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ShortCut Version 1.12 Mossy Rock Systems By Dana S. Jeffries P. O. Box 420876 Sacramento, Ca. 95841 (c) Copyright Mossy Rock Systems 1985 All Rights Reserved ShortCut Version 1.12 Mossy Rock Systems (c) Copyright Mossy Rock Systems 1985 All Rights Reserved Unmodified copies of the ShortCut distribution diskette containing both the program ShortCut and this documentation may be copied and shared. User groups may charge a fee not to exceed $7.50 to distribute the program and documentation. No one else may charge a fee. If any business organization distributes unregistered copies of ShortCut, the recipients of the program must be told that their copy is not yet registered. Permission to use the program ShortCut is granted for a short period of time for examination. If you find ShortCut useful, license full use of your copy of ShortCut by sending $25.00 to Mossy Rock Systems. Licensed personal users of ShortCut may use it on any machine, but only on one machine at a time. Business users may license use of ShortCut on all machines in their possession at a fee of $50.00 for each increment of three machines. Contact us if you desire any other arrangement. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES The author of ShortCut has taken considerable time and care preparing the program and documentation, including research, program development, and testing to ensure their correctness. The author makes no express or implied warranty of any kind in regards to the program or the documentation. In no event shall the author be held liable for damages in connection with the use of this program. Much of the infor- mation on the operation of DOS and COMMAND.COM has been gathered through experimentation and may be somewhat machine specific. PC-DOS and IBM are Registered Trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation MS and Microsoft are Registered Trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Sidekick is a Trademark of Borland International Inc. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page AN INTRODUCTION TO SHORTCUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 LEARNING HOW TO USE SHORTCUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 STARTING SHORTCUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 MOVING AROUND THE SHORTCUT SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . 6 THE DIRECTORY WINDOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 LIMIT ON DIRECTORY WINDOW ENTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . 9 MARKING FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CHANGING SUBDIRECTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 DISPLAY DRIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 DEFAULT DRIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SORT ON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 TOGGLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 SAVING YOUR PRESENT CONFIGURATION OF SHORTCUT . . . . . 17 COMMAND BAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 SHORTCUT COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 CMND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 RUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 COPY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 EDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 TYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 PRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ERASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 MKDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 RENAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 VOLUME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 QUIT! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 REDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 DATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 iii TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 BREAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 RMDIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 VERIFY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 FOR REGISTERED USERS ONLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 iv AN INTRODUCTION TO SHORTCUT ShortCut is a RAM resident program that interfaces with DOS and gives you access to many DOS functions with a minimum of keystrokes. Several of the functions ShortCut offers work on multiple files, thus saving you keystrokes and time. Although ShortCut is useful for all systems, it really shines when used with a fixed disk because it greatly simplifies the handling of subdirectories and files. No longer will you have to type in file or subdirectory names. With ShortCut you just point at what you want with the screen arrow and hit the Space Bar. The ShortCut screen continuously displays the current directory or subdirectory along with other disk and machine information. You can perform actions on any of these displayed files by pointing the screen arrow at the file you want and pressing the Space Bar to "mark" it, and then selecting your desired command from the Command Bar and pressing the Enter key. ShortCut will also let you mark more than one file before you give a command. For example, if you want to copy several files to another drive or subdirectory, you can mark all of them and then use the COPY command just once. ShortCut will copy all of your marked files, one after another. In addition to simplifying file operations, ShortCut has several other features. You can easily change the system time or date, change a disk volume label, execute a program, access your favorite text editor or word processor with just a couple of keystrokes, sort the displayed files on the screen in several ways, make and remove directories, format a disk, and more. ShortCut also allows you to see current information on the disk and computer you are using at a glance. 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ShortCut requires the following: * IBM-PC, IBM-PC/XT, IBM-PCjr, or true compatible * 80 column display * minimum of 128K of memory * PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 2.xx or greater * 1 disk drive ShortCut uses about 47K of memory. If you are using a 128K machine using DOS 2.0, you will have about 55K of free memory (less on the PCjr). Some of the features of ShortCut are not available from DOS; therefore, ShortCut must use actual memory addresses. This may hinder its operation on machines that are not truly compatible. ShortCut runs on single and dual floppy disk drive systems, but it is designed to be particularly useful for machines using fixed disks. LEARNING HOW TO USE SHORTCUT Because ShortCut offers you so many features, it may be confusing to sit down and read through this entire manual from start to finish. We suggest you learn ShortCut bit by bit. We have divided the information you need to know into four lessons. You may proceed through them at whatever pace feels comfortable to you. We feel the best way to learn is to start ShortCut up and work with it while you are reading through these pages. You might want to try out some of the commands on diskette files that you no longer need. That way you can create and remove directories, erase and rename files, etc. without fear of harming data important to you. Within each lesson plan listed below, you will see section names to read followed by numbers. These numbers refer to the paragraph numbering system that begins after this section. Each number refers to a specific paragraph. You should read those paragraphs referred to by the numbers for each lesson, but it is not necessary to read the whole section in every case. Some information will not be neces- sary at the time, but will be picked up in a later lesson. Lesson 1 contains a lot of material that is important to understand before you go on. Pay particular attention to the section called the Directory Window. This is the core of ShortCut and you must have a good understanding of how it works to use the program effectively. 2 LESSON 1 Starting ShortCut 1 - 6 Moving Around the ShortCut Screen 7 - 11 Directory Window 12 - 18 Marking Files 20 - 22 Changing Subdirectories 24 - 25 Display Drive 26 - 28 Sort On 31 - 34 Additional Info. Displayed 35 - 38 Toggles 40 - 43 Command Bar 51 - 55 ERASE 77 - 78 RENAME 81 VOLUME 84 FORMAT 112 - 113 DATE 89 TIME 90 RUN 61 - 63 COPY 64 - 69 QUIT! 87 LESSON 2 Toggles 44 - 47 Saving Your Present Configuration 48 - 50 Marking Files 23 EDIT 70 - 71 PRINT 74 - 76 SETUP 93 - 106 LESSON 3 Default Drive 29 - 30 MKDIR 79 - 80 RMDIR 107 - 109 TYPE 72 - 73 CMND 56 - 60 LESSON 4 Limit on Directory Window Entries 19 PATH 85 - 86 RENAME 82 - 83 REDO 88 Additional Info. Displayed 39 BREAK 91 - 92 VERIFY 110 - 111 3 STARTING SHORTCUT 1. Before using ShortCut for the first time, you need to make a working copy. To do this, insert your DOS diskette in drive A and type "A:DISKCOPY A: B:" (without the quotes) and hit the Enter key. Insert the ShortCut distribution diskette in drive A and a blank diskette in drive B. If your system has only a single floppy diskette drive, you will need to follow the DOS prompts. The ShortCut distribution diskette will be the source diskette, and the blank diskette will be the target diskette. Press any key to begin the copying process. When you are through copying ShortCut, put your ShortCut distribution diskette away in a safe place. Use it to make additional working copies and copies to share with others. 