Software of the Month Club 1996 December

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EF PRO-VOCABULARY version 2.0 (Freeware) Copyright (c) 1992-96 Eric G.V. FOOKES All Rights Reserved R E A D M E . T X T This README file is intended to give you basic information for the usage of EF PRO-VOCABULARY (or PRO-VOC). If you install the complete version of PRO-VOC, you can learn its main features with the integrated automated tutorials. Just start PRO-VOC, open the "Help" menu (hold ALT key down and press H key), and select the "tUtorial" command (press U). Then choose a tutorial, and run it by pressing the ENTER key. If you ever need to remove PRO-VOC from your hard disk, you can use the SETUP program by typing "SETUP /R". Make sure that the file VOC.PCK is in the same drive/directory as SETUP.EXE I. INTRODUCTION PRO-VOC is a flexible vocabulary trainer for learning languages, or refresh forgotten vocabulary. It complements other language learning tools, such as exercise books and audio cassettes. Language teachers can adapt PRO-VOC to their regular course material. Students use PRO-VOC to memorise vocabulary, and to learn spelling and word pronunciation. PRO-VOC includes a vocabulary editor for different types of language learning (individual words, verb conjugation, sentences, and grammar), and can be used with any language supported by the extended ASCII character set (e.g. Czech, French, Indonesian). Pronunciation recording and playback are also available on computers equipped with a Sound Blaster or hardware compatible audio card, or a Tandberg Voicecard; pre-recorded pronunciation can also be played through the PC-speaker on 286 and faster computers. The licence to use this program is absolutely free. There is, however, a commercial version available for only USD 49. It offers full pronunciation playback and recording on computers equipped with a Sound Blaster or hardware compatible audio card, or a Tandberg Voicecard, an on-disk user manual, several utilities, and technical support if you have any difficulty using the software. Note also, that this free version limits practice sessions and tests to the 15 first records in a file. So all additional records are ignored during these sessions. This limitation does not exist in the commercial version. II. COMPATIBILITY PRO-VOC works on any IBM-PC/XT/AT or compatible computer with at least 410k of free RAM and which runs under DOS 3.2 or later. PRO-VOC operates in text mode and functions with any adapters (monochrome, LCD, colour) compatible with extended ASCII character sets. It supports IBM Proprinter, Epson and compatible matrix printers; H-P DeskJet; H-P LaserJet and compatible laser printers; and a Microsoft or compatible mouse. Computers equipped with a Sound Blaster or hardware compatible audio card, or a Tandberg Voicecard can record and playback audio files containing the pronunciation of vocabulary. Also, PRO-VOC will run under Windows (but the present version is not a Windows program). There are several cards on the market that claim to be "Sound Blaster compatible", but actually are only compatible when emulation drivers are loaded. Two very prominent examples of this are the Mediavision Pro Audio Spectrum and the Gravis Ultrasound. There are several parallel port type devices which use this method as well. There is no guarantee that audio features in PRO-VOC will work properly with such devices. III. INSTALLING PRO-VOC PRO-VOC and sample files are stored in a compressed file called VOC.PCK. You must use the included SETUP.EXE program to extract and install the software. Make sure both files are in the same drive/directory. SETTING PRO-VOC FOR USE FROM WINDOWS: After installation, start WINDOWS (if you have not done so yet) and complete the following steps: 1. Select a "program group" window from Program Manager for your PRO-VOC icon; 2. open the "File" menu and choose the "New" command. From the ensuing dialogue box, select "Program Item" and press ENTER. 3. At this point, the "Program Item Properties" dialogue box should be open. Type the complete name of the PRO-VOC PIF file in "Command Line" field. The default name is: C:\PRO-VOC\PRO-VOC.PIF 4. then click on the "Change Icon..." button. WINDOWS will display a message saying something like "There are no icons available for the specified file" - ignore it and press the "OK" button. Next, WINDOWS displays a "Change Icon" dialogue box. In the "File Name" field, type the complete name of the PRO-VOC ICON file (default name = C:\PRO-VOC\PRO-VOC.ICO) and press ENTER. If all has gone well, you should now see the icon for PRO-VOC. Press the "OK" button to confirm your choice. Finally, select the "OK" button in the "Program Item Properties" dialogue box. 5. If you have chosen to install PRO-VOC in a different drive and/or directory from the default one (i.e. C:\PRO-VOC), you will have modify the PIF file accordingly: a) start the WINDOWS PIF editor and choose the "Open" command from the "File" menu; b) type the full name for PRO-VOC.PIF in the "File Name" field and press