Beijing Paradise BBS Backup

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Beijing Paradise BBS Backup / PARADISE.ISO / software / BBSDOORW / ANSIPC10.ZIP / ANSIPIC.PRN < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1991-03-01 | 35.9 KB | 665 lines

+-----+ | | | | ++ | +---+ - +---+ - +---+ |-----| |++ | +---+ | | | | | | | | ++ | | | | | | | | | | +++ +---+ - |---+ - +---+ | (c) 1990 An ANSI editor - Version 0.3b Disclaimer This program is guaranteed to do nothing except take up disk space. If Ansipic causes any damage, in any way, it's not my fault, and you agree by using it to suffer in silence any of the consequences arising out of it's use. If damage does occur, and it actually due to my bad programming (note that this is highly unlikely), it is not intentional, and you also agree not to prosecute me in any way for my negligence. You also agree not to get any fancy lawyer to find unintentional loopholes in this disclaimer, of which I know you are aware of it's original meaning. If you neglected to read this before running Ansipic, or if you have misinterpreted this disclaimer in any other way apart my original meaning, that's your fault, and I'm not responsible for that either. My WISH is that you use Ansipic in a productive and useful manner, (providing of course that you register the product), however if productivity and usefulness is not guaranteed, so if this does not occur, then I am guilty only of wishful thinking, and nothing else. Copyright Ansipic, and all original ideas associated with it are copyright, and are protected by international law. If you infringe this, then you are liable for prosecution. Registration This program is being distributed under the shareware concept. This means that after trying my program, and deciding that you like it, and/or will continue using it, then you must register it by filling in the registration form, and sending it together with $20 to the following address: Robert Euston, P.O. Box 202, Niddrie, Vic AUSTRALIA 3042. If you do not register within 14 days of trying the program, you are breaking the law by retaining any copy of Ansipic. If you paid a Shareware distribution company any money for this program, YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED UNTIL YOU SEND ME $20 IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED ABOVE. Registration entitles you to the pleasure of encouraging me to write more shareware, and to continue to upgrade Ansipic. Depending on the response I get, I will attempt to send all registeree's upgrade information, but this is not guaranteed. Introduction Ansipic is an editor specifically designed for sysops of Bulletin Boards, to enable them to create colourful screens and pictures using ANSI graphics quickly and easily. The user interface for Ansipic is easy use, very intuitive, with pull down menus, drawing functions like lines, and boxes, a mouse interface which enables a user to draw and use the menu without touching the keyboard. Ansipic can also be used easily for designers of dos menus - files typed to the screen in dos as a menu for batch driven jobs. This manual is a quick guide to Ansipic's functions. It would take me just as long to write a comprehensive manual, as it took me to write the code, so instead I am opting for a "quick overview". I believe the interface is almost self documenting, so you should only require this manual for reference anyway. If user demand indicates otherwise, at a later date I will attempt a more encompassing manual. Ansipic is a very powerful tool for designing ANSI graphics. The drawing functions combined with the drawing options of choosing fonts, and various types of "fills" to use when drawing figures, is very powerful and flexible, and is limited only by your imagination. Choosing a blank font, and a background fill, for example, can allow you using the draw BOX function, to change the background colour of the whole screen, without affecting the drawing. (This is now also possible using the "floodfill" function). Or choosing a foreground fill, you can change the colour of your text only. There are many more combinations, that enable a user to create complex screens with little effort. Installation No installation is required. Simply copy the executable file, ANSIPIC.EXE onto your hard disk to an area that is in your dos search path. If you don't have a hard disk, the program will run just as easily for a floppy disk. No other files are needed. Startup Options The startup command line is ANSIPIC or ANSIPIC <filename> where <filename> is the file you wish to edit. The Editor Once you have started Ansipic, the file you gave on the command line (if any) is loaded, and the Ansipic logo is displayed over the top of the file. This disappears once you move the cursor with the mouse, or type any keyboard movement/command. The cursor can be moved with the mouse, or the arrow keys in the standard