2. ShortCut is a RAM resident program that must be started from COMMAND.COM as it attaches itself to COMMAND.COM and intercepts all calls to fill COMMAND.COM's input buffer. In other words, ShortCut replaces the normal DOS command line prompt (A> on drive A) with the display of its own screen instead. To start up ShortCut, first boot up your system using DOS. Type "SHORTCUT" (without the quotes) and press the Enter key. If ShortCut is not on the default drive, don't forget to include the drive specifier. ShortCut's screen will appear on your monitor. 3. If you are using a monochrome monitor with a graphics board, before you bring up ShortCut, run the DOS program MODE.COM to set the screen to 80 columns in black and white. The command to give is: MODE BW80 4. ShortCut must be the last RAM resident program you load. If you use Sidekick, you know that Borland suggests that Sidekick be loaded last. However, ShortCut and Sidekick will not work together properly unless ShortCut is loaded last. You can then use Sidekick along with ShortCut by bringing up Sidekick in the usual manner, although Sidekick does take a bit longer to respond. Continue to hold down the proper keys until it appears on your screen. 5. Since ShortCut will now stay in your computer's memory until the computer is turned off, rebooted, or you exit from ShortCut, you will no longer need the ShortCut diskette. You may want one file, SHORTCUT.DAT, found on the ShortCut diskette, however, if you want to 4 save your present configuration. See SAVING YOUR PRESENT CONFIGURATION OF SHORTCUT for further informa- tion on this. 6. If you have followed these directions, you should be looking at the ShortCut screen. The Directory Window on the left side displays the files on the drive from which ShortCut was started. 5 MOVING AROUND THE SHORTCUT SCREEN 7. In the Directory Window on the left side of the screen you will see a small arrow which we will call the screen arrow from now on. Learning to move the screen arrow around the screen is not difficult, but it will be easiest if you actually try it out while reading these directions. You can move the screen arrow to five different places on the screen using the keyboard cursor keys. 8. Within the Directory Window you can move the screen arrow up or down using the up and down arrow cursor keys. If you press the right arrow cursor key from anywhere in the Directory Window, the screen arrow will jump up and over to the additional file information box to the right of the EXT header for the Directory Window. From this box, pressing the right arrow cursor key again will move the screen arrow right to the Display box, and pressing the left arrow cursor key will move it back to the Directory Window. From the Display drive box you can move the screen arrow in any of three directions. The up arrow cursor key will move it up to the additional file information box, the down arrow cursor key will move it to the Default drive box, and the left arrow cursor key will move it directly back to the Directory Window. From the Default drive box you can move the screen arrow back up to the Display drive box, down to the Sort On box, or left to the Directory Window. Finally, from the Sort On box you can move the screen arrow back up to the Default drive box or left to the Directory Window once again. 9. A quick way to move from the Directory Window to the Sort On box is to press the Ctrl - right arrow cursor keys. 10. Don't worry about moving in a wrong direction. ShortCut will beep at you if you make a mistake. 11. At the bottom of the ShortCut screen you will find the Command Bar. You cannot move the screen arrow itself to the Command Bar but you do need to access the Command Bar to use the commands on it. To do this, use the function keys or shifted function keys. Pressing any of these keys will highlight one of the commands on the Command Bar. You can move left or right to other commands with the left or right arrow cursor keys. Pressing the Esc key will cancel the Command Bar selection any time before you hit the Enter key. See the COMMAND BAR section for more information about getting to and moving along the Command Bar. 6 THE DIRECTORY WINDOW 12. The heart of ShortCut is the Directory Window. Whenever a file is displayed here, you can perform actions on it using the features of ShortCut. The Directory Window always displays what we will call the Current Displayed Directory. The path that DOS used to reach this subdirectory is the first thing that is displayed in the Directory Window. The window lists the root directory at the top and each subdirectory displayed after the root is the next step in the path through which DOS must travel to reach your Current Displayed Directory. The Current Displayed Directory is always highlighted. The disk volume label will occupy the root directory slot if a volume label exists. If it does not, the first entry will say NO LABEL. All files contained in the Current Displayed Directory are listed following the current path. If the Current Displayed Directory has any subdirectories belonging to it, then these are shown after the last file entry. This separation of the subdirectories belonging to the current path and the subdirectories belonging to the Current Displayed Directory by the files should help you see clearly where you are. You always know that all the subdirectories displayed at the top of the Directory Window are part of the path that got you to the Current Displayed Directory which will be highlighted. All subdirectories displayed at the bottom of the Directory Window are branches from the Current Displayed Directory. 13. Let's see what all this means. Suppose your Directory Window displays the following: FILENAME EXT DATE FIXED DISK <ROOT DIR> root directory as volume label LEVEL1 a subdirectory of the root LEVEL2 a subdirectory of LEVEL1 SHORTCUT DOC 4-16-1985 a file in subdirectory LEVEL2 SHORTCUT DAT 3-27-1985 a file in subdirectory LEVEL2 SHORTCUT EXE 5-13-1985 a file in subdirectory LEVEL2 WILDTIME TXT 11-22-1984 a file in subdirectory LEVEL2 LEVEL3A a subdirectory of LEVEL2 LEVEL3B a subdirectory of LEVEL2 Fig. 1 14. The entry LEVEL2 will appear high- lighted on your monitor, as it is the Current Displayed 7 Directory. The first three entries represent a subdirectory path equivalent to the DOS path \FIXED DISK\LEVEL1\LEVEL2. The four files are contained in the Current Displayed Directory. Following these are subdirectories belonging to the Current Displayed Directory, LEVEL2. Figure 2 shows another way to visualize this path as a tree. FIXED DISK | LEVEL1 | LEVEL2 | ------------------------------ | | LEVEL3A LEVEL3B Fig. 2 15. Note that there is ALWAYS only one path back to the root directory from whatever subdirectory you are in, but there may be any number of paths leaving from your Current Displayed Directory. 16. Since only 16 files and subdirectories may be shown at one time in the Directory Window, you need a way to see the rest. You can do this by using the up and down arrow cursor keys, or the Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys. The up and down arrow cursor keys move the screen arrow up or down and will cause the window to scroll up or down when you try to move above the first or last entry appearing in the Directory Window. The End key will position the Directory Window and the screen so that the screen arrow is pointing at the last file or subdirectory. The Home key will position the Directory Window and the screen arrow so that the screen arrow points at the root directory. The PgUp and PgDn keys will scroll the Directory Window around the screen arrow. 17. ShortCut provides a File Locate feature that gives you a quick way to position the screen arrow near any file you want. Press ALT-L, and ShortCut will prompt you for the first letter of the filename. As soon as you type your letter, ShortCut will sort the files in the Directory Window so that they are in alphabetical order by filename. The files beginning with the letter you selected will be at the top of the window. If the screen arrow was in the Directory Window when you hit ALT-L, it will be pointing to the first filename 8 beginning with the letter you wanted. You can use File Locate with any ShortCut command. If you hit ALT-L and change your mind, hit the Esc key and the files will not be resorted and a search will not occur. See SORT ON for information on how this feature works if your files are sorted by EXTension. 