PC Today 18

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

/ PC Today 18 / SHADOW.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1991-01-01 | 16.6 KB | 416 lines

██▐███ █▐███ ██ ██ ██▐███ ██▐███ ██ ▐█ ██▐████ ██▐███ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ▐█ ██ ██ ██ ██▐███ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ██▐█ ██▐███ ██ ▐█ ██ ██ ██▐█ ██ ██ ██ ██ █ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ▐█ ██ ██ ██ ██ █▐███ █▐███ ██▐███ ██ ██ ██▐███ ▐█ ██ ██ ██▐███ Systems Ltd │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ SHADOW Version 1.2 (c) Alteasoft and Powerline Systems Ltd Use of this software is at your own risk. No guarantees are implied or given. This program is SHAREWARE and requires registration for continued use. Please see the end of this file for registration info, or print the PRINT.ME file included in the package. Shadow is a memory resident program that operates quietly in the background and yet at the touch of a key can replay all or sections of your previous work.In the event of a power failure or system crash it is a simple matter to retrieve your work .Shadow saves every key stroke to an internal buffer and at a predetermined interval writes this buffer to a disk file.You do nothing until you want to review or retrieve your work. Once you start replaying you can vary the speed ,pause or even single step as well as being able to fast forward or rewind to 'tabs' that you set during record. To switch modes within SHADOW a user defined 'Hotkey' gets the window up and simple menus are displayed. SHADOW is designed for installation in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and if you wish can be run completely automatically.The only time you need call it up is to recover lost work. The default configuration gives you a buffer of 10 strokes which means every 10 key presses the record file is updated.With this default setting SHADOW occupies just over 8K of memory so you'll still be able to run the big ram hungry applications with the added safety factor of SHADOW. The SHADOW disk contains the main program as well as additional batch files so that you can install SHADOW within minutes.There are also three example replay files that will run in almost any wordprocessor or spreadsheet application.There is also a DOS replay file which will swing you through some simple DOS commands. GETTING STARTED (installation) ============================== The simplest way to get going is to run one of the two installation programs, HARDINST or FLOPINST after placing the SHADOW files on the root directory of a floppy disk. However it is very simple to install manually and both methods are outlined below. AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION FROM A FLOPPY ------------------------------------ Place all the Shadow files on the route directory of a formatted floppy disk. This disk is no your SHADOW diskette. Hard disk --------- Place the SHADOW diskette in drive A: and type : HARDINST C: <Enter> SHADOW will be installed on the root directory of your C: drive and the support files will be copied into a subdirectory named SHADOW.The AUTOEXEC.BAT file will also be updated.Obviously if you are installing SHADOW on to D: drive you would replace C: with D:. Floppy disk to Floppy disk -------------------------- Place your DOS system disk in drive B: Place SHADOW diskette in drive A: and type : FLOPINST A: <Enter> SHADOW will be copied onto your system disk and the AUTOEXEC.BAT file modified. You will also need to change your CONFIG.SYS file (if you have one) If you have one it will be in your ROOT directory.To read the contents type : CD \ <Enter> TYPE CONFIG.SYS <Enter> If you see an entry that says something like : files=20 then everything is OK.However if there is no such entry then you need to add a similar line to this file.Refer to your DOS manual for instructions.If you don't have the CONFIG.SYS file at all you can copy the one on the SHADOW file list. MANUAL INSTALLATION ------------------- If you are going to install SHADOW manually we assume that you know what you're doing. It is better to make SHADOW the last resident program if possible as it works better, but if you are already using SIDEKICK it will have to go before as SIDEKICK insists on being loaded last. If you use the /A switch on SHADOW it will load and run from the default settings.However if it finds an error during Boot-up ,loading will halt and you will be prompted to correct the error.One possible cause might be that you've specified a non- existent file in Replay mode. GETTING STARTED (Operation) =========================== The first time you start SHADOW you will be shown an opening screen with the following choices. P - Change Playback speed 10 Units F - Change playback File C:\RECORD.SHD B - Change Buffer size 10 Keystrokes H - Change Hotkey combination LSHT - CTRL A - Automatic load setting Off M - Initial Mode Wait C - Change Colours S - Save changes P - Change playback speed.The playback speed can be