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ANSIPLUS Enhanced Console Device Driver
User's Guide, Release 3.01
Shareware Documentation
September 15, 1993
COPYRIGHT (C) 1992, 1993 by Kristofer Sweger
P.O. Box 378, Larkspur, CA 94977
All Rights Reserved
The ANSIPLUS console device driver, supporting utility programs, and this User's
Guide are Copyrighted (C) 1992, 1993 by Kristofer Sweger. This software and
accompanying documentation are protected by United States Copyright law and also
by International Treaty provisions. The ANSIPLUS computer program and this
documentation may not be reproduced, copied, disclosed, or transferred in any
form (machine-readable or photo-copy included), except as provided here under
"Limited License" (see page 3), without the express prior written approval of
the author.
U.S. Government Information: Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S.
Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be
subject to the restricted rights applicable to commercial computer software as
set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer
Software clause at 252.227-7013 (DFARS 52.227-7013). The Contractor/
manufacturer is: Kristofer Sweger, P.O. Box 378, Larkspur, CA 94977.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
Kristofer Sweger makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including,
without limitation, any warranties of performance, merchantability and/or
fitness for a particular purpose. This software and accompanying documentation
are provided "as is," without warranty of any kind. The entire risk as to
results and performance is assumed by you.
Kristofer Sweger shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect,
consequential or incidental arising from a failure of the ANSIPLUS programs to
operate in the manner desired by the user. Nor shall Kristofer Sweger be liable
for any data, property or other damages which may be caused directly or
indirectly by use of or inability to use the software, even if Kristofer Sweger
has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the
liability for any damages exceed the price paid for the license to use the
software, regardless of the form and/or extent of the claim. By using the
software you agree to this.
The author further reserves the right to revise or alter the contents of this
documentation or the ANSIPLUS software package from time to time without
notifying any person or group of such changes or alterations.
The Limited License and Disclaimer of Warranty shall be construed, interpreted
and governed by the laws of the State of California.
TRADEMARKS
Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM and
PS/2 are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. Windows is a trademark of
Microsoft Corporation. 4DOS is a registered trademark of JP Software, Inc.
Norton Utilities is a registered trademark of Symantec Corporation. QEMM is a
registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc. 386MAX is a trademark
of Qualitas, Inc. Other trademarked names may appear in this manual. The author
states that he is using the trademarked names only for editorial purposes, and
to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringing upon any
trademark.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
Product description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Limited License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
II. Features summary
VGA/EGA display features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Integrated console functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Other ANSIPLUS features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
III. Installing ANSIPLUS
Installing the device driver and utility programs . . . . . . 10
Changing the ANSIPLUS startup configuration . . . . . . . . . 12
IV. Using ANSIPLUS
Special keyboard functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Selecting and defining colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Controlling other ANSIPLUS features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Creating application batch files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Editing ANSI escape sequence programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
V. ANSIPLUS escape sequences
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
VI. Technical notes
ANSIPLUS and Windows 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ANSIPLUS and the 4DOS or NDOS command shells . . . . . . . . 37
ANSIPLUS extensions and the ANSI standard . . . . . . . . . . 37
Escape sequence recognizer enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Direct access to video RAM vs. BIOS calls . . . . . . . . . . 38
Installation checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Hooked interrupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
I. INTRODUCTION
The DOS console device driver provides the critical interface between you and
your personal computer. It controls the output you see from DOS and accepts
your keyboard input, and you spend a whole lot of time using it. Unfortunately,
the standard CON and ANSI device drivers supplied with DOS do not take full
advantage of the capabilities of the major video controllers currently in use:
VGA and EGA. In addition, the standard personal computer BIOS (the "Basic Input
Output System" that is part of the computer's hardware) has limitations that
have had to be addressed individually by several TSR (Terminate and Stay
Resident) programs or device drivers, by work-arounds and special drivers in
major application programs, or by development of graphical user interfaces such
as Windows.
The ANSIPLUS console device driver integrates major console elements missing
from DOS and the personal computer BIOS into a single compact device driver that
can easily be controlled and personalized. With ANSIPLUS installed:
* User interaction with the DOS command processor and many applications will be
significantly improved.
* Screen output will be faster than with DOS's ANSI and non-ANSI drivers.
* The user will have complete control over colors and VGA/EGA capabilities.
* Users of Windows 3 will have access to ANSIPLUS features in all windowed
and full screen DOS sessions.
* The user will also benefit from all the other display and keyboard features
provided by ANSIPLUS.
This is a fully functional Shareware copy of the ANSIPLUS product. As such, it
is made available to the general computing public for evaluation. Users are
licensed to operate ANSIPLUS on their personal computers for the purpose of
test and evaluation for a limited trial period of thirty days. After
evaluation, if the user decides the ANSIPLUS programs are not of sufficient
merit to warrant purchase through registration with Kristofer Sweger, all
ANSIPLUS programs should be removed from their personal computer. If ANSIPLUS
is found to be useful and is in regular use, then registration is required.
This manual is organized in six chapters:
* Chapter 1 introduces ANSIPLUS and covers product licensing and support;
* Chapter 2 summarizes ANSIPLUS features for those who want to know what it
can do;
* Chapter 3 discusses installing and configuring ANSIPLUS on your computer;
* Chapter 4 describes keyboard functions and utility programs accessible to
users after installation;
* Chapter 5 lists ANSIPLUS escape sequences; and
* Chapter 6 contains several technical notes of interest to programmers and
others.
1
REGISTRATION
By paying the registration fee for ANSIPLUS, registered users are granted a
license to use the software on any single computer system. Site licenses for
use of ANSIPLUS on multiple computers are available upon request at a
substantially reduced fee per machine. Registered users also receive:
* The TSR-capable registered version of the ANSIPLUS driver, ANSIPLUS.exe. This
driver may be loaded into memory from the DOS command line, from a batch file
(AUTOEXEC.bat), or from CONFIG.sys with DEVICE=, DEVICEHIGH=, or INSTALL=
commands. The Registered ANSIPLUS driver also doesn't have that pesky time
delay in the sign-on message. The registered version is NOT Shareware, so it
may not be copied for others.
* A printed copy of the ANSIPLUS manual, which contains detailed documentation
on using the ANSIPLUS Escape sequences. This information is provided only in
the printed manual, and is not included in either the Shareware version or on
the Registered diskettes.
* The most recent versions of the ANSIPLUS utility programs and other files in
the ANSIPLUS package.
* Free BBS updates. Registered ANSIPLUS users can obtain free updates by
installing future Shareware versions of ANSIPLUS over their registered
copies. The ANSIPLUS installation program will automatically register a
Shareware copy when it is installed on a disk that boots a registered copy.
Registration helps support further improvements to ANSIPLUS. The easiest way to
register ANSIPLUS is to print out the registration form file, REGISTER.pls, fill
it out, and mail with payment to:
Kristofer Sweger
P.O. Box 378
Larkspur, CA 94977
Payment may be by check, money order, Eurocheque in your own currency at current
exchange rates, or credit card (Visa or Master Card only). Credit card orders
are also accepted by telephone on the ANSIPLUS support line, 415/924-5407, and
signed credit card orders may be sent by fax to 415/924-0258.
