PROTEXT
Version 6.7 Word Processor
USER MANUAL
IBM PC Compatibles
Atari ST and TT
Copyright (c) 1987-1995 Arnor, 1996 Silverdock Ltd. Issue 10, 1996 (v6.7)
Protext program (c) 1996 Silverdock Ltd.
The Proximity/Collins Linguibase (c) 1985 William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
Legal and Medical Supplements (c) 1982 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
(c) Copyright 1982,1985 All Rights Reserved Proximity Technology Inc.
All rights reserved. It is illegal to reproduce or transmit either this manual or the
accompanying computer program in any form without the written permission of the
copyright holder. Copying of the supplied disks is permitted only to make security
backup copies or to install onto a hard disk. The owner of this program is licensed to
use one copy only at any given time. Network users require a special licence. Software
piracy is theft.
This manual was written using Protext and printed from camera-ready copy produced
by Protext on a HP LaserJet 4L printer.
Software written by Gavin Every and Mark Tilley.
Manual written by David Foster, Mark Tilley and Gavin Every.
Licence
This software may only be used by one person at a time. It must not be
loaded or installed into more than one machine at any one location. If it is
required on two machines then two copies must be purchased. It is, however,
perfectly acceptable for the owner of the program to use it at home and at
work, but not for someone else to use it at home while the owner is at work.
Please abide by these conditions and do not give copies to anyone else. If you
do this you are cheating the developers of the software out of their rightful
income.
Contents
1. Introduction to Word Processing 13
Introduction 13
What is 'Word processing'? 13
What is Protext? 13
The manuals 14
About the User Manual 14
The Reference manual 14
Conventions used 14
Keyboard controls 14
Special Key Names 15
Equipment requirements 16
Version numbers, updates and README 16
2. Getting Started - IBM PC and Compatibles 17
The supplied master disks 17
Make backups of the Protext disks 17
16 or 32 bit Protext? 18
80386 and 80486 (32 bit) Memory requirements 18
8086 and 80286 (16 bit) Memory requirements 19
Installation 19
Initial Configuration 20
Keyboard configuration 20
Printer installation 20
Mouse installation 21
Loading and running Protext 21
Loading initial files 21
Configuration of Protext 22
Using Protext in Windows 95 or NT 4.0 22
Using Protext in Windows 3.1 22
PROTEXT.PIF and icon 22
3. Getting Started - Atari ST 23
Summary 23
The supplied master disks 23
Make backups of the Protext disks 23
Hard disk installation 23
Floppy disk installation 24
Printer installation 25
Loading and running Protext 26
Configuration of Protext 26
Access to GEM desktop 26
Using a RAM disk 26
4. Overview of Protext 28
Summary 28
Introduction 28
What to read next 28
Protext Commands 29
Menus 29
Menu operation with the keyboard 29
Menu operation with the mouse 30
Menu command summary 30
Dialogue boxes 31
Scrollable windows 32
The File Selector 32
Edit mode 32
The Protext Document 33
Control Codes 33
Stored Commands 33
Document and Program mode 33
Command mode 34
Special keys 34
Sticky shift keys 34
5. Help 35
Summary 35
Online Help 35
6. Protext Guided Tour 37
Summary 37
Introduction 37
Starting 37
Using menus 38
Typing text 39
Dialogue boxes 40
Insertion and Deletion 41
Saving your work 42
The File Selector 42
Changing directory and drive 43
Changing view options 43
Working with files 44
Working with blocks 44
Marking blocks 44
Operations on blocks 45
Working with multiple files 46
Switching files 47
Copying from the alternate file 47
Split Screen Editing 47
Formatting 48
Ruler lines 49
Examples of different tab markers 50
Indenting paragraphs 51
Reformatting 51
Printing effects 52
Find and Replace 54
Finding text 54
Replacing text 55
Spell checking 56
Checking while typing 56
Checking individual words 57
Checking the whole text 58
Other spell options 58
Printing 58
Printing options 59
Background printing 60
7. Entering and Correcting Text 61
Summary 61
Introduction 61
The Status Lines 61
Entering text 63
Insertion 63
Deleting text 63
Inserting 64
Swapping characters 64
Upper and lower case 64
Undeleting all or part of a line 65
Insert and Overwrite mode 65
Moving the cursor more rapidly 65
Moving the cursor with the mouse 66
Moving to a specified page, line or column number 67
Markers 67
Place markers 67
Multiple markers 68
Special markers 68
Scrolling 68
Splitting and joining lines 69
8. Saving and Loading Documents 70
Summary 70
Saving a document 70
Loading a document 71
Clearing the text 71
9. The File Selector and Disk Utilities 72
Summary 72
Introduction 72
Movement and Selection 72
Movement around the directory listing 72
Selecting a file or directory 72
Changing display format 73
Viewing in a different format 73
Viewing different files 74
Viewing the files in different orders 74
Displaying hidden files 75
Directory functions 75
Changing drives 75
Creating a new directory 75
Directory Tree 75
File Functions 76
Viewing files 76
Erasing, Renaming and Copying files 76
Bulk deleting and copying 77
Bulk loading 77
File Protection 77
10. Cut and Paste Editing 78
Summary 78
Introduction 78
Defining a block 78
Defining a block with the mouse 79
Marking a word or line with the mouse 79
Block commands 79
Moving or copying a block 79
Deleting a block 79
Undeleting a block 80
Alternative keys for block commands 80
Box mode 80
Defining a box 80
Moving or copying a box 81
Deleting a box 81
11. Document Layout 82
Summary 82
The Document Settings dialogue 82
Pagination 85
Page breaks 85
Document formatting options 85
Headers, footers and page numbers 87
Saving document settings 89
The PROTEXT.SET file 89
Loading document settings 89
Copying document settings 89
Document settings and Config 89
12. Rulers, Tabs and Margins 90
Summary 90
Introduction 90
Ruler Lines 90
Ruler line measurement 90
Default Ruler lines 90
Active Ruler lines 91
Inserting Rulers 91
Ruler editing with the mouse 92
Tabs 92
Normal Tabs 93
Decimal (right justification) Tabs 93
The right margin as a right justification tab 94
Centre Tabs 94
Indent Tabs 94
Margins 95
Left margins and tabs - applications 95
13. Formatting 96
Summary 96
Introduction 96
Automatic Formatting 96
Word Wrap 96
Right Justification 96
Manual Re-formatting 97
Formatting a small section 97
Formatting the whole text or a block 97
Centring text 97
Formatting control characters 97
Soft spaces, returns and hyphens 97
Non-break spaces and hyphens 98
Disabling automatic reformatting 98
Special formatting features 99
Elimination of widows and orphans 99
Suppression of blank lines 99
Hyphenation 100
Why do we use hyphenation? 100
Manual hyphenation 100
Automatic hyphenation 100
Using Hyphenation 101
How to use automatic hyphenation 101
Enabling and disabling hyphenation 101
Other languages 101
Controlling the frequency of hyphenation 101
Preventing hyphenation of a particular word 101
14. Find and Replace 102
Summary 102
Preparing a find command 102
Options available 102
Wildcards 103
Finding special characters 104
Using find and replace 104
Using the Find command 104
Find word at cursor 105
Using the Replace command 105
Multi-file search 105
Examples 106
15. Languages and Special Symbols 108
Summary 108
Introduction 108
Accents 108
Special characters 109
The choose character window 109
Changing the keyboard layout 110
Graphic Characters 110
Line drawing 111
Printer requirements 111
16. Miscellaneous Editing Commands 112
Summary 112
Quitting Protext 112
Large files 112
Editing large files 112
Timed automatic save (Autosave) 113
Restoring autosaved files 113
Viewing without control codes 114
Viewing tabs, hard returns and hard spaces 115
Page break lines 115
Viewing options 115
Special Editing Options 116
The Editing Options dialogue 116
Automatic indentation 116
Add column or row of figures 117
Expression evaluation 117
Date and time 118
Display options 118
43 and 50 line displays 118
Graphics and text modes 118
40 column display 119
Word count and Document analysis 120
17. Multiple File Editing 121
Summary 121
Introduction 121
Choosing a document 121
Copying a block between documents 121
Split screen editing 122
Linked files 122
18. Printing 123
Summary 123
Printer drivers 123
What are printer control codes? 123
How to use printer control codes 124
Character pitch 125
Colour printing 125
The Print dialogue box 125
Preview 127
Background printing 128
Microspacing 128
19. Styles and proportional printing 129
Summary 129
Styles 129
Scalable fonts 130
Variable line spacing 130
Line spacing 130
Creating a style 131
Saving and loading styles 131
Font spacing 132
Editing a style 133
Using styles 133
Using control codes and colour codes in styles 133
Using styles to print a document on different printers134
Proportional printing 134
Proportional printing and editing 135
A note on underlining and tabs 135
20. Auto-Correct 136
Summary 136
Auto-Correct applications 136
Auto-capitalisation 136
Auto-Correct Commands and Options 136
Editing the Auto-Correct database 137
Adding words during spell checking 137
Format of Auto-Correct abbreviations 137
Program mode 137
21. Spelling Checker 138
Summary 138
Overview 138
What can the Spelling Checker do? 138
How the spelling checker decides what is a word 138
What sort of errors will it find? 139
Dictionaries 140
Dictionary Files 140
The quick dictionary 141
Multi-lingual spell checking 141
Where to keep the dictionary 141
Spelling checker features 142
Repeated word check 142
Capital letter at start of sentence 142
Spell Checking a Document 143
General remarks 143
Using the Spelling Checker 143
Checking all or part of a document during editing 143
Single word checking 146
Checking an entire text file: 2 pass 146
At the end of the checking operation 147
Spell check while typing 147
Large files 147
Marking words so they will not be checked 147
Spelling Checker Utilities 148
User dictionary editor 148
The exclusion dictionary 148
22. The Thesaurus 149
Summary 149
Introduction 149
Thesaurus data files 149
How to use the Thesaurus 149
Inflection 150
Other languages 150
23. Index and Contents 151
Summary 151
Indexing 151
Marking a word 151
Marking a phrase 151
Indexing references that are not in the text 152
Index subheadings 152
How to generate the index 152
Indexing notes 153
Contents generation 154
Contents generating options 154
24. Macros and Glossary 156
Summary 156
Macros 156
Recording macros 156
Macro editor 157
Using macros 157
Saving macros for regular use 157
Pre-defined tokens 158
The Glossary 159
The Glossary editor 159
Recording glossary entries 159
Saving the glossary 159
Using the glossary 159
25. Graphics Import 160
Summary 160
Graphic file formats 160
Importing graphics 160
Scaling an image 161
Use printer resolution 161
Positioning an image 161
Centring an image 161
Right justifying an image 161
Resolution of an image 161
Printing colour images 162
Inverting an image 162
Viewing an image 162
Printing an image 162
Printing graphics and background printing 163
Printing graphics in multiple columns 163
How Protext handles graphics while editing 163
26. Configuration 164
Summary 164
Configuration files 164
Configuration file search order 164
Using a CFG environment variable 164
Using Config 165
Configuration options 166
Editing options 166
Spelling checker options 167
File options 167
Disk options 168
Memory options 169
Printer driver options 170
Keyboard options 171
Visual options 173
Other options 174
Command line options 175
27. Hints and Tips 176
Printer Problems 176
The printer doesn't print anything 176
A blank line is printed after each line of text 176
signs or accented letters not printed correctly 176
Italic print does not work 176
Line drawing mode - boxes do not print correctly 177
Serial printer not working 177
Sheet feeder not feeding the pages through 177
Laser printer not printing for several seconds 177
'P' is printed at the start of each document 177
Protext overrides printer control panel settings 177
Keyboard Problems 178
The key produces # 178
Keys produce wrong characters (e.g. \| # ~) 178
Problems accessing memory resident programs 178
Some ALT key symbols or functions do not work 178
Error messages 179
General Hints 179
Storage of documents 179
Printing lines starting with '>' 179
Multiple column printing 179
28. Glossary 180
Index 186
1. Introduction to Word Processing
Introduction
What is 'Word processing'?
In its simplest form word processing is using a computer as a very sophisticated
typewriter. Instead of typing a document straight onto paper, the document is
displayed on the screen as it is typed. As you type in the document, the computer
remembers it. This allows you to :
(a) correct or change any part of the document.
(b) store the document on a disk for later use.
(c) send the document to a printer.
You can perform each of these actions as often as you wish, without ever having to
retype the document. An ordinary typewriter only allows (c) because the document
cannot be changed or stored.
The advantages of even this simple form of word processing are enormous:
- it allows easy correction of mistakes, either immediately or at any later time.
- a number of similar documents can be produced with minimum effort.
- any number of copies can be printed without retyping the document.
- a disk can be given to someone else to use or add to.
- you can keep copies of all your writings, without having huge paper archives.
Modern word processors offer far more than this, and Protext provides many powerful
features - yet all are designed to be easy to use.
What is Protext?
Protext is a fully integrated word processing system, comprising word processor,
spelling checker and thesaurus. It includes facilities for writing mail-shots, managing disk
files, analysing writing, and getting the most from a wide range of printers. Separate
programs provide file conversion and data file sorting.
Protext has been designed as a package which provides a complete environment from
which all aspects of word processing and file management can be carried out without
the need to use any other programs. Once Protext is loaded, there is no need to leave
it until the day's word processing is completed. Documents may be created and have
their spelling checked, and then be printed without leaving Protext.
Protext has been under continuous development since 1984. Each version is specially
written to take advantage of the computer being used. Despite this it provides
comprehensive compatibility between its versions on different machines. Anyone used
to other versions of Protext will instantly feel at home with it and will only have to learn
any new features incorporated into this version.
Protext is designed to be easy to learn. Once the basic principles have been mastered,
documents may be easily created. All the extra features that are a part of Protext can
be learnt one at a time as they are needed, or when you feel ready. There is no need
to learn it all at once.
The manuals
This version of Protext comes with two manuals. This User Manual has been written
with beginners in mind. It contains tutorial material for all of Protext's main features.
The Reference Manual contains details of Protext's advanced features, as well as various
reference tables.
About the User Manual
The manual is separated into chapters, each of which covers one aspect of the Protext
word processing system. There is no need to read the whole manual in one go, or at
all. In fact there would be far too much information to absorb at once. However the
'Getting started' chapter should be read thoroughly before using Protext.
Newcomers to word processing are recommended to make full use of this manual,
starting with the guided tour chapter.
Little or no experience of word processing is assumed in this manual and the main
chapters have, as far as possible, been written in non technical terms. Inevitably,
though, it has been necessary to use some jargon and a glossary is provided at the back
of the manual.
The Reference manual
The Reference Manual covers Protext's command line interface, stored commands, mail
merging and also includes a summary of editing facilities and some technical
appendices.
Conventions used
This manual uses various typographical conventions to distinguish particular meanings.
F This symbol indicates a note and is used to draw your attention to a
special comment.
PC/ST Italics is used for sections which relate only to the PC version or only
to the Atari ST version.
Keyboard controls
Throughout the manual a consistent form is used to describe the various keys used to
control Protext, as follows:
CTRL-I means the key marked 'CTRL' and the key marked 'I'. Wherever a
hyphen is used between them, it means that the first key should be
held down while the second key is pressed. Most of the editing
functions are controlled in this simple form.
CTRL-V T means that the 'CTRL' and 'V' keys should be used as described
above, then released and the 'T' key pressed. Note that there is no
hyphen between the 'V' and the 'T'.
SHIFT-CTRL-S means that all three keys should be pressed at the same time. Options
that require more than two keys to be pressed at a time are rarely used
and at least two of the keys are always adjacent to each other.
CTRL-( means that the 'CTRL' key and the key which has the '(' on it are
pressed together. It does NOT mean that SHIFT is required as well.
The '(' is merely being used for ease of remembering its function.
To save space, keyboard controls are abbreviated further when they are shown on
Protext's menus. They would become ^I, ^VT, s^S and ^( respectively. Note that a
lower case s means Shift, while a capital S means the S key. A lower case a means Alt.
Special Key Names
One particular source of confusion is caused by keyboards that have two keys marked
'' - one of which moves the cursor left and the other moves the cursor left and
deletes the previous character. This table summarises the differences - the left column is
the name that will be used for the key throughout the manual.
ALT the key marked 'Alt' or 'Alternate'.
CTRL the key marked 'Ctrl' or 'Control'.
DEL the key marked 'Del' or 'Delete'.
DEL the backspace key may be marked '', 'Backspace' or 'Backspace'.
the 'cursor left' key to the right of the keyboard. Not to be confused
with 'DEL'.
INS the key marked 'Ins' or 'Insert'.
TAB the key on the left of the keyboard, often marked with two opposite
pointing arrows.
keypad+ the plus key on the numeric keypad, as opposed to the plus key on the
main keyboard.
keypad- the minus key on the numeric keypad.
Equipment requirements
You will need one of the following computer systems (check the disk labels to ensure
you have the correct version of Protext):
IBM PC
IBM PC compatible computer.
PC-DOS or MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher or Windows 95 or Windows NT.
640K RAM.
A hard disk.
Protext is able to take advantage of the following optional extras:
An 80386SX or higher processor with extended (XMS) memory.
MS-DOS 5.0 or later is recommended as this gives more memory.
Expanded (EMS) memory.
A mouse.
Atari ST
Atari ST or TT with at least 1Mb RAM.
Printer selection
Almost any printer can be used, though some symbols are not available on all printers.
Most laser, inkjet and dot matrix printers are suitable for printing graphics. Protext will
print colour graphics on many colour printers.
Printing line graphics requires a printer which supports the IBM character set, an Epson
or LaserJet compatible printer, or a PostScript printer.
Use the Protext Help facility to get details of the facilities provided by individual
printers.
Version numbers, updates and README
The main Protext version number is displayed on the command mode banner line. The
individual utility programs display version numbers when they are used. Any queries
regarding the software should be accompanied by the relevant version
number.
Inevitably the printed documentation cannot keep up with the changes to the software.
The latest changes to the Protext software are documented in the online help file under
'Latest information about this version' from the main help dialogue.
There may be some changes you need to be aware of before installation. These are
documented in a text file which may be supplied on the Protext program disk, called
'README'. This file also duplicates the latest changes information in the online help.
When Protext has been installed, you can print the README file. Major updates to the
program will be supplied with additional printed documentation.
2. Getting Started - IBM PC and Compatibles
The supplied master disks
Protext is supplied on four or more disks including the Program Disk, the Dictionary
Disk, the Thesaurus Disk and the Printer Driver Disk. The Program Disk may contain a
file called 'README' which gives information about the latest version of the program.
WARNING: All the programs, files and the dictionary provided on the master disks
are subject to copyright laws and copies may be made of these files and
the dictionary, for your own use on one machine only. It is an offence
to give, hire or sell copies of copyrighted material to other parties.
Protext operates under MS-DOS and is suitable for use on all 'IBM Compatible'
computers. See the section on equipment requirements for more details.
Make backups of the Protext disks
With the exception of the first time that Protext is used, to create a working
copy of the disks, the original disks should NEVER be used. They must be
retained as a backup and kept in a safe place.
If the originals are used and are damaged, such as by accidentally formatting them, or
even spilling a drink on them, you will not have any backup with which to create new
working copies.
Before Protext is used, backup copies of the supplied disks MUST be made. Make sure
that the disks are 'write protected' before copying them. With 5" disks, this means
that the square notch cut out of the right hand edge of the disk should be covered with
a small label or piece of sticky tape. With 3" disks, the 'write protect tab' should be
moved so that the hole is exposed.
To copy a disk have a blank disk ready and type (from the DOS prompt):
DISKCOPY A: B:
or DISKCOPY A: A: if drives A and B are different sizes
Messages on the screen will indicate when to insert the disks. Repeat this process for
each of the supplied disks. Put the original disks away to be retained as a security
backup.
Alternatively, if using Windows 95, open the 'My Computer' window, click the right
mouse button over the disk icon containing the disk to be copied and select 'Copy'.
16 or 32 bit Protext?
Protext is supplied in two editions. The 16 bit edition will run on any IBM PC including
8086 and 80286. This will make use of expanded memory (EMS) but not extended
memory (XMS). The 32 bit edition needs an 80386 (SX or DX) or higher processor
and will make full use of all extended memory, both for the program and storing text.
The correct edition for your computer will be chosen automatically by the installation
process. There is little difference in the features provided, but the 32 bit edition takes
advantage of the more powerful processor to give better performance. The 32 bit
program runs faster and (more importantly) gives you much more memory for
documents. Any extended memory that you can fit to your PC can be used, so it is
possible to hold very large documents all in memory and to have many large
documents open for editing at the same time.
If you upgrade your PC to an 80386 or 80486 you should re-install Protext to take
advantage of the 32 bit edition.
80386 and 80486 (32 bit) Memory requirements
With 2Mb of memory and using SMARTDRV
If you get the message "Insufficient extended memory to run program" when trying to
run Protext, or get "Out of memory" when running, the cause may be that you have
no Extended memory (XMS) available.
If you have 2Mb of memory and you are using SMARTDRV, then SMARTDRV will
grab all the extended memory unless you tell it otherwise. To do this you must edit
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Find the line that loads SMARTDRV, something like:
LH /L:0 C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE
Add a number to the end to specify the amount of memory to allocate to
SMARTDRV, say 256. Without a number it will use 1Mb or all that is available.
LH /L:0 C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE 256
Further memory can be saved by adding the NOVCPI option to the EMM386 line in
CONFIG.SYS. Use a command like:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI
With 1Mb of memory
1Mb is insufficient to use the 32 bit version of Protext. We recommend
that you add extra memory. In the meantime you can install the 16 bit
version of Protext using an option when installing:
INSTALL C: 16
8086 and 80286 (16 bit) Memory requirements
You can check how much memory you have available by running 'CHKDSK' from the
MS-DOS prompt. If this indicates less than about 530K free you may sometimes run
out of memory using Protext. This is most likely to occur if you have several documents
open (or one or two large ones) and then try to print or spell check. If these operations
either fail with an 'Out of memory' message or work very slowly you should clear the
other documents from memory and try again.
Installation
The installation process will create a subdirectory called 'PROTEXT' into which all the
necessary Protext files will be copied. Some subdirectories of 'PROTEXT' will also be
created, including one called 'TEXT'. This will be used for saving documents unless
otherwise specified. Before installing Protext, it is important to ensure that there is
sufficient free space available on the disk by using DIR. There should be at least 3M
byte (3072K) free on the hard disk to allow room for Protext, the associated programs
and dictionary, and working files.
If using Windows, go to the MS-DOS prompt by clicking on its icon, which is to be
found in the Program Manager [Main] window.
Put the Program Disk in drive A or B and select this drive by typing:
A:
or B:
Then, if the hard disk is drive C, type:
INSTALL C
If the hard disk is any other letter type the appropriate letter instead of 'C' in the
above line.
To install Protext into a different directory, such as d:\programs\protext6 type the
following:
INSTALL d:\programs\protext6
All the files will be copied to the chosen hard disk directory, then the configuration
menu will appear.
If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Protext, existing user dictionaries, macro
files, exec files and configuration options will be preserved. Although old printer drivers
are compatible with Protext 6, the new versions should always be used. Existing printer
drivers are saved in a directory called PPD.OLD. This can be deleted if not required.
Press I to select the 'Initial Installation' menu. This menu will show the settings for the
hard disk letter and the keyboard type and language. These can be changed using ,
and RETURN. At this point the required colours and printer drivers may also be set
up, though this may be left until later. If the hard disk is not C, D, E, or F, it will be
necessary to use other Config options to set the path and temporary path.
Initial Configuration
Keyboard configuration
It is important to configure the keyboard correctly. The keyboard language should be
set to 'UK English' for U.K. users. There are three possible keyboard types. If the
keyboard has a cursor key cluster separate from the numeric keypad then the 'Extended
AT' type should be selected. Otherwise select the 'Standard PC'. If it is subsequently
found that the '\|' and '#~' keys are the wrong way round, use Config to change to
the 'Alternate AT' layout.
Press ESC.
Press S and then RETURN to save the configuration.
Press Q to quit.
In the root directory on the hard disk there is a file called 'CONFIG.SYS' which,
among other things, sets a value for the number of buffers to be used by MS-DOS
when accessing disks. It is recommended that this value is set to at least 20 when using
Protext to ensure fast operation. This can most easily be modified by typing 'BUF20'
immediately after leaving the configuration program.
This will rename the original CONFIG.SYS to CONFIG.OLD and create a new one
with BUFFERS=20 added to the end of the original file.
Printer installation
Protext will not initially be configured for any particular printer. In this state it will print
on any printer but will not be able to use many of a printer's features. The Config
program is used to select a printer. This should be run from the DOS command
prompt by typing:
CONFIG
Press I to select the 'Initial Installation' menu.
Press P to install printers.
Up to 5 printer ports may be present on the computer and it is possible to select a
different printer for each. In most cases there will only be one printer so only one
needs to be set.
First determine which is the default printer port. This is the port to which the most
often used printer is connected. If the printer is connected to the standard parallel port
(this is by far the most common) then leave this selection as it is ('PAR1'). If the
printer is a serial printer, press RETURN until the selection changes to 'SER1'.
Next move the highlighted bar by pressing the 'cursor down' key until the line
corresponding to the default port is reached. Then press RETURN. A list of printers
will appear. Most of these will be shown with an asterisk (*) next to the printer name.
This indicates that the printer driver (PPD file) will be created by the installation
program if you select it. The information about the printer is contained in GPD files
(group printer driver), each of which can be used to generate many different printer
drivers. Select one by moving the highlighted bar with the cursor keys to the required
printer and then press RETURN.
If your printer is not listed then it is likely that it is equivalent to one of those listed.
Consult the section on installing software in your printer manual which will probably list
alternative drivers that can be used. In particular the '24 pin Epson compatible' will
work for the majority of 24 pin dot matrix printers. Laser printers are often compatible
with one of the HP LaserJets. Many daisy wheel printers can use 'Diablo compatible'.
F The main help menu contains a subject 'Notes about specific printers'.
After selecting the printer or printers press ESC twice to return to the main menu.
Press S and then RETURN to save the configuration. Press Q to quit.
Mouse installation
If a mouse is fitted, it can be used in Protext for moving the cursor and operating
menus and dialogue boxes. The mouse driver must be installed as described in the
mouse documentation. This will probably entail either adding a line to
AUTOEXEC.BAT or to CONFIG.SYS. If the mouse driver is correctly installed a
mouse pointer will appear on the screen as a steady (not flashing) block cursor (or as
an arrow in a graphics screen mode). Moving the mouse will move the mouse cursor on
the screen. To move the editing cursor to this position press the left mouse button.
Loading and running Protext
Once installed, Protext may be loaded and run by typing:
PROTEXT
and pressing RETURN
If the normal default setting of PATH includes the root directory, Protext may be
called from any directory and will load with that directory as the current directory.
Loading initial files
It is also possible to specify one or more files to be loaded immediately and this is done
by typing the names after the 'PROTEXT' command. Drive paths may be included.
For example:-
PROTEXT LETTERS\MYLETTER
will load Protext and a text file called 'MYLETTER', which is in a subdirectory, called
'LETTER'.
PROTEXT ACCEPT.JOB REJECT.JOB
will load ACCEPT.JOB as the first document and REJECT.JOB as the second.
Configuration of Protext
While Protext may now be used and is configured for the correct printer and disk
drives, certain other parameters which are set to default values by the installation
program may be changed at any time. Details of how to reconfigure Protext using
Config are given in the chapter 'Configuration'. It is recommended that some
experience is gained with using Protext before any changes are made.
Using Protext in Windows 95 or NT 4.0
Protext runs in Windows 95, either with the full screen dedicated to Protext or within a
window. See the help menu 'Updates to printed documentation' for more information
about using Protext in Windows 95.
When running DOS programs under Windows 95 the character set being used is
determined by the Regional Settings chosen when Windows 95 was installed. If English
(U.S.) was chosen, then code page 437 is used, which gives the characters expected by
Protext. However, a different code page is used for European languages, including
English (British), which means that some symbols will appear or print wrongly. To fix
this you must re-install Windows 95, choosing English (U.S.) for the regional setting.
After doing this you can use Control Panel/Regional Settings to choose your correct
language for all the other settings. The code page used by DOS programs will remain
437 as required, because this is not affected by Control Panel changes.
An icon for Windows is supplied as a file called PROTEXT.ICO. To use this, first
create a shortcut to Protext on your Desktop. Then click the right mouse button on the
shortcut icon and select 'properties', then 'Program' and 'Change Icon' and use Browse
to locate PROTECT.ICO in the Protext directory.
Using Protext in Windows 3.1
Protext runs in Windows 3.1 (386 enhanced mode), either full or within a window.
ALT-TAB and ALT-ESC can be used to switch between Protext and other programs.
You may find that the mouse does not work when Protext is working in a window. If
you are using a Microsoft mouse this can be fixed by using MOUSE.COM with the
option '/Y'. The following line or similar should be used in AUTOEXEC.BAT:
C:\DOS\MOUSE /Y
If you are using a different mouse you will probably need to update your mouse driver.
PROTEXT.PIF and icon
A 'program information file' for Windows, PROTEXT.PIF is provided and will be
found in the PROTEXT directory after installing. This should be copied to the
WINDOWS directory, if required. An icon for Windows is also supplied as a file called
PROTEXT.ICO. This can be installed using the 'Program Item Properties' editor in the
Program Manager. Please refer to your Windows documentation for details.
3. Getting Started - Atari ST
Summary
This chapter covers:
Installing Protext
Configuring Protext
Running Protext
This chapter explains how to configure Protext for the correct disk drives and printer
and how to start using Protext. This is an important chapter and should be read
carefully.
The supplied master disks
Protext is supplied on four or more disks including the Program Disk, the Dictionary
Disk, the Thesaurus Disk and the Printer Driver Disk. The Program Disk may contain a
file called 'README' which gives information about the latest version of the program.
The precise contents of each disk vary between releases so check the disk labels for the
location of the help files and utility programs.
WARNING: All the programs, files and the dictionary provided on the master
disks are subject to copyright laws and copies may be made of
these files and the dictionary, for your own use on one machine
only. It is an offence to give, hire or sell copies of copyrighted
material to other parties.
Protext operates on all Atari ST and TT machines with at least 1Mb of memory. It may
be used with single drive computers, but will take full advantage of two or more drives.
Use of a hard disk or a RAM disk will enhance the performance of Protext.
Make backups of the Protext disks
Before Protext is used, backup copies of the supplied disks MUST be made. Make sure
that the disks are 'write protected' before copying them. The 'write protect tab' should
be moved so that the hole is exposed.
The supplied disks should be copied from the GEM desktop by dragging the floppy disk
A icon onto the floppy disk B icon and following the on-screen instructions. Put the
original disks away to be retained as a security backup.
Hard disk installation
Installation of Protext onto a hard disk is extremely simple. Before installing Protext, it
is important to ensure that there is sufficient free space available on the disk by clicking
on the disk icon and using File Info. There should be at least 3M byte (3072K) free on
the hard disk to allow room for Protext, the associated programs and dictionary, and
working files.
Run Protext from the floppy disk by double clicking on PROTEXT.PRG from the GEM
desktop. Then press ESC to go into Protext's command mode and type:
X INSTALL
Follow the instructions given on the screen.
If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Protext, existing user dictionaries, macro
files, exec files and configuration options will be preserved. Although old printer drivers
are compatible with Protext 6, the new versions should always be used. Existing printer
drivers are saved in a directory called PPD.OLD. This can be deleted if not required.
Double click on CONFIG.PRG (in the Protext folder). The configuration menu will
then appear.
Press I to select the 'Initial Installation' menu. This menu will show the settings for the
hard disk letter and the keyboard language. These can be changed using , and
RETURN. At this point the required colours and printer drivers may also be set up,
though this may be left until later. If the hard disk is not C, D, E, or F, it will be
necessary to use other Config options to set the path and temporary path.
Press ESC.
Press S and then RETURN to save the configuration.
Press Q to quit.
Floppy disk installation
You should copy any required desktop accessories onto the working copy of the
program disk. In particular the file CONTROL.ACC will probably be needed. Finally
you can save your preferred desktop configuration on the same disk. This is done by
using the 'save desktop' option in the options menu. This will create a file called
DESKTOP.INF. This disk should now be labelled 'Protext Startup disk'.
(a) Dual drive machines
Put the Startup Disk in drive A and double click on CONFIG.PRG
Press I to select the 'Initial Installation' menu.
Press RETURN to change the disk configuration to 'Dual floppy'.
Press ESC.
Press S and then RETURN to save the configuration.
Press Q to quit.
Double click on PROTEXT.PRG
(b) Single drive machines
After copying the disks as described above, Protext can be used with no further
installation. Simply put the Program Disk in drive A and double click on
PROTEXT.PRG.
Printer installation
Protext will not initially be configured for any particular printer. In this state it will print
on any printer but will not be able to use many of a printer's features. The Config
program is used to select a printer. This should be run from the GEM desktop.
Floppy disk users should first put the Startup disk in drive A.
Double click on CONFIG.PRG.
Press I to select the 'Initial Installation' menu.
Press P to install printers.
It is possible to select a different printer for the serial and parallel ports, if both are
present. In most cases there will only be one printer so only one needs to be set.
First determine which is the default printer port. This is the port to which the most
often used printer is connected. If the printer is connected to the standard parallel port
(this is by far the most common) then leave this selection as it is ('PARALLEL'). If the
printer is a serial printer, press RETURN until the selection changes to 'SERIAL'.
Next move the highlighted bar by pressing the 'cursor down' key until the line
corresponding to the default port is reached. Then press RETURN. A list of printers
will appear. Most of these will be shown with an asterisk (*) next to the printer name.
This indicates that the printer driver (PPD file) will be created by the installation
program if you select it. The information about the printer is contained in GPD files
(group printer driver), each of which can be used to generate many different printer
drivers. Select one by moving the highlighted bar with the cursor keys to the required
printer and then press RETURN.
If your printer is not listed then it is likely that it is equivalent to one of those listed.
Consult the section on installing software in your printer manual which will probably list
alternative drivers that can be used. In particular the '24 pin Epson compatible' will
work for the majority of 24 pin dot matrix printers. Laser printers are often compatible
with one of the HP LaserJets. Many daisy wheel printers can use 'Diablo compatible'.
F The main help menu contains a subject 'Notes about specific printers'.
After selecting the printer or printers press ESC twice to return to the main menu.
Press S and then RETURN to save the configuration. Press Q to quit.
Loading and running Protext
Once the working copies of the disk have been created, or in the case of a hard disk,
the files copied across, Protext may be loaded and run in the following way:-
Floppy Disk: From switch on, insert the Protext Startup disk and double click on
PROTEXT.PRG. When the program has loaded the program disk should be removed,
and the text disk inserted in drive A.
On a two drive computer the Dictionary disk (or Thesaurus disk, as required) should be
put in drive B. After loading the program the Program disk will be removed and the
text disk put in drive A.
On a single drive computer the text disk will be put in drive A after the program has
loaded. The Dictionary disk or Thesaurus disk should be put into drive A when needed.
Hard Disk: Double click on the PROTEXT directory, then double click on
PROTEXT.PRG.
F Documents written using Protext should be saved onto both the text disk
and a backup text disk, for security. Saving text is explained later.
Configuration of Protext
While Protext may now be used and is configured for the correct printer and disk
drives, certain other parameters which are set to default values by the installation
program may be changed at any time. Details of how to reconfigure Protext using
Config are given in the chapter 'Configuration'. It is recommended that some
experience is gained with using Protext before any changes are made.