anywhere from 1 character every 14 seconds to about 230 characters per second but this will depend on the main program's ability to take keys.The initial speed is set at 10 which represents a number between 1 (the fastest) and 36 (the slowest speed).It is advisable to have a fairly low initial speed as you have less chance of loosing keystrokes with certain programs. F - Change playback file.This is the file that keeps a record of your work and it can be treated as any DOS file.ie copied,deleted etc.You can even use the DOS copy command to join two or more together.When you want to change the name SHADOW checks for legal paths and names and abides by all DOS rules.You can specify Overwrite or Append with the Mode key and if you specify a non existent file in Append mode it will be created.However a non existent file in Playback mode will cause an error message. B - Change buffer size.The buffer holds the keys that you have pressed until it is full when they are then written to disk.The default is 10 strokes but you can specify any number between 1 and 2000.As more information is stored than just the actual key ,each keypress uses up 3 bytes.Consequently having a buffer size of 2000 would increase the resident size of SHADOW by roughly 6K. H - Change hotkey combination.The hotkey combination is the keys that you need to press to get the SHADOW window on to the screen.The default is Leftshift-Control but if you press 'H' you will be asked to press your desired combination.This feature is to allow compatibility with other resident programs. A - Automatic load setting.Pressing 'A' toggles this switch between on and off.When On (and saved) SHADOW will be loaded without stopping at the opening screen (as long as there are no errors).When off ,the opening screen is displayed.If you want to load SHADOW automatically in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file it is better to have this switch on. M - Initial mode.When you first start SHADOW you can be in one of four modes. Wait - Do nothing. Record-overwrite - Create file and record keystrokes. Record-append - Record keystrokes and add to existing - file. Playback - Replay from default file. The Wait mode does nothing but wait for you to change to record or replay.There are two initial record modes.The overwrite mode starts a new file with the default name erasing any existing file.Append adds the keystrokes on to the existing file effectively combining two sessions.Finally Replay mode goes straight into playback provided the default settings are acceptable. C - Change colours.You can change the default colours of SHADOW or if you have Monochrome you can switch between normal and inverse video. If you have mono pressing 'C' toggles between normal and inverse video.If you have colour pressing the same key gives you a sub-menu.There are six sections that can be coloured and to switch between them press 'S'.You can change the relevant colours by pressing 'F' (foreground) or 'B' (background) although in some of the sections only the foreground can be changed.Pressing 'M' will immediately give you a monochrome display.When your happy with your colour scheme press <Enter> and if you want to make it permanent save the configuration. S - Save changes.Once you're happy with your configuration pressing 'S' saves the changes to disk.For the save to be successful you need to be in the current directory or else you will get an error message. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES --------------------- There are three switches that can be added on the command line to enhance SHADOW. /A This selects Automatic mode regardless of the automatic mode setting.This is equivalent of starting SHADOW with automatic mode switch set to on. /M This sets the Manual mode regardless of the automatic mode setting.If you have saved a configuration with the automatic mode set to on this is the only way to switch back to manual. /B This switch overrides the DOS buffer.However it has a limited use as most programs conform to DOS. WAIT MODE ========= In this mode SHADOW merely checks the keyboard for the Hotkey combination.When it is called the following choices are displayed. R - Record keystrokes. P - Playback from file. M - Move Shadow window. C - Change current file. Esc Escape to return. R - Record.This key puts you into record mode and if the file already exists you are prompted from where you want the recording to start. P - Playback.'P' will put you into playback mode and once again you will be given a choice of where to start from .'Start' or 'Here'.Start replays from the beginning of the file whilst Here begins at the current location. M - Move.'' moves the SHADOW window around the screen.Use the arrow keys and press <Esc> when finished. C - Change file.If you want to change the default current file press 'C' and you can then enter the new path/file name.Checks are made to ensure that the filename complies with DOS.See the section on file names. Esc The Escape key always takes you one step back up the menu