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GRABBER(tm) Version 3.97 Shareware Issue ---------------------- The Screen Capture Program for MS-DOS and IBM PC Compatibles DOCUMENTATION AND TECHNICAL NOTES May 14, 1994 Copyright 1987-1994 by Gerald A. Monroe All rights reserved. +-------------------------------------------------+ | Although they are shareware, GRABBER and this | | documentation file are copyrighted. They are | | not in the public domain and they are not | | "freeware." Please consult page 6 of the | | REGISTER.DOC file for important copyright | | information and license provisions. | +-------------------------------------------------+ Thank you for your interest in the GRABBER(tm) screen capture system! The GRABBER package is being marketed in this special form as shareware. This means you have the opportunity to use and evaluate it for 30 days before you decide whether to buy. If you continue to use GRABBER.EXE, any of its "offspring" programs, or any of the other programs in the GRABBER package beyond such 30-day period, then you are required to send your registration fee to the publisher according to the instructions in the REGISTER.DOC file. When you register, you will receive a copy of the latest release of the registered GRABBER package that you order. You may not continue using GRABBER beyond such 30-day period without regis- tering. For registration instructions and a complete statement of your license to use this software, please consult the REGISTER.DOC file. Gerald A. Monroe P.O. Box 770906 Cleveland, Ohio 44107, U.S.A. CompuServe Mail: 72321,1257 Fax: (216) 521-6060 IBM and PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Hercules is a trademark of Hercules Computer Technology. Other trademarks referenced herein are the proper- ties of their respective owners. Table of Contents Shareware Registration and License Information . . . . . . . . 1 PART I: CONFIGURING AND USING GRABBER Overview of GRABBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Hardware and DOS requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Kinds of screens that GRABBER can capture . . . . . . . . . . 3 Super-VGA graphics compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 How to start GRABBER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Capturing the screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The filename prompt function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Special note for Hercules monochrome graphics users . . . . . 7 Capturing to a different drive/directory . . . . . . . . . . 8 Configuring GRABBER for Super-VGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Capturing from 8514/A-compatibles using GR4AI.EXE . . . . . . 10 Errors during the screen capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Tips on capturing from games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 GRABBER configuration options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 INT=nn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 INT=OFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 PROMPT and NOPROMPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 MOUSE and NOMOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 NOSWAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 SOUND and NOSOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 BATCHCAPTURE or BATCHCAPTURE:filename . . . . . . . . . 16 NOEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 NOUMB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 UNLOAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 DEFAULTDRIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 NOVESA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 PART II: USING GRABBER'S OFFSPRING .EXE IMAGE FILES Fade-in screen images: "FADEIN" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Fade-out screen images: "FADEOUT" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Timed execution: /Tn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Don't clear screen on exit: /F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Don't wait for any keypress: /N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Keylist operation: /K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Sample batch file SHOWMENU.BAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 PART III: MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION Displaying Super-VGA graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Offspring file compatibility with other systems . . . . . . . 30 Using GRABBER with Microsoft Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Changing GRABBER's hotkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Testing the reliability of your VESA BIOS extension . . . . . 34 Calling GRABBER from your own programs . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Reporting problems/bugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 APPENDIX A (KEY=kk hotkey codes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 APPENDIX B (SHIFT=ss hotkey codes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 3 of 39 PART I: CONFIGURING AND USING GRABBER OVERVIEW OF GRABBER -------------------- GRABBER.EXE ("GRABBER") is a screen-capture program for personal computers using the MS-DOS operating system. GRABBER is like a camera focused on your computer screen. It can take a picture of practically any image on the screen and save the picture perma- nently to a disk file. After GRABBER takes a picture of the screen, you can go back and redisplay the picture again, whenever you want. GRABBER also comes with special tools that let your other programs redisplay the pictures, edit them, or print them out. GRABBER has been around since 1987, and it is the most reliable, most flexible, and most imitated software you will find anywhere for capturing screens in the MS-DOS environment, regardless of price. HARDWARE AND DOS REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------ To use GRABBER, you will need: a) an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100% compatible computer; b) at least one floppy diskette drive; and c) MS-DOS, or IBM PC-DOS, Version 3.0 or later. You can use GRABBER with either a color or a monochrome display screen. KINDS OF SCREENS THAT GRABBER CAN CAPTURE ------------------------------------------ GRABBER is designed to capture screens from programs that run in "real mode" or "virtual 8086" mode under MS-DOS. GRABBER cap- tures character-based text images up to 132 columns by 60 rows. GRABBER also captures many "standard" types of graphic images. The following chart details all of the standard video modes which GRABBER is designed to work with: Mode Type X/Y Image No. of Adapters which No. of Mode Resolution Colors support mode ----- -------- -------------------- ------ ---------------- 00 text 40 x 25 characters 2 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 01 text 40 x 25 characters 16 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 02 text 80+ x 25+ characters 2 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 03 text 80+ x 25+ characters 16 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 07 text 80+ x 25+ characters 2 MGA MCGA EGA VGA GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 4 of 39 Mode Type X/Y Image No. of Adapters which No. of Mode Resolution Colors support mode ----- -------- -------------------- ------ ---------------- 04 graphics 320 x 200 pixels 4 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 05 graphics 320 x 200 pixels 2 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 06 graphics 640 x 200 pixels 2 CGA MCGA EGA VGA 07+ graphics 720 x 348 pixels 2 MGA (Hercules) 13 graphics 320 x 200 pixels 16 EGA VGA 14 graphics 640 x 200 pixels 16 EGA VGA 15 graphics 640 x 350 pixels 2 EGA VGA 16 graphics 640 x 350 pixels 16 EGA VGA 17 graphics 640 x 480 pixels 2 VGA MCGA 18 graphics 640 x 480 pixels 16 VGA 19 graphics 320 x 200 pixels 256 VGA MCGA Note: Some programs use special graphics screen modes which are based on one of the above EGA/VGA "standard" modes, but which are altered for increased resolution or color depth by making special adjustments to the video adapter registers. Examples include the 320 x 240 x 256-color mode and the 720 x 540 x 16-color mode. Use GRPCX.EXE instead of GRABBER.EXE to capture these special types of screens. (GRPCX.EXE is included in this package. See GRPCX.DOC for more information.) SUPER-VGA GRAPHICS COMPATIBILITY --------------------------------- In addition to the modes above, GRABBER can capture the following high-resolution graphic modes under MS-DOS, on systems that are equipped with certain brands of "Super-VGA" graphics adapters: * 16-color modes: 800 x 16; 1024 x 768 * 256-color modes: 640 x 400; 640 x 480; 800 x 600; 1024 x 768; (VESA only: 1280 x 1024) GRABBER can capture these high-resolution modes if your system is equipped with a video adapter that was manufactured using one of several popular types of Super-VGA controller chips. In addi- tion, GRABBER is compatible with these modes on any Super-VGA adapter which fully supports the VESA video BIOS extension. If you want to capture Super-VGA graphics, and your system does not support the VESA software standard (or your VESA driver is not loaded in memory), then you must tell GRABBER which kind of video adapter is installed in your system. To check whether your current configuration supports the VESA software standard, use the CHKVBE.EXE program described below on page 34. If CHKVBE.EXE reports that the VESA standard is not available in your current configuration, see page 8 below for instructions on how to configure GRABBER for your particular type of Super-VGA hardware. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 5 of 39 HOW TO START GRABBER --------------------- Before GRABBER can start capturing your screen images, it must be installed in your computer's memory, or be made "resident in memory." To install GRABBER in memory, enter a command at the DOS prompt which follows one of these formats: (1) GRABBER drive:\pathname >> for hard-disk systems (2) GRABBER drive: >> for two-floppy systems (3) GRABBER DEFAULTDRIVE >> for one-floppy systems In the first and second examples, [drive] can be a single letter for any valid disk drive name in your system, from A to Z. If your system has a hard disk drive, you should follow the first example. [Pathname] in the first example represents the name of an existing directory on your hard disk where you want GRABBER to deposit the offspring image files that you ask it to create. If you have two floppy diskette drives and no hard disk, you should follow the second command example. You can specify either A: or B: for the [drive:] parameter. Offspring files will be placed on the diskette that is in the drive you specify. (You may also use the second example if you have a hard-disk system.) Follow the third command example if you have only one floppy diskette drive and no hard drive. "DEFAULTDRIVE" does not represent some other parameter which you supply; type the word DEFAULTDRIVE itself on the command line after the word GRABBER. Offspring files will be placed on the diskette in your single drive. Please note that GRABBER will not stay resident in memory until you have told it where to place its offspring files, according to one of the examples above. You may also start GRABBER by including a line in a batch file, such as your AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file. The line you include in a batch file is the same as the command line you would enter on your keyboard to start GRABBER at the DOS prompt. CAPTURING THE SCREEN --------------------- When you install GRABBER in memory, the program displays a blue welcome banner on your screen in the upper left corner. The banner means that GRABBER is successfully installed in memory. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 6 of 39 (The display also contains some other useful information, such as your current hotkey combination, the drive/path to which screens will be captured, and how much memory GRABBER is occupying.) You are now ready to capture display screens to disk. To capture the screen, you press GRABBER's reserved key combina- tion, which is [CTRL =]. That is, you hold down the [CTRL] key, press the equal sign key [=], then release the [CTRL] key again. From now on, this key sequence will be referred to as GRABBER's "hotkey" combination. If you want to, you can change the hotkey combination to some- thing else. See page 33 below for instructions. The quickest way to test GRABBER is from your DOS prompt. Enter these three commands in this order: CLS DIR /W This will clear your screen and fill it again with a directory listing of the current drive and path. Now, press [CTRL =]. You hear a soft beep, and a prompt appears on the top line of the display, showing a default file name to which you may save the current screen. If you wish to accept the default file name which GRABBER is providing, just press <Enter>. If you want to type in your own file name, you may do so. After you press <Enter>, the prompt disappears and GRABBER immediately begins to create the offspring file on the correct drive. When GRABBER is finished capturing the screen, you hear an ascending two-tone chirp. Now, you are ready to display the screen you have just captured. It is a program file, ready to be executed just like GRABBER it- self. Go to the drive and directory where it was placed (if you are not already there), and enter this command at the DOS prompt: MSDOS00 (or whatever you named your offspring file.) What you see are the contents of the screen you created a moment ago when you pressed [CTRL =]. This image is contained within the file MSDOS00.EXE, a GRABBER offspring. The image will remain on the screen until you press a key -- almost any key -- to make it go away. The screen then erases itself and you are back where you started, at the DOS prompt. When you press [CTRL =] again, GRABBER will create another offspring containing the current screen. If you do not supply your own file name, it will be called MSDOS01.EXE, then MSDOS02.EXE, and so forth, up to MSDOS99.EXE. Each of these offspring programs can be executed just the same way as your GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 7 of 39 MSDOS00.EXE, either from the keyboard at the DOS prompt, or as a line in a batch file. Your computer does not have to be sitting at the DOS prompt, as it was in the example above, for you to capture a screen. You can use GRABBER to capture screens from thousands of different PC application programs. THE FILENAME PROMPT FUNCTION ----------------------------- Here are some things you should know about GRABBER's filename prompts: You cannot change the drive or directory path to which your screen will be saved by entering a new one at the prompt. All you may supply is a valid one-character to eight-character filename, using characters DOS regards as "legal" for filenames (i.e., no blank spaces, control characters, wildcards, etc.) If you enter a file name that is less than eight characters long, GRABBER will ignore the blank spaces between the end of the file name and the start of the ".EXE" extension. You cannot change the file name extension at the prompt. The extension of any offspring file must remain ".EXE" so that DOS will recognize the file as an executable program and allow you to view the image later. All images are saved to the drive and/or directory path which you specified when you installed GRABBER according to the instruc- tions on page 5, above. If you want to change the drive and/or directory path to which your images are saved, you may do so by issuing another GRABBER command at the DOS prompt -- see page 8 below. If you want to cancel the screen capture operation at the file name prompt, just press <Esc> once or twice until the prompt disappears. If you make a typing mistake while entering the file name at the prompt, use the backspace key to correct the mistake. For more information about the filename prompt function, refer to the section below called "GRABBER Installation Options." That section also includes instructions for enabling and disabling the filename prompt function. SPECIAL NOTE FOR HERCULES-COMPATIBLE GRAPHICS USERS ---------------------------------------------------- When operating in the 720x348 graphic mode, Hercules-compatible monochrome graphic adapters divide the video memory into two segments commonly known as Page 0 and Page 1. These adapters can GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 8 of 39 display a graphic image on either of these two pages, but only one page at a time may be displayed on the screen. Due to certain technical limitations in the architecture of these adapters, it is not possible to determine with certainty which of these two pages, Page 0 or Page 1, is being displayed at any given time. Rather than risking an incorrect guess as to which of these two pages is currently being displayed, (which would result in an offspring file containing only a blank or garbage-filled image), GRABBER requires you to choose which page to capture. After you press GRABBER's hotkey while in the graphic mode, you will hear one short beep. GRABBER is waiting for you to indicate which page you wish to capture. To choose the lower Page 0, press the [0] key. To choose the higher Page 1, press the [1] key. If you press anything other than [0] or [1], you will cancel the screen capture request and return to the foreground application. There are two ways for you to determine, if you are not sure, whether the monochrome graphic image is being displayed on Page 0 or Page 1. The first way is to consult the documentation for the application program which is generating the image to see if it mentions this. (Some applications in their installation proce- dures allow you to force the use of one or the other page.) The second way is by trial and error. If you choose to capture Page 0 but the resulting offspring file is not what you expected, this indicates that you should select Page 1 to capture 720x348 graphic images generated by that application program. CAPTURING TO A DIFFERENT DRIVE/DIRECTORY ----------------------------------------- If you first installed GRABBER to capture offspring files to one drive or directory, and you later want to switch to another drive or directory (or use DEFAULTDRIVE), you can simply issue another GRABBER command at the DOS prompt as described above on page 5. GRABBER will display a screen of status information, which informs you that the new destination is now in effect. CONFIGURING GRABBER FOR SUPER-VGA ---------------------------------- Before GRABBER is able to capture high-resolution Super-VGA images, you must tell the program which type of VGA chipset circuitry is used by your adapter. (If you have a Super-VGA adapter that fully supports the VESA video BIOS extension, you should not need to configure GRABBER to capture your high-resolution Super-VGA images. However, if you experience problems capturing such images with your VESA-compati- ble system, the following procedure may solve the problems.) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 9 of 39 To configure GRABBER for your Super-VGA, include one of the following "@" parameters on GRABBER's command line. For example: GRABBER [other options] @CHIPTYPE Here are the VGA chipset names which GRABBER recognizes. Use one of these in place of "@chiptype" in the example above. @ATI ATI Technologies chips @VIDEO7 Video Seven chips @HEADLAND Headland Technology chips @PARADISE Paradise PVGA chips @WD Western Digital WD90C00 chips @TSENG3 Tseng Laboratories ET-3000 chip @TSENG4 Tseng Laboratories ET-4000 chip @STB4 STB adapters using the Tseng Labs ET-4000 chip @AHEADA Ahead Systems chip version "A" @AHEADB Ahead Systems chip version "B" @GENOA Genoa GVGA chip (used by 6000 series cards) @OAK Oak Technology OTI-067 chip @TRIDENT Trident chips @NCR NCR 77C22E chip In many cases, but not all, the chipset names here will match the brand name of the adapter. For example, almost all ATI, Video Seven and Trident brand-name adapters use chipsets which carry the board manufacturer's own name. However, you should note that this is not always true. Very many Super-VGA adapters use chipsets that were manufactured by a source other than the company whose brand name is on the product. Such manufacturers (for example: STB, Orchid, Genoa and Everex) have not always produced their own VGA chipsets. Instead, they have built Super- VGA adapters using chipsets from other sources, and have marketed the finished products under their own brand names. Therefore, if you are not sure which type of VGA chipset is employed by your Super-VGA adapter, you should determine this by examining the Super-VGA itself, and looking for the name printed on top of the VGA logic chip. (Usually, the Super-VGA is a card in one of your computer's expansion slots, but sometimes it is a section of the main system board itself.) The other way to determine which of these GRABBER configuration settings will work for you is by trial-and-error. If one setting does not work properly, try the next setting in the above list. (You can issue successive "@chiptype" commands from the DOS prompt, without removing GRABBER from memory and reinstalling it.) If you attempt to capture a Super-VGA graphic image and hear one single low-pitched beep, it means that GRABBER does not recognize GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 10 of 39 or is not configured to capture the specific display mode in which the adapter is currently operating. This will happen with Super-VGA graphics if your video system is not VESA-compatible, and you have not configured GRABBER for the correct type of VGA chipset. You should also note that GRABBER cannot capture some 16-color Super-VGA images even though they are of common resolutions. Typical examples are ATI's video mode numbered 65h (used for 1024 x 768 x 16 on older VGA Wonder cards), and the 1024 x 768 x 16 and 800 x 600 x 16 modes on adapters, such as some models of the Diamond Stealth and Orchid Fahrenheit adapters, which employ the S-Cubed 86C911 chipset (a chip not supported directly by GRABBER but possibly by way of a VESA driver). GRABBER only captures 16- color modes which conform to the IBM-standard "four-plane planar" memory organization scheme such as that used by the standard 640 x 350 x 16 EGA graphic mode. Modes such as the ones mentioned above do not conform to the standard memory layout scheme, but use memory layouts unique to the particular board manufacturer. Therefore, they and similar modes cannot be captured by GRABBER -- but they might be able to be captured by GR4AI.EXE. Fortu- nately, such modes are rare. CAPTURING FROM 8514/A-COMPATIBLES USING GR4AI.EXE -------------------------------------------------- The 8514/A Adapter Interface (AI) is a video standard invented by IBM which is now increasingly being recognized by other video manufacturers. Although 8514/A supports the common 640 x 480 and 1024 x 768 image resolutions, it is a completely different standard than VGA or Super-VGA. There are several types of VGA chipsets which GRABBER.EXE does not directly support in high-resolution Super-VGA modes. An example is the S-Cubed 86C911 chip, used by recent "accelerator" boards marketed by Diamond, Orchid and Genoa. However, if you have such an adapter and its manufacturer also supplies a memory- resident (TSR) program that allows the board to be compatible with the 8514/A AI (and thus "emulate" a true 8514/A card), then you can capture high-resolution 640 x 480 and 1024 x 768 images from the adapter by using the GR4AI.EXE program included in this GRABBER package. Consult the GR4AI documentation file for more information. ERRORS DURING THE SCREEN CAPTURE --------------------------------- If GRABBER is unable to capture your image because it cannot recognize the current video mode, then it will make one short low-pitched beep sound on your PC's speaker. (See pages 9-10 above.) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 11 of 39 If GRABBER is unable to capture your image for any reason other than an unrecognized video mode, it will sound three short low- pitched beeps on your speaker. If you hear this signal, it means the screen has not been captured, probably because there is something wrong with the disk you are trying to capture it to. Correct the condition with your disk, and use the hotkey to try the capture again. Usually, these errors are fairly obvious to detect: you forget to put a diskette in the disk drive, or you leave the drive door open, or the diskette is write-protected. Some errors, however, are not so obvious to the eye. GRABBER will also beep if: (1) the disk to which you are trying to capture the screen is already full; (2) its directory area cannot fit anymore entries; (3) the FILES= command in your CONFIG.SYS file does not specify enough files; (4) there is a physical defect on the disk itself; or (5) after installing GRABBER in memory, you deleted the GRABBER.EXE file or moved it to another location. After installing GRABBER in memory, *do not* delete the GRAB- BER.EXE file or move it to another location on your disk. GRABBER will be disabled until you uninstall it (see below) and re-install it, or until you move the GRABBER.EXE file back to the drive and directory where it was located when you initially installed it in memory. TIPS ON CAPTURING FROM GAMES ------------------------------ Game programs, especially those which generate animated graphic screens, are some of the most challenging types of screens to capture reliably. You may find a game program from which GRABBER seems unable to capture accurate offspring images, or any images at all. Here are some suggestions that may help solve the problem: * Some games use non-standard video modes which GRAB- BER.EXE cannot capture correctly, but which GRPCX.EXE can capture with no problems. A common symptom of this is an .EXE offspring file which looks scrambled, or duplicates a miniature form of the image several times across the screen, or is totally empty. If you have a VGA-compatible system, try using the GRPCX.EXE utility supplied with this package. * If possible, capture screens on a VGA-compatible system. Usually, it is easier for GRABBER to capture screens from VGA-compatible systems than it is from EGA systems. * In some games, GRABBER's filename prompts will leave behind garbage on the screen, or cause improper operation of the game after the prompt is cleared. Try using the NOPROMPT option, which is described below on page 14. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 12 of 39 * Some games require complete control over the keyboard, and will not let you use the keyboard to communicate with GRAB- BER. Make sure that you do not use the "INT=OFF" command-line switch when you initially load GRABBER in memory. If "INT=OFF" is not being used and you still cannot capture the screen using your keyboard, try using your mouse buttons to capture the screen instead. See the MOUSE option, which is described below on page 15. * You may have to try more than once to capture a game screen successfully. If a game screen turns out scrambled, it may be because the game was in the middle of a timing-sensitive operation at the instant you called GRABBER. GRABBER CONFIGURATION OPTIONS ------------------------------ This section identifies the "command line switches" which GRABBER recognizes and responds to. A command line switch is a string of characters which you type after the GRABBER command itself, whether you are calling GRABBER directly from the DOS prompt, or from a line in a batch file. These switches allow you to modify the way GRABBER performs certain operations. For example, turning GRABBER's beep sounds on and off, or enabling GRABBER's use of the mouse buttons to capture the screen, are just two of the many functions which GRABBER's command line switches allow you to control. All of the command line switches described in this section may be used to configure GRABBER's operations when you initially install the program in memory. In addition, after GRABBER is installed, you may continue to use most of these switches to communicate with the copy of GRABBER that is resident in memory, and recon- figure its operations, "on the fly." Unless the description of a command line switch states otherwise, that switch may be used both when you initially install GRABBER in memory, and to reconfigure GRABBER's operations after the program is made resident. If a particular switch is valid only when you initially load GRABBER in memory, that fact will be indicated below. A single command line may contain as many switch options as you desire, in any order, in either uppercase or lowercase letters. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 13 of 39 Option: INT=nn Usage: GRABBER [other options] INT=nn This switch tells GRABBER to attempt to use a particular block of interrupt vector numbers for relocating the IRQ0-IRQ7 hardware interrupts while GRABBER is resident in memory. The 'nn' in the string represents a two-digit hexadecimal number, which may be any one of the following: D8, D0, C8, C0, B8, B0, A8, A0, 98, 90, 88, 80, or 78. GRABBER will attempt to use the eight consec- utive interrupt vector numbers beginning with the number you specify as 'nn'. (For example: INT=78 tells GRABBER to try allocating interrupts 78 hex through 7F hex, while INT=B0 in- structs GRABBER to try allocating interrupts B0 hex through B7 hex.) GRABBER will ignore your INT=nn request, and will not redirect the IRQ0-IRQ7 hardware interrupts at all, if either of the following is true: (1) the 'nn' number you specify is not included in the list above; or (2) GRABBER detects a possibility that one or more of the eight interrupt numbers in the block starting with 'nn' might already be in use by some other software in your system. If you do not specify the INT=nn option, and you do not specify the "INT=OFF" option (described below), then GRABBER will auto- matically search for a block of eight consecutive interrupts beginning with one of the interrupt numbers in the above list (searching in the order listed above), and will allocate the first free block it finds. The INT=nn option is valid only when you are initially installing GRABBER in memory. If you use it