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-
- Mouse Instructions
- ________________________
-
-
- The following instructions explain how to use your Microsoft
- or Microsoft-compatible mouse with Flow Charting II+.
-
-
- Installation:
- --------------
-
- Before you run Flow Charting you will have to first install
- your mouse properly. Please follow the instructions provided
- with your mouse and then run a test program to assure that you
- were successful.
-
- Once you have the mouse physically connected to your computer
- you will still have to "initialize" the mouse every time you
- turn on the computer. This is done by running an initialization
- program provided with your mouse. If you forget to initialize
- the mouse you can do all the pointing and clicking you want but
- Flow Charting will not know you have a mouse installed.
-
- Flow Charting supports a Microsoft or Microsoft-compatible
- mouse. Many manufacturers provide initialization software that
- will make their mouse behave just like a Microsoft mouse.
- Follow the instructions below that correspond to your particular
- mouse. If your mouse is not listed, see your mouse instructions
- for the name of the program to run.
-
- Note: These instructions assume you have the mouse hooked up
- to the COM1 port. If you have it hooked up to COM2 or
- a BUS version, please consult your mouse documentation.
-
-
- Microsoft Mouse
- ----------------
- Put your Mouse program disk in drive A: and type:
-
- A:MOUSE <return>
-
-
- Logitech Mouse
- ---------------
- Put your Mouse program disk in drive A: and type:
-
- A:MOUSE Mi <return>
-
-
- Mouse Systems PC Mouse
- -----------------------
- Put your Mouse program disk in drive A: and type:
-
- A:MSMOUSE <return>
-
-
- Torrington Manager Mouse
- -------------------------
- Put your Mouse program disk in drive A: and type:
-
- A:TMOUSE <return>
-
-
- Kraft Micromouse
- ----------------
- Put your Mouse program disk in drive A: and type:
-
- A:KMOUSE <return>
-
-
- Note: It is recommended that you run the initialization
- program from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and then you don't
- need to actually type it each time you turn on the
- computer.
-
-
- Tutorial - Using the Mouse
- ---------------------------
-
- These instructions assume you are already familar with Flow
- Charting commands so please refer to the program documentation
- before trying to use the mouse.
-
- If your mouse is properly installed, Flow Charting will allow
- you to use it whenever you like. You can of course still use
- the keyboard in the usual way, but the extra power of a mouse
- will be at your fingertips whenever you need it.
-
- All you have to do is hold down the left button and a popup
- menu will appear in most cases. To select something from a
- popup menu just move the mouse up or down to the appropriate
- item and then release the mouse button. Releasing the button on
- the "Exit Popup" item will exit the popup menu without executing
- any command.
-
- The menus were designed to put the most obvious functions at
- the top of the menu so you can get at them quickly. Other menus
- have "Exit Popup" at the top so you do not accidentally choose a
- destructive command. As you become more familar with the menus
- you will find that they are logically arranged to get maximum
- power with minimum effort.
-
-
- Color Distortion
- -----------------
-
- If you are using an IBM Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) or
- compatible and you are configured for 40-column mode, the popup
- menus will have a little color distortion. This does not happen
- in 80-column mode, nor on any of the other graphics adaptors
- (EGA, Hercules, etc.).
-
-
- Mouse Sensitivity
- ------------------
-
- Before you go any further you should experiment with the
- mouse. Try selecting commands from the popup menus then go into
- Edit Mode and try moving the cursor around the chart in both
- viewing modes (Normal and Shrink Mode).
-
- If you find that the "sensitivity" of the mouse is too fine
- or too coarse you can change it at the Configure Menu. Select
- Configure from the Main Menu and then choose Mouse Sensitivity.
- If your mouse was responding too fast then you need to decrease
- the sensitivity. If the mouse wasn't responding fast enough
- then increase the sensitivity. You should only choose an option
- once - there are not varying degrees of sensitivity.
-
- Note: Make sure you save the configuration before exiting
- Flow Charting so that the mouse sensitivity will be
- saved.
-
-
- Edit Mode
- ----------
-
- When you are editing a chart you can move around the page
- much faster with a mouse than you can with the keyboard. You
- will also notice that you are more accurate with a mouse - that
- is, you can get to a specific location much faster. This is
- very helpful when you are moving, copying, or deleting an area.
