Amiga Plus Extra 1997 #2

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Text File | 1997-02-16 | 43.4 KB | 896 lines

## ## ## #### ###### ####### ### #### ### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### #### ## ### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ### ## #### ## ### ###### ## ### ### ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## #### ###### ####### ### ## ANSI Screen File Editor Version 1.3.0 DEMO Copyright (c) 1989 Second Sight [tm] Developed by Greg Epley INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Documentation Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLEASE NOTE: This is a demonstration version of ANSIEd. All "save" features are disabled or do not otherwise have any effect as mentioned in this and other documents included with this version. Throughout the remainder of this documentation these companies hold the respective copyright, trademark, or registrations: Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Workbench and AmigaDOS are trademarks respectively of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. It is our best intention to make this documentation as complete and thorough as possible to reach the widest range of Amiga users. However, if you are a beginner or have not had a great deal of experience with the Amiga we make these assumptions and suggestions: 1. That you understand the basic operation of the computer. Because ANSIEd will operate from the friendly Workbench environment you should thoroughly familiarize yourself with the basics. We suggest Chapter 3, "Getting Started" and Chapter 4, "Using the Workbench" from the "Introduction To..." manual supplied with your computer. Chapter 3 will supply you with most of the information you need. Chapter 4 simply goes into a little more detail. 2. That you understand the basic operation of software under the above system. While there are a few "lemon" software products which do not conform to Amiga standards you will find that most do. We prefer to stick to the terminology used in the Amiga manuals and so a "gadget" will refer to some item on the display which you can select to perform an operation. It has been suggested that the "gadget" be referred to as a "button" but that terminology is not as generic and implies that you will actually see what appears to be a little "button" on the display somewhere. What Is ANSI? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSI is an acronym for the American National Standards Institue. They, along with the ISO (International Standards Organization) set various standards in the computer field. For example, they establish that the number 65 decimal represents the character "A" to the computer. Certain combinations of characters have been established to control attributes of the computer display such as text color and style. You can also control character positioning, clear the display, or move the cursor around without erasing any displayed material. On the Amiga, the console and the printer devices are most likely to use these "display control codes". ANSIEd eliminates the need to memorize these cryptic code combinations and allows your creativity to flow. Documentation Symbols ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because of the way in which this product and this documentation is presently distributed, it is assumed that you have already installed the software as described on the enclosed notice. When it is necessary to indicate that you need to press a specific key to perform an action it will be enclosed in <> (angle brackets). Examples are <RETURN> to press the large key above your right shift key or <CTRL><J> to press and hold the <CTRL> key and then press the <J> key. The arrow or whatever other imagery you have saved under Preferences as your mouse pointer is referred to as the "pointer". GETTING STARTED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Running ANSIEd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The best way to learn to use a new program is to actually use it so let's get ANSIEd running. ANSIEd will work from either the Workbench or CLI (Command Line Interface) but we'll run it from the Workbench to simplify things. With the ANSIEd drawer open, DOUBLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the ANSIED ICON. Proceed to the section entitled "Errors" to continue now or read on to find out how to run ANSIEd from the CLI. If you wish to run ANSIEd from the CLI we suggest you set your stack size at 12000. From the CLI prompt type: 1> stack 12000 <RETURN> To run the program type: 1> ansied <RETURN> You can preceed the name from the CLI with the "Run" command to spawn ANSIEd as a separate task from the CLI. If you encounter a strange lockup error when running the program it is most likely due to insufficient memory. If it seems that you have enough memory then try increasing the stack size to 20000 using the above CLI format or use the "Info" option from the "Workbench" menu on the Workbench; change the stack from 12000 to 20000 and remember to select SAVE so it takes effect. If you run ANSIEd from the Workbench the icon is set up with the stack size at 12000. Errors ~~~~~~ Hereafter, the term "display" refers to the ANSIEd display. The Workbench display will be known as the Workbench. If you run ANSIEd from the Workbench an error window will open on the Workbench just before the display appears. This error window will remain on the Workbench if an error occurs so that you can read any error messages it contains, after which you must SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the error window CLOSE BOX to close it. If there are no error messages the window will close automatically when you exit the program. If you run ANSIEd from the CLI any error messages will be