Pricing is shown in REGISTER.pls. California residents or businesses operating
in California must also add sales tax.
Be sure to specify whether you want a 3.5" or 5.25" diskette, and to include the
mailing address for your registered ANSIPLUS and manual.
2
LIMITED LICENSE
Non-registered users of ANSIPLUS are licensed ONLY to evaluate the programs and
device driver for up to thirty days for the sole purpose of determining whether
or not it meets their requirements. All other use requires registration. Any
other use of non-registered copies of ANSIPLUS by any person, business,
corporation, or government organization, is not permitted.
Registered copies of ANSIPLUS may NOT be copied for others. However, permission
is hereby granted for individuals to copy the non-registered ANSIPLUS package
for their own use (for evaluation and backup purposes) or for other individuals
to evaluate, provided all of the following conditions are met:
* The ANSIPLUS package, including all related program and documentation files,
cannot be modified in any way and must be distributed in its entirety, with
no additions. The following computer files constitute the ANSIPLUS Shareware
package:
ANSIPLUS.sys ANSIPLUS Shareware console device driver
ANSIPLUS.doc ANSIPLUS Shareware documentation
SETCOLOR.exe Color control utility program
SETAPLUS.exe Driver features control utility program
ANSICOM.exe ANSI escape sequence editor
NEWAPLUS.exe ANSIPLUS bootup configuration program
APLUSLIB.exe Execution library for the utility programs
SETCOLOR.sch Color schemes file for SETCOLOR.exe
CONSETUP.com Sample escape sequence program
PUSHVID.com Save current video mode, video page and colors
POPVID.com Restore saved video mode, page and colors
LOCKPAL.com Lock the 16-color palette
UNLOKPAL.com Unlock the 16-color palette
APLUS.pif Sample Windows PIF file
INSTALL.exe Installation program
INSTALL.inf Installation control file
REGISTER.pls ANSIPLUS registration form
README.pls Release notes
* No price or other compensation may be charged for the ANSIPLUS package. A
distribution cost may be charged for the cost of the diskette, shipping and
handling, as long as the total per disk does not exceed US $6.00 in the
United States and Canada, or US $10.00 internationally.
* The ANSIPLUS package cannot be bundled or included with other goods or
services, nor can it be included in any commercial software packaging offer,
nor can it be "rented" or "leased" to others, without specific prior written
agreement from Kristofer Sweger.
All rights not expressly granted here are reserved to Kristofer Sweger.
3
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
We want our users to be satisfied, and we find the interaction with real users
of ANSIPLUS to be of great value. Many ANSIPLUS features are the result of user
input. If you have a problem evaluating ANSIPLUS or want to make a suggestion,
comment, or complaint, please contact us immediately, whether you have
registered or not. We can be reached by mail at P.O. Box 378, Larkspur, CA
94977, by electronic mail on CompuServe [72713,1241], by fax at 415/924-0258,
or by telephone at 415/924-5407.
The ANSIPLUS technical support telephone line, 415/924-5407, can be called
weekdays from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Pacific Time. We ask that you recognize that
this service can easily be overwhelmed by calls with questions that are already
answered in the documentation provided. When you do call, please try to have all
your questions (and any necessary supporting data) ready so that we can deal
with them efficiently in one short session.
If you are reporting a software problem, we will need specific information about
your computer system and how to recreate the problem:
* What is the problem, or what is not behaving as expected?
* What exactly must be done to cause the problem to appear?
* What did you do to try to fix or work around the problem?
* What is your software and hardware environment? This includes the version of
ANSIPLUS you are using, your computer type, DOS version, video controller,
any memory managers, other device drivers or TSRs loaded, and any other
software or hardware in use at the time.
4
II. FEATURES SUMMARY
Although many of the ANSIPLUS features described here may seem technical, each
meets a need, and they all cooperate as parts of one compact console device
driver. In this chapter, they have been collected into three major groups:
VGA/EGA display features, integrated console functions, and other ANSIPLUS
features. The remaining chapters give details regarding specific features.
VGA/EGA DISPLAY FEATURES
The ANSIPLUS enhanced DOS console device driver is tailored to take advantage of
VGA and EGA display capabilities:
Mode recognition For any VGA/EGA display mode, the driver can properly
address the entire screen. ANSIPLUS automatically recognizes
and adapts to various VGA or EGA screen modes, both text and
graphics, including extended modes with large numbers of
lines and/or columns. ANSIPLUS can also automatically adapt
to and compensate for older video controllers with very
limited numbers of colors or shades (i.e., CGA or monochrome
boards).
Speed In text and in 16-color VGA/EGA graphics display modes, the
driver bypasses the ROM BIOS and goes straight to the video
RAM, so it can operate much faster than either the original
DOS console driver or the DOS ANSI driver. Programs that
write large character strings to the standard output
(console) file handle in "raw" mode can generate their
output many times faster.
Color selection ANSIPLUS provides full control over colors. In color text
modes, sixteen foreground and background colors are
supported. In 16-color VGA/EGA graphics modes, ANSIPLUS
allows mixing of background colors, for a total of 136
possible background colors. In 256-color VGA graphics modes,
all 256 foreground and background colors are supported.
Palette control Control over VGA/EGA palette registers and VGA DAC registers
allows selecting and maintaining colors using the video
controller's full capabilities. The driver traps all video
mode changes, and installs the palette and/or DAC colors of
the user's, or of ANSIPLUS's color scheme. Applications that
set their own palettes will continue to do so, but those
that do not can now use custom color choices. Blinking can
also be kept disabled to allow 16 background colors in text
modes.
Text size ANSIPLUS allows selection of alternate VGA/EGA character
sets, giving control over the character height, and thus the
number of text lines used in any VGA/EGA video mode.
Smooth scrolling ANSIPLUS supports smooth scrolling of the screen (for fast
CPUs with 16-bit VGA/EGA), so the screen can be read while
it is moving. Options are provided to control the use and
rate of smooth scrolling.
5
Extended modes The ANSI Set Mode control sequence has been expanded to
allow specifying VGA/EGA modes that are based on full AX
and/or BX CPU register values, extending ANSI-type control
to Super VGA/EGA controllers that require such register
settings. Super VGA controllers that conform to the VESA
standard are also automatically recognized, and VESA
extended set mode calls are made by the ANSIPLUS driver for
modes of 100h or higher.
INTEGRATED CONSOLE FUNCTIONS
The ANSIPLUS driver efficiently integrates several useful console functions that
in the past had to be provided by separate TSR programs or device drivers:
Screen saver A screen saver blanks the VGA/EGA screen after several
minutes of screen, keyboard and mouse inactivity. The screen
can be brought back by any keystroke (including shift keys)
or by mouse movement or buttons. The screen saver feature
can be enabled or disabled by the user, and is automatically
disabled in certain situations.
Keyboard buffer As many PC users eventually discover, the standard personal
computer BIOS provides a keyboard input type-ahead buffer of
only 15 characters, which is enough for only the shortest of
commands. ANSIPLUS extends this by 113 keystrokes for a
total type-ahead of 128 keystrokes (configurable for more if
necessary).
