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Text File | 1994-11-01 | 21.8 KB | 447 lines

▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▀█▄ ▐██▄▄ ██▄ ▄▄▄███▌ ▄ ▐██ ████▀▀▄ █▀ ▄▀▀▄ ▀▀███▄ █▌ ███ ▐███ ▄▄ ▀ ▄██ ▐███ ██▀▀▀▐██▌ ███▌ ▐███ ██▌ ████ ███▌ ▐███ ▐███▄ ██▌ ▐██▄▄ ▐████▌ ▐████▄▄ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀█████████ ▀█▀▀ D R A W ▀▀▀█▀ v0.5α Ansi Screen Editor Coded By Skull Leader & Sinned Soul ┌──────────────┐ │ Introduction │ └──────────────┘ ACiDDraw is a utility for manipulating ansi and ascii text. It is based upon Ian Davis's Thedraw (tm). Many of it's basic features, and their orginization parallel Thedraw. In addition to these, however, it has many refined and added features. The authors of this utility have sought to include, within an efficient and tightly organized program, the most useful tools for manipulating ansi and ascii text that could be conceived. The ideas of some of the most experienced artists in these areas have been implemented in everyway possible, to create, what we hope, is the most useful utility of this type to date. ┌─────────────────────┐ │ System Requirements │ └─────────────────────┘ ■ 286 or above with an enhanced keyboard ■ DOS v3.30 or higher. (Not tested under Windows, or OS/2) ■ 300k Free memory. (Approx. Depends on page lengths) ■ CGA video card and monitor. ■ MCGA video card and monitor for 50 line mode and VGA viewing. ■ SVGA video card and monitor for Hi-Res viewing. ■ Microsoft or compatable mouse. ┌────────────────────────┐ │ Suggested Requirements │ └────────────────────────┘ ■ 640k Free memory. (depending on page size) ■ SVGA video card, with VESA support. ■ Mouse with a Microsoft compatible mouse driver. ┌──────────────┐ │ New Features │ └──────────────┘ ACiDDraw v0.5α includes the following new features over ACiDDraw v0.1ß : ■ Mouse support ■ Supports up to 1000 lines per page ■ Supports up to 160 columns per page ■ Quick Palette ■ Proper flipping of a block ■ Tab and tab setup ■ Multi-Page support ■ Hi-Res Vga viewing ■ Binary load and save ┌────────┐ │ Notice │ └────────┘ This alpha version of ACiDDraw is being release to you as is. All bugs should be reported to either Skull Leader or Sinned Soul. The authors take no responsibility for lost work, or damaged equipment caused directly or indirectly by this program. ACiDDraw cannot be modified in any way with out the written consent of either author. Finally, the charging of monetary fees by any unauthorized party for the circulation or use of this utility is expressly forbidden. ┌────────────┐ │ The Editor │ └────────────┘ The editor consists of either a 80x24 or 80x49 viewable area. There are two pages available, the page sizes are user selectable, up to 1000 lines at 80 columns or 100 lines at 160 columns. The following keys will allow you to maneuver the viewing window within the virtual pages. Arrow Keys : This keys allow you to move the cursor to different positions around the viewable screen. The program will scroll the window to allow you to view the entire virtual page. Page Up/Page Down : These two keys are keys which will allow you to maneuver around the virtual screen quickly. It will move the screen either up a page, or down a page. Tab : This will position your cursor to a position preset by the tab configuration. (See tab setup) Shift-Tab : This will position your cursor to the previous position set in the tab configuration. (See tab setup) Ctrl-Left : This will shift anything on the right hand side of the cursor over to the left by one. This affects the entire length of the virtual screen. Ctrl-Right : This will shift anything on the right hand side of the cursor over to the right by one. This affects the entire length of the virtual screen. Ctrl-Y : This will move every line below the cursor up one, deleting the row below the cursor. Ctrl-I : This will move every line below the cursor down one, deleting the very last row. F1-F10 : These keys will display special ascii characters, these ascii characters are preset in the program. The current character which will be display by press any one of these keys are listed on the top right corner of the screen. There are 15 sets of these characters all preset, and each set can be selected. ALT-1 to 10 : This will change the set which is currently being used, sets 1 through to 10 can be selected using the ALT key. Ctrl-1 to 5 : This will allow you to select the current sets from 11 through to 15. ALT-C : This command will prompt you if you want to clear the screen, if you agree it will proceed to clear the current page. ALT-E : This command will allow you to switch between two possible pages. Each page is separate from the other page, and is user selectable. Note - You must select two pages from the option menu before the second page can be activated. Each page can have a separate length and width. Numbers and alphanumerics can be displayed by pressing