ENTER; c) in the fourth field called "Start-up Directory", type the path name you chose for PRO-VOC; d) then choose the "Save" command from the "File" menu and finally close the PIF editor. IV. PROGRAM DESIGN PRO-VOC has a modern, user-friendly interface that makes it easy to learn and use. The CUA (Common User Access) specification provides a layout and usage similar to other programs following this specification. Context-sensitive help can be displayed at the touch of a key. Mouse and keyboard are both available to access commands. PRO-VOC is a particularly flexible program: * It can be used to learn any language with an alphabet supported by extended ASCII character sets. An initialising file called LANGUAGE.INI contains information on user and target languages, including the character set to correctly display characters, word attributes (adj., adv., conj., etc.), different pronouns for conjugating verbs (I, you, he, it, we, you, they), as well as the names for different tenses. * You can change the default interface language displayed by PRO-VOC. Most text displayed in the program interface (menu commands, hint line, etc.) is stored in text files and can be converted to other languages. PRO-VOC includes the following interface languages: English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, and Spanish. Once the program is running, the interface can instantly change language just by entering a new directory (if appropriately configured), or by choosing a new language from the menu. * Sample vocabulary files in several languages are included with this program, but PRO-VOC offers you control over vocabulary terms you need to learn or teach. Such files may be created by reproducing vocabulary and phrases from language course material - however, don't use copyright material without permission. V. DESCRIPTION OF PRO-VOC FILES PRO-VOC.EXE : The main program PRO-VOC.PIF : Program PIF file for use from WINDOWS PRO-VOC.ICO : Program icon file for use from WINDOWS PRO-VOC.INI : Set-up instructions for PRO-VOC.EXE ASCII.COD : ASCII definition file for compatibility with available character sets LANGUAGE.INI : Defines names of user and target languages, as well as names for word types, verb pronouns and tenses MSG.* : Message file loaded by PRO-VOC.EXE; when an error occurs or additional information needs to be provided, the corresponding message is displayed on screen BARMENU.* : Command names displayed through the program's menu HELPMENU.* : Information on each command in the menu bar and drop- down menus, displayed on the message line at the bottom of the display INFO.* : Help text displayed on the help line at the bottom of the program screen HELP.GB : Context sensitive help-information in English, displayed when the F1 key is pressed, or when the Help command is selected (can be translated into other languages) *.CMD : Printer command files INSTALL.EXE : Automated installation program for PRO-VOC (creates PRO-VOC.INI and PRO-VOC.BAT), or removing the installed program. NB: not available with BBS version SWAPLANG.EXE : Utility for swapping data between language fields in word (*.WRD) and phrase files (*.PHR). NB: not available with BBS version MAKECMD.EXE : Utility for modifying or creating new printer command files. NB: not available with BBS version README.TXT : Text file supplementing the manual LICENCE.TXT : Licence Agreement ORDER.TXT : Ordering form *.WRD : Word files *.VRB : Verb files *.PHR : Phrase files *.GRM : Files with grammar exercises *.INS : Instructions for phrase and grammar exercices *.TOC : Table of contents for vocabulary lessons *.MAC + *.MTX : Automated tutorials *.COL : Files containing user-defined colours for corresponding type of display *.??% : Test files generated from vocabulary files *.??& : Index files for tests generated in "random" mode *.DOC : Text files created after correction of tests. Contains original answers compared with student's answers and grades. VI. STARTING PRO-VOC FROM DOS After you have installed PRO-VOC, the best way to discover the software is by letting it explain itself to you. Just type DEMO from the program directory. To start the program without the demonstration, type PRO-VOC followed by ENTER. If you know which vocabulary file you want to use, type its name after the program name. For example, if you want to open the program with the file VOC1.WDS, type: "PRO-VOC VOC1". You don't need the file's extension (i.e. WDS). PRO-VOC can be called with other parameters, which take precedence over the set-up file (PRO-VOC.INI). The parameters are as follows: PRO-VOC DataFile /T/K/C/M/L/Z/B-/S-/SOUND/¯ofile/HExt/P=LPTx/ESC=Name DataFile : starts PRO-VOC with the chosen vocabulary file open. If the file does not exist, PRO-VOC will create it and enter the record editor (unless specified otherwise, the default file type will be "words"). You must enter the file name with the complete path if it is not in the current directory. /T : starts PRO-VOC in "test" mode and disables the command which removes test files. /K : turns case sensitivity