One change that you might want to make immediately is to choose to use the GEM file
selector (or a replacement that you have installed) in Protext.
Access to GEM desktop
The left mouse button provides access to GEM desktop accessories from within Protext.
When the mouse pointer is moved to the top line of the screen and the left mouse
button is pressed the GEM menu bar will appear at the top of the screen. The mouse
may then be used to call up any accessories in the usual way. To return to Protext the
'quit' option on the 'desk' menu should be selected.
Using a RAM disk
On machines with at least 2Mb of memory a RAM drive may be used with Protext to
speed up spell checking enormously. The most convenient way to use Protext with a
RAM drive is to copy your RAM drive software onto the Protext Startup disk. It may
be possible to store this in the \AUTO folder so that the RAM disk is automatically
installed on startup.
Warning: Some ST RAM disk software does not correctly emulate all of the disk
filing system commands and may cause Protext to crash with a 'fatal
system error' while spell checking. If this occurs use Maxidisk.
Maxidisk
This version of Protext is supplied with a RAM disk program, Maxidisk. The program
MAXIDISK.PRG should be copied to the \AUTO folder on the Protext Startup Disk.
The file MAXIDISK.INF is used to specify the size of RAM disk and the drive letter to
be used. This is supplied set up for drive C with a RAM disk size suitable to hold the
dictionary ARNORE1.LEX. The RAM disk can be set to a different size or drive by
editing this file.
Maxidisk automatically compresses files that are saved and automatically decompresses
them when reloaded. For text files this typically allows files 50% larger than the disk
space to be saved. Maxidisk is 'reset proof'. That is, the RAM disk will survive with files
intact if the ST reset button is pressed.
The following assumes that the RAM disk is drive C. If not replace 'C:' with 'D:' or the
appropriate letter throughout.
Protext must be configured so that it looks at the dictionary on drive C. Run the
configuration program. Press 'M' and 'D' to change the spelling checker options.
Change the spelling checker path so that it reads as described for your disk setup:
One floppy drive: C:\;A:\
Two floppy drives: C:\;B:\
Hard disk: D:\;C:\PROTEXT\LEX
In the hard disk example change 'D' to your RAM disk's letter if it is not 'D'.
How to copy the dictionaries to the RAM disk
The following lines should be added to the file 'EXFILE' on the Protext Program disk. If
there is no file called 'EXFILE' then create one with the lines:
UPDATE ARNORE1.LEX C:
UPDATE ARNORENG.QIC C:
UPDATE ARNORE2.LEX C:
UPDATE BRTPHON.ENV C:
Note: Smaller dictionary
The dictionary 'ARNORE1.LEX' used here is a smaller version of the main dictionary.
It should be used on a 1M machine as it occupies less space. This is an 80,000 word
dictionary without the legal and medical supplements. To use the full dictionary replace
'ARNORE1.LEX' by 'ARNORENG.LEX' in the above.
Note: Adding words to the dictionary
The set up described above will only copy the main dictionary to the RAM drive.
Words that are added are stored in the user dictionary on the DICTIONARY disk.
Thus it is not necessary to copy the dictionary back after using Protext.
4. Overview of Protext
Summary
This chapter covers:
What you should read next
How to control Protext
How Protext stores documents
Command mode
Introduction
This User Manual introduces Protext's features gradually, so there is no need to read
the entire manual immediately. The first part of the manual restricts itself to the word
processing aspects of Protext, leaving later sections to describe the spelling checker, mail
merging and utilities.
We are only too well aware that people treat manuals as if they were intended to be
used to prop the keyboard at a better angle and only read them when all else fails! We
would however urge you to read the 'Getting Started' chapter, which gives full details
of how to create a working copy of Protext painlessly and would hope that even
experienced word processor users will make the effort to read further.
What to read next
At this point there are a number of ways in which to proceed, depending on the
amount of experience already gained in the use of word processors.
Beginners to word processing are advised to read through the following chapters, in
order to make the quickest progress. They may like to skim this chapter and the next,
and then move straight to the 'Guided Tour' chapter which is an introduction to
Protext aimed at beginners.
Those who are familiar with other versions of Protext may wish to look through the
contents list for items that appear unfamiliar, and read only those sections. They will
also be interested in Appendix 2 in the reference manual, which covers Protext file
compatibility between versions.
If you are experienced in word processing you may feel that you can manage without
reading through the whole manual, so for your benefit the reference manual gives full
details of all the commands. At the start of each chapter is a summary, which gives
details of the contents of the chapter; you may wish to just read this summary to
discover if you need to read any further. Protext has so many special features that you
may not discover many of them if you do not read the manual. The comprehensive
index permits easy reference to the section describing any particular feature.
Protext Commands
There are several ways of controlling Protext. Most computers now have a mouse. Mice
make an ideal control device for beginners, because they are simple and offer direct
control. However, their use within a word processor is, of course, limited. Protext
allows the use of a mouse in most relevant situations. However, a mouse is not essential
for using Protext, as all operations can also be performed using the keyboard.
Many simple actions can be performed by typing special key combinations. For
example, CTRL-[ moves the cursor to the start of the document. Key combinations
such as this are ideal for rapid use while typing, as they do not require the hands to be
removed from the keys. However, there are a very large number of keys, and no one
could learn them all to start with.
Other actions can be found on Protext's menus. For example, 'Save file' on the File
menu saves the current document to disk, using its current name. Menus can be
controlled using the mouse or the keyboard and provide a convenient means to access
many different functions, and to discover what options are available. You will also be
able to learn to use keyboard commands by reading their definition from the menus.
Menu options followed by '...' will lead to dialogue boxes. Use of these is described
later. However, beginners may learn keyboard shortcuts from dialogue boxes by looking
for keystrokes encased in square brackets.
Protext is also able to accept textual commands typed at a command line, similar to the
command line interpreter (CLI) possessed by many operating systems. These
commands are issued in command mode or in exec files. Both of these features are
designed for advanced users, and allow them to get the most from Protext.
Many operations can be performed in more than one way. Which one you use will
depend upon what you are doing when you wish to execute the command. Menus are
good for novices as they make explicit all of the major actions Protext is able to
perform. Special keys, which are also shown in menus to aid learning, are used most by
experienced users. They provide rapid access to Protext's power without any need to
stop and think.
Textual commands provide one way of collecting together groups of Protext actions to
perform complex or repetitive procedures. In general, this volume of the manual will
concentrate on menu commands and special keys. Textual commands are described in
more detail in the Protext Reference Manual.
Menus
Menu operation with the keyboard
Press the menu key, F3, to call up the menu bar. Menus are pulled down by pressing
the left or right cursor keys to move on to the required menu and then pressing
RETURN. Pressing the cursor keys with CTRL moves directly to the first or last menu.
To select a menu item use the down and up cursor keys until the required menu item is
highlighted and then press RETURN.
To resume editing without selecting a menu operation press ESC.
Menus and menu items may now be selected by single key presses. The keys to use are
shown underlined or in a different colour.
When the menu key (F3) is pressed the menu title bar appears. Initially no menu is
shown. A menu may be selected by pressing the highlighted letter or by using the
cursor keys and pressing RETURN.
Some menu items do not have a highlighted letter. In each of these cases there is a
keyboard short-cut, which is shown to the right of the description.
Menu operation with the mouse
Click the right mouse button to call up the menu bar. Menus are pulled down by
moving the mouse pointer over the titles on the menu bar.
To select a menu item move the pointer over it and click the left mouse button.
To resume editing without selecting a menu operation simply click the right mouse
button or click the left button when the pointer is outside the menu area.
Menu command summary
File This menu contains items that affect whole files. It also allows you to get
help.
Swap This menu allows control of multiple loaded documents, including window
splitting and linking.
Edit These commands affect the text itself. They include find and replace,
cursor movement and date and time functions.
Block This menu contains functions relating to blocks.
Format This menu allows control of reformatting, rulers and special formatting
characters such as non-breaking spaces.
Print This menu allows output of text to file, screen or printer, and control of
background printing functions.
Spell The top half of this menu controls spelling checking and thesaurus access.
The bottom half contains a range of dictionary utilities.
Style This menu varies depending on the active printer. Styles can be created
and edited here.
Tools This menu collects together other assorted utilities, including file
conversion and sorting, graphics import, addition mode and index and
contents generation.
Option This menu allows Protext's configuration to be changed. It also allows
editing of macros and glossary entries.
Dialogue boxes
Some menu selections (for example find string and print) cause a dialogue box to be
displayed. Various controls and buttons will be shown which may be selected in any
order by clicking the left mouse button or using the highlighted hot key. ESC can
always be pressed to leave a dialogue box and cancel the operation. In some cases (such
as when using a Text box) it will be necessary to press ESC twice. Dialogue boxes may
contain the following items:
Text Box, or
Text Entry Field: A place where a string of text is to be entered. The string is
entered between two braces ({ }). Terminate by pressing
RETURN or clicking on another box or button.
Option Button: Clicking selects or deselects an option, e.g. the Find
options. [ ] when off, [X] when on.
Radio Buttons: Selecting some options causes others to be automatically
deselected (e.g. continuous/single sheet printing). ( ) when
off, (*) when on.
Group Box: When a group box surrounds radio buttons, clicking on it
selects the next radio button in the set. When it surrounds
anything else, it is purely to add structure to the dialogue.
Command Button: Buttons that cause an action. Most dialogues will have an
'OK' button that completes entry and a 'Cancel' button
that reverses any changes made. If a button has a double
border, then pressing RETURN will select it.
List box: Looks like a group box. Clicking in it moves a selection bar.
When the List box has a double border, you can operate it
with the keyboard. You can use the scroll bar at the side of
the list box to move around it too.
When letters are highlighted within a dialogue, these letters can be used to select the
controls within the dialogue.
When key shortcuts are shown in square brackets in dialogue boxes, they can be used
from edit mode but not within the dialogue box.
The TAB key will move between Text entry fields and List boxes within a dialogue box.
SHIFT-TAB moves backwards through them.
Scrollable windows
Scrollable windows are used by Protext to display large amounts of text. This includes
help, word lists and status information. The window may be scrolled backwards and
forwards, either by using the cursor keys or by clicking on the page up/page down
buttons at the top right of the window.
Within the help display, words that are valid help subjects are shown highlighted.
Clicking on these will cross reference to the relevant information. Clicking on the 'Back'
button will return to the originally chosen help subject. Clicking on the top left (close)
button will close the window.
The File Selector
Whenever it is required to select a filename the file selector is used. A file may be
selected by moving the cursor and pressing RETURN or by double clicking on the
chosen file. The display may be scrolled sideways by clicking on the border.
A file may be selected by moving the cursor and pressing RETURN or by double
clicking on the chosen file. The display may be scrolled sideways by clicking on the
border. When using command mode the file selector will appear if, when a filename is
requested, RETURN is pressed without typing a filename.
Edit mode
Protext's editing commands are called by using certain keys on the keyboard, normally
in conjunction with the CTRL key, but also the SHIFT and ALT keys. They have been
carefully chosen so that wherever possible, there is an association between the task to
be performed and the key used to carry it out. For example: CTRL-F to Format a piece
of text; CTRL-J to turn Justification on and off.
Certain commands, such as the ones to move forward or backwards a page, or a
paragraph, or to the start or end of a document have been allocated the various types
of opening and closing brackets, so that they are easily remembered. Opening brackets
mean a move towards the start of the document and closing brackets cause movement
towards the end.
Full use is made of the cursor keys. When these are used in conjunction with SHIFT, or
CTRL, their effect increases. For example: Using the right cursor key on its own will
move the cursor one character at a time. Using it with the SHIFT key will move a word
at a time, while with CTRL, it will move to the end of the line.
Similarly, the commands to delete make use of the two deleting keys (DEL and DEL),
which on their own will delete one character, when used with SHIFT will delete a word
and with CTRL will delete to the beginning or end of the line.
Throughout the manual, the standard 'Protext' command keys are used to describe the
commands. There is a complete summary of all the commands in the Reference
Manual.
The Protext Document
A Protext document normally consists mostly of letters, numbers and spaces. However,
there are a number of other things that may be stored within it.
Control Codes
Protext stores extra control codes within the document. These codes control some
aspect of Protext, or the way the document is printed. For example, there is a control
code for bold and there is a control code that makes a piece of text appear in the
Protext index.
Stored Commands
More powerful or complex features are controlled by 'stored commands'. A stored
command can, for example, set the number of lines to a page, where a page break
should be made or the width of the text.
A stored command is inserted into the text and is acted upon when printing takes
place, instead of being printed. Stored commands take the form of a 'greater than'
symbol (>) at the start of a line, followed by two characters which define the
command. For example: '>PA' will cause a new PAge to begin. Within the manuals,
stored commands will always be printed in upper case, although in a document they
may appear in either upper or lower case.
Protext understands many different stored commands. Most of these are for fairly
specialised uses and these are not documented in this User Manual, but in the
accompanying Reference Manual.
Document and Program mode
Protext is most often used as a word processor. People type in their words, add
formatting commands to them and print them out. However, it can also be used as a
text editor.
A text editor is similar to a word processor. However, it lacks the formatting and
printing commands, and instead has features to help with the manipulation of plain text.
Protext can be used both as a word processor and as a text editor. When Protext is in
document mode, it is a word processor. Formatting, spell checking and other features
are available. Documents are stored on disk in a special file format (known as 'Protext 6
format'), which contains extra formatting details. When Protext is in program mode no
formatting is available, and documents are stored on disk in 'plain text' format.
Command mode
As has been described before, there are several ways of giving Protext orders. One of
these ways is command mode. It can be recognised by a broad band about two thirds
of the way down the screen and immediately beneath this is the command mode
prompt 'C', followed by the cursor. Whenever the prompt and the cursor are visible,
Protext is waiting for you to type a command. Commands are words which are typed in
as instructions and may be followed by one or more parameters, depending on the
command. It is not possible to directly modify the Protext document while you are in
command mode.
There are a considerable number of commands, which are covered in detail in the
Reference Manual. You should not need to use command mode very often, as there
are other ways of performing most actions. However, commands can be useful as a way
of automating long, repetitive procedures or as a rapid alternative to menus and
dialogue boxes. Commands are followed by extra data, which are called the command's
parameters. For example the SAVE command takes a filename as its parameter. You
would type 'SAVE mydoc' to save the current file with the name mydoc. Each
parameter should be separated from the next by either a space or a comma.
Once the command has been specified, the RETURN key should be pressed and the
command will be carried out and when completed, the command mode prompt will
return. Although commands will always be shown in the manual in upper case, they
may be entered in either upper or lower case.
Command mode and stored commands will not be discussed in this manual. Instead, it
will concentrate on controlling the program using menus, dialogue boxes and command
keys. These topics will be discussed in detail in the Protext Reference Manual.
Special keys
There are various different types and layouts of keyboard in use, but they all have the
various special keys that Protext uses though the keys may be located in different
positions. As far as possible the keys used for commands have been chosen so that they
are positioned in convenient places on all keyboards.
The Config utility program contains an option to use alternative keyboard drivers. See
the section 'Configuration' in the Reference Manual for details.
Sticky shift keys
Protext may be configured so that it is not necessary to press CTRL, SHIFT or ALT at
the same time as another key. To do this use Config and set the 'Sticky keys' option.
Then, any command such as CTRL-I may be entered by pressing and releasing CTRL,
then pressing I. Capital letters may be entered in the same way using SHIFT, which is
one less key press than turning Caps Lock on and off.
5. Help
Summary
This chapter covers:
Online help
Online Help
There are two types of help available when you are working with Protext, aside, of
course, from looking your question up the manuals. All of the menus contain details of
the shortcut keys used to perform commands. This should help you get to know your
most frequently used commands.
There is also a more descriptive help facility, available from the Help option at the
bottom of the File menu. When selected, a list of topics is displayed.
Select a topic from this list by using the arrow keys to move the highlight bar and
pressing return or by double-clicking. This may lead you to another window of help
information or to a window containing help text.
The help text window may contain words in BOLD. If this is the case, double-clicking
on this word will take you to the help text on that topic. You can use the back button
to move to help topics you have previously seen, or the close box to stop looking at
help.
It is possible to search for help on a particular topic by selecting the 'Help on named
subject' option. You will be asked to type in a subject and the help for this subject, if
there is any, will be displayed.
ST The help file PROTEXT6.HLP must be available for Help to work.
This file is supplied on one of the Protext disks (check the disk
labels). If using floppy disks you should copy PROTEXT6.HLP to your
working text disk or, if you have two drives, put a disk containing
the help file in drive B.
6. Protext Guided Tour
Summary
This chapter covers:
Basic editing tasks
The File Selector
Blocks
Managing multiple files
Formatting
Finding and replacing text
Checking Spelling
Printing documents
Introduction
This chapter is a guided tour of Protext's features. It follows the simple example of
creating a document from start to finish. In the course of this example, you will be
introduced to many of Protext's simpler features. These features are covered in more
detail in later chapters. You can follow the example as it progresses by typing it in at
your computer.
The introduction concentrates on commands available from menus and dialogue boxes.
You will be able to learn the keyboard alternatives by looking at the keys at the ends of
menus or in square brackets in dialogue boxes.
F If you have already been experimenting with Protext it is recommended
that you quit Protext and load it again, as described in the "Getting
Started" chapter.
Starting
Once Protext has loaded you are presented with the normal editing screen, containing
no text. You may find a horizontal line containing the Protext copyright message and
version number about two thirds of the way down the screen. This shows that you are
in Protext's command mode which need not be used when menus are being used. If
this line is visible press ESC to remove it.
At the top of the screen you will see the two status lines and beneath them, the ruler
line. The status lines contain details of the document being edited and also of the
settings for various Protext features. The ruler line always displays the ruler which is
currently in use in the document. You should see a flashing cursor on the left of the
line beneath the ruler line. This is the editing cursor and always indicates where the next
character will be entered, or where the next action will take place.
Using menus
You should also see an arrow somewhere on the screen. This is the mouse pointer. If
you are in text mode, the mouse pointer may appear as a full height, non-flashing,
block symbol. If you can't see the mouse pointer, move the mouse slightly and it
should appear (See 'Configuration' later in the manual for details of how to configure
the mouse pointer to be always visible if you prefer it that way). Move the mouse
pointer around and you will see that it can be positioned anywhere on the screen.
Click the right mouse button and the Menu Bar will appear at the top of the screen in
place of the top status line. Move the mouse pointer up to the menu bar and you will
find that a menu drops down as soon as the pointer highlights one of the menu options.
Move the pointer to the right and left and you will find that different menus appear for
each of the available options.
If you select the Block menu you will notice that some of the available options are
shown faintly, while others are clearly shown. This is because Protext only makes
available those options which are relevant at the time. In the case of the Block menu
only a few of the options are available, as no block has yet been marked.
It is not possible to edit text while the menus are displayed and you will notice that the
editing cursor has disappeared. Press the right mouse button once more, the menus will
disappear and the editing cursor will return. Alternatively, you can just click anywhere
outside the menus to remove them.
Now you have seen what the menus look like we can get down to creating a document.
Unlike some programs, Protext does not require you to name a document before you
can start entering text, so you can start immediately.
Typing text
Just type in some text and you will see it start to appear in the editing part of the
screen at the cursor position. If you can't think of anything to write, copy two or three
paragraphs from the manual. While entering text you can make any corrections as you
go by using the Backspace key (usually marked with a left arrow) to delete what you
have already entered and re-enter it correctly. At the end of a line, just keep typing
and Protext will automatically wrap the text round on to the next line when it reaches
the end of the line indicated by the R symbol on the ruler line.
When you wish to start a new paragraph you should press the RETURN key twice. The
first press tells Protext that it is the end of the paragraph and the second one puts a
blank line between paragraphs.
You can move around the text by using the cursor keys to go up, down, left or right a
character at a time, or by holding down the Shift key and using the left and right
cursor keys you can move through the text a word at a time.
The DEL key (sometimes marked Delete) can be used to delete any character which is
under the cursor.
In addition to deleting single characters, parts of a word, or complete words may also
be deleted by holding down Shift and pressing Del to delete from the current cursor
position to the end of the word on which the cursor is placed, or Shift and Backspace
to delete from the character before the cursor to the start of the word. Experiment
with these to see the effects.
You are now going to add a new sentence at the start of the current paragraph, so
move the mouse pointer over the first character at the start of the paragraph and click
the left mouse button to move the cursor to the start of the paragraph.
Type in a further sentence or two at the start of the paragraph and you will see that the
existing text moves over to the right automatically to make room for the new text. This
is called insert mode but Protext also has an overwrite mode.
F When typing it is recommended that you type a single space after commas
and full stops. No space should be typed after an opening parenthesis or
before a closing parenthesis.
Dialogue boxes
Display the menu bar and open the Option menu. You will notice that some of the
options in the menus have '...' after them.
This indicates that selecting the menu item will not cause an immediate action. Instead a
dialogue box will appear to allow you to give the computer some more information.
Select the Editing options menu item. A dialogue box will appear in the centre of the
screen. Use of dialogue boxes is described in the previous chapter. You can either use
the mouse or the O key to select Overwrite mode.
Close the dialogue by selecting OK in the bottom right hand corner. Now try typing a
further sentence. This time, you will find that instead of moving the existing text to the
right to make room, the new text overwrites what was already there. Note, however
that when you reach the end of the line and the text wraps, a new line is inserted,
rather than the following line being overwritten. Most people choose to work in insert
mode for most of the time, but it can be useful to be able to overwrite things rather
than delete and replace them sometimes. You can either use the dialogue box or the
INS key to leave overwrite mode.
Now move the cursor back down to the end of the document with the mouse and press
RETURN a number of times until the text at the top of the screen starts to scroll out of
sight, then type in a few more words.
Insertion and Deletion
We shall now go to the start of the document and insert a new paragraph right at the
beginning. As the top of the document has scrolled off the top of the screen we can no
longer just move the cursor to where we want. Instead, we can either use a command
key, or scroll the screen with the mouse until we can see the start. If you want to use
the keyboard, type CTRL-[, but for now we shall use the mouse.
Position the pointer on the lower status line (The second line down from the top of the
screen) and click the left button. Each time you click on this line the screen will scroll a
screen page towards the start of the document, until the start is on the top line. You
can then position the cursor at the start of the line by moving the pointer to the
position and clicking.
We now need to insert a blank line at the top of the document into which to start
typing the new paragraph. Press RETURN at the start of the first line, and an empty
line will be inserted. You can move up to it with the up arrow. Now type in some more
text. You will notice that when Protext reaches the end of the line, it will insert a new
line beneath on which to continue entering text. When you have finished, press
RETURN twice to end the paragraph and insert the blank line between paragraphs.
Having learned how to insert new lines, we shall now learn how to delete them. Position
the cursor on the top line of the document. It doesn't matter where on the line the
cursor is placed as we shall be deleting complete lines. Type CTRL-F3 to delete the line
the cursor is on. The line on which the cursor was placed will disappear and the lines
beneath will move up to fill the gap.
We shall now go to the end of the document, either by typing CTRL-] or by scrolling
the text with the mouse. To scroll to the end, move the pointer down to the bottom
line of the screen and click the left button repeatedly until the end is visible, then
position the cursor by pointing and clicking.
Saving your work
It would be a good idea to save the document at this point, as it is always good policy
to regularly save your work (Protext also has a Timed Automatic Save feature to
protect you from forgetting. See the chapter 'Miscellaneous Editing Commands' for
details). Select the File menu and the Save as option. You will notice that there is also
a Save file option. This is used to save a file which already has a name, but as our
document has not yet got one, we must use the Save as option.
When this is selected, a dialogue box will appear, containing a filename entry field and
some other options which you can ignore for now. Key in FIRSTONE as the name and
press RETURN to confirm the entry. That's it. Your document is safely saved to disk.
The File Selector
This section refers to the Protext file selector, not the Amiga file selector.
You will now learn how to use the file selector to load existing documents and also to
change directories and drives. The file selector is automatically displayed whenever you
select a menu option to load or merge a file and in other situations where a file is to be
loaded, such as a different configuration file. The file selector may also be called from
the File menu by selecting the Catalogue files option.
Protext's file selector allows you to carry out various disk 'housekeeping' tasks, such as
copying, renaming, deleting files and creating new directories as well as loading files.
Other housekeeping tasks not available in the file selector, such as formatting disks may
be carried out from Protext's command line (See the reference manual for details).
Select the Load file option from the File menu and all the screen, apart from the
status lines, will be replaced by a large file selector. Depending on how many files there
are in the current directory, one or more columns of filenames and directory names
will be displayed. Directories are listed first, followed by the files in alphabetical order.
Directories are always indicated by a
entry to the right of the name, whereas
files have their size shown. When the current directory is not the root directory, a
special entry called is displayed at the start. This may be used
to select the parent of the current directory.
When the file selector is in use, a new set of menus is available. They are available in
exactly the same way as the ordinary menus.
The top line of the file selector displays the current drive, directory and 'File
specification'. The file specification governs which files are shown. Usually this defaults
to wildcards meaning 'all files'.
To load a file, select the required file by pointing with the mouse and double clicking
on the entry, or highlight the entry with a single click and then press RETURN.
Changing directory and drive
If the current drive/directory is not the one containing the file you want to load or
work on, you will need to change to it. To change drives, you must select the Drive
change option from the File menu or press the D key.
A dialogue box will open. It will allow you to select from a list of drives or to enter a
drive or pathname. You should use the mouse or keyboard to select the drive/directory
you require. The file window will clear and be replaced by the contents of the new
drive and the heading at the top of the window will change to show the new drive and
directory.
Move the mouse pointer to a directory entry and click on it to highlight it. The
directory may then be selected as the current directory by pressing RETURN. The list
of files will change to show the files available in the directory. The cursor will be placed
over the directory you have just left.
Changing view options
If there are only a small number of files in the directory, it is easy to find the file you
require, but if there are a large number of files it is often more convenient to see only a
range of the files. This can be done by changing the file specification.
Select Options from the File menu. A dialogue box will appear. You can change the
File Specification from '*.*', to something using wildcards and characters which will
match only some of the files (*.doc will match all files with extension doc) If you do
not understand wildcards, see the later chapters in this manual. The list of files will
change, showing only those files which match the file specification. To show all files
again, either return to the File Selector options dialogue or press the A key.
Press the TAB key. This will change the display format of the file selector. The display
changes to show the filename, size in bytes and the date and time that the file was
created. Press TAB again and the file attributes are displayed instead of the file time.
Selecting the option a third time gives a list that only includes file names. A fourth press
returns it to the original display.
Working with files
Several options are provided to enable you to rename, copy or delete files. Select Copy
file from the File menu and a dialogue box will request COPY from (filename):.
The name of the currently highlighted file will be shown. To copy this file simply press
RETURN. You can copy any file or files, which do not need to be in the current
directory. To do this press ESC to delete the given filename and type the name you
want to copy.
To try this, select Copy file from the File menu, press ESC to clear the name shown
and enter the name of one of the files in the current directory. In answer to the prompt
COPY to (file or path): enter COPYFILE and confirm the entry. After a second or
two a COPYFILE entry will appear in the directory listing as well as the original
filename.
We shall now delete COPYFILE. Highlight it and then select the Erase file option
from the File menu. This time, a new type of dialogue box opens, containing two
'buttons', one to confirm you wish to erase the file and the other to cancel the option.
Select the Yes button either by clicking on it or pressing the Y key.
Working with blocks
One of the most useful features of a word processor is the ability to manipulate blocks
of text in a variety of ways. In this chapter we shall look at the many different ways to
work with blocks of text in Protext.
F Make sure you have a document loaded from now on.
Marking blocks
Blocks of text can often be marked using the mouse more easily than by other methods.
Position the mouse in the text where you wish to mark the start of a block and hold
down the left mouse button. Move the pointer to where you want the end of the
block, while still holding down the left button. This is known as dragging. This can be
anywhere in the text, as the text will scroll up or down as necessary when the pointer
reaches the top or bottom of the window. You will see the marked block shown as
highlighted text. Once you have reached the end of the block, you should release the
button and the block will be fixed.
If you find you have not quite marked the end of the block you wanted, you can
change it by positioning the pointer on the character following the end of the block and
holding down the left button and dragging the pointer again. Similarly, if you have not
got the start of the block correct, position the pointer on the first character in the block
this time, press and hold the left button and drag the pointer to the required position.
Only one block may be marked in a document at any time and attempting to mark
another will result in the previous block being unmarked.
If you prefer, you can also mark blocks using the keyboard. Before you can see this in
operation, you must unmark the existing block. This is simply done by double-clicking
the left button or typing CTRL-K. The highlighting will disappear.
When using the keyboard to mark a block there is a slight difference in the way that
blocks are highlighted, in that when you place a block marker it is indicated by a special
block marker in the text. Protext uses inverse square brackets ([]) to indicate the start
and end of a block.
If you attempt to place a third block marker Protext will remove the marker you placed
first and position it at the cursor location.
Operations on blocks
Irrespective of the method used to mark a block, the operations you can perform on
blocks are the same. There are many different actions which can be performed on
blocks, but the most frequently used are those to copy, move and delete a block.
We shall now mark and copy a block. Position the pointer at the start of a paragraph
and drag the pointer to the start of the next paragraph, then release the left button.
The complete paragraph is now marked. Decide where you want the paragraph to be
moved to and position the pointer at the start of the paragraph above which you want
the new paragraph to be.
Click the left button once to move the cursor to the pointer location. This is most
important as all block copying and moving is done to the current cursor position. Select
the Copy block option from the Block menu and the marked block is copied to the
new location, leaving the original text where it was. You will notice that the copied
block is still highlighted. This is so that you can duplicate a block as many times as you
want.
If you don't want to duplicate it again, simply double click to remove the highlight, but
for now we shall use the Move block option to move this block to a different location.
Move the cursor to the required new location and select the Move Block option. The
original highlighted text is deleted and reinserted at the cursor position. Again, the
block remains marked so that you can reposition it again if you want.
For now, we shall just delete the block, so select the Delete block option and the
highlighted text will disappear. When a block is deleted it is temporarily stored. It can
then be undeleted using the Undelete Block command from the Block menu.
In the above examples we worked with a complete paragraph of text, but a block can
be any contiguous section of text of any size. It can be a word, or sentence, or even
part of a word.
Working with multiple files
Protext allows you to load and edit up to 36 different documents (subject to available
memory) and in this section you will learn how to open more than one file, switch
between files and split the screen so that more than one file may be viewed at the same
time.
Load a document, then select the Swap menu. At the bottom of the menu will be the
name of the file you just loaded and beneath that an entry New File. Click on the
New File option and the existing document will disappear, leaving you with an empty
document. Select the Load file option again and select another file for loading. If you
now open the Swap menu again you will find that the name of the second file you
loaded has been added to the list of files being edited. Repeat the process again to load
a third file.
Up to 36 different files may be loaded at a time, subject to available memory. If there
is insufficient memory available to open another file you will be told.
Try making one or two changes to the current file, then select Swap again. You will
now find that the entry for that file is preceded by a tick symbol. This indicates that the
file has been altered since it was loaded.
Switching files
Click on the name of the file you first loaded (in the Swap menu) and this will be
displayed. If you watch the status lines you will see that all the details change to reflect
the current file. When you switch files Protext remembers all details of the various
settings and cursor positions for each file.
This concept of current file is important as you will see shortly when we look at split
screen editing. The current file is always the one containing the editing cursor, which, in
the default full screen mode, is always the visible file. Another important concept is the
alternate file. In full screen mode, the alternate file is always the file you were editing
before you swapped to the current file. If you have not swapped files, the alternate file
will be the next file in the list, or New File if no other file has been loaded or edited.
The alternate file is indicated in the Swap menu by a ^Y to the right of the filename.
Copying from the alternate file
Blocks of text may be copied from the alternate file to the current file at any time.
Mark a block in the current file, then select another file. The file you have marked the
block in has now become the alternate file. Position the cursor where you want to copy
the block to, then select the Copy other block option in the Block menu and the
block will be copied into the current document.
Split Screen Editing
Protext also provides the facility to view two files on screen at the same time. Select the
Split screen option in the Swap menu and a horizontal line - the dividing bar - will
appear across the middle of the editing window. This bar contains brief details of the
file displayed in the lower window, while the status line always contains full details of
the file in the upper window.
When selected, the Split screen option displays a tick in the menu. All files remain
open and split screen mode may be toggled on and off at will.
Position the mouse pointer on the dividing bar, hold down the left button and drag the
bar up and down the screen to re-size the windows to whatever size you want, then
release the button to fix them.
When editing in split screen mode, the current file is always the one containing the
editing cursor. Move the pointer into the other file and click the left button once. The
cursor in the original file disappears and re-appears in the file you just clicked on,
making this the current file (and the other file the alternate file). The alternate file is
always indicated in the Swap menu by ^Y to the right of its name.
When working in split screen mode, the alternate file is always the file visible in the
other window, so you can copy blocks between the two visible files, as before.
You can change which file is displayed in the current window by using the Swap menu
and selecting the file you want.
F It is NOT possible to have the same file displayed in both windows at the
same time, other than by loading it a second time. It is possible to load
more than one copy of the same file as long as it is small enough to fit
completely into memory. If the file is too large a warning is issued and the
file is not loaded again. Loading more than one copy should only be done
with care, as making changes to one document will not result in the
changes being made to the other copy.
The file in the upper window can be scrolled a page up or down as normal, by clicking
on the lower status line and the bottom line of the window. The file in the lower
window can be scrolled by clicking on the dividing bar and the bottom line.
Although either visible file may be edited as normal, full editing details are only
displayed on the status lines for the file in the upper window. If you are editing the file
in the lower window and want to have full details available, the solution is to exchange
the two visible files. This is done with the Exchange files option in the Swap menu.
Try using it now to see the effect.
Formatting
One of the most useful features of a word processor is the ease with which the
appearance of a document can be changed. In this section we shall look at ways to do
this.
The appearance of a document is controlled by a number of factors. Items like the size
of side margins and line spacing determine the overall appearance of the text. Protext is
configured with default settings suitable for many purposes, but these default settings
are re-configurable using the CONFIG program (See the chapter 'Configuration').
These may also be varied during the course of creating a document by changing certain
settings, inserting extra ruler lines and printer control codes.
Ruler lines
We shall start by looking at Ruler lines. These determine where the left and right
margins will be and can also contain tab markers. Protext has three types of tab markers
- Normal, Decimal and Centre - indicated by !, . and C symbols in the ruler line. You
may have as many ruler lines as you want in a document and Protext stores these in the
text. When the document is printed, the ruler line is recognised and the text printed
according to the settings of the ruler, without the ruler line being printed.
Tabs are useful for a number of purposes, particularly for ensuring that columns of
figures or text are aligned neatly and the different types of tab marker have different
effects.
The normal tab marker (!) has the effect of aligning all text with its left edge aligned.
The decimal tab marker (.) aligns numbers so that the decimal points all line up, or, if
no decimal point, the number lines up with other numbers before the decimal point.
The decimal tab marker may also be used for right aligning text. The centre tab marker
(C) causes text to be positioned equally either side of the marker. As many of these
markers may be used in a line as you want and the different types may be mixed.
Examples of different tab markers
>-----------!--------------------------!--------------------R
Left aligned text Another
with normal left-aligned
tab marker column
>--------------.------------------------.-----R
1000.00 24.50
500.75 32.25
34 115.57
100 24.7
The decimal tab More than
also functions as one tab may
a right aligning be used in
tab marker for text each ruler line
>----------------C--------------------------------C-------------R
This is an example another example
of the of a centre
effects of a centre tab tab
The active ruler is always 'The most recent ruler earlier in the document than the
cursor', or, if there is no earlier ruler, the default ruler set with the Document
settings dialogue or Config (See later in the manual) and is displayed beneath the
status lines when in Document mode. If you scroll up and down through a document
containing a number of rulers you will see that the ruler line displayed beneath the
status lines always changes to reflect the currently active ruler.