the corresponding key on the keyboard. All shift combined with the numeric and alphanumeric are also valid entries. ┌────────────────┐ │ Color Changing │ └────────────────┘ The editor has the ability to select between 16 normal foreground colors, 16 blinking foreground colors, and 8 background colors. All of these are preset and cannot be changed. The current color determines what attribute the next character displayed will have. Escape : This key will pull down the quick palette menu, (Quick Palette) which allows you to easily change colors with arrow keys. The up and down arrows allow you to change the foreground colors. The BB beside the foreground colors represents a blinking color. The left and right arrows change the current background color. The mouse can also be used to select the colors from quick palette. (see section on mouse support) To select a color, place the cursor on top of the colors you want and press the left button. Ctrl-A : This key will bring a menu which allows you to select which color you want. All the colors are displayed, and both the foreground and background colors must be entered. Ctrl-Left : This key will select the previous background color available. Ctrl-Right : This key will select the next background color available. Ctrl-Up : This key will selected the next foreground color available. Ctrl-Down : This key will selected the previous foreground color available. Alt-U : This key will change the current color to the one located just under the cursor position. ┌──────────────┐ │ Viewing Keys │ └──────────────┘ ALT-M : This key toggles between a 25 and a 50 line display. (Line Toggle) A 50 line display is only available with a VGA adapter. ALT-V : This key allows you to view the current page in (VGA Viewing) a simulated VGA environment. It will try to convert the characters which are in text mode into a graphics mode. The resolution which it is first displayed is 320x200x256c. (Which is available to anybody with a MCGA or better video card) F1 : While viewing in the 320x200x256c mode, ACiDDraw has the ability to change to higher resolutions. These higher resolutions are only available to people with a SVGA or Super Video Graphics Adapter. This key will display the vga at 320x200x256c mode. F2 : This will change the resolution to a 640x480x256c mode, which is only available on a SVGA video card. The video card is auto-detected. F3 : This will change the resolution to a 1024x768x256c mode, which is only available on a SVGA video card. The video card is auto-detected. It is possible to view each page in VGA, by selecting the proper page in text mode, then using ALT-V to view it. If the picture does not fit onto a single VGA screen, you will be able to scroll the VGA using the up and down arrow keys. ┌────────────────┐ │ Setup Commands │ └────────────────┘ ALT-T : This key combination will allow you to edit the position (Tab Setup) at which the cursor is placed when a TAB or Shift-Tab is placed. Each marker is a place where the cursor jump, the cursor will jump to the next marker from its current position. You can either set each tab location, or you can set the interval at which a marker is placed. ALT-O : This is the main configuration for the program. (Configuration) These options are pretty much self-explanatory. If you want to keep your configuration for the next time you load ACiDDraw, you MUST type "S" to save the configuration to disk. The number of pages can only be either 1 or 2. With a page width of 160, only a length of up to 100 is available. Two pages at 160x1000 lines each is not possible in this configuration since it would require over 640k. IMPORTANT - For this version, you MUST exit the program and re-enter it before the page sizes and numbering are re-initialized. ┌─────────────────────┐ │ Additional Commands │ └─────────────────────┘ ALT-S : This is the key combination to save an ansi. (Save Ansi) The following save methods are available ANSI : Standard method for storing graphics in text mode. The length of the ansi is automatically detected on the first blank line. The characters per line option determine how many characters there will be before a carriage return. An extension of .ANS is automatically placed onto a file with no extension. ASCII : This method uses all the ascii characters, but without ansi color and movement codes. The line length is also auto-detected. BINARY : This is a raw binary dump of the entire virtual screen. No length and width data is mentioned in the file. You must use sauce to determine these. If a file is replacing an old one, the old file will automatically be rename with a .BAK extension. ALT-L : This is the load menu, it is allows you to choose which (Load Ansi) file you want to load. Any file with the extension of .BIN is loaded with a binary format, any other file is treated as an ansi file. ALT-D : This menu will allow you to choose whether or not (Sauce Description) SAUCE will be attached to the end of the file. It will also allow you to choose a name, group and title for your work. The date, size, dimensions, etc. are are automatically updated for you when you save. ALT-R : This command will restore a backed up file onto the screen. Before a BLOCK, VGA View, Load, a binary backup of the current screen is dumped to disk. If you want to restore the screen before these commands, you can use this command to restore it. (NOTE-this command is just in a testing stage, and is not meant to replace a genuine restore command) Note-This temporary file is called _ADBACK_.