on or off (K-). /C : forces the display in Colour mode. /M : forces the display in Monochrome mode. /L : forces the display in LCD mode. /Z : toggles audio recording compression (on 286 computers and faster, this parameter disactivates compression; on slower computers, compression is enabled. /B- : turns speaker sound off. /S- : turns mouse off. /SOUND : Opens a dialogue box allowing you to configure your sound card port address and interrupt number. /¯ofile :runs an automated tutorial or "macro" file after starting the program (replace "macrofile" with actual file name). /HExt : "Ext" defines the extension of help and information files (default: Ext = GB). /P=LPTx : use this parameter if your printer uses a device other than LPT1. Replace x with the appropriate number. Once you have passed this parameter to PRO-VOC, you can save the new device name in the initialising file PRO-VOC.INI by choosing Options Save options (ALT+O, S). You don't have to use the parameter next time you start PRO-VOC; /ESC=Name : loads the specified printer initialising file (*.ESC). This file should only contain the escape codes (see your printer manual) necessary to configure your printer and must have "ESC" as extension. The sequence of codes is always sent to the printer before each printing job. This configuration method is an alternative to the printer command files (*.CMD) available with the program. Once you have passed this parameter to PRO-VOC, you can save the file name in the initialising file PRO-VOC.INI by choosing Options Save options (ALT+O, S). As a result, you won't have to use the parameter next time you start PRO-VOC. Example: PRO-VOC VOC1 /L/Hfr/P=LPT2 These parameters tell the program to open the VOC1 vocabulary file using the LCD display, use message and help files with the "fr" extension, and redefine the printer port as LPT2. VII. INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER SET CODES The features explained below are only available under MS-DOS 3.3 or higher. Also, some monochrome and CGA monitors, and many printers, cannot use DOS character sets. Since DOS is limited to displaying a maximum of 256 different characters, not all characters are necessarily available in one set (or code page). When you configure your computer, choose a specific character set to suit your needs. In some cases, characters produced in one code page will not display properly when a different code page is active. DOS allows you to load several character sets into memory, so that you can later switch between available code pages to display the characters properly. This feature is particularly important for multilingual programs such as PRO-VOC. For maximum flexibility, PRO-VOC takes into account all six character sets provided by MS-DOS: English (#437), Multilingual (#850), Slavic (#852), Portuguese (#860), Canadian-French (#863), and Nordic (#865). A command called "swap Ascii page" (ALT+O, A) lets you toggle between the active character set (the one in use before you started PRO-VOC), the multilingual character set (#850), and your hardware character set. PRO-VOC selects the appropriate code page whenever you change to a directory containing the file LANGUAGE.INI with the instruction CHCP (CHange Code Page). However, to swap code pages correctly, you must have initially loaded the appropriate code pages (see your DOS manual for more information). DOS cannot switch to a character set if it is incompatible with your keyboard configuration - if this is the case, you would have to modify the settings for the following DOS commands: COUNTRY, MODE CON CP PREP and KEYB.COM. For example, if your computer uses the United States keyboard layout (hardware character set 437) and you would like to display Czech and multilingual characters, you must add or modify the following statements to your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files (assuming you have a DOS directory): CONFIG.SYS: country=042,,c:\dos\country.sys device=c:\dos\display.sys con=(ega,437,2) AUTOEXEC.BAT: nlsfunc.exe mode con cp prep=((852 850)c:\dos\ega.cpi) chcp 852 keyb.com cz,,c:\dos\keyboard.sys If you have a third-party character set which is different from the six listed above, you can define it for PRO-VOC. PRO-VOC refers to the file ASCII.COD to maintain compatibility with various character sets. To add a new code page definition, you must use a text editor and append four lines at the end of the ASCII.COD file. The first of these lines must contain the code page number preceded by the "#" symbol. The second line must contain the corresponding capital characters of the lower-case characters contained in the third line. Related characters must be grouped together, and each group separated by a space. Each group must have more than one character, the first of which should be normal ASCII (i.e. nonaccented), and the rest extended ASCII accented letters available in the code page used (e.g. eèéê). The fourth line is the basis for the key used for sorting text. The sorting procedure converts words to normal ASCII upper-case