The L and R characters at either end of the ruler line indicate the left and right
margins. Unless you specifically want an indented section of text it is normal to have
the left margin in column 1 and use the Left Margin option in Document Settings to
provide the offset required to centre the text on the paper.
F If the left margin is in column 1, the L character is not displayed in the
ruler line in the text, although it is shown in the displayed ruler line
beneath the status lines.
Tabs may be inserted into the current ruler line by double clicking either on the current
ruler line displayed beneath the status lines, or by doing the same directly on any ruler
line in the document. Position the pointer on the ruler line beneath the status lines and
double click the left mouse button. A normal tab marker will appear. With the pointer
still in the same place, double click again and the tab marker will change to a decimal
tab marker. Repeat the process and it will change to a centre tab marker. Double click
once more and the marker will be removed from the ruler.
Note that even though you were working on the ruler line displayed beneath the status
lines, the changes are also made to the currently active ruler in the document (The
most recent ruler line earlier in the document). If there wasn't a ruler, one will be
inserted at the cursor position.
The left and right margins may also be altered by dragging them to the required
positions on the displayed ruler line. Note that this is not possible on the ruler line in
the document, but ruler lines can be changed by editing them as normal text anyway.
Try modifying the ruler line by moving the left and right margins, then typing in a few
lines of text. The new text will be limited to the new margins. Experiment with the
different types of tab markers and entering text and columns of figures.
On some occasions you will want to vary the width of the text in certain parts of a
document. Protext allows you to do so by inserting a new ruler into the document
wherever you want. The simplest way to do this is to select Default ruler in the
Format menu, which inserts a copy of the default ruler into the document on the line
above the cursor. This may then be changed as described above. Try this now and type
in some more text to see the change.
One of the most common occurrences is to want to return to the previous ruler setting
after using a special ruler and Protext has a command Copy previous ruler which
copies the ruler before the current ruler to the current cursor line. Select this option
now from the Format menu and type some more text. The original settings are now
active once more.
Indenting paragraphs
A common requirement is to indent the left margin. This is so often needed that
Protext has a command to do this without the need to change the ruler. Position the
cursor at the start of a line and select Indent paragraph in the Format menu.
Alternatively, type SHIFT-TAB. The cursor will immediately be moved across to the
first tab marker in the current ruler. If you then type in some text you will find that
when the end of the line is reached the cursor will wrap round to the indented position
instead of the start of the line. The Indent paragraph feature only remains active for
the current paragraph. If you want to indent more than one paragraph you should re-
issue the command, or use a suitable ruler line instead.
Reformatting
One thing you will notice while experimenting with rulers is that certain things, such as
moving a tab marker to a different column, have an immediate effect, while others
appear to change nothing. An example of the latter is when you move the left and right
margins.
By default, Protext has the Auto Reformat option selected in the Editing Options
dialogue. However, it is important to understand the way that auto reformatting works.
Protext reformats the paragraph when you perform some action which causes the
cursor to move. This is preferable to reformatting as each character is typed which
would cause the words to keep shuffling around as you edit to maintain the formatting.
If you move through an existing document, having changed the ruler widths, no
changes will be made to the format unless you edit the paragraphs, in which case they
will be reformatted to the new margins, or specifically make use of the various
reformatting commands.
A document, or part of it, may be re-formatted, when required, using Format text,
Format paragraph or Format to end of para in the Format menu, or Format
block in the Block menu. All of these perform the same task, but on different parts of
the document. The complete text within the relevant areas is reformatted, so that it
appears with all the currently set effects and margins.
Apart from the layout determined by rulers and margins, one other option has a very
noticeable effect on how a document looks. This is the type of justification used.
Protext arranges text with the right margin aligned (justified) as well as the left margin,
by default. When the document is printed, this is achieved by a variety of means,
depending on the capabilities of the printer being used. This may be changed, using the
Right Justify option in the Editing Options dialogue.
When you turn right justification off, there is no immediately obvious difference to
existing text, but if you type in some new text you will find that it appears with a
ragged right margin. Alternatively, the text may be reformatted with the various re-
format options described above.
Printing effects
Most printers support at least some special printing effects, such as underlined, bold
(also called emphasised) and italic characters and many support different character sets
and proportional printing. Protext can make use of these features if they are available
and the correct printer driver is being used (See 'Configuration' and 'Printing' later in
the manual).
The Style menu contains options for the effects supported by each printer driver and
the contents of this menu vary according to the printer driver being used. The effects
of the various options are inserted into the text as Printer Control Codes and Style
Codes.
Printer control codes are special characters inserted into the text so that Protext knows
which sequence of codes to send to the printer to turn the effect on and off during the
course of printing. Printer control codes may be inserted into the text at any time.
It is important to understand the way that printer control codes work, as they are used
in two different ways. Effects like underline and bold are turned on and off as required
and may be nested so that you can have more than one effect in use at a time. On the
other hand, different fonts are generally only used one at a time, so turning one on
automatically de-selects the previous one, making it unnecessary to turn one off before
turning the next on. It is preferable to change font using style codes rather than control
codes. See the 'Styles' chapter for details.
Depending on the graphics capabilities of the computer, these may be displayed in one
of two ways. Commonly used effects such as bold, underline and italics (and
sometimes superscript and subscript characters) will be represented as such on screen (PC:
Only in graphics mode. In text mode they are indicated by contrasting colours).
Other printer control codes will be invisible, but you can see what effects are in use in
one of two ways.
Insert a few different effects, such as bold and italic, or a combination, into the text
now, using the Style menu. If your printer supports different fonts, change the font
using the the options in the upper part of the Style menu. Sometimes you will find that
the changes are represented graphically, but others, because they cannot be reproduced
on screen are displayed as an inverse lower case character in the text. If you find these
inverse characters distracting, they may be hidden from view by pressing the F4 key.
You can always see which effects are currently active by pulling down the Style menu.
Those effects which are currently active are indicated by tick symbols to the left of the
style.
When you enter control codes, those that can be displayed graphically are so displayed
and those that cannot are represented by inverse colour characters. Pressing F4 makes
the inverse codes invisible. Pressing F4 again makes all control codes visible, while
pressing it a third time re-establishes the graphical representation.
The F4 key is extremely important when re-editing existing text, particularly if you
want to add a character immediately after a change of effect as Protext has no way of
knowing whether you want the character in the previous or following effect. By pressing
F4 to make codes visible you can insert the character whichever side of the code you
want, then press F4 again to hide the codes.
Printer control codes may be removed in one of two ways. If they are visible they may
be deleted as you would normal text. If they are hidden and displayed graphically, they
may be deleted by positioning the cursor at the start or end of the effect, as
appropriate, and selecting the relevant option in the Style menu.
Find and Replace
Protext has very powerful Find and Replace commands and in this section you will
learn how to use them.
Finding text
ib ?finddial.scr 5.93cm
Select the Find text option in the Edit menu. The Find and Replace dialogue box
will appear with the cursor in the Find: entry field, waiting for you to enter the text
you want to find.
Below the entry field, there are a number of options. Global causes the search to take
place from one end of the document to the other. If global is not selected, the search
starts from the current cursor position. Backwards makes the search work from the
end (if Global is also selected) or the current cursor position towards the start of the
document. All finds all occurrences automatically and displays the number of
occurrences found. This is of more use in Replace than Find.
If Case specific is selected, Protext will find only those occurrences where the case of
the Find string matches exactly the case in the text. If this is not selected, Protext will
find all occurrences of the string, ignoring the case of characters. For example, 'the' will
find 'the' 'The' and 'THE'. If Word is selected, only complete words in the text that
match will be found. Otherwise all matches will be found even if the find string is found
in the middle of a word in the text, so 'the' will be found in 'them' and 'there' unless
Word is selected.
The ignore Spaces option is particularly useful for programmers as it will find
matching text even if the text contains more spaces than the find string. A find string of
'int myvar' will then match 'int myvar', for example.
Number is a text entry field requiring you to enter a number. The number is the 'nth'
occurrence. Specifying 2 would result in Protext finding every second occurrence of the
find string.
These find options are applied to the range specified, which defaults to the current
document. The other choices are: the currently marked block (if one exists), all of the
documents currently loaded into memory, or a list of documents on disk.
Make sure you have a document loaded and that it contains a number of occurrences
of the word 'the', in both lower case and upper case, with an upper case first character
and as part of other words, such as 'then' and 'other', then select the Find text option
in the Edit menu. Specify the as the string to find and click on the Global and All
options, then select the OK button. The dialogue box will disappear and be replaced
by a message telling you how many were found.
Select Find text again and you will find all the previous settings are retained. This time,
click on the Word option as well and repeat the process. You should find a smaller
number of matches this time, as only those where 'the' is a complete word will be
found.
Select the find option once again and this time toggle the All option off. Select OK
once more and this time the dialogue box will disappear and the document will be re-
displayed with the cursor on the first match. Select Next find from the Edit menu this
time and the process will repeat, with the cursor on the next occurrence. If you select
Previous find from the menu, the search will resume in the reverse direction.
Replacing text
The Replace text option is similar in use to the Find text option. Select the Replace
text option now. As you have already been searching for a word, it will still be present
in the Find: entry field. If you want to replace it with a different word, press the ESC
key to clear the existing entry, but in this case just move down to the Replace: entry
field by clicking on the entry field and type in NEW WORD. Make sure that Global
and Word are selected, but no other options, then select OK.
The cursor will be positioned on the first occurrence of the word 'the' and another
dialogue box will appear. This dialogue box offers four options, all of which are fairly
obvious. If you select the Replace and continue button, the word will be replaced,
whereas Skip and continue will not change the word. In both cases, once selected, the
next matching word will be found and the dialogue will reappear. Try this a number of
times, then select the Replace and stop option. This will replace the currently
highlighted word then return to normal editing. If you didn't want to change the last
word, Cancel would have just returned to normal editing.
Spell checking
One of the last tasks before printing a document is to spell check it and in this section
you will learn how to use the spelling checker and how to print documents.
Spell checking is very quick with Protext and well worth doing even if you are generally
good at spelling, as many typing mistakes can also be picked up in this way.
F You should be aware that spelling checkers only check that words exist in
their dictionaries and not that the word you have used is correct in the
context in which you have used it, so a spelling checker is still no substitute
for reading through a document before printing it.
Similarly, even though a word may be unrecognised, it does not
necessarily mean the word does not exist, merely that Protext does not
know of the word at that time. New words may be added to dictionaries
as required.
Once the document is ready for printing, it should be spell checked. Protext provides a
number of ways to spell check, including checking while text is being typed in.
Checking while typing
Checking while typing is most convenient when used with a hard disk, or when the
dictionaries are loaded into a ram disk so that they may be accessed almost instantly.
This option may be toggled on and off using the Typing check option in the Editing
Options dialogue. If this option is turned on, every time you type an unrecognised
word Protext beeps (or flashes the screen on some computers) to indicate the fact,
allowing you to backspace and correct the word.
Checking individual words
Protext provides other ways to check spelling. Individual words may be checked by
positioning the cursor on a word (or immediately after the word) and selecting the
Single word option. If the word is recognised, a message saying so is briefly displayed,
otherwise a dialogue box appears. Type in 'zaid' now, position the cursor over it and
select the Single word option.
The dialogue box which appears when a word is not recognised contains a number of
buttons which may be clicked on, or selected by pressing the highlighted letter in the
button (shown as underlined instead of highlighted on some computers). Protext also
automatically looks up the word in its dictionaries and displays one or more words
which it thinks you intended to use. The Store button stores the word in the dictionary
so that it will always be recognised at any time in the future. The Ignore button causes
the word to be ignored for the remainder of the time that document is being edited.
The Skip button ignores that word for the current time only. The Mark Ign button
ignores the word and inserts a special 'spell ignore marker' next to the word so that it
won't be noted as unrecognised during future spell checks. To correct the word in the
text to one in the offered list, just press the relevant number (0 to 9) or select it with
the mouse followed by the Change button. If you feel the change you are about to
make is a common typing mistake (or abbreviation) you can select the Learn button
instead of Change and the unrecognised word and your correction will be added to the
automatic correction database to be automatically corrected next time.
Checking the whole text
While Single word is useful for just checking an occasional word, it would be tedious if
you had to check every word this way, so Protext has the facility to check the
document in other ways. The Check from cursor option is particularly useful for
checking a section of text from the current cursor position to the end of the text. When
an unrecognised word is found, the same dialogue box is displayed as described for
Single word. Once the correction has been made, the check continues until the next
unrecognised word or the end of the document is reached. Check whole text will
allow you to check the whole text.
Other spell options
The other spelling checker options are accessed through the Spell menu which also has
options to carry out maintenance on dictionaries and to use special commands to search
for words in dictionaries and find anagrams.
Printing
Once you have spell checked your document, it is time to print it. Before going any
further, make sure that you have your printer switched on and on line. Select the Print
text option in the Print menu and the printing dialogue box will be displayed.
The printing options available in the dialogue box may seem quite complex initially, as
there are many options, but in most cases the default settings are all right. If you have
already printed something, the previous settings are retained and become new defaults.
The current printer driver is displayed at the bottom of the dialogue box. If you use
more than one printer and see that the wrong driver is selected you should use the
Cancel button and load the correct printer driver with the Load Printer Driver
option in the Print menu.
Printing options
There are three Destination options and these determine where the output is sent.
Each of the options is exclusive, so selecting one option will deselect whichever was
previously selected. The Printer option is selected by default.
Selecting Screen will select output to be sent to the screen. As far as possible the
document will be displayed as it will appear on paper, although not all printer effects
can be displayed on screen.
If the File option is selected the cursor will automatically move across to the Filename:
entry field for you to enter a filename. When this option is selected everything is sent
to the file as it would be to the printer.
F Printing to file does NOT produce plain ASCII text files. If you wish to
create a plain ASCII file, use the Save as option in the File menu.
The second set of options covers which pages should be printed (All pages, Odd
numbered pages or Even numbered pages) and whether the paper in use is Single
sheet or Continuous (Fanfold) stationery. A third set of options lets you choose
between high Quality or Draft printout. You can also select whether all of the
document or part of it is printed.
Printing even and odd pages separately is useful when you want to print on both sides
of paper as you can select Odd and print the document. Only odd numbered pages
will be printed. Replace the paper the other way up, select Even and print the
document again, to print the even numbered pages on the reverse of the paper.
The page range options are set up to be very useful with little extra work. When you
open the Print Dialogue, Selecting Range will cause the current page to be printed,
while selecting List will cause pages from the current to the end of the document to be
printed. Of course, you can change the text entry fields for Range and List, but they
have useful defaults.
Number refers to number of copies. It is useful in that you only need to use the print
command once and can get on with something else while several copies are printed.
Clicking the Preview button will give a fairly accurate graphical representation of the
printed result on the screen. This is extremely useful for checking the effects of
margins, page breaks, large font sizes, multiple column printing, imported graphics and
other effects that aren't otherwise shown on screen.
Clicking on the right half of the screen (or pressing cursor right) will move on to the
next page. Clicking on the left (or pressing cursor left) will move back a page. Press
ESC to exit the preview.
It is a good idea to use Preview before any printing - if the preview looks wrong, then
the printed document will undoubtedly look wrong as well: correcting the text before
printing saves you time, paper and ink.
When you have chosen the various settings you want to use, and checked their effect
with Preview, all you need to do is click on the OK button.
As well as printing the current document, it is possible to print an existing document
file without loading it into Protext. Select the Print a file option and the file selector
will appear for you to select the file to print. Once selected the print dialogue box will
appear, as usual.
Background printing
Background printing allows you to get on with further editing, while the document is
being printed, after a brief delay while Protext fills its printer buffer. This can save a lot
of time when long documents are being printed.
The Print menu has an Abandon printing option which may be used irrespective of
whether background printing is being used, but it also has two further options, Pause
printing and Resume printing which are only available if the printer buffer is in use
and contains text to be printed. These are useful when you want to pause printing,
perhaps to take a telephone call, and continue afterwards.
F You should not exit Protext while background printing is in operation. If
you do, background printing will cease.
7. Entering and Correcting Text
Summary
This chapter covers:
Details of the status lines
How to enter and remove text
Cursor movement
Markers
Scrolling the screen
Introduction
Once Protext has been loaded, three lines containing information about the state of the
program will be visible at the top of the screen. These are the 'Status lines'. There is
also a thin horizontal line which marks the end of the text.
The Status Lines
While you are editing your document, the status lines provide an indication of Protext's
state. It looks like this:
The information contained in the status lines is as follows:
First line from left to right -
'PROTEXT'
'Document' or 'Program' This indicates whether Protext is in
document or program mode. Document
mode is for normal use, program mode
makes Protext work as a text editor.
The number of the current document This is present when two or more
documents are in memory. Protext is able to
load up to 36 documents, and each has a
number that does not change even when
other documents are removed from
memory.
The name of the current document
The size of the document Note that this may not be updated until a
major change is made to the document's
size, such as deleting a large amount of text.
'RJ' If right justify is on.
'WW' If word wrap is on.
'AutFm' If auto-reformatting is on.
'TypChk' If spell check while typing is on.
'Auto Indent On' If, in program mode, automatic indenting of
lines has been enabled.
'CAPS' If CAPS lock is on.
'NUM' If NUM lock is on.
'SCR' If scroll lock is on.
If more than one lock is set it will show
'N+C', 'N+S', 'C+S' or 'NCS'.
'Ln' If line drawing is enabled.
'Macro' If currently recording a macro or glossary.
Second line from left to right -
The current page If Protext is in Program mode, this will be
the current character.
The current line In page mode, this number is relative to the
top of the current page. May be shown in
lines, inches or mm. When lines are shown
this counts the number of actual lines of text
if line spacing is 1. Press SHIFT-CTRL-P to
change between the different units.
The current column Or horizontal position in inches or mm.
'Insert' or 'Overwrite'
Style description The current style letter and name. Any
active control codes are shown in brackets
after the style, using lower case letters for
printer control codes and upper case for
colour codes. If no style has been used but a
control code is active it will show something
like 'No Style (b)'.
Any block or place markers that are set There are several different types of marker
that will be described later. The markers are
only shown if no style or control code is
active, or after pressing CTRL-@ to insert or
move to a marker.
'Box', if box mode is on Box mode allows the deletion and
movement of rectangular areas within the
document (such as columns of tables). It will
be described in detail later in the manual.
The current time If the clock is enabled.
Below the status lines is the ruler line, which is described in detail later.
Entering text
Insertion
Once in edit mode a flashing cursor appears below the status lines. Anything that is
typed at the keyboard appears on the screen at the cursor's position, and the cursor
moves forward one position.
There is no need to press RETURN at the end of each line, as the words being typed
will move automatically to the next line, when necessary. When the end of a paragraph
is reached, the RETURN key should be pressed.
If you make a mistake while typing, you can correct it by using the DEL key, which
will cancel the last character entered and move the cursor backwards.
The cursor can be moved around the screen by pressing the four cursor keys (those
with arrows on them). By using these keys, text may be entered at any position. The
cursor moves one line or column for each press of a cursor key. Holding a cursor key
down will make the cursor move continuously. Releasing the key will stop the cursor
moving.
The cursor cannot be moved past the end of text (the thin horizontal line on the
screen). To position the cursor further down, the end of text must be moved down by
positioning the cursor at the end of the text and pressing RETURN as many times as
required.
Deleting text
The ability to move the cursor around permits the correction or alteration of text
anywhere on the screen. The cursor should be positioned on the letter to be changed
and the DEL key pressed. This will remove the letter at the cursor position, and move
the rest of the line to the left. As many letters as required can be deleted in this way. If
the new letter is now entered it will appear on the screen and the rest of the line will
move back to the right. Alternatively, pressing DEL will remove the character to the
left of the cursor and the text will again move to the left to fill the gap. Repeated
pressing of either DEL key will cause further characters to be deleted.
If extra text is to be inserted, the cursor should be positioned where the first new
character is to be added and the new text entered.
Just as a character can be deleted, so can a word. Pressing SHIFT and DEL when the
cursor is at the start of a word will make the word disappear. If this is done when the
cursor is in the middle of a word, only that part of the word at and to the right of the
cursor position will be deleted.
Similarly, pressing SHIFT and DEL will remove the word to the left of the cursor, or if
positioned in the middle of a word, the characters to the start of the word.
CTRL-DEL will delete all text from the character on the left of the cursor to the start
of the line and CTRL-E will delete all text from the cursor to the end of the line.
CTRL-F3 will delete the whole line. The line is removed from the document and the
remainder of the text moved up a line.
Finally there are two further useful deleting commands. SHIFT-CTRL-E deletes all text
up to the end of the sentence - that is up to and including the next full stop, question
mark or exclamation mark as well as any following space. SHIFT-CTRL-DEL will
delete back to the start of the sentence.
F Pressing CTRL-DEL followed by CTRL-E will delete all the text from a
line, but will not remove the empty line from the text, unlike CTRL-F3,
which will remove the blank line as well.
Inserting
To insert a new blank line into the text, CTRL-I should be used. The cursor will remain
where it is and all text from the current line to the end of the document will be moved
down a line.
Swapping characters
A common typing mistake, especially when typing quickly, is to type two letters the
wrong way round, e.g. 'wrod' instead of 'word'. The CTRL-A (Alternate characters)
command will put this right. Position the cursor on the first of the two offending
characters (on the 'r', in the above example) and press CTRL-A. The two characters
will then be exchanged.
Upper and lower case
Initially the letter keys produce lower case letters, unless SHIFT is pressed at the same
time. If Caps Lock, is pressed, upper case letters are always produced, and this is
indicated on the status line.
Protext has commands to change the case of a letter or word. To make a letter upper
case, press CTRL-/ when the cursor is on the letter. After the case of the letter has
been changed, the cursor moves on to the next letter, so the cursor can be moved
quickly over a line to convert all letters to upper case by holding down CTRL-/.
Similarly, CTRL-\ will convert upper case letters into lower case. Pressing SHIFT at the
same time as these commands will convert all characters from the cursor to the end of
the word.
Undeleting all or part of a line
Protext maintains a temporary store (called a buffer) which always contains the most
recently deleted section of text. If part of a line, more than three characters long, is
deleted, then this deleted text will be saved in the 'undelete buffer'. Only the most
recently deleted section of text is retained in the 'undelete buffer'. If a section of text
has been accidentally deleted, it may be restored by pressing CTRL-U. The undeleted
text will be inserted at the current cursor position.
Insert and Overwrite mode
Initially Protext is in insert mode and the word 'Insert' is displayed on the status line at
the top of the screen to indicate this. This means that when text is typed, the rest of the
text on the line is moved along to make room. This is the mode that is preferred by
most people for text entry.
Pressing INS will change the status line to 'Overwrite'. Selecting overwrite mode can
make certain editing tasks easier and the effect of using it is that if the cursor is
positioned over an existing piece of text and new text typed in, the existing text will be
replaced by the new text.
If an extra character needs to be inserted while in overwrite mode (for example if
replacing a word by a longer word), this can be done by pressing CTRL and the space
bar which will insert a space at the cursor position and move the text to the right to
make room.
Moving the cursor more rapidly
So far the cursor has been moved by a character at a time, but there are also various
ways to move the cursor more quickly. These are as follows:
(a) Pressing SHIFT- or SHIFT- will make the cursor jump a word to the start of
the next (or previous) word. This feature is useful for moving more quickly to a
word which needs correction.
(b) Pressing CTRL- or CTRL-. This moves the cursor to the beginning or end of
the line. The Home and End keys may also be used.
(c) Pressing SHIFT-RETURN. This moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line,
without causing a new line to be inserted, which would happen if the RETURN
key was used on its own.
(d) Pressing CTRL- or CTRL-. This moves the cursor up or down almost a full
screen, but with a few lines overlap so that the context may more easily be
followed. By holding down CTRL- or CTRL- the text can be rapidly scanned.
The Page Up and Page Down keys duplicate these functions.
(e) Pressing CTRL-[ or CTRL-] moves the cursor to the beginning or end of the text
in memory. Pressing the same keys a second time will move to the beginning or
end of the document. CTRL-Home and CTRL-End will take the cursor straight to
the beginning or end of the document.
(f) Pressing CTRL-< or CTRL-> moves the cursor backwards and forwards by a
paragraph at a time.
(g) Pressing CTRL-( or CTRL-) moves the cursor by a page at a time. This is a page
as it will be printed, not a 'screen page'.
(h) Pressing CTRL-@ [ or CTRL-@ ] will move to the opening or closing block
markers, if set. See the chapter on 'Cut and Paste editing' for details of block
markers.
(i) Pressing CTRL-@ L or CTRL-@ R will move to the left or right margin on the
current line.
(j) Pressing CTRL-F6 or CTRL-F5 will go to the next or previous marker in the
document. See 'Place markers' and 'Multiple markers'.
(k) Pressing CTRL-L moves the cursor back to the last position. This is particularly
useful if the cursor has accidentally been moved to another part of the text by
using an incorrect command. CTRL-L will return the cursor to the position where
it was before the incorrect move was made. It will only have any effect if the
cursor has been moved with one of the 'jump' commands. Moving the cursor a
single space, or line, at a time will not affect the use of CTRL-L and it can still be
used to return to the original position from which the last jump was made. With
care, this facility can be put to good use, by permitting a jump to another part of
the text, where one or two alterations or additions may be made, before pressing
CTRL-L to return to the original place in the text.
Moving the cursor with the mouse
The cursor can be moved to any position on the screen by moving the mouse so that
the mouse pointer or cursor is at the required position and clicking the left mouse
button.
Clicking on the second status line at the top of the screen will scroll the text up (the
same as pressing CTRL-).
Clicking on the bottom line of the screen will scroll the text down (the same as pressing
CTRL-).
Moving to a specified page, line or column number
Pressing CTRL-G will result in a dialogue box appearing offering 'Line', 'Column' and
'Page'. Entering 'P' (or clicking on the entry field next to the word 'Page'), followed by
a number will move the cursor to the start of that page. Similarly, 'L' plus the line
number will move to the line. Pressing 'C' then a number will result in the cursor
moving to the appropriate column. Moving to a column is particularly useful when
wishing to move a long way across the screen, say to create a wide ruler for some
special reason, and is considerably quicker than holding the right cursor down.
F You can move to a given line and column at the same time by setting both
values in the dialogue box. You can set page and line to move to, say,
page 21 line 37 in one operation. You can even set all three values.
F The line number used by this command is the line number within the
page, unless page mode has been turned off (with CTRL-P). In this case
the line number used will be the absolute line number counted from the
start of the text, as shown on the status line.
Markers
Place markers
A place marker can be put anywhere in the text and is similar in use to a book marker.
Ten place markers can be set, numbered 0 to 9. A place marker is set by pressing
CTRL-@ followed by the number. When a marker has been set, it will appear in the
text as the number in inverse. When CTRL-@ is pressed markers that have been set it
will be shown on the status line, so that it is easy to see which markers are available.
Once a place marker has been set, it can easily be returned to at any time by repeating
the CTRL-@ command with the same number.
In addition to using CTRL-@ and the number to find a place marker, it is possible to
jump from one to the next in the document by using CTRL-F6 to move on through the
document, or CTRL-F5 to move backwards. Using these commands will find the next
or previous marker in the text. All types of markers (place, multiple and block) will be
found. They are not treated numerically, but are found in the order in which they
occur in the document.
F Place markers are saved with the text and will be restored when the file is
reloaded. If a file containing markers is merged into another, duplication
of markers may occur. The duplicated markers can be deleted in the same
way as any character.
Multiple markers
As well as the 0 to 9 place markers, Protext also has another special marker. This is
known as a 'multiple marker' and is inserted into the text in a similar way to the place
markers. However, the difference is that you can enter as many multiple markers as you
require. CTRL-@, followed by pressing the key with a question mark (?) on it will set a
multiple marker and this will appear in the text as an inverse question mark (?).
Multiple markers are saved with the text.
For example, one might use multiple markers to note sections of text that needed
further editing. Then once you had finished writing the first version of your document,
CTRL-F6 would allow you to return to each section of text which you wished to
change.
Special markers
Three other types of marker are provided for special uses. The first is the 'spell ignore
marker', which is used to prevent a word being spell checked. This is entered by typing
ALT-=. See the 'Spelling Checker' chapter for details.
The other two are 'index markers' and are used to mark words for indexing. ALT-W is
used to mark a single word, ALT-P is used at the start and end of a group of words to
mark a phrase. See 'Index and Contents' for more details.
Scrolling
When the text fills the entire depth of the screen, typing further text will cause the text
to scroll up. That is, the top line of text will disappear and the rest of the text will move
up one line to make room for a new line of text at the bottom of the screen.
In the same way the text will scroll if the cursor reaches the bottom of the screen and
there is more text to come, or if it reaches the top of the screen when the text has
previously scrolled. This is known as vertical scrolling, and is essential for editing text
that is longer than a few lines.
Protext has commands to force the screen to scroll either up or down at any time. This
is done by pressing SHIFT- or SHIFT-. The cursor will stay on the same line, but the
whole text will scroll by one line. This feature is useful if a line is to be edited and it is
desirable to see the text beneath or above.
There is another form of scrolling, called horizontal scrolling, which happens
automatically when the cursor is moved beyond the right hand limit of the screen. If
this is done the text will scroll to the left. This means that the text on the left of the
screen will start to disappear as the cursor is moved further to the right of the screen.
Horizontal scrolling allows text to be entered in lines that are longer than the screen
width. This can be confusing at first and so is best avoided initially. If horizontal
scrolling occurs, any of the commands which move the cursor to the left may be used
to scroll the text back, or SHIFT and RETURN may be pressed together, which will
position the cursor at the start of the next line.
Splitting and joining lines
Lines will often require splitting, or joining together. This is very easy in Protext. There
are two different methods of doing this, depending on whether 'Insert' or 'Overwrite'
mode is in operation.
To split a line while in Insert mode, the cursor should be moved to the character which
is to be the first on the new line and RETURN pressed. To join two lines, either move
to the end of the first line and press DEL, or move to the start of the second line and
press DEL. The text on the second line will then move up and join onto the end of
the text on the first line.
If in overwrite mode, CTRL-* will split the line at the cursor and CTRL-+ will join the
next line to the end of the current line.
F The asterisk, '*', in the above command is the one found on the number
8 key towards the top of the main keyboard. On most keyboards the
asterisk is duplicated on the numeric keypad and this should not be used as
the key for CTRL-*.
8. Saving and Loading Documents
Summary
This chapter covers:
Saving
Loading
Clearing the text
Saving a document
To save a document use the 'Save as' option in the 'File' menu. A dialogue will appear
which gives various saving options. The default will be 'Protext 6' which is the normal
file format. The other options are provided for use when documents are to be used
with other software.
Either type a name into the 'Filename' field or use the 'File Selector' button. When a
name has been entered press RETURN to save the file. The second and subsequent
times the document is saved Protext will have remembered the name and will display it.
Just press RETURN twice to retain the same name. To save the file under a different
name edit the filename field. If one of the alternative formats is selected the filename
field will be changed to avoid accidentally using the same name.
The file selector may be used to select a directory and check existing filenames. You
can choose an existing file to overwrite or just select a directory. (ST: you can type a
name into the file selector and this will be copied into the 'Filename' field.)
A quicker way to save a file under an existing name is 'Save file' in the 'File' menu.
Protext 5 Saves a document for use with earlier versions of Protext.
Any document settings or styles will be lost. Style change
codes and colour codes will be stripped out.
ASCII - Reformattable Removes document settings, styles and all control codes
and markers. Carriage returns will only be present at the
end of paragraphs, so the file may be reformatted by, for
example, a desktop publishing program.
ASCII - Fixed As reformattable ASCII except that carriage returns are
included at the end of each line.
ASCII - Page Image As fixed ASCII except that all margins are included as
spaces in the file, so that it appears roughly as it is intended
to be printed.
Loading a document
To load a previously saved document, use 'Load file' from the 'File' menu. This will
call up the file selector which is documented in the next chapter.
Clearing the text
To clear the text from memory in order to commence a new document, use 'Clear
Text' from the 'File' menu. A command is also provided to clear all files.
9. The File Selector and Disk Utilities
Summary
This chapter covers:
Moving around the file selector
Displaying files in different ways
Directory functions
File functions
Introduction
This chapter describes the Protext file selector and a number of disk functions which are
provided from the file selector.
When you select 'Catalogue files' or press the F2 key, the file selector is opened. You
are initially presented with a list of all files in the current directory, together with their
size. The files are all listed vertically and several columns are used if there are too many
files to fit in a single column.
The status lines at the top of the screen remain. However, if you call up the menus,
you will find a different set of menu options are available when you are using the file
selector. You may leave the file selector at any time by pressing the ESC key.
Movement and Selection
Movement around the directory listing
The and cursor keys may be used to move the highlight bar up and down the
list of names.
The and cursor keys may be used to move from column to column if more
than one column of files is displayed.
CTRL- and CTRL- move to the top and bottom of the column respectively.
CTRL- and CTRL- move to the left and rightmost columns respectively.
CTRL-[ and CTRL-] move to the first and last entries in the listing respectively.
Alternatively the mouse may be used to select a file. Simply move the pointer on to the
required file and click. If all files are not displayed, click the mouse at the left or right
edge of the screen and more entries will appear.
Selecting a file or directory
Pressing RETURN or double clicking the mouse selects the currently highlighted file or
directory.
If the highlighted item is a directory, that directory will be selected as the current
directory and all files matching the 'file specification' will be displayed.
F Except for the root directory, the first entry in the list is always
. Selecting this entry and pressing RETURN
selects the parent directory. The directory you have just left will become
selected.
If RETURN is pressed while a filename is highlighted, Protext will load that file (or, for
example, merge a file if the file selector has been called by a merge file command).
Changing display format
There are many options available to change how the file selector lists files. They may all
be found in the 'File' menu's 'Options' dialogue. Alternatively, their keyboard
commands are given below.
Viewing in a different format
Filenames may be displayed in four different forms and these may be toggled, in
rotation, using the TAB key. This can also be controlled from the file selector options
dialogue. The initial state can be set using the Config program.
Normal - Filename, with file size in Kilobytes, displayed in up to four columns.
Expanded - Filename, with exact size in bytes, date and time of creation.
Attribute - Filename, with exact size in bytes, date and file attributes.
'Attributes' indicate the status of the file. They are displayed as the
appropriate letter, if set, otherwise as a dash. The file attributes
letters and the meaning when set are:-
R read-only
H hidden
S system
V volume label
D directory
A archive bit set
Brief - Just filenames, displayed in as many columns as will fit upon the
screen.
Viewing different files
By default, all files are displayed, but this may be changed to restrict the display to a set
of files. Two commands are provided for this purpose. The specification can also be
controlled using the file selector options dialogue.
[A] Show all selects all files for display. If ignore default extension is on
in the File selector options dialogue, then this will always be
the initial state.
[F]ile spec. allows selection of a different file specification. If a default
extension has been specified with Config, this will initially
be used.
Any file specification may be entered and only files matching the
specification will be displayed.
F Pathnames may NOT be included. If a different drive or directory is
required, the [D]rive change option should be used.
