Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [1] Ascii-View [v3.80] Copyright 1989-1991 by David M. Seberg Why ? Why ?. Wow!, that COULD be a deep philosophical question, but not in this case. Ascii-View is simply an ASCII text viewing program that was developed to replace the boring, plain, dull, monotonous, inflexible [Show]-[Print]-[Cancel] feature of the standard ST Desktop. It does this by allowing the user to easily view an Ascii text file with a myriad of features not available from the standard ST desktop or from the multitude of text viewers currently available in the ST market place. INSTALLATION To begin installation you'll need a Phillips screwdriver, Crescent wrench, pliers, hammer, 4 flathead screws, 6 1-3/4 inch nails ....... O.K., O.K., I know, enough with the frivolities. You know, writing documentation isn't all that it's cracked up to be. The following files should be included together, if they're not, than perhaps you don't have a legal version of Ascii-View. AV380.ASC The Documentation File AV380.HLP The Help File [Use Is Optional] AV380.PRG The Program Itself Ascii-View can be placed anywhere your heart desires, floppy disk or hard drive, root directory or nested deep within a sub-directory. However if you wish to use the online help you MUST place the file AV380.HLP in the SAME directory that you loaded Ascii-View from. Ascii-View can also be installed as an application from the standard ST Desktop or from an Alternate Desktop (if you aren't using one you should be). Once this is done, you can define it to accept parameters so that if you double click on an ASCII file with, for example, an extender of .ASC the Desktop would automatically load Ascii-View and the Ascii-View would in turn load the ASCII file that you selected. Ascii-View is fully compatible with NeoDesk 3.xx's Alternate Text File Reader feature (copyright 1990 Gribnif Software), refer to their documentation for installation and usage. Ascii-View currently supports TOS versions 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.62 in Medium and High resolution. Although untested Ascii-View SHOULD work on TOS version 2.05 (Mega STe) and TOS version 3.01 (TT) in the ST Medium and ST High resolutions, as well. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [2] FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS This version had soooooo many new features and enhancements that I've simply decided to rewrite the documentation instead of trying to somehow logically describe the new stuff in contrast to the old. The user interface has received a MAJOR face lift and is [hopefully] more intuitive and cosmetically appealing. Ascii-View now sports 100% keyboard equivalents instead of the pseudo keyboard equivalents it used to have. Two scrolling speeds are now supported, one blazingly fast the other slow and crystyl clear. An off screen drawing routine was developed to enhance the appearance of screen draws and of paging text. Accessories may now be used from within Ascii-View. Forty eight lines of text can be displayed if used with a monochrome monitor. Ascii-View remembers the last 10 files that it has loaded and any of these files can instantly be recalled. The search routine remembers the last 10 words or phrases that have been searched for which can in turn re-searched. A 'Set Marker' feature has been added that allows you to set markers at any location within your file, or it can automatically divide your file into 10% increments. Once a marker has been set you can go instantly to the place in your file with just the press of a button or key. The Block feature has been reworked and includes the ability to append a block of text to an existing ascii text file. CONVENTIONS There are certain standards that are common throughout the usage of Ascii-View. ** The left mouse button is ALWAYS used EXCEPT to scroll a through a file slowly. ** When a word or letter is underlined all you need to do is press that word or letter to select that option. At this point I would like to describe how to select an item from the Options, Help, Load, Search and Set Marker screens as all these screens operate in the same fashion. The dialog box will contain a list of pre-defined choices in the case of the Options and Help screens, or a list of user defined choices in the other cases. Once defined you will be able to scroll through these choices in either of the following manners. 1] To select an item via the mouse, move the mouse pointer up and down through the choices until the one you want is highlighted and then click on your selection. 2] To select an item via the keyboard press the cursor up and the cursor down keys to scroll through the choices until the one you want is highlighted and then press the Return key. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [3] UN-CONVENTIONS Shame on me, in a few instances I went against what may be considered 'Industry Standards' and used keys not normally associated with certain pre-defined functions. Such as, this version of Ascii-View doesn't use the cursor up/down keys to scroll through text. Instead, I decided to use the Control and Alternate keys for a couple of reasons. First, there is no key click associated with the Control and Alternate keys. Scrolling through a long file with the key click on, will I guarantee, drive you crazy. Of course I could have simply turned off the key click but I have grown somewhat accustomed to hearing it as a completed key press. In addition, using the Control and Alternate keys frees the programmer from having to monitor the keyboard buffer, which can only slow down the performance of a program. LET'S GET STARTED !! To run Ascii-View double click on the icon or file named AV380.PRG at your Desktop. After Ascii-View has loaded you will be presented with the Loading Screen. Since we're just getting started, follow these directions. Click the mouse button inside the box labeled 'Load File' or press the 'L' key. The standard fileselector box will now be displayed. Locate and select the file AV380.DOC or any other file that you KNOW is an ascii file, preferably one that has some size to it. Ascii-View will now load the file and display the first page of text on screen. We will cover the functions of the Loading Screen after we have become accustomed to some of Ascii-View's more basic features. If you are familiar with earlier versions of Ascii-View then this version will appear at first glance to be missing a few commands. Not to worry, all the old commands and several new ones can be accessed by selecting the commands located at the bottom of the screen. The following section will describe the commands located on the bottom of the screen and how to use them. At this point try using the navigational commands with the document that you have just loaded. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [4] NAVIGATION This section describes the commands located on the bottom of the screen along with their keyboard equivalents. Line Up & Line Up will display the next line of text towards Line Down the beginning of the file. Line Down will display the next line of text towards the end of the file. You may select these commands in the following ways. Line Up ----- Click the Left mouse button in the Line Up box. Fast Press the Control key. Line Down --- Click the Left mouse button in the Line Down box. Fast Press the Alternate key. Line Up ----- Click the Right mouse button in the Line Up box. Slow Press the Shift key and then the Control key. Line Down --- Click the Right mouse button in the Line Down box. Slow Press the Shift key and then the Alternate key. Press the Return key __________________________________________________________________ Page Up & Page Up will display the next page of text towards Page Down the beginning of the file. Page Down will display the next page of text towards the end of the file. You may select these commands in the following ways: Page Up ----- Click the Left mouse button in the Page Up box. Press the Shift key with the cursor up key. Page Down --- Click the left mouse button in the Page Down box. Press the Shift key with the cursor down key. Press the Space Bar. ** For the commands listed above, you can, by holding down the button or key repeat the selected command enabling you to continuously scroll through the file. The Line/Page displays will be updated after you release the button or key. Top & Top will display the first page of text in the file. Bottom Bottom will display the last page of text in the file. You may select these commands in the following ways: Top --------- Click the left mouse button in the Top box. Press the Clr Home key. Bottom ------ Click the left mouse button inside the Bottom box. Press the Shift key with the Clr Home key. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [5] NAVIGATION [cont] Options Selecting Options will display a list of features that will be covered later in this documentation. You may select this command in the following ways: Options ----- Click the left mouse button inside the Options box. Press the 'O' key. Line/Page Line _ of _ informs you what the current line number being displayed is, as well as the total number of lines in the file. Page _ of _ informs you what the current page number being displayed is as well as the total number of pages there are in the file. You may select these commands in the following ways: Line/Page --- Click the left mouse button in the Line/Page box. Press the 'T' key. ** When you select one of the two above commands, you will toggle between the two. Hence 'T' for 'T'oggle. What a concept!. OPTIONS SCREEN The 'Options Screen' is the central hub of Ascii-View, all non- navigational commands can be selected from this screen. Mouse users will be the ones who primarily use this screen as the keyboard equivalents to these commands can be selected directly from the main screen. To use the Options Screen, mouse users can move the mouse pointer up and down through the choices in the left side dialog box until the one they want is highlighted and then left click the mouse button. Mouse users can select a command from the right side dialog box by left clicking on their desired command. Keyboard users can select a command from the left side dialog box by using the cursor up and down keys to scroll through the choices until the one they wish to select is highlighted and then press Return. To select a command from the right side dialog box, press the word or letter that is underlined. Now we can get on to the heart of Ascii-View, it's commands. Each command will be covered by describing its purpose and how to use it. HELP Select 'Help' from main screen or 'Help' from Options Screen. The Help screen offers insight as to how a command can be selected as well as what the command is supposed to do. Use of the Help screens are optional and users familiar with Ascii-View or users short on memory may choose not to use the Help screens. If you do wish to use the Help screens, be sure to place the file AV380.HLP in the same directory as the file AV380.PRG. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [6] OPTIONS SCREEN - HELP [cont] To select a Help screen use the mouse or the cursor up/down keys to scroll through the choices and then either click the left mouse button or press the Return key on your highlighted choice. Other help commands include: Forward Left click inside (F)orward box. [F] Reverse Left click inside (R)everse box. [R] Undo to Exit Left click inside Undo box. [Undo] Forward will display the next page of the Help screen. Reverse will display the previous page of the Help Screen. Undo to Exit will return you to the screen that you selected the Help command from. MAXIMUM LINES PER FILE Select 'M' from Main Screen or 'Maximum Lines Per File' from Options Screen. The default setting for this command is 5000 lines. This represents a VERY large file. Users low on memory may wish to decrease this figure allowing only smaller files to be loaded. Users who wish to view a file that has many lines per file [such as a dictionary word list] may wish to increase the amount of lines per file. UN-CORRUPT SCREEN Select 'U' from Main Screen or 'Un-Corrupt Screen' from Options Screen. This command was included because once in a great while a Non-Ascii file can slip past Ascii-Views' error trapping and get loaded into memory. If this happens, the file can, and usually will, corrupt the integrity of the screen. One type of files that seems very adept at sneaking past the error trapping are files that have been 'Squished'. If the screen becomes corrupted simply select this command, press Return, and the screen will return to normal and the file in memory will be erased off the screen and deleted from the Previously Viewed Files list. Undo to Exit [Undo] Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [7] THE COMMANDS ABOUT Select 'A' from main screen or 'About' from Options Screen. Besides stating what the current version is and that Ascii-View is a copyrighted product, this screen describes what users SHOULD do if they like and or use this program. Pay For It. !! This program is Shareware NOT Public Domain or Freeware. Your word of mouth is my distribution channel. So if you enjoy Ascii-View then PLEASE, PLEASE re-distribute it to your friends, local BBS or anywhere you can think of. This also seems like a good place to thank the many registered users of previous versions of Ascii-View. It was your comments, mostly good, your suggestions many of which have been incorporated into this version and your financial support that has yielded this release of Ascii-View. Thank You !! Every cent I receive from registered users gets reinvested into either ATARI related hardware, ATARI related productivity software or to directly support Ascii-View. This enables me to produce better programs which can only end up benefitting you, the registered user. Registered users are entitled to receive a hardcopy of the documentation, access to the GFA-Basic 3.5E source code [commented if so desired] and will receive update notices as they become available. ACCESSORIES Select 'Esc' from main screen or 'Accessories' from Options Screen Selecting Accessories will display a GEM Screen equipped with a menu bar. Under the '{Acc's}' drop down menu you'll find 'About Ascii-View' which is the same as the 'About' command that was described earlier. Under this will be your installed .ACC's. You'll have to use your mouse to access these. Under the 'Accessory' drop down menu you'll find two choices, 'Use Them' and 'Stop Using Them'. Your desk accessories will be disabled until you select 'Use Them'. The sole purpose for this is so that when you are done using your desk accessories you will have to consciously select 'Stop Using Them' which will serve to remind you to exit your desk accessories before returning to the main screen. Under the 'Return' drop down menu is the single option 'Main Screen'. If you have selected 'Use Them' then this command will be disabled until you select 'Stop Using Them'. Under the 'Reminder' drop down menu is the line 'Be Sure To'. Selecting this will explain why it is so important to properly exit any and all desk accessories before returning to the main screen. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [8] ACCESSORIES [cont] Ascii-View is not a GEM application, but it does let you have temporary access to some of GEM's features. In order to do this you need to exit ALL of your desk accessories before returning to the main screen. Failure to do so will, most likely, screw up your text screen. If this does happen, reselect 'Accessories', exit your desk accessory(s), return to main screen, select (U)n-Corrupt Screen and then reload the file that you were viewing. BENCH MARK Select 'H' from Main Screen or 'Bench Mark' from Options Screen. In order to use this command you must first scroll through an ENTIRE file, top to bottom. Once you have scrolled through an entire file, a dialog box will be displayed showing you how many lines were in the text file, how long it took to scroll through the entire file and how many Lines Per Second (lps) your machine displayed. This feature will also work when you slow scroll through an entire file as well. The benchmark results of scrolling this documentation file using the methods shown below yielded the following : Fast Scroll with text accelerator ...... 45.48 lps Fast Scroll without text accelerator ... 34.65 lps Slow Scroll with text accelerator ...... 06.58 lps Slow Scroll without text accelerator ... 06.25 lps By text accelerator I mean Turbo ST or Quick ST, these programs can really make Ascii-View fly. Scrolling speeds will vary depending on the density and/or length of the text file. Files with blank or short lines will scroll faster than those files that are filled with characters from columns 1 to 80. BLOCK Select 'B' from Main Screen or 'Block' from Options Screen. The Block Screen offers a variety of commands that can be used to manipulate the file in memory. Until a legal block has been set only the commands Block Start, Block End and Undo will function. A legal block of text is one where the block end line number is equal to or greater than the block start line number. Block Start [S] Block Start signifies the line you wish to be the first line of your block. Upon selecting this command you will be presented with an alert box with the choices 'Top', 'Manual' and 'Exit'. If you choose 'Top' then the first line of text being displayed at the top of the screen will be used as the block start line number. If you choose 'Manual' then a new dialog box will be displayed that will allow you to manually enter the block start line number of your choice. 'Exit' will return you to the Block Screen. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [9] BLOCK [cont] Block End [E] Identical to the Block Start command except this sets the last line for your block of text. Block Clear [C] Selecting this command will erase the Block Start and Block End coordinates and will turn off a previously set block of text. Block On [N] This command will turn on a block of text if a legal block has been set. Block On must be set before any of the other commands can be used with the exception of Block Start, Block End or Undo to Exit. Block Off [F] This command will turn off a legally set block of text only if a block of text already existed. The Block Start and Block End line numbers will be retained. Block Delete [F1] This command will delete a previously set block of text from the main file. An Alert box will be displayed before the block is deleted giving you the opportunity to back out of the operation. Delete All [F2] But Block This command will delete everything EXCEPT the previously set block of text. An alert box will be displayed before the block is deleted giving you the opportunity to back out of the operation. Print Block [F3] If a legal block exists and there is a printer online then an alert box will be displayed giving you the option to print your block of text or to exit back to the Block Screen. Save Block [F4] If a legal block exists then selecting this command will display an alert box with the option to 'Save', 'Append' or 'Exit'. Choosing 'Save' will bring up the standard fileselector box. Enter the name that you wish to use for the block of text and press Return. After the file has been saved you will be returned to the Block Screen. Choosing 'Append' will also display the standard fileselector box. Select the pre-existing ASCII text file that you wish to append this block of text to and press Return. Ascii-View will now check to see if the file is an ASCII file and if it is will append the block of text to the file. If it is not you will be informed that you tried to append a block of text to a non-ASCII file. Undo to Exit [Undo] Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [10] DOUBLED LINE MODE Select 'F' from Main Screen or 'Doubled Line Mode' from Options Screen. If you are currently using a monochrome monitor selecting this command will change your display from 24 lines of text per screen to 48 lines of text per screen. Even though the screen text is in the 48 line mode, all subsequently displayed dialog boxes will be displayed in the standard sized text. All of Ascii-Views' commands perform normally in this mode. To return to the 24 line mode simply press the 'F' key once again. LOAD Select 'L' from Main Screen or 'Load' from Options Screen. This screen allows you to load ASCII text files into Ascii-View. Ascii-View contains error checking that tries to filter out all non- ascii files however upon rare occasions sometimes they do get by. One type of file that seems