fashion. You can typing characters with the keyboard, or use the ALT key in conjunction with the numeric pad to enter characters in a word processor type manner. Notice that as you type, a "copy" of the last character becomes the cursor. The cursor acts as a temporary store, which enables you to "pick up" and "drop" single characters. You can "pick up" a character with the right mouse button, or the F4 key. You can "drop" a copy of the cursor character with the left mouse button, or the F3 key. The "get" and "put" functions also store the colour attributes. The default colours become the same as the picked up character. Other keyboard commands in the editor are: CTL-Y : Delete a line (join) CTL-B : Insert (copy current) a line DEL : Delete character INS : Insert a space for a character BACKSPACE : Backspace over left character. F1 : Help F10 Activates menu PGUP, PGDN : Move through "frames" loaded HOME, END : Jump to first / last frame If you are using a mouse, moving the cursor down to the status line will show the menu titles. Clicking on one of these with the left button will popup the required menu. Menu items can be executed via "Hotkeys" via the keyboard without going through the menu. Once you have gotten used to the user interface, you can start using them as a faster alternative to the menu. Each Hot Key is listed next to the menu item within the menu itself, so this transition can be done (if at all) with the minimum of effort. The Menu As mentioned before, the menu is activated by pressing F10, or clicking the mouse on the status line. you can move through the menu using the arrow keys, or clicking with the left button on one of the menu titles on the status line. Clicking on the right button, or hitting ESC will exit from the menu back into the editor. You can choose a function from the menu by moving to the item you want, and pressing RETURN, or point at the item, and click with the left button of the mouse. A list of menu functions follow, with their descriptions. You can exist any menu at any time by pressing ESC. FILE MENU New - Clears the screen, and starts afresh. Load - Prompts for a filename to load onto the screen. If the previous screen hasn't been saved, it will prompt you to save it first. (see save function) If the load file doesn't exist, an error message will be displayed. If no file extension is given, the default is .ANS Save - Prompts for a filename to save to. If no extension is given, program will save both .ANS and .ASC format (ASCII and ANSI) files at the same time. If the filename exists, you will be prompted to overwrite the file. If you specified an extension other than .ANS, you will be prompted to confirm loss of ANSI formatting, as any extension other than .ANS will be saved in ASCII only. Merge - This is the same as Load, only without clearing the screen first. Exit - Exits the program with an option to save the file you are editing if it has been changed. Quit - Unconditionally leaves the program. DRAW MENU Paint - This function can be one of the more useful tools in Ansipic, once you understand how it works. It uses the "fill" options to use the current colour/character to "paint" the image. For example, choose "foreground fill", and a foreground colour different to your picture. Then choose PAINT. Use the cursor (left button) as a paint brush to colour the drawing. Note that the characters are uneffected. This function can be used similarly to paint characters over colours, or paint in a different background colour. Since it doesn't make sense to have "None" fill type, when the selected fill type is none, this is treated as a "full colour" type fill Floodfill - This works the same as PAINT, except that the area you choose is "flooded" with the colour/character chosen. Cut - Allows you to cut out a box shape from your drawing. The cut-out is stored in memory, and used later to "paste" it somewhere else. Select the start point of the cut-out with the left button of the mouse, or the return key. Then select the bottom right corner of the cut-out box by either holding down the left mouse button, and dragging to the point, then let go, or move the cursor to the point, and hit return. The cut-out disappears, then returns to the editor. Copy - Same as Cut, except the cut-out is not deleted from the screen. Paste - Allows you to move the cut-out anywhere, then by pressing the return key, or the left button, drop the cut-out onto the screen. This continues until you hit ESC, or the right mouse button. Character - Displays a dialogue box full of all possible extended ASCII characters. You can use the mouse, or the keyboard to move the cursor to a character you want, then use the get function (F4, or the right mouse button) to "pick up" a character for the cursor character. Line - Allows you to draw a line using the currently selected font. Select the start point of the line with the left button of the mouse, or the