Viewing the files in different orders
Initially the files are shown sorted alphabetically by name. This is shown below the list
of files by the message 'Sorted by Name'. To change this press INS. Each press
changes the sorting method and redisplays the files in the new order. The different sort
methods are:
by name
by size (largest first)
by extension
by disk order (unsorted)
by date (latest first)
This option can be set using the file selector options dialogue from the 'File' menu.
Displaying hidden files
Press CTRL-H when in the file selector and hidden files will be displayed. Press CTRL-H
again to hide them.
This option can be controlled using the file selector options dialogue.
Directory functions
Changing drives
As well as being able to select a directory by highlighting it and pressing RETURN, a
command is provided to select a different drive.
[D]rive change requests the drive letter and/or path to be changed to and
displays all files matching the file specification in the current
directory on the chosen drive. This command is on the
'File' menu.
Creating a new directory
[N]ew dir. requests a directory name and creates a new directory. A
full pathname may be given to create a directory anywhere
on the disk, or just a name to create a subdirectory within
the current directory. This command is on the 'File' menu.
Directory Tree
Protext also provides the facility to view the structure of the disk, in the form of a
directory tree, or map. This command is of particular use to those people using hard
disks.
[M]ap provides a visual representation of the directory tree
structure for the current drive. This command is found on
the 'File' menu.
When you select [M]ap, the display changes to show the complete directory tree, or
map, of the currently selected drive/disk. Also the amount of free space on the disk is
displayed near the bottom of the screen.
F There is a delay the first time that this command is used, while Protext
reads the complete directory structure into memory. This occurs the first
time and after changing drive. It is possible to escape from reading the
directory structure by pressing ESC twice.
All the directories on the disk are displayed down the left hand side of the screen, with
the root directory at the top. A line extends down the left of the display, with branches
off it to each directory. Any sub-directories of these directories are similarly linked to
their parent directory by a line and are offset to the right. This process continues to as
many levels of sub-directories as necessary.
To the right of the directory names are two columns, one of which displays the total
size (in Kilobytes) of all files within that directory. Note that the figure includes ALL
files within that directory, including those in any sub-directories. This is particularly
useful, as you can tell at a glance the total amount of space taken up by a sub-directory
and its 'children' just by looking at the size alongside it.
The second column provides a count of the number of files in the directory. Again, like
the file size entry, the number of files includes all files in sub-directories.
The and cursor keys may be used to move the highlight bar up and down the tree
and CTRL- and CTRL- may be used to move a screen at a time. Alternatively the
mouse may be used to click on the required directory (scroll up or down by clicking on
the top or bottom border).
Pressing RETURN (or double clicking) will select the highlighted directory and display
all files matching the current file specification.
If you have a complex directory structure, this command is often the quickest way to
select a different directory. It is also useful as a means of getting an overall view of the
disk directory structure, particularly with hard disks.
File Functions
Viewing files
A command is provided which lets you look at the contents of a file. This command is
intended for use with text files and provides a convenient method of viewing the
contents of files without loading them.
[T]ype displays files on screen. This command is found on the
'File' menu.
If Protext's 'scroll lock mode' (Scroll Lock key) is turned on, the listing will be
displayed a screenful at a time with a prompt to 'Press a key to continue' at the end of
each screen.
Erasing, Renaming and Copying files
Protext also provides commands to erase, rename and copy files. These commands are
found on the 'File' menu.
[E]rase erases the highlighted file after asking for confirmation. If a
directory is highlighted then it is removed only if it is
empty. This function is also invoked by the DEL key.
[R]ename requests the new name required and renames the
highlighted file to the new name.
[C]opy requests the 'From' filename. Initially the name of the
highlighted file is shown, but this may be changed to any
name. A pathname may be included, if required.
You are asked for the destination ('To') filename. This may
be a directory, in which case the file will be copied to that
directory, with the same name as the original. If a filename
is also given as part of the 'To' pathname, the file will be
copied to the specified directory and saved with that name.
Bulk deleting and copying
A set of files can be marked for deleting or copying. Commands related to this can be
found in the 'Multiple' menu. There are several commands:
[SPACE] marks or unmarks the current file.
[CTRL-M] marks all files.
[CTRL-I] inverts the marking, that is marks all unmarked files and
unmarks all marked files.
[CTRL-C] copies all marked files. The destination directory will be
requested and the marked files will be copied there. You
will be asked to confirm that you wish to copy the files.
[CTRL-U] updates all marked files. As CTRL-C but only copies files
with a later date and time.
[CTRL-DEL] deletes all marked files. You will be asked to confirm that
you wish to delete the files.
The number of files marked, and their total size is shown on the status line. This is
particularly useful when copying a large number of files onto a number of floppy disks
for backup or transferring purposes.
Bulk loading
If the file selector is being used to load a file (as opposed to merge, for example) and
RETURN is pressed while there are any marked files, then all the marked files will be
loaded (subject to memory constraints) instead of the one current file.
File Protection
Pressing CTRL-R will toggle the Read/write file attribute of the selected file between
Read/write and Read only. When a file is set to Read only, it is shown in the listing
marked with an asterisk. Files which are set to read only cannot be overwritten by other
files of the same name, or with more recent copies of the same file.
Two other keys can be used to toggle file attributes as follows. CTRL-S
toggles the system bit and CTRL-A toggles the archive bit.
10. Cut and Paste Editing
Summary
This chapter covers:
How to mark a block of text
How to move, delete, undelete and copy blocks
How to mark a box of text
Introduction
This chapter is where real word processing begins. Protext allows any section of text to
be moved or copied to any other part of the text. This is often called 'cut and paste'
editing.
Cut and paste is a powerful tool for writers. Often, when composing new text, one
wishes to reorder sentences or paragraphs. Use of Protext's cut and paste facilities can
make this task simple.
This chapter will describe the ways to use block mode editing. A block of text is any
continuous section of text. It may be of any length and may start at any position in the
document and finish at any position. When in block editing mode, all text between
these two points will be manipulated in whatever way is chosen.
Defining a block
A block of text is marked with block markers. The cursor should be moved to the start
of the section of text and CTRL-Z or F9 pressed. This will set a block marker. The
marker will be indicated on the screen by an inverse video square bracket ([) (unless a
style is active). The cursor should then be moved to the end of the section and CTRL-Z
pressed again, to set a second marker. The block has now been defined and the extent
of the block will be indicated by highlighting it in a different colour or in inverse. An
opening square bracket is the start marker, a closing square bracket the end marker.
When markers are defined, this will be indicated on the status line (if no style is active),
where the message 'No markers set' will be replaced by 'Mks []', showing that both the
start and end markers are set.
The markers can be set in either order, and can be at any position in the text. The first
marker set will be displayed as an opening square bracket, but if the second marker is
positioned earlier in the text than the first marker, this will change to a closing bracket.
If the marker is put in the wrong place, pressing CTRL-Z again while the cursor is still
on the marker will remove it. Either or both block markers can be cleared at any time,
by pressing CTRL-K.
Often a block will consist of a number of complete lines. To define a block like this, the
first marker should be positioned at the start of the first line, and the second marker at
the start of the line following the last line of the block.
Defining a block with the mouse
A block may also be defined by moving the mouse pointer to the start position,
pressing and holding down the left mouse button, moving the pointer to the end
position and releasing the button. When this 'dragging' method is used the block
markers will not be displayed, the block will just be highlighted. The block may be
cleared by double clicking the left button.
Marking a word or line with the mouse
Clicking while holding down CTRL will mark the current line as a block. Clicking on a
word while holding down SHIFT will mark the word as a block. In each case the cursor
will be positioned at the end of the marked block so that a style or control code can be
used to apply to the block.
Block commands
Moving or copying a block
Once a block has been marked, it can be moved to any point in the text simply by
moving the cursor to the required position and pressing CTRL-M. The markers will
move with the text. The cursor must not be within the block at the time; if it is, an
error message will be displayed. Pressing ESC will allow you to position the cursor
correctly before typing CTRL-M again.
The block can also be copied, leaving the original text intact. This is done by pressing
F10. The markers will be moved to the destination of the block, which makes it easy to
see clearly where the new copy of the block is and also to copy the block again if
required. Again, the cursor must not be within the block.
Deleting a block
The section of text to be deleted must be defined in the usual way. Pressing CTRL-DEL
will delete the block. If the block is larger than the size of the 'undelete' buffer, (see
below) a beep will sound and a warning dialogue box will be displayed, requesting
confirmation that the block is to be deleted. The block will only be deleted if 'Y' is
selected.
Undeleting a block
If a block of text is accidentally deleted, it may often be recovered by use of the
CTRL-U command. When text is deleted, Protext retains the deleted block in a buffer
and CTRL-U will restore it to the document.
F The size of the undelete buffer may be adjusted by use of the
configuration program Config if it is found to be too small. If a block of
text which is too large for the buffer is to be deleted, a warning will be
given, with the option to continue. If 'Y' is selected, the block will be
deleted and the buffer will be filled with as much of the text as it can hold
and the remainder will be discarded.
F A block can only be restored until such time as further text is deleted,
after which time the buffer will contain only the most recently deleted
text.
Alternative keys for block commands
F9 duplicates the function of CTRL-Z (set or clear block marker).
CTRL-F9 duplicates the function of CTRL-K (clear block markers).
CTRL-F10 duplicates the function of CTRL-M (move block).
CTRL-INS or CTRL-Insert duplicates the function of F10 (copy block).
Box mode
The block mode cut and paste facilities already described only operate on continuous
sections of the text but the Box mode editing facilities described in this chapter extend
this to operate on any section of text that can be defined by drawing a rectangle on the
formatted text. A block defined in this way is termed a 'box'. There is one command
used for box mode.
CTRL-B is used when in edit mode to toggle box mode on or off as required. Normally
one would leave box mode turned off, except when needed. If a block is already
defined, CTRL-B will convert it to a box, and vice versa.
Defining a box
A box is defined by first typing CTRL-B to enter box mode and the message 'BOX' will
appear on the status line to indicate that box mode is in use. The cursor should be
moved to the top left corner of the (imaginary) box and CTRL-Z or F9 pressed to set a
marker, in the same way as described in the previous chapter. The cursor should then
be moved to the bottom right corner of the box and CTRL-Z pressed again, to set a
second marker. Whereas in block mode only a closing block marker appeared, this time
markers will appear along both the left and right hand sides of the box to mark its
limits. Of course, it is also possible to define a box using the mouse.
Moving or copying a box
A box can be moved or copied, using the same commands (CTRL-M, F10) that were
used for block commands, to move or copy the box. The cursor should be positioned
where the top left corner of the box is required and then the appropriate copy/move
command used.
F When using box mode, the effect depends on the insert/overwrite mode
setting. If insert has been selected and a box is positioned over existing
text, that text will be moved to the right to make room for the box of
text. If overwrite mode has been selected, the box will erase the text
underneath.
Deleting a box
Box mode delete can be used in one of two ways, depending on whether insert or
overwrite mode is in operation at the time the box delete command is used. Once a
box has been marked out for deletion, CTRL-DEL may be used to delete the box. If
insert mode is in operation, the effect of this will be that once the box has been
deleted, any text to the right of the box will move across to the left to close the gap.
Alternatively, if overwrite mode is selected, using INS, before the delete command is
used, the box of text will be cleared, but the area where the box used to be will remain
as a blank area.
Text may be laid out in parallel columns using box mode. However the layout will be
destroyed by reformatting and it will not work when using a proportional font. A better
method of achieving this effect is described under 'Newspaper column printing' in the
'Printing' chapter.
Another use for box mode which can save a considerable amount of time is to remove
surplus columns of figures from text. A box can be marked round the columns which
are not required and the box can be deleted using either overwrite or insert mode,
depending on whether the remaining text should be moved across or not.
F When a box move is carried out and the box contains tabs, it may
sometimes appear that the justification has been destroyed. The
justification can be restored either by inserting an extra tab marker on the
ruler line, or by replacing the tab, in the text, with spaces.
11. Document Layout
Summary
This chapter covers:
The Document Settings dialogue
Headers and footers
Pagination
Saving document settings
The Document Settings dialogue
Many aspects of paper configuration can be set from the document settings dialogue
box. A number of the settings are distances and these may be shown in inches or
millimetres. An option in Config may be used to set the units to be used. A button is
also provided to change units.
Paper size
The length and width of the paper. Various pre-defined settings are provided,
including A3, A4, A5 single sheets, and 11", A4 and 12" continuous paper.
When these are selected the length and width are set appropriately. It is important
that the correct size is selected so that Print Preview shows the correct margin sizes
and placement. Use A4 continuous for 11.67" continuous paper.
Margin sizes
The top and bottom margin are the spaces left blank above and below the text.
Left and right margin are the spaces left blank to the left and right of the text.
The width of the printed text is paper width minus left margin minus right margin.
Gutter
This is the distance that the text is offset away from the centre of a book. On
even numbered pages the offset is added to the right margin and subtracted from
the left margin. On odd numbered pages it is the other way round.
Even margin = left margin - gutter,
Odd margin = left margin + gutter.
Landscape or portrait
This option is only available if the active printer supports landscape printing.
Portrait is the usual setting, landscape prints sideways on the paper.
Default style
The style that is used from the start of the document. This is the style that is used
when the default style code (F7 &) is used.
Use style for tab units
Tab units are 1/10th of an inch unless this check box is checked. In this case the
unit is the average character width of the default style. So, for example, if you
always use a fixed pitch 12 cpi font style, then select this option so that the ruler
is in 'character' units.
Default tabs
The tab settings are defined in either 1/10" or character units (as above) and are
used in the ruler active at the start of the text. Decimal and centre tabs may be
used by putting the type of the tab after the number:
. for a decimal tab
C for a centre tab
L for the left margin
Example: 5 12C 20. 30.
This sets a normal tab 0.5" from the left margin, a centre tab 1.2" in and
decimal tabs at 2" and 3".
ͻ
| Top
| Margin
|------------------------------------------------------
| Header Header text
| Margin
|------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
Side |
Margin|
-----|
|
|
|
|>---!---!-------------------------------------R
|With no left margin on the ruler line, the text
|will be printed immediately to the right of the
|side margin. The right margin must be correctly
|positioned for the text to appear centralised.
|
Page |
Length | Lines
| available
| for
| printing
| text
|
|
|>---L-----------------------------------------R
| If there is a left margin on the ruler line
| extra spaces will be printed after the side
| margin, but before the main text.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|------------------------------------------------------
| Footer
| Margin Footer text
|------------------------------------------------------
| Bottom
| Margin
ͼ
F The page length is the size of the paper. If a printer is unable to print on
part of a sheet (for example the top few lines on single sheets), these lines
must be included within the top or bottom margins. The number of lines
of text actually printed will be the page length less the total of the four
margins (top, header, footer, bottom).
F Print Preview will show on screen how the printed page will appear.
Pagination
Protext automatically calculates the number of lines of text that will be printed on a
page. This depends on many factors including the margin sizes, the point size of the
font being used and the line spacing. There is no need to print a page to see where the
page breaks will occur, as Protext displays page break lines while editing. The page and
status lines show the vertical and horizontal position of the cursor. The diagram on the
next page summarises the various margins.
Page breaks
By making use of the editing commands CTRL-( and CTRL-) to move forward and
backwards a page at a time it is very easy to see where page breaks are going to occur.
If the position in the text is unsuitable, a page break can be forced at any time by
moving the cursor to a more suitable location and pressing CTRL-RETURN. This will
insert a '>PA' stored command into the text. Alternatively '>OP' and '>EP' can be
used to ensure that the next page to be printed has an even or an odd number (see the
Reference Manual, 'Stored Commands').
Document formatting options
Line spacing
The line spacing may be set in 1/100ths of a line. Values of 1, 1.5 and 2 give
commonly used single, one-and-a-half and double spacing, but any value can be
used to increase or decrease the text spacing. The default is 1.
Blank line suppression
Blank line suppression (at the top of a page) can be enabled or disabled. See the
'Formatting' chapter. The default is OFF.
Widows and orphans
Widow and orphan suppression can be enabled or disabled. See the 'Formatting'
chapter. The default is ON.
Right justify
This option determines whether the document will be printed with the right edge
aligned or with a ragged edge. The default is ON.
Hyphenation
Hyphenation may be enabled or disabled and the hyphenation factor may be set.
See the 'Formatting' chapter. The default is OFF.
Inter-paragraph space
The 'Inter-paragraph space' option causes blank lines between paragraphs to be
printed as half lines. Thus a single line space between paragraphs gives 1 line
spacing. If two blank lines are left between paragraphs, double line spacing will be
obtained. Three blank lines gives 2 line spacing. The default is OFF.
Tab leader
Tab characters in the text are usually expanded to spaces when printed. The 'Tab
leader' option allows a different character to be specified. All tabs will then be
expanded to this tab leader character except for leading tabs at the start of a line,
which are always expanded to spaces. The default is to use spaces.
Proper single quotes
Proper double quotes
Some printers are able to print different open and close quotes, as opposed to a
general neutral quote which can be used in place of both. The exact form of quote
depends on the printer font, and is more marked in some fonts than others. When
either kind of proper quotes are enabled, Protext will convert neutral quotes at the start
of a word into opening quotes, and neutral quotes at the end of a word into closing
quotes.
E.g. 'Single' "Double" "Neutral"
Some printers, although claiming to be compatible with others, do not have these
correct symbols and open quotes can appear to be grave accents. In this case, turn off
the proper quote feature (see also >PQ, >SQ, >DQ). This quote conversion can be
prevented for single characters by inserting a spell ignore marker before the quote.
Headers, footers and page numbers
A header or footer is a string of text that will be printed at the top or bottom of the
pages, such as a title, or a page number.
Headers can be set from the Document Settings dialogue by clicking on the 'Headers'
button or pressing H. (Footers are set similarly by clicking on 'Footers' or pressing F).
These buttons indicate whether headers and footers are 'on' or 'off'. A new dialogue
will then appear:
Entry fields:
Header margin size
This will be in the same units as the other margins, either inches or
millimetres.
Header style
The style entered here will be used for each header. Headers are
unaffected by any style changes in the text.
9 lines for entering the header text
To edit a line type the line's number.
Page numbers can be printed anywhere in the header or footer line. This is
done by typing a percent symbol ('%'). The page number will then be
printed starting in the column occupied by the percent symbol in the text.
To print a percent symbol in a header of footer, type two percents
('%%').
The header text can be in three parts, separated by tabs. The first section
will be printed at the left, the second section will be centred and the third
section will be right justified. Tabs will be displayed as a right pointing
triangle or arrow.
Initially line 1 will contain a tab and '%' to give a centred page number.
This can be edited as required.
Printer control codes may be used in headers by pressing CTRL-X and the
required control code letter. Normally a style would be used to select the
header font, but a control code may be used to, for example, embolden
just a part of the header text.
To print a line all the way across a page, use CTRL-X U, TAB, TAB and
CTRL-X U.
Option buttons:
Edit Both
'Even headers' are printed on even numbered pages. 'Odd headers' are
printed on odd numbered pages. Often these will be the same. When 'Edit
Both' is selected both even and odd headers will be changed when you
edit either one.
A book will often have one header for the left hand (even) pages and a
different one for the odd pages. To use different headers deselect 'Edit
both' by pressing 'B' or clicking on the button.
Odd, Even
You can now edit the even and odd headers separately. Press 'O' and 'E'
to switch between them. The display will change as you do. A message
next to the 'Odd' and 'Even' buttons will indicate whether the headers are
both the same or different.
A simple example of even and odd headers is to print the page number on
the outside edge of the page. To do this define the even header simply as
'%' and the odd header as two tabs followed by '%'.
If you have typed in different even and odd headers and want to make
them the same, select 'Edit Both' again. Editing will now set both headers
again. To leave a line unchanged but copy it to the other header just press
the number of the line and then RETURN.
Header On
This option determines whether headers are printed or not. It will be
selected automatically when a header line is edited. Headers can then be
turned off by using this button; this will not affect the other settings.
Saving document settings
The 'Save' button in the document settings dialogue will ask for a filename and will save
the current document settings in a file with the extension '.SET'. If just a filename is
given without a path the file will be saved in the search path directory.
The PROTEXT.SET file
A settings file called PROTEXT.SET will be loaded automatically when a new document
is created. To create or update this file simply enter 'PROTEXT' as the name of file to
save.
Loading document settings
The 'Load' button in the document settings dialogue will let you choose a settings file
to be loaded. A file selector will list the search path directory, but you can load settings
files from any directory.
Settings can be loaded from any Protext 6 document as well as from a '.SET' file. If a
document is selected the settings will be extracted from it.
Copying document settings
To copy the document settings from another document simply go into the document
settings dialogue, use the 'Load' button and choose the document from which to copy
the settings.
Document settings and Config
In earlier versions of Protext, page layout settings were available in Config - they can
now only be set in Document Settings. The default settings for any new documents now
come from the special file PROTEXT.SET (which you can personalise and save).
12. Rulers, Tabs and Margins
Summary
This chapter covers:
How to create and copy rulers
Editing rulers
Tabs in rulers
Margins in rulers
Introduction
A ruler is a special line that controls text margins and tabs. Margins are the left and
right hand limits of the text. Tabs are markers used to position text at set places on the
screen and are particularly useful for lining up columns of words or numbers. Tabs
work in a similar fashion to those of a typewriter, but are much more flexible.
The current ruler is displayed in a line at the top of the screen, immediately underneath
the two status lines. Each '!', '.' or 'C' on the ruler marks a tab position and the 'L' and
'R' indicate the left and right margins.
Ruler Lines
Ruler line measurement
Each space on a ruler line does not necessarily correspond to one character when
printed. This will only be so when using 10 characters per inch fixed pitch printing.
The ruler may be termed a 'pica ruler', which means that one column on a ruler line
represents a tenth of an inch when printed on paper.
You will see that when the cursor is on a ruler line the column indication on the status
line will increase by 0.1" each time you move the cursor one space to the right.
For the text you may be using a proportional font or a different size fixed pitch font.
Either way each character does not occupy 0.1", it may be bigger or smaller. You do
not need to worry about this as Protext takes care of it for you.
Default Ruler lines
Initially, the default ruler supplied by Protext is displayed as the active ruler. If a
document is loaded which contains any ruler lines, then the default ruler for that
document is considered to be the ruler line in the document which will be in operation
when printing commences. This is not necessarily the first ruler in the text, but the
last ruler before the start of the text that will be printed. If there are no rulers in the
text the default ruler will be taken from the document settings (see below) or from the
configuration file. This ruler line will be considered to be the 'default ruler' for the
duration of the document, or until such time as it is replaced by another one at the
start of the printed text. The reason for this is explained later in the chapter.
Active Ruler lines
At all times the 'active ruler line' at the top of the screen is the one applicable to the
line that the cursor is on.
New ruler lines can be created to suit any required layout. The new ruler line is typed
in as a normal line of text. The line must have a 'greater than symbol' or 'chevron' (>)
in the first column. There is no need to type in the hyphens (-) along the line, though it
may be preferred to make the ruler line more readily visible. Wherever a tab is
required, a '!' should be typed in and the point '.' wherever a decimal tab is wanted.
Columns 2 and 3 must contain either spaces, a hyphen, the letter 'L' or a '!' tab
marker.
F Do not use the TAB key when altering or creating a new ruler line since
this will cause tabs to be set wrongly.
F The right margin may be omitted from a ruler line. It will then remain the
same as on the previous ruler. This allows you to use rulers throughout a
document and yet change the text width by a single change in Document
Settings.
Any number of ruler lines are allowed in the text and each applies from the line
beneath, until the next ruler line (or the end of the text if there are no more ruler
lines). When the cursor is moved past a ruler line, in either direction, the first ruler line
above the cursor will immediately replace the previously active ruler at the top of the
screen. If the cursor is moved above the first ruler line in the text, the Protext default
ruler will be restored.
Ruler lines allow the formatting of text in any chosen way. Simply altering the ruler line
and using the CTRL-F command or selecting 'Format text' from the 'Format' menu will
reformat the text. If full use has been made of tabulating the text by inserting tab
characters, moving the tab markers on the ruler line will cause the text to be
repositioned immediately, using the altered ruler line. Thus it is easy to move columns
of text/figures about or to experiment with different formats to decide which is best.
Inserting Rulers
There are three editing commands connected with the use of rulers. The first of these is
CTRL-D, which can be used at any time to copy the default ruler to the current cursor
position. This can be particularly useful to restore the text to a standard format after
using a special ruler to create tabulated columns of figures, for example.
The second command is CTRL-R which will restore the previous ruler but one. The
most common use for this command is to restore the previous text format after, say,
insetting the left and right margins of a piece of text to highlight it. One of the most
common uses of ruler lines is to alternate between two different layouts and using
CTRL-R at the end of each one will automatically copy down the ruler appropriate to
the previous layout. In this way it is particularly easy to switch between two layouts
simply by the use of CTRL-R.
A useful tip is to create an alternative ruler line at the start of the document, before
any text is printed and before the first ruler line which will be used in the document.
When the document is loaded, the second ruler line will become the default ruler
(being the ruler line that applies to the first line of text). When the alternate ruler is
required, CTRL-R can be used to copy it down and subsequently to alternate between
the default ruler and the alternative one.
The third command connected with rulers is CTRL-V R. This command has the effect
of 'hiding the active ruler line' at the top of the screen, and releases an extra line for
displaying text. Repeated use of this command will toggle the ruler line on and off. It
only has any effect on the ruler line beneath the status lines and does not hide the ruler
lines in the document and even when it is invisible, it still functions as normal.
Ruler editing with the mouse
The active ruler line may be edited by using the mouse as follows:
Double clicking at a position on the ruler line where there is no tab position causes an
ordinary tab to be set. Double clicking on a tab changes it to a decimal tab. Double
clicking on a decimal tab changes it to a centre tab. Double clicking on a centre tab
removes it. This works both on the status line ruler and the ruler in the text.
The left and right margins can be changed by dragging them in either direction. Move
the mouse pointer onto the 'L' or 'R', press and hold down the left button, move the
pointer until the 'L' or 'R' is in the required position and release the button. This works
on the status line ruler only.
This method of editing the ruler will change the ruler that is currently active. If this is a
ruler defined earlier in the text, then that ruler will be changed. If it is the default ruler,
or the ruler in the text has been written out to disk, a new ruler line will be inserted
into the text before the current paragraph.
Tabs
The main use of tabs is for aligning text or numbers in columns. Protext has three types
of tabs, the normal 'tab', the 'decimal tab' and the 'centre tab'. The decimal tab also
serves the purpose of a 'right justification' tab. These tabs are inserted into a ruler line
by typing in an exclamation mark (!) for a normal tab marker, or a point (.) for a
decimal tab marker, wherever they are required. As many of either tab as necessary
may be used on each ruler line.
The tab positions are defined in inches and the status line display will indicate this when
you are editing a ruler line. Unless you are using a 10 characters per inch fixed pitch
font the text will not line up under the tab positions. Instead it will be displayed with
the correct spacing to represent how it will be printed. When the cursor is on a text line
the column display on the status line will indicate the printed position in inches, so by
moving the cursor onto a tab marker on a ruler you can check which tab corresponds
to the text.
When TAB is pressed (in insert mode) a special tab character is stored in the text. This
character can be thought of as occupying several columns on a line, or as being one
long, variable length space from the position where the tab was inserted up to the
column marked by the tab marker in the ruler line.
F It is essential that full use is made of tabs when creating a document, as
not only do they provide a simple means of aligning text, but they enable
the easy re-arrangement of text. If spaces are used to lay out text it will be
difficult to change it later and it will not work anyway if a proportional
font is used.
Normal Tabs
Each '!' on the ruler line indicates a tab position. Pressing the TAB key during text
entry will move the cursor to the column appropriate to the next of these positions.
If insert mode is in operation, pressing TAB will result in a tab marker being inserted
into the text, giving the appearance that a number of spaces have been inserted in the
line. Pressing DEL once, immediately after TAB, will remove the tab marker and all
the apparent spaces and move the cursor back to its previous position. Since the cursor
cannot be moved within the columns formed by this 'long' space, it will jump over a
tab character if moved onto it.
Decimal (right justification) Tabs
This is a special form of tab which can be used in a number of ways. It permits the
alignment of numbers so that the decimal points line up automatically. Any numbers
entered after pressing TAB to move to a decimal tab will automatically be positioned to
the left of the tab position until the decimal point (.) is entered, after which any further
numbers will be placed to the right. If no decimal point is entered (as for a whole
number) and TAB or RETURN is pressed, the number will be right justified in such a
way that units, tens and hundreds all line up.
This tab can also be used with words, as a right justification tab, in which case the words
will be lined up in such a way that the end of the words are all in line. This can be very
useful for entry of words like 'Total' and 'Subtotal' in conjunction with columns of
figures.
F Some countries use the comma instead of the full stop as the decimal
point. Protext may be configured to accept the comma ',' instead of the
full stop '.' by using the Config utility but it should be noted that the full
stop should still be used on the ruler line to mark the position of the
decimal tab.
The right margin as a right justification tab
The right margin (denoted by 'R' on the ruler line) acts as a right justify tab. The TAB
key should be pressed a sufficient number of times to move the cursor to the right hand
margin of the document. Any text typed now will be right-justified at the margin. For
example the address on a letter, or the date, may be usefully entered in this way. The
right margin does not act as a decimal tab.
F There must be sufficient space between the last tab and the right margin
for the text that is to be entered, otherwise part of the text will be forced
onto a new line.
Centre Tabs
A centre tab is marked by the letter 'C' in the ruler line. Text that is entered after
pressing TAB to move to a centre tab is centred about the position of the 'C'. The
effect of putting a single centre tab in the middle of the ruler line is the same as using
the '>CE' stored command. This is particularly useful for centring text in a header or
footer, especially proportional text.
Indent Tabs
The indent tab allows a paragraph to be indented an extra tab level without using a new
ruler line with a different left margin. Pressing SHIFT-TAB at the start of a paragraph
inserts an indent tab. On subsequent lines, until the end of the paragraph, text will wrap
around to the position one tab in from the left margin.
If SHIFT-TAB is pressed more than once, the paragraph will be indented by one further
tab position for each time that SHIFT-TAB is pressed.
Paragraphs may be indented before or after the text has been typed. To remove a level
of indenting place the cursor in column 1 of the first line of a paragraph and press DEL.
The use of indent tabs greatly reduces the need for ruler lines in the text.
Margins
The ruler line is also used to define margins. These are indicated by 'L' for left margin,
and 'R' for right margin. These define the part of the screen within which text will be
formatted. By default the left margin will be at column 1 and the right margin at
column 70, but they can be set, in the same way as tabs, at any position (of course the
right margin must be to the right of the left margin!).
To set margins a ruler line should be created, as described above, the cursor moved to
the column at which the left margin is to be set and the letter 'L' typed. Next the
position of the right margin should be selected with the cursor and the letter 'R' typed.
If the left margin is to remain at column 1 then the 'L' should be omitted.
To see the effect of changing margins try creating a new ruler line above a paragraph of
text with, for example, a left margin at column 5 and a right margin at 60. The status
lines show the current column number and serve as a guide to selecting the correct
columns. Positioning the cursor in column 1 of the first line of the paragraph and
reformatting it with CTRL-F will rearrange the text to fit within the new margins.
Left margins and tabs - applications
Indentation of the first line of a paragraph
This is best done by setting a tab marker on the ruler line in the column to which the
text is to be indented. At the start of each paragraph, pressing TAB, prior to typing the
text, will position the cursor accordingly.
It is easy to indent the text at any subsequent stage, simply by moving the cursor to the
start of the paragraph, pressing TAB, and then CTRL-F to re-format the paragraph.
This is particularly useful for splitting a paragraph in two.
Example: a ruler line to give 55 column wide text with a tab at column 5 for indenting
the first line of the paragraph.
>---!-------------------------------------------------R
Indentation of a paragraph or section of text
Indenting a paragraph is best done using the indent tab, as described above. At the end
of the paragraph pressing RETURN will move the cursor to the left margin. In order to
continue the indentation a new ruler line may be defined with the left margin at the
required position. When RETURN (or SHIFT-RETURN) is pressed the cursor moves to
the left margin, so, by setting an indented left margin, text can be automatically
indented.
F A left margin should not be used to indent the whole of a document. This
should be accomplished by use of the Document Settings dialogue on the
'File' menu.
13. Formatting
Summary
This chapter covers:
How to control automatic formatting
Manual formatting techniques
Special formatting control characters
How to inhibit formatting
Widows and orphans
Hyphenation
Introduction
Formatting is the process which determines the layout of the text and takes two forms,
automatic formatting and manual re-formatting.
Automatic Formatting
There are two main features which determine the final appearance of the document and
which happen automatically as the text is entered.
Word Wrap
It will already have been noticed that when a complete line of text is typed, the cursor
moves on to the next line, and any part-entered words are also moved with it. This
operation is called 'word-wrap'. The status line will indicate that word-wrap is working.
CTRL-W toggles word-wrap on and off and the status line will change to indicate this.
Setting word-wrap to 'off' and typing a line of text will show the difference. The cursor
stays on the same line until RETURN is pressed. When the edge of the screen is
reached, the display will scroll sideways. Pressing CTRL-W a further time will turn word
wrap back on again.
Right Justification
It will probably also have been noticed that all text appears with a straight right hand
edge, like a book. This is the default setting and the status line will indicate that right-
justification is in operation.
Protext lines up the right hand edge by automatically spacing out the words on a line.
CTRL-J may be used to turn off the right-justification, and the status line will change to
indicate this. If a paragraph is now typed in, it will be found that the right hand edge is
'ragged', as if typed on a typewriter.
F The default settings of both Word-Wrap and Right-Justification may be
altered to suit, by use of the Config program, as may the method of auto
reformatting - as you type or when the cursor moves.
Manual Re-formatting
There are two ways to force the text to be re-formatted. These commands will not
normally be needed because Protext features automatic re-formatting of the text in
most situations. That is, if a paragraph is edited, the correct format will be restored
without the need for these commands. Sometimes it may be desirable to switch auto-
reformatting off temporarily. This can be done by pressing SHIFT-CTRL-R.
Formatting a small section
If the format of just a small part of the text has been destroyed, it is easier to re-format
these small areas while still in edit mode. All that is required is to position the cursor on
the first line that needs re-formatting and type CTRL-F, which will cause the remainder
of the paragraph to be re-formatted according to the justification, word-wrap and ruler
line settings. An alternative command is SHIFT-CTRL-F which formats the current
paragraph without moving the cursor.
Formatting the whole text or a block
If considerable areas have been disrupted, or it has been decided to alter the number of
characters on a line (see chapter on Tabs and Margins), the simplest way to re-format is
to use the 'Format text' command on the 'Format' menu. This will automatically re-
format the entire text, from start to finish, in one go.
A variation of this command is the 'Format Block' command, available from the 'Block'
menu, which will format the part of the document selected with the Block markers (see
'Cut and Paste Editing' for details of block markers), but will continue past the end of
block marker to the end of the paragraph.
Centring text
To ensure that the line is always correctly centred, the three characters '>CE' should
be typed in the first three columns of the line. This is another example of a 'stored
command'. It is essential that either '>CE' or a centre tab is used if proportional fonts
need to be centred.
Formatting control characters
Soft spaces, returns and hyphens
Soft characters are used by Protext for formatting. When a paragraph is right-justified,
spaces are inserted in the line. These spaces are treated differently from spaces inserted
by pressing the space bar (these are called hard spaces). Hard spaces can never be
removed by formatting, but soft spaces can.
There is a similar distinction between a hard and soft return (end of line). A hard
return occurs where the RETURN key has been pressed, and this marks the end of the
paragraph. A soft return occurs where the action of word-wrap has caused a new line
to be started. Like soft spaces, soft returns can be removed by formatting.