Repeated keys Another problem with the standard BIOS keystroke buffer
occurs when keys are held down too long, and the buffer
rapidly fills with repeated (or "typematic") keys, which
are then processed long after the key is lifted. Spreadsheet
users often experience this when holding down one of the
arrow keys. ANSIPLUS disables repeat key type-ahead, but
does allow repeat keys that are immediately consumed by
programs, so the type-ahead buffer cannot be filled with
unintended keystrokes. Repeated digits are also suppressed,
making it impossible to inaccurately enter a number just
because a key is held down too long. The rate at which
repeated keys are generated is also configurable.
Key stacking ANSIPLUS supports key stacking, which can load the keyboard
buffer with a series of keystrokes and feed them into
programs or commands as if they had been typed at the
keyboard. This feature can be useful for automating startup
of programs, software testing, and demonstrations. Keys can
be added to the buffer by ANSI escape sequence, by ANSIPLUS
utility program command, or, for users of the 4DOS 4.0+ or
NDOS Version 7.0 command shells, by KEYSTACK command.
6
Scroll-back Every DOS user sooner or later needs to recall something
that was on the screen, but has scrolled off the top.
Programmers often encounter this with error messages, and
other users with file directory listings. To address this
problem, ANSIPLUS supports screen scroll-back: all lines
scrolled and cleared from the screen in text modes are
captured by the ANSIPLUS driver so that the user can stop at
any time and browse through recent screen contents.
Scroll lock Large directory listings and other rapidly generated screen
output can often fly by on the screen too fast to be read.
Hitting the Scroll Lock key will freeze the screen when
ANSIPLUS or the BIOS next tries to scroll it. When the
screen is frozen, several keystroke options allow control
over subsequent screen output.
Beep tone The standard personal computer BIOS Control-G beep tone
generator waits in a programmed loop until sound output is
completed. Sometimes, error or other conditions detected in
a running program can generate a rapid sequence of beeps,
and the computer will just hang for what seems an eternity,
beeping away. ANSIPLUS has an interrupt-controlled tone
generator that lets the beep tone be finished in parallel
with subsequent processing. Multiple beeps are ignored if a
tone is currently being generated, so programs cannot be
slowed down by a rapid series of beeps. Options are provided
for defining the tone and using or not using the tone
generator.
OTHER ANSIPLUS FEATURES
Other ANSIPLUS features include:
User control Menu driven, mouse controllable utilities give the user full
control over selected colors, color palettes, border colors,
video modes, text height, key reassignment, beep tone
definition, driver table sizes, and all other configurable
features.
Loading options At load time, the ANSIPLUS driver can divide itself into
sharable code (about 19K) and unshared code/data (about
4K) sections, placing the shared code in either XMS upper
memory blocks (from 640K to 1M) or in high memory (1M to
1M+64K), and leaving only the unshared part in low memory.
The registered driver can be loaded as either a TSR program
or a device driver.
Bright key echo ANSIPLUS highlights user-typed keys when they are displayed
by DOS on the screen, giving a clear visual separation of
typed entries from computer output. If unwanted, this
feature can be disabled.
ANSI support All DOS ANSI.sys escape sequences are supported, plus
additional ANSI/VT-100 escape sequences for clearing the
screen, erasing lines, inserting and deleting lines, and
inserting and deleting characters.
7
Windows aware ANSIPLUS features have been tested and adjusted for maximum
compatibility in Windows DOS sessions, both full screen and
within a window. The ANSIPLUS driver detects when Windows
is running, and automatically disables or alters certain
features, such as the screen blanker, that may interfere.
Mono/CGA support ANSIPLUS should give reasonable and readable displays in all
display modes, including those with a very limited number of
colors or shades. ANSI-type programs written in terms of 16
colors will be executable on machines with simpler video
capabilities, if ANSIPLUS is running on that machine.
Key processing ANSIPLUS includes several special key processing options:
(1) the shift-alphabetic keys can cause Caps-Lock to
unlock, much like a typewriter releases its shift lock
whenever a shift key is pressed;
(2) the Enter key can restore Caps-Lock after it was
unlocked by a shift-alphabetic key, thus restoring Caps
on completion of an "entry";
(3) Control-C can cause a Control-Break, for those users who
prefer the Control-C key; and
(4) the DOS "Non-Destructive" input function can return the
last key in the keyboard buffer instead of the first, so
that it always reflects what has last been typed.
Key reassignment ANSIPLUS has the ability to translate single keystrokes to
full commands or other pre-determined key sequences. These
key reassignments can be applied either to keys entered
through DOS or to all keys entered via BIOS Interrupt 16h.
Both expansion of keys and changes to key reassignments can
also be enabled or disabled independently. When key
reassignment changes are disabled, a distinctive tone sounds
on any attempt to redefine a key, making it easy to detect
ANSI-type files that contain key redefinitions.
Line wrapping When the length of a line displayed on the screen exactly
equals the width of the screen, the standard DOS console
device drivers cause a blank line to be output. ANSIPLUS
suppresses output of these unintended blank lines.
Graphics cursor The DOS console drivers do not show a cursor on the screen
when in graphics modes. ANSIPLUS can display a cursor when
keyed entries are requested by DOS in a graphics mode.
BIOS TTY ANSI ANSIPLUS provides an option to trap and execute ANSI control
sequences in BIOS Int 10h Write TTY output as well as in DOS
standard console output.
8
Transparent mode On occasion, it is undesirable to have the ANSI driver fill
in the background color of each character space as it writes
characters. ANSIPLUS includes a "transparent" background
mode that will write each output character in the current
foreground color over whatever background is currently at
the cursor position.
Text treatments In 16-color graphics modes, ANSIPLUS can apply bold,
underline, black shadow, slant (italics), or black outline
text treatments, in any combination, to output characters
for emphasis or improved legibility.
Esc pass-through Unlike the ANSI.sys driver, the Esc character is trapped by
ANSIPLUS only when followed by a left bracket ("["), so
programs that write Esc (a left arrow) to the screen will
continue to do so after ANSIPLUS is installed.
VGA mono emulation Because application developers with VGA color monitors
sometimes need to see how their systems will look when run
with a monochrome VGA monitor, ANSIPLUS provides an option
to emulate a monochrome VGA monitor on a color monitor.
Status reporting To allow programs to query ANSIPLUS about more than just the
current cursor location, the device status report has been
extended to report information about the current video mode,
video page, numbers of rows, columns and colors, current or
default definition of colors, and more.
Installation checks To facilitate developing applications that can use ANSIPLUS
features, ANSIPLUS responds to standard Int 2Fh ANSI.sys
installation checks, and includes extensions that can
distinguish ANSIPLUS from ANSI.sys.
Free BBS Updates When a Shareware copy of ANSIPLUS is installed on a disk
that boots a Registered copy, the INSTALL program will
convert the new Shareware copy into a Registered copy with
the same serial number and signon message as the Registered
ANSIPLUS already on the disk. Registered users can thus
benefit from future improvements to ANSIPLUS at no cost, if
they have access to CompuServe or a bulletin board system
(BBS) that maintains recent Shareware versions of ANSIPLUS.
