ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 Shareware Freeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)

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Back & Forth Version 1.30 June 1, 1990 Copyright (C) 1990 by Progressive Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved Progressive Solutions Sandi & Shane Stump Box 276125 San Antonio, Texas 78227 Voice: (512) 670 1061 Fax: (512) 670 1061 BBS: (512) 670 0954 Sales: (800) 833 4400 Compuserve: GO ZENITH section 13 Back & Forth version 1.30 page 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Shareware Principle Shareware is one alternative to the increasingly high price of commercial software. Good software is made available for a limited test period to users for their evaluation. Once that test period is over, you should determine if you think the program is useful. If you use the program, you should send the requested contribution to the author of the program. Otherwise, you should delete the software from your machine. This software is not intended as a "freebie". Just as you work hard for a living and do not want people taking advantage of you by not paying you for your work, this is our occupation and it takes a TREMENDOUS amount of time, $$$money$$$, energy, and effort. If software authors are not reimbursed for their work, they will eventually quit writing for the shareware public. Unregistered All unregistered copies of Back & Forth display a registration Copies information screen and require a randomly generated key to be pressed and after each hour of use. For this reason, while your version is unregistered, we recommend that you not use a communications package to upload/download within Back & Forth. When you register your copy of the program, you receive a key file which eliminates this nuisance. This key file may be used with all later versions of Back & Forth. This lets you easily update B&F whenever you find a new version. Other than this not-so-subtle reminder, Back & Forth is not crippled or limited in any way. Single User On the opening screen of Back & Forth, our name, address, phone Registration number, limits, and requested registration price is displayed. The phone number is only provided for use in registering your copy or for REGISTERED users to call for phone support. We cannot give extensive phone support to unregistered users. If you have a question or a problem, we will try to help you, but if you do not intend to register your copy, please do not call. Registered users receive the latest version,full phone support, and a complete, printed manual. Registered users also get a key file which is used to remove the annoying Shareware screen from all future versions of the registered product. Registration We accept Mastercard, Visa, AMEX, checks, money orders, and purchase orders. If registering by mail, please send your name and address printed clearly along with a check or money order for the registration fee plus $4.00 shipping. When ordering outside of the United States, please make certain that your account is on a US bank in US funds. For oversees orders, please add $10.00 for Air mail delivery. Otherwise, we have to send it by boat (and you know how long that can take!). Correspondence If you wish to make any comments or suggestions, we recommend that you write us a letter rather than phone so that we can keep a record. If you are not a registered user and you wish a response to your letter, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE). Back & Forth version 1.30 page 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ Corporate & Registration is based on the number of users using the program Multiple Copy and the number of systems that the program is installed on. Registration What this means is that the single-user registration fee does NOT register an entire user group, business, school district, or any other multiple user/computer organization. For cases like these, we have quantity pricing, as follows: Number of machines/users Discount 5 - 10 copies 10% discount 11 - 20 copies 15% discount 21 - 50 copies 20% discount 51 + See ORDER.DOC file Site licenses & bundling/resale agreements are also available. Please call for more information. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 3 ______________________________________________________________________________ Section 1: Introduction Program Back & Forth is a versatile program management tool that allows Description you to load up to 20 programs at once and instantly switch between them. Now you can switch between your word processor, spreadsheets, databases, and utilities at will without having to wait. This eliminates the need to exit one program to open and use another, which lets you concentrate on the reasons why you are using your software in the first place. * Delivers a flexible task management environment where up to 20 programs may be open in memory, with each provided as much memory as needed. * Occupies only 14-20k of memory. Uses less than 1k if loaded high using QEMM or 386-to-the-Max. * Offers an easy-to-use, colorful, & customizable environment. * Supports CGA, EGA, and VGA video modes. When graphics screens are saved, they are compressed in order to save space. * Allows the use of a Microsoft-compatible mouse. * Uses expanded memory (EMS), extended memory, RAM disks, hard disks, and conventional memory to store swapped programs. * Accepts the definition of 50 programs for selection and use. * Permits you to select the hot keys used to pop up Back & Forth, the Cut & Paste commands, and all defined programs. * Runs a selected list of programs automatically when Back & Forth is first loaded. * Enables you to cut text from a running program and either place it in a clipboard for later pasting, print it, or write it to a separate file. * Permits color customization which lets you choose the colors that suit your tastes rather than someone else's. Supports all video modes provided by UltraVision. * Lets you set up DOS environments for use in executing programs, utilities, and/or DOS commands. * Works flawlessly with UltraVision, QEMM, 386-to-the-Max, 4DOS, and other computer enhancement programs. * "Cleans up" expanded memory used by programs opened, executed, and closed with B&F. * And much more... Back & Forth version 1.30 page 4 ______________________________________________________________________________ System To run Back & Forth, your computer system must meet or exceed Requirements the following specifications: * IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100% PC compatible with at least 256k of main memory. * EMS memory, RAM disk, or hard disk for use in storing file information swapped to disk. * MS-DOS 3.0, PC-DOS 3.0, or later version of DOS or 4DOS. * A Microsoft-compatible mouse is optional. If a mouse is to be used with Back & Forth, its driver must be installed in memory before Back & Forth is run. * A color monitor is optional. * QEMM or 386-to-the-Max with EMS memory, if Back & Forth is to be loaded into high memory. Back & Forth The Back & Forth package contains the following files. Most of Files these files should not be deleted. BNF.EXE The Back & Forth program, run using B&F.BAT. BNFHIGH.EXE The part of B&F that can be loaded into high memory. Found within B&FHI.BAT, if created. BNFLOW.COM The lower memory part of BNFHIGH, must be run immediately after it. Found in B&FHI.BAT. B&F00#.OVL The Back & Forth command overlays. *.HLP The Back & Forth help files. HIMEM.SYS The Microsoft XMS driver. HD-SETUP.EXE Creates the B&F.BAT and B&FHI.BAT executable batch files. README.B&F Last second hints / additions to Back & Forth. HISTORY.B&F Delineates the changes made to each version. *.DOC, *.B&F Other text files, including the order form, product list, etc. Files with the DOC extension are pertinent to all our products; files with the B&F extension are specific to Back & Forth. Data Files Back & Forth creates several files which are used to store configuration information for various aspects of the program. B&F.BAT The batch file used to set up and execute Back & Forth. Run this way, B&F uses 14-20k. B&FHI.BAT The batch file used to set up, load high,& run Back & Forth. Run this way, B&F uses 1k. BFVARS Holds all Back & Forth data including swap space allocation, program setup, hot keys, color scheme, cut & paste options, etc. B&FVIDEO.0## Video storage files for swapped programs. Each is deleted when its program is exited. CLIPBORD.B&F Stores the contents of the Cut & Paste buffer. DIRTREEx.MAP Contains the directory tree of the named disk. This is deleted when Back & Forth is exited. SWAPFILE.00# The files used to store B&F and program data. The size and location of these files are decided when B&F is first run within the Swap drive setup menu. All swap files are deleted when Back & Forth is exited. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 5 ______________________________________________________________________________ About this Two divergent philosophies exist about the writing of program Manual manuals. Some manuals are written from the point of view that a user intends to sit down with the book and read it from cover to cover before attempting to use the program. When a writer adopts this attitude, the manual can be written without excessive detail, since the writer assumes that once he or she has described the process of using a menu or invoking a quick key, that the user will remember that procedure and not need to have it described again. This assumption can significantly streamline the writing process. Unfortunately, it has been our experience that most users jump right into their recently-purchased program, perhaps only skimming the first pages of the manual for information about installing the program. These users may never open up the manual until a problem occurs. Nothing is terribly wrong with this attitude, we are usually equally as impatient when beginning to use a new program. The big problem is that the writer cannot be sure that the user has read a particular page describing the use of a particular aspect of the program. With this in mind, this manual has been written in the style of a reference book, with each section treated as if you have not read the rest of the manual. Instead of describing the process of invoking a command or menu once then assuming throughout the rest of the manual that you have read and understood that paragraph, we detail the process step-by-step within each command as needed. You will occasionally be referred to other parts of the manual for more information on specific commands when the subject in question is more involved than a single paragraph can cover. But ordinarily, you will only need to read one section of the manual to have your questions answered about the operation of a command. This manual has been broken down into six parts. Section 1: Introduction holds a description of B&F, system requirements, program files, and this description of the manual. Section 2: Installing Back & Forth outlines the steps necessary for installing Back & Forth on your system and setting up the swap space requirements. Section 3: Setting Up Back & Forth details the [F7] Setup menu and the information necessary to setup and use Back & Forth. Section 4: Running Back & Forth describes the use of Back & Forth once it has been setup. Section 5: Commands Provided Within Back & Forth consists of descriptions of the command stack, used within DOS partitions, and the Cut & Paste option, used to transfer text data between programs. Appendices A-E contain our program credits, a list of error messages and their probable causes, a troubleshooting guide, a description of the use of memory resident programs (TSRs), and information about 4DOS and UltraVision. For those of you who habitually read a software manual from beginning to end before using the program, we apologize for the excessive detail. If it is any consolation to you, while sifting through some of the necessarily extraneous information, you may find many useful commands which may not be obvious to other users who do not read the manual. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 6 ______________________________________________________________________________ The README As with most programs, the version of Back & Forth that you File have in your hand (or in your disk drive) may have already undergone a few modifications and additions since the printing of the manual. We also use this file to answer some of the most often asked questions. A description of any such changes is provided within the Back & Forth README.B&F file. All users should read this file before using Back & Forth. In this way, you are notified of any interesting changes to the program and you may pick up some useful tips on using Back & Forth. If You If you experience any difficulties with any of the commands, we Experience recommend that you first read the more detailed explanation of Problems the command and its usage contained in the appropriate section of the manual or refer to the extensive help provided on-line. A list of error messages produced by Back & Forth can be found within Appendix B. If this does not help, then consult the README.B&F file. This covers additions and modifications made to Back & Forth since the manual was printed and several helpful tips. If none of the above suggestions help, consult Appendix C: Troubleshooting. This section lists common problems and ways to overcome them. Please read this section before contacting us. Remember, the more unnecessary phone calls we take, the less time we have to produce more features, additions, and updates. Common Some terms are used interchangeably throughout this manual. Terminology These include: Program Used to refer to the program being run. Task Task and Application are more generic words Application describing a program and the purpose for which the program is being used. Partition Partition refers to the system environment used by the current program, it covers the swap space, memory, and program in use. DOS partition A partition where you are placed at a DOS prompt within Back & Forth. At this prompt, you may run any program and still use the hot keys to swap to other programs. Execute, Run All refer to running a program within Back & Open, Load Forth. Open refers to opening a new partition for the program's use, Load places the program into memory either by running it or by retrieving it from the swap drive. Switch Used in conjunction with the use of hot Swap keys. Hot keys are used to switch from the Pop back open program to another program. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 7 ______________________________________________________________________________ Section 2: Installing Back & Forth The HD-SETUP An installation program has been included to create the batch Program files needed to run Back & Forth on your system. This assumes that you have already copied the self-extracting B&F-13x.EXE file to the directory on your hard disk where you want Back & Forth to reside, and have executed it to extract all B&F files from it. To install Back & Forth,log to the directory containing B&F and type: HD-SETUP HD-SETUP does not modify the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Creating the When HD-SETUP is loaded, an identification screen is shown and Back & Forth you are prompted to press any key. HD-SETUP then creates 1 - 2 Execution batch files for use in executing Back & Forth. The first batch Batch File file, named B&F.BAT, lets you run Back & Forth from anywhere on your system. The second batch file, named B&FHI.BAT, is used to load Back & Forth into high memory. This batch file is created only if QEMM or 386-to-the-Max is detected in your CONFIG.SYS. Once these batch files are created, they should be copied to a directory along your DOS path for easy execution. The contents of these two batch files is outlined below. Selecting the HD-SETUP first determines the drive and directory where Back & B&F Directory Forth is located. This information is used to set the B&F path for DOS and to change to the directory before running Back & Forth. Back & Forth must be run from its own directory. The SET B&F The SET B&F statement is used by Back & Forth to locate its Statement executable files, overlays, help, and data without relying on the vagaries of the DOS PATH command. This line should appear at the top of the batch file naming the directory where Back & Forth was installed.If you move the Back & Forth files from the directory where they were originally installed, use HD-SETUP to reset the contents of these batch files. In the sample SET statement shown below, the C:\B&F directory is identified as the one used to store the Back & Forth files. SET B&F=C:\B&F Changing The next two lines in the batch files contain the commands used Directories to log to the drive and change to the directory containing the Back & Forth executable files. The lines shown below assume the C:\B&F directory is used. C: CD C:\B&F Back & Forth version 1.30 page 8 ______________________________________________________________________________ Loading Back The HD-SETUP program then examines the CONFIG.SYS found in the & Forth into root directory to ascertain whether QEMM or 386-to-the-Max is High Memory available for use in loading Back & Forth into high memory. If one of these drivers is found, a second batch file is created with the above information and the statements necessary to run Back & Forth in high memory. The first batch file is retained just in case you decide not to load Back & Forth high. Please note: Back & Forth must be the last program loaded high. Using QEMM to If the QEMM device driver is detected, the following lines are Load High added to the B&FHI.BAT batch file. The QEMM program directory is named within the CONFIG.SYS. The example below assumes QEMM is located within the C:\QEMM directory. C:\QEMM\LOADHI BNFHIGH BNFLOW %1 Using 386MAX If the 386-to-the-Max Professional driver is detected, the Professional following lines are added to B&FHI.BAT. The 386MAX program to Load High directory is named by the CONFIG.SYS. The example below assumes 386MAX is located within the C:\386MAX directory. C:\386MAX\386LOAD BNFHIGH BNFLOW %1 Using 386MAX If the 386-to-the-Max driver is detected, the following lines to Load High are added to B&FHI.BAT. The 386MAX program directory is named by the CONFIG.SYS. The example below assumes 386MAX is located within the C:\386MAX directory. C:\386MAX\386MAX LOADHIGH BNFHIGH C:\386MAX\386MAX LOADLOW BNFLOW %1 Running B&F The last line in the B&F.BAT file runs Back & Forth, allowing for the specification of the "GO" command line option. If "GO" is typed, the Program List window is opened directly, bypassing the Swap Drive Setup. The Swap Drive Setup window is used to define the location and amount of swap space on your system. In B&F.BAT, this line appears as follows: BNF %1 To use B&F.BAT with the "GO" option, type the following: B&F GO Within the B&FHI.BAT file, a similar line appears. It is: BNFLOW %1 To use the B&FHI.BAT with the "GO" option, type the following at the DOS prompt. B&FHI GO Back & Forth version 1.30 page 9 ______________________________________________________________________________ Copying Batch Once one or both of the batch files are created, copy them to a Files Along location along the DOS path, defined within the AUTOEXEC.BAT. the Path This makes it possible for you to invoke Back & Forth at any time, irrespective of the drive or directory. Changing the Before running Back & Forth, check the CONFIG.SYS file for the CONFIG.SYS following lines. Important: The amount shown below for FILES command is the minimum required by Back & Forth. Multiply the number of tasks you expect to run by 8 and use this value for the FILES value. Some programs open more files, you may have to adjust this value upward. Also, some programs (namely Windows) object to having files loaded into high memory. FILES=40 BUFFERS=20 Any text editor that creates ASCII text like EDLIN.COM may be used to modify the CONFIG.SYS file. If you do not have an ASCII editor, you may be able to use a word processor that lets you either save a file in non-document (unformatted) mode or export the file to an ASCII text format. Editing the Once checking the CONFIG.SYS, examine the contents of your AUTOEXEC AUTOEXEC.BAT. Most TSRs should be run within Back & Forth. Exceptions include: disk cache programs, mouse and other device drivers, video enhancement programs like UltraVision, and DOS commands like MODE, PATH, PROMPT, and SET. Consult the Program Setup section for information on setting up memory resident programs for use within Back & Forth. Adding Back & To load Back & Forth automatically each time the computer is Forth to turned on, add the batch file used to run B&F to the AUTOEXEC AUTOEXEC.BAT. Use an ASCII editor to add the batch file name, either B&F or B&FHI, to the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT. Remember to include the "GO" option, if desired. If the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS is changed, exit all open programs and reboot the system to reset this information. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 10 ______________________________________________________________________________ Back & Forth Now that Back & Forth has been installed onto your system, type Swap Drive either B&F or B&FHI at the DOS prompt. This runs Back & Forth Setup and displays the Swap drive setup information. The first time Back & Forth is run, swap space must be earmarked. The Swap drive setup screen is shown each time Back & Forth is run when the "GO" option is not specified. The "GO" option is covered above and at the beginning of Section 4: Running Back & Forth. When a program is run from Back & Forth, almost all of Back & Forth is removed from memory and swapped to a file allocated within this Setup. Back & Forth consumes approximately 14-20k of memory when run using B&F.BAT, whereas it occupies approximately 1k of main memory and 17-23k of high memory when run using B&FHI.BAT. DOS occupies an additional 3-4k of memory. All programs run from Back & Forth are provided with the specified amount of system memory for execution. This amount is declared when the program is defined for use. When a hot key is used to switch to another program or back to Back & Forth, the program information in memory is saved to a swap file on disk. Disk Selection When selecting the drives to be used as swap locations for Back Criteria & Forth, the fastest storage devices available on your system should be chosen. We recommend that you use EMS memory, RAM disk, and hard disks, in that order as available. Of course, you must balance Back & Forth's need of swap space with the needs of the other programs that you use. If your other programs are configured to use EMS memory or other disk space, you must make certain that the amount allocated to Back & Forth does not conflict with the amount needed by your other programs. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 11 ______________________________________________________________________________ Swap Drive The Swap Drive Setup identifies the drives used to store Setup Menu swapped program information. Most of its entries require the selection of a swap drive and the allocation of disk space. B&F swap drive Selects the drive used to store Back & Forth system data. The swap space needed is based on the programs loaded globally. Plan on 19k per task if UltraVision is loaded before B&F, else plan on 4k. Select the fastest swap drive available, since this data is routinely accessed. Video swap Sets the drive used to store screens generated drive by each task. The file size depends on the video mode used and the screen's complexity. Text-based screens need 16-40k, graphics screen need 3-256k. See Video Swap Space Requirements on the next page for more data. Conventional Shows the amount of memory available for use memory in running a program. This is the amount left over after loading DOS, device drivers, and Back & Forth. This is not user-definable. Use expanded Sets whether EMS memory is to be used, and if memory so, how much is to be allocated to Back & Forth. If EMS is not detected, a message to that effect is shown. Use extended Sets whether extended memory is to be used and memory if so, how much is to be used by B&F. If none is found, this cannot be selected. Program swap Selects the drives used to hold the program drive 1-3 swap files and the amount of disk space allocated. Up to 3 disks may be chosen. Total swap Shows the total amount of swap space allocated memory within this menu. This should not exceed 152 + allocated 20 * the amount of conventional memory. This field is shown only as a guide. Use the [Up] and [Down] keys to move the selection cursor to highlight the setting to be changed. When the cursor is located under the drive column, either press the letter representing the drive or use the [Left] or [Right] cursor keys to scroll the list of active drives. When the cursor is located under the Amount column, type in the amount of swap space to be allocated. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 12 ______________________________________________________________________________ Video Swap When a program is swapped out of memory, Back & Forth must swap Space an exact replica of the contents of the program screen. A Requirements separate video storage file named B&FVIDEO.0## is created for ease in restoration. The amount of storage space required for each file is based the video mode used by the program and the complexity of the screen contents. If possible, you should select a different drive from those used for program swapping. Extended memory is not allowed as video swap space for the simple reason that the video files generated are variable in size and are created and deleted as programs are entered and exited. We recommend that you choose a fast drive (preferably a RAM disk) with between 1-3 megabytes free (depending on the video mode in use) to store these files. Below is an approximation of the amount of disk space required to store a screen generated by each of the various video modes. To estimate the amount of video swap space needed, multiply the number of tasks (maximum of 20) that you intend to have open at once by the amount of video storage space required. If UltraVision is in memory, add 20k to the estimated space requirements for each task. Video mode Graphics mode Text mode Monochrome, MDA N/A 16k CGA 16k 16k HGA 64k 64k EGA 3-96k 40k VGA 3-96k 40k Super VGA 3-256k 40k Maximum Swap The maximum amount of swap space necessary is shown within the Space Needed description window of the Program swap disk entries. This total shows the maximum swap space amount needed to swap 20 programs using the maximum amount of system memory. If more than the maximum amount of swap space is allocated, the excess is not allocated to the swap file on the last program drive specified. Only allocate the amount of swap space needed for normal use, so that you do not run out of disk space for use with your other programs. If you expect to run less than 20 tasks, multiply the number of tasks to be run by the amount of memory needed by those tasks and add 152k to arrive at the amount of swap space needed. Swap File When Back & Forth is run, the swap space specified above is Creation automatically allocated to files named SWAPFILE.00# on the respective drives. This ensures that the space is available for use and allows Back & Forth to efficiently manage the contents of those files. The drawback to this approach is that the space is not released until after Back & Forth is exited. What this means to you is that you must be careful to only assign the amount of swap space needed so that you do not run out of disk space used by other programs. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 13 ______________________________________________________________________________ Network Use Back & Forth was written to function as a single-user task switching environment, however, it may be run on a network when set up based on the following restrictions: * A unique program directory containing Back & Forth, its overlays, and data files must be created for each user. * A unique and separate swap area must be set aside for use by that user only while in Back & Forth. Back & Forth at this time uses generic file names as data and swap file names, which preclude its use within a shared environment. This shortcoming will be addressed in an upcoming release. Function Keys Three function key commands are shown at the bottom of the screen. They are: [F1] Help Shows Help information for the Back & Forth Swap drive setup menu. [F9] Accept Saves the selected settings, exits the Swap drive setup menu, and runs Back & Forth. [F10] Cancel Exits the Back & Forth Swap drive setup menu without saving the changes made. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 14 ______________________________________________________________________________ Section 3: Setting Up Back & Forth Running Back After pressing [F9] to save the changes made to the Swap Drive & Forth for Setup, control is passed to the main Back & Forth screen. This the First Time is the screen that you normally see when using Back & Forth. Before you can use Back & Forth to run and swap programs in and out of memory, you must define the programs and configure Back & Forth for use. This section describes the Setup command of Back & Forth. The Back & The following is a representation of the Back & Forth main Forth Screen screen. This is the interface used to identify, open, and switch between selected tasks. ╔════════════════╤══════════════════════════════════════════════╤════════════╗ ║ Jun 1, 1990 │ Wickett, The Amazing Rug Rodent │ 6:30:pm ║ ╚════════════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════════╧════════════╝ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒╔═══════════════════════════Memory Usage═════════════════════════╗▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Largest partition possible 580,608 bytes 567 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Total amount of swap memory 5,832,704 bytes 5696 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Swap memory available 5,619,712 bytes 5488 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Number of open partitions 0 ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╔═════════════════════════════Program List═════════════════════════════╗▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 1Help 7Setup 10ExitBF Screen The main Back & Forth screen is composed of four distinct Description parts. The top lines show the date, time, and name of the registered user. Below this is shown a summary detailing the largest allowable partition size, the total amount of memory allocated to Back & Forth during Installation, and the amount of swap memory currently available. The list of defined programs appears in the center of the screen. At the bottom of the screen are shown the function key commands. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 15 ______________________________________________________________________________ Memory Usage The Memory Usage summary details the maximum amount of memory that can be allocated to a single partition, the total amount of swap space allocated during the Installation of Back & Forth, and the amount of swap memory left over after opening the tasks shown in the Active Program list. The amount of memory available for a single partition is based on the amount of memory installed in your computer, the version of DOS being executed, the device drivers and programs run before Back & Forth, and the amount of memory Back & Forth itself requires (approximately 14-20k if not loaded into high memory, 1k if loaded high). Back & Forth occupies about 150k of the allocated swap space, the rest is used by the open tasks. Swap space is allocated when Back & Forth is first executed, thus ensuring that enough is available to run any desired tasks. These swap files are removed from the disk when Back & Forth is exited. To change the amount of allocated swap space, exit and execute Back & Forth without the "GO" option. Program List Below the Memory Usage window is shown the Program List. This lists all tasks defined within Back & Forth, identifies which ones are open, the amount of swap space needed to store each task, and the hot keys assigned to each. Up to twenty tasks may be opened at one time. The first time Back & Forth is run, you must define the programs that are to be available for execution. To do so, press [F7] to enter the Setup menu and select the Program option. This allows you to define the program entries that are to be shown in the Program List window. Function Keys The following function key commands are shown at the bottom of the Back & Forth screen. [F1] Help Shows help information for Back & Forth. [F7] Setup Displays the Back & Forth Setup menu. This includes the program definition option, autoload list, color setup, mouse toggle, Back & Forth hot key selection, etc. [F10] ExitBF Removes all programs run from Back & Forth from memory and exits Back & Forth. Cursor Keys Use the cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired item. Press [Enter] to make a selection. ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║Home│║ Up │║PgUp│ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║ <- │║ │║ -> │ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║ End│║Down│║PgDn│ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ Back & Forth version 1.30 page 16 ______________________________________________________________________________ Using a Mouse For those of you with mice scampering around on your desks, with Back & Back & Forth may be set up to run with a Microsoft compatible Forth mouse. When a mouse is used with Back & Forth, a separate blinking block mouse cursor is shown on the screen. With it, you may move to and select any option shown on the screen including function key commands, program list entries, and Setup menu options. To select an item, position the mouse cursor within the desired command and press the [Left] mouse button. To exit a menu, press the [Right] mouse button. To use a mouse, the mouse driver must be installed on your system before Back & Forth is run. The mouse driver should be placed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS for automatic installation. Consult the mouse manual for more details. If a mouse is detected, the mouse mode is automatically set On. The mouse support toggle is located within the [F7] Setup menu. Mouse support is On when a scroll bar is shown on the right side of the screen for use with the mouse and when moving the mouse moves a block cursor on the screen. A scroll bar is shown on most Back & Forth windows for use in positioning the selection bar on the screen with the mouse. This vertical bar is found on the far right side of the screen with up and down arrows located at each end. When the mouse cursor is moved to one of these arrows, the selection bar highlights the previous or next entry in the active window. Moving the mouse cursor to a location within the scroll bar, the selection bar is moved to highlight the entry at that relative position within the window. Using the The [F1] Help key displays information describing the use of [F1] Help selected Back & Forth options. The screen is divided into two parts. The left side lists all help topics. The right side shows the information available for the highlighted topic. The help text is a compilation of the contents of this manual. To change the help index, use the [Up], [Down], [PgUp], [PgDn], [Home], or [End] cursor keys. Pressing one of these moves the highlighted index selection bar. Press [Enter] to display the help information for the highlighted index. To scroll the help text one line at a time, use the [+] or [-] keys. Use the [Ctrl][PgDn] or [Ctrl][PgUp] keys to show the next or previous pages of the text. When you have finished reading this information, press [Esc] to exit Help. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 17 ______________________________________________________________________________ Using the [F7] The Setup menu contains the information required to set up and Setup Menu smoothly execute Back & Forth. The first time Back & Forth is run, the Setup command must be used to define the programs executable from the Back & Forth shell and to configure the other variable aspects of Back & Forth. When [F7] is pressed, the following options are shown: Autoload Specifies the programs run automatically when Back & Forth is loaded. Color Contains the color setup of Back & Forth. Select from five preset color combinations including Black & White, or customize your own set of colors. Hotkey Sets the hot keys used within Back & Forth to return to its main screen, pop up the Cut & Paste menu, activate the cut command, and paste the clipboard's contents. Keyboard Chooses keyboard options provided within Back & Forth. These options include: key click and keyboard speed-up mode. Mouse Activates/deactivates Microsoft compatible mouse support. A checkmark signifies that mouse mode is On. If a mouse is not detected, this option is not shown. Press [Enter] to toggle this option. Options Shows a menu listing miscellaneous toggles. These include: [Ctrl][Alt][Del] reboot restriction, background character selection, CGA snow checking, & screen blank timer. Program Opens the Program editor, where programs are defined for use in the Program List. Time Shows a menu listing the clock options. Save Saves the above settings to the BFVARS file. Quit Exits the Setup menu without saving the changes made within this menu. Use the [Up] and [Down] keys to move the selection bar to highlight the menu option and press [Enter], or press the first letter. To save changes made within this menu, press [F9] or [S]. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 18 ______________________________________________________________________________ Autoload The Autoload setup option is used to select the programs for Setup automatic loading when Back & Forth is first run. Select only those tasks used routinely. The Program Setup must be used to define the programs to be utilized within Back & Forth before they can be chosen for automatic loading. Programs requiring user-input, via the Program Setup "Ask for Options" entry, cannot be loaded using this option. Autoload List When the Autoload option is selected from the Setup menu, the Window screen clears and displays the list of programs available for selection. ╔════════════════╤════════════════════════════════════════════╤══════════════╗ ║ Jun 1, 1990 │ Autoload Setup │ 6:30:pm ║ ╚════════════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════╧══════════════╝ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒╔═══════════════════════Autoload Statistics══════════════════════╗▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Number of partitions to autoload 0 ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Size of autoload partitions 0 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Autoload delay time (in seconds) 0 ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╔═════════════════════════════Program List════════════════════════════╗▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Time to Wait before ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Task Description Memory Loading Next Task ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ B&F Manuscript 560 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Desk Commando 560 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Big DOS Partition 560 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ File Commando 560 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Format 3.5 720k disks 64 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Menu Commando 560 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ » Marks autoload task Use cursor keys to move selection bar ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 1Help 3SetOn 4SetOff 10Exit Screen The top window shows the number of programs chosen for Description automatic loading, the amount of swap memory they require, and the total amount of time needed to load them. The bottom window contains the program list defined within the Program setup. Programs marked for automatic loading show the » character immediately to the left of the program description. Function Key The function keys shown at the bottom of the screen contain the Commands commands available under Autoload setup. [F1] Help Presents help describing Autoload setup. [F3] Set On Activates the autoload capability for the highlighted program entry. [F4] Set Off Removes the autoload designation from the highlighted program entry. [F10] Quit Exits the Autoload setup and returns to the Setup menu. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 19 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cursor Keys Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to scroll the selection bar through the list of defined programs. The [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys move up or down 11 entries in the list. The [Home] and [End] keys move to the first or last entry in the list. Selecting a Move the selection bar to highlight the program to be Task for automatically loaded and press either [Enter] or [F3] Set On. Autoloading When selected, a menu is opened in the center of the screen identifying three entries. These are: Task description Describes the highlighted program entry in the Program list. This field is not editable from the Autoload setup. Action type Allows you to select the action used to determine the end of program loading. The options are: Wait for keyboard request and Time countdown. The "Wait for keyboard request" option waits for a keyboard request before beginning to load the next program. Most programs can be loaded using this method since they do not request a key from the keyboard until after they are completely loaded, but this may not always be the case. This method is faster since it is based on the actual amount of time needed to load the program rather than your best guess. The "Time countdown" option waits a specified number of seconds before loading the next program in the Autoload list. This should be timed carefully, so that the computer is not left waiting too long but, at the same time, leaving some leeway to allow for deviations in load time due to changes in data file size, etc. We recommend that you try loading your programs first using the "Wait for keyboard request". If the program does not load completely using this method, switch to "Time countdown". Press the [Space] key to toggle between these two values. Time to wait: Designates the amount of time needed to load a program when "Time countdown" is selected. We recommend that you try loading the program while our screen clock is On to determine the amount of time needed. Then add several seconds to it to determine this value. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move to the field to be edited. Press [F9] to save the changes and exit this window, press [F10] to exit without saving the changes. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 20 ______________________________________________________________________________ Color Setup The Color setup contains the color options of Back & Forth. Several preset color combinations have been included for you to choose from, or you may create your own color scheme. Color Setup When the Color option is selected from the Setup menu, a menu Menu is pulled down containing the following options: A Customize colors Lets you select you own set of colors to be used to display Back & Forth. B Black & white Sets the mode to black and white for computers having composite monitors or liquid crystal displays. C Blue & cyan set Selects the blue and cyan color set. The main background color is blue with text in cyan and white and the menus are cyan background with blue text. D Black & blue set Selects the black and blue color scheme. The main background color is black with text in cyan and white and the menus are blue background with cyan text. E Black & green set Selects the black and green color scheme. The main background color is black with text in green and yellow and the menus are blue background with green text. F White & black set Selects the white and black color scheme. The main background color is white with text in black and blue and the menus are cyan background with black text. Q Quit-no change Returns to the file window without changing the color set used. To select, use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move the highlighted selection bar to the desired option and press [Enter], or press the label letter. To exit this menu and return to the Setup menu, press [Esc]. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 21 ______________________________________________________________________________ Customize When [A] is selected, the screen is redrawn showing a menu on Colors the left side breaking down the screen regions of Back & Forth. On the right, a sample Back & Forth screen is shown. This sample screen is provided to help you in deciding not only what each named region and text type is, but also what colors would look best there. Color Regions The menu options shown below select the screen region whose colors are to be changed. Application screen Selects the main Back & Forth screen. Error colors Selects the error window. This window is popped up when an error is detected. Function key colors Selects the function keys shown at the bottom of the screen. Help colors Selects the help information window. Input colors Selects the input menus, which are used to gather information. An example is the Edit Program definition window. Menu colors Selects the Setup menu. Pop-up colors Selects the pop-up menus, which are used to list options for selection. An example is the Setup option Program list. Verify colors Selects the verify windows. These are the Yes/No windows, like the Setup Save and Setup Quit windows. Restore original Restores the colors found in the Back & colors Forth configuration file, before the latest changes had been made. Quit,don't save Exits the Customize color setup without changes saving the changed color settings. Save changes and Saves the colors settings and returns to exit the Setup menu. You must use the Setup menu Save command to permanently save the color settings to the Back & Forth configuration file. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move the selection bar to highlight the desired option and press [Enter] to select, or press the first letter of the menu option. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 22 ______________________________________________________________________________ Region Items When a screen region is selected, a list of up to four items are shown describing the different parts of the region. Each region has slightly different items. The following list shows the color region and the selectable items that it contains. Application screen Border Normal Text Selected Item Title & Prompts Error colors Border Message Text Title Function key color Function key number Name of command Help window Border Index Normal text Title Input colors Border Prompt text Response text Title & instructions Menu colors Border First letter Normal & unavailable Selected item Pop-up colors Border Normal & unavailable Selected item Title & first letter Verify colors Border Prompt text Selected item Title & first letter Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired option in the displayed menu and press [Enter], or press the first letter of the option. Press [F10] to exit and return to the color setup menu. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 23 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Color Once one of the above specific screen items is selected, a menu Palette is displayed on the left side of the screen showing the 128 color options available. These show the various color combinations produced when mixing the eight possible background colors with the sixteen foreground colors. Use the [Up], [Left], [Right], and [Down] cursor keys to move the selection bar around the palette until the correct color is outlined. At the same time, the sample Back & Forth screen on the right shows an example of the item that you are setting. This shows you an approximation of what that item in the actual Back & Forth program would look like. Once the color is set, press [Enter]. You are then returned to the region item menu. Exiting the Once all of the color regions and their items have been Customize customized to your liking, press [S] to save the changes made Command and return to the [F7] Setup menu. If you would prefer to restore the colors to those shown before you began customizing the color set, press [R]. Press [Q] to return to the Setup menu without saving the color changes made. Saving the Once you have returned to the [F7] Setup menu, you must use the Color Set Save command to save the color scheme to the Back & Forth configuration file. If you do not save the changes to the configuration file, they are abandoned. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 24 ______________________________________________________________________________ Hot Key Setup The Hot key setup menu lets you select the combination of keys used to invoke the Back & Forth Cut command, Paste command, the Cut & Paste menu, and the Back & Forth program interface. Before setting any of the hot keys with this command, make sure that the proposed hot key combination to be assigned to the command does not conflict with the commands of the programs that you normally run. If a hot key is set that does, the program's command is deactivated and supplanted by the set hot key. Hot Key Menu When pressed, a menu is displayed listing the four Back & Forth hot keys available for modification. These are listed below with their default hot key settings. Back & Forth menu key [Alt][Ctrl][Space] Cut & Paste menu key [Alt][Left Shift][C] Cut command key [Alt][Ctrl][C] Paste command key [Alt][Ctrl][P] Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move the selection bar to highlight the hot key setting to be changed and press either [Enter] or [F7] to display the hot key selection window. Press [F10] to exit this menu. If one or more hot keys are changed, be sure to use the [F7] Setup menu Save command to save all changes. Hot keys are used within programs run from Back & Forth to pop-up the designated Back & Forth commands, a selected program, or Back & Forth itself. For example, while within a program, to return to the Back & Forth main screen using its default hot key setting, press the [Alt], the [Ctrl], and the [Space] keys simultaneously. The use of the Cut & Paste commands is described in more detail in Section 5: Commands Provided Within Back & Forth. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 25 ______________________________________________________________________________ Hot Key When one of the above hot keys is selected from the Hotkey Selection menu, a prompt box is popped up onto the Setup screen. This box allows you to press the key combination that you wish to select for the specified hot key. Either [Alt], [Ctrl], or both keys must be used as a key flag along with only one alphanumeric or function key to be allowed as an effective hot key. [Left Shift] and/or [Right Shift] may also be assigned as a hot key flag. Select a keystroke combination that is mnemonic and does not conflict with any keystroke commands used by any of your running programs. If the hot key selected shares the same key sequence as a program command, that program command is superceded by the hot key. Also, the hot key selected is key specific. What this means is that if you use the [Shift] key found on the left side of your keyboard with the [Alt] key and the [1] key found on the number keypad, these are the only keys that are assigned as the hot key. The [Right Shift[ key or the [1] key along the top of the keyboard cannot be substituted. For example, to select the [Alt][Ctrl][F10] key combination as the Back & Forth hot key, at the hot key prompt, press the [Alt] key, the [Ctrl] key, and the [F10] key simultaneously. The names of these keys should be shown within the prompt box as they are pressed. To change the displayed hot key, simply press the hot key combination desired. [F7] Hot Key To display a list of all hot keys already assigned to Back & List Forth, the Cut & Paste commands, and all defined programs, press the [F7] key found on the numeric keypad. [F9] Save Hot Once the desired hot key has been selected and highlighted on Key the screen, press [F9] to save. Press [F10] to exit the hot key screen without changing the set hot key. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 26 ______________________________________________________________________________ Keyboard Setup The Keyboard setup contains the keyboard configuration options of Back & Forth. Keyboard Menu When the Keyboard setup is selected, the following options are displayed. Click When On, activates a key click, which sounds each time a key is pressed. Fastkey When On, speeds up key entry. When the keyboard buffer is filled, the acceptance of key entry is halted until it empties. Delay Sets the time interval used to control repeating keystrokes. This determines how long a key must be held down before it begins typing the repeating character. Repeat Sets the repeating character rate used to control the number of repeating characters allowed per second. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move to the option to be selected or press the highlighted letter. Press [F9] to save the changes and exit this window, press [F10] to exit without saving the changes. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 27 ______________________________________________________________________________ Mouse Setup The Mouse support toggle allows you to set whether a Microsoft compatible mouse is available for use on your system. If toggled On, a checkmark appears to the left of the Mouse entry in the Setup menu. All screens will then show a block mouse cursor along with the highlighted selection bar. Moving the mouse cursor to any command shown on the screen and pressing the <Right> mouse button selects that command. To toggle this option, move the selection bar to highlight the Mouse entry and press [Enter]. If no mouse is detected, this option is not shown within the Setup menu. Using a Mouse For those of you with mice scampering around on your desks, with Back & Back & Forth may be set up to run with a Microsoft compatible Forth mouse. When a mouse is used with Back & Forth, a separate blinking block mouse cursor is shown on the screen. With it, you may move to and select any option shown on the screen including function key commands, program list entries, and Setup menu options. To select an item, position the mouse cursor within the desired command and press the <Left> mouse button. To exit a menu, press the <Right> mouse button. If a mouse is detected on your system, mouse mode is automatically set On. The mouse support toggle is located within the [F7] Setup menu. Mouse support is On when a checkmark appears to the left of the Mouse menu entry, when a scroll bar is shown on the screen for mouse use, and when moving your mouse moves a block cursor on the screen. A scroll bar is added to most Back & Forth windows when mouse mode is On. This vertical bar is found on the far right side of the screen with up and down arrows located at each end. When the mouse cursor is moved to one of these arrows, the selection bar highlights the previous or next entry in the active window. Moving the mouse cursor to a location within the scroll bar, the selection bar is moved to highlight the entry at that relative position within the window. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 28 ______________________________________________________________________________ Options Setup The Options setup contains the miscellaneous Back & Forth operation toggles. Options Menu When Options is chosen, the following are shown. Boot watch Deactivates the [Ctrl][Alt][Del] DOS reboot command, if toggled On. Fillchar Sets the character used to fill in the background of the Back & Forth screens. When chosen, a menu lists the 254 ASCII characters available. Use [Left], [Up], [Down], [Right] to move the selection bar to highlight the character and press [F9] to accept. Lines Determines the number of text lines shown within Back & Forth. If an EGA video card is detected in your system, you may choose either 25 or 43 line mode. If a VGA card is detected, you may choose either 25 or 50 line mode. If UltraVision is detected, a list of all screen mode settings for your video card is shown. Programs run from Back & Forth are not affected by this display mode. sNow checking Toggles screen snow checking On or Off when a CGA video system is detected. This option is not available when video systems are detected that already inhibit snow. Snow is the flickering detected when the screen is redrawn by a program. Screen blank Sets the amount of time between the last keystroke entered and the blanking of the screen. The contents of the screen is not affected. To redisplay the screen after it has been blanked, press any key on the keyboard. This may have a value between 0 and 999 minutes. Set the value to 0 to deactivate screen blank. Use [Up] or [Down] to move to the option to be selected or press the highlighted letter. Press [F9] to save the changes and exit this window, press [F10] to exit without saving the changes. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 29 ______________________________________________________________________________ Program Setup The Program Setup option is used to define the programs listed under the Program List. Up to 50 tasks may be defined. Program List When the Program option is selected from the Setup menu, the Window screen clears and displays the list of programs already defined within the Program list. Programs to be Some types of programs should not be run from within Back & Cautious Of Forth, still others require special treatment. Please consult the README.B&F file for a complete list. Disk cache program and programs that optimize, edit, check, or diagnose disks should not be run within Back & Forth. Some programs run within Back & Forth open temporary disk files without properly allocating them at the DOS level. By deleting or moving these files, precious data may be corrupted or lost (like unsaved changes within a word processor). Games that bypass DOS are not supported. Asynchronous communications software can only be used while it is on-screen and in memory. Once the program is swapped out of memory, it is deactivated and disconnected. Programs that intercept all keystrokes may be used, but the hot keys assigned to other programs and the Cut & Paste commands are not available. To return to Back & Forth, you must either exit the offending program or use the Back & Forth super key, [Alt][Left Shift][Ctrl]. Programs that directly change EGA video settings without notifying DOS may cause garbled screens to appear when popped back on. This problem cannot be directly resolved, instead, attempt to avoid the problem by setting the screen to a standard, text format before switching partitions or by redrawing the screen once you have returned to the program. Memory resident programs (TSRs) may be (and should be) run from Back & Forth as long as they are set to stay at DOS when done. Cursor Keys Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to scroll the selection bar through the list of defined programs. The [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys move up or down 11 entries in the list. The [Home] and [End] keys move to the first or last entry in the list. Function Key The function keys shown at the bottom of the screen contain the Commands commands available under the Program Setup. [F1] Help Presents help describing the Program Setup. [F3] Add Adds a new program to the list. [F4] Delete Deletes the highlighted program entry. [F7] Edit Edits the highlighted program entry. [F10] Quit Exits the Program Setup and returns to the Setup menu. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 30 ______________________________________________________________________________ Edit Program Once [F3] Add or [F7] Edit is selected, the screen is again Entry cleared and a window is displayed on the screen showing the program information window below. If the [F7] Edit command has been invoked, the information shown is that of the highlighted program in the Program list. If the [F3] Add command has been invoked, the program information is blank. The phrase "the program" refers to the program being defined. ╔════════════════╤══════════════════════════════════════════════╤════════════╗ ║ Jun 1, 1990 │ Back & Forth Setup │ 6:45:pm ║ ╚════════════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════════╧════════════╝ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒╔═══════════════════════════Edit Program Entry═════════════════════════╗▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Task description: ______________________ Memory needed: ____ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Id: ___ Environment space: ____ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Partition type: Program Action when done: Return ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Program path: __________________________________________ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Program name: __________________________________________ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Work path: __________________________________________ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Fixed options: __________________________________________ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Ask for options: No ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Custom prompt: __________________________________________ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Hot key: ______________________ UV mode: 80x25 ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒║ Enter text ║▒▒▒ ▒▒▒╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ UD Move between fields <--> Move within field F1-Help F9-Accept F10-Cancel Entry Fields A description of the Program entry fields is provided below. Task description Describes the program in the Program list. This field is 20 characters long. Hint: To place a group of programs at the top of the list, use an * # % ! & @ etc to separate these entries from the rest. For instance, to put a task named Menu Commando at the top, define it as #1 - Menu Commando. ID Designates a 2 character identification code used to run this program from the Program list. This ID may also be used to switch between partitions via the SWITCH program. Switch is described within Section 5: Commands Provided Within Back & Forth. Memory needed Defines the amount of memory needed by the program to execute.If left at 0, the program is allocated the maximum partition size. The maximum partition size is shown in the B&F Memory Usage window. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 31 ______________________________________________________________________________ Environment Allocates more space for the COMMAND.COM. If set to 0, it uses DOS' default value. If the program that you intend to run sets any DOS variables,you should set this value to 1024. Partition type Determines the type of task to be run, DOS partition or Program. Setting this to DOS partition opens a DOS environment where any program can be run, whereas setting this to Program runs a specific program. Action when done Establishes what happens after the program is exited, either: Return, Pause, or Stay at DOS. Return returns to Back & Forth once the program is exited. Pause returns to B&F after a key is pressed, letting you see the screen produced when the program is exited. Stay at DOS is used to run TSRs. Use [Left] or [Right] to display the desired option. Program path Identifies the directory where the program is located. The field is 57 characters long. Either enter the entire path at this prompt or press [F7] to use the directory tree. If the tree is used, move the selection bar to highlight the directory and press [Enter]. To change disks within the tree window, press [F8] and select the drive letter. Program name Identifies the program to be run. Executable files end with the extension EXE, COM, BAT. Either enter the file name at this prompt or press [F7] to select from a executable file list found within the Program path. If using the file list, move the selection bar to highlight the file and press [Enter]. If the program cannot be found in this list, change the program path. Work path Names the directory holding the data files of the program. This field is 57 characters long. Some programs must be run from their program directories; for these tasks, leave this field blank. To name a work path, either enter the entire path at this prompt or press [F7] to use the directory tree. If the tree is used, move the selection bar to highlight the directory and press [Enter].To change disks within the tree window, press [F8] and select the drive letter. DOS command Identifies the program entry as a DOS or 4DOS command. A program path need not be chosen. Use [Left] or [Right] to select Yes or No. DOS commands include COPY, DIR, DEL, CHDIR, etc, but does not include programs like FORMAT, DISKCOPY, or CHKDSK. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 32 ______________________________________________________________________________ Fixed options Accepts information usually entered with the program name when the program is run. This field is 57 characters long. For example, when using DOS FORMAT to format a a 3½ inch, 720k diskette located in drive A:, the fixed options are set to: A: /n:9 /t:80 Ask for options When On, prompts each time the program is run for additional program information. Use [Left] or [Right] to select Yes or No. Custom prompt When "Ask for Options" is On, this is the prompt shown when the program is selected for execution. This should be used to describe the program information that is needed. The field is 57 characters long. Hot key Designates the hot key used to jump to and run this program. Press [F7] to show the hot key prompt and press the keys to be used as the program hot key. The hot key must be a combination of one or more key flags [Alt], [Left Shift], [Right Shift], [Ctrl] with an alphanumeric or function key. To list the hot keys assigned to other programs or Back & Forth commands, press [F7]. Press [F9] to save the program hot key, press [F10] to return to the program entry window without setting the hot key. UV mode Presets an UltraVision video display mode. This is only shown if UltraVision has been loaded into memory before Back & Forth. If shown, pressing [F7] lists all possible UltraVision text display modes. Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move to the desired setting and press [Enter] to set. The default setting is 80x25. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move to the field to be edited. Use the [Left] or [Right] cursor key to move the cursor within the field. Press the [Ins] key to switch the text entry mode between Insert (small block cursor) and Overwrite (underline cursor). Press [F9] to save the changes and exit this window, press [F10] to exit without saving the changes. Function Key The function keys shown at the bottom of the Add or Edit Commands Program entry window are as follows: [F1] Help Displays help information describing the Add/Edit Program Entry window. [F9] Accept Saves the defined program entry and returns to the Program list window. [F10] Cancel Exits the Add/Edit Program entry window and returns to the Program list without saving the changes made. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 33 ______________________________________________________________________________ Time Setup The Time setup option presents a menu listing the available clock display options for use within the programs run within Back & Forth. This clock, if selected, is shown on the top rightmost corner of all screens. Three time display options allow you to determine the time format shown. Time Menu When the Time option is selected from the [F7] Setup menu, the following items are displayed within a sub-menu. Don't display time Turns off the clock displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. AM/PM clock display Displays a clock showing the hour and minutes based on the 12 hour, AM/PM system. This appears in the top, right corner of your program screens. Military (24 hour) Displays a clock showing the hour and clock display minutes based on the 24 hour system. This appears in the top, right corner of your program screens. Seconds clock display Adds a seconds display when either the (use with items A & M) AM/PM or military clock is selected. This is not available when the Don't Display time option is toggled. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move the selection bar to highlight the option to be selected or press the first letter. Press [F9] to save the changes and exit this window, press [F10] to exit without saving the changes. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 34 ______________________________________________________________________________ Save Setup The Save command saves the information set within the Setup Information menu to the Back & Forth configuration file. When selected, you are prompted by a confirmation window. Press [Y] to save the information to disk, press [N] to return to the Setup menu. Quit Setup The Quit command exits the Setup menu without saving any of the Menu changes made while within this menu. When selected, you are prompted by a confirmation window. Press [Y] to exit without saving the changes, press [N] to return to the Setup menu. Once you select [Y], all changes made within this menu are lost and the previous settings are restored. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 35 ______________________________________________________________________________ Section 4: Running Back & Forth Using Back & This section assumes that you have run Back & Forth at least Forth once, at which time you had set up the swap drives to be used and had used the [F7] Setup menu to define a list of programs to be run, the Autoload sequence, color scheme, hot keys, and other settings. If you have not, please refer to Section 2: Installing Back & Forth and Section 3: Setting Up Back & Forth. To run Back & Forth using conventional memory, type the following at the DOS prompt: B&F GO Instead, if you have QEMM or 386-to-the-Max installed and B&FHI.BAT has been created, Back & Forth can be loaded into high memory by typing the following at the DOS prompt: B&FHI GO Back & Forth is a task switching program which allows you to open and switch between as many as 20 different programs. Switching between tasks is easy, either use the hot keys assigned to the program or use the Back & Forth Program list. This lets you move "back & forth" between programs smoothly and efficiently without the hassle and inconvenience of exiting one program when you need to use another. Autoloading If programs were selected for automatic loading within the [F7] Programs into Setup menu Autoload option, once Back & Forth is active, the Back & Forth selected programs are loaded. The amount of time required to load each task depends upon the method chosen to end program loading. If Back & Forth does not completely load a program within the Autoload list, the [F7] Setup menu Autoload option to either change the load method to "Time countdown" or increment the number of seconds needed to load the program. The program is not affected by the interrupted load process, when you switch back to that partition, it will finish loading and be ready to run. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 36 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Back & The following is a representation of the Back & Forth main Forth Screen screen with a list of sample program entries. ╔═══════════════╤═══════════════════════════════════════════════╤═════════════╗ ║ Jun 1, 1990 │ Wickett, The Amazing Rug Rodent │ 6:57:pm ║ ╚═══════════════╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════╧═════════════╝ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒╔═══════════════════════════Memory Usage═════════════════════════╗▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Largest partition possible 580,608 bytes 567 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Total amount of swap memory 5,832,704 bytes 5696 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Swap memory available 3,877,888 bytes 3787 k ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Number of open partitions 3 ║▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╔══════════════════════════════Program List═════════════════════════════╗▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ √1 B&F Manuscript 567 'Alt-Ctrl-B ' [MB] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ √2 Big DOS Partition 567 'Alt-Ctrl-D ' [DP] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ 3 Desk Commando 567 'Alt-Ctrl-Z ' [DC] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ √4 File Commando 567 'Alt-Ctrl-F ' [FC] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ 5 Format disks 64 ' ' [ ] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ 6 Menu Commando 567 'Alt-Ctrl-M ' [MC] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ 7 Tiny DOS partition 64 'Alt-Ctrl-T ' [TD] ║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒║ Quick open:_ √Marks open task UD Moves cursor Ent Opens Del Closes║▒▒ ▒▒▒▒╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 1Help 7Setup 10ExitBF Screen The screen is composed of four distinct parts. The top lines Description show the date, time, and name of the registered user. Below this is shown the Memory Usage window, which outlines the memory and swap space available within Back & Forth. The Program List names all defined and active tasks along with their defined hot keys and memory needs. At the bottom of the screen, the function key commands are shown. Memory Usage The Memory Usage window summarizes the memory and swap space available. This specifies the maximum amount of memory that may be used by a task, the total amount of swap space allocated, the amount of swap space free after storing all active tasks, and the number of active tasks. Back & Forth uses 1k of memory if loaded high, 14-20k if run normally. The secondary copy of DOS uses 3-4k. The remaining memory is available to each open task. Swap space is allocated when Back & Forth is first run, thus ensuring that enough is available. Swap files are deleted when Back & Forth is exited. Program List Below the Memory Usage window is shown the Program List. This shows the programs defined for execution within Back & Forth, the estimated amount of memory and swap space needed by the program to run, the program ID code, and its hot key. If the program you wish to run is not shown within this list, you must either run the program from an established DOS partition or use the [F7] Setup command to define the program entry. Activated tasks are marked by a check mark shown to the left of the program entry in the list. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 37 ______________________________________________________________________________ Selecting a At the bottom of the program list, the following commands are Program shown. To select one, press the indicated key. Quick Open Allows the entrance of a two character ID code used to jump to and run a program. This code is shown between the memory amount and the hot key. For example, to run Menu Commando from the above sample screen, type MC. √ Marks open Not a command. This marks program entries task already open within Back & Forth. If a marked task is selected, it is reopened and you are restored exactly to the point where you had pressed the hot key to return to Back & Forth. [Down][Up] Moves the selection bar to highlight the next or previous entry in the Program List. [Enter] Open Runs the highlighted program entry as task configured. The [Ins] key may also be used. [Del] Close Removes the highlighted program entry from task memory. Do not use this key as a replacement of the program's customary exit command. Two different types of tasks may have been configured for selection from the Program List. These are programs and DOS partitions. A program entry runs the program defined within the Program Setup, whereas a DOS partition opens a DOS environment where any program or DOS command can be run. Thus program entries provide quick, easy execution of commonly used programs set up within Back & Forth, whereas DOS partitions allow flexible access to a DOS prompt for execution of random programs, utilities, and DOS commands. Command Line Some programs require user input before they can be run. For Options instance, to format a 3½ inch 720k diskette, select the 'Format disk' option from the sample B&F screen with the following command line B: /t:80 /n:9. When a program requiring user input is selected, a prompt is shown asking for this information. Running a To run a task from the Program List, move the selection bar to Program highlight the desired task and press [Enter] or [Ins]. If the program needs user input, you are prompted as explained above. Back & Forth then runs the program. While within the programs, several Back & Forth features are directly available. These include: cut & paste, clock, and a command stack for use within a DOS partition. The command stack and Cut & Paste are described in the following section. Switching Back & Forth may be used to open up to 20 tasks in memory at Between Active once. To switch between tasks, either use the Back & Forth hot Tasks key to return to the Program List to select the program, or use the hot keys assigned to each program to open and switch between them at will. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 38 ______________________________________________________________________________ To go from one program to another,press the hot key assigned to that program. Hot keys are assigned to programs when they are defined within the Program Setup, and are shown on the right side of the Program List. Pressing the hot key assigned to an open program swaps the current program out of memory and swaps the program identified by the hot key into memory, restoring it to the state that it was in before it has been swapped out. Switching Back To pop-back to Back & Forth, press the Back & Forth hot key to Back & defined within the [F7] Setup menu. To use the default Back & Forth Forth hot key to pop back from a running program, press the [Alt] key, the [Ctrl] key, and the [Space] bar simultaneously. When you exit a program, you are returned to the Back & Forth Program List. From here you may return to another open program or you may select other programs for execution. Caution! When using an unregistered copy of Back & Forth, we switch back to a shareware registration screen after every hour of use. If this happens while you are using a communications package, you will be cut off. Do not use a communications program within B&F to up/download a large file while B&F is unregistered. Do not pop-back while a program is writing to disk or while a communications program is connected to another system. When a program is swapped out of memory, it ceases execution until recalled to the screen. One other caveat, do not use programs that modify the disk while other programs are in memory. Many programs create temporary files while open which are deleted when the programs are exited normally. These files could be altered, truncated, or removed by programs like disk optimizers or CHKDSK /F. This may result in loss of data or a "lock up". Running MS To pop out of a Microsoft Windows 286/386 application, open the Windows POPOUT.PIF file included with B&F. This file opens a 128k DOS partition, instructs Windows to release its DOS hooks, then activates Back & Forth via the Switch program. The Function The following function key commands are shown at the bottom of Keys the Back & Forth screen. [Enter] or [Ins] Switches to the highlighted task. This swaps Activate task Back & Forth out of memory and replaces it with the selected task. [Del] Close task Deletes the highlighted task from memory. This should only be used to close memory resident programs, programs with no means to exit,DOS partitions,or "locked" programs. [F1] Help Shows help information for Back & Forth. [F7] Setup Displays the Back & Forth Setup menu. This contains the program definition option, the color setup, the mouse toggle, Back & Forth hot key selection, etc. This is covered within Section 3: Setting Up Back & Forth. [F10] ExitBF Exits Back & Forth and removes all programs run under B&F from memory. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 39 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cursor Keys Use the cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired item. Press [Enter] to make a selection. ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║Home│║ Up │║PgUp│ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║ <- │║ │║ -> │ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ ╔════╕╔════╕╔════╕ ║ End│║Down│║PgDn│ ╙────┘╙────┘╙────┘ Using a Mouse For those of you with mice scampering around your desks, Back & with Back & Forth may be set up to run with a Microsoft compatible mouse. Forth When a mouse is used with Back & Forth, a separate blinking block mouse cursor is shown on the screen. With it, you may move to and select any option shown on the screen including the function key commands, program list entries, and Setup menu options. To select an item, position the mouse cursor within the desired command and press the <Left> mouse button. To exit a menu, press the <Right> mouse button. Mouse support is set within the [F7] Setup menu, described in Section 2: Setting Up Back & Forth. Mouse support is On when a checkmark appears to the left of the Mouse Setup option, when a mouse scroll bar is shown on the screen, and when moving your mouse moves a block cursor on the screen. When the mouse is activated, a scroll bar is added to most of the Back & Forth windows. This bar is displayed vertically on the far right side of the screen. Up and down arrows are located at each end of the scroll bar. When the mouse cursor is moved to one of these arrows, the selection bar highlights the previous or next entry in the active menu. By moving the mouse cursor to a location within the scroll bar itself, the highlighted selection bar is moved to highlight the entry at that relative position within the window corresponding to the mouse cursor's position within the scroll bar. [F1] Help The [F1] Help key displays information describing the use of selected Back & Forth options. The screen is divided into two parts. The left side lists all help topics. The right side shows the information available for the highlighted topic. The help text is a compilation of the contents of this manual. To change the help index, use the [Up], [Down], [PgUp], [PgDn], [Home], or [End] cursor key. Pressing one of these moves the highlighted index selection bar. Press [Enter] to show the help information for the highlighted index. To scroll the help text one line at a time, use the [+] or [-] key. Use the [Ctrl][PgDn] or [Ctrl][PgUp] key to show the next or previous pages of the text. When you have finished reading this information, press [Esc] to exit Help. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 40 ______________________________________________________________________________ Exiting Back To exit Back & Forth, first remove all programs active in & Forth memory. To do this, move the selection bar to highlight each program entry showing a checkmark in the Program List and press [Enter]. Once within that program, save any open data files and use its Exit command to remove the program from memory naturally. If the highlighted task is a DOS partition, type 'EXIT' at the DOS prompt. Once the program has been exited, control is returned to the Back & Forth Program List. Continue this procedure until the Program List shows no checkmarked programs and the 'Number of running programs' entry within the Memory Usage window shows 0. Now press the [F10] ExitBF key. If all tasks have been closed as recommended above, the swap files are deleted, Back & Forth is removed from memory, and the program is exited. If any tasks are still open when the [F10] key is pressed (either because of accidental oversight or because the program is unwilling to relinquish memory), you are then prompted to verify whether you wish for all open programs to be forcibly removed. Press [Y] to exit Back & Forth and remove all programs, press [N] to remain within Back & Forth. You should make every attempt to exit all executed programs naturally so that you can ensure that all data files are properly closed and all temporary files are correctly handled. Caution! If all open programs are not exited normally, i.e. via their own exit command, all data files may not be updated and closed, and temporary files may still exist on the disk. If this occurs, upon running CHKDSK /F or other disk checking software, you may find a number of lost clusters or unidentified program swap files. Do not turn off your computer before exiting Back & Forth. If Back & Forth is not exited normally, i.e. via the [F10] ExitBF key, not only may lost clusters occur but also its swap files will still occupy space on your disk. The On/Off power switch is not a viable alternative to the [F10] ExitBF command. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 41 ______________________________________________________________________________ Section 5: Commands Provided Within Back & Forth Overview Several commands are available for use while running programs or DOS environments within Back & Forth. These commands let you not only save and re-use commands issued from the DOS prompt, but also cut & paste selected text from one program to another. A separate program, SWITCH.COM, has been furnished to aid in switching to Back & Forth from the command line. For programmers who wish to adapt this command for use with their own utilities, the 'C' source code file has also been provided. The command stack may only be used while running a DOS partition within Back & Forth whereas the Cut & Paste option is available to any text-based program run from within Back & Forth. At this time, no provision has been made to allow the cutting or pasting of graphics screen elements. The Cut & Paste data is stored within a clipboard file named CLIPBORD.B&F. The hot keys assigned to the Cut & Paste command are set within the Hot key setup menu, located within the [F7] Setup menu. The ID codes used by the Switch program to switch directly to a program are defined within the Program Setup. The Switch The Switch program has been furnished to aid in switching to Command Back & Forth from the command line. This is useful when running certain applications which cannot be swapped out of memory directly by Back & Forth due to their own inherent limitations. It is also useful for building batch files that automatically switch to another program within Back & Forth. For programmers who wish to adapt this command for use with their own utilities, the 'C' source code file has also been provided. This code is written in Turbo-C and is compatible with Microsoft-C and Watcom-C. Please consult the SWITCH.C file for more information. Before using for the first time, copy the SWITCH.COM file to a location along your DOS path. This allows you to use it from any directory location on your system without having to change directories back to the Back & Forth directory. To view a list of all identification codes assigned within Back & Forth, type the following at the DOS prompt: SWITCH LIST To switch to a specific program defined within the B&F Program list, type SWITCH followed by the 2 letter identification code assigned to the program. For example, to switch to Menu Commando (Id code set to MC), type the following at the DOS prompt: SWITCH MC To switch directly back to Back & Forth, type: SWITCH MENU Back & Forth version 1.30 page 42 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Command Stack The Command stack is available when a DOS partition is opened. It is used to store and recall commands issued at the DOS prompt. This is like using the [F3] key at the DOS prompt, except the [F3] key only remembers the last command typed. Command stacks are useful when performing repetitive tasks or correcting improperly typed commands. Our command stack stores the last 512 bytes of commands issued at the DOS prompt (about 30-40 commands) in a circular buffer for re-use. If a command is entered more than once, it is only stored once. The following keys control the use of the stack. We are working on disabling our command stack if either 4DOS, CED,or PCED is detected. This will allow you to use the command stack provided by those programs. [F3] or [Up] Displays the previous command in the stack. [Down] Displays the next command in the stack. [Left] Moves the cursor one character to the left. [Right] Moves the cursor one character to the right. [Ctrl][Left] Moves the cursor to the previous word. [Ctrl][Right] Moves the cursor to the next word on the line. [Home] Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line. [End] Moves the cursor to the end of the line. [Ins] Toggles the text entry mode between Insert and Overwrite. [Del] Deletes the character at the cursor. [Ctrl][BkSp] Deletes all characters from the cursor to the first space encountered to its left. [Ctrl][T] Deletes all characters from the cursor to the next space encountered. [Ctrl][End] Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line [Esc] Deletes the contents of the entire line. [Ctrl][Enter] Executes the command without placing it in the command stack. [Ctrl][R] Clears the stack of all previous entries. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 43 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Cut & Paste Command The Cut & Paste command lets you pick up information shown on the screen of one program and copy it into another program. For example, when using a word processor to type a letter, you may wish to enter the database to retrieve an address. With the Cut & Paste command, you can simply mark the beginning and end of the desired address, switch to the word processor, and press a key to insert it into the letter. Three components make up the Back & Forth Cut & Paste command. These are the Cut & Paste menu, where both its options may be set and commands may be chosen; the Cut command, selectable by pressing the Cut hot key or by using the Cut & Paste menu; and the Paste command, selectable by pressing the Paste hot key or by using the Cut & Paste menu. Cut & Paste The default hot keys assigned to Back & Forth for use with the Hot Keys Cut & Paste option are as follows: Cut & Paste menu [Alt][Left Shift][C] Cut command [Alt][Ctrl][C] Paste command [Alt][Ctrl][P] The hot keys used by the Cut & Paste menu, the Cut command, and the Paste command are selected from the Back & Forth [F7] Hotkey Setup menu. To change these keys, first pop-back to Back & Forth using its hot key. The default Back & Forth hot key is [Alt][Ctrl][Space]. Now press [F7] to enter the Setup menu and press [H] to select the Hot key option. When selected, a menu is displayed showing four hot keys. These are the Back & Forth hot key, the Cut key, the Paste key, and the Cut & Paste menu hot key. Use the [Up] or [Down] cursor key to move the selection bar to highlight the one to be changed and press [Enter] or [F7]. This displays the hot key selection screen. Remember, the selected hot keys must not conflict with the hot keys assigned to or commands of other programs. Hot key selection is detailed within Section 3: Setting Up Back & Forth under the Hotkey Setup option. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 44 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cut & Paste To display the Cut & Paste command menu, press its hot key. The Menu default key sequence is [Alt][Left Shift][C]. This menu contains the Cut & Paste commands along with the settings used to control each command. When pressed, the following menu is shown on the screen. Cut Exits this menu and displays the program screen for cutting. Move the cursor to the first screen position and press [+] to mark. Now move the cursor to highlight the end of the screen data to be marked and press [Enter] or [F9]. The cut process is described in more detail within the Cutting Text section. Options Defines the settings used to control the cut process. These include rectangular or text cut modes, end of line treatment, numbers-only cutting, and the display of the cut help window. Paste Exits this menu and moves the contents of the CLIPBORD.B&F file into the running program at the cursor. This is described within the Pasting Text section. Quit Exits the cut menu. This saves the settings and returns to the running program without going into cut or paste mode. Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired option and press [Enter], or press the first letter. Press [Esc] or [Q] to exit the Cut & Paste menu and return to the running program without cutting or pasting. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 45 ______________________________________________________________________________ The Options The Options menu defines the settings used to control the cut Menu and paste commands. These include rectangular or text cut modes, end of line treatment during pasting, numbers-only pasting, and the display of the cut help window. Rectangle Selects the Rectangle cut mode. The Rectangle mode marks the upper left and lower right corners of the text, cutting the highlighted text. Text Selects the Text cut mode. The Text mode marks the first and last character of the text. Normal EOL Selects to end each cut line of text using a carriage return([Enter]). This is the character used by most programs end each line. Spreadsheet Ends each cut line of text with a carriage return and down arrow ([Enter] [Down]). This is usually used to enter data into a spreadsheet cell. Word Selects to remove the end of line character and processor excess spaces from the cut text. This is used when pasting text into an editor, word processor, or text formatter having word wrap capability. Digits only Sets whether to strip characters from the cut text except digits 0-9 and periods. This removes text, $, and commas from data for planting within spreadsheets and other number-based programs. Cut help Toggles the status of the cut help window. This window is shown after the Cut command is selected using either the Cut & Paste menu or the Cut hot key (default is [Alt][Ctrl][C]). It lists the cut cursor commands. Once you have become accustomed to these commands, set this Off. Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired item and press [Enter], or press the first letter. This places a checkmark to the left of the selected item. Only one option within each delimited section may be set. Press [F10] to exit and return to the Cut & Paste menu. These settings are saved within the B&F Setup file. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 46 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cutting Text With the Back & Forth Cut command, it is easy to select text displayed on one screen and move it into another program. Cutting text is a multi-step process. These steps are: * Use your program to show the text to be cut on the screen. * Press the Cut & Paste menu hot key (default is [Alt][Left Shift][C]) and press [O] to set the cut mode, found within the Options menu. This may be set to either Rectangle or Text. This is described in the following pages. It is only necessary to enter this menu when the cut mode or other options need to be changed. * Select the Cut command. If within the Cut & Paste menu, press [C], else if within the program, press the Cut hot key (default is [Alt][Ctrl][C]). * View the cut help(if On), press [Enter] to continue. This is shown only if toggled On within the Cut & Paste Options menu and is described on the following pages. * Move the cursor to the text to be marked and press [+]. Now move the cursor to highlight the end of the text block to be cut and press [F9] or [Enter]. As the cursor is moved, the text between it is highlighted. * A menu is then shown listing the possible cut destinations. These include appending or overwriting the contents of the CLIPBORD.B&F file, creating a new file to store it, or printing it. The clipboard file is used in conjunction with the Back & Forth Paste command. This menu is described in more detail following the Cut Help window. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 47 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cut Cursor Once the Cut command is selected, if the Cut help option has Key Help been toggled On within the Options menu, a window lists the cursor keys and how they can be used within the Cut command. The Cut command is selected either from the Cut & Paste menu or via the Cut hot key (default is [Alt][Ctrl][C]). [+] Marks the beginning of the cut block. [F9],[Enter] Marks the end of the block to be cut and shows the Clipboard status menu. This sets the way cut text is saved. [F10],[Esc] Aborts the cut operation and returns to the Cut & Paste menu. [Left][Right] Moves the cursor 1 column to the left/right. [Ctrl][Left] Moves the cut cursor to the left or right [Ctrl][Right] one word. A word is a series of characters terminated by a space. [Home][End] Moves the cut cursor to the first or last column on the current row. [Up][Down] Moves the cut cursor up or down one row. [PgUp][PgDn] Moves the cut cursor to the first or last row on the screen, leaving the cursor in the same column. [Ctrl][Home] Moves the cut cursor to the first row and [Ctrl][End] column or the last row and column on the screen. Press [Enter] to clear this window and display the program screen. The cut cursor is then placed at the top corner. Use the cursor keys described above to move the cursor to the first character to be marked and press [+]. Now move the cursor to the last character of the block of text to be cut. As the cursor is moved, the text between the first character marked and the cursor is highlighted on the screen. Once the desired block of text is highlighted, press either [Enter] or [F9] to finish the cut. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 48 ______________________________________________________________________________ Cut Once [Enter] or [F9] is pressed, completing the marking of the Destination text, a menu is displayed listing the possible destinations for Menu use in holding the cut text. Append Places the cut text at the end of the CLIPBORD.B&F file without deleting its previous contents. This is used when cutting several blocks of related text from different screens for pasting within another program. File Creates a new file or overwrites the contents of an existing file for use in storing the cut block of text. This is useful when you need to store the cut block separately from other data. This file cannot be pasted directly using B&F, but you probably can read its contents into a program by accessing the file by name. Overwrite Clears the contents of the CLIPBORD.B&F file and moves the cut block of text into it. This should be the option most often used when cutting text. Print Sends the contents of the block of cut text to the printer for printing. Quit Exits the cut command and returns to the running program without saving the cut block of text. Use the [Up] and [Down] cursor keys to move the selection bar to highlight the desired item and press [Enter], or press the first letter. Press [F10] or [Q] to exit and return to the running program without saving the cut text. Press [O] to clear the cut storage file and save the cut text for future pasting. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 49 ______________________________________________________________________________ Pasting Text Once the cut text has been placed within the CLIPBORD.B&F storage file, you can begin the paste process. The Paste command simply feeds the contents of the CLIPBORD.B&F storage file through the keyboard to the running program. This simulates the process of typing in the text directly from the keyboard. Once the Paste command has been selected, you can stop pasting into your program by pressing [Esc]. The contents of the clipboard may be pasted as many times as you wish as long as the clipboard file is not deleted from the disk. To paste the contents of the clipboard file, observe the following steps. These are: * Open the program that is to accept the pasted text and move the cursor to the position within the program where the cut text is to be written to. * Press the Cut & Paste menu hot key (default is [Alt][Left Shift][C]) and press [O] Options menu key to set the end of line treatment and number mode. The end of line treatments includes Normal EOL, Spreadsheet, and Word processor. This is described within the Options menu. The Digits-only option should be selected if the data is to be entered into a spreadsheet. This step is only necessary when one of these entries must be changed. * Select the Paste command. If still within the Cut & Paste menu, press [P], else if within the program to be pasted to, press the Paste hot key (default is [Alt][Ctrl][P]). * Now the contents of the CLIPBORD.B&F file is pasted into the running program. When the text is pasted, it is entered through the keyboard, just as though you were typing it into the program. To abort the Paste process, press [Esc]. You may paste the contents of the clipboard as many times as you wish. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 50 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix A: Program Credits Back & Forth was created by Sandi & Shane Stump for Progressive Solutions, Copyright (C) 1990. This program and manual could not have been written without the significant help of our eight indoor and two outdoor cats: Wickett, Princess, Mr. Moby, Allegro, Panda Bear, Merlin, Tabitha, & Genghis Khat and Toby & Oscar. A few people also helped along the way. We would like to thank the following individuals for their invaluable aid in testing, suggesting, and supporting Back & Forth. They are (alphabetically) Michael Ash, Rick Berenstein, David Brinner,Mike Brydon, Mike Callahan, Andrew Chalk, Bill Chester, Ted DeCastro, Henry Diecker, Jim Dorsey, Dave Fredericks, Larry Hayden, Charles Heineke, Jack Hurst, John Jurewicz, Charles Kleis, Norman Lew, Tom Looker, Jon Matzkin, Jerry Powell, Chip Rabinowitz, Gene Sallee, Alan Samuels, Don Schubert, Barry Simon, Ted Thompson, D.L. Wallace, Randy Wallin, Bob Willoughby and many, many more. This program was written using Turbo-C and Debugger, Microsoft Assembler, and vLIB by Pathfinder Associates on the Toshiba T5200/100, Digitron 486, ALR 80386, and the Compaq Portable 80386. This manual was written using Lotus Manuscript on an ALR 80386 with a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 51 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix B: Error Messages A hot key must be selected! This error occurs within the Hot key setup when you attempt to exit without selecting a hot key. Hot keys must be selected for Back & Forth, the Cut & Paste menu, the Cut command, and the Paste command. A program description must be entered. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when the [F9] is pressed before a program description is entered. Either press [F10] to exit without defining a program entry or enter a program description before pressing [F9]. A program name must be entered. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when the [F9] is pressed before a program name is entered. Either enter the program name before pressing [F9] or press [F10] to exit without defining a program entry. A program path must be entered. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when the [F9] is pressed before a program directory is entered. Either press [F10] to exit without defining the program entry or enter the program directory before pressing [F9]. An Extended Memory Manager is already installed. XMS Driver not installed. This error occurs when the system attempts to install HIMEM.SYS more than once.Edit your CONFIG.SYS to remove the redundant extended memory manager driver. AUTOLOAD exceeds total swap space! Swap space needs to be at least xxxk! This error occurs when not enough swap space has been allocated to load the tasks selected within the Autoload setup. Control is then returned to the Swap Drive setup, where more swap space should be allocated. B&F definition file has been corrupted! This error usually occurs when returning to Back & Forth from a program. It indicates that the Back & Forth parameter file BFVARS has been corrupted or deleted. Do not delete any files created by Back & Forth while the program is running. If this error occurs, B&F closes all tasks and returns to DOS. To correct the problem, either copy BFVARS from your most recent backup, or reconfigure Back & Forth. B&F swap drive must be specified! This error is shown within the Swap Drive setup when [F9] is pressed before a swap drive has been specified. The B&F swap drive is where Back & Forth stores pertinent system information about each task. The drive selected must have at least 120k unused disk space available. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 52 ______________________________________________________________________________ BNFHIGH must be loaded HIGH! This error occurs when BNFHIGH is run without the necessary high memory program. The procedure used when loading high is outlined within Section 2: Installing Back & Forth. Back & Forth can only AUTOLOAD 20 programs currently! This error is shown when you have selected more than 20 tasks within the Autoload setup. Back & Forth only allows a maximum of 20 tasks to be loaded at one time. Back & Forth currently only supports 20 open tasks! This error is shown when you attempt to run a 21st task within the Back & Forth Program list. At this time, only 20 tasks may be open at once. You must close one of the open tasks before running a new one. Contact Progressive Solutions to get an expanded version, if needed. Back & Forth only allows 50 programs to be defined! This error occurs when adding program entries within the Program Setup.At this time, only 50 program entries may be defined. Define only those programs used regularly. Please contact us if more are needed. Cannot find COMSPEC environment variable. This error is shown when Back & Forth cannot locate COMMAND.COM or 4DOS.COM. Back & Forth uses the COMSPEC (DOS command processor) to run programs or to load a secondary copy of DOS. If this error message is shown,you must exit Back & Forth and use the SET command to specify where COMMAND.COM or 4DOS.COM can be found. COMSPEC file does not exist! This error message is shown when the file specified in the COMSPEC environment variable does not exist. This could happen if you used a floppy disk to boot up your machine. In this case, you must copy the COMMAND.COM or 4DOS.COM file to the hard disk, RAM disk, or installed floppy disk and reset the COMSPEC command to that location. 'File' cannot be found in the program directory. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when entering the executable program name. This may be due to two different problems; either the file name was misspelled when being typed in, or the program path specified is incorrect. To check the contents of the program directory, press [F7] to display the file list. If the desired program name is not shown within this list,then change the program directory path and try again. HIMEM.SYS requires an 80x86-based machine. XMS Driver not installed. This is a HIMEM.SYS error. This occurs when you have attempted to install the HIMEM.SYS device driver on a computer system which does not have a 80286 or 80386 microprocessor. Remove the HIMEM.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 53 ______________________________________________________________________________ HIMEM.SYS requires DOS 3.00 or higher. XMS Driver not installed. HIMEM.SYS can only be used on systems with DOS Version 3.00 or greater. Remove the HIMEM.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS. Invalid path has been specified! This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when entering a program or work path. Most likely a typographical error crept into the path name specified. Use the [F7] Directory tree to select the desired path. Memory allocation error -> label. If this error occurs, Back & Forth will close all tasks and exit to DOS. This error message indicates that you have discovered a conflict with the B&F swap procedure. If this error occurs, contact Progressive Solutions and tell us how it happened, what was loaded, and the label shown so that we can correct the problem. No available extended memory was found. This error occurs when the HIMEM.SYS device driver attempts to load on a computer system not having extended memory. To eliminate this error, remove the HIMEM.SYS entry from your CONFIG.SYS. No programs defined to AUTOLOAD! This error occurs when you attempt to use the Autoload setup without defining any program entries. To solve this problem,use the Program setup option to define the programs that you intend to use within Back & Forth. No hotkey flag has been specified to go with hotkey! This error occurs when selecting a hot key within the Hot key setup window. One or more hot key flags must be set to modify the alphanumeric or function key selected. The hot key flags are: [Alt], [Ctrl], [Left Shift], and [Right Shift]. No hotkey has been specified to go with hotkey flags! This error occurs when selecting a hot key within the Hot key setup window. An alphanumeric key or function key must be selected for use with the designated hot key flags. The hot key flags are: [Alt], [Ctrl], [Left Shift], and [Right Shift]. Do not select [F11] or [F12] if your keyboard is not equipped with those keys. The alphanumeric keys include A-Z, 0-9, ' - = \ [ ] , / ; ' . No matching files found in 'path name'. This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when entering the executable program name. This probably occurs when the wrong program directory is specified. You must change the program directory path to one containing executable files and try again. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 54 ______________________________________________________________________________ No executable file exists for the specified program name. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when the program name entered cannot be found within the set program directory path. Either press [F7] to select the file from the file list or select a different program directory and try again. No swap drives have been specified! This is shown within the Install program when [F9] is pressed before any program swap drive or expanded memory has been selected. Program swap drives are used to store program data when switching between tasks. The The selected swap drives should have enough unused disk space to hold the prospective number of running tasks using the maximum amount of memory. Not enough memory to run Back & Forth! Back & Forth needs at least 192k of free memory to run. If this error occurs, check the AUTOEXEC.BAT for unnecessary TSR programs. Not enough swap memory available to run 'program name'! This error occurs when you attempt to run a program from the Program List which needs more swap memory than is available. To run this program, you must either close enough active partitions to accumulate enough swap memory for the program. If this occurs on a regular basis,you may want to consider modifying the Swap Drive Setup to allocate more swap space. Program does not exist in specified path! This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when entering the executable program name. This may be due to two different problems; either the file name was misspelled when being typed in or the program path specified is incorrect. To check the contents of the program directory, press [F7] to display the file list. If the desired program name is not shown, change the program directory to a new path and try again. Specified ID is not unique! This error occurs within Program Setup when you press [F9] to save the program definition with the two character ID set to one that has previously been used. Change the ID to another two character code. Swap file on drive 'x' does not exist! This error message is shown when one of the swap files has been deleted from the disk or corrupted. Do not delete any files created by Back & Forth while the program is running. If this error occurs, Back & Forth closes all tasks and exits to DOS. Once Back & Forth has been exited, you may re-enter Back & Forth and begin using the program again. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 55 ______________________________________________________________________________ The program name must end with COM, EXE, or BAT. Press Esc This error occurs within the Program Setup Add/Edit command when the program name entered is given a file extension other than EXE, COM, or BAT. Press [F7] to select the file from the file list. If the desired program name is not shown, you must change the program directory to a new path and try again. Unable to create clipboard file! This error occurs when using the Cut & Paste command to store cut information. Probably cause is a lack of disk space within the Back & Forth directory. Unable to create swap file on drive 'x'! This error message is shown when there is not enough space on a disk to create the swap file. If this error occurs, either delete unnecessary files on the swap disk in question or change the swap space allocated use within the Back & Forth Installation procedure. Unable to load B&F00#.OVL! Unable to load Back & Forth module! This error message is shown when one of the Back & Forth overlay files or the program itself has been deleted from the disk or corrupted. Do not delete the BNF.EXE file or any of the four B&F00#.OVL files while the program is running. If this occurs, Back & Forth closes all tasks and exits to DOS. Without these files, Back & Forth cannot run. To fix this problem, use your backup copy of Back & Forth to reload the lost or damaged files. Unable to save the B&F definition file (disk may be full). This error appears either when the Swap Drive setup is used or when the Save command is selected from the [F7] Setup menu and the BFVARS file cannot be created, opened, or saved. To fix this problem, exit B&F and check the amount of disk space left and the status of the BFVARS file. Unrecognized A20 hardware. This error is produced when the HIMEM.SYS XMS driver does not recognize the A20 hardware of your system. The A20 line is the 21st address line of the 80x86 CPU. If this error occurs, it is probably because the system is not one supported by this release of Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 56 ______________________________________________________________________________ Video swap drive must be specified! This error occurs within the Swap Drive setup when [F9] is pressed before a video swap drive has been set. The video swap drive is used to store screen information used by each task. The drive selected should have between 144k-2304k unused disk space available, depending on the graphics mode in use by your programs.More information on video swap file sizes is provided within Section 2: Installing Back & Forth. You cannot AUTOLOAD a program that requires prompting! The Automatic load option only loads programs that do not require user input, i.e. whose program definitions do not have the "Ask for options" field set to Yes. You cannot edit an active program entry! This error occurs when you select the [F7] Edit program entry command within the Program Setup. Back & Forth does not allow the modification of a program entry while that program is open within the Program List. You must close the program entry before you can edit its information. You cannot delete an active program! This error occurs when you select the [F4] Delete program entry command within the Program Setup. Back & Forth does not allow the deletion or modification of a program entry while that program is open within the Program List. You must close the program before you can delete it. You must run BNFHIGH first! This error occurs when you try to execute BNFLOW before BNFHIGH. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 57 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix C: Troubleshooting B&F Doesn't If you cannot get Back & Forth to begin executing on your Run system, check the following: * Check the batch file being used to run Back & Forth. These batch files are created when Back & Forth is installed on your system and contain all necessary preliminary steps that need to be taken before Back & Forth is run. These batch files should be located at some location along the DOS path. To determine what the DOS path is currently set to, type "PATH" at the DOS prompt. The batch files being run should be located within one of these directories. Check the contents of the batch file to ensure that its contents are correct. Their contents are detailed within Section 2: Installing Back & Forth. The directory specified by the SET command must be the one where the Back & Forth files are located. * Back & Forth must be run from within its own directory. This should be taken care of within the batch file. * Don't try to load Back & Forth into high memory without using either QEMM or 386-to-the-Max. Also, don't try to load B&F into high memory if you do not have enough high memory. Back & Forth must be loaded into high memory last, and the Back & Forth BNFLOW.EXE must be run immediately afterward. This is taken care of within the B&FHI.BAT. * A few keyboard enhancement programs do not approve of the use of the "&" character in file names. If this is the case, try renaming the batch files to BF.BAT and BFHI.BAT. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 58 ______________________________________________________________________________ Can't Run When you define a program entry within the [F7] Setup menu Program Program option, you are asked to enter a lot of information about that program. Some of this information may not be obvious to you. If you select a defined program entry from the Program list and it does not execute properly, check the following information: * First, use the [F7] Setup key to return to the Program setup Edit program entry command. Examine the defined program information. Make sure that enough memory has been allocated to the program to execute properly. If you do not know exactly how much memory is required by the program, set the memory amount to 0. This instructs Back & Forth to allocate all available memory. * While in the Edit program command, check the program name, path, work path, and operating parameters (fixed and user-specified options). Some programs cannot be run outside their program directories. For example, WordStar must be run within its program directory. For these programs, make sure the work directory is blank. Check that the program name shown is the one that is used to execute the desired program. * Also check the available disk space used by that program. Some programs may need an indeterminate amount of disk space to store temporary files. Make sure that enough disk space is left over for the program after the amount used by Back & Forth for its swap area. * If the program will not run as a defined task within Program setup, select a DOS partition from the Program List and try running the program from the DOS prompt. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 59 ______________________________________________________________________________ Programs to Below is a list of types of programs that either should not be be Careful Of run from within Back & Forth or require special treatment. * Disk caches, network drivers, and video enhancement programs like UltraVision should be run before Back & Forth if they are to be used by all of your programs. * Print spoolers, background communications, electronic mail programs, or other programs run in the background must be run before Back & Forth is loaded. * The mouse driver should be loaded before Back & Forth if it is to be used with Back & Forth. If it is used only with 1 or 2 of your programs, load it within a program partition using a batch file. In this case, the mouse cannot be used with Back & Forth. * QEMM or 386-to-the-Max should not be used to load any programs into high memory after Back & Forth. * Microsoft Windows/386 and Desqview/386 may be run within B&F as long as you do not try to pop back while they are shown on the screen. What this means is that you should open a DOS partition before pressing a B&F hot key. To pop out of a Windows application, open the POPOUT.PIF file included with B&F. This file opens a 128k DOS partition, instructs Windows to release its DOS hooks, then activates Back & Forth via the Switch program. If you have trouble running Windows, make sure that at least 10 file handles are available in low memory. It cannot use files loaded into high memory. * Disk modification programs such as CHKDSK /F, disk optimizers, disk editors, etc, should not be run within Back & Forth. Some programs create temporary files that are not properly allocated at the DOS level. For example, many editors and word processors use "spill files" for scrolling text on the screen, holding unsaved changes, or storing cut & paste information. If the disk is altered, this data may be lost from the open program. * Other TSR programs, menu programs, or shells such as DOS 4.0 DOSSHELL should be set up as a program entry and run from within Back & Forth, if so desired. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 60 ______________________________________________________________________________ Lost or Many programs open temporary files to store intermediate Corrupted information like unsaved changes to files, data scrolled off Files the screen, memory information, and program settings. Use of disk altering programs such as CHKDSK /F, disk optimizers, disk editors, et cetera, may adversely affect these files. The solution to this problem is to not use such programs while within Back & Forth unless all tasks have been closed. CHKDSK Usage CHKDSK should never be used with the /F parameter while within Back & Forth or any other task switching program unless all other tasks have been removed from memory. Other programs to look out for are disk optimizers, disk editors, disk cache software, and other disk altering programs. Many programs create temporary files to store unsaved changes and program settings. The use of CHKDSK /F may destroy this file information needed by those tasks. These temporary files are usually reported by CHKDSK as lost clusters. Try closing and exiting all open programs before running CHKDSK to determine if the disk actually needs to be cleaned up. Diskette Do not remove diskettes from your system when swapping between Swapping programs if that diskette was being used by one of the running programs. Back & Forth does not keep track of the identity or status of removable disk media on your system. If you swap to a program expecting program information on that diskette or a program writing data to that diskette, swapping that diskette can cause that diskette's contents to be overwritten. If a program is using a diskette, close that program or the file being used before removing that diskette. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 61 ______________________________________________________________________________ Hot Key Back & Forth uses a "hot key" to move between itself and other Doesn't Work programs. The default Back & forth hot key is set to [Alt][Ctrl][Space]. If you cannot seem to pop back to Back & Forth using the designated hot key, try doing the following: * Press the selected hot key simultaneously. For instance, if the hot key is still set to [Alt][Ctrl][Space], hold down the [Alt] key and the [Ctrl] key while pressing the [Space] bar. If this does not immediately return control to Back & Forth, press [Enter] and try again. * If you hear a high-pitched beep, the video swap disk is full. This is described under "Can't Swap Program". * If pressing the hot key does not return you to Back & Forth, exit the program naturally. This should return control automatically to the Back & Forth Program List. * Now press [F7] and press [H] to open the Hot key setup. A menu is shown with the Back & Forth hot key at the top. Carefully note all keys mentioned, especially if one of the [Shift] keys is used. The exact [Shift] key specified must be used. If your keyboard has only 10 function keys, make sure that the hot key is not set to [F11] or [F12]. * Some programs intercept all keyboard activity without passing it along to other programs in memory. When using one of these programs, you may only be able to swap back to Back & Forth by pressing the super key, which is [Alt][Ctrl][Left Shift]. Hot keys may also be assigned to other programs run from the Program List. If the hot key assigned to an open program does not seem to work, check the following: * First, pop back to Back & Forth. If you cannot return to it either, try the above steps. * Once you are in B&F, check the hot key shown in the list to make sure that you tried the correct combination. If no hot key is shown, remove that program from memory. Now press [F7] to enter the Setup menu, select the Program option, move the cursor to that program and press [F7] to Edit. Move the cursor to the hot key field and press [F7] to open the hot key prompt. Select an appropriate hot key for use with that program.Make sure that the hot key used does not conflict with any program commands or other hot keys defined within Back & Forth. Press [Ins] to save the hot key, press [F9] to save the changed program entry, exit the Program Setup,press [S] to save the changes made to the Setup menu, and try running the program again. * If it does have a valid hot key, check to make sure that enough swap space is free to run this program. This is calculated by subtracting the memory amount shown in the Program List from the amount of free space shown in the Memory Usage window. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 62 ______________________________________________________________________________ Can't Swap Back & Forth makes a single, high pitch beep when an error Program occurs during a swap operation. If you hear two beeps, this indicates that a problem has been encountered in swapping the video information. Either the drive set aside for your video swap files is full, or you are using an unsupported video display mode. Try the following: * First, exit the program naturally. This obviates the need to store a video image of the task. * Once you have returned to the B&F Program List, exit and close all open tasks. Then exit Back & Forth. * Now check the drive used to store the video files. A table is included within Section 2 which quantifies the range of file sizes created by each video mode when saved. Remember, the higher the resolution of the video mode used and the more information shown on the screen, the more space needed to store the resulting video storage file. If there is not enough space free on your disk, either remove unnecessary files from the disk or re-run B&F without specifying the GO option to select a different disk with more space free. * If plenty of disk space is available on the specified drive, use a disk diagnostics program to check for disk read/write problems. * If you believe that the problem is due to an unsupported video mode, contact us with the pertinent video information and we will attempt to resolve your conflict. In the meantime, use a different display mode. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 63 ______________________________________________________________________________ EGA Graphics Back & Forth restores graphics screens generated by well- behaved programs on CGA, VGA, and some EGA systems. Unfortunately, some programs designed for use on EGA systems write directly to the video screen without informing DOS or the ROM BIOS. This information cannot be read by Back & Forth, therefore the video settings are not stored. When that program is reactivated, the screen may not be restored properly. If this happens, try doing the following: * If the program has a redraw command, use it to refresh the screen when you return to it. * Force the program into text mode before swapping it out of memory. * Run the program or the monitor in black & white mode. Lost Mouse Back & Forth uses a textured background character to display Cursor the screen. Sometimes this makes it difficult to see the block mouse cursor. In any case, check the following: * Make sure mouse support has been toggled On within the [F7] Setup menu. It is On when checkmark appears to the left of the Mouse menu entry and when a scroll bar is shown on the screen for mouse use. To toggle mouse support On, move the Setup selection bar to highlight the Mouse entry and press [Enter]. * Determine if the mouse cursor is blending into the background of the screen. This may happen on monochrome monitors with the default background fill character. If this is the case, try setting the background fill character to a space or other innocuous character. * Exit Back & Forth and make sure that the mouse driver is correctly installed and the mouse works. First try running another program that uses the mouse. If the mouse still does not work, try installing it again. Consult your mouse manual for more information. * Make sure that your mouse is Microsoft-compatible and that it is in Microsoft mode. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 64 ______________________________________________________________________________ Exception 13 This error may occur when using QEMM to load Back & Forth or Error is another program into high memory. An Exception 13 error occurs Reported when memory has been incorrectly referenced by a program. If this occurs, check the following: * Check the number of programs being loaded into high memory, the amount of space they occupy, and the position in extended memory. Consult your QEMM manual for troubleshooting information. * If you have Stacks=0,0 in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove it, reboot, and retry Back & Forth and your other programs. Some programs need the DOS stack area. * If it still doesn't work, comment out all device drivers from your CONFIG.SYS except the FILES, BUFFERS, and hard disk drivers. Also comment out all entries within your AUTOEXEC.BAT except the PATH, SET, and PROMPT statements. To comment out a line within the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT, type REM at the beginning of the line. DOS will then bypass this statement. Now reboot your system and try adding each device driver and program, one at a time, and re-running Back & Forth after each addition. When the error returns, remove the last program added and try the rest of your programs. If these run successfully, check the manual for the program in question to see if any commands have been overlooked. If this offers no help, try reloading the programs in differing orders. The testing procedure is described more fully on the next page. If you still have problems, refer to the Technical Support Checklist on the following pages. Jot down the data requested before calling us. Remember, the longer we stay on the phone with you, the less time we have to write and release new updates, features, and products. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 65 ______________________________________________________________________________ B&F 'Locks Up' Back & Forth has been extensively tested and should provide no trouble to you if it has been properly configured. If you do experience a problem running Back & Forth, check the following: * If you are setting STACKS=0,0 within your AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove it. Some programs rely on the DOS stack. * Remove all memory-resident programs from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Close all open programs, exit Back & Forth, and reboot the system by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Del] to clear memory. Now run Back & Forth again. If the problem goes away, then try replacing the TSRs one by one, until you determine the culprit. In any case, memory resident programs should be run within Back & Forth. This allows Back & Forth to swap each out of memory when they are not needed. This diminishes the chance of conflicts occurring when running those programs. * If the problem still occurs, make a copy of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS so that you can refer to them later when you are ready to rebuild them. Edit and remove all non-essential statements from your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT by typing the word "REM" at the beginning of each line. Any ASCII text editor may be used to change these files, if you do not have one, you can use your word processor if it allows you to save the file in ASCII format (either in non-document mode or by exporting it in ASCII format). Leave in statements that are necessary by your system. These include FILES, BUFFERS, and hard disk drivers. Within your AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove everything (using "REM") except PATH, SET, and PROMPT. Reboot your system with the modified CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Del]. Try running Back & Forth within this "clean" environment. You may have to change the Swap Drive setup. If Back & Forth now runs without a hitch, try reinstating the statements, one-by-one to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Be patient and systematic. Once you find out which program, command, or device driver is causing the problem, first check its manual. It may mention command line switches that may be used to reconfigure it. Or, it may no longer be needed on your system. Also, try changing the order of the device drivers within the CONFIG.SYS. Strangely enough, this can affect how the drivers interact together and with Back & Forth. Try contacting the developer of the software in question. They may know what your problem is. If all else fails, contact us (see below). Back & Forth version 1.30 page 66 ______________________________________________________________________________ Technical If none of the above suggestions help you solve your problem or Support answered your question, then contact us by mail, fax, BBS, Checklist Compuserve, or phone at the address listed at the beginning of the manual. When you contact us, please have the following information ready and available: - The make and model of your computer. - The type and size of all storage devices available, including conventional RAM memory, EMS memory, RAM disks, and hard disks. - The video board in use. - The version of DOS that you are using (if you do not know, type VER at the DOS prompt). - The contents of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. - The sequence of events leading up to the problem and the programs in memory at the time the problem occurs. Please include all TSRs, device drivers, disk cache, and EMS management software run before Back & Forth is loaded (these are usually listed in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files). - The version number and user name shown at the top of the Back & Forth screen. - And the error message (if one is produced) exactly as shown. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 67 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix D: Memory Resident Programs Memory resident programs are small applications that remain in memory, ready to be invoked and used at a moment's notice. They encompass such tasks as file maintenance utilities, appointment calendars, calculators, address books, keyboard macro programs, et cetera. Also known as TSR (terminate and stay resident) programs, these utilities are very convenient but may also be equally troublesome, especially if you use more than one. A prime source of irritation often lies in the amount of memory each one occupies. Memory is a precious commodity on personal computers, very few (dare I say none) of us have enough of it to do all that we may wish to. Many programs gladly gobble up all memory available on the system and still hunger for more. Types of TSRs Memory resident programs may be divided into several different classes: file and system drivers, keyboard enhancers, and accessories. File and systems drivers are usually found within the CONFIG.SYS file and include commands used to set up and maintain expanded memory, RAM disks, disk caches, mice, print spoolers, etc. These should be loaded before B&F. Keyboard enhancers are programs that learn & repeat keystroke sequences when activated. These may be loaded before or after B&F. Other utilities are available to do almost anything else imaginable, including file maintenance,calculators,notepads, phone dialers, etc. These programs should be loaded within a partition. Running a TSR Running memory resident programs within a program partition provides the following benefits: * Frees the maximum amount of memory for the programs that really need it like word processors, desktop publishing packages, databases, spreadsheets, etc. * Reduces the conflicts that occur between TSRs, other programs, and Back & Forth. A common problem is hotkey conflicts, where more than one program uses the same key combination to perform a command. * Minimizes screen conflicts. Many TSR programs do not store and redraw graphics screens correctly. These TSRs either will not pop-back when a graphics screen is shown or will not restore the screen properly. * Removes the programs when done. Some TSRs do not provide a way to remove themselves from memory once exited. Loading a TSR You can run memory resident programs in several ways. To load a TSR into a partition then go to a DOS prompt (the way a TSR is normally loaded), define a program entry within the Program Setup naming the TSR as the program to be run and setting the "Action when done" to Stay at DOS. To load one or more TSR programs before an application, create a batch file naming the TSR programs and the application program. Use this batch file as the executable program name when defining the program entry within the Program Setup. Finally, you can run any program (including a TSR) from the command line within a DOS partition. Removing a To remove a TSR from memory, exit all programs run after that TSR TSR in that partition, return to Back & Forth, move the cursor bar to highlight the entry containing that TSR,and press [Del]. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 68 ______________________________________________________________________________ Appendix E: Information about 4DOS and UltraVision 4DOS J. P. Software P. O. Box 1470 E. Arlington, MA 02174, USA. Phone 617-646-3975 This section will help you understand a little about 4DOS, what it is and what it does, so that you can decide whether you'd like to try it. 4DOS is designed to help you get the most out of your IBM PC or compatible system. It replaces COMMAND.COM, the command interpreter that comes with all versions of MS-DOS and PC-DOS. 4DOS is a "DOS shell" (a program that gives you access to DOS functions and commands), but it is unlike most other DOS shells on the market. Most of these shells are designed to isolate the user from the DOS command line. 4DOS,on the other hand,not only makes DOS easier to use but also makes you more productive while working at the DOS prompt. More than 40 new commands have been added, whereas most existing DOS commands have been enhanced. These improvements make 4DOS a richer and more powerful working environment than COMMAND.COM, without sacrificing the compatibility, flexibility and control you get from working at the command line. If you're tired of the limitations of COMMAND.COM, you'll love 4DOS! 4DOS was a 1989 finalist for one of the PC software industry's most important awards, a PC Magazine Award for Technical Excellence. There were 4 nominees, and we are proud that 4DOS was among them. Try it - we think you'll see why PC Magazine's technical staff was so impressed! Here are just a few of the features 4DOS offers: Commands: Enhancements to most DOS commands, plus over 40 new commands including point-and-shoot file selection, file exclusion from commands, and command execution across all directories. Batch files: If-then-else capability, keyboard input, faster executing BTM batch files (up to 10 times faster), box and line drawing with automatic connectors, full screen and color control, etc. Help: On-line help for all commands and all DOS external commands. Minimal memory usage: Resident portion uses less than 3K of RAM; 4DOS can be loaded high, reducing RAM usage to 256 bytes! Command line editing: [Ins], [Del], full cursor key support, interactive file name expansion, 255 character command line with 4DOS commands. Command stack: Lists, searches, modifies, and re-runs previous commands. Flexible wildcards: To display all the files that have a "2" anywhere in their filename by entering: DIR *2*.*. File descriptions: Up to 40 characters for any file. Environment: Environment editing; variable arithmetic; string manipulation; predefined variables for date, time, cpu type, etc. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 69 ______________________________________________________________________________ Aliases: Allows you to rename or reconfigure commands, pass parameters, and define new commands. Hardware: Supports virtually all PC displays and display sizes, all processor types, EMS and XMS memory, any hard disk. Requires 80K RAM to load, occupies 3K (or less) when applications are running. Supports all MS-DOS compatible networks. Software: Compatible with DOS 2.0 to 4.01, and virtually all popular PC programs including TSR programs. Like Back & Forth, 4DOS is distributed as shareware, so that you can try it before you buy it. Like all shareware, if you decide to continue using 4DOS after a trial period, you must pay a registration fee. 4DOS is fully compatible with Back & Forth. Both Progressive Solutions and J. P. Software are committed to maintaining this compatibility, and we keep in touch in order to address any user questions that do come up. If you run 4DOS with Back & Forth, we suggest you use 4DOS's EMS swapping mode, since this enables Back & Forth to automatically clean up 4DOS' EMS area if you close a partition without issuing a 4DOS EXIT command. To order a registered copy of 4DOS, send $50 plus shipping for disk, manual, and next update to J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174, USA. Shipping $4 US, $5 Canada, $10 all other countries. Phone 617-646-3975; Amex / MC / Visa accepted. Shareware disks also available for $6 each. You can download a shareware copy from most bulletin boards and on-line services. Supported on CompuServe (GO PCVENB, section 10), Bix (ibm.dos/4dos), PC Relay and InterLink BBS networks. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 69 ______________________________________________________________________________ UltraVision Personics Corporation (800) 445-3311 Sales 63 Great Road (508) 897-1519 Technical Support Maynard, MA 01754 (508) 897-1947 FAX UltraVision,the award-winning screen enhancer from Personics (PC Magazine Best of 1989, COMPUTE! Choice 1990), adds new dimensions of display control to EGA and VGA systems. Back & Forth takes full advantage of UltraVision's capabilities, eliminating the compatibility hassles and compromises of other task switchers or multitaskers. In each partition you can: Fully control screen colors. A pop-up palette editor lets you fine tune and save custom palettes for different applications or lighting conditions. Load alternate screen fonts. Select the style you prefer--bold, light, or in between, plain or fancy--from a library of high quality typefaces. See more columns and rows. Extended text modes break the 80x25 barrier, revealing larger sections of your documents, spreadsheets, or other applications. Speed up screen writing and scrolling performance. There's no need for video ROM shadowing with UltraVision's built-in BIOS accelerator. Discover extra resolution. Enjoy unsurpassed visual clarity on multisync EGA monitors and all VGA monitors. Work with true hardware-based onscreen underline in most word processors. The Back & Forth Program setup menu lets you define an initial UltraVision screen size for each program. Active partitions retain their own current UltraVision settings, so you can pick the palettes, fonts, and dimensions best suited to each task. UltraVision screen sizes vary depending on your video card and (in some cases) monitor type. Best results are obtained with specific SuperVGA cards, such as the Paradise VGA 1024, Video Seven V-RAM or Fastwrite, ATI VGA Wonder, etc. Options for these cards provide 20 extended text modes (5 widths, 4 heights) from 80x25 to 132x60 on a VGA-compatible monitor. IBM PS/2 and other "generic VGA" systems get 8 text modes up to 94x63 on standard VGA monitors, and additional sizes up to 132x44 on suitable multiscanning monitors like the NEC MultiSync II or Sony Multiscan 1302. (Not all multisync-type models support the wider "generic VGA" sizes; contact Personics for details.) Most EGA systems support sizes up to 132x44 on monochrome or standard EGA displays, with the aid of a plug-in "booster card" available from Personics at no additional charge to registered UltraVision users. Multisync displays boost text resolution beyond the VGA standard, and add 640x480 graphics for many applications. UltraVision also works on most EGA laptop displays. VGA-type plasma or LCD displays are not currently supported, but these capabilities are expected in a future release. Back & Forth version 1.30 page 70 ______________________________________________________________________________ Some programs adjust automatically to any UltraVision screen size; many others are supported through UltraVision drivers. A partial list of fully supported programs includes current versions of: 1-2-3 (except Release 3), Brief, Crosstalk Mk.4, Fastback Plus, Framework, Kedit, Lucid 3-D, Magellan, Manifest, Microsoft Word, Multi-Edit, PC-Write, PlanPerfect, QEdit, Quattro Pro, Sprint, Symphony, Total Word, Volkswriter, WordPerfect, WordStar, and XYWrite. UltraVision is memory resident (requires 19K) and can be loaded into high RAM with QEMM, 386-to-the-Max, or similar memory managers. List price is $119.95. For more information about UltraVision,contact Personics Corporation, 63 Great Road, Maynard, MA 01754 or call (800) 445-3311. The UltraVision developers also provide direct product support via CompuServe, in the PC Vendor B Forum (GO PCVENB, Section 4).