A soft hyphen is slightly different in that it must be explicitly entered by pressing CTRL
and hyphen and will be displayed in inverse. Soft hyphens can be inserted at points in a
word where hyphenation is permissible. Protext will then split a word at a soft hyphen
and display a hyphen instead of moving the whole word onto the next line.
A soft hyphen will only be printed on the printer if it is at the end of a line, i.e. where
formatting has split the word. This feature is especially useful if there is a long word that
is just too long to fit on the end of the line, but which might subsequently be moved by
reformatting of the text. Whenever you hyphenate text manually, you should use soft
hyphens.
Non-break spaces and hyphens
When the text is formatted it can result in there being several spaces where only one
was typed. This is sometimes undesirable and Protext provides 'non-break spaces' which
are not affected by formatting. A non-break space is entered by pressing CTRL-N,
followed by the space bar and will be displayed as a small mark, so it can be
distinguished from a normal space. Soft spaces will not be inserted between words
linked by the non-break space and the words will not be separated at the end of a line.
Examples of use:
(a) The space between 'Mr' and 'A' in 'Mr A.Smith'. This would look wrong if
displayed as 'Mr A.Smith', so CTRL-N space is used after 'Mr' instead of just
pressing the space bar.
(b) A pair of words whose separation would decrease readability. For example the
postcode 'PE1 3HA' should not be split over two lines.
Non-break hyphens are similar. Normally when a hyphen is used in a word, if that
word comes at the end of a line, the word will be broken at the hyphen and the second
part of the word printed at the start of the following line. Sometimes this is not the
effect that is required and the two words should be kept together as one. An example
of this is found many times in this manual, where editing commands are described. A
command like 'CTRL-F' would normally be split onto two lines if it came at the end of
a line, which would look wrong. Protext provides a non-break hyphen to take care of
this situation. Instead of typing a normal hyphen, typing CTRL-N, followed by pressing
the hyphen key will set a non-break hyphen instead. This will be displayed as a hyphen
on a vertical line (), but when printed, will appear as a normal hyphen.
Disabling automatic reformatting
There are two commands which can permanently disable the re-formatting of part or all
of a document. All of the text may be 'fixed' with the command 'Fix text' from the
'Format' menu; fix part of it with the 'Fix block' command from the 'Block' menu.
A less permanent method of overriding reformatting is to use the stored command,
'>FX ON/OFF'. This may be inserted into the document to turn formatting on and
off, for sections of the text, as required. '>FX' is described fully in the reference
manual chapter on stored commands. This is an example of a 'stored command' - a
command that is put into the text to be used at some later time (in this case, during the
course of formatting).
It is important to understand the difference between these two methods. Fixing the text
involves replacing all tabs, soft spaces and soft returns with spaces and hard returns.
This process irreversibly fixes the characters of the text in their current positions. Before
fixing a large amount of text, you are advised to make a backup in case complex editing
is required. If you have to edit a fixed document, you will have to reformat the text
yourself.
Using '>FX ON/OFF' does not affect the text at all. Instead, it merely stops Protext's
reformatting functions from affecting the text. Use of this stored command is preferable
in most situations.
Special formatting features
Elimination of widows and orphans
When the first line of a paragraph is on the last line of a page, it is called a 'widow'.
When the last line of a paragraph appears as the first line of a new page, it is called an
'orphan'.
When Protext is formatting the text it will do so to avoid generating widows and
orphans. In the first case, the paragraph will start at the top of the next page. In the
second, it will break the page one line earlier so that the last two lines of the paragraph
appear on the next page.
Widow and orphan handling may be turned on or off in the Document Settings
dialogue. A Config option is provided to set the initial state.
Suppression of blank lines
If a natural page break (not forced with >PA) falls before a blank line, the blank line
will be printed at the top of the next page. Often this is not what is wanted because a
blank line separating paragraphs should be omitted when the paragraphs are separated
by a page break.
There is an option to turn on 'Blank line suppression' in the Document Settings
dialogue. Any blank lines after a natural page break will not then be printed. A Config
option is provided to set the initial state.
Hyphenation
Why do we use hyphenation?
Protext formats the text using word wrap. Without hyphenation, a word that is too long
to fit on a line is moved to the next line. Sometimes this can cause a lot of extra space
on the first line, for example if there is room for the first 11 letters of a 12 letter
word. Conventionally, we can split this word at some suitable point and put a hyphen
at the end of the line, with the rest of the word on the next line.
The purpose of hyphenation is simply to reduce the amount of 'white space' on the
page and improve the appearance of the text. There is a big disadvantage, though.
Splitting words in this way detracts from the readability of the text as the split words
have to be reconstituted in the mind. To minimise the difficulty, words are split only at
recognised hyphenation points, generally at syllable breaks. Large dictionaries typically
show the hyphenation points for words; they do not agree in all cases.
Hyphenation should be used sparingly. The appearance of text is not improved by
hyphens at the end of most lines and it would be quite a strain to read. Precisely how
often hyphens are used is a matter of taste; there is a trade-off between unsightly white
space and hyphens.
Manual hyphenation
During manual hyphenation, soft hyphens may be inserted in the text as required. In
practice this is done by visually checking a printed copy of the text and inserting soft
hyphens where necessary such as where a line starts with a long word which would
nearly fit on the previous line.
Automatic hyphenation
Automatic hyphenation gives a number of advantages over the manual method:
(a) Hyphens are inserted during editing so the text appears on screen in the correct
layout.
(b) Protext hyphenates using only the correct hyphenation points, so that errors are
avoided.
(c) Consistency in the amount of white space allowed before hyphenating.
(d) The hyphens are inserted only at the required points and are removed if the text
is later reformatted differently. Manually inserted soft hyphens remain taking up
space in the text.
F Words with an initial capital letter are not hyphenated as it is not
recommended to hyphenate names. This applies to most languages, with
the notable exception of German in which all nouns begin with a capital
letter.
F The last word of a paragraph will not be hyphenated. A word enclosed in
single or double quotes will not be hyphenated.
Using Hyphenation
How to use automatic hyphenation
The file 'BRT.HYP' (for British English hyphenation) must be present in the spelling
checker path directory. Hyphenation only works in conjunction with right justification.
Enabling and disabling hyphenation
There is an option in the Editing Options menu in Config: 'Automatic hyphenation'.
Set this to ON and Protext will always hyphenate when formatting text.
The same option is present in the Document Settings dialogue to enable or disable
hyphenation for the current document. This setting will be saved with the document.
Other languages
The hyphenation files for other languages are supplied with the spell checking
dictionary, available separately. The German version makes appropriate spelling changes
when hyphenating, for example 'Drucker' becomes 'Druk-ker' and 'Schiffahrt' becomes
'Schiff-fahrt'.
Controlling the frequency of hyphenation
The hyphenation factor is a measure of Protext's readiness to hyphenate. It may be set
to any number between 1 and 255. The number expresses as a percentage the ratio
between soft spaces (inserted by Protext when formatting) and hard spaces (inserted by
pressing the space bar). No hyphenation will occur until the number of soft spaces on a
line is such that the configured hyphenation factor is exceeded. This description strictly
applies only to fixed pitch printing, if using proportional the exact meaning of the
hyphenation factor is slightly different, though it is used in the same way.
There is an option in the Editing Options menu in Config: 'Hyphenation factor'. Set
this to the required level of hyphenation. Alternatively, the factor can be set in the
Document Settings dialogue.
At a setting of 100%, Protext will not hyphenate until there is one full extra space
between each word. The default hyphenation factor may be set using Config (see
'Configuration options').
To hyphenate more frequently decrease the setting. 50% would allow only half a space
between each word. (The spaces can be divided evenly if using microspacing or
proportional printing).
To hyphenate less frequently increase the setting. With the maximum setting of 255%
Protext would not hyphenate until there were 2 extra spaces between each word.
Preventing hyphenation of a particular word
If a word is preceded by a soft hyphen (press CTRL and hyphen) it will not be
hyphenated during formatting.
14. Find and Replace
Summary
This chapter covers:
Finding text
Finding special characters
Using the Find and Replace commands
Examples of Find and Replace
Preparing a find command
Two menu options, 'Find text' and 'Replace text' are provided on the 'Edit' menu.
They allow searching through text for any string of characters and, if specified,
replacing them with a second string.
Selecting Find or Replace will bring up the find dialogue box, which looks like this:
The text entry field for the Replace string will only be available for the replace
command. Unless you are editing the text entry field, options may be selected by
typing the appropriate letters. Pressing RETURN on its own will cause no options to be
selected.
Options available
The options available are as follows:
All Find or replace all strings automatically. Replace will change all
occurrences of the string with the new one, without requesting
confirmation and return a figure of the total number of replacements
made. In the case of Find being used, it will simply return the total
number of occurrences of the string.
Backwards Search backwards. Searches from the cursor position to the start of
the document, or from the end if Global is also selected.
Case specific Case specific search. If selected all letters will only match letters that
are the same case, otherwise either capitals or lower case letters will
be treated as being the same.
Global Global search. If selected the whole text is searched from the start,
otherwise only the text from the current cursor position to the end
of the text.
ignore Spaces Ignore any spaces in the text while attempting to match the search
string.
Word Find string only if it appears as a complete word. For example to
find occurrences of the word 'and' without finding 'hand' or
'England'.
Number Find or replace the nth occurrence. The entry field should be a
number between 1 and 255. This option has a number of uses, but
a simple example might be to check that every set of quotation
marks has a matching closing set. The find string would be '"',
Number would be set to 2 and Global would be selected.
marked block This causes the operation only to apply to the selected block, rather
than to the whole text.
Disk files The operation applies to the files given with the given file spec. If no
file spec. Is given, then all files excluding backup files will be
searched.
Memory docs The operation applies to all files open in memory.
Current doc The operation applies to the current document.
If no options are selected the search will be forwards, from the current cursor position
to the first occurrence of the string, ignoring the case of letters, finding the string even
if it occurs as part of a longer word, and asking for confirmation before replacing a
string.
Wildcards
Any number of wildcards are allowed in the string. A wildcard is a character that
matches any character in the text, except the return character. It is entered in the string
by typing a question mark (?).
The wildcard character '?' can be used in replace strings. There must be at least as
many wildcards in the find string as in the replace string. The meaning is 'leave the
corresponding wildcard character unaltered'. This can be extremely useful. As one
example, suppose a list of code numbers of the form 'NEW12345' has to be changed
so that the numbers are all in the form '12345/OLD'. To do this, use the Replace
command, with the Find string as 'NEW?????' and the Replace string as '?????/OLD'
Finding special characters
There are various characters that cannot be entered directly, but that it may be useful
to include in a search string. These include return characters and printer control codes.
Provision has been made for including these in a string, by means of an 'escape
character'. The escape character (!) should be typed in, followed by a symbol, number
or letter, as appropriate. Thus to search for a printer control code, type '!', followed
by the code letter.
The full list of characters that are entered by this means is:
Code Meaning
!. hard return (end of paragraph)
!_ non-break hyphen
!- soft hyphen
! non-break space
!~ footnote marker
!= spell ignore marker
!* index word marker
!# index phrase marker
!| indent tab
! printer control code
!$ style code
!% colour code (r,g,b,c,m,y,k)
! decimal ascii code [n]
!! !
!? ?
!' '
!" "
? Any single character
F A tab character may be entered simply by pressing the TAB key. It
is displayed as a right pointing triangle.
Using find and replace
Using the Find command
Once the string and any options have been selected, edit mode is entered and the
cursor placed on the first character of the first occurrence of the string. To find the
next occurrence of the string, the F6 key should be pressed. This need not be done
immediately. Editing can be carried out first and when complete, the search may be
continued by pressing F6. At any stage, F5 can be used to search back towards the
beginning, if necessary.
If the All option is selected, Protext will display the total number of occurrences found
when the search is complete.
Find word at cursor
It is often useful, while editing, to move directly to the next occurrence of the word on
screen at the cursor position. This can be done either from the 'Edit' menu or by the
following keys:
SHIFT-CTRL-F5 move back to previous occurrence of word
SHIFT-CTRL-F6 move forward to next occurrence
Using the Replace command
The cursor will be positioned on the first character of the string and a dialogue box will
be displayed giving the options 'Replace and continue', 'Skip and continue', 'Replace
and stop' and 'Cancel'. Either click on the appropriate button or press the indicated
key. Pressing 'Y' will replace the string with the new one and the cursor will move to
the next occurrence. Pressing 'N' will leave the string untouched and move the cursor
to the next occurrence. Pressing 'X' (exit) will replace the string and return to edit
mode. Alternatively ESC may be pressed and normal editing resumed without changing
the string. At a later time, F6 may be pressed to resume the find and replace
operation. Alternatively F5 may be used to resume the search in the reverse direction,
which may be found useful if an occurrence of the string is passed over by pressing 'N'
in error.
If the All option is selected then all occurrences of the string are replaced without
prompting. When complete a count of the total number of changes made will be
displayed.
When replacing a string the case of the string being replaced is preserved unless the find
and replace string were typed in different cases (see examples (f) and (g) below).
Multi-file search
Disk file search
When the 'Disk files' option is selected, Protext will search through a set of files
identified by a file specification typed into the 'File spec' text box. When a match is
found the file will be loaded for editing with the string highlighted. When the 'next find'
key is pressed the search will continue, first in the same file and when the end of the file
is reached onto the next file. If a file has been edited the chance to save it will be given
before moving on to the next file.
Wildcards may be used in the file specifications. If no file specification is given all text
files in the current directory will be searched (Protext will automatically skip non-text
files such as programs and backup files with the extension '.BAK'). A list of file
specifications may be given, separated by spaces or commas.
The other options may be used with Disk file search with some provisos:
Global - this is not relevant as there is no cursor position in a file on disk. The
search will always begin at the start of the first file.
All Memory docs - this is ignored, the disk search takes precedence.
Backwards - this is ignored, searching is always forwards.
Usually when the disk search is complete none of the files will remain in memory. If
you wish to keep a file for working on later, then swap to a new file when the match is
displayed (Swap Menu/New File). Press the next find key (F6) and the search will
resume, keeping the previous file in memory.
Replace in disk files
The 'Disk files' option may be used with Replace. When a string is found and replaced
in a file, that file will be saved when the end is reached. The original version will remain
as the backup (.BAK).
Memory file search
The 'All memory docs' will search through all the files open in memory. When a
match is found Protext will swap to the relevant file with the string highlighted. When
the 'next find' key is pressed the search will continue, first in the same file and when
the end of the file is reached onto the next file.
The other options may be used with Memory file search with some provisos:
Global - this is assumed, the memory search always begins at the start of the
current file.
Backwards - this is ignored, search is always forwards. When an occurrence is
found, the 'Previous find' key may be used to go back, but only within the
current file.
Examples
(a) To find all occurrences of the word 'text' in lower case only, starting at the cursor
position.
Find string: text
Options: Case sensitive, Word
(b) To convert all occurrences of 'rom' or 'Rom' to 'ROM', asking for confirmation
of each replacement.
Find string: rom
Replace with: ROM
Options: Global, Word
(c) To find the 12th 8 letter word.
Find string: ????????
Options: Global, Word, Number: 12
(d) To replace bold codes, changing the on and off codes to different typesetting
commands.
Find string: !b
Replace string:
Options: All, Global, Number: 2
Find string: !b
Replace string:
Options: All, Global
(e) To match '1,2' '1, 2' and '1 , 2'
Find String: 1,2
Options: ignore Spaces
(f) To force all occurrences of 'Protext' and 'protext' to upper case in all documents
in memory.
Find String: Protext
Replace String: PROTEXT
Options: Global, All
Range: All, Memory docs
(g) To change all occurrences of 'Arnor' to 'Protext' and 'ARNOR' to 'PROTEXT'
(preserving the original case) in all document files (excluding backup files) in the
current directory.
Find String: arnor
Replace String: protext
Options: All, Global
Range: Disk files
File Spec: *.*
(h) To count the occurrences of 'election' in .DOC and .TXT files on disk.
Find String: election
Options: Disk files, All
File spec: *.DOC *.TXT
15. Languages and Special Symbols
Summary
This chapter covers:
Accents
Special characters
Choose character window
Line drawing
Introduction
Protext is capable of being used with most European languages and supports the use of
accents and special characters.
Characters containing accents may be typed in during the course of editing and will
appear correctly on screen.
The base character should be entered first and then immediately followed by ALT and
the appropriate accent key (see below for details of keys). The accent will then be
positioned over the character. The keys have been selected for their visual similarity to
the accent they produce.
If an accent is required by itself, press space followed by the accent key. Should any of
the accent characters be required frequently it is possible to re-define the keys to give
just the accent, or to put the accented character in a macro on a suitable key.
F With non-English keyboard layouts it is usual to type the accent before the
letter. Accent keys that work in this way are called 'dead accent keys'.
Accents
ALT-' acute
SHIFT-ALT-~ breve
SHIFT-ALT-^ caron (hcek)
ALT-^ circumflex
ALT-" diaeresis/umlaut
SHIFT-ALT-' double acute
ALT-\ grave
ALT-_ macron
SHIFT-ALT-. overdot
ALT-% ring
ALT-~ tilde
SHIFT-ALT-, cedilla
ALT-; ogonek
Special characters
In addition, the following keys are predefined to produce:-
Key to press Character
ALT-C c cedilla
ALT-E ae diphthong
ALT-L l slash (Polish)
ALT-N n tilde
ALT-O o slash
The above characters can be entered in upper case by pressing SHIFT and ALT.
PC: In text mode and are displayed as and on the screen but
print correctly.
ALT-H Half
ALT-M Mu
ALT-Q Quarter
ALT-S Double s (German)
ALT- Left arrow
ALT- Right arrow
ALT- Up arrow
ALT- Down arrow
ALT-< Opening quotes (French).
ALT-> Closing quotes (French).
ALT-? Inverted question mark
ALT-! Inverted exclamation mark
F The ALT- combinations are defined as macros, so care should be
taken when selecting keys for macros, if any of these characters are
required. An explanation of the way to remove existing macro definitions
is given in the 'Macros and Glossary' chapter.
The choose character window
The 'Choose character' option in the 'Edit' menu allows any of the available characters
to be entered into the text. A window is displayed showing all the characters which may
be selected by moving the cursor keys and pressing RETURN or by clicking on the
required character. This method is recommended for characters that are used only
occasionally.
Changing the keyboard layout
Protext can configure the keyboard to use a number of different layouts for different
languages. This will normally be done using Config when Protext is first installed, but it
can sometimes be useful to temporarily change layout while editing. This can be done
by pressing SHIFT, ALT and a function key. The function keys select languages as
follows:
SHIFT-ALT-F1 U.S. English SHIFT-ALT-F7 Swedish
SHIFT-ALT-F2 U.K. English SHIFT-ALT-F8 Danish
SHIFT-ALT-F3 French SHIFT-ALT-F9 Norwegian
SHIFT-ALT-F4 German SHIFT-ALT-F10 Portuguese
SHIFT-ALT-F5 Spanish SHIFT-ALT-F11 Icelandic
SHIFT-ALT-F6 Italian
Graphic Characters
PC Certain keys on the numeric pad have also been configured to
produce some of the IBM graphics characters (IBM PC version only).
SHIFT-CTRL-Keypad1 produces a 'lower left corner', SHIFT-
CTRL-Keypad2, a horizontal line, SHIFT-CTRL-Keypad3, a 'lower
right corner' and so on, using the number keys round the outside of
the pad. SHIFT-CTRL-Keypad4 and SHIFT-CTRL-Keypad6 are used
for other functions so SHIFT-CTRL-Keypad8 gives a vertical line.
Characters not normally available may be entered using ALT and the
keypad numbers. This is similar to the facility available under
MS-DOS with the difference that a leading zero must be typed. For
example the Greek letter alpha may be entered by typing:
ALT-0224 (hold ALT while typing the numbers)
The code numbers for other characters will be listed in the MS-DOS
manual.
F If any of the other graphics shapes are required, they may be entered into
the text using the choose character window (see above).
Line drawing
A much easier way of using the line graphics is provided by 'line drawing mode'.
Corner symbols are inserted automatically as well as the appropriate characters when
lines meet or cross. There are two commands to engage line drawing mode:
CTRL-F7 turns on line drawing using the line graphics.
CTRL-F8 asks for a character to be typed and then turns on line
drawing mode. In this case the lines will be drawn simply
using the chosen character.
To draw lines hold down ALT-, ALT-, ALT- or ALT- and a line will be drawn in
the chosen direction. Either CTRL-F7 or CTRL-F8 will subsequently turn line drawing
mode off. To erase a line previously drawn use CTRL-F8 and press the space bar. Then
retrace the line with ALT and the cursor keys.
ST Use SHIFT-CTRL instead of ALT. ALT with the cursor keys is used
on the ST to move the mouse pointer.
Either single or double lines may be used for drawing lines and boxes. Selecting 'Line
drawing' from the 'Option' menu calls up a dialogue box with buttons to choose single
lines, double lines or a character.
The keyboard commands for line drawing are:
CTRL-F7 line drawing on/off
CTRL-F8 drawing with a character on/off
SHIFT-CTRL-F7 switch between single and double lines
ALT- draw lines (ST: use SHIFT-CTRL-)
The type of line may be changed at any time. Single and double lines may be used
together and may cross. The status line indicates the type of line or character being
used.
Double line characters can only be printed on a printer which contains the IBM
character set.
Printer requirements
Not all printers will be able to print all the accents or line graphics. Most laser printers,
inkjet printers and 24 pin dot matrix printers will print most of the accents and
characters. Virtually all printers other than daisywheels will print line graphics.
16. Miscellaneous Editing Commands
Summary
This chapter covers:
Quitting Protext
Large files
Automatic Save
View options
Editing options
Display options
Word counting
Quitting Protext
When you have finished using Protext the 'Quit Protext' option on the 'File' menu will
close down the program. Warnings will be given if any documents, macros or glossary
entries remain unsaved, or if text is still being printed from Protext's buffer. It is
recommended that you quit Protext before switching off the computer as this will
ensure that any temporary files used by Protext will be deleted.
Large files
Editing large files
Protext is capable of handling large files very efficiently and the only limit on the size of
the files which can be edited is the capacity of the disk drives. It must be remembered
that very large files cannot be totally loaded into memory at one time, and as editing
continues and progress is made through a long document, Protext will automatically
save parts of the document as temporary files.
As a result, when floppy disks are being used, it is preferable to start editing a large file
with as empty a disk as possible.
F It should also be remembered that there must be sufficient space on the
text disk to save the amended file when editing is completed. By default,
Protext renames the original version of the file so that it has a '.BAK'
suffix. Config contains an option to turn off this facility, in which case the
old version will be erased. When working with large files, it may be
beneficial to turn the BAK option off, but it should be appreciated that
there are inherent dangers in doing so, in that there is no longer a back up
of the file to use if necessary.
In the event that the document becomes so large that there is no room left for the
temporary files to fit, a 'Disk full' message will be issued. If this happens, it will usually
be possible to delete one or two files from the disk or drive to make room, before
continuing. For example the disk might have copies of the help files on it, in which case
deleting these would give more space. Once this situation has been reached, it is worth
considering whether the document should be broken down into smaller parts if further
editing is required.
Warning: While using Protext do not delete files called PROTEXT.$L$,
PROTEXT.$T$ and similar. These are temporary files that Protext is using.
Other than the points mentioned above, editing of large documents is exactly the same
as editing any other document. It should also be remembered that the CTRL-[ and
CTRL-] commands move to the start and end of the text in memory, not the start and
end of the whole document. With a small document this will be the same thing, but if
the start or end of a long document is required, then CTRL-[ or CTRL-] should be
pressed a second time.
PC The 16 bit edition of Protext can only hold up to 64K of a document
in memory at a time. It is advisable therefore to keep document sizes
under 64K as editing will be slower with larger files.
The 32 bit edition uses extended memory and can hold very large
documents all in memory. It is quite practical to edit files of 500K or
more.
Timed automatic save (Autosave)
When this option is chosen in Config, Protext will, after each specified time interval, if
the file has been changed, save a copy of the file. If the file size is larger than a value
specified with Config (default 10K) a dialogue box gives the option to save the
document. If no response is given to this dialogue box within 30 seconds, the
document will be saved anyway - thus protecting the data if the computer is left with
the file unsaved.
When a file is automatically saved, it is given the extension '.SAV'. For example if the
file being edited is called 'REPORT' and the file is lost (for example due to a power
failure), the file can be recovered by loading 'REPORT.SAV' and saving this as
'REPORT'.
This '.SAV' will be stored in the same directory as the original file, unless the file was
loaded from a network drive, in which case it will be saved in the temporary text path
directory. If the file has not been named it will also be saved in the temporary text path
directory and will be called 'PROTEXT1.SAV' or similar.
The autosaved file is deleted when the file it relates to is saved or abandoned.
Restoring autosaved files
To restore a previously saved version of a document, use 'Restore autosaved file' in the
'File' menu. If you have lost data, for example due to a power failure, you should first
reload the last saved copy of the document, then use 'Restore autosaved file'. This will
recover the most recent autosaved copy, if available. This must be done before saving
the document again.
Viewing without control codes
Control codes of various kinds (printer control codes, style codes, markers) are
normally displayed in the text in inverse video. This means that the formatting of the
text (tabulated columns of figures, right-justification) may be unclear. Pressing F4 from
the menu changes the display of printer control codes as well as other special markers
such as index markers. Displaying all codes is most useful when it is required to make
changes to those codes that have been entered. This option shows exactly what codes
have been stored in the text and in what order. The F4 key is therefore a very
important function. The control codes affected are as follows:
Printer control codes (a-z), style codes (A-Z and $), colour codes (shown as %), block
markers ([, ]), place markers (0-9 and ?), special markers (=, * and #) non-break
spaces, and soft hyphens (-).
The effect of pressing F4 depends on which of 3 view states Protext is in at the time.
The first state is 'all control codes hidden' or full wysiwyg. Pressing F4 then takes you
to the second state which is 'all control codes visible'. In this second state attributes
such as underlining are not shown, except by the control code. Pressing F4 returns to
the first state.
The third state may not be entered by pressing F4 but occurs when a control code
other than one of those attributes shown on screen is entered, for example
'condensed'. The control code just entered is displayed, as are codes for all attributes
not shown on screen.
Similarly when an index marker is entered just the index and spell ignore markers are
displayed. When a place marker is entered just the other place markers are shown.
Pressing F4 from these states hides all control codes and subsequently switches between
showing all or no codes.
Protext will display certain characteristics on the screen ('wysiwyg' style). The
characteristics displayed and the method depends on the system being used.
PC If a colour monitor is being used bold, underlining and italics will be
shown by using different colours. The colours may be configured
using Config. If a monochrome (Hercules) adaptor is being used,
underlining and bold are shown naturally.
Additionally, when graphics mode is being used, bold, underlining
and italics are shown as such. VGA and EGA usually show different
colours for these attributes as well. Subscript and superscript are
shown on VGA, MCGA and EGA.
ST The following attributes are shown on screen while editing: bold,
underlining, italics, subscript, superscript.
Viewing tabs, hard returns and hard spaces
The command CTRL-V T toggles the display of tab characters and hard returns on and
off. A tab is shown as a right pointing triangle and a hard return as a cranked left
pointing arrow. A second use of this command will turn the display off again.
The command CTRL-V S will display all hard spaces (those that are typed in at the
keyboard) as a shaded pattern on the screen. Pressing CTRL-V S a second time will
restore the display to normal.
These options are primarily intended for the purpose of viewing where the various
characters have been placed, particularly when sorting out complicated layouts and by
default they are in the 'OFF' setting when Protext is loaded. Some people prefer to
have some or all of these options in operation at all times and the Config program
provides the option to adjust the defaults.
Page break lines
The command CTRL-V P will turn on and off the display of page break lines. Page
breaks are shown by a thick line extending over the full width of the screen.
Viewing options
The view options dialogue provides precise control over whether the above and other
features are displayed by Protext. It is found on the 'Options' menu. The Default
button returns the settings to those stored in the CFG file.
Special Editing Options
The Editing Options dialogue
The Editing Options dialogue contains a wide variety of editing options. They mirror
functions available in various parts of Protext. You should consult the relevant section
of the manual for details of the options.
Automatic indentation
This feature, which is only available in program mode, is particularly useful when
editing programs written in a block structured language such as C or Modula 2. When
auto indent is enabled the effect of the RETURN key is modified. Instead of moving
the cursor to column 1 the cursor is moved to the column that contains the first non-
blank character on the line above. Thus it becomes much easier to type indented blocks
of code.
To turn auto indent on or off, type SHIFT-CTRL-I. Alternatively Config may be used
to select auto indent as the default.
When RETURN is pressed, tabs are inserted at the start of the line. The level of
indenting can easily be changed.
Press RETURN and TAB to indent a further level.
Press RETURN and DEL to come out one level.
Add column or row of figures
The addition function is used from the 'Tools' menu. Selecting the 'Addition mode'
option puts Protext into addition mode. The word 'Total' will be displayed on the
status line to indicate this, together with the running total.
At this point the calculated sum is reset to zero. To add numbers that are on the screen
simply move the cursor over the numbers. Thus a column can be added by pressing
or to move the cursor over the column, or a row by pressing or . Alternatively
click on the required numbers with the mouse and Protext will add all numbers visited.
When all the required numbers have been added use the menu option 'End addition' to
cancel addition mode. To insert the result in the text place the cursor at the required
position and use the menu option 'Insert result'. This also terminates the addition so if
the cursor is in the correct place there is no need to use 'End addition' as well. The
result is inserted showing the maximum number of decimal places used in the data.
Expression evaluation
The 'Calculate expression' dialogue is available from the 'Tools' menu.
This dialogue allows you to calculate the value of mathematical expressions such as
(2.1+2.4)*2.7. You can then insert the result of the calculation into the text to a
specified number of decimal places.
Date and time
Keys are defined to insert the current date or time into a document.
ALT-D Inserts date into text
ALT-T Inserts time into text
F The date inserted by these commands is today's date. It does not change.
See the reference manual entry on sys_date and sys_time for details of
how to insert an updated date or time.
Display options
43 and 50 line displays
PC EGA/VGA/MCGA/Hercules Graphics adapters only
Pressing ALT-F in edit mode will switch between the normal 25 line
display and a display with more lines. On an EGA or Hercules
monitor there will be 43 lines, on a VGA there will typically be 50
lines. On an ST in high resolution mode there will be 50 lines.
Pressing ALT-F again will restore the 25 line display. Note that ALT-
F is defined as a macro and may be redefined.
These functions only work on EGA, VGA, MCGA and Hercules
displays.
ST These functions only work on mono screens.
Graphics and text modes
PC Protext will work in most text or graphics display modes. To change
between text and graphics press ALT-G. This will work in
conjunction with ALT-F to change the number of lines displayed,
allow the selection of 25 line text, 43/50 line text, 25 line graphics
and 43/50 line graphics. These display options can also be selected
using Config so that a given setting is always used.
If the display adaptor being used supports other modes, for example
VGA modes with more rows or columns, then Protext will probably
be able to use these modes. Simply select the required mode using
the VGA system software and Protext will in most cases
automatically recognise and use the available lines and columns.
Graphics mode is required for the following:
Display of italics, bold and underlining (except monochrome text
mode which shows only bold and underlining). Display of accents on
characters, other than those characters included in the standard
character set (see character table in reference guide). Display of
certain other symbols such as o-slash and l-slash.
Text mode has two advantages - screen operations are faster and it
uses slightly less memory. In practice the speed is only significant
when the screen is scrolling.
40 column display
PC Protext may used with a 40 column display. The mode may be
selected with a DOS command before running Protext:
MODE CO40
When using the 40 column display the menus and some of the
dialogue boxes may not be used.
If using a monochrome screen which shows shades of grey for the
different colours, Protext may be instructed to use only black and
white. This may be necessary if certain colours are difficult to
distinguish. The computer should be put into black and white mode
before running Protext with the command:
MODE BW80
ST If the GEM desktop is using low resolution (40 column) mode,
Protext will run in this mode. To run with an 80 column display on a
colour monitor the 'Set Preferences' option in the Options menu
should be used to select medium or high resolution mode before
running Protext.
When using the 40 column display the menus and some of the
dialogue boxes may not be used.
Word count and Document analysis
The 'Word count/analysis' option in the 'Tools' menu has a number of options. When
the document's words have been counted, a dialogue box appears. The number of
words in the text is shown together with buttons for access to extra information:
Pages lists the number of lines on every page of the document. This is useful
for a quick check that no page breaks have occurred in inconvenient
places.
Summary shows some statistics about the text. The information shown is:
a count of the number of characters, words, lines, sentences,
paragraphs, pages and of the number of different words used.
the average word length (characters per word)
the average sentence length (words)
the average page length (words)
Alphabetical lists all the words used in the document with the number of times each
word is used.
Numerical the same information as 'Alphabetical' but shown in descending order
of the number of occurrences.
17. Multiple File Editing
Summary
This chapter covers:
Editing many files
Copying text between files
Split screen editing
Linking files
Introduction
Protext provides the facility to work on several documents at the same time. These
documents are maintained quite separately and are loaded and saved individually. Any
operation can be carried out on one document without affecting the others, the cursor
location and all markers being maintained separately for each document. Blocks of text
can be copied between one document and another.
Choosing a document
To edit a different document, the 'Swap' menu should be used. This menu lists all the
documents that are currently open for editing. If only one file has been loaded so far
the menu will show that file and also an entry for 'New file'. Selecting 'New File' from
this menu or from the 'File' menu, will switch out the current document and leave an
empty document. The new document should be loaded in the normal way. The 'Swap'
menu will now show the names of the two open files and 'New File'. To load a third
document select 'New File' and proceed as before.
To switch between documents simply use the 'Swap' menu and select the required
document. Switching to a new document will cause the information on the status lines
to change to suit the current document, enabling easy recognition of which document is
being worked on. If a colour display is being used the status line colour will change
when documents are swapped.
Alternatively pressing ALT and a function key will swap to the document number
corresponding to the function key.
To show the list of currently open documents look at the 'Swap' menu. Here a tick
indicates that a file has been changed and not saved.
Copying a block between documents
At any time that two or more documents are open, two of them occupy a special
position. One is the current file and the other is the alternate file, which is used for
copying blocks.
In edit mode, CTRL-Y swaps between the current and alternate document, making the
alternate the new current and vice versa.
When only two files are open the non-current file will always be the alternate file. To
change the current file either load a new file or swap to an already open file using the
'Swap' menu. To change the alternate file do the same but press CTRL-Y before and
after. By splitting the screen (see below), this process is made much easier as both the
current and alternate files are always visible.
The CTRL-O (letter o) command is used to copy text from the alternate document to
the current.
Before a block of text can be copied over, the block should be marked out using the
markers in the normal fashion. Typing CTRL-Y will swap files and the cursor should be
positioned where the text is required. If CTRL-O is then pressed, the block will be
copied across at the current cursor position.
If the original text is no longer required, CTRL-Y should be pressed again, to return to
the original document, followed by pressing CTRL-DEL, to delete the original text.
Boxes may also be copied between the two files by selecting box mode in the file
containing the box to be copied.
To transfer text from one file to another - load the first file, press CTRL-Y, load the
second file, use CTRL-O to copy the blocks required into the first file, then save it.
This is quicker than using SB (save block), loading the other file and merging the saved
block of text into the document and finally resaving it.
Split screen editing
The 'Swap' menu gives the option to split the screen so that two documents (the
current and the alternate) may be viewed at the same time. The screen will be split
horizontally across the middle. The number of lines allocated to each file can be altered
by dragging the dividing bar up or down.