displayed in CLI window from which ANSIEd was started. In regular use, the only errors you are likely to encounter will be due to some misuse of the program. However, regardless of the amount of testing, some logic errors still creep into even the most perfect of programs. If the error IS NOT serious, but you need to be informed of it, the display will flash. If the error IS serious a system requester will force the Workbench to the front informing you immediately of the error. In BOTH cases a brief text message will be displayed appropriately in the CLI or Workbench window. If the error is serious you will have to respond to the system requester to exit the program. Take note of both the system requester and window error messages and refer to the section entitled "What Went Wrong" for further assistance. Currently, any error serious enough to cause a system requester to appear will require full program shutdown. You will not be able to save whatever you were doing when the error occurred. It is strongly recommended that you select the "Cancel" option in these system requesters; "Retry" will almost always cause a machine crash. "Cancel" will at least allow you to exit the program without having to re-boot. Errors are most often caused by a lack of memory. Even in a 512K machine the memory can become fragmented into small pieces as you use the computer. When a program requires a section of memory it sees all those little pieces strung everywhere, but cannot piece them together for its use; it needs a section all to itself for the operation. The only cure for this problem is re- booting the machine. There is a standard means of error reporting we use. If the error is trapped by one of our programs, the message is presented in the format: NAME: Text message where NAME: is the name of the program (or a portion of it) in which the error occurred, and "Text message" provides a brief message relating to the error. If you see a system requester on the Workbench that does not follow this format you have very likely found a serious bug or problem. In this event, make note of any other programs you were running, your hardware setup, memory level, and any other information which might be of help in tracking down the problem. Contact us my mail, phone (voice), or leave a message on the MEGA-Byte BBS to Greg Epley as soon as possible. If we don't know about the problem we can't fix it! Refer to the section entitled "Contacts for Customer Support" for this information. DISPLAY AND CONTROLS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The display consists of a green title bar at the top, a fast menu bar at the bottom, and an editing area in between. The fast menu bar is the area below the green line at the bottom the display. The editing area will hold 22 lines of 80 characters each. Now let's look at the fast menu bar a little more. The Fast Menu Bar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the far left is the color palette with the standard 8 ANSI colors. Next are the various quick-select tools for performing various operations. On the far right is the status area which shows the current text styles, foreground and background colors, and the drawing character and its decimal ASCII code. The Status Area ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You should see the word "Style" in plain text style drawn in white on a black background. A few spaces over is the number "32" also drawn in white. "Style" is always drawn using the current text styles in the forground color over a rectangle drawn in the background color. The current drawing character and its decimal code are drawn in a complementary color to the background so that you can always see them. Color and Style Selection ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Try out the status area now. Move the pointer over one of the colors in the color palette and SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON. See the color of "Style" change? Now try moving over another color and SINGLE-CLICK the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON. See the background color now? Try pressing <RIGHT-AMIGA> and watch "Style" turn boldface. Now press <RIGHT- AMIGA> and watch "Style" turn italic as well. To get things back to normal set your foreground color to white and your background color to black, then press <RIGHT AMIGA> to set the style to plain. Tools ~~~~~ The tools are next to the color palette. These are, from left to right, Normal, Freehand, and Box. You can enter single characters from the keyboard in any of these modes. Read about each mode first and then we'll try them. Normal Tool ~~~~~~~~~~~ Normal allows you to position the cursor within the edit area using the mouse. It does not leave any markings or erase anything. SINGLE- CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON anywhere within the edit area to move the mouse to the pointer position. Movement is restricted and based on the 8 x 8 grid size used for characters but you should not have any trouble getting precise positioning. Freehand Tool ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Freehand allows you to leave a trail which follows your pointer. A "trail" is currently the space character (decimal 32) drawn in the current background color. Simply HOLD DOWN the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and move it to "draw", in characters, where you wish. As long as you hold the button down you will draw; release it to stop. The cursor disappears while you hold the button down and reappears when you release it. Box Tool ~~~~~~~~ Box allows you to "draw" filled or unfilled boxes made up of the trail. This fill mode is determined by which half, left or right, of the Box tool you select. Regardless of the fill mode, you "draw" a box as follows: 1. HOLD DOWN the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON where you want one corner of the box. This is the start corner. 