-
- The mouse interface was designed to let you execute all of
- the commands with the left button. All of the edit commands
- that can be selected with the function keys can also be selected
- from the popup menus. You can also do things like change the
- line style or text style by selecting them from a menu.
-
- There is only one time when you need to use a different
- button - when you want to jump from one Edit mode to another.
- When you are copying an image for instance, just press the right
- button (or the middle button on a three-button mouse) and select
- a new Edit command from the popup menu that appears.
-
- Let me mention one more thing about Edit Mode. When you are
- building a chart from scratch or making changes to a chart, you
- might execute the same command many times - like inserting ten
- shapes in a row. Fortunately, the "Repeat Command" function is
- the first item on the edit popup menu, so all you have to do is
- press and release the left button when you want to execute the
- same command. You will find that many of the menus are arranged
- so that you can just press and release the left button.
-
-
- Line Mode
- ----------
-
- Inserting a line with the mouse is very similar to using the
- keyboard. Once you are in Line Mode, a line will be drawn
- wherever you move the mouse. You can also use the popup menu to
- change the linestyle or insert arrows, bypasses, and connectors.
-
- When you use a mouse, lines cannot be drawn through shapes or
- text. You will find this to your advantage because you can draw
- a line between two shapes with the flick of a wrist, and the
- cursor will stop just before the second shape - the perfect
- place to insert an arrow.
-
- The cursor will also stop temporarily at arrows, bypasses,
- connectors, and even line corners, so you don't have to approach
- them too cautiously. The cursor will delay at these items for
- about one second. This gives you time to make a decision - do
- you want to stop or keep going? If you continue to move the
- mouse even though it is stopped at these items, you will be able
- to draw right over them.
-
- You will exit Line Mode after inserting an arrow or connector
- but you can also exit by choosing "Escape" from the popup menu.
- This is the same as hitting the Escape key.
-
-
- Copy mode
- ----------
-
- The popup menus were designed to require as few button
- presses as possible. You will notice as you get used to the
- menus that you can do many things by just pressing the left
- button and immediately releasing it - without even glancing at
- the menu that appears. This is especially true with the modes
- that require marking an area (Copy, Relocate, Delete, and Save).
-
- As an example get into Copy Mode and read each popup menu
- carefully as we step through a copy procedure. To mark the two
- opposite corners of an area just press and release the left
- button at each location. This just selects "Mark Point" from
- the menu. Now move the cursor to another location and view the
- image by pressing (and releasing) the left button. You just
- chose "Display Image". If you are not satisfied with the new
- location of the copy, move the cursor to another position and
- press the left button again. When you are satisfied with the
- positioning of your image press the left button one final time -
- which selects "Accept".
-
- As you can see from the above example, the copy procedure
- was done with very few button presses, yet at any time, you
- could have selected an alternate function (such as "Shrink
- on/off") from the popup menu.
-
-
- Shape mode
- -----------
-
- Inserting a shape with the mouse is also a very quick
- procedure requiring only a few button presses. Once you are in
- Shape Mode move the mouse to select the desired shape then press
- and release the left button - this selects "Accept Shape". When
- the shape is displayed on the chart, moving the mouse left or
- right will decrease or increase the size of the shape. Hitting
- the left button again will select "Accept Size" and insert the
- shape.
-
- The above insertion required only two button presses but you
- could also have selected other options (such as "Xray on/off")
- when the mouse menu was displayed.
-
-
- Load Image
- -----------
-
- If you are going to be loading an image from disk repeatedly
- or if you load it at an incorrect location, you can repeat the
- process with two button presses. The first button to repeat the
- command, and the second button to accept the filename that you
- previously used. This is one feature where a menu does not
- appear when you press the mouse button.
-
- To emphasize - when the filename appears in the Load Image
- prompt, you can accept it by hitting the left button. You can
- also escape at that time by hitting the right button.
-
-
- Summary
- --------
-
- There are of course many other situations where the mouse can
- be used in Flow Charting, and you can become an expert in no
- time by just reading the popup menus that you encounter. Good
- luck - we hope the mouse helps you to be more productive.