When the screen is split, CTRL-Y still swaps from one document to the other. The
flashing cursor will move from the top to the bottom or vice versa, and the status line
colour will change.
The status line always shows the information for the file in the top window, while the
dividing bar shows limited information about the bottom file. If full information is
required while editing the bottom file, the two windows can be exchanged using the
'Swap' menu or by pressing SHIFT-CTRL-Y.
Linked files
When the screen is split into two windows the files can be linked so that a single
command will scroll both windows.
To link the files use the 'Link files' option in the 'Swap' menu. Then SHIFT- and
SHIFT- will scroll both files at the same time. This is useful when the two files contain
related data, such as when translating, as the information can be synchronised. Selecting
the 'Link files' option again will stop file linking.
18. Printing
Summary
This chapter covers:
Printer drivers
Printer control codes
Colours
Print dialogue
Print preview
Background printing
Microspacing
Printer drivers
Protext is supplied with a number of printer drivers to suit a wide range of printers and
the drivers to be used will be selected as part of the installation process. The
PROTEXT.CFG configuration file contains details of the default printer driver to be
loaded at the same time as Protext.
A printer driver is a collection of codes that a particular printer uses, including the
codes for effects such as underlining and bold. With one exception (the 'simple printer
driver') all printer drivers are stored as files with the suffix '.PPD' (Protext Printer
Driver).
The simple printer driver is built in to the program and is designed to work with
virtually all printers, since it uses no special codes, but just assumes that the printer is
capable of backspacing. The simple printer driver only supports underlining and
boldface print.
F It should be noted that not all printers have all the facilities mentioned in
this chapter.
When Protext is initially loaded, it will automatically load the default printer driver
specified in the PROTEXT.CFG configuration file. If no printer driver is specified, or
for any reason the specified driver is not found, Protext will automatically configure
itself for a simple printer. The name of the driver that has been loaded will be displayed
on the screen.
Different printer drivers may be loaded at any time using the 'Load Printer Driver'
command from the 'Print' menu.
What are printer control codes?
Printer control codes are used to control the special features of a printer, such as
underlining, different sizes and styles of print, subscripts, superscripts and selecting
different character sets.
Each model of printer has its own control codes and Protext needs to know what
printer control codes the printer in use requires to carry out the different type styles
and effects. This information is stored in the printer driver.
Protext's printer control codes are special single characters, which are embedded into
the text while editing. These are recognised as such by Protext when it is sending text to
the printer, at which point it substitutes the sequence of numbers appropriate to the
code and sends those to the printer instead. The result of this is that once a suitable
driver has been created (if necessary), inserting a single code into the text can have the
effect of sending a complete sequence of codes to the printer.
How to use printer control codes
Printer control codes may be entered anywhere in the text. This is done by typing
CTRL-X followed by a letter, to define the code. Bold, italic and underline may also be
entered more conveniently with ALT-B, ALT-I and ALT-U respectively. Any letter
from 'a' to 'z' can be defined to represent any code but several have been allocated
standard uses covering the most common printing effects:
@ printer reset code
b bold (emphasised)
i italics
q quality (NLQ)
s subscript
t superscript
u underline
When one of these codes is entered, either the effect of the attribute is shown in the
following text or the letter appears in the text in inverse video display. In most cases the
first occurrence of the code turns on the appropriate feature and the second
occurrence turns it off.
For example: To underline a single word, move the cursor to the start of the word and
press ALT-U. Then move the cursor to the end of the word and press ALT-U again.
If a block is set an effect may be applied to the whole block with a single operation.
Move the cursor to the start or end of the block (either on the block marker or on the
character immediately after it) and put in a control code. This will cause two control
codes to be inserted - at the start and end of the block - and will thereby, for example,
italicise the block.
Each printer code occupies one column on the screen, but Protext takes this into
account and when the text is printed, justification will be correct. Any tabulation or
formatting will appear visually wrong when printer codes are visible on the screen, so a
command is included to overcome this problem and allow the text to be viewed
without the printer codes. This is CTRL-V V or F4. Pressing F4 a second time restores
the display of printer codes.
Character pitch
Some further control codes have traditionally been used for selecting pitch. These are
used on many dot matrix printers.
c condensed print
e elite (12 cpi)
l enlarged
n normal (pica) (10 cpi)
p proportional
F This section is not relevant to most laser printers, inkjet printers and dot
matrix printers with multiple proportional fonts. See the next chapter for
an explanation of using different fonts.
Pica and elite are the two most common sizes of fixed pitch printing. Typically the 'n'
and 'e' codes that select these have no meaning for the 'off' code. They are mutually
exclusive styles of print, so turning one off is done by selecting the other.
The proportional code 'p' is slightly different in that turning it on instructs the printer
to use a proportional printing font. The operation of other codes in conjunction with
'p' depends on the printer being used. Proportional printing is covered in detail below.
F Some printers will only commence printing in the new pitch on the line
following the one in which the control code was used.
In addition to the above pitches, it is possible on many printers to use further control
codes to implement condensed or enlarged styles of printing and with most printers this
has the effect of reducing or enlarging the typeface currently in use. In other words,
'condensed elite' and 'condensed pica' are both possible.
Colour printing
If you are using a colour printer the 'Style' menu will include a submenu 'Colours'.
This menu will enable the colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black
to be chosen. A colour control code will be inserted in the text. This will be displayed
as an inverse video % symbol. The status line will show the colour after the style by the
initial letter of the colour in upper case (R, G, B, C, M, Y).
The Print dialogue box
When 'Print text' is selected from the 'Print' menu the print dialogue box appears. This
enables selection of the destination for the output (printer, screen or file) and gives the
choice of various options which are discussed below. If output to file is selected a
filename must be given in the text box provided.
The print dialogue box also appears when 'Print a file' or 'Print block' is selected. In the
case of printing a file, the file selector is called up first so the file to be printed can be
chosen, then the print dialogue box follows.
Print Quality (dot matrix printers)
The Quality (or NLQ, Near Letter Quality) option forces Quality printing, irrespective
of control codes in the document. This means that a draft copy can be printed first,
using the ordinary draft printing and then a final copy produced with the Quality
option set. This assumes that the printer is capable of printing in Quality mode, and
that the codes are set correctly in the printer driver.
Printing selected pages
The page range options allow a first and last page, or a list of individual pages to be
specified. The list of pages may be given in a flexible format.
For example, '3,9,11-13,20-' will print pages 3, 9, 11 to 13 and 20 to the end.
Number of copies
The number of copies to be printed may be specified as a number. If possible, this will
cause the printer to generate several copies of the document. If not, Protext will
generate several copies itself.
Print to the screen or a file
Normally, printing commands send output to the printer. There are two other places to
which printed output can be sent. The print destination may be set as the screen. This
provides a convenient method of checking on page breaks and the visual appearance of
the document, before doing a paper printout. It is also particularly useful for checking
that a mail merge is giving the expected results.
It is also possible to print a document to disk. In this case it is necessary to specify a
filename with the command and this will be the name that the file will be saved with.
The file will contain all the text and control codes that would have been sent to the
printer. Optionally, a second filename may be specified and in this case, a file of that
name will be read from disk and sent to a file with the first filename specified.
This function is useful if your printer is not connected to the same machine as that you
use for running Protext. You can print the document to a file and then send that file to
the printer on the other machine.
Preview
Shows a graphical representation of the document on the screen, one page at a time.
Different size fonts, bold, italic and underlining are shown as they will appear when
printed. Imported graphic images are also shown.
Print preview is indispensable for checking the layout of a document before printing.
After each page is displayed the following actions are available:
1. Type a page number to show a specified page.
2. Press a key to go on to next page. Clicking on the right half of the screen also moves
to the next page.
3. Press to go back a page (note that this requires Protext to recalculate from the
start of the file so to review the last few pages it is much quicker to type the earliest
required page number and move forwards). Clicking on the left half of the screen also
moves to the previous page.
4. Press ESC to finish previewing.
Usage notes:
To get a correct representation of the printed page ensure that the paper size is set up
correctly in Document Settings. It is recommended that Document Settings is used to
define page layout, rather than stored commands. If landscape printing is chosen in
document settings (only available on some printers), the preview will
show a landscape page.
Background printing
All output to the printer passes through Protext's background printer buffer, and the
printing is controlled by the commands described below. The only observable effect
apart from reduced time spent waiting for the printer, should be when printing on
single sheets. In this case, at the end of every page that is sent to the printer, a message
will appear on the screen, as follows:
Press RETURN after inserting next sheet of paper or ESC to stop printing
This message replaces the 'Page n. Press SPACE to print' message, except when using a
print command that only prints some of the pages in a document.
Several menu commands can influence background printing. They are in the 'Print'
menu. 'Pause printing' will temporarily stop any further output being sent to the
printer. The printer may not immediately stop printing, as there will still be some
unprinted information inside it when the command is given. The 'Resume printing'
command will restart the printing process.
The 'Abandon printing' command will immediately stop anything else being sent to the
printer. In some cases this will reset the printer as well, but if may be necessary to reset
the printer.
Microspacing
This is designed to be used with characters of fixed width, for example, a fixed pitch
daisywheel or a non-proportional font on a dot matrix or laser printer.
Microspacing is a means of simulating proportional printing to a degree. Microspacing
evens out the spaces between the words on a line, and so gives a better appearance to
the text. It does not adjust the widths of the characters and would normally only be
used with a printer that was not capable of proportional spacing.
Microspacing will happen automatically on most printers except for 9 pin dot matrix
printers, on which it tends to be very slow and is not recommended.
19. Styles and proportional printing
Summary
This chapter covers:
Protext styles
Scalable fonts
Variable line spacing
Creating and editing styles
Using styles
Proportional printing
Styles
Protext styles are provided to enable the use of different fonts in a document. Up to
26 styles (A to Z) may be defined. A style is a font name and point size (or characters
per inch value for fixed pitch fonts). This may be modified by one or more control
code letters, such as bold or underline. A style has a name (or description) which is
displayed on the status line when the cursor is on a part of the document where that
style is active.
Previous versions of Protext used control codes to select fonts. Style codes have several
advantages over control codes:
1. The definition of a style is held in one place and the document only contains style
change codes. This makes it easy to change the font used in a document without
replacing control codes throughout.
2. Styles can be used to provide a flexible choice of fonts. The control code method
is unwieldy for modern multi-font printers.
3. Style names are displayed on the status line, which makes it easy to see what is
happening in a document.
4. A single style change code in a document is neater than a string of control codes.
Control codes are now used almost exclusively for attributes like bold, underline
and italics and not for font changes. This simplifies the use of fonts and control
codes.
5. Styles facilitate the use of scalable fonts on printers that provide them.
6. Documents using styles can easily be printed on different printers if a similar set of
styles is created for each printer.
Scalable fonts
Protext 6 makes it very easy to use scalable fonts. Earlier versions required a table of
character widths to be added to the printer driver before a particular point size could
be used. Printer drivers for scalable font printers now contain information that enables
Protext to calculate the character widths for any point size when required.
Variable line spacing
The most suitable line spacing for a document depends on the height of the font being
used. Protext 6 features automatic line spacing adjustment. The appropriate line spacing
for the font will be calculated as shown below. The page breaks and margins will take all
line spacing changes into account.
Line spacing
The '>LS' stored command can be used to set the line spacing in lines and hundredths
of lines. A number less than one will squeeze more text onto a page.
>LS 1.25 ; one and a quarter spacing
The distance between lines (sometimes called 'leading') is now given by
line height = line spacing * point size * font spacing
'Font spacing' is explained below. The line count on the status line (if configured to
show lines) will display fractions of a line if a fractional value is used with >LS.
Creating a style
A style is defined using 'Create/edit Style' in the 'Style' menu. Styles A to M are free
for new definitions while N to Z may be defined by the printer driver. However, if
more than 13 styles are needed any of the 26 letters may be used.
All styles that have been created will be shown in the style menu. A style must be given
a name.
To create a style follow these steps:
1. From the 'Style' menu select 'Create/edit' style.
2. Press 'S' or click in the 'Style' text box and enter the required style letter.
3. Press 'N' or click in the 'Name' text box and type in a name for the style.
4. Press 'F' or click in the 'Font' list box and choose a font.
5. Choose a point size or a cpi value from the appropriate list box. Usually (but not
always) only one of these will be needed; the point size for a proportional font
and the cpi value for a fixed pitch font. In the case of a scalable font, point sizes
not shown in the list can be selected by typing a number into the box below the
list. Either click on the box or press TAB until the cursor is in the box.
6. If the font is to be modified by any control codes, type these into the 'Control
codes' text box. To use more than one control code just type a string for letters;
for example BU for bold underlined.
Saving and loading styles
Styles created with the style editor will automatically be saved in the document, no
further action is needed. Extra facilities are provided to create different collections of
styles, which can be saved as style files.
The 'Files' button will call up a further dialogue box which is used for loading and
saving these style files.
There are two sections to the style files dialogue. One is concerned with the printer
driver style file and the other with user style files. The former is associated with the
current printer driver and has the same name as the printer driver with the extension
'.STY'. This 'printer driver style file' will be saved in the same directory as the printer
driver. Saved styles are loaded automatically with the printer driver so it is not normally
necessary to load them.
User style files may be given any name and may be stored in any directory. These are
used by loading as required from the style files dialogue. Style files always have the
extension '.STY'.
Each section of the dialogue has three buttons: 'Load', 'Save' and 'Merge'.
Load Loads styles from the specified style file, replacing those in the style menu
and the current document. This completely replaces all styles, any not
defined in the style file will be erased.
Save Saves the currently defined styles. Saving a printer driver style file sets the
default styles for all new documents using that particular printer driver.
Merge Updates the styles in a document from those in the style file. The style file
will be merged with existing document styles, replacing any with the same
letters and leaving others alone.
F The printer driver style file is typically used to save the 'house style' used
by a company. If changes are made to the house style, the style editor will
be used and these will be saved using the 'Save' button in the style editor.
'Merge' can then be used to update existing documents to the changed
house style.
Font spacing
The font spacing is a number which controls the vertical spacing of text. When auto-
spacing is active Protext calculates the distance between lines (assuming single line
spacing) as:
line height = font spacing * point size
By default, font spacing is 1.2. This can be changed for a style in the style editor.
Setting a smaller value will allow more lines of text to be squeezed in, a larger value will
space it out more.
F When mixing different point sizes on a line the line spacing is taken from
the largest of the point sizes. This is not always required, so to prevent this
use a style for the larger point size and set its font spacing to zero. This
will ensure that the line is spaced as if only the smaller font were used.
Editing a style
Styles can be edited in the same way that they are created. When a previously defined
style letter is typed into the dialogue box the name, font, control codes and font
spacing for that style will be displayed. Any of these can then be modified. Several
styles can be edited without exiting from the style editor; just make the required
changes to each and then edit the style letter box to call up the next.
F Editing styles affects only the styles in the current document (as shown in
the style menu). Style files are not changed unless the 'Save' button in the
style files dialogue is used.
Using styles
To select a style at a given point in a document place the cursor at the point where the
style change is needed and select from the Style menu. A keyboard command can be
used instead. Type:
F7 or SHIFT-CTRL-X
The style change is shown in the text by an inverse video capital letter. Note that
control codes are shown by inverse video lower case letters.
A marked block can be set to a new style. With the cursor on or immediately after one
of the block markers press F7 and the style letter. The chosen code will be inserted at
the start of the block and the previous style code at the end.
The document settings dialogue allows the default style to be set. This style is made
active at the start of the document. This can be used in a document with the special
code F7 &. This enables you to change the default style in document settings without
having to change occurrences throughout the document.
Another special code is F7 $, which reverts to the previous style - it is useful for ending
heading lines that start with a style control code. This means that if the style of the
preceding text is later changed, only one code need be changed.
Using control codes and colour codes in styles
Control codes may be included with a style definition, but may also be used individually
by inserting control codes in the document in the usual way. For example style A may
be set up as Univers 12 point and style B as Univers 12 point bold. Style code A
followed by control code b has the same effect as style code B.
A style change code causes all control codes to be turned off except that quality
printing is retained if it was selected from the print dialogue.
A colour code can also be defined in a style. If a colour printer driver is being used
there will be a text box in the style editor in which a single colour letter can be entered.
The usual letters are used to specify colours: R=red, G=green, B=blue, C=cyan,
M=magenta, Y=yellow.
Using styles to print a document on different printers
Since style definitions refer to font names they will not in general work on different
printers. A style file can be created for each printer being used which equivalent
definitions for the style letters.
For example suppose a document uses three styles - heading, sub-heading and body
text. These might be set up for a LaserJet 4L as follows:
style name font point size codes
A HEADING Univers 15 bold
B SUB-HEADING Univers 12 bold
C BODY TEXT CG Times 10 none
Having defined these styles they can be saved as the file LJ4L.STY. If the same
document is to be printed on a Kyocera laser printer, a separate style file
KYOCERA.STY may be created with these definitions:
style name font point size codes
A HEADING Helve 14 bold
B SUB-HEADING Helve 12 bold
C BODY TEXT Roman 10 none
Note that the style letters and names are the same, only the font names vary. The point
size used for headings is different because 15 point is not available on the Kyocera.
Proportional printing
When printing takes place normally, each character occupies a fixed width space on the
paper. When Protext right-justifies a line, extra spaces are spread out along the line as
evenly as possible. Proportional printing is the process where individual letters occupy
different widths (so for example, 'W' takes more space than 'i'). When combined with
right-justification, typesetting quality can be achieved. It can only be used with printers
which are capable of producing proportionally spaced printing.
Proportional printing can be considered a two part process. One part, controlled by the
printer, is the actual printing of the characters. The second part, which determines how
many characters can be fitted on a line, is controlled by Protext and uses information
about the character widths that is stored in the printer driver. Protext will calculate how
many characters the printer is going to be able to fit on a line.
Many dot matrix and daisy wheel printers have only one proportional printing font.
The printer drivers for these printers are set up so that the printer control code 'p' will
set proportional printing.
Laser and inkjet printers and some dot matrix printers have several proportional fonts
available and style codes are used to select these. The easiest way to select fonts is from
the Style menu.
Proportional printing and editing
Protext calculates the effect of proportional printing when editing as well as printing.
The fonts are not shown proportionally on screen but the correct number of characters
are shown on each line and therefore the page breaks on screen are always in the same
places as on the printout. When proportional text is used, it is not shown right justified
on the screen. Different proportional and fixed pitch fonts may be mixed on any line.
A fixed pitch font is treated as a simple example of a proportional font and so different
sizes (pica, elite, enlarged, condensed) can be mixed.
F Leading spaces in a line can cause problems with alignment of the text.
This can be avoided by making full use of the tabs to create lists and to
inset the start of paragraphs.
F When tabulating data it is recommended that a new ruler line is used with
the minimum number of tab stops so that only a single tab character is
needed between each column.
F It is important that the correct printer driver is loaded while editing as well
as printing, otherwise the text will be formatted using the wrong character
widths and will not correspond to the printout. Tabulated text might also
be displayed wrongly if the wrong printer driver was loaded.
The correct printer driver will automatically be used for each document
even if several documents are being edited all with different drivers.
Protext will switch printer driver when you swap document.
F To ensure correct centring of text, the '>CE' stored command or a
centre tab should be used instead of CTRL-C.
A note on underlining and tabs
If a section of text is underlined and contains tabs at the start of some lines, these tabs
will normally be expanded to spaces and not underlined.
If it is required to underline such a tab, put the underline code immediately before the
tab character (on the same line). To underline subsequent leading tabs, turn off
underlining at the end of the previous line and put another underline code before the
next tab.
It follows from this that to underline a section of text but not the first leading tab the
underline code should be placed after the tab character.
20. Auto-Correct
Summary
This chapter covers:
Auto-Correct applications
Auto-capitalisation
Editing the Auto-Correct database
Auto-Correct applications
Auto-correct is, as the name suggests, a feature which will automatically correct certain
typing mistakes. It can also be used as an abbreviation database as will be seen.
The main function of Auto-Correct is to look at each word that you type, compare it
to a stored list of words and if a match is found to substitute that word with some other
text. The replacement happens after you type a word and press space, TAB or move
the cursor, with the exception of cursor-right and cursor-left.
To prevent Auto-correct replacing the text, press cursor left or right after typing the
word and it will be left unaltered.
Applications of Auto-Correct (replace text) include:
1. Correction of common spelling errors (e.g. seperate -> separate, teh -> the).
2. Substitution of preferred words to follow the house style (e.g. disk -> diskette,
ProText -> Protext).
3. Use of abbreviations to ease typing long repeated phrases (e.g. EU -> European
Union).
Auto-capitalisation
The second function of Auto-Correct is correction of capitalisation mistakes. If this
feature is enabled, Protext will:
1. Capitalise the first word of each new sentence (after you type a full stop,
exclamation mark or question mark).
2. Correct the common typing mistake of typing two capital letters at the start of a
word (e.g. LOndon -> London).
3. Capitalise the first word of proper nouns. If typing in German, capitalise the first
letter of all nouns (e.g. german -> German).
Note: The last two of these capitalisation options only work if spell checking whilst
typing is turned on. This is because the spelling dictionaries are used for these features.
Auto-Correct Commands and Options
SHIFT-CTRL-A may be used to turn Auto-Correct on and off.
There are two options in CONFIG (Spell menu) allowing each of the two functions of
Auto-Correct to be turned on or off:
Auto-Correct (replace text)
Auto-Correct (Capitalisation)
The second option (capitalisation) is only effective if the first option is ON. So the
three available options are (i) all Auto-Correct features enabled, (ii) just the text
replacing feature enabled and (iii) Auto-Correct off.
Editing the Auto-Correct database
Protext is supplied with a small sample of Auto-Correct entries. If not wanted, these
may be deleted with the Auto-Correct editor.
The editor can also be used to add new entries and change or delete existing entries.
Use Option Menu/Edit Auto-Correct database. Operation is the same as the macro
editor (see Macro chapter).
If you own a copy of Prodata, this may also be used to edit the Auto-Correct database.
This is possible because the method of storage is the same as for Prodata. The Auto-
Correct database is, simply, a Prodata database. This ensures fast operation for a very
large number of entries. Prodata is not needed, but would be useful in creating and
maintaining large Auto-Correct lists.
The Auto-Correct list is stored in three files, called PROCORR.PFD, PROCORR.PFX
and PROCORR.PFP. All three must be copied together to make a backup. For use in
Protext, the files should be present in the spelling checker path directory (usually
\PROTEXT\LEX on your chosen drive).
Adding words during spell checking
When a word is unrecognised by the spell checker, it produces a dialog with a list of
suggested alternatives. You can pick a suggested word, or edit the wrong word and
store them directly into the auto-correct database by selecting the 'Learn' button (see
spell checking chapter).
Format of Auto-Correct abbreviations
Auto-Correct abbreviations (or words for correction) must start with a letter and may
include letters, digits, and punctuation symbols.
A pair of words separated by a single space may also be added to the database.
Whenever the two words are typed they will be replaced with the expansion string.
Program mode
The text replacement feature of Auto-Correct may be used in program mode and may
be turned on and off independently of the document mode setting.
21. Spelling Checker
Summary
This chapter covers:
Overview of the spelling checker
Use of dictionaries
Typographical checking
Checking a document, or parts of it
Spelling checker utilities
User dictionary editor
Exclusion dictionary
Overview
What can the Spelling Checker do?
The Spelling checker can do several things. First and foremost it will proof read a
document and find most mistakes. This includes simple typing mistakes as well as words
that are incorrectly spelt. It will draw attention to these mistakes. It will not, and
cannot, automatically correct them. It will check the text very quickly and it provides
convenient methods for correcting the mistakes. The spelling checker is an integrated
part of Protext.
The spelling checker works in a way that is fundamentally the same as would be used to
check spellings using a traditional dictionary. This dictionary, however, is contained on
a disk, and whereas normally only words about which there was some uncertainty
would be looked up, it may be made to look up every single word in the dictionary, at
a speed that could not be approached manually.
Although the spelling checker cannot automatically correct mistakes it does have one
feature that goes a long way towards this. In many cases it is able to find the correct
word in its dictionary. This is possible because most typing and spelling mistakes can be
categorised by a few general rules.
One unavoidable limitation to be aware of is that if a word is misspelt, but the
misspelling is also a valid word, then this will not be recognised as an error. A program
that did this would be a 'context checker', and development of such programs is
included in the research into artificial intelligence being carried out at universities
throughout the world.
How the spelling checker decides what is a word
A word is any group of characters starting with a letter, and containing letters and
possibly apostrophes or hyphens. Capital letters are distinguished and Protext will check
for the correct capitalisation of proper nouns. Dictionaries for various languages are
available separately, including French, German and Swedish. Contact Arnor for
availability of other languages.
There are additionally a few special cases as follows:
Roman numerals and single letters: Numbers 1-20 (i to xx), and all single letters
are contained in the dictionary, as these are often used for numbering paragraphs.
Abbreviations: The full stops in abbreviations are checked, e.g. "e.g.".
Possessives: Words ending with an apostrophe followed by s ("'s") are checked up
to the letter before the apostrophe and the possessive ending is ignored. Single
apostrophes at the end of a word are also ignored. Words which contain an
apostrophe that is not followed by a solitary letter 's' can be stored in the
dictionary and will be checked as one word. e.g. "Won't".
Words containing numbers: If the word starts with a number then the whole word
is ignored. This means that, for example, dates such as "17th" are not listed as an
error. If a word starts with two or more letters and is followed by numbers, then
just the numbers are ignored. For example "SW16" is checked as "SW".
What sort of errors will it find?
Any words which do not match with a word in the dictionary will be picked up. There
are two reasons why the word may not be found.
The word may be misspelt and therefore require correction, or alternatively the word
may be a correctly spelt word which is not contained in the dictionary.
The spelling checker can also pick out any words which contain letters in a mixed case,
with the exception of words which start with a single upper case letter or contain only
upper case letters. For example, 'tHat, 'wHEN' or 'WHAt' would not normally be
considered correct and will be selected for possible attention, whereas 'The' would
frequently be a quite acceptable use of an upper case letter and will not be singled out.
Words that are correctly spelt with a mixture of upper and lower case can be stored in
the dictionary in that form.
Another special feature when using the unattended spelling checker is the ability to
check for an unknown word separated from a solitary letter by a single space. For
example, 'tha t' would be singled out for attention as 'tha' would not be recognised as
a correctly spelt word and the letter 't' is separated by a single space. In this case the
word and the separated letter are both treated as one unknown word and offered for
attention. The reason for this is that this is one of the most frequent forms of typing
error, as opposed to spelling error and is simply corrected by removing the offending
space.
Dictionaries
Dictionary Files
Please note that the supplied dictionary files are subject to copyright laws, and you are
expressly permitted to make as many copies as you require, but only for your own use
with Protext. There are several dictionary files.
Dictionary files for U.K. users
ARNORENG.LEX is the main English dictionary (110,000 words) including the
medical and legal supplements. If you want to use the medical or legal supplement
you will need to change the configured dictionaries to use ARNORENG.LEX
instead of ARNORE1.LEX.
ARNORE1.LEX is a smaller main dictionary (70,000 words) without the
supplements.
ARNORE2.LEX is a supplementary dictionary.
ARNORENG.QIC is the 'quick' dictionary (about 5000 common words).
ARNORE2.QIC is a smaller 'quick' dictionary (about 500 words).
USER.LEX is the user dictionary - created the first time a word is stored.
BRTPHON.ENV is a file that defines the procedures for English spell checking.
This file must be present in the search path directory.
Dictionary files for U.S. users
ARNORUSA.LEX is the main English dictionary (140,000 words) including the
medical, legal, scientific, engineering, geographical and biographical supplements.
ARNORUS1.LEX is a smaller main dictionary (80,000 words) without the
supplements.
ARNORUS2.LEX is a supplementary dictionary.
ARNORUSA.QIC is the 'quick' dictionary (about 10,000 common words).
ARNORUS2.QIC is a smaller 'quick' dictionary (about 500 words).
USER.LEX is the user dictionary - created the first time a word is stored.
ENGPHON.ENV is a file that defines the procedures for English spell checking.
This file must be present in the search path directory.
Note that the correct spell checking language must be configured using Config.
Data is stored in the dictionary file in a compressed form. Periodically, as words are
added to the user dictionary (see later), backup copies should be made for security.
Up to five dictionaries may be specified in the configuration file, plus the quick
dictionary which is described below. When a spelling check is carried out each of the
specified dictionaries will be checked in turn. One of the advantages of this is that it
means that it is very simple to keep special dictionaries for different purposes. For
example, it might be desirable to keep foreign language words in a separate dictionary,
or to have a special dictionary for technical terms used in a business. Different CFG files
could then be created so that the appropriate dictionaries are used. See 'Configuration'
for more details.
If you do not need the medical and legal supplements it is best to use the smaller main
dictionary ARNORE1.LEX instead of ARNORENG.LEX. This has two advantages:
(a) the smaller dictionary uses less memory.
(b) using the full dictionary can sometimes cause more typing errors to be missed by
the spelling checker. This occurs if the mistyped version of the word is a correct,
albeit obscure, word in one of the supplements. If you never use medical or legal
vocabulary there is no benefit in using the full dictionary.
When a document is being spell checked, it is possible to store words that are correct
but not recognised by the dictionary. These words are not inserted into the main
dictionary, but are stored in the user dictionary. By default the words will be added to
the dictionary 'USER.LEX', though this can be changed. See 'Configuration' for details
of how to alter the default update dictionary setting.
User dictionaries created by version 5.0x of Protext will be automatically converted to
work with version 6.0 and later. They may not subsequently be used with version 5.0x
A range of commands are available for dictionary maintenance and these are described
fully in the Reference Manual 'Commands' chapter. See LISTD, FINDW, ANAGRAM,
MAKED, COUNTD, BUILD, INSWORDS, DELWORDS.
The quick dictionary
A separate file of words called 'ARNORENG.QIC' or 'ARNORUSA.QIC' is also used
when spell checking. The words in this file are loaded into memory and checked before
the main dictionary, thereby making the spell checking operation much quicker. The
quick dictionary is supplied with some of the most commonly used English words.
Words may not be added to this dictionary.
Two quick dictionaries of different sizes are supplied. Config may be used to specify
which is used - generally the larger would be preferred unless very tight on memory.
The smaller uses only about 2K of memory.
Multi-lingual spell checking
The configuration file holds a dictionary list for each available spell checking language.
This makes changing language very easy as it is not necessary to create separate
configuration files. When the language is changed in Config, the list of dictionaries
displayed is changed.
Where to keep the dictionary
When Protext is first installed, a configuration file is created and this will automatically
create the necessary default settings for the dictionary files.
Two floppy disks
The dictionary disk should be put in the second drive. The text disk will remain in the
first drive. It will then only be necessary to remove the dictionary disk if Config,
Convert, Fsort or the thesaurus is required.
Single floppy disk
The text disk will normally be in the drive. To carry out a spell check, remove the text
disk and insert the dictionary disk. Press CTRL-S in edit mode or select the 'Check
Whole Text' command from the 'Spell' menu. After spell checking replace the text disk
and save the corrected version.
Hard disk
Operation with hard disks is straightforward. The dictionaries should normally be in the
'PROTEXT\LEX' directory. Config can be used to specify any extra dictionaries to be
searched.
RAM disk
ST The dictionary may be copied to a RAM disk if one is present. This is
recommended if using floppy disks as it will greatly increase the
speed of spell checking. At least 2Mb of memory is required in order
to use a RAM disk with Protext. See the 'Getting started' chapter,
which explains how to use a RAM disk.
PC Instead of using a RAM disk it is recommended that the MS-DOS
program SMARTDRV is used. See your MS-DOS manual for details.
Spelling checker features
Repeated word check
When spell checking in edit mode (with CTRL-S), Protext will give a warning if a word
is used twice in succession. This is a common typing error. When a repeated word is
found, the option is given to delete the second word.
To prevent this message appearing on a particular word, place a spell ignore marker
immediately before the first letter of the word.
Capital letter at start of sentence
When spell checking in edit mode (with CTRL-S), Protext will give a warning if a
sentence starts without a capital letter. The option is given to convert the first letter to
upper case.
To prevent this message appearing on a particular word, place a spell ignore marker
immediately before the first letter of the word.
Spell Checking a Document
General remarks
Options may normally be abandoned at any time by pressing the ESC key. Pressing the
ESC key once pauses the program, at which point pressing ESC a second time will stop
it completely. Pressing any other key will continue the program from where it was was
paused.
Documents may be checked with up to five dictionaries. Dictionaries are identified by
name and the names of all dictionaries to be searched must be specified in the
configuration file. By default Protext will use the main dictionaries and the user
dictionary ('USER.LEX').
Using the Spelling Checker
Text may be checked in three different ways:-
a) All or part of a document during editing (1 pass).
b) A single word may be checked while editing.
c) Complete text files may be checked (2 pass).
Checking all or part of a document during editing: 1 pass
Pressing CTRL-S will start a spelling check from the current cursor position to the end
of the text, or until the check is terminated. Each word in turn is checked against the
dictionary, or dictionaries. If the word exists in the dictionary, the following words will
be checked until either an unrecognised word is found or the spelling check is
abandoned by pressing ESC.
If the word is not recognised for one of the reasons described above, the cursor will be
positioned at the start of the unrecognised word and a dialogue box will display the
options available.
Words highlighted will generally fall into one of two categories:-
A word that is incorrectly spelt, either a mistyping, or a spelling mistake.
A word that is correctly spelt but is not included in the dictionary.
Protext will automatically look up the misspelt word in an attempt to find the correct
spelling in the dictionary. Any likely words will be displayed in a list box for selection.
A word can be selected by double clicking on the word, by using the cursor keys and
pressing RETURN, or in the case of the first 9 words, directly by pressing the number
by the word. If an arrow is shown at the bottom, further words can be viewed by
clicking on the line with the arrow or using or CTRL-.
This look up is by no means guaranteed to find the correct spelling, as the correct word
may not be in the dictionary, but in many cases the intended word will be found.
Two methods of lookup are used. Typographical correction is used on the words in the
quick dictionary. This will find words with one letter different, one letter missing, one
extra letter or two adjacent letters swapped.
Phonetic lookup operates on both the quick dictionary and the main dictionary. The
German dictionary also features compound word correction.
If the correct word is contained in the list, then double clicking on the word, or
pressing 1 to 9 will replace the unrecognised word with the word from the list, and
then continue the rest of the spell check.
Press ESC to terminate the spelling check and revert to normal editing. Otherwise there
are several courses of action that may be taken with the unrecognised word, as follows:
O Edit original
C Change spelling of word (one occurrence)
A Change spelling of word (all occurrences)
S Store word in dictionary
I Ignore all occurrences of the word
M Ignore word, and store an ignore marker with it
K Ignore (skip) one occurrence only
L Learn the word - store it in the auto-correct database
O - Edit Original.
Pressing O allows you to edit the word as it appeared in the text - this is useful when
the word is nothing like any of the suggestions offered.
C - Change spelling of word.
Pressing C will replace the unrecognised word with the changed word, and then
continue the spell check.
A - Change all.
This is like C, but for the rest of the current spell check operation, any further
occurrences of the unrecognised word will be quietly replaced with the corrected word.
L - Learn.
If the unrecognised word was a common typing error, you can select L instead of C.
This changes the word in the same manner, but adds the old and new words into the
auto-correct database, so that next time you type the unrecognised word it will be
quietly corrected to the new form. For example, if you quickly typed 'taht' instead of
'that' then the first suggestion will be 'that' and you could press C to fix it once, or
press L to fix it for all future times.