9
III. INSTALLING ANSIPLUS
INSTALLING THE ANSIPLUS DEVICE DRIVER AND UTILITY PROGRAMS
The ANSIPLUS package includes an installation and configuration program called
INSTALL.exe, which should properly handle most installations. INSTALL analyzes
the runtime environment, CONFIG.sys and AUTOEXEC.bat of the target drive,
locates the source files, copies ANSIPLUS to the target drive (or to any
sub-directories of the user's choice), and updates CONFIG.sys and AUTOEXEC.bat.
Starting with MS-DOS 6.0, the CONFIG.sys file can contain menus and multiple
configuration blocks. When a CONFIG.sys menu is being used, a new ANSIPLUS
installation will require selecting a configuration block to receive the
ANSIPLUS DEVICE= command, and an update will require selecting a block that
either already refers to ANSIPLUS, or to which it will be added. INSTALL makes
an initial choice of configuration block, and this can be corrected by the user
before copying the ANSIPLUS release files by using the "Revise Parameters"
option on the Installation menu.
The INSTALL program also gives an opportunity (via the Installation menu) to set
the destination directory for each installed file or for classes of files. If
the directory is not specified for a file, the following assumptions will apply:
* If an ANSIPLUS file name matches the name of a file in the default directory,
root directory, or on the system PATH of the destination drive, then the
ANSIPLUS file will be copied over the matched file (i.e., updated). This is
intended to make installation of ANSIPLUS updates a snap.
* New files are added to a directory for each class of file (i.e., driver,
utility program, or documentation/other). If any file in the class is being
updated, then the class directory will be the same as the updated files.
Otherwise, the class directory will be "\ANSIPLUS".
It is recommended that you put all of the ANSIPLUS utility programs (SETCOLOR,
SETAPLUS, ANSICOM, NEWAPLUS and APLUSLIB) on your system PATH so that they can
be used easily. It is critical that the execution library, APLUSLIB.exe, be
located either in the same directory as the other utility programs or on the
system PATH. If it is not, the utility programs will not run! You may also want
to place the ANSIPLUS.sys device driver in the root directory.
For those who are not content to use default driver feature and other settings,
after the release files have been copied to the target drive, the configuration
section of the INSTALL program lets the user set the startup (boot) driver table
sizes, colors, and feature settings, as well as high memory loading options that
affect CONFIG.sys. These configurations can be performed either at installation
time, or any time later on an installed drive by using the NEWAPLUS.exe program.
Context sensitive help (via the F1 key) is provided for all entries. Startup
configuration changes are described in the following section, starting on page
12.
Before installing ANSIPLUS, or any other new device driver, be sure you have a
bootable floppy disk as insurance against trouble getting your system to run
after the device driver is installed.
10
International users should be aware of the following:
* If you are using the KEYB program to set up your keyboard, the following
command MUST be executed after you load KEYB, otherwise most ANSIPLUS
keyboard related features will not work:
SETAPLUS LINK KEYEVENT
The INSTALL program will automatically add this command to your AUTOEXEC.bat
file if it finds a reference in it to KEYB.
* If you are using the DISPLAY.sys device driver for code page switching, the
ANSIPLUS.sys device driver must be installed before DISPLAY.sys in your
CONFIG.sys file. The INSTALL program will automatically handle this in most
cases. However, under DOS 6.0, if ANSIPLUS is installed in a configuration
block that will be processed by MS-DOS after the configuration block that
contains DISPLAY.sys, this situation will not be detected by INSTALL. This
must be corrected by directly editing CONFIG.sys.
The following examples illustrate using INSTALL to install ANSIPLUS:
* If you received ANSIPLUS on a floppy disk and want to install it on your hard
disk, use the following installation procedure:
(1) Set the default directory to the hard disk (i.e., get a C> prompt).
(2) Insert the ANSIPLUS diskette in drive A: (or other floppy drive).
(3) Enter the following command:
A:INSTALL
* If you received ANSIPLUS as a ZIP file (named ANSIPLUS.zip in this example),
use the following procedure:
(1) Create a temporary sub-directory on the hard disk to contain the
unzipped ANSIPLUS files. Move ANSIPLUS.zip to this directory and make
it be the default directory. This directory must be different from the
directory that will receive the installed ANSIPLUS files.
(2) Unzip the files into the directory with the command:
PKUNZIP ANSIPLUS
(3) Then enter the command:
INSTALL
After installation is complete, you may delete the files in the
temporary sub-directory (but keep the ZIP file as a backup).
* To install ANSIPLUS on bootable disk B:, from hard disk directory C:\APLUS,
enter the command:
C:\APLUS\INSTALL B:
11
CHANGING THE ANSIPLUS STARTUP CONFIGURATION
Changes to the startup configuration for ANSIPLUS are made with the NEWAPLUS.exe
program. (INSTALL also lets you make these changes, but INSTALL.exe is actually
a tiny program that calls NEWAPLUS.exe to perform the installation.) You run
NEWAPLUS with a command of the form:
NEWAPLUS <target>
where <target> is the drive letter for a bootable diskette or hard disk
partition with ANSIPLUS installed. If <target> is omitted, the drive that was
originally used to load MS-DOS will be selected. After NEWAPLUS confirms that
the target disk contains ANSIPLUS, you are presented with a startup
configuration menu that has nine revision option groups:
Initial Colors
* Color selection sub-menus let you choose from the current 16-color palette
the screen colors that will be used for text foreground and background when
the system starts up. ANSIPLUS maintains two sets of foreground and
background colors: those that are currently on the screen, and "default"
colors to be applied when an ANSI Set Graphics Rendition reset (i.e., Esc
[0m) is detected. The startup selections for both color combinations can be
controlled from this sub-menu.
Palette Definition
* The color palette determines the precise colors you will see in 16 color
video modes. ANSIPLUS maintains two palettes: the current palette on the
screen, and a default palette that is loaded when ANSIPLUS first starts and
whenever the video display mode is changed. All changes you make using the
NEWAPLUS color palette option will apply to the default palette.
Border Color
* The border color is generated for the "overscan" region on the outside edges
of the screen. You can select any available color as the default border
color, which will be installed when ANSIPLUS starts up and whenever the
display mode is set.
12
Loading Option
ANSIPLUS can be loaded into memory up to four different ways, depending on
your computer's capabilities and what is contained in CONFIG.sys:
* ANSIPLUS can be loaded into low memory below 640K. This is the default.
