ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/TEXT/UTILITY/DRC.ZIP/README.EXE

David's Readme Compiler Executable | 1991-11-28 | 37.1 KB | 343 lines

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%-50.50s
 Print this section
Ready printer and press a key (ESC to cancel)
---- Printing ----
 PgUp/Dn:
=print
 Line %d of %d
Readme error: no attached data.
 Topics
MMMODE
 ; < = > ? @ A B C D T U V W X Y Z [ \ ]
 G O w u R S s t
EAEIIOOUUYIOU
Insert paper in printer then press
a key (<ESC> cancels print)
 Printer error
The printer on LPT%d: is
confused
out of paper
off line
Correct then press a key
or hit <ESC> to cancel print
 Insert Paper
<ESC>
 key pressed:
Please confirm cancel/quit
Accept this data?
 Insufficient disk space
There is not enough space on the target
disk to receive the file(s): please replace
the disk with another formatted disk, then
press any key to retry, or <ESC> to cancel
         !!!!!
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@
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@@@@
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Data file generated by RCOM.
 David's Readme Compiler - User's Guide
About the Readme Compiler
Installing the Readme Compiler
Creating a Readme source file
Compiling the source file
Using the compiled readme
What the Readme compiler is...
And what it can do ...
Then, some applications ...
Licensing (good news!)...
And contacting the author.
The sample file
The general format
Highlighting text
Colour changes in windows
Colour changes in text
Limitations and notes
To install David's Readme Compiler, place the files
README.BIN and RCOM.EXE in a directory somewhere.
Actual location doesn't matter, so long as both are
in the same place.
The programs can be on the path if you wish, but
they don't have to be.
To create a standalone guide, enter the command

RCOM <filename>
where <filename> is the name of the source file you
have created. RCOM will make a temporary file, and
will then bind it to README.BIN as a .EXE file with
the same name as the input file. That's all there
is to it!
Once you have compiled and bound your readme, you can use
it at once simply by typing its name.
By default, DRC clears and paints the screen, but you can
force it to come up over the top of the current screen by
by invoking it with a
 switch: when it terminates, the
screen will be left as it was on entry. This is useful if
you want to use DRC to generate a help system which is
spawned by a parent program.
It's a very rare PC software package indeed these days which
doesn't have a profusion of readme files associated with it.
Readme files can get lost, and it's not immediately intuitive
what you do with them. What's more, it's almost impossible to
create a Readme file which presents the necessary information
in an accessible way.
David's Readme Compiler
 attempts to provide a better way of
creating readme files. It's a set of programs which allow
you to create
executable user guides
 - one program contains
it all, no need for extra files. You create a simple text
file which tells DRC how to present your guide, run it
through the compiler (RCOM.EXE), and viol
! All done!
DRC allows you to "nest" text, effectively creating a
hierarchical menu structure. You can do this to an
arbitrarily deep level.
DRC supports colour, and allows printing and extracting
of text. You can highlight words in a message.
DRC has a search command which can look through a file
in a free-text form for keywords.
You can use DRC for more than just readme files: here are
some ideas I've come up with.
 On-line manuals for software.
 Help systems, maybe for your LAN.
 Presentations
 Reference systems
   ... and so on. Pretty much anything which involves
   organizing text for reference.
The good news about DRC is that it is
totally free
. You
may use it in any way you wish, without restriction,
obligation, liability or responsibility. Commercial
organizations may distribute all, or any part of David's
Readme Compiler with products if they wish.
 restriction on David's Readme Compiler, is that
may not sell it directly
, although it's OK to include
it as part of another system.
If you want to include a small credit in any readme you
create using DRC, I'd always be grateful, but I don't
even require this.
I hope you enjoy using DRC!
DRC is written by David Harris, P.O. Box 5451, Dunedin,
New Zealand. If you have problems or questions, I can
be reached by e-mail as
[e-mail]
 (or from
CompuServe,
>internet:[e-mail]
Cheers!
-- David --
27 Nov '91.
The source file used to create this readme file
is supplied with the system as README.SRC.
You can refer to it to get a general feel for
how the source file needs to be prepared.
The source file for DRC is a single relatively simple
text file, which contains special markers to indicate
topics and section headings. Marker lines are always
introduced by two percentage signs (%%) at the start
of a line. Some marker lines require a character in
the third position - these are the following:
    Comment: text to end-of-line is ignored.
    Title: the title on the main screen. An
          optional integer can be included which sets
          the video attribute of the title bar. For
          a list of values, see
Setting Colour in

Windows
 later in this menu.
The other type of marker line is a
topic heading
: this
consists of 2 mandatory integers, 2 optional integers
and a title.
 The
first
 integer is a type field, which is simply
   a numeric tag for the entry. A file can have several
   entries with the same type number, which will make
   up a menu. Type 0 entries are always the top-level
   entries, and a file must have at least one of these.
 The
second
 integer is either 0, in which case the
   entry has text which should be displayed when the
   item is selected, or a positive value. If it is
   the latter then it indicates that the entry is an
   index for another type of entry: when the item is
   chosen, DRC scans the file for all other entries
   of the type specified and creates a sub-menu from
   them, which it presents to the user.
 The
optional
 integers specify the video attributes
   for text in a the window, and the window frame
   respectively. A table of values is provided in the
   menu (see
Colour changes in Windows
). You can omit
   one or both of these, in which case DRC will assume
   default values.
 The
title
 is displayed in the text window, and as
   the choice in the menu.
Example:
 the line used to create the entry
The Sample
 in this menu:
%% 300, 0, 94, 90, The sample file
^   ^   ^  ^   ^   ^
  The title
  Frame colour (Lt Green/Magenta)
  Text colour (Yellow/Magenta)
  Entry is not an index field
  The type for this entry
  The marker line prefix
DRC automatically sizes the window for text according to
the maximum line width, and the number of lines. If there
are more lines than will fit in the Window, the user can
scroll using the arrow and page keys.
You can highlight text in a topic by enclosing it in
characters
 (the IBM smiley face). You can reverse text
by enclosing it in
^B characters
The colour fields in entry headers are numeric values
which represent IBM screen attributes, according to
the following table:
      Colour
   Text
 Background

      Blue
    1
  add 16
      Green
    2
  add 32
      Cyan
    3
  add 48
      Red
    4
  add 64
      Magenta
    5
  add 80
      Brown
    6
  add 96
      Light grey
    7
  add 112
      Dark grey
    8
  --na--
      Light blue
    9
  --na--
      Light green
    10
  --na--
      Light cyan
    11
  --na--
      Light red
    12
  --na--
      Light magenta
    13
  --na--
      Yellow
    14
  --na--
      White
    15
  --na--

      Example:

Yellow text on Magenta background
         =
14 + 80
         =
Colour changes in text are a little more tricky, and
may not work satisfactorily on monochrome systems.
To imbed a colour change, enter a ^C character in the
text, followed immediately by one of the following
characters:
   Blue text
   Green text
   Cyan text
   Red text
   Magenta text
   Brown text
   Light grey text
   Dark grey text
   Light Blue text
   Light Green text
   Light Cyan text
   Light Red text
   Light Magenta text
   Yellow text
   Bright white text
   Example:
CCyan,
DRed,
NYellow,
JLight-Green
 has a special meaning - it means "change to
   whatever the original video colour was".
No single entry may be larger than about 16KB and
the file cannot at this stage have more than 512
total entries.
The source file MUST end with a single '%%' pair
on a line of its own.
If running under Novell NetWare, a guide compiled
with DRC must not be flagged Execute-only, although
it can be set to read only.