S - Store word in dictionary.
If the word is correct and it is one that should be incorporated into the dictionary, then
selecting S will store it in the user dictionary. By default this is 'USER.LEX'. The most
obvious examples of words that would be added to the dictionary are technical terms or
the words making up your name and address.
I - Ignore word.
If the word is correct, but not one that should be stored in the dictionary, then pressing
'I' will cause the word to be ignored and the spelling check to continue. An example of
such a word would be 'CTRL' which occurs on many occasions in this manual and is
correct in this context, but would not normally be considered a word. Words will be
ignored in all subsequent spell checks until a 'Clear Text' or 'Load file' command ('File'
menu) is used.
Words that are ignored are held in a buffer in memory. The size of this buffer may be
increased using Config.
K - Skip word.
Pressing 'K' or RETURN causes the word to be ignored on this occasion but another
occurrence of the same word will be flagged as a possible error. This is not very useful.
M - Ignore and Mark
Pressing M will ignore the word, and mark it with a spell ignore marker, so it will not be
mentioned in any further spell checks. This is useful for word that you deliberately wish
to leave misspelt, or words you do not wish to add to dictionaries.
Single word checking
This option permits the checking of individual words during the course of editing a
document. Pressing CTRL-Q (for Quick check) will check the spelling of the word on
which the cursor is placed. If the cursor is not positioned on a word, the last word prior
to the cursor will be checked.
If the word is found in the dictionary, the message 'Word is in dictionary' will be
displayed in an alert box and, after a brief pause, normal editing will resume.
If the word is not found, the available options will be displayed in a dialogue box, as
described above, but without the 'change all' option.
Checking an entire text file: 2 pass
This option may be used to check complete documents, in memory or on disk. This
method will be faster if using floppy disks. The spelling checker works unattended; the
document is checked, and then you are offered the chance of changing any mistakes
found, one at a time. This makes it more suitable for longer documents which have few
errors. Repeated words and capital letters are not checked, so it is less functional.
The 'Spell' menu commands, 'Check whole text (2 pass)', and 'Spell check a file' allow
access to this unattended spelling checker. A new status line will appear, giving details
of the editing options available. Checking will start immediately and the first thing that
will happen is that messages will appear advising that Protext is 'Reading', 'Scanning'
and then 'Sorting'. The words will first be sorted alphabetically.
Protext then checks the words in the document against the dictionary. Any word that is
not in the dictionary will be listed on the screen without stopping at each word.
When the first stage is complete, the second stage will commence and the first
unrecognised word will be displayed again, followed by a '?'. There are six options
available at this point. 'S' and 'I' function as described above. 'L' looks up the word
(done automatically above). 'V' (view context) displays the word in context. 'B' moves
back to the previously ignored word. (Note that when using 'B' all occurrences of an
ignored word will be found, unlike when using 'I' to move forward.)
Selecting 'C' will result in a few lines of text being displayed on screen with the
unrecognised word highlighted in context and the word in question displayed beneath
with the cursor on the word, ready for correction. The word may now be edited using
the Protext line editing functions as in command mode. See the chapter 'Command
mode' in the Reference Manual for details of these.
If the same word was spelt incorrectly more than once, then when RETURN is pressed
to indicate that the correction is complete, the corrected word is displayed in context
and the option to change all occurrences is offered. Choose 'Y' to change them all, or
'N' to have them offered for correction each time.
If the word only occurred once, then after correction the text will be re-displayed, with
the newly corrected word highlighted and the spelling of the word will be re-checked.
F It is possible to replace the word by two or more words but if this is done,
only the first word will be highlighted and only the first word will be
checked again.
At the end of the checking operation
Once checking is complete, a number of statistics will be displayed. These are:-
(a) Number of words checked.
(b) Number of unrecognised words.
(c) Number of words changed.
(d) Number of words stored.
If the length of any word has been changed, this may have disrupted justification and
the text may need to be re-formatted, so a warning message will be displayed as a
reminder of this.
If any further editing or formatting is required, the corrected document must first be
loaded into Protext. Any reformatting necessary should then be carried out by the
normal methods, usually the 'Format Text' command from the 'Format' menu, before
the document is re-saved and printed out.
Spell check while typing
Protext is capable of spell checking text as it is typed. Press SHIFT-CTRL-S to engage
this facility. A word will be checked whenever the cursor moves off a word, either by
pressing space or a cursor movement key. If the word is not recognised a beep will
sound. CTRL-Q can then be used to ignore, lookup, or store the word if required.
F Spell check while typing is only recommended if the dictionary files are
stored on a hard disk or RAM disk.
Config may be used to select spell check while typing as the default setting to be used
whenever Protext is used.
Large files
The spelling checker is capable of handling any size file, when checking complete files
from disk, large files will not be checked in one go. In these cases the file will be
checked in two or more parts. When the first part has been checked the next part will
automatically be loaded in and checked. Words ignored at any stage will be ignored for
the remainder of the document even when checked in more than one section.
Marking words so they will not be checked
It may be desirable to mark a word in the text so that it will be ignored by the spelling
checker. This can be done by entering a 'spell ignore marker' immediately before the
word. Type ALT-= to obtain the marker.
This may be useful for words particular to one document, or to prevent the 'mixed
case' warning appearing.
Spelling Checker Utilities
Protext provides a number of commands for use with the spelling checker. Most of
these commands are concerned with the 'maintenance' of the dictionaries, but others
provide the facility to search dictionaries for a word or words.
These commands are described in the reference manual. This applies to all of the
commands in the second half of the 'Spell' menu.
User dictionary editor
The contents of the user dictionary can be checked using the editor (available from the
'Spell' menu) and words can be added, deleted and corrected. The number of words in
the dictionary is also shown.
A dialogue box will appear containing a scrolling list box, a text box and several
buttons. The list box shows all the words in the user dictionary, alphabetically sorted.
The cursor keys or the mouse may be used to scan through the list when the list box is
active (indicated by a double line box). To activate the list box press 'W' or click within
the box.
The text box at the top right will show the word that is currently highlighted in the list.
To correct the word simply edit it in the text box (press 'T' or click in the box).
The exclusion dictionary
The exclusion dictionary is the reverse of the user dictionary. Words stored here will
always be flagged as errors. The purpose of this is to 'remove' words from the main
dictionary (which cannot be edited).
This can be used to impose 'house style' in the spelling of words which have correct
alternative spellings. For example words ending in '-ise' or '-ize'. By storing words with
the 'wrong' spelling in the user dictionary you will be warned when you forget which
you are supposed to be using.
To add or remove words from the exclusion dictionary use the editor, which is called
from the 'Spell' menu and works in exactly the same way as the user dictionary editor.
22. The Thesaurus
Summary
This chapter covers:
How to use the thesaurus
Inflection
Foreign thesauruses
Introduction
The Protext thesaurus will take a word and supply a list of words of similar meaning. A
word may give several lists of synonyms, for various different senses of the word. The
part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) is shown for each sense.
The thesaurus has 43,000 entry points and 827,000 responses.
Thesaurus data files
The (British) English thesaurus file is called ARNORENG.THS. This should be located
in the spelling checker path directory. The thesaurus also requires the file
BRTPHON.ENV to be present, as does the spelling checker.
How to use the Thesaurus
To look up a word in the text place the cursor on or immediately after the word and
press CTRL-T.
If the word is recognised by the thesaurus a dialogue box will appear listing the
synonyms for the first meaning of the word. The top line shows the word and the total
number of meanings for this word. The second line gives the part of speech. For
example:
WELL <1 of 12>
adverb
The part of speech may be one of the following:
noun
verb
verb past participle of ...
adjective
adverb
conjunction
interjection
preposition
pronoun
To replace the word by one from the list, first highlight the word by using the cursor
keys or clicking with the mouse. Then press 'I' or click on the 'Insert' button.
To obtain a further list of synonyms for one of the listed words, highlight the word and
press RETURN or double click on the word.
Activating the option 'Back' will revert to the previous list, and 'Restart' will revert to
the list for the original word.
Inflection
The thesaurus handles inflected forms of words, such as plurals and verb forms. The
synonyms are presented in the appropriate inflected form.
Other languages
Thesauruses are also available for French, German, Swedish and American English.
Please contact Protext Software for details of availability and pricing.
23. Index and Contents
Summary
This chapter covers:
Indexes: marking words and phrases
Index generation
Contents generation
Indexing
All words and phrases that are to appear in the index are marked in the text using
'index word markers' and 'index phrase markers'. Once these markers have been
entered they will remain in place in the document enabling a new index to be generated
at any time. Text containing index markers may be freely moved around. The index is
written to a Protext file with the extension '.idx'.
To index an existing document it will take some time to insert all the necessary markers,
but once this is done the work involved in maintaining the index is minimal. It is
recommended that index markers are inserted as the text is originally typed as it is
clearer then which items are important enough for the index.
Marking a word
An index word marker is entered by pressing:
ALT-W
This can be inserted at the start or end of a word and will appear on screen as an
inverse colour asterisk *. The word will then appear in the index with a reference to the
current page.
Marking a phrase
An index phrase marker is entered by pressing:
ALT-P
One index phrase marker should be inserted at the start of the phrase to be indexed
and a second marker at the end. The markers will be shown on screen as inverse video
hash symbols '#'. For example:
#Spell checking#
will cause the reference to 'Spell checking' to appear in the index. Remember to press
ALT-P to obtain the # markers.
Indexing references that are not in the text
Often an index reference is required that is not identical to the words used in the text.
For example a section heading might be 'Entering and correcting text' and a reference
to 'entering text' is required. The solution is to type a comment line containing the
required phrase and mark the phrase on that line. This has the desired effect because
comment lines are indexed but not printed. For example:
>>> #Entering text#
Index subheadings
Index entries can be made to appear as subheadings to other entries by marking a
phrase consisting of the heading, a comma, then the subheading. This would normally
be on a comment line as above. For example to create index references as follows:
Delete line 46
and
Line
deleting 46
the following line would be used:
>>> #delete line# #line, deleting#
Subsequent entries with the same heading will appear together in the index with the
heading only occurring once. For example if a subsequent line in the document was:
>>> #line, moving#
the index would appear as:
Line
deleting 46
moving 47
How to generate the index
The stored command '>GI' should be used at the start of the document. The syntax
is:
>GI ()
For example:
>GI manual
will cause an index to be generated and written to the file 'manual.idx'.
The optional page number string may contain variable references (like a header or
footer) and defines the prefix to the page number, e.g.
>GI idxfname &chap&-
If the variable 'chap' is defined at the start of each chapter, it will be used in the index
references. For example
>SV chap = "INTRO"
will cause the pages to be numbered "INTRO-1", "INTRO-2", and so on.
The index will be generated whenever one of the print commands from the 'Print'
menu are used.
The command 'Generate Index/Contents' commands from the 'Tools' menu will
generate the index and contents but not produce any other output. When using this
command the '>GI' line may be omitted and the name of the document will be used,
with the extension '.idx'. However the index would not then be generated when the
document was printed.
The index file is written as an ordinary Protext document which may be edited and
printed with the main document.
Indexing notes
Case sensitivity
Index references are case sensitive. Thus if two references to a phrase are marked they
will appear separately in the index unless they are written in the same case.
The exception is the first letter of each index reference which is always converted to
upper case.
Sorting
The index is automatically sorted according to the current sorting method. Swedish
users in particular must ensure that Config is used to select the Scandinavian sorting
method so that and are sorted correctly.
Memory usage
Indexing allocates memory dynamically as it operates by building a tree of the index
references. If an out of memory message appears when indexing a large document then
run Protext again and do not load any files into memory but index the file directly from
disk. For example to index a document called 'THESIS' type the following from
command mode:
INDEX THESIS
Hyphenated words
A hyphenated word is treated as a single word for the purpose of indexing.
Format of index
Consecutive page numbers will be grouped, for example a reference which appears on
pages 32,33,34 and 35 will be changed to '32-35'.
Entries under a subheading are preceded by a tab. The ruler line written to the index
file sets this tab at column 3 but this may be changed if required simply by editing the
ruler line in the resulting file.
Contents generation
The table of contents is automatically generated from headings in the text. Headings are
identified by being wrapped in particular control codes or style codes, which may be
specified. Up to three levels of headings can be handled (main headings, subheadings
and sub-subheadings).
Unless different control codes are chosen the main headings will be taken as those
printed in enlarged (control code 'l') and the subheadings as the bold text. Only two
levels are used by default.
To generate a table of contents the stored command '>GC' should be used at the start
of the document. This may take various forms depending on the options needed. The
simplest form is:
>GC
This will generate a two level table of contents using enlarged and bold codes. The table
of contents is written to a file with the given name and the extension '.toc'. The
command 'Generate Index/Contents' from the 'Tools' menu will generate the index
and contents but not produce any other output. When using this command the '>GC'
line may be omitted and the name of the document will be used. However the table of
contents would not then be generated when the document was printed.
Contents generating options
To specify different control codes, place up to three letters after the filename:
>GC xyz
This will generate a three level table of contents using control code 'x' to mark the
main headings, and 'y' and 'z' the subheadings. A single control must be used to
identify each heading level, combinations may not be used.
To use style codes type a '$' symbol before the letters:
>GC $e $d b
This will generate a three level table of contents using style 'E' to mark the main
headings, style 'D' and the bold control code for the subheadings. The text for an entry
marked by a style code will start immediately after the style code and continue to the
end of the line.
Further options control the style of the table of contents. By default each contents
entry is printed on a separate line with the page number at the right.
The lowest level of subheadings may instead be formatted as a paragraph, with entries
separated by commas. To choose this option place a comma after the last code:
>GC $e $d b,
In this style the page numbers can be put in brackets. To choose this put brackets
around the code and comma:
>GC $e $d (b,)
To use brackets but omit the commas:
>GC $e $d (b)
The table of contents is written to a file with a ruler line used to indent the different
levels. By default the tabs used for the indenting are 6 columns apart. This can be
changed by giving a number in the '>GC' command. The number can appear
anywhere after the filename. For example:
>GC $e $d b 8
will use a tab spacing of 8.
Of course the ruler line in the contents file may be altered to change the indent, so this
tab value is not binding.
The ruler line in the contents file will contain a tab which is used for the page number.
This will normally be in column 70, but can be changed by specifying a second
number. For example:
>GC $e $d b 5 65
will use a tab spacing of 5 and put the page number tab in column 65.
24. Macros and Glossary
Summary
This chapter covers:
Macros
Recording macros
Macro editor
Using macros
Pre-defined tokens
The glossary
Macros
A macro is a sequence of key presses which can be stored and used at any time with a
single key press. The keys used to recall macros are the keys marked 'A to Z' on the
main keyboard when used in conjunction with the ALT key and the special function
keys on their own and in conjunction with the SHIFT, CTRL and ALT keys.
Recording macros
The easiest way to define a macro is to record it.
Press CTRL-F1 at any time to start recording. This will work in edit mode or command
mode. Then press the key to which the macro is to be assigned. This may be any
function key, any function key with ALT, SHIFT or CTRL, or any letter key with ALT
or SHIFT-ALT. Pressing ESC at the 'Press macro key' prompt will cancel the command,
otherwise recording will begin.
All key presses will now be recorded until CTRL-F1 is pressed again to turn record
mode off. This includes all command sequences as well as any letters and symbols. ESC
may be used to swap between edit and command mode. The maximum macro length is
255 key presses; if this limit is reached record mode will be turned off.
A special code may be prefixed to each macro definition. This is to identify whether
command or edit mode should be selected when the macro starts. The code will not be
added if the macro is a simple string of printable characters.
Once a macro has been recorded it can be re-used simply by pressing the chosen
function or letter key combination.
It is possible to extend a macro definition by:
1. turning on record mode
2. selecting the same function key
3. pressing the same function key again
4. typing the keys to be appended onto the macro sequence
F a beep will be sounded when CTRL-F1 is pressed as a warning that record
mode has been turned on or off. The message 'Macro' will be displayed at
the top right of the screen while record mode is enabled. If the CTRL-F1
key is redefined (by the MACRO command), the alternative keystroke
SHIFT-CTRL-M may be used.
Macro editor
Available from the 'Option' menu, the macro editor is a convenient way to view and
change macro definitions.
A scrolling list box on the left shows all the macro keys and the macro expansion for
the highlighted key is shown in a text box on the right. This definition can be changed
by editing it in the text box and pressing Return or clicking on the Add button.
Other buttons in the dialogue will Load, Save or Reset the macro definitions.
The 'Delete' button will clear the highlighted macro.
The 'View' button will list all the macro definitions in a scrolling window.
Using macros
Once a macro has been defined it may be used at any time by pressing the appropriate
key. Any of them may be used either when in edit mode, or command mode.
When a macro key is pressed, the contents of the string will be entered into the
document (if in edit mode), or the command line (if in command mode), as if it had
been typed in at the keyboard, and any control codes will be acted upon.
Saving macros for regular use
Once the computer is switched off, these macros will be lost and would require re-
entering the next time that Protext was used. To save the macro definitions use the
'Save' button in the macro editor. When you quit Protext a warning will be given if any
macros have been defined and not saved and you can opt to save them or discard
them.
Any filename can be used for saving macros and you can create several macro files with
different names (the extension '.KEY' is always used). For most purposes, though, it is
best to use the suggested filename which is 'PROTEXT.KEY'. This file will be saved in
the search path directory and will be loaded automatically when Protext starts up. The
'Load' option will therefore be needed only rarely, unless you are using more than one
macro file.
Pre-defined tokens
A number of these tokens are pre-defined to give extra letters such as '' and '' and a
few commands such as inserting the date and changing the number of displayed lines. A
complete list is given in the reference manual. You may, however, redefine these if not
required for that purpose. The tokens may be listed by using the 'View' button within
the 'Edit macros' dialogue from the 'Option' menu.
Care should be taken when defining macros not to use any of the ALT key commands
that are needed. If this is done inadvertently you may need to recover the original
functions. This can be done as follows:
To clear all the definitions go to the Macro editor ('Option' menu) and select 'Reset'
followed by 'Save', accepting the filename given.
This will clear all user-defined macros, so it may be preferable to remove individual
macro definitions. As an example you could remove the definition of ALT-U by using
the Macro editor, scrolling down to 'U' and selecting it. Then select Delete, and finally
Save.
This saves the key file ready for next time Protext is used.
To restore the original definition for immediate use select Reset and then Load.
The Glossary
The glossary is a collection of keyboard shortcuts, similar to macros. The difference is
that whereas a macro is attached to a key the glossary contains key sequence each with
an associated name.
The name can be an abbreviation of the phrase to which it expands or any relevant
description of the key sequence.
The Glossary editor
Available from the 'Option' menu, the glossary editor works in exactly the same way as
the macro editor, described above. The editor allows you to create, edit, delete, view,
load, save and use glossary entries.
Recording glossary entries
Glossary entries may be recorded in the same way as macros. Press CTRL-F1 and
instead of pressing a macro key type the name for the glossary entry and press
RETURN. Any key sequence can be recorded. Use CTRL-F1 again to end the
definition.
Saving the glossary
To save the glossary definitions use the 'Save' button in the glossary editor. When you
quit Protext a warning will be given if any glossary entries have been defined and not
saved and you can opt to save them or discard them.
Any filename can be used for saving the glossary and you can create several glossary
files with different names (the extension '.GLS' is always used). For most purposes,
though, it is best to use the suggested filename which is 'PROTEXT.GLS'. This file will
be saved in the search path directory and will be loaded automatically when Protext
starts up. The 'Load' option will therefore be needed only rarely, unless you are using
more than one glossary.
Using the glossary
A glossary entry may be used in one of two ways:
(a) by typing the name and pressing SHIFT-CTRL-G. This will remove the name from
the text and replace it with the sequence defined in the glossary.
(b) from the glossary editor, by selecting the required entry from the list and selecting
the 'Use' button.
25. Graphics Import
Summary
This chapter covers:
Graphic file formats
How to import graphics
Graphic file formats
Protext has the capability to read graphic files in various commonly used formats and to
print the graphics at any point in a document. Graphics are not displayed on screen
while editing a document, but are shown during print preview.
The following file formats are currently supported:
(a) PCX
(b) GIF
(c) Amiga IFF
(d) GEM IMG
The following printers are currently supported: Epson compatible dot matrix/ink jet
(ESC/P) (including colour), IBM 24 pin dot matrix/ink jet (includes Canon BubbleJets)
HP LaserJet compatible (PCL), HP DeskJet compatible (PCL) (including colour), Epson
Laser (GQ mode), PostScript (including colour).
Importing graphics
The 'Import graphic' option in the 'Tools' menu should be used. This calls up a
dialogue as shown below.
First, select the graphic file to be imported. Either type the name into the 'Image' text
box or press 'F' which will allow you to find the file using the file selector. (There is a
checkbox which determines whether the file selector starts off in the default graphics
path, or the current directory.)
Once a file has been selected, the width and height fields in the dialogue will be filled in
with the dimensions of the image.
Scaling an image
An image can be enlarged or reduced by changing the width or height. While 'Keep
Aspect' is selected changing one dimension will cause the other to be changed in the
same proportion. If you deselect 'Keep Aspect' the width and height can be changed
independently in order to stretch or squash the image either vertically or horizontally.
Use printer resolution
If 'Use printer resolution' is selected, the image will not be scaled - the size will be
determined by the chosen resolution.
A image scanned at 300 dpi and printed at 300 dpi will print the same size as the
original. Choosing 150 dpi will double the size of the image without losing data.
Positioning an image
The 'Distance from left edge of text' field is initially set to zero. This value can be
changed to print the graphic further across the page. Values can be specified in inches
and hundredths of a unit.
Centring an image
The 'Centre image' option will override the 'distance from left edge'. If selected,
Protext will centre the image between the left and right margin on the ruler line.
Right justifying an image
The 'Right Justify' option will override the 'distance from left edge'. If selected, Protext
will print the image lined up with the right margin on the ruler line.
Resolution of an image
The 'Resolution' list box can be used to select the resolution to be used for printing the
image. The choice of resolutions available depends on the printer type. They are shown
in dots per inch. Naturally the higher the number the better the quality and the longer
it will take to be printed. 150*150 and 180*180 dpi give very reasonable results
with a relatively short print time. 300*300 and 360*360 will usually give a better
picture but may take up to 4 times longer to print.
The printer drivers for most DeskJets and LaserJets include commands to compress the
graphics data using various techniques, so that increasing the resolution need not
significantly increase the time to print.
The printer drivers have special commands in them so that Protext can try to print
consistent gray shades in all resolutions. Without this, increasing the resolution would
darken the image too much. Try both resolutions to find your best printed image.
Printing colour images
Colour images may be printed in colour on colour Epson compatible printers, colour
PostScript printers and 4 colour DeskJet type printers (not printers such as the DeskJet
500 which is either a black and white printer or a 3 colour printer, but not a 4 colour
printer).
Note that printing a picture in colour as opposed to black and white will usually take at
least 4 times longer for the same resolution. This is due to the additional processing
required and the vastly increased amount of data that has to be sent to the printer.
On black and white printers, Protext uses accurate grey shading in all printer resolutions
to represent the colours.
Inverting an image
An image will be colour inverted, that is black and white will be swapped, if the 'Invert
image' option button is selected.
Viewing an image
Selecting the view button will display the image on screen. If the 'view in mono' option
is set, then the picture will be shown in black and white only; otherwise Protext will
attempt to pick a suitable screen mode and show the picture in full colour or shades of
gray.
If the 'view whole screen' option is set, then Protext stretches the picture to fill an
entire screen, otherwise the picture is shown pixel for pixel.
Press ESC or a mouse button to end the picture view.
Printing an image
If you decide not to use the image click on the 'Cancel' button or press ESC.
To accept an image for printing click on the 'OK' button or press RETURN. This will
insert a stored command line into the text containing all the information about the
image.
There are two stored commands that can be used for printing graphics within a
document: '>IB' and '>IB'. '>IB' (import graphic) takes a file in one of the graphic
formats listed above, processes it and prints it. '>IB' simply takes a file and sends the
contents directly to the printer.
'>IB' is used if the 'Output file' text box is blank. The '>IB' line will be put into the
text with all the information needed to print the image according to the options chosen.
If an output file has been entered the image will be processed at this point and
converted into a binary image suitable for direct printing. An '>IB' stored command
line will be inserted to do this. When the 'Output file' field is selected the name will be
initialised to be the same as the image file but with the '.ib' extension. This may be
changed to any other name if required.
F Printing with '>IB' is often much quicker than '>IB', so if you have a
commonly used graphic (for example a letter heading) you should
consider converting it to a binary file and use '>IB', although print
preview would not then show the image, but would indicate the space
taken up by the image when printed.
PC Only the 32 bit edition supports the '>IB' command. To keep the
program size smaller on the 16 bit edition graphics are processed by
a separate program called GFXPRINT.EXE. This program is called
automatically by 'Import graphic' on the 'Tools' menu and will work
in the same way. The only difference is that it will be necessary to
specify an output file so that a binary file is created. The output will
indeed automatically be set by the program. An '>IB' line will be
inserted into the text.
GFXPRINT.EXE can also be run as a standalone program to create a
'.ib' file. This may be necessary if there is not enough memory. To
include the graphic within a document note the height in inches and
enter it on the '>IB' line, for example:
>IB mypiccy.ib 2.33"
Printing graphics and background printing
Protext
F The default maximum size of the background print buffer is 100000
bytes. If you have several megabytes of memory and print large images
(especially in colour) on a slow printer then you may wish to use Config
(Memory options) to increase this. Printing will take marginally longer, but
you will be able to continue working sooner, because the print command
only finishes after the last byte has been put in the buffer.
Printing graphics in multiple columns
If using a laser printer, graphic images can be printed within the separate columns
of a multi-column section of text.
How Protext handles graphics while editing
Although graphics are not shown on screen, Protext needs to know the size of the
image while editing, in order to calculate page breaks correctly. This information is
given to Protext as a parameter in the '>IB' or '>IB' line. The size is given in inches
and will be inserted automatically by the 'Import graphic' dialogue.
26. Configuration
Summary
This chapter covers:
How to use the Config program
Configuration options
Configuration files
Config is the program used to create configuration files for use with Protext. When
Protext is first installed, a file called PROTEXT.CFG is created. A large number of
Protext features may be individually configured; from the various colours used on
screen, to the names of dictionaries to be used when checking spelling and the
dimensions of the paper to be printed on.
A number of different CFG files may be created and saved with different names and
the '.CFG' suffix. These may be loaded into Protext as and when needed, with the
'Load new configuration' command from the 'Option' menu, or using the 'Command
line options' (see below) when loading Protext.
F You may find it convenient to save CFG files in different directories.
Configuration file search order
Unless a 'CFG' environment variable has been defined (see below), Protext will initially
search for PROTEXT.CFG in the directory from which Protext was run (PC only), then
in the current directory, then in the PROTEXT directory on the current drive.
Using a CFG environment variable
Sometimes it is useful to tell Protext to look for the CFG file in a particular directory,
especially on systems with more than one hard disk. If an environment variable 'CFG' is
defined, Protext will take its value as the path on which to look for 'PROTEXT.CFG'. If
Protext does not find a CFG file in this way it reverts to the search procedure as above.
PC To define the environment variable use the 'SET' command in the
'AUTOEXEC.BAT' file in the root directory. For example:
SET CFG=C:\PROTEXT\
Note that if the environment space becomes full it can be increased
using the 'SHELL' command in CONFIG.SYS. See the MS-DOS
documentation.
ST If the environment variable 'CFG' is set, Protext will use it.
Additional software such as a shell program or desktop replacement
is required.
Using Config
Config is a fully menu-driven program and is largely self explanatory. The current state
of each option is shown, and help screen messages give more relevant information.
Menu options may be selected by moving a highlighted bar up and down using the
and keys. When a bar is highlighted, pressing RETURN, or will either change the
option or call a submenu. Alternatively, each menu option is identified by a letter and
pressing this letter will move the bar directly to that option.
There are 4 main types of options that are altered in different ways:
(a) NumbersPressing RETURN will open a window at the bottom of the screen
allowing a number to be typed in. When editing pressing ESC will clear the
text entered so far, pressing ESC again will cancel the entry and restore
the original. Pressing RETURN will confirm the entry, which will then be
updated on the menu.
(b) Strings These options are edited in the same way as numbers. In some cases the
strings are allowed to be longer than the space available to display them in
the menu. They are then displayed in an abbreviated form, but pressing
RETURN shows the whole string in the editing window.
(c) Sets Some options are allowed to take a limited set of values, for example the
keyboard language can be set to those languages that are provided. In
these cases an editing window is not used. Pressing RETURN or will
advance the option to the next setting in the list, pressing will change it
back. In this way it is very easy to cycle through all the allowed values.
This manual does not list all the values because they may be changed from
time to time.
(d) On/off These options are simply set to 'on' or 'off'. Effectively this is a simple
case of (c). Yes/no options are similar.
The initial menu contains the following options:
I - Initial Installation
Those options which may be important when first installing Protext are collected
together in this submenu.
M - Main configuration menu
Calls a further menu allowing access to all configuration options via various submenus.
S - Save new configuration
This is a very important option which must be used when any changes are made. The
name of the configuration file will be displayed when 'S' is pressed and usually it will
simply be necessary to press RETURN to save the CFG file. It is possible to change the
name at this point to create a different file.
Note that the current configuration file name is always displayed at the top of the
screen when using Config.
L - Load configuration
When Config is used it will automatically load the default CFG file (following the same
search procedure that Protext uses). This option may be used to edit different CFG
files.
R - Reset default configuration
This resets all values to the Protext default settings.
Q - Quit
Quits Config and returns to Protext or the operating system. If changes have been
made but not saved a warning message will be given.
The options available are listed below together with their default values. In most cases
there is a Protext command (edit mode, command mode or stored command) or a
command line option to change the setting and these are listed too. Full details of the
functions can be found by referring to the section of the manual covering the related
command. In some cases further notes are given here.
There may be one or two variations from the list below as new options may be added
from time to time.
Configuration options
Option Default Related commands
Editing options
Insert or overwrite mode INSERT INS
Right justification ON CTRL-J
Word wrap ON CTRL-W
Tabs & returns displayed OFF CTRL-V T
Spaces displayed OFF CTRL-V S
Control codes displayed OFF CTRL-V V
Page mode ON CTRL-P
Page break display ON CTRL-V P
Auto re-formatting ON SHIFT-CTRL-R
Auto re-formatting method cursor move
This option sets the reformatting to either 'as you
type' or when the cursor moves. 'As you type' is
somewhat slower on slower computers.
Keep cursor within text NO -
When this option is set to yes, the cursor keys cannot
move the cursor past the return on any line, although
the mouse can.
Unit used on status line SHIFT-CTRL-P
The status line display and the Status Information
command will use lines, inches or millimetres
according to this option. The document settings
dialogue never shows lines and will use inches if
configured for lines.
Spelling checker options
Spell checking language depends on country >SL
Dictionary 1 depends on country -
Dictionary 2 depends on country -
Dictionary 3 depends on country -
Dictionary 4 - -
Dictionary 5 - -
Quick dictionary depends on country -
Update dictionary depends on country -
For all of the above options, a drive and path may be
specified as part of the filename, so that a file in a
particular directory will be used, rather than searching
for the named file in the current and path directories.
Dictionary prompt OFF -
Disable capital letter check NO -
Spell check while typing OFF SHIFT-CTRL-S
Auto-Correct (replace text) ON SHIFT-CTRL-A
This enables the auto correct as you type feature.
Auto-Correct (capitalisation) ON
When enabled, this option helps to capitalise
sentences which were not started with a capital letter,
and proper nouns which need a capital letter.
Thesaurus name none -
This option specifies the thesaurus data file name. A
full path may be given. This allows the thesaurus to be
in a different location to the dictionaries.
File options
Default Extension to load none EXT
Document mode extensions various -
When an old (pre version 6) format or text format
file with one of these extensions is loaded, Protext
switches to document mode. If such a file is printed
Protext uses document mode printing. If two
consecutive commas are typed when editing the list, it
will cause files with no extensions to switch to
document mode. Up to 15 extensions may be
specified. Protext will also switch to document mode
if a file with a stored command on the first line is
loaded, or if the file loaded was saved as a document
from Protext version 6.
Program mode extensions various -
When an old (pre version 6) format or text format
file with one of these extensions is loaded, Protext
switches to program mode. If two consecutive
commas are typed when editing the list, it will cause
files with no extensions to switch to program mode.
Up to 15 extensions may be specified.
AutoeXec file name EXFILE -X
A drive and path may be specified as part of the
filename, so that a file in a particular directory will be
used, rather than searching for the named file in the
current and path directories.
Use GEM file selector NO -
(ST only) This option allows the GEM (or replacement) file
selector to be used in Protext.
Automatic save time period 900 (secs) -
Automatic save maximum size 10240 -
File selector display format Normal -
File selector sort method Name -
File selector ignore
default extension NO -
If set to yes, then the file selector will not use the
default extension as a filter when the selector is first
opened. For example, if the default extension is .doc,
when this is NO, the file selector will show only .doc
files. If it is YES, the selector will initially show all
files.
Disk options
(More than one directory can be included on a path; separate them with semicolons)
Search path depends on hardware -
The search path is used by Protext when looking for
help files, macro and glossary files and external
programs (Config and Convert). Normally it is set up
by selecting the disk configuration in the 'initial
installation' menu.
Printer driver path depends on hardware -
The printer driver path specifies the directory in
which Protext will look for printer driver files. If this is
not set, the search path will be used.
Spelling checker path depends on hardware -
The spelling checker path specifies the directory in
which Protext will look for spell checking, thesaurus
and hyphenation files. If this is not set, the search
path will be used.
Graphics path depends on hardware -
This path specifies where Protext should look for
graphics files
Temporary text path depends on hardware -
The temporary path is used by Protext for storing
temporary files when editing large files. Normally it is
set up by selecting the disk configuration in the 'initial
installation' menu. If a large RAM disk is available
enormous speed improvements can be achieved by
setting the temporary path to use the ram disk.
Restore directory after external
command YES -
Memory options
File 1 memory size 0 -M
File 2 memory size 0 -M
Maximum file memory size 0 -
There are various options for allocating the amount of
memory for text. The default, when all settings are
zero, will usually be used. Protext will then allocate
memory depending on the size of the files being
edited. If values are entered for the file 1 and file 2
memory sizes then these fixed amounts will always be
allocated. The file 2 setting is used for all files other
than the first.
The maximum file memory size can be used if the
other values are zero. Then Protext will automatically
allocate the size required for each file but will not
exceed the maximum. This can be useful when editing
a very large file to prevent that file being allocated
too much memory and thus leaving some memory for
other files or other uses.
Minimum memory for external
command (K) (PC only) 0 -
Spell memory 40000 -S
This amount of memory is used to perform the
'Check whole text' command. If this command gives
'out of memory' then reduce this figure; there will be
a speed penalty.
Ignored words buffer size 2048
Undelete buffer size 2048 -
Print buffer size 0 -B
The size of the buffer used for background printing.
A setting of zero means that Protext uses its internal
default value.
Printer driver options
Default printer port PAR1 PAR,SER
PAR1 printer driver - PRINTER
PAR2 printer driver (PC only) - PRINTER
PAR3 printer driver (PC only) - PRINTER
SER1 printer driver - PRINTER
SER2 printer driver (PC only) - PRINTER
Each of these options will bring up a list of all
available printer drivers. To make the list, Config will
scan all directories in the printer driver path and the
floppy drives for both PPD and GPD files. PPD
(Protext printer driver) files are listed first, followed
by all the drivers than can be extracted from the GPD
files (Group printer driver). The latter are marked
with an asterisk (*).