* ANSIPLUS can load itself into upper memory blocks. At load time, the driver
can divide itself into two sections: sharable code totaling about 19K, and
unsharable code/data totaling about 4K. The shared code can be placed in
either XMS upper memory blocks (from 640K to 1M) or in high memory (1M to
1M+64K), leaving only the unsharable 4K in low memory. Because all ANSIPLUS
driver data remains in low memory as part of the DOS CON driver, it will be
localized under Windows 3.0. Under DOS 5.0 or later, this option should work
whether DOS=UMB appears in CONFIG.sys or not. The following CONFIG.sys
command loads ANSIPLUS into the XMS upper memory blocks:
DEVICE=ANSIPLUS.sys /U
* ANSIPLUS can load itself into the high memory addressed just above 1 megabyte
(the "HMA"). Under DOS 5.0 or later, with the DOS=HIGH line in CONFIG.sys,
ANSIPLUS shares this memory with DOS; if DOS=HIGH is not used, but an XMS
driver is installed, the HMA is obtained from the XMS driver; or, for earlier
DOS versions or systems not using an XMS driver, the HMA is taken in the same
manner as the VDISK.sys driver allocates extended memory. When ANSIPLUS is
loaded into the HMA, certain (antique) programs that assume memory addresses
over one megabyte will "wrap around" to addresses starting at zero may not
operate correctly. If you experience any problems, load ANSIPLUS into either
XMS upper memory blocks or low memory instead. The following CONFIG.sys
command will load ANSIPLUS into the high memory area:
DEVICE=ANSIPLUS.sys /H
* ANSIPLUS can be loaded high by DEVICEHIGH or equivalent. Users of Windows 3.0
and EMM386, QEMM, or DOS 5.0/6.0 should note: With DOS 5.0 or later (using
DEVICEHIGH and EMM386), or with other memory managers such as QEMM (using
LOADHI), ANSIPLUS can be loaded into upper memory blocks above 640K to
provide 19K more program area below 640K. However, if Windows 3.0 will be
run in 386 Enhanced mode, it is strongly recommended that ANSIPLUS (or any
other ANSI driver) not be loaded into high memory by these methods. This is
because Windows 3.0 does not localize the XMS upper memory block area above
640K for its virtual 8086's, and so only one global copy of ANSIPLUS would be
shared among all virtual machines. This can cause trouble: if, for example, a
program in one window selects colors, then those colors would also be in
force for all DOS programs in other windows! This localization problem
has been fixed in Windows 3.1.
13
Color Control
* The ANSIPLUS driver ordinarily traps all video mode changes and installs the
palette and/or DAC colors of the user's, or of ANSIPLUS's default color
scheme. Applications that set their own palettes will continue to do so, but
those that do not will use the installed color choices. If this feature is
disabled, the VGA/EGA controller manufacturer's colors (the "OEM" colors)
will be loaded when the video mode changes.
* Some 256-color DOS applications assume that the OEM 256-color palette has
been loaded when the 256-color mode was selected, and never define the colors
that they will use. A feature is provided to disable ANSIPLUS color loading
for DOS 256-color modes if you are running such an application.
* Some 256-color drivers for Windows apparently assume that the OEM 256-color
palette has been loaded when the 256-color mode was selected, and never
define the colors that Windows will use. Because of this, ANSIPLUS normally
does not load its default colors when a 256-color mode is selected under
Windows. However, a separate feature is provided to allow this if desired.
* In color text modes, the VGA and EGA allow either sixteen background colors
with no blinking foreground text, or eight background colors with foreground
text that may or may not blink. In monochrome text mode 07h, when blinking is
disabled there are three backgrounds possible: black, gray or white, and with
blinking enabled there are two: black and gray. If blinking is disabled,
ANSIPLUS will display sixteen (or three) background colors, and when it is
enabled, you will see only eight (or two) background colors.
* ANSIPLUS highlights user-typed keys when they are displayed on the screen,
giving a clear visual separation of typed entries from computer output. Over
dark backgrounds, the key is shown in white, and over light backgrounds it is
shown in black. If this feature is not wanted, it can be disabled.
* Because application developers with VGA color monitors sometimes need to see
how their systems will look when run with a VGA monochrome monitor, ANSIPLUS
provides emulation of monochrome monitor VGA on a color monitor. In normal
operation, this feature should be disabled.
14
Display Control
* The ANSIPLUS screen saver blanks the VGA/EGA screen after several minutes of
screen, keyboard and mouse inactivity. The screen is brought back by any
keystroke, including shift keys, or, if a mouse is connected, by moving it or
pressing a button. The screen saver is automatically disabled under Windows
and when certain games or other programs that take over the timer are
running, and does not interfere with any known programs. However, if this
feature is not desired, it can be turned off.
* As a "last resort" test for system activity, the screen saver can read scan
codes from the keyboard controller at port 60h. This test should only be
needed when you are running an application that completely takes over all
keyboard interrupts and directly controls the screen display as well. On some
computers, enabling this feature can interfere with processing of the arrow
and page up/down keys on enhanced keyboards, or with a PS/2 type mouse, so
the feature should be disabled unless it is really needed to keep the screen
saver from blanking the screen when a specific application is run.
* The time of inactivity before the screen goes blank is configurable between
one and twenty minutes.
* During periods of keyboard inactivity, ANSIPLUS's screen saver uses MS mouse
Int 33h calls to test the status of the mouse. In the unlikely event these
calls interfere with the mouse driver, they can be disabled.
* On the IBM PS/2, the mouse is usually connected to the pointing device port,
and mouse activity will cause interrupts on the Mouse Event interrupt number
74h, so ANSIPLUS monitors this interrupt to unblank the screen. If the screen
fails to go blank after a long idle period, or if this interrupt is used for
another purpose, this feature should be disabled.
* The DOS console drivers do not show a cursor on the screen when using a
graphics mode. ANSIPLUS can display a pseudo-cursor when keyed entries are
requested by DOS in a graphics mode. If this feature is desired, it can be
enabled. If it interferes with the appearance of a graphics mode program, it
should be left disabled.
* Because almost all applications that use 256-color graphics modes assume that
DOS does not place a cursor on the screen, the ANSIPLUS pseudo-cursor is
normally disabled when in a 256-color mode. If desired, you can enable the
cursor.
* Programs that write screen output using ROM BIOS Int 10h Function 14 (Write
TTY) ordinarily cannot use ANSI Escape sequences for screen control. ANSIPLUS
includes a feature to allow this.
* When the VGA/EGA video controller does not allow setting a palette register
unless a vertical retrace is in progress, or when "snow" or other problems
occur during palette color changes, ANSIPLUS provides an option to wait for a
vertical retrace whenever setting a palette register. Otherwise, this feature
should remain disabled.
* ANSIPLUS contains an internal stack for saving and restoring video context
information (rows and columns, colors, display modes, etc.). The default size
allows 25 pushes, but this can be configured to a larger value if needed.
15
Screen Scrolling
* ANSIPLUS uses the Scroll-Lock key as a hot key for freezing fast screen
output and for activating screen scroll-back. If these features are not
desired, or to run those few applications that use Scroll-Lock for other
purposes, the ANSIPLUS Scroll-Lock key can be disabled. However, before you
completely disable ANSIPLUS's Scroll-Lock key, try the Alt-Scroll-Lock
combination instead (see next option).
* An alternative hot key is Alt-Scroll-Lock. If this key is enabled, the Alt
key must be pressed simultaneously with the Scroll-Lock key to cause the
ANSIPLUS Scroll-Lock function to be activated. If it is disabled, the
Scroll-Lock key will function with or without any other simultaneous key.
