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- TURBO HELP UTILITY
- ------------------
-
- This file explains how to use THELP.COM. THELP is a memory-resident
- utility that provides online help for Turbo Pascal and Turbo C++. If you
- are using Turbo Debugger, for example, you can load THELP, then run
- the debugger and get online help for Pascal or C while you are
- debugging.
-
-
- Table of Contents
- -----------------
- 1. Starting THELP
- 2. Command-line Options Summary
- 3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
- 4. Detailed Explanation of Command line Options
-
-
- 1. Starting THELP
- ------------------
-
- Load THELP at the DOS command line simply by typing THELP. Make sure
- the Turbo help file is in the current directory or use the /F command
- line option described below. The INSTALL program on the distribution
- disks inserts the correct path information in THELP.
-
-
- Memory Usage - THELP requires about 20K bytes.
-
- Default hotkey - The default hotkey is Numeric-Keypad-5 (scan
- code 4ch, shift state 00h).
-
- Paste speed - The default pasting speed is FAST. You'll have
- to experiment if it pastes too quickly for your
- editor. Note that you should turn off autoindent
- in the integrated environment before using the
- paste feature.
-
- If you are using SideKick Plus or SideKick 1.x, make sure you
- load THELP before you load SideKick.
-
-
- 2. Command-line Options Summary
- -------------------------------
-
- USAGE: THELP [options]
-
- Here is a summary of the command line options. If you use more
- than one option, they must be separated by spaces.
-
- /Fname Full path and filename of help file
- /H,/?,? Display this help screen
- /Kxxyy Change hotkey: xx=shift state(hex),
- yy=scan code(hex)
- /Px Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
- /S+ Enable snow checking for video (useful for older CGA adapters).
- /S- Disable snow checking for video (for snappier displays).
- /U Remove THELP from memory
- /W Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
-
-
- 3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
- ---------------------------------------------------------
-
- Arrow keys: Moves the cursor.
- PgUp/PgDn: Moves the cursor.
-
- Shift-Arrow keys: Moves the cursor while marking a block.
-
- TAB: Moves the cursor to the next keyword.
- Shift-TAB: Moves the cursor to the previous keyword.
-
- HOME: Go to the beginning of the line.
- END: Go to the end of the line.
-
- ENTER: Select help entry for the item highlighted in the
- current help screen.
-
- ESC: End Help.
-
- F1: Help Index. F1 from any help screen brings up
- the Help Index. You can search for a specific keyword
- incrementally. For example, you can find "printf" by
- typing p r i. With each letter you type, the list
- jumps to the keyword that starts with p, then to pr,
- then to pri, etc.
-
- ALT-F1: Displays in reverse order the last 20 screens you
- have reviewed.
-
- CTL-F1: Bring up help screen for THELP's hot keys.
-
- CTRL-P key: Paste the example text into the application.
-
-
-
- 4. Detailed Explanation of Command-line Options
- ------------------------------------------------
-
- /Fname -- Full path and filename of help file
-
- The name that follows the /F option should be the full
- drive/directory pathname of the help file to use; e.g.,
-
- THELP /FC:\TP\TURBO.HLP
- THELP /FC:\TURBOC\TCHELP.TCH
-
- By default, THELP looks for the help file on the logged drive and
- directory.
-
-
- /H,/?,? -- Display help screen
-
- This option displays a summary of THELP's command-line options
-
-
- /Kxxyy -- Change hotkey: xx=shift state, yy=scan code
-
- Virtually any shift state/scan code combination may be selected. A
- quick summary of some common shift-states and scan codes follows:
-
- Shift States (may be OR'ed together)
-
- right shift 01h
- left shift 02h
- control 04h
- alt 08h
-
- Scan Codes
-
- A --- 1eh N --- 31h 0 --- 0bh F1 --- 3bh
- B --- 30h O --- 18h 1 --- 02h F2 --- 3ch
- C --- 2eh P --- 19h 2 --- 03h F3 --- 3dh
- D --- 20h Q --- 10h 3 --- 04h F4 --- 3eh
- E --- 12h R --- 13h 4 --- 05h F5 --- 3fh
- F --- 21h S --- 1fh 5 --- 06h F6 --- 40h
- G --- 22h T --- 14h 6 --- 07h F7 --- 41h
- H --- 23h U --- 16h 7 --- 08h F8 --- 42h
- I --- 17h V --- 2fh 8 --- 09h F9 --- 43h
- J --- 24h W --- 11h 9 --- 0ah F10 --- 44h
- K --- 25h X --- 2dh
- L --- 26h Y --- 15h
- M --- 32h Z --- 2ch
-
-
- Enhanced Keyboards only (may not work with all computers, keyboards)
-
- F11 --- 57h
- F12 --- 58h
-
-
- /Px -- Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
-
- Some editors do not accept characters pasted into the keyboard buffer
- as fast as THELP can put them there. By setting an appropriate paste
- speed, virtually all possible configurations of editors may be used.
- FAST speed pastes as many characters as will fit on every timer tick;
- MEDIUM pastes up to four characters per tick; and SLOW pastes a single
- character into the buffer ONLY when the buffer is empty.
-
- /S -- Controls snow checking logic for video.
-
- Some older CGA have a tendency to produce a "snow" effect when
- software tries to write directly into their memory space. If you see
- this snow you should start up THELP with /S+ to enable the snow
- checking code. You may want to use the /W switch (see below) to make
- it permanent. Snow checking takes time and it is better to live
- without it. To disable snow checking use /S-; this is the default.
-
- /U -- Remove THELP from memory
-
- This option is used to remove THELP from memory. If other TSRs have
- been loaded after THELP, make sure to remove them before removing
- THELP.
-
-
- /W -- Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
-
- The /W parameter is used to create a new version of THELP that uses
- the options you desire as a default. All options, including may be
- specified and made 'permanent'.