18. Besides file names, their extensions, and sub- directories that you can see all of the time, ShortCut can display the date a file was created or last edited, the time of day the file was created or edited, and the size of the file in bytes. Because of the Directory Window size, only one piece of this additional file information can be shown at any one time. The current piece of information shown is displayed to the right of the EXT header and is highlighted. Moving the screen arrow to this area will allow the type of information displayed to be changed. The choices are DATE, TIME, and SIZE. Select the one you want by pressing the first letter (either upper or lower case) of your choice. You may also press the Space Bar and rotate through all of the selections. LIMIT ON DIRECTORY WINDOW ENTRIES 19. To save memory, the number of slots available for file and subdirectory names in the Directory Window has been limited to 150, excluding the root directory. If more entries exist, only the first 150 will be displayed by ShortCut. If you have need to display more than 150 entries and you are a registered user, you may request a copy of ShortCut that will permit as many entries as you want. Keep in mind that each additional slot for a Directory Window entry will take up 24 bytes of RAM. 9 MARKING FILES 20. Certain commands on the Command Bar at the bottom of the screen can operate on multiple files. These commands are: COPY, PRINT, ERASE, RENAME, and PRINT. Before giving these commands, you must tell ShortCut which files you wish to have the command act on by "marking" the files. 21. Marking files is easy. Simply point the screen arrow at the file you wish to mark and press the Space Bar. The filename will become highlighted to indicate that it has been "marked". ShortCut always checks to see that the file still exists on the display drive prior to marking it. If ShortCut does not find the file, it assumes the disk has been changed, it will display a message, and then it will get the new disk directory. 22. If you make an error while marking files, pressing the Space Bar when the screen arrow points at a marked file will unmark it. ShortCut removes the file name from its list of marked files, and you will see the file name return to the normal color. You may unmark all marked files by moving the screen arrow to the Current Displayed Directory entry and pressing the Space Bar. This has the effect of getting a fresh copy of the directory with all marking removed. 23. The EDIT command is the only file command that will work on only one marked file. If more than one file is marked, only the first file will be sent to the editor. See the section on EDIT for more information. 10 CHANGING SUBDIRECTORIES 24. Changing the Current Displayed Directory is easy. Point the screen arrow at the desired subdirec- tory and press the Space Bar. This subdirectory will then become the Current Displayed Directory, and therefore, it will be highlighted. Any subdirectory that appears in the Directory Window can become the Current Displayed Directory in this manner. 25. If the subdirectory you wish to make the Current Displayed Directory is not on the current Display drive, you must move the screen arrow to the box marked Display by using the cursor keys. Choose the drive you wish to see displayed in the Directory Window by pressing the letter corresponding to that drive. You can then move the screen arrow back to the Directory Window with the left arrow cursor key. As before, move the screen arrow to your desired subdirectory and make it the Current Displayed Directory by pressing the Space Bar. DISPLAY DRIVE 26. The Display drive box marked Display shows the drive that you have selected to be displayed in the Directory Window. When you first bring up ShortCut, this will be the default drive, but you can change it to any drive on your system. The selected drive is shown in the Display drive box as a highlighted capital letter. 27. All of ShortCut's commands that work on files operate on the drive that has been designated as the Display drive. This does not apply to the CMND command because it is a direct interface with COMMAND.COM and bypasses ShortCut's functions. The CMND command uses the default drive. 28. To select the drive to be displayed, once you are in the Display drive box, you need only press the letter of the drive you wished displayed (A for drive A, B for drive B, etc.). The letter may be typed in either uppercase or lowercase. The Space Bar will rotate through all of the choices. For example, if you press the Space Bar when drive A is currently selected, drive B will be displayed in the Directory Window. ShortCut will not switch to a drive that does not exist on your system. If you press the Space Bar when you are on the highest lettered drive on your system, ShortCut will switch back to drive A. The total number of drives on 11 your system is displayed in the Equipment Installed box on the right side of the screen. This is the number of drives known by DOS and it will include all floppy drives, fixed disks, and RAM disks. If your system has more than 4 drives, the drives above drive D can not be accessed. Registered users can request a version of ShortCut capable of addressing more than 4 drives. DEFAULT DRIVE 29. This is the drive used by DOS as the default. DOS searches for a file on the default drive if the filename is not prefixed with a drive specifier. (Starting with DOS version 2.0, DOS also searches for files along the specified path. See your DOS manual.) ShortCut does not use the default drive as most of its commands work on the Current Displayed Directory and it will preface the commands it sends to DOS with the correct letter automatically. If you use the CMND command, you are actually bypassing ShortCut and using DOS. DOS will use your default drive to search for files if you do not specify a drive. ShortCut's FORMAT and EDIT commands are exceptions to this rule, so be sure to read the discussions of these commands. 30. The drive selected as the default drive is shown by a highlighted capital letter in the box marked Default. To change which drive DOS will use as the default drive, move to the this box using the cursor keys. Press the letter of the drive you want, or press the Space Bar. Using the Space Bar will cause the next higher lettered drive to become the default drive. If there are no higher lettered drives on your system, then drive A becomes the default drive. ShortCut has a limit of 4 drives. If your system has more than 4 drives, you may request a version of ShortCut capable of addressing more drives if you are a registered user. 12 SORT ON 31. The files in the Directory Window may be displayed sorted or unsorted. By default, the files will be unsorted, which means they will be displayed in the order in which they are found on the disk drive. You may choose to sort the files by NAME, TIME, SIZE, or EXTension, in either ascending (As) or descending (Ds) order. When the files are sorted by TIME, they are first sorted by their dates, and then by the time on that date. Files sorted by EXTension are first sorted by extension, then by filename. 32. To select the field to SORT ON, move the screen arrow to the SORT ON box and press the first letter of the sort type desired: N for NAME, E for EXTension, T for TIME, S for SIZE, and U for UNSORTed. In addition, press A for ascending (As) sorts and D for descending (Ds) sorts. The letter pressed may be in either uppercase or lowercase. Pressing the Space Bar will also switch the SORT ON mode to the next mode in a daisy chain manner. 33. When you use File Find (ALT-L) to search for filenames beginning with a letter you specify, ShortCut will resort the displayed filenames by NAME in ascending order. If the files were sorted by TIME, or SIZE, or they were UNSORTED or sorted by NAME in descending order, you will see a change in the SORT ON box when you use this feature. 34. If, however, the filenames are sorted by their EXTensions when you press ALT-L, enter the letter of the EXTension type you wish to find. ShortCut will place the filenames with the first letter of their extensions matching your letter at the top of the Directory Window. This will help you find the file type you want very quickly. 13 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DISPLAYED 35. ShortCut displays additional information that will be of general use to you. You can find information relating to the current Display drive located near the top center of the screen. This information includes the total amount of bytes available on the disk, the number of bytes being used, and the number of bytes still free for your use. ShortCut also shows you the total number of files in your Current Displayed Directory along with the number of user files (read/write or read only files), and the number of hidden files. 36. Below this information ShortCut displays how much total memory is available for your computer system and the amount of this memory that is still free for future use. 37. Beneath the memory status information you will see four boxes. Three of these boxes show the states of various modes which are related to the Command Bar. These modes are VERIFY, BREAK, and PAUSE. The fourth box indicates which type of monitor card you are using to drive your monitor, a monochrome or color card. 38. The right hand column displays the date and time. Below this is some information about your system's configuration. Among this information is the number of disk drives on your system. This is the number of drives that are known to DOS and that can differ from your computer's equipment switch setting if you are using an XT or RAM disks. If your system has a single floppy drive, the number of disks will be shown as two drives. This allows for the copying of files using just the one drive. The system configuration information also shows you the number of parallel and serial ports, whether a game port exists, and the version of DOS you are using. 