* As lines are scrolled off the top of the screen, the ANSIPLUS driver can save
them for later viewing. This viewing is called screen scroll-back. Most of
the time this is a very useful and unobtrusive feature, but if it is
undesired, or if storage of the saved lines in unused portions of the video
RAM is found to interfere with something, it can be disabled.
* On most computers, screen scroll-back should operate correctly when running
full screen under Windows. However, when running DOS applications in a 386
Enhanced Mode window, Windows will not maintain a full 32K of text mode RAM
for the application, and this can result in a loss of scroll-back text, or in
a message from Windows about not having enough memory to correctly display
information. ANSIPLUS attempts to compensate for this, but a configurable
feature is also provided to totally disable scroll-back when Windows is
running. If you run all DOS applications full screen, this feature should be
enabled. For more discussion of this problem and its remedies, see "ANSIPLUS
and Windows 3" starting on page 34.
* On systems with extended memory and either a suitable XMS driver such as
HIMEM.sys or QEMM, or ANSIPLUS loaded into the High Memory Area (HMA),
ANSIPLUS can allocate 32K of XMS or HMA memory to preserve scroll-back data
when changing video display modes or when running graphics applications
(including Windows). DOS sessions under Windows 3.1 can also use XMS memory
for this purpose if they have access to at least 32K of extra XMS memory (See
PIF Editor in the Windows User's Guide). If ANSIPLUS is loaded into the HMA
and does not share this area with DOS, then ANSIPLUS will preserve
scroll-back using HMA, except when Windows is running; otherwise, XMS memory
will be used. Because calls to some XMS drivers may require a lot of stack
space, this feature should be disabled if you have reliability problems
during display mode changes.
* ANSIPLUS captures for scroll-back all standard DOS output that is scrolled
off the top of the screen or cleared from the screen. An option is provided
to capture full lines scrolled off the top by BIOS calls, as well as screens
not containing DOS output, when they are cleared by BIOS call.
* Every time that video page 0 (the normal video page for all DOS output) is
cleared, the first through last non-blank lines on the screen (plus one above
and below) are captured for scroll-back. When the second and higher video
pages are cleared, they will not be saved unless lines have been scrolled off
the top. An option is provided to capture the higher video pages too when
they are cleared.
16
* ANSIPLUS stores captured screen lines in unused parts of the video RAM, with
usage based on whether a display page has ever been selected for display.
Almost all text mode applications select a page before filling it with text,
so ANSIPLUS should generally know what is used and what isn't. However, a
few applications, such as the Norton Utilities, appear to use the second
video page without ever selecting it to save the original contents of the
screen as the program starts up. This action will wipe out any scroll-back
data in the second page, and when the original screen is cleared by the
program, scroll-back lines may be stored into the saved screen, causing
gibberish to be restored to the screen when the program terminates. To
address this problem, a configurable feature is provided to protect the
second video page from scroll-back storage. However, when this feature is
enabled, storage capacity for scroll-back will be reduced by one page.
* Smooth scrolling can gradually move the entire screen's text up so it can be
read while it moves. This feature can also be toggled on and off by the
Shift-Scroll Lock key combination. Smooth scrolling will appear unacceptably
choppy on computers with lower powered CPUs and/or video controllers that
cannot move a full screen of text in the video RAM completely during a
vertical retrace. If this occurs, the feature should not be used.
* Smooth scrolling can be disabled under Windows. If smooth scrolling does not
perform well in full screen DOS sessions under Windows, or if there are other
problems, then this should be done.
* Because it takes time to smoothly scroll the screen, smooth scrolling of
large amounts of screen output can significantly delay the computer. An
option is provided to increase the scrolling rate when the smooth scrolling
operation is taking a significant proportion of the computer's time. This can
help, for example, to prevent data overruns when smooth scrolling is used
with a communications program that scrolls the entire screen.
* ANSIPLUS normally handles all text mode scrolling itself directly in the
video display RAM. This may confuse some other device drivers or TSRs that
are installed and need to know when the screen is being scrolled. In such
cases, a feature can be enabled to cause BIOS calls for screen scrolling.
17
Keyboard
* By default, ANSIPLUS increases the keyboard buffer capacity to 128
characters, which should hold at least as much as most users can type ahead
accurately. To expand the computer's keyboard buffer capacity, an extension
buffer is retained within ANSIPLUS, and whenever the ROM BIOS buffer has
space available for keys held in the ANSIPLUS buffer, they are moved into the
standard ROM BIOS buffer. You configure this buffer by specifying the total
number of keys to be buffered.
* The keyboard repeat rate determines how fast keys will be generated when a
key is held down and not lifted. For systems with enhanced keyboards,
ANSIPLUS lets this rate be configured anywhere from 2 to 300 characters per
second. For most applications, an ANSIPLUS repeat rate setting greater than
30 characters per second will take precedence over the keyboard repeat rate
set by other programs, such as the DOS MODE program. Because of imprecise
timing under Windows, however, this feature is disabled when Windows is
running. If desired, it may also be disabled entirely to use the standard
rate.
* The keyboard typematic delay, which determines how long a key must be held
down before repeated keys will start to be generated, is also configurable.
ANSIPLUS accepts four settings from 250 ms to 1000 ms.
* ANSIPLUS has the ability to translate single keystrokes to full commands or
other pre-determined key sequences. This feature is called key reassignment,
and it can be enabled or disabled without affecting the contents of the key
reassignment tables stored within the ANSIPLUS device driver.
* Ordinarily, key reassignment applies only to input keys requested from DOS,
so programs that bypass DOS and use BIOS Interrupt 16h for keyboard input
will not have any keys reassigned. This is usually desirable, since major
applications generally have built-in assumptions about the meaning of
function and Alt keys, and these should be operative. An ANSIPLUS feature is
provided for those cases when you want to reassign keys for applications that
bypass DOS and use Int 16h for keyboard input.
* ANSIPLUS can also prevent ANSI key reassignment redefinition. This can be
useful before trying ANSI files that contain unknown ANSI sequences that
might redefine keys to execute undesired commands. A warning tone (like the
theme from "Dragnet") will sound whenever an attempt to redefine a key
reassignment is detected.
* The space allocated for storing ANSI keystroke reassignments may also be
configured. Each key reassignment requires approximately four bytes plus the
length of the reassignment. You configure the total table size in bytes.
* Normally, the Caps Lock key locks the alphabetic keys in upper case, and when
a shift key is held down, letters are entered in lower case. This continues
until Caps Lock is pressed again to unlock the Caps, and can often be
confusing if you forget that Caps were locked. ANSIPLUS has an option to have
shift-alphabetic keys cause the Caps to unlock, much like a typewriter
releases its shift lock whenever a shift key is pressed.
18
* In many cases, when Caps Lock has been released by a shift-alphabetic key
combination, mixed upper and lower case characters are needed for only a
single entry, and Caps Lock should be reinstated thereafter. ANIPLUS includes
an option to turn Caps Lock back on again when the Enter key is pressed after
Caps were unlocked by a shift-alphabetic key, thus restoring Caps Lock on
completion of an "entry."