after GRABBER is already resident, it will be ignored. For more information about GRABBER's redirection of hardware interrupts IRQ0-IRQ7, see the "INT=OFF" option (described below). Option: INT=OFF Usage: GRABBER [other options] INT=OFF This switch tells GRABBER not to attempt to redirect the IRQ0- IRQ7 hardware interrupts to any other block of interrupt numbers from where GRABBER originally finds them. On most PC's, the IRQ0-IRQ7 hardware interrupts are almost always mapped to the interrupt vector numbers 08 hex through 0F hex. Using the INT=OFF option ensures that GRABBER will not attempt to disturb this mapping arrangement. If your system begins to crash for no apparent reason when GRABBER is loaded in memory, you should first try to use this GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 14 of 39 INT=OFF option on the command line. Note that the INT=OFF option is valid only when you are initially installing GRABBER in memory. If you use it after GRABBER is already resident, it will be ignored. For more information about GRABBER's redirection of the IRQ0-IRQ7 hardware interrupts, see the "INT=nn" option (described above on page 13). Option: PROMPT and NOPROMPT Usage: GRABBER [other options] PROMPT GRABBER [other options] NOPROMPT These switches tell GRABBER whether you wish to be prompted on the screen to enter a name for each .exe image before it is created, or instead, whether each .exe file should automatically be assigned a name by GRABBER. The default setting for this option is PROMPT (i.e., prompts enabled). The command GRABBER NOPROMPT can be used to turn off the prompts. They will then remain disabled until the next GRABBER PROMPT command is issued. While the filename prompt function is disabled, GRABBER automati- cally assigns a name to each .exe image file it creates. GRABBER tries to automatically detect the name of the program that is running when you tell it to capture the screen. If GRABBER is able to detect the program's name, it takes the first six charac- ters of that name and adds: (i) a two-digit number from "00" through "99", and (ii) a file name extension of ".EXE". This is the name that will be assigned to the captured screen file. GRABBER always picks the lowest available two-digit number in the destination path. For example, if you are running a program called "WORDPROC.EXE" and there are already four files in the destination path named "WORDPR00.EXE" through "WORDPR03.EXE", then your next screen capture from that program will be called "WORDPR04.EXE". If there are already 100 files in the destina- tion path named "WORDPR00.EXE" through "WORDPR99.EXE", then your next screen capture from that program will be called "WORDPR00.EXE", and the contents of the original WORDPR00.EXE file will be overwritten and lost forever. If GRABBER detects that you are sitting at the DOS prompt when you request a screen capture, it will name the captured files MSDOS00.EXE, MSDOS01.EXE, and so forth. If GRABBER is unable to detect the name of the currently running program, it will assign the names SCREEN00.EXE, SCREEN01.EXE, and so forth. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 15 of 39 Hercules monochrome graphics users: Please note that the file- name prompt function is not available at all when you are captur- ing 720 x 348 monochrome graphic images, even though the prompt function may be enabled when you are capturing character-based text screens. When GRABBER senses such a graphic image, it automatically assigns a file name to the .exe file it creates, based on the above scheme. EGA, VGA and Super-VGA users: Some foreground applications which operate in graphic modes can be very sensitive to interruptions by underlying memory-resident programs like GRABBER. Because of this, your filename prompts may sometimes appear in a distorted form on your screen when the display is running in a high-resolu- tion graphic mode. There is no way to predict when such distor- tion might occur, and nothing can be done about it except to temporarily disable GRABBER's filename prompts. So, if the prompts cause unacceptable side effects on a particular fore- ground program, you should issue the command GRABBER NOPROMPT before trying to capture screens from inside that program. Please note that even though a filename prompt may appear dis- torted, GRABBER is not aware of the distortion and still waits for you to enter a filename at the keyboard or to cancel the operation by pressing <Esc>. Option: MOUSE and NOMOUSE Usage: GRABBER [other options] MOUSE GRABBER [other options] NOMOUSE The MOUSE switch tells GRABBER to pay attention to the status of your mouse buttons, and to capture the screen when both the left and right buttons are depressed for more than about one second. This "mouse hotkey" function is supported only if your mouse is running under the control of a Microsoft-compatible mouse driver, as most mice do. The default setting for this option is NOMOUSE (i.e., no mouse support). The command GRABBER MOUSE can be used to turn it on. The mouse hotkey will then remain enabled until the command GRABBER NOMOUSE is issued. To capture a screen, press and hold both the left and right mouse buttons for about one or two seconds. This has the same effect as pressing GRABBER's usual hotkey combination at the keyboard, and the filename prompt will appear at the top of the screen. If you wish, you may now use the keyboard to enter a filename. You may also use the mouse buttons to proceed with the screen capture or to cancel. The left button acts in the same way as your keyboard's <Enter> key, and the right button acts like your <Esc> key. When used together with the INT=OFF option (see pages 13-14 above), the MOUSE option may allow you to capture screens from within applications which completely take over the keyboard GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 16 of 39 hardware and allow no software loaded before them in memory (such as GRABBER) to be informed about events taking place at the keyboard. Many game programs behave this way, among others. Option: NOSWAP Usage: GRABBER [other options] NOSWAP This switch tells GRABBER not to attempt to "swap" certain key regions of the MS-DOS kernel out of memory during a screen capture operation. By default, GRABBER will perform this swapping during a screen capture operation in order to reduce the delays between the time you press GRABBER's hotkey combination and the time GRABBER actually begins capturing the screen image. On rare occasions, however, with some systems and with some software, this swapping activity can lead to a system crash. If your crashes for no apparent reason when you request GRABBER to capture the screen, try using the NOSWAP option on the command line. Note that the NOSWAP option is valid only when you are initially installing GRABBER in memory. If you use it after GRABBER is already resident, it will be ignored. Option: SOUND and NOSOUND Usage: GRABBER [other options] SOUND GRABBER [other options] NOSOUND These switches tell GRABBER whether it should beep the computer's speaker, or remain silent, when the filename prompt is displayed and when a screen capture operation is successfully completed. The default setting is SOUND. The command GRABBER NOSOUND can be used to silence the program. The beep sounds will then remain disabled until the next GRABBER SOUND command is issued. Please note that GRABBER also makes three low-pitched beep sounds whenever it is unable to capture a screen for any reason. Using the NOSOUND switch does not disable this error indicator. Option: BATCHCAPTURE or BATCHCAPTURE:filename Usage: GRABBER BATCHCAPTURE[:filename] These options tell a memory-resident copy of GRABBER to capture the current screen immediately. This is called a "batch capture" because the most useful way to use these options is in a batch file, when you want to capture the screen without having to stop and press a hotkey. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 17 of 39 The BATCHCAPTURE options never cause a filename prompt to appear, even if the filename prompt function is otherwise enabled for screens captured in the usual way by pressing GRABBER's hotkey. If you use BATCHCAPTURE by itself, the captured screen will be given a file name according to GRABBER's default "serial number" scheme (see page 14 above). If you use BATCHCAPTURE: followed by a file name, the image will be captured to a file with the name you specify. The "filename" parameter may be any length, and may optionally include a drive or directory path specification. For example: GRABBER BATCHCAPTURE:C:\PICTURES\TESTPIC.EXE If the batch capture is completed successfully, GRABBER passes an errorlevel of zero back to the batch file which issued the BATCHCAPTURE command. If any error occurs, an errorlevel of 1 is returned. The BATCHCAPTURE options may be used only after GRABBER has been installed in memory. Also, any other configuration options which are specified on the same command line as BATCHCAPTURE will be ignored. Option: NOEMS Usage: GRABBER [other options] NOEMS The NOEMS option prevents GRABBER from using EMS expanded memory, such as the kind provided by the EMM386.EXE program supplied with DOS, the QEMM and 396^Max programs, and by certain memory-expan- sion boards. If GRABBER detects that at least 48Kb of expanded memory is available when you initially install it in memory, then it will automatically allocate that amount of expanded memory to itself, and use the expanded memory to store most of its program buffers, unless you specify this option. If GRABBER is able to use expanded memory, then it will occupy only about 5,000 bytes of your system's precious memory below the 1-megabyte DOS thresh- old ("DOS memory"). However, if no expanded memory is available (and no UMBs -- see below), then GRABBER will occupy about 20,000 bytes of DOS memory. The NOEMS option is not recommended unless, in contrast to the rest of us, you have DOS memory to burn and you need to conserve expanded memory space for other programs. Note that the NOEMS option may only be specified when you are initially installing GRABBER in memory, and has no