39. There is one other small bit of information that is quickly displayed at the time you bring up ShortCut or after you give the REDO command. ShortCut reads the machine identification byte located at the top of the ROM BIOS as well as the copyright date in the ROM BIOS and displays this information on the message line of the screen very briefly. This information does not exist on some non-IBM machines, but this will not interfere with the operation of the program as it is a read only operation. In this case, ShortCut might display a bunch of meaningless junk. This information is displayed for only a fraction of a second, so you must be quick if you hope to see it. 14 TOGGLES 40. The boxes called toggles reflect the condition of a few of the keyboard modes of your computer. These keyboard mode indicators are CAPS, NUM, PRN, INS, SCRL LOCK. If the condition is active, the name will be highlighted and capitalized. If it is not, the name will appear in the same color as the frame and in small letters. 41. When the CAPS mode is on, all letters entered at the keyboard are converted to capital letters. If the INS indicator is on, then the characters entered are inserted into the internal buffer at the current position and any characters originally there are pushed to the right. The CMND command resets this indicator to off, but restores its original condition when the command is completed. You can toggle the CAPS mode on and off by pressing the Caps Lock key, and you can do the same with the INS mode with the Ins key. 42. The NUM indicator shows the condition of the numeric input pad. If the indicator is on, a key pressed on the numeric pad will cause a number to be entered. If the NUM indicator is off, then the cursor keys will be active. To toggle the NUM mode on or off, press the Num Lock key. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! The NUM indicator must be off in order to ! ! move the screen arrow and to move among the ! ! boxes on the Command Bar. ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 43. Pressing ALT-P will toggle the PAUSE mode on or off. Whenever ShortCut sends a command to DOS or runs a program, the ShortCut screen disappears and the normal DOS output is displayed. When DOS completes its job, the ShortCut screen reappears. If the command or program uses screen output as in a DIR command, or perhaps as a result of running CHKDSK.COM, the screen will flip back to the ShortCut screen before you have a chance to read this output. If you set PAUSE on, ShortCut will pause after the DOS output is displayed, ask you to press any key to continue, and wait for your key press before returning to the ShortCut screen. You can determine if the PAUSE mode is on or off by looking for the PAUSE indicator displayed just below the 15 Memory Status box. If PAUSE is set on, the letters will be highlighted and capitalized. If PAUSE is off, the letters will be lowercase and the same color as the frame. The default mode is on. 44. ShortCut also allows you to see the normal DOS output screen at any time by pressing ALT and F simul- taneously. Pressing ALT-F again will flip you back to the ShortCut screen. 45. The PRN indicator displays the condition of the DOS printer echo function. If this is on, then all input from the keyboard and all output to the screen to and from DOS and your software will also be sent to your printer. The ShortCut screen itself will not be printed. To turn this indicator on or off, press the Ctrl key and the PrtSc key simultaneously. 46. The SCRL LOCK indicator shows the current condition of the Scroll Lock key. Scroll Lock is not used by ShortCut or DOS, but it is used by some other programs. It is provided for your convenience so that you may see the current condition of the key before you run a program. 47. ShortCut has a CHIME function available that beeps on the hour if the ShortCut screen is displayed at that time. Toggle CHIME on and off by pressing ALT-C. A small musical note appears in front of the time when CHIME is set on. 16 SAVING YOUR PRESENT CONFIGURATION OF SHORTCUT 48. When ShortCut starts up, it looks for a file called SHORTCUT.DAT, and, if it finds this file, it configures itself according to the information contained within it. ShortCut tries to locate this file by first searching the default directory and then searching along DOS's path (see the discussion on PATH) until it finds the first file named SHORTCUT.DAT. 49. You may save your current configuration at any time by pressing ALT-S and typing a Y in response to the question "Save current configuration (Y/N)?". ShortCut will search the path until it finds a copy of SHORTCUT.DAT, if one exists, and it will update this file to reflect your current configuration. If the file does not exist, ShortCut will create it in the default directory. It is up to the user to ensure that ShortCut is able to find the correct configuration file when it starts up by having the desired version of SHORTCUT.DAT on the default drive or along DOS's search path. If you keep more than one configuration file, ShortCut will use the first one if finds for starting up or updating. No provision has been made to change to another configura- tion file after starting up ShortCut, although you may always save the current configuration. 50. The following parameters are saved in SHORTCUT.DAT: Which piece of information to display about a file (DATE, TIME, SIZE) How to sort the displayed files (TIME, SIZE, EXT, NAME, UNSORTED, As, Ds) PAUSE on or off CHIME on or off The editor to be used with the EDIT command The default file to be edited A leading printer string for the PRINT command A trailing printer string The number of lines per page to be printed Whether to expand tabs when printing How many spaces to expand tabs SCREEN BLANKING on or off Get directory on return from DOS What BASIC to use Confirm before erasing file For more information about the editing and printing param- eters, screen blanking, getting the directory on return from DOS, and what BASIC to use, see the SETUP command. 17 COMMAND BAR 51. The Command Bar is located at the bottom of the screen. Several of these commands operate on files previously marked in the Directory Window. To reach the Command Bar, press any of the function keys or the shifted function keys. The cursor left arrow and right arrow keys will allow you to move along the Command Bar one box for each key press. The Command Bar is a wrap around bar. If you move left (or right) off the ends of the visible Command Bar, a second Command Bar will replace the first one giving you a choice of ten more commands. 52. There is a quick way of reaching the command box you desire. As there are ten command boxes on the first Command Bar, each box has its own function key associ- ated with it moving sequentially from left to right. The function key for the first box, CMND, is F1, and each box to the right is one function key greater. The next ten command boxes of the second Command Bar use the same sequence, but the shift key must be pressed along with the function key. For example, the DATE command box is accessed by pressing SHIFT F4. 53. Certain commands can operate on multiple files, if you choose. These commands are COPY, TYPE, PRINT, ERASE, and RENAME. These commands require you to mark the files you want to act upon before using the com- mands. (See MARKING FILES). Although EDIT works only on one file, as with the above commands, you must first mark the file you want to edit. After you have marked the desired file(s), move to the command box you want and hit the Enter key. Actually you can move to the appropriate command box before marking a file, but a file must be marked before you hit the Enter key. 54. Pressing the Esc key any time you are on the Command Bar and before you hit the Enter key will take you off the Command Bar. After you have already hit Enter, the command will execute unless ShortCut prompts you for a response first. In this case, you can change your mind and get out of the command by pressing Ctrl-Esc. 55. Here are the names of the commands available on the Command Bars, a brief description of each, and the ShortCut key to access them. 18 KEY NAME DESCRIPTION F1 CMND Acts like the standard DOS command line. F2 RUN Runs the file being pointed at F3 COPY Copies marked file(s) F4 EDIT Edits marked file. Uses an external editor of your choice F5 TYPE Writes contents of marked file(s) to the screen F6 PRINT Sends the marked file(s) to the printer F7 ERASE Deletes the marked file(s) F8 MKDIR Creates a subdirectory below the current subdirectory F9 RENAME Renames the marked file(s) F10 VOLUME Change/create a volume label on the display drive Shift F1 PATH Shows and sets the path used by DOS Shift F2 QUIT! Exits ShortCut; removes it from memory Shift F3 REDO Rewrites the screen Shift F4 DATE Sets the current date Shift F5 TIME Sets the current time Shift F6 BREAK Sets Control Break checking on or off Shift F7 SETUP Customizes ShortCut; edit & print options Shift F8 RMDIR Removes a subdirectory Shift F9 VERIFY Sets verify file after copy function on or off Shift F10 FORMAT Formats the diskette in drive B 19 SHORTCUT COMMANDS CMND 56. The CMND command (F1) provides the same service as the standard DOS input line. The DOS editing keys are simulated. ShortCut acts as a line editing buffer for this command. When you press the Enter key after typing your input line, it is sent directly to COMMAND.COM without being acted upon by ShortCut. The ShortCut screen disappears and you will see a blank screen with your command following the normal DOS prompt and then the normal screen output that DOS displays when executing its commands. When DOS is finished, the ShortCut screen will reappear. This will happen very quickly and you may not be able to read all of the DOS screen output. If you wish, you may use the Pause feature to keep the DOS output screen until you press any key. See TOGGLES for more information. 