* For those users who find it more convenient to break out of programs with the
Control-C key combination than with Control-Break, ANSIPLUS has an option to
generate a keyboard break whenever Control-C is entered.
* The "Non-Destructive" input function of the DOS driver reads an input key
from the keyboard unofficially just to see what it is, allowing it to really
be read later. This function is used to see what has been typed, and to read
it or flush the keyboard buffer only if it matches some criterion (such as
Escape or Control-C). Because the standard DOS keyboard driver always looks
at the first key in the buffer, if it doesn't meet the criterion, no matter
what is typed later will not be checked. ANSIPLUS gets around this with an
option to return the last key from the buffer instead of the first.
* Key stacking can be disabled to use another key stacking driver (for example,
NDOS KEYSTACK.sys), or when typing files that contain unknown ANSI escape
sequences that might execute undesired commands. When disabled, a warning
tone will sound on any attempt to stack keys by ANSI escape sequence.
Tone Definition
* The ANSIPLUS driver includes a timer-interrupt controlled Control-G beep tone
generator that lets the beep tone be finished in parallel with subsequent
processing. Multiple beeps are ignored if a tone is currently being output,
so programs cannot be slowed down by a rapid series of beeps. The tone
generator is used for both standard DOS console output and BIOS Int 10h Write
TTY calls. If the tone generator is disabled, the original DOS beep tone will
be used.
* When Windows 3 is running in 386 mode, and a DOS program running in the
background outputs a Control-G, the background program's virtual 8086 may not
be running fast enough to accurately time the tone. Because of this, the tone
can drag out and sound strange. Disabling ANSIPLUS tone generation under
Windows restores the original Windows sound driver, but makes the tone
frequency and duration non-configurable.
* The beep tone definition is stored in a table in the ANSIPLUS driver that
requires four bytes per frequency and duration. You can configure the size of
this table by specifying the maximum number of notes allowed in the beep.
19
IV. USING ANSIPLUS
This chapter describes your controls over ANSIPLUS when it is running. Five
subjects are covered: special keyboard functions; selecting and defining colors
with the SETCOLOR.exe utility program; controlling other ANSIPLUS features with
the SETAPLUS.exe utility program; creating batch files for configuring
applications; and editing ANSI-type escape sequence programs and files with the
ANSICOM.exe program.
SPECIAL KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS
ANSIPLUS uses special keyboard control to implement its scrolling functions. To
activate these, the Scroll-Lock (or Alt and Scroll-Lock) key is used as a hot
key toggle:
Scroll-Lock enables or disables screen scroll freezing and scroll-back
Shift-Scroll-Lock enables or disables smooth scrolling
When your Scroll-Lock toggle is recognized by the computer, you will hear a
short tone. When the screen is frozen by Scroll-Lock, (as indicated by the light
on enhanced keyboards), normal key input is disabled and the following keys
apply:
Home Go to the top of the lines saved for scroll-back
PageUp Scroll up one page
Shift Scroll up one-half page tab
Up arrow Scroll up one line
End Go to the bottom (i.e., the original screen display)
PageDn Scroll down one page
Tab Scroll down one-half page
Down arrow Scroll down one line
Left View a lower numbered display page arrow
Right View a higher numbered display page arrow
Escape Cancel scroll lock, return to normal key processing
Scroll lock Cancel scroll lock, return to normal key processing
If you try to exceed the limit of travel up, down, left or right, a short low
pitched tone will sound. If you enter any key other than those above, you will
hear a short warbling sound, Scroll Lock will be canceled, the screen will
return to its normal display, and the key will be passed back to the running
program. If the screen was frozen during output, the PageDn, Tab and Down arrow
keys will allow one page, one-half page, and one line of additional output,
respectively, before freezing the screen again. Pressing a shift key will
release the screen as long as the shift key is held down.
Another special key combination is used with the ANSIPLUS screen saver. If the
screen saver is enabled, the following key combination may be used to blank the
screen without waiting the full blanking time:
Alt-Ctrl-Scroll Lock Blank the screen immediately
20
SELECTING AND DEFINING COLORS
The SETCOLOR.exe utility program provides extensive control over colors for your
running system. With this program, the user can view the current colors, select
colors for use, create and apply named color schemes, edit the color palette,
set the border color, and save and load color definitions. Changes made with
SETCOLOR.exe are in effect only as long as your system is running. To change the
colors for system bootup, use the NEWAPLUS.exe program. SETCOLOR.exe is executed
by a command of the form:
SETCOLOR <keyword> [<keyword> ...]
where each <keyword> selects a foreground or background color or other option.
If no <keyword> is supplied, you are presented with a menu of choices:
* Color selection submenus let you choose from the current 16-color palette
the screen colors that will be used for text foreground and background.
ANSIPLUS maintains two sets of foreground and background colors: those that
are currently on the screen, and default colors to be applied when an ANSI
Set Graphics Rendition reset (i.e., Esc [0m) is detected. You can control
both color combinations from this sub-menu.
* The color palette determines the precise colors you will see in 16 color
video modes. ANSIPLUS maintains two palettes: the current palette on the
screen, and a default palette that is loaded when ANSIPLUS first starts and
whenever the video display mode is changed. You can control both palettes
using this option, but unless you specifically set the default for each color
you redefine, your colors will only apply until the next display mode change.
* The border color is generated for the "overscan" region on the outside edges
of the screen. Again, ANSIPLUS maintains both a current border color and a
default border color. You can select any available color as border color, and
can control both the current and default borders with this option. As for
palette changes, unless you specifically set the default border color, your
border color will apply only until the next display mode change.
From the command line, colors may be selected by name or code number, where
codes 0-15 identify the 16 palette colors, 128-143 select foreground colors, and
192-207 select background colors. The relationship between color names and code
numbers is depicted in Table 4-1:
21
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Table 4-1 |
| Color Names and Codes |
+-------------------+--------+--------------+------------+
| | Color | Foreground | Background |
| Color Name | Code | Code | Code |
+-------------------+--------+--------------+------------+
| BLACK | 0 | 128 | 192 |
| DKGRAY | 8 | 136 | 200 |
| GRAY | 7 | 135 | 199 |
| WHITE | 15 | 143 | 207 |
| RED | 9 | 137 | 201 |
| DKRED | 1 | 129 | 193 |
| BROWN | 3 | 131 | 195 |
| YELLOW | 11 | 139 | 203 |
| GREEN | 2 | 130 | 194 |
| LTGREEN | 10 | 138 | 202 |
| CYAN | 6 | 134 | 198 |
| LTCYAN | 14 | 142 | 206 |
| BLUE | 4 | 132 | 196 |
| LTBLUE | 12 | 140 | 204 |
| MAGENTA or PURPLE | 5 | 133 | 197 |
| LTMAGENTA or PINK | 13 | 141 | 205 |
+-------------------+--------+--------------+------------+
In 256 color modes, you may also use 256-511 to select the foreground, 512-767
to select the background, or 0-255 after the BORDER keyword to select the border
color.
Several modifying keywords can assist the color selection:
DARK, DIM or NORMAL for low intensity colors,
LIGHT, BRIGHT or INTENSE for high intensity colors,
FOREGROUND or FGD for foreground following,
BACKGROUND, BGD, or ON for background following,
REVERSE to swap the current foreground and background,
BORDER for border color selection following, or
DEFAULT to select the current colors as the default colors.