2. Move the pointer out to where you want the opposite corner of the box. This is the end corner. 3. As you perform step 2 you will see a fine outline of the box and where it will be drawn. 4. RELEASE the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON and the box will be drawn in the proper fill mode as a trail. Before we try some drawing, the Normal tool is the stylized "N" which should be highlighted (purple and white); the Freehand tool is the squiggly line next to it; and the Box tool is the half unfilled, half filled box next to that. To select a tool SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON somewhere over the tool you want. Now let's try some drawing. Select the Normal tool if it is not currently highlighted. SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON somewhere in the edit area. The cursor will instantly jump to that point. Type something on the keyboard and watch the character in the status area change. Change your foreground and background colors and type some more. Remember, if you want to move somewhere else on the display to edit - SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON there to move the cursor. Change your text styles as you did earlier using the <RIGHT-AMIGA> key and the keys , , , and . These are the first letters in the text styles Plain, Boldface, Underlined, and Italic. Now select the Freehand tool. You might want to change your background color now as well. Try out the Freehand tool as described above under "Freehand Tool". BUT PLEASE NOTE: you CANNOT move the cursor with the mouse in Freehand without leaving at least one block of trail; you MUST select Normal mode to move the cursor with the mouse without leaving a trail. The Box tool needs a bit more explanation because of the two fill modes it offers. The left half selects Box Unfilled; the right half selects Box Filled. When either of these modes is selected you can still select the half for the proper mode; you just don't have the center line displayed as a guide. For example, to select Box Unfilled SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the LEFT HALF of the Box tool; an outlined box appears as the highlight. To select Box Filled mode now just SINGLE- CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the RIGHT HALF of the Box tool; a filled box appears as the highlight. You might want to try this a few times to get the hang of it but you should be able to select modes easily. Now select the Box Filled tool and set your background color to red. Move the pointer somewhere around the center portion of the edit area and then follow the steps above under "Box Tool". When you release the button you should see a solid red box drawn as you indicated. You might want to change the background color again and try out the Box Unfilled tool now. BUT PLEASE NOTE: you CANNOT move the cursor with the mouse in either of the Box modes without leaving a trail; you MUST select Normal mode to move the cursor with the mouse without leaving a trail. Notes on Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When using the Box tool, a thin complementary color outline follows the pointer to show you where the final box will appear. This outline appears just inside, not along the outermost edge, of the final box edge; it's not very easy to describe, just try drawing a few boxes and you'll notice it. Notes on Keyboard Entry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most of the keys will produce the character which is displayed on the keycap itself. Certain unexpected or "weird" combinations of keys may cause a machine crash or lockup. Generally the <ALT>, <CTRL>, <SHIFT>, and <AMIGA> keys in combination with one other key are safe. Combining the <CTRL>, <ALT>, and another key may have drastically different circumstances so be careful! Usually, these problems will only occur when trying to load a file containing these "weird" key sequences so protect yourself and save any current work before loading another file if you are unsure. Finally, under most circumstances, you can use the <DEL> key to produce a nice little checkerboard character which is great for producing shaded areas for more apparent colors. The console device interprets this character as displayable and does not perform a "character delete" action. However, if you are using ANSIEd files on a BBS system you should test any files with this <DEL> character in them to make sure that they will display properly for your users. It is impossible for us to test this due to the many different BBS packages and setups. Some BBS packages may display the character while others perform the "delete- a-character" action. The Menus ~~~~~~~~~ The following is a breakdown of the menus in ANSIEd from top-bottom, left- right. Project Menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~ New - Resets and initializes the editor environment to a blank ~~~ slate. Use this if you want to ensure the buffer and the display are clear. This will warn you if you have made changes since the last save and give you a chance to save them before clearing. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT- AMIGA><N>. Open - Allows you to load a named file selected from the file ~~~~ requester. This DOES NOT ask if you wish to save the current buffer before loading a new file. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA><O>. Save - Allows you to save a file under the same name you used in ~~~~ "Open" or "Save As". This DOES NOT ask if you wish to overwrite the current file before saving the file. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA><S>. Save As - Allows you to save a file under a new or existing name from ~~~~~~~ the file requester. This DOES NOT ask if you wish to overwrite the current file before saving the file. Delete - Allows you to delete a named file selected from the file ~~~~~~ requester. This will warn you and give you a chance to back out of the deletion if you like. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA><D>. About - Displays various information on the program development. ~~~~~ Quit - Exits the program. This will warn you if you have made ~~~~ changes since the last save and give you a chance to save them. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA><Q>. Style Menu ~~~~~~~~~~ This allows you to select the text styles from a menu if you prefer, rather than using the keyboard shortcuts mentioned earlier. These notes apply regardless of which method you use. Plain ~~~~~ This is mutually exclusive. It will reset the text style back to plain text even if there are several other styles set. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA>. Boldface ~~~~~~~~ Sets the text style to bold. This style can be mixed with all of the others except Plain. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA>. Underlined ~~~~~~~~~~ Sets the text style to underlined. This style can be mixed with all of the others except Plain. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA>. Italic ~~~~~~ Sets the text style to italic. This style can be mixed with all of the others except Plain. The keyboard shortcut is <RIGHT-AMIGA>. Special ~~~~~~~ ANSI Filter ~~~~~~~~~~~ ON/OFF ~~~~~~ Turns the internal ANSI filter ON or OFF. The filter only operates while loading a file using the "Open" option on the "Project" menu. When the filter is ON all ANSI control sequences which begin with the <ESC> (decimal 27) character are ignored. By default the filter is OFF. Line Term ~~~~~~~~~ LF/CRLF ~~~~~~~ Selects the end-of-line terminator which will be used when saving the file. LF stands for line feed and CRLF stands for carriage return + line feed. Generally on an Amiga system this should be LF, although you can also use CRLF. CRLF is provided mainly for those users who operate Amiga BBS's on MS-DOS machines which require both terminators. Some MS-DOS text editors and word processors simply do not recognize the end of a text line without the CR in the terminator. By default the end-of-line terminator is LF. Store Spaces ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Compressed/Expanded ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selects how space character gaps will be stored when saving the file. Compressed stores any group of more than five space characters as a cursor movement sequence, which speeds up file display and decreases file size. Expanded stores single spaces in gap areas; this is the same way ANSIEd files were stored. By default spaces are stored as Compressed. Make Icons ~~~~~~~~~~ YES/NO ~~~~~~ Selects whether you want icons saved with your files. If you select YES an icon is created when you save the file. ANSIEd file icons appear as the Second Sight logo (eye) in a small colored frame. These PROJECT type icons have ANSIEd as their default tool. Just DOUBLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON to run ANSIEd and load the file. Be sure to read the section "Notes on File Handling" under "FILE HANDLING" for further information. By default icons are created (YES). FILE HANDLING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The File Requester ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The File Requester appears when you select "Save As", "Open", or "Delete" from the "Project" menu. We hope to be able to take advantage of a better file requester with the addition of the Amiga Programmers Library (APL) which will arrive with Release 1.4 of the Amiga System. The current file requester is adequate for the purpose it serves and will be left as-is until we find a sutiable alternative. There are two types of information listed in the file requester. "Entries" are files and directories. "Volumes" are mounted disk units that are in use (including hard drives, recoverable drives, etc.). Now let's look at the various options in the file requester. Path/File Gadgets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These horizontial boxes appear, one above, one below, the list of Volumes or Entries. The Path gadget above the list contains such things as drive names, disk names (volumes), and directory names, and combinations of any of these in that order. The File gadget below the list contains the selected filename. To activate either of these gadgets just SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON within the black area of the gadget. A cursor will appear in the box waiting for you to type something in. To make any changes take effect or to simply exit either of these gadgets just press <RETURN>. Volumes-Entries List and Slider ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Between the path/file gadgets is a list of items. These will either be Entries (files/directories) or mounted Volumes (disks), depending on the Volumes-Entries gadget selection (see below). Up to seven items are shown at one time, sorted alphabetically; a maximum of 1000 entries or 30 volumes. The Slider to the right of the list allows you to scroll up and down through the list. To select a file, directory, or volume, just SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the entry. If the entry is a file its name will appear in the File Gadget box. If the entry is a directory or a volume its name will appear properly in the Path Gadget box and the new Path will be scanned for entries if possible. To move up or down a group of scanned entries at a time, just SINGLE- CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON above or below