57. The DOS editing keys that you may use when using the CMND command consist of the function keys F1 through F5, the Ins key, the Del key, the right arrow cursor key, and the Esc key. The F1 key or the right arrow cursor key copies one character from the template (the template is normally the last command sent to DOS). The F2 key waits for the next typed character and then copies all characters up to the first matching occurrence in the template. If the character is not in the template, nothing happens. The F3 key copies all the remaining characters from the template. The F4 key is the reverse of F2. It works similarly except it skips over all characters in the template until it reaches the first matching occurrence of the character you typed. F5 copies the current command line as the new template, clears the line, and allows continued editing of this new template. The Esc key aborts the current command line and begins a new one. The current template remains the same and restarts at the first character. The INS key allows all the following characters you type to be inserted without advancing the template pointer. The Del key skips over characters in the template without advancing the cursor. See your DOS manual for a full description of the editing keys. 58. When you try to type beyond the right edge of the screen, the command line will scroll to the left for each character typed. You may enter no more than 128 characters including spaces. If you do, ShortCut will beep at you once for each additional key stroke. 20 59. A quick way to type a filename on the command line accurately if the filename is visible in the Directory Window is to point the screen arrow at the filename. Hit F10 and the filename will appear on the command line. Try this with File Find (ALT-L) to move the screen arrow to the filename quickly. 60. Commands that you give using the CMND function will use the default drive unless you preface filenames with a drive specifier. RUN 61. The RUN command (F2) executes the file at which the screen arrow is pointing as long as the file has an extension of .COM, .EXE, .BAT, or .BAS. If the file has a different extension, ShortCut will display an error message on the message line telling you that the file cannot be run. 62. If the file extension is .BAS, ShortCut will load BASICA.COM and the filename will be passed to BASICA so that your program will begin running without any further input from you. For this to occur, BASICA must be accessible to DOS in either the default directory or in a directory specified by the path. You may specify a different BASIC by using the SETUP command. Whenever you are running a BASIC program and you want to return to ShortCut, use the BASIC "system" command. 63. The ShortCut screen will disappear and you will see normal DOS output to the screen before your program is run. When your program is finished, your monitor's screen will flip back to the ShortCut screen automatic- ally unless the PAUSE mode is set on. In this case, ShortCut will prompt you to press any key to return to the ShortCut screen. Using PAUSE will allow you to see output from programs such as CHKDSK.COM. See TOGGLES for more information on setting the PAUSE mode on. 21 COPY 64. The COPY command (F3) may be a little harder to use than other ShortCut features. First, mark the file(s) you want to copy from the Current Displayed Directory and then press the COPY F3 function key. Hit Enter to begin the COPY process. ShortCut will then ask you to make the subdirectory to which you want to copy the file(s) the Current Displayed Directory. When you have done this, hit the F3 key again and ShortCut will begin copying the file(s). As the files are being copied, you will see the disk status change and the filenames will appear in the Directory Window below all the files and subdirectories. They will be highlighted and they will not fill their proper slots in the Directory Window until all files have been copied. 65. Pressing the Esc key prior to pressing the F3 key the final time will stop the COPY function and return the screen arrow to the Directory Window unmarking all files. 66. The Command Bar will be cleared during the execu- tion of COPY to allow for additional prompts and information from DOS. After you have marked your file(s), pressed F3, and hit Enter, this message will appear on your screen: Currently 'COPY'ing files....Press Esc to abort Make the directory you want to copy the files to the active directory by displaying its files in the Directory Window, then press the key 'F3' 67. This message is telling you to move to the sub- directory to which you want to copy the file(s). If the subdirectory is on the same disk, position the screen arrow so that it points at the subdirectory you want. Press the Space Bar to make it the Current Displayed Directory and then press F3 to complete the COPY command. 68. If the subdirectory is not on the same disk drive, move the screen arrow to the Display box and type the letter of the drive you want the file(s) to be copied to. Make the desired subdirectory your Current Displayed Directory as above. 69. The COPY command also works on systems having only one floppy drive, but it will flip from ShortCut's screen to the DOS screen before it gives DOS the COPY command. ShortCut does this because DOS gives you numerous prompts to change diskettes, and these prompts would destroy the appearance of ShortCut's screen. 22 EDIT 70. The EDIT command (F4) is used in conjunction with a word processor or text editor. By default, the editor used is EDLIN.COM, the one accompanying the DOS package. You can change this at any time by calling up the Setup screen using the SETUP command. 71. To use the EDIT command, move to the EDIT command box and press Enter. Your editor or word processor must be in the default directory or along the path (see PATH) unless the name of the editor includes a drive speci- fier. If there is a particular file you want to edit, mark that file before you give the EDIT command. This filename will be passed as a parameter to the editor or word processor. Then when you give the EDIT command, your editor or word processor will be called up and you will be editing the file that you want. If you do not mark a file, ShortCut will pass the filename SCRATCH.PAD to your editor. You may change this name using the SETUP command. TYPE 72. The TYPE command (F5) will tell DOS to display the marked file(s) on your screen. The output from TYPE is very fast. You may want the output to pause so that you can read it. Press Ctrl and Num Lock. Your screen display will stop scrolling. Press any key to continue with the display. 73. If you have marked more than one file, ShortCut will immediately start displaying the next file as soon as the first is completed unless PAUSE is on. In this case, the next file will not be displayed until you press a key. 23 PRINT 74. The PRINT command (F6) differs from the DOS print command. ShortCut's PRINT command sends marked file(s) to the printer and inserts a page feed after every 60 lines. It is provided as a convenient method of printing unformatted text only. If you wish to use the background printing que of the DOS print command, you can always use it through the CMND command. 75. ShortCut gives you a few printing options when using the PRINT command. See the SETUP command for a complete discussion of these printing options. 76. To use PRINT, you may mark the file(s) you want printed first, then move to the PRINT command box, or you may mark them once you are already there. Make sure your printer is all ready to go, then hit the Enter key. Your printer will print out the files you request- ed. You can stop printing by pressing the Esc key. ERASE 77. The ERASE command (F7) will delete all file(s) that you have marked in the Directory Window from your disk. ShortCut will go through the list of marked files and ask you if you want to erase that particular file. This gives you a chance to change your mind if you have made a mistake. Answer ShortCut with a "Y" for Yes or an "N" for No. You may enter the letter in either uppercase or lowercase. If you respond with a "Y" for Yes, the file will be erased from your disk and Short- Cut's display will be updated. If you reply with an "N" for No, the file will not be erased. If you press any other key, ShortCut will display an error message on the message line and the file will not be erased. 78. If you prefer, you can have ShortCut erase the marked file(s) without seeking your confirmation. See SETUP for instructions on how to do this. 24 MKDIR 79. The MKDIR command (F8) is used to create a new subdirectory. Subdirectories are an important part of organizing a fixed disk or even a diskette. This function will make a subdirectory that belongs to the Current Displayed Directory. The new subdirectory (and any other subdirectories belonging to the Current Displayed Directory) will be displayed at the end of all the files listed in the Directory Window. 