return key. Then select the end point of the line by either holding down the left mouse button, and dragging to the point, then let go, or move the cursor to the point, and hit return. This continues until you hit ESC or the right mouse button. Box - Allows you to draw a box with he currently selected font. The interface for this it the same as for the line, and cut-out. Circle - Draws a circle using the font. Choose a centre point, then drag the cursor downward, and to the right to select the radius. Undo - Every time a drawing function is executed, a copy of the screen is saved. This function restores the last copy of the screen to "undo" a drawing function. OPTION MENU Fore Colour - Allows you to select the drawing foreground colour. A popup display of colours with letters and numbers under each is displayed. You can select one with either the get function (moving the cursor, and selecting) or by typing the letter of the colour. The menu disappears, and returns to the editor. Back Colour - Same as Fore colour, except you are choosing the background colour. Font - A menu of different fonts appears. The currently selected font is marked with a star. By moving the cursor with the keyboard, allows to visually see in a dialogue box next to the menu, what the font looks like. Select the required font with the return key, or clicking on the mouse. The font type is used by the Line, Box, and circle drawing functions. Fill - A description of each possible fill type is displayed in a menu. The currently selected fill type is marked with a star. Choose the required fill type by pressing return, or the left button. The fill types are used by the cut, circle, box, paint, and floodfill functions. How to Scan - This option specifies how Ansipic is to save the current screen (frame). Top to Bottom means the program starts scanning from line 1 left to right all the way to the last line. This is the most efficient, and the default. The other methods are similar. Appended means that the current screen is added to the end of the last screen. (I.e. no "go to top of screen before saving") This allows you to edit files longer than 24 lines. If the current screen has the next screen appended to it, this is symbolised on the screen by a downward arrow under the frame number display on the right side of the screen. The "scan method" for each frame is displayed in the rightmost side of the screen, directly under the frame number. Framing - This option specifies how Ansipic will treat each possible new frame. Automatic framing is the default, which means the program will calculate and create each new frame from the file automatically. However, sometimes it may be necessary to be prompted before the program creates a frame. this should be used when loading a file that has unusual cursor control, since ANSIPIC will create a new frame for each change in the cursor's direction. There is also an option for turning off framing altogether. This can be used to load an animated ANSI movie as a single screen. ANIMATE MENU Prev Frame - Moves screen to the previous page (frame) Next Frame - Moves screen to the next page (frame) Goto Frame - Moves the screen to the specified page number. Note that the Home and End keys also move the screen to the first and last page. Add Frame - Inserts a new frame, copying the current one. The added frame becomes the current frame. Del Frame - Deletes the current frame. Save a Frame - Saves the current frame as if it was the only frame in memory. Load a Frame - Loads a filename into the current frame. Together with Save a Frame, this allows you to load several files into memory, and edit them all at once! Moving between pages enables you to cut and paste from one frame into another. This is perhaps one of the most useful and versatile functions of Ansipic. Clear a Frame - Initialises the current frame with the current foreground and background colours. Store frame - Ansipic allows you to save a frame into a separate storage variable in memory. This can then be used later to move a frame from one position to another with "retrieve a frame". Retrieve a Frame - Copies the stored frame into the current frame. Propagate Changes - A dangerous function to use, if you don't know what you are doing. Please save your file first. This function compares the current frame to what it was when you first started to edit this particular frame. Any changes are then added to all the following frames. Also, if you have "stored a frame", Ansipic first asks you if you want to compare the current frame against the frame stored in memory instead. Frame Undo - Returns the current frame to its original condition before first started to make changes. Memory Left - Since each frame takes up 4K of memory, it is very easy to chew up memory in a short space of time while creating a long ANSI movie. This allows you to see how much memory is left, and how many more frames you can create. HELP - A popup dialogue box summarising the use of the editor appears. This will disappear in a similar fashion to the startup logo if the cursor moves, or a keyboard command is issued. Font Characters You can access the currently selected font characters from the keyboard. 