the Slider box - somewhere in the black area. You can also HOLD DOWN the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the Slider box - the solid purple area - and move the pointer up and down to move through the list. Volumes-Entries Gadget ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a toggle button. Each time you call up the file requester it ALWAYS lists entries first and this button displays the text "Volumes". If you select this button while "Volumes" appears a list of mounted disk volumes will be displayed in the list area. If you select this button while "Entries" appears a list of files/ directories, based on the path currently in the Path gadget, will be displayed in the list area. To activate this gadget just SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on it. Parent Gadget ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Located beside the Volumes-Entries button, this will move you back up one directory level towards the root directory. It will NOT work if: 1. There are no more levels or... 2. You are looking at a Volumes list. To activate this gadget just SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on it. OK/Cancel Gadgets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The "OK" button accepts your selection and the "Cancel" button rejects your selection. To activate either of these gadgets just SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on them. If you remove or insert a disk while the file requester is displayed it will immediately display the list of volumes as if you had selected the "Volumes" button. NEVER eject a disk volume which is being scanned. If you decide you don't want to scan a disk just select the "Volumes" button to stop the scan. Any item in the file requester that you can select can be acted upon while the current path is being scanned for entries. This means that you don't have to wait for the scan to complete to take some action. If you enter a null path in the Path gadget, the path in effect when the program was started will be reverted to. This is a safety feature so that the system has something to lock onto when nothing is provided. In any other case, the specific path in the Path gadget is used to access the contents of the disk following that path. In the Entries list, DIRECTORIES appear in BOLD type in one color. FILES appear in PLAIN type in another color. FILES and VOLUMES have a number and letter which appears to the far left of the list. The letter (B, K, M, or G) appears farthest to the right beside the number: B for Bytes, K for Kilobytes, M for Megabytes, and G for Gigabytes. Thus 64B is 64 bytes and 173K is 173 Kilobytes. For FILES, this is the size (rounded) of the file, or the amount of space USED on the disk by that file. For VOLUMES, this is the amount of space FREE on the volume. If your RAM Disk (RAM:) is available the amount of space USED is shown, since the RAM Disk is ALWAYS full. If the size of the volume or file entry cannot be handled, something like "0 " will be shown. Actually we haven't come across a file larger than 4 gigabytes to test this so we aren't quite sure of what you will see. To remain compatible with Release 1.2 of the system the RAM Disk is called RAM: to avoid a system crash. This bug is fixed in V1.3 of the system but we will leave it like this until most people are on V1.3/V1.4 of the system. It has been noted that on many occasions the RAN Disk will still cause a total system crash that is unrecoverable. We would suggest that you do not use the RAM Disk if at all possible until we are able to provide a 1.3 only version of ANSIEd which uses the working RAM Disk. Virtual drives such as VD0: seem okay; RAD: has not been tested since it's not as efficient as VD0: anyway. Using Delete ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Delete" displays the standard file requester and allows you to select a file to delete from disk. The file requester functions as described above except for the following changes: 1. A file MUST be selected. "OK" will have no effect if there is no filename in the file gadget. "Cancel" will back out without doing anything. 2. When a file has been selected and "OK" is selected, a delete warning requester will appear in the top left corner of the display. You have these options: a. "Cancel" will back out without deleting but will still leave you in the file requester. Just select "Cancel" again to exit the file requester or select another file. b. "OK" will ATTEMPT to delete the file and any associated icon. The warning and file requesters will disappear at this point. If the delete fails the display will flash, and an error message will be displayed in the error or CLI window on the Workbench. NOTE: Because of the design of the AmigaDOS system the delete will sometimes occur several seconds later than you might expect so NEVER remove a disk immediately after selecting "Delete". Notes on File Handling ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSIEd tries to store its files as compactly as possible and it understands a certain set of rules in doing so. Because of this it knows exactly how to load any files which it saved. However, it is possible to load non-ANSIEd files into ANSIEd with some minor alterations and considerations in mind. ANSIEd expects to find any ANSI control sequences preceeded by the <ESC> (decimal 27) character and ending in a sequence terminator for which it currently writes the sequence. That is, if ANSIEd currently writes an ANSI sequence it also knows how to interpret it when loading. If it doesn't support a particular ANSI sequence at this time you cannot expect it to properly interpret it, although it will do its best. An ANSI reset sequence will be stored at the beginning and end of all files saved with ANSIEd. A reset