80. To make a new subdirectory, move to the MKDIR command box and press the Enter key. ShortCut will prompt you for the name of the new subdirectory. The name must be no more than 8 characters and may include an extension of 3 letters or less for a total length of 11 characters maximum. Do not include a path if you are adding a subdirectory to the Current Displayed Directory, as ShortCut will do this automatically. You can create a subdirectory for somewhere other than the Current Displayed Directory. In this case you must include the path along with the subdirectory name. After the Enter key is pressed, ShortCut will create the subdirectory and update its Directory Window. RENAME 81. When you use the RENAME command (F9), you must mark the file(s) you want to rename. Move to the RENAME command box and hit Enter. ShortCut will display the first marked file name and ask you to type the new name for the file. You may use wildcard characters if you wish. DO NOT INCLUDE A DRIVE SPECIFIER IN THE NAME. When you have entered the new name, ShortCut will continue in the same manner with the next marked file if there are any. ShortCut's RENAME command works only on the Current Displayed Directory. If you wish to RENAME a file in another subdirectory, you must make that the Current Displayed Directory first or you can use the CMND command and have DOS do it. 82. You can also use ShortCut's RENAME command to move a file from one subdirectory to any other subdirectory on the SAME DISK. To do this, include the path (which must exist) when you enter the new file name. The file name may be changed and wildcards are accepted in the file name but not in the path. The file actually stays in the same place on the disk, but it will now be shown in the Directory Window as belonging to another sub- directory. 25 83. You might want to use the RENAME function to rename the file SHORTCUT.EXE to SC.EXE on your working copy of the ShortCut diskette. Then, instead of typing SHORTCUT to load the program, you can just type SC. Please do not share ShortCut with the name modified this way. Only use the name SHORTCUT.EXE so that people will recognize the program name. VOLUME 84. ShortCut provides a feature that was lacking in DOS prior to version 3.0. The only time DOS would allow you to create a volume label was at the time a disk was formatted. ShortCut permits you create or change a volume label at any time. Move to the VOLUME command box, hit the Enter key, and type in the volume label in response to the ShortCut prompt. The label can be no more than 11 characters in length. When you hit Enter, you will see the new name at the top of the Directory Window in the root directory position. Volume labels are handy for identifying the disk being used without having to remove it from the disk drive. PATH 85. The PATH command (shift F1) gives you access to the DOS path function. DOS has a feature whereby it will search for an executable file on other drives and in other directories in addition to that of the default drive. This is called the PATH. Moving to the PATH command box and pressing the Enter key will display the current path and allow you to change or set it, if you wish. For example, if the current path is set as "A:\;B:\;C:\UTILITY", DOS would look for a file by first checking the default drive, then searching the root directory of the drive A, then searching the root directory of drive B, and finally searching for the file in the UTILITY subdirectory on drive C. Of course, if DOS finds the file for which it is looking before it reaches the end of the path, it will not go on with the next step. See your DOS manual for more information about using the DOS path command. 86. Note for advanced users: Because ShortCut actually attaches itself to the copy of COMMAND.COM that loads ShortCut and sends the DOS commands to that particular copy of COMMAND.COM, any changes made to the environment are made to that copy of COMMAND.COM. If you then use that copy of COMMAND.COM to load programs, the changes made will be passed on to these programs. 26 QUIT! 87. The QUIT! command (shift F2) allows you to exit ShortCut. If you no longer want to use ShortCut or you need to regain the memory it is using (about 47K), move to the QUIT! command box and press the Enter key. If the critical error handler of DOS prompts you with an "abort, retry, or ignore" request, you will also leave ShortCut and free up your memory if you answer with an "a". Should this happen, you can easily start up ShortCut again without harming anything. ShortCut will not let you QUIT! if you have loaded any RAM resident program after loading ShortCut. REDO 88. The REDO command (shift F3) rewrites the screen. Occasionally, ShortCut's screen can be overwritten or damaged. This could happen if a critical error occurs because you left a drive door open or inserted an unformatted diskette in a drive the computer was trying to access. You can get a fresh copy of the screen by using REDO. Move to the REDO command box and hit the Enter key. This function does some internal housekeep- ing that basically restarts ShortCut. You can also rewrite the screen by pressing Ctrl-Break. DATE 89. The DATE command (shift F4) allows you to change the system date which is the date that ShortCut dis- plays. Move to the DATE command box and press the Enter key. ShortCut will prompt you for the new date. Enter the date in this format: mm-dd-yyyy or mm-dd-yy. The numbers may be separated by any non-numeric char- acter. If you enter a date ShortCut considers improb- able, you will see an error message and be prompted to try again. Pressing Enter without typing any other characters will keep the date that is currently dis- played. 27 TIME 90. The TIME command (shift F5) can be used to change the system time displayed on ShortCut's screen. Move to the TIME command box and hit the Enter key. ShortCut will display the current time and prompt you for the new time. Enter the time in this format: hour:minute:second. Use military style in which the p.m. hours are figured by adding 12 to the current hour. The hours, minutes, and seconds may be separated by any non-numeric character. It is not necessary that you enter the minutes or the seconds; ShortCut will assume a zero value for them. If you enter an invalid time, ShortCut will give you an error message and let you try again. Pressing Enter without typing any other characters will keep the time that is currently displayed. BREAK 91. The BREAK command (shift F6) permits you to decide if you want DOS to check for a control break when you are running a program. DOS normally checks for a control break only when it is doing standard input or output functions or Asynchronous Communications Adapter operations. If the DOS break function is on, DOS will check for a control break whenever a program requests any DOS function. This will slow down the execution of the program a bit, but it does give you better control of your system. 92. This is a toggle function. When you have moved to the BREAK command box and pressed the Enter key, the state of the DOS break function will be changed. You can always see what the current state is in the break display box near the middle of the screen just above the Command Bar. The word "break" will be highlighted if the function is active, and it will be the color of the frame if it is not. 28 SETUP 93. ShortCut was written to help people use their computers. As each person is an individual, we all do things a bit differently. Therefore, the author allows you to customize ShortCut to meet your special needs. In the section titled SAVING YOUR PRESENT CONFIGURATION, we saw that the SHORTCUT.DAT file contained several parameters that you can set as you wish. These param- eters are reprinted here for your convenience. Which piece of information to display about a file (DATE, TIME, SIZE) How to sort the displayed files (TIME, SIZE, EXT, NAME, UNSORTED, As, Ds) PAUSE on or off CHIME on or off The editor to be used with the EDIT command The default file to be edited A leading printer string for the PRINT command A trailing printer string The number of lines per page to be printed Whether to expand tabs when printing How many spaces to expand tabs SCREEN BLANKING on or off Get directory on return from DOS What BASIC to use Confirm before erasing file 94. If you have read all the documentation so far and worked with ShortCut a bit, you probably realize that you already know how to change which piece of informa- tion to display about a file, how to sort the displayed files, and how to toggle PAUSE and CHIME on and off. You can save the way you have set up the ShortCut screen with these features by pressing ALT-S as explained in SAVING YOUR PRESENT CONFIGURATION. Then, the next time you start up ShortCut, the screen will appear the way it was for these variables at the time you saved it. Pretty handy, you may say, but this is just a beginning. 