$$$ and is deleted after ever normal exit from ACiDDRAW. If there was a problem and ACiDDraw exited abnormally, before you were able to save your work, this backup file should be rename to .BIN and loaded from ACiDDraw. Since only certain commands will update to this backup file, some work may not appear in the back up file. ALT-B : This allows you to select a block and perform functions on this selected area of screen. After blocking a certain area certain optional are available. Copy or Move : Copy allows you to stamp a block multiple times onto the screen, Block moves the blocked area to a new location. Flip X/V : This flips the block horizontally, "X" being a regular byte for byte flip, while a "V" will flip any ascii characters which have a horizonal mirror image. Flip Y/W : This flips the block vertically, "Y" being a regular byte for byte flip, while a "W" will flip any ascii characters which have a vertical mirror image. Fill : Allows you to fill a blocked area with either the current foreground, background, both, or fill the blocked area with a selected character, with or without the current attribute. Page : Allows you to paste your block onto a separate page, (if another one is available) Outline : Allows you to outline a blocked area with a single, double, or a mix. The selected set determines which is drawn, set 1 single line, set 2 double set 3 mix, set 4 mix. The color of the outline is determined by the current drawing color. Save : Allows you to save a block, using either the ANSI, ASCII or BINARY method. ALT-H : A multi-screen help menu can be called up using this key combination. Inside summarizes most of the commands. To page through all four screens, use either the page up or page down key. ALT-X : This command allows you to exit ACIDDRAW, if the ACiDDraw decects that the CURRENT PAGE has been changed before it was saved, it will prompt you if you want to save it. ┌───────────────────┐ │ Missing Functions │ └───────────────────┘ This alpha version is missing serveral functions which keeps it from becoming a release version. Please note these: ■ Cannot load a 160 column ansi, only 80 columns will be read. ■ Will not determine the proper size for a binary file load. ■ Ansi save with 160 column mode will only save the first 80. These and several more functions will be added into the final release version of ACiDDraw. ┌─────────────────┐ │ How to Register │ └─────────────────┘ 1. Print out or duplicate order form below 2. Fill out the order form. 3. Mail order form along with Cheque or Money Order for $10 US or $13 CAN 4. Make all Cheques or Money Orders out to Dennis. ┌────────────┐ │ Order Form │ └────────────┘ Name: __________________________________ Address: __________________________________ Apartment #: __________________________________ City: __________________________________ State/Prov: __________________________________ Zip/Postal Code: __________________________________ Country: __________________________________ Voice #: (___) ___-____ Please Specify: 3½ [ ] or 5¼ [ ] (just one) HD [ ] or DD [ ] (just one) Comments and/or Suggestions: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Note: All information will be kept confidential. Send order forms to: Once again, since this version of ACiDDraw is still in testing, there is no registration required. ┌───────────────────┐ │ Where to Reach Us │ └───────────────────┘ Comments, bug report, suggestion, etc can be forwarded to either Sinned Soul or Skull Leader at the following locations : ACiD Western Agora Terra Firma (714) 963-4851 Terra Firma (714) 963-4972 via the internet: aciddraw@cyberspace.net (ACiDDRAW Account) ┌───────────────┐ │ Final Notices │ └───────────────┘ It has been decided that since this is an alpha version, there will be no artificial limitations or registration nags. In further, full release versions, registration will be required. This registration will provide you with access to all new upgrades, and the eternal gratitude of those who've put substantial amounts of experience, energy, and time into this venture. Will the spa hunt you down if you do not? Most likely no, but registration will insure that the authors remain interested in creating good programs for you and others to use in the future. SAUCE00ACiDDraw Documentation ACiD Productions 19941101┘VP┐