sequence is also stored at the end of each line to eliminate any "ANSI code sticking". If you use ANSIEd files are on a BBS system you should attempt to keep the width of each line within 78 characters. However, you can use the entire 22 line by 80 character editing area, including the lower right corner just above the fast menu bar. When you enter a character in column 80, line 22 the cursor wraps back up to the top left corner. You can load a file into ANSIEd at startup if you run it from the CLI with the command: 1> ansied [path/filename] <RETURN> The [path/filename] can be a filename alone if the file resides in the current directory. Otherwise you should include the path. Consult any one of several books on the Amiga CLI if you need more help. You can also load a file into ANSIEd at startup if you run it from the Workbench. There are three ways to do this: 1. SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the ANSIED ICON, HOLD DOWN either <SHIFT> key, and DOUBLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the file icon. 2. SINGLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the file icon, HOLD DOWN either <SHIFT> key, and DOUBLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the ANSIED ICON. 3. DOUBLE-CLICK the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON on the file icon. This will only work if the system "knows" where the ANSIEd program is. The best way to do this is to add a CLI command to your normal system startup-sequence. You could also type the command in each time you wanted to use ANSIEd, or you could even set up an icon, along with a file with the command in it, and the IconX program from your workbench 1.3 disk (there are similar public domain utilities available too). The startup-sequence or CLI command format is: 1> assign ANSIEd: location <RETURN> where "location" is the path where the ANSIEd program resides. For instance, if ANSIEd is in a drawer called ANSIEd on your hard disk the command might be: 1> assign ANSIEd: DH0:ANSIEd <RETURN> or if the ANSIEd drawer were in another drawer called BBS the command might be: 1> assign ANSIEd: DH0:BBS/ANSIEd <RETURN> Regardless of the "location", a line of the above format in your system startup-sequence, or executed directly from the CLI, would have the same effect. To remove the assignment later just use the command: 1> assign ANSIEd: While this may seem like a lot of effort a little planning and organization right now can make your system and its resources (programs and files) much easier to work with in the long run. If any or most of what is described here is "over your head" you can always contact us or just use one of the first two file loading techniques. TROUBLESHOOTING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What Went Wrong? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The error messages below are in alphabetical order of the section name where the error occurred. Find the message provided in the CLI or Workbench window below and see the additional information for that error as noted. ANSIED: Icon Alloc Error Internal program error; there was not enough contiguous memory to store the icon definition. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. ANSIED: Open File Error The file selected in the file requester from the "Project" menu "Open" option could not be found at the path given in the file requester. Check your selection and try again or select another filename. ANSIED: Passed File Error The file passed in from the command line at startup could not be found at the current or supplied path. Check your selection and try again, select another filename, or start the program without passing a filename. ANSIED: Requester Alloc Error Internal program error; there was not enough contiguous memory to store the requester definition. The name of the specific requester is given in a system requester when this message is displayed in your error window. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. ANSIED: Requester Request() Error Internal program error; the defined requester could not be displayed by the system routines. The name of the specific requester is given in a system requester when this message is displayed in your error window. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. ANSIED: Save File Error The file selected in the file requester from the "Project" menu "Save" or "Save As" options could not be found at the path given in the file requester. Check your selection and try again or select another filename. This may be caused by a disk which is write-protected. If the disk is not write protected and you receive this error when you use the "Save" option try using the "Save As" option and selecting OK in the file requester (the original file name should be in the File gadget). If that doesn't work try using "Save As" with another file name. ANSIED: Screen Open Error Internal program error; there is only one screen in ANSIEd and it could not be opened by the system routines. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. ANSIED: Window Open Error Internal program error; there is only one window in ANSIEd and it could not be opened by the system routines. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. CONSOLEUTILS: Console Port Creation Error Internal program error; ANSIEd creates its own write port for console communications and this port could not be created by the system routines. Memory fragmentation is the most likely culprit but there may be other conditions unique to your case which could cause it. Only remedy is to warm boot and attempt to run ANSIEd again by itself. CONSOLEUTILS: Console Request Creation Error Internal program error; ANSIEd creates its own write request for console communications and this request could not be created by the system routines. Memory fragmentation is the most likely culprit but there may be other conditions unique to your case which could cause it. Only remedy is to warm boot and attempt to run ANSIEd again by itself. FILEREQ: DeleteFile() Error Internal program error; the file selected in the file requester from the "Project" menu "Delete" option could not be found at the path given in the file requester. Check your selection and try again or select another filename. This may also be caused by a disk which is write-protected. It may also be due to some AmigaDOS failure. FILEREQ: Entry Alloc Error Internal program error; file or directory (Entry) space could not be allocated for a file requester entry. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. FILEREQ: FileInfo Alloc Error Internal program error; FileInfoBlock space could not be allocated for the file requester to handle entries in. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. FILEREQ: InfoData Alloc Error Internal program error; InfoData space could not be allocated for the file requester to handle the device list in. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. FILEREQ: Maximum Entries Reached Warning that the maximum (1000) file/directory entries was reached and the file list was truncated at that point. This should NEVER occur. Anyone with more than 1000 files or directories on a single filing system level deserves this error! FILEREQ: Maximum Volumes Reached Warning that the maximum (30) volume entries was reached and the volume list was truncated at that point. This should NEVER occur. Anyone with more than 30 volumes (disk devices) attached to their computer deserves this error! FILEREQ: Path Lock() Error Internal program error; the path supplied in the file requester could not be found. Check your path entry and try again or select another path entry. FILEREQ: Requester Alloc Error Internal program error; there was not enough contiguous memory to store the requester definition. The name of the specific requester is given in a system requester when this message is displayed in your error window. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. FILEREQ: Requester Request() Error Internal program error; the defined requester could not be displayed by the system routines. The name of the specific requester is given in a system requester when this message is displayed in your error window. Memory has most likely become too fragmented and will require a warm boot to recover it. Contacts For Customer Support ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you have an idea for a software product? If you do, we'd like to hear from you. All submissions are welcome. We can be reached by U.S. Mail at the address below or electronically at the BBS below: Second Sight 306 Arbor Drive Lexington, NC 27292 Attn: Greg Epley MEGA-Byte (BBS) (704) 798-3431 1200/2400 Baud, F8N1, 24 hrs/day ANSI Color Graphics, 140MG...and growing!, Private EMAIL Electronic messages should be left to Greg Epley. Please DO NOT leave messages addressed to SysOp related to this product or this company. I do not have access to these messages as the Co-SysOp. There is a registered user area for Second Sight on the above BBS now. If you are a registered user leave a message to Greg Epley with the following information: Program names, their version numbers, and their serial numbers, or your most recent invoice number. Make sure you also provide your name and address so that you can be verified and given access to the Second Sight file area. This file area will be used to exchange files or other information among registered users. Any purely free updates will be provided here as WARP (.WRP) files. Sorry, but if an update charge is required and a free update is released later, we can't provide that free update on-line; users who did not purchase the charged update cannot be given access to a later free update which also has the charged update features in it. DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANSIEd was developed entirely on the Amiga for the Amiga! Software ~~~~~~~~ Graphic images were drawn with DPaint II and DPaint III from Electronic Arts. ILBMDump was used to create C-image dumps which were converted to Modula-2 image dumps. Icons were created using ZapIcon and IconMerge. Interface art was used as a template for the final product model and is in full accordance with the Amiga design "Style". The program was coded entirely in Modula-2 using Release 3.1 of Interface Technologies' M2Amiga Modula-2 Development System for the Amiga. Hardware ~~~~~~~~ This product was developed on a 3MG Amiga 2000 system with 2 floppy drives, SONY CPD-1201 RGB monitor, and Panasonic KX-P1092 dot matrix printer. PURCHASER INFORMATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are two ways to order the commercial version of ANSIEd: 1. Send a personal check, certified check, or money order for $30.00 to the address given above under "Customer Contacts". Payment must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank - NO EXCEPTIONS. Orders are shipped by First Class U.S. Mail - NO EXCEPTIONS. DO NOT request any other payment or shipping methods! Stated price is in effect until the next major release. If you are unsure of the current price please contact us first. 2. Send a Self-Addressed, Stamped Mailer (SASM), one blank 3.5" disk, and a personal check, certified check, or money order for $25.00 to the address given above under "Customer Contacts". Payment must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank - NO EXCEPTIONS. Orders are shipped by First Class U.S. Mail - NO EXCEPTIONS. DO NOT request any other payment or shipping methods! Stated price is in effect until the next major release. If you are unsure of the current price please contact us first.