characters so that letters, with or without their accents, are ordered similarly (i.e. same order as in a dictionary). In some languages, certain characters are sorted so that they come after "Z" in the Latin alphabet (e.g. "ä" in Nordic languages). To do so, choose any ASCII letter with a higher value than "Z"; sorting is thus dependant on the decimal value of the characters listed in this last line. Read your MS-DOS manual for more information on code pages and international character sets. VIII. CREATING A MULTILINGUAL SYSTEM One of the strengths of PRO-VOC, is its configurability for different languages. As previously explained, after PRO-VOC has been executed, it first searches for the LANGUAGE.INI file in the current directory. If it does not find it, it then searches the program directory. PRO-VOC configures itself according to the directions in this file. Default values are used if LANGUAGE.INI was not found. After, whenever PRO-VOC opens a vocabulary data file from a new directory, it reconfigures itself. This feature makes it possible to create a multilingual vocabulary system with just one copy of PRO-VOC. To create vocabulary files for a new language, first create a subdirectory to store them together; then place a new copy of the LANGUAGE.INI file in this directory (modify the parameters in that file so that they correspond to the new language), and then create the new vocabulary files after choosing the File New command (make sure you enter the new subdirectory before typing the filename). The command File Language leads you though each of these steps. Changing user or target names and their related parameters may not be enough. In an international setting, you may have people who do not share a common tongue. This is why several interface languages are provided with the software: English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, and Spanish. PRO-VOC can switch between interface languages. There is even a utility, INFOEDIT.EXE, to help translate the interface text into another language. Most of the text displayed by the program is read from the text files MSG.*, BARMENU.*, HELPMENU.*, HELP.*, and INFO.*. File extensions correspond to the language used (for example, English text has the "GB" extension). These text files are not copyright, and may be modified and translated without restriction. You can use the provided utility, or any text editor or word processor (as long as you save the files in ASCII format). A unique extension (which reflects the language used) should be given to this group of new files. IX. PRONUNCIATION PLAYBACK AND RECORDING Beware that some of these audio features may not work properly under Windows! If you use a Sound Blaster or hardware compatible audio card, you need as much free memory as possible to record or playback word pronunciation. If you are unable to record/playback all the words displayed, free as much memory as possible before running PRO-VOC by removing TSR programs, or loading them into high memory. If an audio sample is too large to fit in available memory, it is truncated during playback and will stop playing before it has reached the end. Audio samples can not exceed a size of 64k. This ensures that most samples will play without being truncated on other computers when less memory is available. Also, the hard disk is less likely to fill up with unnecessarily large audio samples. If you record pronunciation with a Sound Blaster or compatible card on a 286 or faster computer, PRO-VOC compresses audio samples before saving them to disk. The compression algorithm usually reduces the resulting audio file to more than half its original size. These samples are decompressed on-the-fly during playback. Note that VOC files with compressed samples cannot be played through any other software. Compression can be disabled by starting PRO-VOC with the "/Z" parameter. The recording function is not available on the BBS version of PRO-VOC. Also, pronunciation playback is only possible when using the demonstration audio files provided with the program. X. PROBLEMS USING THE TANDBERG VOICECARD Sometimes, even when the Voicecard is properly set-up and configured, software may fail to initialise the driver VOICE.SYS. This is due to the way the driver stores the address of INT21. If PRO-VOC displays a message such as "sound driver error" or "initialisation error" when you use the Voicecard, add the following line at the beginning of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: COPY path\VOICEINI.DAT VOICE Replace the word "path" with the full path name to PRO-VOC. For example, if PRO-VOC is installed in "C:\PRO-VOC\", then you would write the line as follows: COPY C:\PRO-VOC\VOICEINI.DAT VOICE After editing your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, reboot your computer for the changes to take effect. The Voicecard driver is incompatible with some DOS shells, including Norton Commander, and cannot be used under Windows, so make sure you do not run PRO-VOC from these environments if you want to use the sound features.