To assign one of the listed printers to a port simply
press RETURN, move the cursor to the required
printer and press RETURN again. If necessary the
driver will be extracted from the relevant GPD file
and a PPD file will be created in the first directory on
the printer driver path.
To assign a driver that is not listed press ESC when
the list of drivers is on the screen, type the printer
driver name and press RETURN. This manual entry
method can also be used to supply a full pathname
for the printer driver. Normally Protext will look for
the printer driver on the printer driver path.
Generate extra driver -
This allows extra drivers to be extracted from the
GPD files without assigning them to a port.
Serial delay 1000 -D
In the unlikely event of a serial printer losing
characters, increasing this figure may cure the
problem. If not, then the printer cable is probably
wired incorrectly.
Enable Print Scrn key (PC only)NO -
Ignore Line feeds NO -
Form feeds OFF >FF
Continuous printing ON >CP
New page after printing ON >NP
Keyboard options
Protext Keyboard driver ON -K
(PC only) Protext installs its own keyboard driver to replace
the DOS keyboard driver. This may not work on
some MS-DOS machines which are not fully IBM
compatible. If the keyboard is not working
correctly (or not at all) in Protext, set this to
'OFF'. See Appendix 3 in the reference manual for
variations in editing commands caused by this.
Use Hardware Key Repeat NO -H
(PC only) An 80286 or higher processor provides hardware
control of the key repeat speed. Normally Protext
controls key repeating by software, but if this
option is selected the hardware method will be
used. This allows faster key repeat speeds to be
set under DOS 5 and later with, for example:
'MODE CON: RATE=32 DELAY=2'.
Key delay (18th secs) 10 -
Key repeat period (18th secs) 1 -
Keyboard language see below LANG
This option should be used to select the correct
keyboard layout.
PC When Protext is first installed on a hard disk, or
when 'reset configuration' is used, the keyboard
language will be set to the appropriate language
for the country code specified in CONFIG.SYS.
This means that it will usually produce the correct
language for the keyboard.
Keyboard type see below KEYB
PC There are three keyboard types provided. The
default is the standard XT/AT keyboard layout.
This works on many keyboards irrespective of the
physical position of the keys. The 'extended AT'
keyboard should be selected when using a 101 or
102 key keyboard (with function keys at the top
and separate cursor key cluster). The 'alternate
AT' keyboard should be selected if it is found that
the '\ |' and '#~' keys have been reversed when
using Protext.
ST The first layout is the standard Protext layout.
The second is the same except that the numeric
keypad emulates the function of the PC keypad.
These meanings of these keys are not marked on
an ST keyboard but are as follows:
7 Home 8 9 PgUp
4 5 (blank) 6
1 End 2 3 PgDn
0 Ins . Del
The keypad + and - keys will now perform the
next and previous find functions, as on a PC.
Use WordStar keystrokes NO -W
The WordStar keystrokes provided are documented
in an appendix in the Reference Manual.
Standard keyboard driver YES -
(PC only) It may be necessary to make this option NO when
using certain keyboard enhancer programs. We
have not come across such a program yet,
however. The symptom that would indicate that
this option should be turned off would be where
problems are experienced with the keyboard after
leaving Protext. The effect of turning this off
would be that keys typed ahead before leaving
Protext will be lost.
Sticky keys NO -L
This option causes Protext to be entered in 'sticky
key' mode. If CTRL, ALT or SHIFT is pressed the
effect will carry forward to the next key pressed. It is,
therefore, unlike Caps Lock in that the shift state is
locked for the next key only. Multiple shift states may
be used by pressing all the keys separately.
The benefit of this is that a key combination such as
SHIFT-ALT-A (which would normally require SHIFT
and ALT to be held down while A was pressed) may
be entered by pressing SHIFT, then ALT, then A.
This will be of particular use to those with certain
physical disabilities.
Mouse on/off status ON -
This option has three settings: 'OFF' means the
mouse may not be used, 'ON' means the mouse
pointer is always visible in edit mode, 'HIDDEN
UNTIL USED' means the mouse pointer is initially
not visible and becomes visible when the mouse is
moved. The default is 'ON'.
Redefine keyboard layout - KEYDEF
Each key on the keyboard (except shift and lock keys)
can be configured to produce a specified 2 byte code
(token) for each of the following: by itself, with
SHIFT, with CTRL, with ALT, with NUM LOCK on,
with CAPS LOCK on, with SHIFT and ALT, with
SHIFT and CTRL.
When this option is selected, press the required key.
The current definition will be listed. Each code is
shown in 4 forms: hexadecimal, decimal, ASCII and
command description. The last item describes the
effect of command keys when used in Protext. If the
key has been redefined previously the message
'REDEFINED IN CFG FILE' will be displayed. If not
the values shown are the defaults for the currently
selected keyboard type and language. To edit a
definition (or create a new one) press 'E'. The key
codes may then be edited in hex, decimal or ASCII
(press TAB to change between them). To remove a
definition from the CFG file press 'C'.
Visual options
Set Colours - INK (ST only)
The colours can be changed for various different parts
of the Protext screen. A visual representation of the
colours makes this option very easy to use.
Screen Mode Use initial mode ALT-F,ALT-G
Use Colour display MAYBE -
(PC only) If this is set to NO, monochrome is used; if YES,
colour is used. Otherwise, Protext attempts to
detect the presence of colour capability and use it
if possible.
Edit mode cursor type Full height -
Command mode cursor type Variable height -
Cursor flash period 1/3 sec -
Screen blink time 0 (off) -
(ST only) Atari machines do not generally have a built-in
speaker. If you have no sound facility you may
wish to have the screen flash when an error beep
would have sounded. This option controls the
existence, and speed of the flash.
Mono background colour (ST) BLACK INK
Scroll lock on YES -
Screen Fix OFF -
(PC 16-bit only) This may need to be set to 'ON' on certain
computers if there is interference ('snow') on the
display when the screen is re-drawn. This does
not seem to be necessary on any new computers.
Text mode symbol definitions OFF -
(PC only) Set this to ON to allow use of SYMBOL and the
definitions of and in text mode on
EGA/VGA. This is normally disabled because
defining symbols may cause the screen to flicker.
Command mode prompt symbol -
Define special Protext characters YES -
Other options
Document or program Mode DOC DOC,PROG
Program mode Tabs *8 TAB
Auto indent OFF SHIFT-CTRL-I
Line drawing mode OFF CTRL-F7
Backups when saving ON -
Protext normally creates a backup file from the
previous copy of the file being saved. This feature can
be turned off in order to save disk space if using a
floppy disk system.
Start in command mode NO -
Sideways scrolling increment 1 -
Decimal character . >DC
Background printing ON BACK
Undefined variable error disabled NO -
This option is used to print text containing & or !
symbols without giving an 'Unknown variable' error.
If the name contained between & or ! symbols is not
a defined variable it will be printed as is, including the
&'s or !'s.
Audible warning disabled NO -
Turn off status line clock NO -
Date format dd-mm-yy -
This option allows the date format used by DIR to be
set either to the European format (dd-mm-yy) or the
U.S. format (mm-dd-yy), or the Swedish format (yy-
mm-dd).
PC This date format will default according to the
COUNTRY code defined in CONFIG.SYS unless
explicitly set in Config.
Sorting method for accents ANGLO-GERMAN -
This option should be set by Scandinavian users to
ensure correct index sorting.
Command line options
Some of the configuration options are also available as command line options which
may be typed when Protext is run. A command line option will always take
precedence, so this provides an easy way to override some of the settings just for one
occasion. Any number of options may be used together.
Command line options are provided as follows:
-Bn set the background printing buffer size to n bytes.
-C use specified CFG file.
-Dn insert a delay during printing to a serial printer, the
delay being 8n/r microseconds where r is the clock
speed in Mhz. The default setting is 1000, which gives
a millisecond on an 8Mhz machine.
-H (PC only) use hardware key repeat rate.
-K (PC only) use MS-DOS keyboard driver.
-L set sticky key mode.
-Mn1,n2 allocate n1 bytes for the first document and n2 bytes
for the second. If n2 is omitted both are set to n1. The
minimum size in each case is 10000.
-Sn allocate n bytes for spell checking text from disk.
-W use WordStar keystrokes.
-X EXEC the specified file.
-3com (PC only) fix printing on a 3com network.
ST The command line options may be typed after the command name
when running Protext from a shell or CLI. Otherwise it is possible to
use options by saving the line in a file called 'PROTEXT.OPT' in the
same directory as the Protext program.
27. Hints and Tips
This chapter covers certain problems that sometimes occur when using Protext and
suggests the most common solutions.
Printer Problems
The printer doesn't print anything
Check the following:
Is the printer power lead plugged in?
Is the printer cable connected to both printer and computer?
Is the correct printer port on the computer being used?
Is the cable plugged in the right way up?
Is there paper in the printer?
Has the printer been switched offline?
Has a configuration file specifying a non-existent output port been loaded, or
output been redirected to the wrong printer?
A blank line is printed after each line of text
The printer is automatically feeding the paper an extra line each time. This is a feature
of printers that is needed by some software, but must be disabled for Protext.
This feature is usually controlled by a switch ('DIP switch') in or on the printer. The
printer manual will give details. The switch should be set to 'no automatic line feeds'.
Should this solution fail, there is a software means to prevent the extra line feeds. Use
Config, printer driver options, and set 'ignore line feeds' to 'YES'.
signs or accented letters not printed correctly
The wrong printer driver is being used.
If using a dot matrix printer note that many printers are capable of working in either
Epson mode or IBM mode. This is normally selected by a switch on the printer. If the
printer has Epson mode selected, then the EPSON printer driver (or similar) should be
used. If IBM mode is selected the IBM printer driver (or similar) should be selected.
Italic print does not work
The printer may be set to IBM mode, which does not support italic print.
The printer may not have italics in the requested font, e.g. a LaserJet will not usually
have Line Printer in italics or bold. Check your printer manual for details.
Line drawing mode - boxes do not print correctly
In order to print line graphics the printer must be one of: IBM compatible, Epson
compatible, HP LaserJet compatible or PostScript. Many dot matrix printers can be set
to Epson or IBM mode - it is important that the printer driver matches the printer
setting.
Serial printer not working
Serial printers give a lot more trouble than parallel printers, and parallel should always
be chosen where there is a choice. Most problems with serial printers are caused by one
of two reasons:
The printer cable may be incorrectly wired. Consult the dealer who supplied the
equipment or a hardware specialist.
The serial port on the computer may be incorrectly configured. In particular the baud
rate must be set to match that of the printer. This will often be 9600 baud, but the
printer manual should be consulted.
Sheet feeder not feeding the pages through
Laser printer not printing for several seconds
These problems are usually solved by configuring Protext to send form feed characters
after every page. This can be done from the 'layout options' menu in Config.
'P' is printed at the start of each document
The wrong printer driver is being used.
If using a daisy wheel printer change to the 'Standard daisywheel' printer driver.
Protext overrides printer control panel settings
You cannot select the printer font from your printer's control panel. Protext's reset
code sends control codes that will override your setting. Since these codes also include
symbol set definitions, you cannot turn the printer off part way through printing either.
You must specify the font typeface through the proper use of printer style codes.
Keyboard Problems
The key produces #
This probably means that the U.S. keyboard layout has been selected. Use Config
(keyboard options menu) to select the correct keyboard language.
Keys produce wrong characters (e.g. \| # ~)
The wrong keyboard type has been selected. Use Config to select one of the other two
types.
Problems accessing memory resident programs
Although Protext is compatible with most 'pop-up' programs, there may be problems
with some. To use such programs it can be useful to switch off the PROTEXT keyboard
driver while using PROTEXT. A special command token (769) will do this. To use this
the token must be put on a function key, for example you could use the macro editor
to assign ^765^^769^ to key s10 (SHIFT-F10).
Edit mode must be selected to use the keyboard switch, and the token 765 ensures
that this is the case. After returning to PROTEXT pressing the function key again will
restore the PROTEXT driver.
Some ALT key symbols or functions do not work
The ALT key combinations are defined as macros, but many of them have default
meanings in Protext (for example ALT-U for underline and ALT-F to change the
number of lines displayed). If macros have been defined using these keys and saved in a
key file the original functions will no longer work.
See the section 'Pre-defined tokens' in the 'Macros and glossary' chapter, which
explains how to restore the standard functions of these keys.
Error messages
Out of memory
If you have several documents in memory, clearing some of them will make more
memory available. If you have resident programs (TSRs) installed, removing these
will help. To reduce the memory allocated to files in memory set the 'Maximum
file memory size' in the Config 'Memory options' menu. Setting this to 30000
ensures that files larger than 30K only take 30K, rather than up to 64K. The
'File 1 memory size' and 'File 2 memory size' options should always be set to 0.
PC: Using a text mode display takes less memory than a graphics display.
MS-DOS 5.0 or later is recommended as this can save memory.
Error opening file 'BRTPHON.ENV'
The dictionary files cannot be found in the configured spelling checker path
directory. Check the spelling checker path (use 'Status Information' in the
'Option' menu) and check the location of the dictionary files.
Error opening file 'FRNPHON.ENV'
Protext is configured for the wrong spell checking language. Use the Spelling
checker options menu in Config and set the spell checking language to 'UK
English'.
General Hints
Storage of documents
Never save documents in the PROTEXT directory. Always use a subdirectory (such as
'PROTEXT\TEXT') or a completely separate directory. This will make it easier to
locate files.
Printing lines starting with '>'
A line starting with '>' will be taken as a stored command line. If it is required to print
this line instead then put a spell ignore marker at the start of the line by typing ALT-=.
Multiple column printing
If you find that the layout comes out wrong you may have an unsuitable ruler line. You
must use a new ruler line, narrow enough for the required column, at the start of the
multi-column section, e.g.
>---!---!----------------R
>pc 2
two column printing
>---!---!--------------------------------------------------------R
>pc 1
back to single column printing
28. Glossary
Alert box A box that pops up on the screen to give
information, often an error message.
ASCII A code used to represent text within a computer.
Backup file The copy of the previous version of a file that is
retained whenever a file is saved.
Block A contiguous portion of text defined by two markers
at the first and last character included.
Byte The unit of storage of a computer capable of holding
a single character.
Caps Lock The state of the computer in which all letters typed
are entered as upper case.
Catalogue A list of files stored on a disk.
Character Any letter, digit or symbol.
Clicking Pressing a mouse button, usually the left button.
Command An instruction to the computer to do something.
Command button A box which, when clicked on, causes an action to
occur or be cancelled (e.g. the 'OK' and 'Cancel'
buttons in the print dialogue box).
Command mode The mode of operation of a computer program (e.g.
Protext, Basic) that allows commands to be entered.
Configuration The operation which customises the word processor
for a particular printer or an individual user.
Control code A number that represents an instruction and not a
character. In particular an instruction to a printer
(e.g. to underline or print italics).
Cursor The blob on the screen marking the place at which
text will be entered.
Database A program to store and display information. An
electronic card index.
Data files Files created from the information in a database or
created with a word processor, frequently for use in
mail merging.
Default The initial setting of some feature of the word
processor, such as insert mode on, page length 66.
Desktop The initial screen on the Atari ST, from which
programs are run by double-clicking with the mouse.
Dialogue box A box which appears on the screen to solicit
information from the user. It may contain one or
more text boxes, command buttons and option
buttons.
Directory A collection of files on a disk. Particularly on large
capacity disks such as hard disks it is convenient to
separate the files into different directories. The
catalogue of files only shows one directory at a time.
Disk A means of magnetic storage of data allowing fast
access.
Document mode The usual mode of operation of Protext, in which all
the formatting features may be used.
DOS Another name for MS-DOS.
Double-click To press a mouse button (usually the left button)
twice in quick succession.
Dragging A mouse operation during which a mouse button
(usually the left) is held down while the mouse is
moved.
Drive Disk drive, the part of the computer into which disks
are inserted.
Edit mode The mode of operation of a word processor that
allows text to be entered and changed.
EMS See expanded memory.
Entry field A part of a dialogue box into which text or numbers
may be typed.
Expansion token A special character which represents a string of
characters. The means by which macros work.
Expanded memory Also known as EMS. On an MS-DOS computer a
system for using more than the conventional 640K of
memory. Expanded memory may be used on all types
of PC.
Extended memory Also known as XMS. The memory after the first
megabyte on an AT computer (80286 or better).
This is often configured to 'look like' expanded
memory. The extended memory version of Protext
will (on an 80386 or better) run in extended
memory and use it for storing data.
File A group of data collected together and stored on
disk.
File requester The same as file selector (Amiga terminology).
File selector A special dialogue box that allows a file to be chosen
for some operation.
Floppy disk A type of disk commonly used with microcomputers.
Folder The same as directory (Gem terminology).
Font One of the character sets available on a printer.
Footer One or more lines printed at the bottom of each
page, in which titles and page numbers can be
printed.
Form feed A control code that causes a printer to feed the paper
through to the start of the next page.
Format (a) An operation on a portion of text which causes
the text to be arranged in some regular way.
(b) An operation that must be performed on a disk to
make it ready for use.
Function keys Special keys on the keyboard, usually configurable to
carry out special tasks.
GEM The operating system used on the Atari ST.
Global Everywhere, i.e. throughout the entire text.
Hard disk A fast, high capacity disk drive.
Header One or more lines printed at the top of each page, in
which titles and page numbers can be printed.
K A kilobyte, a unit of storage equal to 1024 bytes.
Line feed A control code that causes a printer to feed the paper
through by a single line.
List box A box used to select from a list of items which may
be scrolled up and down to reveal further items.
Load Copy data from disk to the memory so that the data
may be used.
Lower case Small letters.
M or Mb A megabyte, a unit of storage equal to
1024*1024=1048576 bytes.
Macro A sequence of key presses reproduced by an
abbreviated command such as pressing a function key.
Mail merging An operation whereby a standard letter or document
is printed many times using names and addresses
taken from a file.
Margin (a) The normal limit of text to the left and right.
(b) The blank space on the paper surrounding the
text.
Marker A pointer to a particular location in the text.
Memory The part of a computer where data (including
programs and text) is stored, and may be accessed
quickly.
Merge Load a file into memory without clearing memory
first.
Mode One of a number of states of operation of a program,
e.g. edit or command mode, insert or overwrite
mode.
Mouse A means of giving commands to a computer as an
alternative to the keyboard.
MS-DOS The operating system used on most PC computers.
Operating system A special program supplied with a computer which
controls use of the disk drives, screen and keyboard.
Option button A box which, when clicked on, is highlighted to
indicate the selection of an option.
Overlay Part of a program which is held on disk or in
expanded memory and only loaded into main
memory when needed.
Page throw An instruction to start a new page when printing.
Path A directory name or a sequence of directory names
which identify where a file is stored.
PC-DOS The operating system used on IBM PC computers. It
is virtually the same as MS-DOS.
Printer driver A file that configures a word processor to print on a
particular printer.
Program mode The alternative to document mode, used for editing
programs. The formatting features are not available.
Prodata A database program written by Arnor and particularly
suitable for use with Protext.
Promerge The mail merge language used by Protext.
Protext A word processor program written by Arnor.
Prowort The German version of Protext.
Pull down menu The type of menu used in Protext, that drops down
from a menu bar.
Return (a) The code used in the computer for a line end.
(b) A key on the keyboard used to terminate a line.
Right justification An operation on a line of text which causes the text
to be spread out over the full length of the line.
Ruler A line at the top of the screen showing left and right
margins and tabs.
Save Copy data from the memory of the computer to a
disk so that the data may be preserved.
Shift Lock The state of the computer in which all keys pressed
act as if the key is pressed together with SHIFT.
Soft character A character in the text used for formatting.
Status line The line at the top of the screen when in edit mode
which shows various useful information.
Stored command A command concerned with printing, that is stored in
the text but is not printed as part of the text.
String A sequence of characters which may be letters,
numbers, spaces, punctuation marks or other
symbols.
Style A selection of font, point size, control codes and font
spacing which is defined in a document or a printer
driver. Using styles makes it possible to change a font
throughout a document merely by changing the style
definition.
Tab A position in a line to which the cursor moves when
the TAB key is pressed.
Text box A box in which text is entered and edited.
Toggle A command which switches some function on and
off.
Token A number that can be assigned to a key to produce a
certain effect when the key is pressed.
Upper case Capital letters.
Utility A program or command, distinct from the main
program which performs some useful function.
Wildcard A special character which will match any character
when searching for a string.
Windows A graphical interface to MS-DOS.
Word processor A computer program that handles the entering,
storing, formatting and printing of text.
Word wrap The operation of moving a word onto the next line
when there is not enough room on the current line.
XMS See extended memory.
Index
Abbreviations 139 Box 62, 80-81
Accents 108, 174 converting to block 80
Active ruler line 91 copying 81
Acute 108 defining 80
Add column 117 deleting 81
Addition mode 117 moving 81
Alert box 180 Box mode 80
ALT 15 Breve 108
Apostrophes 138 Buffer
Arrow 109 undelete 65
ASCII 180 Byte 180
Attributes 74
Audible warning 174 Caps Lock 64, 180
AutFm 62 Caron 108
Auto indent 174 Case 105
Auto Indent On 62 changing 64
Auto re-formatting 166 Case of letters 64
Autoexec file 168 Case specific 103
AUTOEXEC.BAT 21, 164 Catalogue 180
Automatic Hyphenation 166 Cedilla 108-109
Automatic indent 116 Centre Tabs 94
Automatic save 113 Centring text 97
Automatic save maximum size 168 Change spelling 145
Automatic save time period 168 Changing case 64
Autosave 113 Changing directory 43
Auto-capitalisation 136 Changing drives 75
Auto-correct 136, 145 Character 180
Character pitch 125
Background colour 173 Characters
Background printing 60, 128, 174 swapping 64
Backspacing 123 Checking individual words 57
Backup files 180 Checking the whole text 58
Backups 17 Checking while typing 56
Backups when saving 174 Chevron 91
Backwards search 103 Choose character window 109
Blank line suppression 86 Circumflex 108
Blank lines 99, 176 Clear block markers 80
Block 79-80, 180 Clearing the text 71
command keys 80 Clicking 66, 180
converting to box 80 Clock 174
copying 79 Colour codes 114, 133
copying to other document 121 Colour display 173
defining 78 Colour printing 125, 162
defining with mouse 79 Colours 173
deleting 79 Column 67
moving 79 Comma 93
undeleting 80 Command 29, 180
Block marker 78, 80 Command button 180
Block markers 114 Command line options 175
move to 66 Command mode 34, 174, 180
Blocks 44 Commands 29
Bold 114, 123-124 Condensed 125
Condensed elite 125
Condensed pica 125
Config 80, 93, 147, 164
Configuration 21, 164-165, 180
keyboard 20
Configuration files 164
CONFIG.SYS 20-21, 164
Contents 3, 154
table of 151
Continuous printing 171
Control codes 133, 166, 180
Controls
keyboard 14
menu abbreviations 15
Conventions 14
Copying 47 Disk free space 75
Copying a block 79 Disk options 168
Copying a box 81 Disk Utilities 72
Copying files 76 Document 33, 174
Correcting text 61 loading 71
Creating a new directory 75 saving 70
CTRL 15 spell checking 143
Cursor 63, 180 Document analysis 120
Cursor flash 173 Document mode 33, 167, 174, 181
Cursor keys 32, 63 Document number 61
Cursor movement 65 Document settings
Cursor type 173 copying 89
Cut 78 loading 89
Cut and paste 78 saving 88
DOS 181
Danish 110 Double acute 108
Data files 180 Double-click 181
Database 180 Dragging 181
Date 118 Drives 181
Date format 174
Dead accent keys 108 Edit mode 32, 181
Decimal character 174 Editing options 166
Decimal tab 92-93 Effects 123
Default 180 Elite 125
Default options Emphasised 124
find 103 EMS 181
Default printer driver 123 English 110
Default ruler 90-91 Enlarged 125
Default style 132 Entering text 61, 63
Defining a block 78 Entry field 181
Defining a block with the mouse 79 Environment variable 164
Defining a box 80 Equipment requirements 16
DEL 15, 63 Erasing files 76
Delete line 64 Escape character 104
Delete to end of line 63 Even margin 83
Delete to end of sentence 64 Examples
Delete to start of line 63 find 106
Delete word 63 EXFILE 168
Deleting 63 Expanded memory 181
Deleting a block 79 Expansion tokens 181
Deleting a box 81 Extended memory 182
Deleting files 76 Extension 167
Deleting keys 32
Deletion 41 F 84
Desktop 181 F3 29
Desktop accessories 26 File 182
Diaeresis 108 printing to 126
Dialog box 181 File options 167
Dialogue File protection 77
goto 67 File requester 182
Dialogue box 181 File selector 32, 42, 72, 182
Dialogue boxes 29, 31, 40 File selector display format 168
Dictionary 167 File selector ignore default extension 168
quick 141, 167 File selector sort method 168
Dictionary Disk 17 Files 44, 113
Dictionary disk 17, 141 deleting 76
Dictionary files 140 erasing 76
Dictionary prompt 167 loading initial 21
Diphthong 109 renaming 76
Directory 181 Find 54, 102, 104
parent 73 in files 105
Directory listing 72 in memory files 106
Directory tree 75 special characters 104
Disable capital letter check 167 Find next 104
Disk 181 Find options 102
Dictionary 17 Find previous 104
dictionary 141 Find word at cursor 105
Printer driver 17 Finding text 102
Program 17 Fixed pitch 128
Thesaurus 17 Fixing 98
Floppy disk 182 Indentation 95, 116
Folder 182 Indenting paragraphs 51
Font 132, 182 Index 151
Footer 182 Index markers 68
Footers 87 Index phrase marker 104, 151
Footnote marker 104 Index word marker 104, 151
Form feed 170, 182 Indexing 68
Format 182 Initial files
Formatting 48, 96-97 loading 21
disabling 98 Initial Installation 20
French 110 INS 15
Function keys 182 Insert 65
Insert line 64
GEM 182 Insert mode 65, 166
GEM desktop 26 Inserting 64
GEM file selector 26, 168 Insertion 41
German 109-110 INSTALL 19
Getting Started - Atari ST 23 Installation 19, 165
Getting Started - IBM PC and Compatibles 17 mouse 21
Global 182 printer 20
Global search 103 Inter-paragraph space 86
Glossary 159, 180 Introduction to Word Processing 13
recording 159 Inverted exclamation mark 109
saving 159 Inverted question mark 109
Glossary editor 159 Italian 110
Goto dialogue 67 Italic 176
Graphics 110 Italics 114, 124
importing 160
printing 162 Joining lines 69
while editing 163 Justification 96
Graphics Import 160 right 93
Graphics mode 118
Graphics path 169 K 182
Grave 108 Key abbreviations
Greater than symbol 91 menu 15
Guided tour 37 Key delay 171
Key names
Half 109 special 15
Hard disk 182 Key Repeat 171
Hard return 104 Keyboard 14, 34, 172
Hard returns 115 Keyboard configuration 20
Header 182 Keyboard controls 14
Headers 87 Keyboard driver 171
Help 35 Keyboard language 171
online 35 Keyboard layout 110
Hercules 114 Keyboard options 171
Hints and tips 176 Keyboard problems 178
Horizontal scrolling 69 Keyboard type 171
Hyphenation 86, 100 Keys
names 100 cursor 32
unjustified text 101 deleting 32
Hyphenation factor 166 special 34
Hyphens 97-98, 104, 114 sticky shift 34
non-break 98
soft 97 Languages 108, 110
Large files 112, 147
IBM 16 Laser printer 177
IBM PC 16 Last position
Icelandic 110 move to 66
Ignore word 145 Layout 91
Ignored words buffer size 169 Left margin 95
Image Line 63, 67
inverting 162 deleting 64
positioning 161 inserting 64
printing 162 move by 65
resolution 161 Line drawing 111, 174, 177
scaling 161 Line feed 170, 182
viewing 162 Line graphics 111
Indent 174 Line spacing 85, 130
Indent tab 94, 104 Lines
blank 99 Moving up a directory 73
joining 69 MS-DOS 16, 183
splitting 69 Mu 109
List box 182 Multiple File Editing 121
Ln 62 Multiple files 46
Load 183 Multiple markers 68
Load configuration 166 Multi-file search 105
Loading a document 71
Loading initial files 21 New page 85
Loading multiple files 77 New page after printing 171
Lower case 64, 183 New ruler 91
NLQ 124
M 183 Keep cursor within text 166
Macro 62, 108, 183 Non-break hyphen 98, 104
Macro editor 157 Non-break space 98, 104, 114
Macron 108 Normal 125
Macros 156-157 Normal Tabs 93
defining 156 Norwegian 110
saving 157 Number of copies 126
Mail merging 183 Numbers 139
Manual
user 14 Odd margin 83
Map 75 Ogonek 108
directory 75 Online help 35
Margin 95, 183 Operating system 183
even 83 Option button 183
odd 83 Options 175
Margins default find 103
move to 66 find 102
Marker 66, 80, 147, 183 Orphans 99
block 114 Other spell options 58
place 114 Overdot 108
Markers 114 Overlay 183
index 68 Overview of Protext 28
move to 66 Overwrite 65
multiple 68 Overwrite mode 65, 166
place 67
special 68 PA 85
spell ignore 68 Page 67
Marking a word or line with the mouse 79 move by 66
Marking blocks 44 Page break lines 115, 166
Master disks 17 Page breaks 85
Maxidisk 27 Page mode 166
Maximum file memory size 169 Page number 87
Memory 183 Page numbers 87
Memory options 169 Page throw 183
Memory size 169 Pages 126
Menu key 29 Pagination 85
Menu key abbreviations 15 Paragraph 97
Menus 29, 38 move by 66
Merge 183 Paragraph indentation 95
Microspacing 128 Parameters 34
Mode 183 Parent directory 73
Monochrome 114, 119 Paste 78
Mouse 66, 183 Path 168, 183
Mouse installation 21 PC 16
Mouse on/off status 172 PC-DOS 16, 183
Move Pica 125
by line 65 Pitch 125
by page 66 Place markers 67, 114
by paragraph 66 Polish 109
by screen 65 Portuguese 110
by word 65 Possessives 139
to block markers 66 Pound sign 176, 178
to last position 66 Preventing hyphenation 101
to margins 66 Preview 127
to markers 66 Previous ruler 91
Movement Print dialogue box 125
cursor 65 Print list of pages 126
Moving a block 79 Print preview 127
Print Quality 126 Right justify 86
Print Scrn 170 Right margin 94-95
Print to the screen or a file 126 Ring 108
Printer 123 RJ 61
Printer buffer 128 Roman numerals 139
Printer control codes 104, 114, 123 Ruler 90-91, 184
Printer control panel 177 default 90
Printer driver 123, 170, 184 Ruler editing with the mouse 92
Printer Driver Disk 17 Ruler line measurement 90
Printer driver options 170 Ruler lines 49
Printer driver path 168 Running Protext 21
Printer driver style file 132
Printer installation 20 Save 184
Printer port 170 automatic 113
Printer problems 176 Save new configuration 165
Printer requirements 111 Saving 42
Printer selection 16 Saving a document 70
Printing 58, 123, 128 Saving macros 157
background 128 Saving the glossary 159
Printing effects 52 Scalable fonts 130
Printing graphics 162 SCR 62
Printing options 59 Screen 126
Printing selected pages 126 move by 65
Printing to file 126 printing to 126
Printing to screen 126 Screen blink 173
Prodata 184 Screen Fix 173
Program 174 Screen Mode 173
Program Disk 17 Scroll lock 173
Program mode 33, 168, 174, 184 Scroll lock mode 76
Promerge 184 Scrollable windows 32
Proper double quotes 86 Scrolling 68
Proper single quotes 86 horizontal 69
Proportional 125 manual 69
Proportional printing 134 Search 102-103
Proportional printing and editing 135 Search options 102
Protext 13, 184 Search path 168
configuration 21 Searching 102
Protext Commands 29 Selecting a directory 72
Protext Document 33 Sentence 64
Prowort 184 Serial delay 170
Pull down menu 184 Serial printer 177
Sheet feeder 177
Quality 124 SHELL 164
Quarter 109 Shift keys
Quick dictionary 141, 167 sticky 34
Quitting Protext 112 Shift Lock 184
Quotes 104 Sideways scrolling increment 174
Simple printer driver 123
RAM disk 142 Single sheets 128
README 16-17 Skip word 145
Recording glossary entries 159 Soft character 184
Recording macros 156 Soft hyphen 98, 104, 114
Redefine keyboard layout 172 Soft return 97
Reformatting 51 Soft spaces 97
Renaming files 76 Sorting method 174
Replace 54, 102, 105 Spaces 97-98, 103-104, 114-115, 166
in files 106 hard 115
Replace options 102 non-break 98
Replacing 55 soft 97
Replacing text 102 Spanish 110
Reset code 124, 170 Special characters
Reset default configuration 166 finding 104
Restore directory after external command 169 Special key names 15
Restoring 113 Spell check while typing 147, 167
RETURN 63 Spell checking 56, 138
Return 97, 184 block 146
hard 115 file 146
soft 97 text 143, 146
Returns displayed 166 unattended 146
Right justification 93-94, 96, 166, 184 word 146
Spell checking language 167 Umlaut 108
Spell ignore marker 68, 104, 147 Undelete buffer 80
Spell memory 169 Undelete buffer size 170
Spelling Checker 138 Undeleting 65, 80
Spelling checker options 167 Underlining 124
Spelling checker path 169 Undo 65
Split Screen 47 Update dictionary 167
Split screen editing 122 Updates 16
Splitting lines 69 Upper case 64, 185
Standard keyboard driver 172
Status 61 Variable line spacing 130
Status line 61, 65, 78, 184 Version
Sticky keys 172 upgrading from earlier 19, 24
Sticky shift keys 34 Version numbers 16
Store word 145 Vertical scrolling 69
Stored commands 33, 99, 184 Viewing files 76
String 102, 184 Viewing without control codes 114
Style 131, 184 Visual options 173
editing 133
loading 131 Widows 99
saving 131 Widows and orphans 86
using 133 Wildcards 103, 185
Style code $ 133 Window
Style code & 133 choose character 109
Style codes 114 splitting 122
Styles 129 Windows 185
Subscript 114, 124 linking 122
Sub-directories 75 scrollable 32
Superscript 114, 124 Windows 3.1 22
Swap 121 Windows 95 22
Swapping characters 64 Word 103, 145
Swedish 110 deleting 63
Switching files 47 move by 65
Symbols 108 storing 145
Word count 120
TAB 15, 91, 93 Word processing 13
Tab leader 86 Word processor 185
Tab markers 50 Word wrap 96, 166, 185
Table of contents 154 WordStar 172
Tabs 90, 92, 95, 104, 115, 166, 174, 184 WW 61
centre 94 Wysiwyg 114
decimal 92-93
indent 94 XMS 185
normal 93
right 93 40 column display 119
right justification 92 43/50 line display 118
Temporary text path 169
Text 97
centring 97
clearing 71
Text box 185
Text margin 90
Text mode 118
Text mode symbol definitions 174
Textual commands 29
Thesaurus 149
Thesaurus Disk 17
Thesaurus name 167
Tilde 108
Time 118
Timed automatic save (Autosave) 113
Toggle 185
Tokens 158, 185
Tree
directory 75
TypChk 62
Type 76
Typesetting 134
Typing 39