effect if you specify it after GRABBER is already installed. SPECIAL NOTE FOR QEMM USERS: The Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager (QEMM) Versions 6.0 and later include a special feature called "Stealth" ROM management which is partially incompatible with GRABBER. If GRABBER detects that QEMM Stealth GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 18 of 39 has remapped your video BIOS segment (which is usually the segment at C0000h, but it can also be elsewhere), then GRABBER will automatically disable EMS usage as though you had included the NOEMS option on the command line. However, in rare situa- tions, GRABBER might be unable to detect that QEMM Stealth has remapped your video BIOS segment. This may be the case if your system crashes when you attempt to capture the screen. To cure this problem, try using the NOEMS option when you initially install GRABBER in memory. You can still take advantage of GRABBER's EMS memory capability as long as your video BIOS segment is not one of the segments that has been remapped by QEMM Stealth. For instructions on excluding the video BIOS segment from Stealth coverage, consult the description of the "XST:" option in your QEMM documentation. Option: NOUMB Usage: GRABBER [other options] NOUMB The NOUMB option prevents GRABBER from using upper memory blocks (UMBs) to store its program buffers. (UMBs are regions of DOS memory above the 640Kb "conventional memory" limit and below the 1-megabyte threshold that can be enabled with DOS versions 5.0 and later, on computers with 80386 or later processors.) When you initially install GRABBER in memory, it first looks for 48Kb of EMS expanded memory in which to store its program buffers, as described above under the "NOEMS" option. If a 48Kb block of expanded memory is not available (or you specified the "NOEMS" option), then GRABBER will try to allocate a UMB of 40Kb in which to store its program buffers. If one is available, GRABBER will reserve it for itself unless you tell it otherwise using this option. As noted above, GRABBER requires only about 5,000 bytes of conventional DOS memory if a 48Kb block of expanded memory or a 40Kb UMB is available at installation time. Otherwise, GRABBER requires about 20,000 bytes of conventional DOS memory. Note that the NOUMB option may only be specified when you are initial- ly installing GRABBER in memory, and has no effect if you specify it after GRABBER is already installed. Option: UNLOAD Usage: GRABBER UNLOAD The UNLOAD switch tells GRABBER to search your computer's memory for a copy of itself that was previously made resident, and to remove the program from memory if found. If removal is success- ful, then a message is displayed at the upper left corner of your screen which states that "GRABBER is not resident in memory," and all memory that GRABBER was occupying will be released and made available for other programs. This includes any conventional DOS memory, plus any EMS expanded memory or upper memory block (UMB) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 19 of 39 which GRABBER may have been using as temporary workspace. Also, if the resident copy of GRABBER was redirecting the IRQ0-IRQ7 hardware interrupts to somewhere other than their usual location (see the "INT=nn" option above), the UNLOAD option causes these interrupts to be restored to their original locations. GRABBER cannot be uninstalled if, after you initially installed it, you continued to load other memory-resident software which is activated by any of the same hardware or software interrupts which GRABBER uses. Attempting to use GRABBER UNLOAD under such circumstances will not work, and a message to this effect will be displayed. You should always be able to uninstall GRABBER if it was the most recent memory-resident program to be installed. Option: DEFAULTDRIVE Usage: GRABBER [other options] DEFAULTDRIVE The DEFAULTDRIVE switch was described above in the section called "Starting GRABBER." This switch can be used both when you are initially installing the program in memory, and thereafter when you wish to cancel a drive/path destination previously specified and start writing .exe files to the default drive and path instead. During the initial installation of GRABBER, the DEFAULTDRIVE switch can act as a substitute for the drive and/or path parame- ter which is otherwise required to make GRABBER stay resident in memory. If you did not use DEFAULTDRIVE when you initially installed GRABBER in memory, you can instruct GRABBER to start placing .exe image files in whatever location happens to be known to DOS as its current "default drive and path" whenever a screen capture takes place. After you use DEFAULTDRIVE, GRABBER will continue to place all .exe image files in DOS's default drive and path until you issue another command which includes a specific drive and/or path parameter as the first item on the command line after the GRABBER command itself. For example, the following command example can be used to cancel the effect of a GRABBER DEFAULTDRIVE command which was issued previously: GRABBER C:\PICTURES [other options] GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 20 of 39 Option: NOVESA Usage: GRABBER [other options] NOVESA (Please refer to the section on VESA BIOS compatibility on page 34 below.) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 21 of 39 PART II: USING GRABBER'S OFFSPRING .EXE IMAGE FILES The method described above on pages 6-7 is the easiest and most common way to display your captured screen images. This is simply to run the offspring program file as a normal command. You remove the offspring image from your screen by pressing any key. Below are described four different options you can use to alter the way in which your offspring images leave the screen when they are done. Used alone or in combination with each other, these options can vastly increase GRABBER's usefulness, especially if you know how to use batch files with DOS. For on-screen help and other useful information with any GRABBER offspring image file, include the /? switch on the offspring's command line. For example: SCREEN00 /? FADE-IN SCREEN IMAGES: "FADEIN" --------------------------------- (This option works only on VGA systems. It does not work when a GRABBER .exe offspring image is displayed on a CGA, EGA or Hercu- les monochrome system.) If you are displaying a GRABBER offspring image on a VGA-compat- ible system, you can cause the image to "fade in" from blackness by including the FADEIN keyword on the offspring command line. For example: SCREEN00 [other options] FADEIN The FADEIN option has the effect of displaying the image as though the brightness control on the monitor is being gradually turned up from total blackness to its actual current setting. Although FADEIN works only when a GRABBER offspring is being redisplayed on a VGA system, it can be used with any text or graphics image, even if it was originally captured on a non-VGA system. FADE-OUT SCREEN IMAGES: "FADEOUT" ---------------------------------- (This option works only on VGA systems. It does not work when a GRABBER .exe offspring image is displayed on a CGA, EGA or Hercu- les monochrome system.) As a complement to the FADEIN option (see above), you can cause the image to "fade out" to blackness by including the FADEOUT keyword on the offspring command line. For example: SCREEN00 [other options] FADEOUT GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 22 of 39 The FADEOUT option has the effect of removing the offspring image from the screen as though the brightness control on the monitor is being gradually turned down from its actual current setting to total blackness. Although FADEOUT works only when a GRABBER offspring is being redisplayed on a VGA system, it can be used with any text or graphics image, even if it was originally captured on a non-VGA system. The FADEOUT option can be combined with the FADEIN option de- scribed above, and with all other offspring options described here, except /F and /N. If you combine FADEOUT with the /F or /N switches, FADEOUT will be ignored. TIMED EXECUTION: /Tn ---------------------- If you have an offspring file called SCREEN00 and you want to display it on your screen only for a certain length of time, *and* you don't want to press a key to make it go away, use this command at the DOS prompt or within a batch file: SCREEN00 /Tn The 'n' character represents a time value, in seconds, which you specify. The 'n' value may be any positive integer between 1 and 3600. (3600 seconds equals exactly one hour.) For example, if you use the command SCREEN00 /T20, then the image within the offspring program will be displayed on your screen for exactly 20 seconds, after which it erases itself and the program exits back to the DOS prompt or batch file, just as it would if you had entered SCREEN00 alone, without the parameter. If you want to exit the SCREEN00 image before 'n' seconds have elapsed, you can press <Ctrl-C>. Pressing <Ctrl-C> sends and "errorlevel" of 255 back to the calling batch file. You may combine the /Tn option together with the /K keylist option described below on page 24. For example: SCREEN00 /T60 /K:123 In this example, the SCREEN00 image will remain on the screen until 60 seconds have elapsed, or until the user presses the <1>, <2> or <3> key, whichever occurs first. (Pressing <Ctrl-C> will also exit the image with an errorlevel of 255.) If the user presses any key other than <Ctrl-C> or the keys specified in the /K keylist, the keystrokes will be ignored. For a complete explanation of the errorlevel effects you can achieve with the keys in the keylist, see the discussion of the /K option starting below on page 24. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 23 of 39 You may also combine the /Tn option together with the /F option described below. If you do this, the image will not erase itself from the screen (as it normally would) when the offspring program exits back to the DOS prompt or to the batch file which called it. The /Tn option is especially useful when you want to run a "slide show" routine on an unattended computer. Try this DOS command: FOR %F IN (SCREEN??.