13 keys have been mapped to the following: Ctl-Q Ctl-W Ctl-E Ctl-R Ctl-A Ctl-S Ctl-D Ctl-F Ctl-G Ctl-Z Ctl-X Ctl-C Ctl-V cnr top-join cnr top left-join cross right-join left right cnr bot-join cnr bottom This is particularly useful when one of the line type fonts are chosen. With the "block" type fonts, however, it is next to useless. Summary of Keyboard Commands Arrow keys : Move cursor Return : Select, or Carriage return in Editor ESC : Escape current command. CTL-Y : Delete a line (join) CTL-B : Insert (copy current) a line DEL : Delete character INS : Insert a space for a character BACKSPACE : Backspace over left character. F1 : Help F3 : Put a character F4 : Get a character F10 : Activates menu Alt-N : New Alt-L : Load Alt-S : Save Alt-M : Merge Alt-X : Exit Alt-Q : Quit Alt- : Floodfill Alt- : Paint Alt-Y : Cut Alt-A : Copy Alt-P : Paste Alt-C : Character Alt-I : Line Alt-V : Box Alt-O : Circle Alt-U : Undo Alt-F : Foreground Colour Alt-B : Background Colour Alt-T : Change Font Alt-W : Change Fill type Alt-1 : How to Scan Alt-2 : Framing PGUP : Prev Frame PGDWN : Next Frame HOME : First Frame END : Last Frame Alt-G : Goto Frame Alt-H : Add Frame Alt-D : Delete Frame F7 : Save a Frame F8 : Load a Frame Alt-K : Clear Frame F5 : Store Frame F6 : Retrieve Frame Alt-R : Delete Store F2 : Propergate Changes Alt-Z : Frame Undo F9 : Memory Left Error Codes Error Code 1 - ANSI driver not loaded This error means that you need the line DRIVER=ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file before you can run Ansipic. Ansipic uses the ANSI driver to load ANSI files into the screen. ANY other error codes produced would be from programming bugs. If in the normal course of using the program you discover an undocumented error, please contact the author, as this should never occur. The Example Files The example file given with Ansipic is a picture of the Dick Tracy logo from the movie. This is an example of what is possible using Ansipic with a little patience and perhaps a little artistic flair. The Animation demo file is a very basic bouncing ball that disintegrates. The file name is BALL.ANS. COLLECTN.ANS is a collection of my logon screens on my BBS, joined together to form a "movie" of sorts. Load this file in to ANSIPIC and have a play with loading/saving frames, and playing with the framing options. About the Author Robert Euston was born in Brisbane, Queensland on the 19th of February, 1966. After leaving school, he went on to study a Bachelor of Science in Maths and Computing at the University of Queensland. Due to family complications (i.e. got married, children, etc), he switched to a Bachelor of Arts with the same Majors in order to graduate early. After Graduating in 1987, he got a computing job in the Defence Department in Canberra. After a year and a half of boredom, he was promoted to his current job at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne. He is currently in third year at Monash University completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computing and Mathematics. He is married with 2 children, a boy (5) and a girl (3). About the program This program began life as a "hack" to design my own screens for my BBS. At the time, I was unaware of any other program that did the same job. I actually thought I was going to get rich on the idea! (Oh how wrong I was!) The "hack" program worked, but not that well. In fact it was very primitive, but I was so stubborn, I insisted on using my program instead of trying to learn TheDraw, of which I then became aware. Then at Uni, I was given the opportunity to name my own year programming project - SO I formulated the basis of Ansipic v0.1. The idea of the project, was to use structured software design principles, complete with docs. By the end of the year, I had finished the framework, and the program was now user friendly, and easy to use. It had some basic drawing functions, but no animation support. But I had designed it with this in mind, however, so immediately after I handed in the formal project, I continued to work on Ansipic through my Holidays, to emerge with what you now have. I have spent approximately 600 man hours on this program, producing almost 6000 lines of pure Pascal code. I'm very proud of Ansipic, and I hope that you enjoy using it. Thank You's Thank you to all the people who offered to beta test Ansipic, and for the helpful suggestions, and for the embarassing bugs they found. In particular, a special thank you to the following people, who went out of their way to help out: Hamish Moffatt Paul Ridley - Sysop of The Bear Essentials Paul Sanders - Sysop of Dark Crystal