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Text File | 1993-09-21 | 11KB | 227 lines

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ What's New │ │ │ │ This describes recent improvements in and changes to PDT. │ │ │ │ Last updated: September, 1993 │ │ │ │ If the date above is more than 6 months ago, contact us IMMEDIATELY │ │ for information on the latest version. │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Version What's New ─────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2.4-2.6 We're adding several new features -- to be included ONLY REGISTERED VERSIONS. You may see these mentioned in PDT's menus. But they won't be available until you receive the REGISTERED version. - New configuration option (Options menu, Configure) - Auto-Record Length (F9, F10) - Instant Header Length (Ctrl-H, Ctrl-Enter) - Synchronize Windows (Ctrl-Y) - Add up Marked Column (Ctrl-A) - Sequence Number Marked Column (Ctrl-Q) - Expand Column/Shrink Column (Block Menu) - Translate EBCDIC-to-ASCII (File Menu) Escape: We added a configuration option: You may now specify whether Exit or PDT should always Exit if you press Escape, or whether it Valid should treat Escape as a character (ASCII character 27). The latter option is useful when editing printer code data files and other data where character 27 is valid. Auto-Record Length Press F9 or F10 to change the record length of a file you already opened. Each time you press these, we'll subtract F9, F10 or add 1 to the record length, respectively. This changes your view of the file, and gives you a quick way to help determine the actual record length of a file. F9 used to call up PDT's calculator. Use F8 for that now. Instant If you press Ctrl-H to set the header length, then press Header Ctrl-Enter, PDT will set the header length to the CURRENT Length CURSOR POSITION IN THE FILE -- MINUS 1. Ctrl-H, - This lets you move the cursor to the 1st byte of the Ctrl-Enter 1st record and almost instantly set the correct header length. You NO longer have to look down at the "Depth:" value, then type it into the Ctrl-H window. - This also comes in VERY handy when working in a large file and you keep moving down. By periodically setting the header to the byte just above the current record, you can use PDT's "fast up" commands and NOT jump above the records you're working on. Nice! Auto-Syn- This option synchronizes scrolling of two file windows. chronize This makes it easier to view and compare different parts of the same (or different) files. Ctrl-Y - Before you press Ctrl-Y, open 2 or more files. Then press Home in each file window to ensure the cursor is in column 1 in each file (you can move to any row or record). - Press Ctrl-Y. A small "s" will appear in the upper left corner of your screen -- indicating Synchronize is ON. Press the PgDn or End. Notice that all windows scroll together. Any press of a currsor pad key will cause windows to scroll together. - Press Ctrl-Y again to turn OFF synchronization. The "s" will disappear. Add Column This option lets you ADD values in a column -- either the entire column in a file, or a column you marked with Ctrl-M. Ctrl-A If you did NOT mark a column, we'll add the entire column. Results are shown with 8 decimal places (double precision). - NOTE: Experiment with this option by marking a short column with Ctrl-M and then pressing Ctrl-A. In a large file, adding an entire column can take some time. So use this option cautiously. If you press Ctrl-A by accident, press ESC to stop. - Numeric or Character fields: PDT simply summates the numeric value of anything it finds in a field. If you want to add up the ASCII values of a 1-column field (as you might if you're adding up dBase field lengths): -- If you're working in a dBase file, "Clear" the structure (via the Define menu) so we're not limited to dBase field types. Later, you can use Force dBase Structure to tell PDT to treat this file as a dBase file again. -- Move to the first character in the field. -- Press F2. If PDT does NOT tell you this is a "tiny integer," press "t" to set this to a 1-character, tiny integer field. -- That's it. Now when you add up this 1 column field, PDT will add up the ASCII values of each character it finds. Diagnosing - One reason we added this option and included the ASCII dBase files value option was to help diagnose and fix problems with dBase files. As you may know, dBase file headers indicate BOTH the Record Length AND the width of each field. The sum of all field widths (PLUS 1 for the deleted record flag) MUST equal the record length. But field lengths are stored as 1-byte ASCII characters. For example, a 15-byte field would have ASCII character 15 in the field width column of the header. Adding up these ASCII values for many fields can be tedious. Now, PDT can do it for you! Here's how. -- Open a dBase file. Press F5 and load the Fix-DBF.Hdr structure file we include with registered versions. Move to the first line of the file, then press TAB to move to the Record Length field. Write down the Record Length you see beside "Value" at the bottom of your screen. -- Now press F5 and load the structure file Fix-DBF.Fld. Move to the first row, then TAB to the Field Width column. Press Ctrl-M and mark the Field Width column for all fields in the dBase file. Now press Ctrl-A and tell PDT to add ASCII values. Add 1 to the sum (for the deleted record flag), then compare that result with the Record Length value you wrote down. Are they the same? If not, you'll have to change either the Record Length value, or the Field Width value for one or more fields, or both. Sequence # This option lets you assign unique "numbers" to each Marked Col. record in a file. Just mark a column (using Ctrl-M) then press Ctrl-Q. PDT will ask you to "SEED" the Ctrl-Q "number" by entering ANY letters or numbers you like. You'll be able to enter as many characters as you marked. For example: - Suppose we mark a field 4 bytes wide and press Ctrl-Q. - PDT will let us enter a 4-character "seed value." So we enter "aa-1." - When we hit <Enter> PDT assigns "aa-1" to the first record we marked, "aa-2" to the next, "aa-3" to the 3rd, and so on. Once it assigns "aa-0" it'll give the next record "ab-1" and keep going. NOTES: 1. Notice in the example that the hyphen was untouched. PDT increments only numbers and A-Z or a-z. All other characters are considered "formatting" charac- ters and are left untouched. Also note that if letters start out lower or upper case, they'll remain that way. In other words, PDT will NOT jump from Z to a. 2. Sequence numbers always increase -- they move from low to high. There's no option to specify Ascending or Descending order. 3. Because there are 26 letters and only 10 numbers, using letters gives you a much greater range of values in the least amount of space than do numbers. 2.3 Fixed 3 bugs - Install.Exe disliked working from the root directory, especially on floppy disks. - While adding new features, we introduced a bug that sometimes caused PDT to exit to DOS when displaying the values of numeric fields. Related to this: PDT sometimes wouldn't display the "values" of character or text fields. These bugs were eradicated. 2.2 Fine-tuning 2.1 Added many new features: - Numeric field edit (F6). - New configuration options (eg., Ask Me before changing) - We replaced the calculator with a more intuitive one. - Tab/Shift-Tab now move you to the beginning of fields. - Added extensive on-line help. - and on and on and on and ..... 2.0 First public release.