text) would be lost. Other improvements were made to make animation screen files smaller and display faster. 03/06/87 - Version 2.10 Support for monochrome monitors has finally been added. Don't ask why I never did it before... The glitches Paul Pacter (and many other people) found with IBM PC Ctrl-Up/Down keys has been eliminated. I would have never noticed that glitch, so many thanks! Kent Godding made an excellent suggestion for a ansi-file slow down routine. This has been added. Lastly, a few changes were made to the command structure to clarify things and many prompts were cleaned up. 06/20/87 - Version 2.20 BSave saves fixed to operate properly for monochrome monitors. Ansi files now output <esc>[40m color sequences now to clear screen to black color before doing anything else. Thanks to Barry Simon for bringing this oversight to my attention and also suggesting command line filespecs. Some new items were added, most notably full screen editing. Thank Ray Buti for finally bugging me enough to add it. Also extended options for Asm, Pascal, and new C storage modes to crunch and store only Ascii in addition to the original normal (4000 byte) mode. Thanks to Douglas A. Nicklow for suggesting the C storage capacity. TheDraw Page 28 R E V I S I O N H I S T O R Y (cont): 07/02/87 - Version 2.21 I missed a minor glitch in the registered version. TheDraw wasn't using the overlay path entered by the Setup utility when initializing. In addition, using a command line filespec sometimes loaded a Ansi or Ascii image with a random background color. Needless to say, both problems have been fixed. TheDraw Page 29 T H E F U T U R E I have absolutely no idea... I've finally run out of ideas for TheDraw. Perhaps some additional animation routines to jazz things up here and there. We'll see won't we <grin>. Send in your ideas, suggestions, criticisms and bug reports. Report something first and be immortalized in the docs of TheDraw! TheDraw Page 30 R E G I S T R A T I O N Registering for any TheSoft product (that OFFERS a registered version) is simple. Just send a note or a title screen printer dump with your name, address, program version, and a check with the requested amount (minimum). You will receive your copy promptly, and will be notified of any future TheSoft products! What you receive is a disk with the latest versions of both the Registered and Public Domain copies of that program and some demo files (if applicable) all with documentation. NOTES: Users who contributed to TheSoft -before- the registered version of TheDraw was made available, can register by simple sending the difference to make up the $10 (generally another $5). Be SURE to indicate your previous contribution somehow to avoid confusion. D I S K U P D A T E S E R V I C E Users who have Registered may upgrade to the latest version of TheDraw by sending in their TheDraw ORIGINAL DISK, along with $5 (service and handling) and a note explaining the wanted upgrade. On the note include your serial number (found on the diskette) and the address you want the disk sent to. You must send the registered program diskette, otherwise I reserve the right to refuse the update. The original disk must have the registered version of TheDraw on it. The disk will be reformatted and the Master copied onto it. Any disk in poor condition will be replaced by TheSoft. If the serial number is missing or the diskette does not contain the registered version of TheDraw, I reserve the right to deny the update (disk will be returned unchanged). There is bound to be someone out there saying other people give free updates to their programs. I agree, they do. They also charge $50 or more when you register (those I've seen). If somebody sends me $50 for TheDraw, I'll gladly send them free updates. If somebody sends me $5000, I'll gladly send them a computer to use the free updates on (kidding). TheDraw Page 31 W A R R A N T Y TheDraw is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied. This includes the fitfulness to a particular purpose or application. While we tried to be as thorough as possible while debugging TheDraw, we claim no responsibility for any losses incurred alleged to be caused by use of the program. If you have a problem with TheDraw please feel free to write and describe the situation. To those people who have registered, the physical diskette is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 30 days from date of shipment (by TheSoft Programming). Any returned disks found bad will be replaced at no charge. L I C E N S E You are free to use, copy, and distribute the PUBLICLY AVAILABLE version of TheDraw to others so long as: 1) No fee is charged for its use. 2) No fee is charged for copying or distribution over the amount of $6 (plus any mailing charges). This does not apply to computer access charges the system operators of or organizations owning bulletin board systems, online services, etc... may or may not charge subscribers. 3) It has not been modified in ANY way. The REGISTERED version of TheDraw may not be given out or distributed. Doing so deprives TheSoft Programming and besides, is a violation of federal copyright laws. TheDraw Page 32 C O M M E N T S Please consider the donation of $10 (or any amount). Quality software at good prices is difficult to find these days. We at TheSoft Programming Services firmly believe in and support the concept of shareware products, and hopefully you do also. Please make any checks out to TheSoft Programming Services. If you have any requests, comments or suggestions for TheDraw, please send them to: TheSoft Programming Services c/o Ian Davis - TheDraw 1929 Whitecliff Court Walnut Creek, Ca, 94596. Thanks for your support! TheDraw Page 33