tree before finally returning to the main program. RECORD MODE =========== In Record mode all keystrokes are recorded to the current file at regular intervals.The menu choices are as follows :- S - Stop recording. T - Set tab marker. M - Move SHADOW window. C - Change record file. Esc to return S - Stop recording.Pressing 'S' updates and closes the file before going into Wait mode. T - To set a tab marker press 'T' and then at the prompt press any key from 0 to 9 ,A to Z or <Enter>.Then during replay you can fast forward or rewind to these tabs. M - Move.As before 'M' allows you to move the window around the screen. C - Change file.Again 'C' lets you change the file.If the file already exists you are prompted whether you want to overwrite or append.The normal checks are made on the validity of the file name. Esc Return to application. PLAYBACK MODE ============= In playback mode keys are read from the disk file and fed into your application. S - Stop replay. T - Reset stop tab. F - Fast forward or rewind C - Change replay file. Esc Return to application. S - Stop playback.'S' stops the replay and puts you back into Wait mode.Some care needs to be taken with this key.If you're replaying a program that won't accept the keys as fast as SHADOW is sending them when you press 'S' it's possible that there are still some keys in the keyboard buffer.SHADOW always checks and if there are keys left it won't pop up.But you will see the replay stop (as if you had pressed the 'P' key).If this happens press the 'S' key again until the SHADOW replay window appears.This will only be necassary when replaying slower programs and ensures that no keys are lost. T - Reset stop tab.You can set the stop marker to any key from 0 to 9 or A to Z as before.When it is set replay will pause whenever a tab marker of the same value is encountered.('P' will restart the playback).Setting it to ? will cancel.During replay ,hard tabs (set with the Enter key) will always pause replay. F - Fast forward or rewind.Press 'F' and you can fast forward or rewind to a particular tab.If the tab doesn't exist it will stop at the start or end of the file.SHADOW will beep if you try to do something wrong ie. fast forward from the end of the file. C - Change file.As in the other modes 'C' lets you change files.In this mode however a further check is made to make sure that the specified file actually exists.Any errors are reported. M - Move.The 'M' key (although not on the menu) still moves the window around as before. During replay there are a number of other keys that affect the replay. P - Pause/restart.The 'P' key will pause and restart the replay at any time during the playback. S - SHADOW.This key will pause replay and pop up the SHADOW window.You are then presented with the usual replay window choices.Pressing <Esc> immediately puts you straight back into replay at the point that you stopped. R - Real time.'R' toggles you in and out of an approximate real time replay speed.The speed is only approximate so as to allow programs that take time to update the screen a greater degree of compatibility.(See the operating considerations on page 11).The timed accuracy has been in the region of 90%. +/- The plus and minus keys (on numeric keypad) or the +(=) and _(-) keys increase and decrease the playback speed.They are only effective if you are in the constant time mode. Spacebar The spacebar can be hit at any time during constant time mode to go into single step.Repeated presses of the spacebar then step through your keystrokes as if you were typing them.If you want to restart the constant speed replay press 'P'.The spacebar has no effect if replaying at real-time speed. DEMONSTRATION FILES =================== Included on the SHADOW diskette are three demonstration replay files.The first one DOS.SHD takes you through a few (relatively harmless ) DOS commands.It won't alter your disk except to write a file that it later erases.To run this you should either have the DOS commands in your path or be in the same directory. The second file , WORDPROC.SHD can be run from inside almost all word processors (as long as they support wordwrap ,which they mostly all do).When replay pauses press 'P' to restart and if you find the going too slow ,press 'R' to get out of real-time mode and then the + key to speed things up.Full instructions and hints are on this file. Finally the SPRDSHT.SHD file can be replayed from inside your spreadsheet program.As the recording was made from cell A1 replay should begin there if you want the other cell refences to match.This replay does nothing more than move around and print a few lines of text. For FULL information please read the full on disk manual REGISTRATION INFO..... REGISTRATION VIA ENGLAND - UK ----------------------------- Enclose a cheque or Postal Order for £20 made out to: 'POWERLINE SYSTEMS LTD' and mail to Powerline Systems. 44 Rydal Way, Ruislip, Middx. HA4 ORU. ENGLAND Do not forget to include your name and address! Copyright (C) Alteasoft & Powerline Systems Ltd.