ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/BBS/MISC/ASTR201.ZIP/ASTR.DOC

Text File | 1991-02-26 | 7.1 KB | 186 lines

                               Documentation for
                            ANSISTRIP and ANSIVIEW
                                 Version 2.01
                               by Duane Paulson


  Southern California Residents: You may, if you wish, post a message
                 to DUANE PAULSON on the Main Board of
                 THE KANDY SHACK BBS (714-636-2667)
                 Garden Grove CA 1200/2400/9600/14400
                 V.32bis and HST. Sysop: Mike
                 Bernstein, and a great one he is, too.
  Reach Out America Subscribers: Please see above
              GEnie: D.PAULSON
             CompuServe: 70671,666


                       CONTENTS

        INTRODUCTION..........................Page 2
        ANSISTRIP Strip Utility...............Page 3
        ANSIVIEW File Viewer..................Page 4
        Using ANSISTRIP and ANSIVIEW
         with PRO-YAM or ZCOMM................Page 5

Professional-YAM and ZCOMM are trademarks of Omen Technology, Inc., with which
 the author of this program has no connection.



ANSISTRIP Version 2.00 Documentation                     Page 2

I originally released ANSISTRP.EXE on 12/23/90. It removed ANSI screen control
codes from a text file, and displayed the resulting text to the screen at the
same time. I was not really satisfied with this arrangement. The control code
strip function processed characters one at a time, making it not fast enough,
and you couldn't stop the scrolling of text on the screen, making that function
not accessible enough.

I have resolved these problems by breaking ANSISTRP into two pieces. ANSISTRIP
will strip ANSI control codes from text files very rapidly, and ANSIVIEW will
display text files containing ANSI screen control codes at an adjustable scroll
rate, with a scroll pause feature, and an instant exit feature.

In addition, I have changed the way filenames are input in the utilities,
replacing the in-program prompt feature with a command line parameter interface.
ZCOMM and PRO-YAM users, in particular, can use this feature to good effect
when tying these utilities to a function key in order to view or convert their
customary capture file.


                         80286 Protected Mode Support

This version is also able to support protected mode with systems using 80286
or newer chips. The 286 versions ANSISTRIP and ANSIVIEW execute noticeably
faster then the 8088-8086 default version.




ANSISTRIP Version 2.00 Documentation                     Page 3


                                   ANSISTRIP
                  ANSI COMPUTER SCREEN CONTROL CODE STRIPPER
                           ASTR.EXE and ASTR286.EXE


FORMAT:
        ASTR INPUT_FILENAME OUTPUT_FILENAME
         (or)
        ASTR286 INPUT_FILENAME OUTPUT_FILENAME

File names for the input file and output file must be specified on the command
line. The filenames may include a drive and/or path specification. The input
file must not be the same as the output file. ANSISTRIP needs two files open:
one to read from, and one to write to.

ANSISTRIP assigns each of these files a large I/O buffer, and starts processing
them a line at a time. The processing moves quickly, thanks to an optimized
ANSI strip strategy. When ANSISTRIP is done, you will have a text file that can
be viewed with an ASCII file viewer. You won't have the bothersome ANSI codes
cluttering up the file, and making the text difficult to read.

Note that stripping ANSI sequences is no guarantee that a text file will become
readable. If ANSI is used to move the cursor around, as on a BBS welcome
screen, you will be left with a jumble of characters over by the left margin.

At places where ANSI is used just to change colors, as in file lists, etc.,
the ANSI escapes will be removed, making the text readable when using a file
viewer that bypasses the ANSI driver.





ANSISTRIP Version 2.00 Documentation                     Page 4


                                   ANSIVIEW
                        PAUSABLE SLOW-SCROLLING VIEWER
                             FOR FILES CONTAINING
                      ANSI COMPUTER SCREEN CONTROL CODES


FORMAT:
        AVIEW FILENAME
         (or)
        AVIEW286 FILENAME

Filename must be specified, and is, or course, the file to view. You may
include a drive and/or path specification as part of the filename.

The file will be displayed in slow-scrolling ANSI format. What this means is
that a pause will be inserted in processing after each character is written
to the screen. This is the only way I could come up with to control the display
of a file containing ANSI codes, since the cursor may jump around, and the
screen may be cleared periodically by the ANSI codes.

The following keys are active during the scroll:

    <SPACEBAR> Pressing the spacebar temporarily suspends scrolling of the
           display. Press any key to continue.

    <ESC>       Pressing the Esc key will immediately terminate the program.
           The exit message will be displayed on the line below the
           line where the cursor is currently located.

    <F>       Pressing the F key (The one on the typewriter keyboard, not
           a function key) will speed up the scroll rate. The delay
            rate is processor-dependent, and so this key will have a
           different effect on different speed machines.

    <S>       Pressing the S key slows down the scroll rate.



ANSISTRIP Version 2.00 Documentation                     Page 5


                       USING ANSISTRIP AND ANSIVIEW WITH
                               PRO-YAM OR ZCOMM

ANSISTRIP and ANSIVIEW can be used to review your on-line sessions just as they
occurred, in full, glorious, color, and with ANSI animation effects.

To do this, you'll have to get into your default PHONES file, and remove the
-s parameter from your create capture file entry. The -s parameter prevents
control codes from being written to your capture file. You can now use
AVIEW[286].EXE from within PRO-YAM or ZCOMM to review your color capture file.

You MUST, however, close your capture file before attempting to view it. This
is important.

While it is possible to run ANSISTRIP and ANSIVIEW from the PRO-YAM or ZCOMM
command line, it is advisable to use the function keys to make sure certain
key tasks are performed each time you use ANSISTRIP or ANSIVIEW.

Here are some sample entries. I use ZCOMM, and have named my default capture
file ZCOMM.CAP. This file is automatically created each time I start ZCOMM, so
that I can have a record of my session, in case I need to look back at
something. I've tied the routines to the F11 key:

    open -y zcomm.cap    :In program initialization. Open and overwrite.

    set f11 "@gosub ansiview"        :F11 views capture file.
    set fa11 "@gosub ansistrip"        :Alt-F11 strips cap file ANSI.


ansiview:
    close zcomm.cap                :Close default cap file.
    !aview zcomm.cap            :View it.
    create -+ zcomm.cap            :Reopen in append mode.
    return

ansistrip:
    close zcomm.cap                :Close default cap file.
    !astr zcomm.cap zcomm.asc        :Strip and save it in zcomm.asc.
    create -y zcomm.cap            :Reopen in overwrite mode.
    return


It is important to note that, in the above example, each time F11 is hit,
ZCOMM.ASC is overwritten. Therefore, you should only hit this key at the end
of your session, to avoid losing your material.