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- /FHQ23: What is NOFF.SHP {NOFF.SHR}?/FB
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- NOFF.SHR is an older version of NOFF.SHP. So what's NOFF.SHP?
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- DESQview is the child of an older IBM program called TopView. Because
- Quarterdeck wanted DESQview to run all the old TopView programs, they
- made DESQview compatible to TopView, in much the same way you can run
- programs written for DOS 3.3 in DOS 4.0.
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- If a program writes directly to the video memory, TopView (and DESQview)
- cannot run it in a small window. So IBM allowed programs to be TopView-
- aware (similar to DESQview-aware /JB(see Q3)/q3.txt/) by giving them ``virtual''
- video memory on request. This memory looks like video memory, but
- characters written into it do not get displayed on the screen.
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- Since DESQview is a much smarter program that TopView ever was, DESQview
- can automatically update the window from the virtual video memory. But
- TopView did not have that ability. The TopView-aware program had to
- make another call which would manually update the window from the video
- memory.
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- Quarterdeck wanted to make DESQview look as much like TopView as
- possible, so they decided that if a TopView-aware program makes this
- call to update the window, then the automatic updating of DESQview would
- be turned off.
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- DESQview can do a better job of updating the window from the virtual
- video buffer than *some* programs. So the purpose of NOFF.SHP is to
- capture the TopView update call before it gets to DESQview and not let
- DESQview see the call. That way, DESQview never turns off the automatic
- updating, and your window output is less jerky.
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- Whether or not you should use NOFF.SHP depends on how the TopView-aware
- program updates its screen. If it changes only small parts of the
- screen at a time but requests that the entire screen be updated, use
- NOFF.SHP. But if the program tells TopView (DESQview) exactly which
- part of the screen changed, output may look smoother without NOFF.SHP
- because an automatic update doesn't take place until the end of each
- program's time slice /JB(see Q9)/q9.txt/.
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- Although NOFF.SHP is included in the Quarterdeck-supplied DVP for
- Wordperfect, it is not required if you are using a 386 or better and
- you turn on text virtualization.
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