95. ShortCut has a special Setup screen that gives you several more options on how ShortCut will behave. Call up this Setup screen by moving to the SETUP box (shift F8) and pressing the Enter key. The ShortCut screen will be replaced by the Setup screen. It will look like this: 29 1 Editor to be used = EDLIN 2 Default edit file = SCRATCH.PAD 3 Leading printer code = 4 Trailing printer code = 5 Page size = 60 6 Tab size = 8 7 Expand tabs = Y 8 Blank screen after 5 min. of inactivity = N 9 Get directory on return from DOS = Y 10 BASIC to be used = BASICA 11 Verify before erasing file = Y Enter number of item to change or press ENTER to exit: _ 96. The settings that you now see are the default settings; that is, the way ShortCut is set up when you run it the first time. You can change any of these settings by entering the number of the item you wish to change and hitting the Enter key. ShortCut will prompt you for the new information. When you have typed in your change and pressed the Enter key, the first prompt will reappear. When you are through making any changes, hit the Enter key once more and you will return to the ShortCut screen. ShortCut will beep at you to call your attention to the message line. You must answer the question "Save current configuration (Y/N)?". If you respond with a "Y", any changes will be saved in the SHORTCUT.DAT file and they will be in force the next time you start up ShortCut as long as this SHORTCUT.DAT file is the first one found by ShortCut at boot up time. If you reply with an "N", the setting changes will remain in effect until you exit ShortCut. 97. You may change the editor to be used by ShortCut for the EDIT command by entering the command you would normally use for calling up your editor or word proces- sor. For example, you might type WP for WordPerfect, ED for PC-Write, or WS for WordStar. Although you may precede the editor's name with a drive specifier, don't include a subdirectory path. For example, if A is the 30 default drive and you want to use EDLIN which will always be on drive B, enter this command in response to ShortCut's prompt: B:EDLIN 98. When you are using the EDIT command and you have not marked any files to edit, ShortCut will pass a default file name to your editor or word processor. The name of this file is SCRATCH.PAD which you can change with the Setup screen to any file name you wish. This feature was designed to serve as a memo file to your- self, etc. A string of up to 40 characters may be entered in this form: [drive:][path]filename[.ext] The information contained within the brackets is optional. In order for ShortCut to give a filename to your editor, your editor must be capable of accepting the filename as a passed parameter. Consult your editor manual if you are unsure. For example, if the file you have marked is called MYFILE.TXT and you use EDLIN as your editor, ShortCut will send this command to COMMAND.COM: EDLIN MYFILE.TXT See EDIT for more information on this feature. 99. The next option on the Setup screen is the leading printer code which is used when ShortCut executes the PRINT command. When you first use ShortCut, nothing will be entered here. You can enter a code to control how your printer will print anything you send to it. For example, a leading printer code could be specified that would change the print font to 12 characters per inch, or to have the printout printed in correspondence quality print. The options available will depend on your printer. Consult your printer manual for the correct printer codes to use. To enter decimal printer codes less than 32 or greater than 127, you must use the ALT key and the numeric key pad. First, set Num Lock on with the Num key, press the ALT key and keep it depres- sed while you enter the number you want on the numeric key pad. When you release the ALT key, you will see that you have entered a character that you will not find on your keyboard. You may enter one or a series of printer codes before you press the Enter key. If you don't want to send any leading printer code to your printer, you must enter a minus sign (-), not a blank space. 31 100. The trailing printer code is a code sent to the printer after a file has been printed. ShortCut uses it in the PRINT command. The default setting is a page- feed, a character that looks like the female symbol. You can view it on the Setup screen, but we could not include it on our example of the ShortCut screen printed here or it would have caused your printer to skip to a new page. You may change this code in the same manner as you would change the leading printer code. Remember, if you don't want a trailing code, enter a minus sign (-). 101. The next Setup option is the page size. The default setting is 60 which means that 60 lines of text will be printed before your printer skips to a new page. A page is usually 66 lines long, so printing 60 lines of text will allow 3 empty lines on both the top and bottom of the page. You may change the number of lines printed to any number you wish. It is up to the user to ensure that the paper in the printer is properly aligned. In other words, ShortCut does not provide for top or bottom margins. 102. The next two options work together. The first one sets the number of spaces your printer will move when it encounters a Tab. As you can see, the default setting is 8. The second tells the printer if you want the Tabs to be printed out or skipped. A "Y" response to the ShortCut prompt will expand the Tabs, an "N" will not. 103. The eighth option is Screen Blank, a feature designed to save the screen on your monitor. If you have chosen "Y" for this option, when you have the ShortCut screen on your monitor and you do not press any key on your keyboard for 5 minutes, your monitor screen will go blank. To get your screen display back, hit any key. You might want to get in the habit of hitting the ALT key to avoid doing something with ShortCut you did not intend to do. Another way to activate this feature is to press ALT-B when you are on the ShortCut screen. Striking ALT-B again will turn off Screen Blank. You will see the current status of this feature displayed briefly on the message line of the screen after it is toggled on or off. When ShortCut first starts up, Screen Blank is off. Screen Blank does not work on the PCjr and may not work on some other system configura- tions. 32 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! WARNING!!!! ! ! ! ! There are reports that some screen saving ! ! routines may damage some monitors. To the best ! ! of the author's knowledge, this is not true ! ! with ShortCut. However, use this feature at ! ! your own risk. ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 104. Usually when the ShortCut screen reappears after it flips back from the DOS output screen, ShortCut will update the display in its Directory Window by reading the Current Displayed Directory on the disk. This does not take long, but if you wish to stop this getting of the directory, you may set option 9 to off by typing "N" at the prompt. If you do this, remember that the Directory Window may not be correct. In this case, the Directory Window will not be updated until the next time ShortCut goes out to read your disk. You may also toggle this feature on or off by pressing ALT-D. The current status will be displayed briefly on the message line. 105. The next option on the Setup screen is which BASIC you want to use when running a BASIC program using the RUN command. The default is BASICA which is the advanced version of Microsoft BASIC included with the IBM PC. You may enter a different BASIC. The name must be entered as if you were normally calling it up at the DOS prompt. 106. The final option allows you to decide how cautious you want to be when you are erasing any files. Anytime you use the ERASE command, ShortCut will ask you if you want to erase each marked file before it is actually deleted. If you do not want this extra degree of protection, change the setting for this option to N. ShortCut will then erase all marked files without seeking your confirmation. 33 RMDIR 107. The RMDIR command (shift F8) allows you to remove a subdirectory that belongs to the Current Displayed Directory. Before removing a subdirectory, you must first delete all files belonging to it if there are any. You cannot delete the Current Displayed Directory or any subdirectory that is part of its path. In other words, the subdirectory you want to delete must be listed after the files, if any, in the highlighted Current Displayed Directory. 108. Move to the RMDIR command box and point the screen arrow at the subdirectory you wish to remove. Strike the Enter key. ShortCut will delete the subdirectory and update the Directory Window. 109. If you wish to remove a subdirectory that does not belong to the Current Displayed Directory, you must first make the desired subdirectory's parent the Current Displayed Directory. Then you can proceed as above. VERIFY 110. The VERIFY command (shift F9) is used to toggle the DOS function of the verification of files after copy- ing. When VERIFY is on, DOS will verify that the data written on a disk is correctly recorded. See you DOS manual for more information on verify. 111. To toggle VERIFY, move to the VERIFY command box and hit the Enter key. ShortCut's screen will always let you know if VERIFY is on or off. The Verify mode indicator is located just to the right of the Break mode indicator and to the left of the monitor card box. When VERIFY is on, the word "VERIFY" will be highlighted and capitalized; when it is off, it will appear the same color as the frame in small letters. 