*) DO %F /T5 (Within a batch file, use %%F instead of %F throughout this exam- ple.) You may not use the /Tn option together with the /N option, below. DON'T CLEAR SCREEN ON EXIT: /F ------------------------------- Unless you tell an offspring program otherwise, it will assume that you want the screen to be cleared completely when you exit the program. However, if you want to exit an offspring program and leave intact the image it places on the display, then use the /F switch when you execute it from the DOS prompt or from your batch file, like this: SCREEN00 /F With character-based text screens, the /F option can enhance the appearance of a batch-driven "slide show" or menu system by eliminating the blank screens which appear briefly between the offspring programs being executed by the batch file. Please note that the /F option does not affect how long the image will remain on the screen, or what keypress (if any) will be required to exit the offspring program. The exact method which the offspring program uses to exit will depend on whether you have also specified any of the other switches described here (i.e. /Tn, /N, /K, or no switch at all). All the /F option does is to prevent the display from being cleared when the offspring program does exit. The /F option may be used together with the /Tn option (above), and with the /N option (below), and with the /K option (below). GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 24 of 39 DON'T WAIT FOR ANY KEYPRESS: /N -------------------------------- Unless you tell an offspring program otherwise, it will assume that you want to wait for some keyboard input before exiting the offspring program and returning to DOS. However, if you want to display the offspring image and exit immediately back to the DOS command line or batch file from which it was called, without waiting for any keyboard input, then use the /N switch, like this: SCREEN00 /N There is no need to also specify the /F switch, described above, when you use the /N switch. Whenever you use the /N switch, the offspring program automatically assumes that you want the image to remain on the display after the program has exited, and sets the /F switch for you. The /N option may be used by itself, or with the /Tn option above. However, /N may not be used with the /K option described below. KEYLIST OPERATION: /K ---------------------- This option is supported for all offspring files. The format is: SCREEN00 /K... The format of the "/K..." parameter is explained below. GRABBER offspring files which you view from a batch (.BAT) file can communicate with the batch file using the ERRORLEVEL facility built into DOS. This allows you to create offspring screens that interact with the user, by branching control within the batch file based on the user's keyboard response. This method of displaying an offspring file works only when you display it from within a batch file. If you do not know how to create a batch file, or how the ERRORLEVEL principle works, then you should consult these topics in your DOS manual before contin- uing. It's actually very simple. Let's set up an example. Say you have created a GRABBER off- spring image to use as a menu screen on your PC. This image is called MENU.EXE. You want to use this menu to give a user the choice to run one of three different programs. The three pro- grams are called: 1. WORDPROC.COM (a word processor) 2. SPREAD.EXE (a spreadsheet program) 3. CHESS.COM (a game) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 25 of 39 And your MENU.EXE image looks something like this: _____________________________________ | | | To get to... Press... | | ----------------- -------- | | Word Processing A | | Spreadsheet B | | Chess Game C | | | |___________________________________| Now, all you need to do is create a batch file, (say it's called SHOWMENU.BAT), which looks something like this: Sample batch file SHOWMENU.BAT -------------------------------- (Line no.) _____________________________________________ | | 1 | :BEGIN | 2 | ECHO OFF | 3 | CLS | 4 | MENU /K:A B C | 5 | IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO :BREAK_EXIT | 6 | IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO :RUN_CHESS | 7 | IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO :RUN_SPREADSHEET | 8 | IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO :RUN_WORDPROC | 9 | :RUN_CHESS | 10 | CHESS | 11 | GOTO :BEGIN | 12 | :RUN_SPREADSHEET | 13 | SPREAD | 14 | GOTO :BEGIN | 15 | :RUN_WORDPROC | 16 | WORDPROC | 17 | GOTO :BEGIN | 18 | :BREAK_EXIT | | | |___________________________________________| You are ready to go. Execute SHOWMENU.BAT by entering the command SHOWMENU at the DOS prompt, or by including it as a line (preferably the last line) in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 26 of 39 WHAT SHOWMENU.BAT DOES ----------------------- Lines 2 and 3 of SHOWMENU.BAT clean up the screen in preparation for your menu. The action begins at Line 4. At this point, DOS runs your MENU.EXE program, which displays the menu screen. Notice the parameter /K:A,B,C which follows the MENU command. This is your Keylist, and it tells the offspring program which keys can be used to exit the screen. If the user presses other keys, they will be ignored. Note also the order in which the keys are specified. This is very important, because the ERRORLEVEL which MENU.EXE will assign to a key is determined by its position in the keylist "A B C". If the user presses <A>, then MENU.EXE ends by sending an ERRORLEVEL of 1 back to the batch file. This value will be ignored by Lines 5, 6 and 7 of the SHOWMENU file, but Line 8 will pick it up as a signal to branch to the instructions labeled ":RUN_WORDPROC" at Line 15. Following this label is the command WORDPROC, which starts up your word processing program. Likewise, if the user presses <B>, then MENU.EXE will send an ERRORLEVEL of 2 back to the batch file, because "B" is the second choice in your Keylist. Line 7 takes this as a cue to jump down to the instructions beneath ":RUN_SPREADSHEET" at Line 12. And so forth. Remember one very important thing. When you test the ERRORLEVEL values in a batch file, follow the example shown in SHOWMENU.BAT by always testing them in descending order. Start with the highest possible value and continue down to the lowest possible value. Why does SHOWMENU test for an ERRORLEVEL of 255 in the fifth line? This is because there is a always a "back door" exit from an offspring program like MENU.EXE which is running under the control of a Keylist. This is done by pressing either <CTRL C> or <CTRL BREAK> while the image is on your screen, both of which produce what is commonly called a "break" signal in your comput- er. Whenever you press <CTRL C> or <CTRL BREAK>, the offspring program always sends an ERRORLEVEL of 255 back to your batch file, and exits the screen. Note also, that spaces are used to separate the choices in the Keylist in Line 4 of SHOWMENU.BAT. If the user presses the spacebar, it will be ignored. This is one of several keys which GRABBER offspring programs reserve for their own use when examin- ing your Keylist. You can use these keys to separate your choices for readability, but none can be used to identify a key choice. These "reserved" keys are: the comma, the spacebar, the Tab key, the colon (:), the semicolon (;), and the slash (/). Therefore, each of the following ways of specifying a Keylist is identical to the others: GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 27 of 39 MENU /KABC MENU /K a b c MENU /k:A b C MENU /K a:B:c The GRABBER offspring program will function identically in either situation. In addition to any alpha key (A through Z) and any numeric key (0 through 9), you may include in your keylist any of the special function keys listed below. Please note that it takes two characters to identify any of the following function keys on your command line, and the first character is always the backslash (\). To use this PC key Use this code on in your keylist... the command line -------------------- ------------------ <F1> \1 <F2> \2 <F3> \3 <F4> \4 <F5> \5 <F6> \6 <F7> \7 <F8> \8 <F9> \9 <F10> \0 <Home> \H <PgUp> \P <End> \E <PgDn> \N <Up Arrow> \U <Down Arrow> \D <Left Arrow> \L <Right Arrow> \R <Esc> \X The /K keylist option may be used with the /Tn option described above on page 22, but not with the /N option described above on page 24. If you specify a keylist together with the /N option, the keylist will be ignored. You may also use the /K option together with the /F option described above on page 24. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 28 of 39 DISPLAYING SUPER-VGA GRAPHICS ------------------------------ If a GRABBER offspring file contains a Super-VGA graphic image, then you may have to take special steps to redisplay it properly on your screen. For 16-color graphic screens, "Super-VGA" means that the image is larger than 640 x 480 dots. For 256-color graphic screens, "Super-VGA" means that the image is larger than 320 x 200 dots. Remember, you may check a graphic image's resolution, and receive on-screen help and other useful information, by executing the offspring .exe file with the /? switch on the command line. For example: SCREEN00 /? If you have a Super-VGA adapter that is VESA-compatible, then you should be able to redisplay most Super-VGA images just by enter- ing the screen name at the DOS prompt or in a batch file, without any special parameters. The following types of Super-VGA images can be redisplayed on VESA-compatible systems without any com- mand-line parameters, assuming the adapter has enough video memory installed: * 640 x 400 x 256 * 800 x 600 x 16 * 640 x 480 x 256 * 1024 x 768 x 16 * 800 x 600 x 256 * 1024 x 768 x 256 If your Super-VGA adapter is not VESA-compatible, however, then you must tell each Super-VGA offspring file which type of VGA chipset is employed by your adapter. Use this example: SCREEN00 [other options] @CHIPTYPE Super-VGA offspring files recognize the following VGA chipset names. Use one of these in place of "@chiptype" in the above example: GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 29 of 39 @ATI ATI Technologies chips @VIDEO7 Video Seven chips @HEADLAND Headland Technology chips @PARADISE Paradise PVGA chips @WD Western Digital WD90C00 chips @TSENG3 Tseng Laboratories ET-3000 chip @TSENG4 Tseng Laboratories ET-4000 chip @STB4 STB adapters using the Tseng Labs ET-4000 chip @AHEADA Ahead Systems chip version "A" @AHEADB Ahead Systems chip version "B" @GENOA Genoa GVGA chip (used by 6000 series cards) @OAK Oak Technology OTI-067 chip @TRIDENT Trident chips @NCR NCR 77C22E chip Instead of telling each Super-VGA offspring file what type of VGA chipset is installed, you can also set a permanent DOS environ- ment variable called "SVGA=" which serves the same function. For example, if your Super-VGA adapter employs the Tseng Labs ET-4000 chipset, you should enter the following command at the DOS prompt or in your AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file: SET SVGA=TSENG4 (If you have a different type of VGA chipset, substitute its name from the list above in place of "TSENG4" in this example.) If you do not include a "@chiptype" parameter on the command line of a Super-VGA offspring file, it will look for a "SVGA=" parameter in your DOS environment, and use it instead. Note that on the command line, you should precede the chipset name with the "@" symbol, but when using the SET SVGA command you should omit the "@" symbol. Finally, as a last resort, if your Super-VGA adapter is not VESA- compatible and you do not include a "@chiptype" parameter that matches your adapter type, the offspring file will still attempt to display the image by looking for an 8514/A Adapter Interface, and using it if available. If your video adapter is supplied with a memory-resident Adapter Interface driver, you should install the driver in memory before running Super-VGA offspring files, to make sure that you will be able to redisplay any possible type of Super-VGA offspring file. If you see the message "Unsupported video mode," it means that the Super-VGA offspring file was unable to find any way of setting the video mode that is required to redisplay the image on the video adapter you are currently using. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 30 of 39 PORTABILITY ISSUES: OFFSPRING FILE COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER SYSTEMS ------------------------------------------------ This section contains important information which you should read if you have a GRABBER offspring file which you plan to display on a system other than the one from which the image was originally captured. In general, GRABBER offspring files, and particularly graphic- mode offspring, are very device-dependent programs. This means that with a few types of text-mode offspring and with most graphic-mode offspring, you cannot display an offspring image on another computer unless the other computer has a video adapter that is at least as technically "advanced," or more advanced, than the video adapter from which the image was originally captured. In this context, how "technically advanced" an adapter is depends on the maximum number of colors and the maximum number of pixels it can display at one time. Here is a list of the video adapters which GRABBER offspring can support, ranked in order from least advanced to most advanced: * Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) * Monochrome Graphics Adapter (MGA; Hercules-compatible) * Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) * Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) * Video Gate Array adapter (VGA) * Super-VGA adapters (SVGA) * Adapter Interface (AI) compatibles (incl. 8514/A and XGA) The following chart lists the different types of text-mode screens which GRABBER can capture, and also lists the types of video systems from which they can be captured, and to which they can be transported. (S)VGA means both VGA and SVGA. CAN BE CAN BE "PLAYED BACK" ON TEXT MODES CAPTURED FROM: THESE VIDEO SUBSYSTEMS: ---------------- ------------------ ----------------------- * 80 x 25 color CGA EGA (S)VGA MDA MGA CGA EGA (S)VGA * 80 x 25 mono MDA MGA EGA (S)VGA MDA MGA CGA EGA (S)VGA * 40 x 25 color CGA EGA (S)VGA CGA EGA (S)VGA * 80 x 43 EGA (S)VGA EGA (S)VGA * 80 x 28 or 50 (S)VGA (S)VGA * 132-col. modes SVGA SVGA Most 132-column screens can only be ported to Super-VGAs of the same OEM origin, unless the destination system is VESA-compliant. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 31 of 39 OFFSPRING FILE COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER SYSTEMS (continued) ------------------------------------------------------------ With graphic-mode offspring files, the compatibility issue follows a pattern similar to text-mode files. Each mode is listed according to its X-resolution, Y-resolution, and number of colors, in that order. ("MCGA" represents the Multicolor Graph- ics Adapter found in the IBM PS/2 models 25 and 30.) CAN BE CAPTURED CAN BE "PLAYED BACK" ON GRAPHIC MODES FROM ANY OF THESE: ANY OF THESE SYSTEMS: ----------------- ------------------ ----------------------- * 720 x 348 x 2 MGA MGA * 320 x 200 x 4 (M)CGA EGA (S)VGA (M)CGA EGA (S)VGA * 640 x 200 x 2 (M)CGA EGA (S)VGA (M)CGA EGA (S)VGA * 320 x 200 x 16 EGA (S)VGA EGA (S)VGA * 640 x 200 x 16 EGA (S)VGA EGA (S)VGA * 640 x 350 x 2 EGA (S)VGA EGA (S)VGA * 640 x 350 x 16 EGA (S)VGA EGA (S)VGA * 640 x 480 x 2 MCGA (S)VGA MCGA (S)VGA * 640 x 480 x 16 (S)VGA AI (S)VGA AI * 320 x 200 x 256 MCGA (S)VGA MCGA (S)VGA * 800 x 600 (16/256 colors) SVGA SVGA AI * 640 x 400 x 256 SVGA SVGA AI * 640 x 480 x 256 SVGA AI SVGA AI * 1024 x 768 (16/256 colors) SVGA AI SVGA AI In order to transport a graphic of Super-VGA resolution to another OEM's SVGA adapter, the destination adapter must either be VESA-compliant, or employ a VGA chipset with which GRABBER is compatible (see page 9 above). To transport a graphic of Super-VGA resolution to an 8514/A or compatible adapter, the destination system must have an Adapter Interface (AI) driver resident in memory, such as IBM's or ATI's HDILOAD driver. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 32 of 39 USING GRABBER WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS ------------------------------------- GRABBER is designed to work with programs that run in "real mode" or "virtual 8086" mode under MS-DOS. If you are running an MS- DOS application in full-screen mode under Microsoft Windows, GRABBER should be able to capture screens from that application just as though you were running it outside of Windows. GRABBER is not specifically designed to capture images from the Windows desktop itself, or from MS-DOS applications which are running in a window instead of full-screen mode. However, you might still be able to use GRABBER to capture the Windows desk- top. Note: Make sure you install GRABBER in memory *before* starting Windows. Also, make sure you use the INT=OFF command-line option (described above on page 13) when you initially install GRABBER in memory; if you don't, GRABBER will not allow Windows to load. While Windows is running, GRABBER automatically changes its hotkey combination to [Ctrl Shift]. When you exit Windows, GRABBER's hotkey combination reverts back to [Ctrl =] or whatever you may have changed it to be. Also, while Windows is running, GRABBER ignores the status of the PROMPT option and disables all on-screen prompts. Captured files will be named WIN00.EXE, WIN01.EXE, and so forth. When you exit Windows, GRABBER will resume following the status of the PROMPT option. Whether your offspring screens turn out correctly will depend on what type of video hardware is installed, which Windows video driver you are using, and what other memory-resident programs are also loaded. GRABBER has been known to work using the generic VGA video driver supplied with Windows 3.1 (640 x 480 x 16 mode), as well as with recent Super-VGA drivers for ATI VGA Wonder adapters and adapters based on the Tseng Labs ET4000 chipset (in the 640 x 480 and 1,024 x 768 x 256 modes). It may work with other Super-VGA cards. It will not work with XGA, 8514/A, ATI Mach-8, ATI Mach-32, S-Cubed, or other video coprocessor drivers. After GRABBER captures a Windows screen, it might upset the Windows video driver in such a way that garbage is left on the screen when you move the mouse, push menu items and buttons, or move graphic objects around. To cure this, exit back to DOS and restart Windows. Please note, again, that GRABBER is designed for use only in the MS-DOS environment. While it is unquestionably the most reliable MS-DOS screen capture system you will find anywhere, it has never been advertised (or supported) by the publisher as a Windows screen capture program. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 33 of 39 CHANGING GRABBER'S HOTKEY -------------------------- (The information in this section applies to the separate GRTXT.EXE, GR4AI.EXE, and GRPCX.EXE programs also.) GRABBER allows you to change the keystroke sequence which acti- vates the program, from the default [Ctrl =] to almost any other sequence you choose. If GRABBER is already active in your computer's memory, you may tell the resident copy of GRABBER that you want to start using a different hotkey than the one it currently recognizes, and make the change become effective immediately. GRABBER also gives you the option of making your hotkey change permanent, by saving the new hotkey information back to the GRABBER.EXE file itself. When you use this option, the hotkey you choose will take effect automatically every time you install GRABBER in memory by loading the altered GRABBER.EXE file. Every GRABBER hotkey has two parts. We'll call them the "KEY" and the "SHIFT". The KEY can be an alphanumeric key such as the letter <A> or the number <4>, or a punctuation key such as the <;>, or a function key such as <F10>, <Esc>, <PgDn> or <Del>. In GRABBER's default [Ctrl =] hotkey, the equal sign <=> is the KEY part. The SHIFT part of your hotkey can be made up of any combination of the following keys on your keyboard: <Shift>, <Ctrl>, and <Alt>. In GRABBER's default [Ctrl =] hotkey, the <Ctrl> key is the SHIFT part. You can specify a GRABBER hotkey on the command line either when you are initially installing the program in memory, or when re-invoking GRABBER after it is already resident. Use this syntax: GRABBER [other options] KEY=kk SHIFT=ss [SAVEHOTKEY] "kk" represents a two-character KEY code. Valid KEY codes are listed in Appendix A of this manual. "ss" represents a two-character SHIFT code. Valid SHIFT codes are listed in Appendix B of this manual. The SAVEHOTKEY parameter is optional. When you include it on the command line together with the KEY=kk and SHIFT=ss parameters, it instructs GRABBER to save your new hotkey choice permanently to the GRABBER.EXE file. This way, your new hotkey will take effect automatically every time you reinstall GRABBER in memory, and you won't have to specify your new KEY=kk and SHIFT=ss parameters every time you restart the program. If you do not include the SAVEHOTKEY parameter, the hotkey you specify will be effective GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 34 of 39 only for as long as the current copy of GRABBER remains resident in memory, or until you change it again with new KEY=kk and SHIFT=ss codes. Please read Appendices A and B for additional important informa- tion. TESTING THE RELIABILITY OF YOUR VESA BIOS EXTENSION ---------------------------------------------------- As mentioned above on pages 4-5, GRABBER is compatible with VGA systems which include support for the VESA BIOS Extension ("VBE"). The VBE is a standardized method by which programs can take advantage of the enhanced capabilities of high-performance video adapters, independently of the adapters' specific hardware layouts, which vary among different manufacturers. An adapter's support for the VBE can take the form of a set of programming routines which are either permanently built into the adapter itself, or are added by loading a software VBE driver into your computer's memory by way of your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Some newer VGA adapters have VBE support built into the adapter itself, while most older adapters can be supplemented with VBE support using a software driver which is available from the manufacturer. Although the VBE is now a "standard" in the microcomputer video industry, some VBE software drivers (and even some hardware- encoded VBE drivers) exist which do not fully conform to the official VESA BIOS specifications. In short, they have bugs which prevent programs such as GRABBER from working reliably with the video hardware. When you install GRABBER in memory, it checks for the presence of VBE support for your video adapter. If it finds VBE support, GRABBER will automatically attempt to use it, unless you tell GRABBER otherwise. However, if your VBE driver (hardware or software) is one of those that are not fully compliant with VESA specifications, GRABBER may not function properly. The purpose of the CHKVBE.EXE program included on your GRABBER distribution diskette is to help you identify whether your system has VBE support, and if so, whether your VBE driver is fully compatible with GRABBER and the VESA specifications. CHKVBE is executed without parameters. If it reports that your system has no VBE support, or has VBE support which "appears to be compatible with GRABBER," then no further action is necessary, and you can install GRABBER in memory as usual. However, if CHKVBE reports that your system has VBE support which "appears to be incompatible with GRABBER," then you should GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 35 of 39 prevent GRABBER from attempting to use the VBE by including the NOVESA switch on the command line when you install GRABBER in memory. For example: GRABBER [other parameters] NOVESA (If your system crashes when you execute CHKVBE, you may assume that your VBE driver has a serious bug. In this case, you should also use the NOVESA switch when you install GRABBER in memory.) GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 36 of 39 PROGRAMMERS NOTE: CALLING GRABBER FROM YOUR OWN PROGRAMS --------------------------------------- If you are a programmer developing your own software, you can invoke GRABBER to capture the screen from within your own pro- gram, assuming that GRABBER is already resident in memory. This is accomplished by using GRABBER's external programming hook, which is really a customized call to Interrupt 16h, described below. You can write a routine to implement this hook in 80x86 assembly language or in any high-level programming language which supports BIOS-level interrupt calls. CUSTOMIZED INTERRUPT 16H TO INVOKE GRABBER, SERVICE 4752H --------------------------------------------------------- On entry: AX = 4752h DL = 0 (to check only if GRABBER is resident) DL = 1 (to capture the current screen) On return: AX = 5247h (if GRABBER is installed in memory) For DL=0 or DL=1: BL contains the logical drive to which the capture would be attempted (DL=0) or was attempted (DL=1). 0=default drive, 1=drive A, 2=drive B, and so forth. For DL=1: No --> Capture successful. ES:DX points to Carry an ASCIIZ string which contains the Flag [drive:][\path\]filename of the newly created offspring (drive also coded in BL). Carry --> If DX = FFFFh, then a capture attempt Flag failed due to a critical disk error or Set disk-full error on the logical drive encoded in BL. (Speaker beeped in either case.) If DX does not equal FFFFh, capture was not attempted. GRABBER was busy servicing a prior capture request, or some other disk I/O was occurring, or DOS was not in a re- enterable state. Try again momentarily. GRABBER(tm) Documentation & Technical Notes Page 37 of 39 REPORTING PROBLEMS/BUGS ------------------------ Please let me know if GRABBER ever fails to function on your system as documented in these pages. Also, if you feel there is an aspect of the program which is insufficiently or unclearly documented here, I appreciate your suggestions. Please read all of the documentation carefully before putting GRABBER to heavy use, and before submitting a problem report. This way you can be certain whether there really is a problem, or whether the program is being put to a use for which it is not designed or intended. If you submit a problem report, please be as specific as possible about what happens and in what sequence or situation. Be sure to list these specific things: (1) all of the technical information provided on the screen after you enter the GRABBER command at the DOS prompt, with the program already resident in memory; (2) your brand and model of PC; (3) your brand and version of DOS; (4) your brand and model of video adapter and display screen; (5) what software program you are running when the problem occurs; and (6) the contents of both your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. It is difficult to solve a problem without having this information. By mail: Gerald A. Monroe P.O. Box 770906 Cleveland, Ohio 44107 U.S.A. CompuServe: 72321,1257 Internet: 72321.1257@compuserve.com Fax: 216/521-6060 (9 am to 5 pm Eastern time, Monday through Friday) APPENDIX A (KEY=kk hotkey codes) ----------------------------------- These are the codes you may use with GRABBER's and GRTXT's "KEY=kk" parameter to change their hotkeys. See also page 33 and Appendix B. Key Code Key Code Key Code Key Code --------- --------- ----------- ------------------ A 30 1 02 F1 59 Keypad plus 78 B 48 2 03 F2 60 Keypad minus 74 C 46 3 04 F3 61 Keypad 5 76 D 32 4 05 F4 62 Print Screen 89 E 18 5 06 F5 63 Backspace 14 F 33 6 07 F6 64 Enter 28 G 34 7 08 F7 65 H 35 8 09 F8 66 I 23 9 10 F9 67 J 36 0 11 F10 68 K 37 F11 87 L 38 ` 41 F12 88 M 50 - 12 N 49 = 13 Tab 15 O 24 , 51 Esc 01 P 25 . 52 Ins 82 Q 16 / 53 Del 83 R 19 ; 39 PgUp 73 S 31 ' 40 PgDn 81 T 20 [ 26 Home 71 U 22 ] 27 End 79 V 47 \ 43 * 55 W 17 Up 72 X 45 Down 80 Y 21 Left 75 Z 44 Right 77 NOTES: To view this table on your screen, enter GRABBER KEY=? The asterisk key (fifth from the bottom in the third column) refers to the <*> key which is located next to the right-hand <Shift> on 83-key PC and PC/XT keyboards (which is also marked "PrtSc"), and also to the <*> key which is located on the numeric keypad of 101-key PC/AT and PS/2 enhanced keyboards. The <Print Screen> key (fourth entry in the last column) refers to the key which is labeled "Print Screen" on 101-key enhanced keyboards only. It does not refer to the "PrtSc" key on 83-key keyboards. The "Print Screen" key does not exist on non-enhanced keyboards. Do not specify KEY=89 unless your keyboard has a "Print Screen" key. <Up>, <Down>, <Left> and <Right> at the bottom of the third column represent the arrow keys. These codes refer to the arrow keys on the numeric keypad on all keyboards, as well as to the separate arrow-key block on enhanced keyboards. APPENDIX B (SHIFT=ss hotkey codes) ------------------------------------- These are the codes you may use with GRABBER's and GRTXT's "SHIFT=ss" parameter to change their hotkeys. See also page 33 and Appendix A. Combination Code --------------------------- No shift keys 00 Shift 03 Ctrl 04 Alt 08 Alt + Shift 11 Ctrl + Shift 07 Ctrl + Alt 12 Ctrl + Alt + Shift 15 NOTES: To view this table on your screen, enter GRABBER SHIFT=? If you wish to use a hotkey which does not include any of these shift keys (for example, <F10> or <Print Screen> alone), you may do so by specifying SHIFT=00 or no SHIFT= parameter at all. However, it is recommended that you include some nonzero SHIFT= parameter to avoid probable keyboard conflicts between GRABBER and other software in your system. The exceptions to this are the <Esc> and <Enter> keys. If you wish to use either of these in your GRABBER hotkey, then you must include some nonzero SHIFT= parameter. GRABBER does not distinguish between the left-hand and right-hand <Shift> keys, which are present on all keyboards. Pressing the left <Shift> key has the same effect on GRABBER as pressing the right <Shift> key, and vice-versa. If you have an enhanced keyboard which has two <Ctrl> keys and two <Alt> keys, GRABBER treats the left and right members of each pair identically as well. ** End of GRABBER.DOC **