quite adept at sneaking past the error trapping are files that have been 'squished'. If a non-ascii file does slip by refer to the command Un-Corrupt Screen which is covered under the Option Screen documentation. Once a file has been 'Load'ed or 'Add'ed its filename will be remembered and displayed in the Previously Viewed Files box. Once entered into this box you may instantly recall any of the last 10 files that you have viewed. If more than 10 files have been viewed then files will be deleted on a first in / first out basis. If you need help on how to select a filename from this list refer to the topic 'CONVENTIONS' located on page 2 of this documentation. Load File [L] This command will display the standard fileselector box. Select the ASCII file that you wish to view. Ascii-view will then load, format [if necessary] and display the first page of text on screen in the chosen display mode. Add File [A] This command is identical to the Load File command except it does not display the first page of text on screen. Instead it simply adds the file to the Previously Viewed Files list and returns the user to the Load Screen. The purpose for this command is too load all the files you wish to view at one time enabling you to view the files consecutively, without interruption. Delete File [D] From List This command allows you to delete a file that is displayed in the Previously Viewed Files list. When prompted to do so select the filename from the Previously Viewed Files list that you wish to delete. You will be asked to verify your intentions before the file is removed from the list. Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [11] LOAD [cont] Clear All [C] Files From List This command will allow you to delete ALL the files in the Previously Viewed Files List. You will be asked to verify your intentions before clearing the entire list from memory. PRINT Select 'P' from Main Screen or 'Print' from Options Screen. The Print command allows you to Print all of your file or just the text that is currently being displayed on screen. If a printer is not online Ascii-View will give you the option of placing the printer online or to abort the printing of the file. If a printer is online then an alert box is displayed giving you the option to print the entire file, just the currently displayed page of text or to abort the printing request. Ascii-View does NOT use any special printer codes so ALL printers should be able to use this feature without any compatibility problems. QUIT Select 'Q' from Main Screen or 'Quit' from Options Screen. Selecting this command will display an alert box giving you the opportunity to 'Exit' back to the Desktop or to 'Stay' and return to the current file. SEARCH Select 'S' from Main Screen or 'Search' from Options Screen. The Search command allows you to locate a word or phrase [aka String] located within the current document. After you have entered a String it will be remembered and displayed in the Previously Set String box. If more than 10 Strings have been entered then the Strings will be deleted on a first in / first out basis. If you need help on how to select a String from the Previously Set Strings box refer to the topic 'CONVENTIONS' located on page 2 of this documentation. After selecting the Search command you will be presented with a dialog box with the following choices: Enter Search [E] String Selecting this command will display a dialog box that will allow you to enter the word or phrase that you wish to locate. Your String may be up to 30 characters in length. All standard dialog box editing commands are available. Press Return when you have finished entering you String. After pressing Return, you will be sent back to the main Search Screen and your String will now be displayed in the Previously Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [12] SEARCH [cont] Set Strings box. You may now either enter another String or select the String and begin you search. If you choose to begin your search you will be sent to the main screen where the command line has been replaced by a new search specific command line. This line displays the String, the Line Number where it was found, the command (N)ext which allows you to view the next occurrence of your String as well as the command Undo which will exit you back to the normal main screen. The String will always be displayed in inverse video. The String will always be displayed on the 10th line of the screen unless it is located in the first 10 or the last 10 lines of a file in which case it will be shown in its actual position. Delete Search [D] String This command lets you delete a String from the Previously Set Strings box. When prompted to do so select the String you wish to delete. You will be asked to verify your intentions before the String is actually deleted from the list. Clear All [C] Search Strings This command lets you delete all the Strings that are currently in the Previously Set Strings box. Before the Strings are removed from the list you will be asked to verify your intentions. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The following parameters can be set to assist you as you search for your String. Search Direction You may conduct your search in either direction by selecting the (F)orward or (R)everse. Beginning From You may conduct your search beginning from the (P)resent line number or from the (T)op/Bottom. If you select (T)op/Bottom your search will begin at the Top of your file if your search direction is forward or at the bottom of your file if the search direction is reverse. Match You may select to have either an E(x)act Match or to match by (S)pelling Only. The difference between these two choices is that the Spelling Only parameter doesn't care if the String is in upper or lower case where the Exact Match parameter does. Undo to Exit [Undo] Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [13] SET MARKER Select 'G' from Main Screen or 'Set Marker' from Options Screen. This command allows you to enter a series of markers, which can be thought of as book marks. Once defined you can use these markers to instantly move to the predefined marker. After you have entered a marker it will be remembered and displayed in the Previously Set Marker box. If more than 10 markers have been entered, then the markers will be deleted on a first in / first out basis. If you need help on how to select a marker from the Previously Set Markers box refer to the topic 'CONVENTIONS' located on page 2 of this documentation. The markers in the Previously Set Markers box are numbered from 0 to 9. Once a marker has been set, you can while at the main screen, go directly to you predefined marker by pressing the corresponding number equivalent on the NUMERIC keyboard. As an example if you defined Set Marker 0 as line number 250, then pressing the 0 key on the NUMERIC keyboard while at the main screen will instantly send you to line number 250 within your file. After selecting the Set Marker command you will be presented with a dialog box with the following choices: Set Marker [S] Selecting this command will display a dialog box allowing you to enter your marker. All entries must be numeric and must be between the first and last line number of the file currently in memory. All standard dialog box editing commands are available. Press Return when you have completed entering you marker. After pressing Return, your marker will be displayed in the Previously Set Marker box. You may now either enter another marker or select the marker. If you choose to select the marker then you will instantly be sent to that line number within your file. Delete Marker [D] This command will allow you to delete a marker from the Previously Set Marker box. When prompted to do so select the marker that you wish to delete. You will asked to confirm your intentions before the marker is deleted from the list. Clear All [C] Markers The command will allow you to delete all the markers in the Previously Set Markers box. You will be asked to confirm your intentions before the markers are cleared from the box. Use Default [U] Markers This command will divide the current file into 10 equal portions and allocate a marker to each segment. The text file must be at least 48 lines long for this command to be enabled, no need to use markers if you can see all the lines at once. Right? Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [14] SET MARKER Goto a [G] Specific Line Selecting this command will display a dialog box that will allow you to enter the exact line number that you wish to goto. Only numeric entries between the first and last line numbers will be accepted. If a valid line number was entered then pressing Return will immediately send you to that specific line. Undo to Exit [Undo] STATISTICS Select 'I' from Main Screen or 'Statistics' from Options Screen. This screen displays some system and program specific information that may be of some help during the use of Ascii-View. This includes: System Date System Time Current Version Current Text Display Mode Current Page Number Total Number of Pages Current Line Number Total Number of Lines Current File Name Current File Size Remaining Memory Ascii-View [v3.80] Page [15] ALMOST DONE Whew! Typing in all this documentation has accomplished one positive aspect, my typing speed has increased from 15 to 16 words per minute. Now I'm cookin. If you locate a bug in Ascii-View, please take the time to report it to me. Try to be as specific as possible, so that I will hopefully be able to duplicate it on my system. It's so much easier to remedy when I'm given a detailed description of the problem. If you think of some feature that may be a useful addition to Ascii-View, please take the time to report it to me. If you feel compelled to relay a comment, good or bad, please take the time to report it to me. If you're beginning to notice a common theme to all of this, you're absolutely correct. I wish to continue developing Ascii-View and to make it a better product, but without your feedback it makes this very difficult to achieve. I can be reached in the following manners: U.S. Mail Dave Seberg P.O. Box 420466 San Diego, CA 92142-0466 GEnie D.SEBERG Online often Compuserve 76505,2446 Online occassionally I truly hope that you find Ascii-View to be a useful tool when viewing ASCII text files. Enjoy!!