34 FORMAT 112. The FORMAT command (shift F10) allows you to format a diskette in drive B. For this command to work, the DOS program FORMAT.COM must be on either the default drive or in a directory specified by the path. This command is fairly inflexible in that you can only format a diskette in drive B. This was done to minimize the possibility of reformatting the fixed disk and losing all your files on it. If you need to format a diskette in another drive or use other formatting options, you can always use the CMND function. 113. Move to the FORMAT command box and press the Enter key. ShortCut will ask you if you want to put the system files on the diskette (COMMAND.COM and the two hidden files used by DOS called IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM) and if you want to create a volume label. After you answer these two questions, the ShortCut screen will disappear and you will see the normal DOS output screen as DOS handles the formatting. When you respond with an "N" to the DOS prompt "Format another (Y/N)?", the ShortCut screen will reappear. 35 FOR REGISTERED USERS ONLY If you like ShortCut and find it useful, we feel you will benefit from becoming a registered user. For the very modest fee of $25.00, you will gain the following: Telephone support ShortCut, the next updated version The right to request a special feature of ShortCut in your next update that can display more than 150 entries in the Directory Window, and/or a version that can access more than 4 drives The satisfaction of supporting the development of quality software at prices any one can afford - we cannot continue without your help We at Mossy Rock Systems are already working on Short- Cut, version 2.0. Here are some of the things we hope to include. You will be able to call up ShortCut from any other program and use many of the ShortCut features. Version 2.0 will include a calculator-like feature. This should lessen the need for other RAM resident programs somewhat and free up more memory for your use if you use such desktop programs. We will attempt to further optimize the code so that ShortCut does not grow too much as new features are added. We think ShortCut looks beautiful on a color monitor, but perhaps you would prefer we had used other colors. Actually, we could not come to agreement among ourselves as to which colors looked best and were the most useful. (She said magenta clashed with red; he said a fourth bright color was needed on the screen. ShortCut is distributed with only three colors. Guess who won?) Version 2.0 will include a program that will allow you to color your copy of ShortCut anyway you wish. ShortCut, version 2.0 will include a third Command Bar that you will be able to customize for yourself with the names of the programs you use most. For example, if you "install" Lotus 1-2-3 on our third Command Bar, you will be able to bring up 1-2-3 by moving to the Command Bar and hitting the Enter key. 36 These are just some of the ideas we are working on. We think you will agree that ShortCut with all these added features will be a real bargain for $25.00 (shipping includ- ed). Version 2.0 and any future versions will be available to registered users. They will not be distributed through the Shareware concept as is version 1.12. We will charge a fee for any updates after your first one. If you wish to become a registered user, send your name and address with $25.00 to: Mossy Rock Systems P. O. Box 420876 Sacramento, Ca. 95841 (916) 334-5542* Also, we would like to hear from you about what you like or don't like about ShortCut and what features you want to see in the future. With your help, we feel we can make ShortCut an even better product. *Please call between the hours of 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. weekdays and after 8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays Pacific Time. (Do not get discouraged if you can't get through at first. We have a teenage daughter.) 37 INDEX Additional file information DATE 9 in Directory Window 6 SIZE 9 TIME 9 Additional information break mode 14 date 14 disk status 14 memory status 14 monitor card 14 pause mode 14 time 14 verify mode 14 ALT-B 32 ALT-C 16 ALT-D 33 ALT-F 16 ALT keys for printer codes 31 ALT-L 8, 13 ALT-P 15 ALT-S 17, 29 BASIC 17, 21, 30, 33 BREAK as a command 19, 28 mode 14 CMND command 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 24, 25, 35 Color card 14 Command Bar 1, 6, 10, 14, 15, 18, 22 Configuration file SHORTCUT.DAT 4, 17, 29, 30 Configuration parameters 17, 29 Confirm before erasing file 17, 30, 33 COPY 10, 18, 19, 22 Ctrl-Break 27 Ctrl-Esc 18 Ctrl-PrtSc 16 Current Displayed Directory 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 22, 25, 33, 34 Cursor keys 6, 8, 11, 12, 15 End 8 Home 8 PgDn 8 PgUp 8 DATE additional file information 9, 17 command 19, 27 38 Default drive 4, 11, 12, 17, 26, 35 default drive box 6 selecting the 12 used by CMND command 11, 21 Del key 20 Delete files 24 Delete subdirectories 34 Directory Window 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 18, 22, 25, 26, 33, 34 Limit on entries 9 Sorting files in 13 update the 24, 33 Display drive 11, 14 display drive box 6, 11 selecting a 11 DOS 1, 2, 4, 7, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 26, 28, 34 DOS editing keys 20 DOS error messages 27 DOS print command 24 DOS prompts 20, 22, 33, 35 DOS screen 16, 20, 22, 33, 35 DOS Programs CHKDSK.COM 15, 21 COMMAND.COM 4, 11, 20, 26, 31, 35 FORMAT.COM 35 MODE.COM 4 EDIT 10, 12, 17, 18, 23, 29, 30 Editor Text editor with EDIT 30 ERASE 10, 18, 24 Esc 6, 18, 20, 22, 24 File Find 21 sorted by extension 13 File Locate 8, 9 Fixed disk 1, 2, 12, 25, 35 FORMAT 12, 19, 35 Function keys 6, 18 Graphics board 4 Machine identification 14 Marking files 1, 10, 22, 23, 25 MKDIR 19, 25 Monochrome 4, 14 Moving subdirectories with RENAME 25 Multiple files 1, 10, 18 Numeric key pad 31 Path 7, 8, 12, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 30, 35 39 setting the 26 PRINT 10, 17, 18, 24, 29, 31 stop printing 24 Printer echo 16 PRN indicator 16 QUIT! 19, 27 RAM resident program 4, 27 REDO 14, 19, 27 RENAME 10, 18, 25 moving a file between a subdirectory 25 RMDIR 19, 34 Root directory 7, 8, 9, 26 RUN 19, 21 Save configuration 5, 17, 29, 30 Screen arrow 1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 21, 34 moving the 8, 15, 22 Screen Blank 32 SETUP 19, 21, 23, 29 Setup options 30 BASIC to be used 30, 33 blank screen 30, 32 default edit file 30 editor to be used 30 expand tabs 30, 32 get directory on return from DOS 30, 33 leading printer code 30, 31 page size 30, 32 tab size 30, 32 Trailing printer code 30, 32 Setup screen 23, 29, 31, 33 ShortCut diskette 4 Sidekick 4 Sort displayed files 1, 13, 17 by Extension 13 by Name 13 by Size 13 by Time 13 in ascending order 13 in descending order 13 in unsorted order 13 Sort On box 6, 13 40 Space Bar 1 to change subdirectories 11 to choose default drive 12 to choose display drive 11 to choose sort type 13 to mark files 10 to select additional file information 9 to unmark files 10 Stopping PRINT Subdirectories as part of the path 7 changing 11 making subdirectories 25 removing subdirectories 34 System configuration game port 14 number of disk drives 14 parallel port 14 serial port 14 version of DOS 14 Tabs, expanding 17, 30, 32 Text editor with EDIT 10, 17, 19, 23, 30 TIME additional file information 9, 17 as a command 19, 28 sort files on 13, 17 Toggles BREAK 28 CAPS 15 CHIME 16 Flip screen 16 Get the directory 33 INS 15 NUM 15 PAUSE 15, 20, 21 PRN 15 SCRL 15 VERIFY 34 TYPE 18, 23 Unmarking files 10, 22 VERIFY as a command 19, 34 mode 14 VOLUME 19, 26 Volume label 7, 19, 26 Word processor with EDIT 23, 30 41 REGISTERED USER FORM Version 1.12 To become a registered user of ShortCut, fill out this form or send your name and address along with $25.00 to: Mossy Rock Systems P. O. Box 420876 Sacramento, Ca. 95841 This information will be used only by us and will not be released. Name _______________________________________________________ Address ____________________________________________________ City ___________________________ State ____ Zip _________ Phone number (optional) ____________________________________ Serial # ________________ (Find this on ShortCut's opening screen) Please take a moment to answer the following questions about your system configuration. This will help us in future product development. Type of computer ______________________________ Amount of memory _____________K Number of drives: Diskette __ Fixed __ RAM __ Monitor type: Monochrome __ Color __ Monitor card type: Monochrome __ Color __ This copy provided by The Public (software) Library P.O.Box 61565 Houston, TX 77208 Fees are $5/disk on our disks, $2 on user-provided disks. Suggestions and comments: Your name and address: To: The Public (software) Library P.O.Box 61565 Houston, TX 77208 Enclosed is a self-addressed, legal size envelope with two stamps. Please send a copy of The Public (software) Library's most current library listing and most recent month's newsletter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This disk copy provided by THE PUBLIC (Software) LIBRARY P.O. BOX 61565 HOUSTON, TX 77208 Send self-addressed envelope with two stamps for the latest library listing and monthly public domain software newsletter.