If named colors or color codes 0-15 are specified without the foreground or
background keywords, then the first color is assumed to be the foreground and
the second the background. Keywords may also be shortened; the first partial
match will be used. Several examples may help to clarify these rules:
SETCOLOR bgd blue sets the background to dark blue
SETCOLOR light cyan blue default default colors are light cyan foreground
and blue background
SETCOLOR 7,0 gray foreground, black background
SETCOLOR bright green on blue high intensity green foreground, dark blue
background
SETCOLOR border cyan set the border color to cyan
SETCOLOR reverse reverses the current foreground and
background colors
SETCOLOR rev reverses foreground and background
22
Any unmatched keywords are checked against user-defined color schemes in a file
named SETCOLOR.sch. This editable ASCII text file, which should be placed in the
same directory as the SETCOLOR.exe program, contains any number of named color
schemes of the user's choice. User supplied color schemes are entered into the
file with a text editor, with each line entered in the form:
<name> = <keyword> [<keyword> ...]
where <name> is the name of the user supplied color scheme, and <keyword> is any
valid SETCOLOR program keyword or other option. Table 4-2 shows the SETCOLOR.sch
file included with ANSIPLUS as a sample.
+---------------------------------------+
| Table 4-2 |
| Sample Color Schemes File |
+---------------------------------------+
| evening = light cyan blue border 17 |
| night = light blue black border 17 |
| dawn = yellow cyan border 35 |
| daylight = light blue white border 17 |
| sun = bright red yellow border 46 |
| sky = blue light blue border 17 |
| forest = black green border 24 |
| earth = yellow brown border 38 |
| regal = pink purple border 21 |
| candycane = dark red pink border white|
| bw = gray black border dkgray |
+---------------------------------------+
A user color scheme may be specifically selected on the SETCOLOR command line by
preceding its name with the keyword SCHEME, for example:
SETCOLOR SCHEME JOE selects a color scheme named JOE
The SETCOLOR program also includes keyword options to reset, edit, load and save
the current color configuration. These include:
RESET Install defaults as the current colors
IBM or OEM Install the OEM VGA/EGA palette as the current colors
PALETTE Edit the color definitions for the 16-color palette
SAVEFILE <filename> Save the current 16-color definitions in a file
SAVE256 <filename> Save the 256 VGA DAC color definitions in a file
LOADFILE <filename> Load a color definition file
SAVECURRENT <file> Save the 16 current colors as an executable program
SAVEDEFAULT <file> Save the 16 default colors as an executable program
SAVEPROGRAM <file> Save both the current and default colors as a program
The SAVEFILE, SAVE256 and LOADFILE keywords generate and load color definition
files. The color definition files created by SAVEFILE contain 36 lines: 32 lines
define the red, green and blue intensities for colors 0 to 15, both current and
default, and the other four define the current and default foreground,
background and border colors. Files created by SAVE256 contain 512 lines: 256
for the default DACs and 256 for the current DACs. Table 4-3 is a sample of
lines from a SAVEFILE color definition file.
23
+------------------------------+
| Table 4-3 |
| Sample Color Definition File |
+------------------------------+
| Default = 142,196 |
| DBorder = 0,81,162 |
| DColor 2 = 16,162,81 |
| DColor 3 = 113,65,16 |
| DColor 4 = 0,0,105 |
| DColor 5 = 97,0,97 |
| Current = 135,192 |
| Border = 0,0,0 |
| Color 2 = 0,170,0 |
| Color 3 = 0,170,170 |
| Color 4 = 0,0,170 |
| Color 5 = 170,0,170 |
+------------------------------+
Users are free to edit color definition files to create their own colors, to
delete any lines from them, or to put the lines in any order except that all
default color definitions must precede all current color definitions in the
file. If no file name is given for a LOADFILE, SAVEFILE or SAVE256 request, the
file name SETCOLOR.def in the current directory will be used. LOADFILE checks
the system PATH for color definition files to be loaded, so any commonly used
color files can reside in a directory on the PATH.
The SAVECURRENT, SAVEDEFAULT, and SAVEPROGRAM keyword options create executable
".com" files that can be called later by name to install colors. These programs
can also be edited by the ANSICOM.exe utility program.
To provide additional user control over 16-color programs, such as DBASE III or
DOS 5.0 EDIT.com, that set their own palettes or border colors but do not
restore the palette on completion, or to simply force a color scheme on a
program that defines its own, ANSIPLUS can lock the color palette, preventing a
program from loading the PAL/DAC and border color registers by BIOS calls. This
feature is controlled by two SETCOLOR options:
LOCKPAL enable locked color palette, ignore BIOS calls defining colors
UNLOCKPAL disable locked color palette, allow programs to define colors
Palette locking should only be used when all other means of control fail. It is
intended to be invoked as part of batch files that execute applications to be
controlled, locking the palette before the program runs, and unlocking it after
it completes. The feature should never be enabled all of the time because it
will keep well behaved programs from making color changes too.
The SETCOLOR program also controls ANSIPLUS VGA monochrome monitor emulation.
Two keywords enable or disable this feature:
MONOCHROME begins VGA monochrome monitor emulation; and
COLOR ends VGA monochrome monitor emulation and restores colors.
And finally, SETCOLOR provides three reporting options:
SHOW displays the 16 current colors in a band across the screen
HELP gives a brief description of how to use the SETCOLOR program
SCHEME HELP lists the available color schemes in file SETCOLOR.sch
24
CONTROLLING OTHER ANSIPLUS FEATURES
The SETAPLUS.exe utility program is used to enable and disable various ANSIPLUS
features while the system is running. It can also be used to set the video
display mode, character height, video page and graphics mode text treatment
options, to define or list key reassignments, or to define the Control-G beep
tone. Changes made with SETAPLUS.exe are in effect only as long as your system
is running. To change ANSIPLUS features for system bootup, use the NEWAPLUS.exe
program. SETAPLUS.exe is executed by a command of the form:
SETAPLUS <keyword> [<keyword> ...]
where each <keyword> selects an ANSIPLUS feature or other option. As for the
SETCOLOR.exe utility, if no <keyword> is supplied, you are presented with a menu
of choices. These choices are shown in Table 4-4 below.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table 4-4 |
| SETAPLUS Main Menu Options |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Report | Display current ANSIPLUS optional feature settings |
| Mode | Set the video display mode |
| Height | Set the displayed character height |
| Keyboard | Caps Lock, Ctrl-C and key read-ahead options |
| Assign | Key reassignment enable/disable option and key definition |
| Tone | Control-G beep tone generation options |
| Color | Mode set color, blink, bright key echo and VGA mono options|
| Display | Screen saver, graphics mode cursor and retrace wait options|
| Scrolling | Scroll-Lock, scroll-back and smooth scrolling options |
| Undo | Undo all feature changes since starting the main menu |
| Quit | Quit and return to DOS |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------+
From the SETAPLUS command line, you control each ANSIPLUS feature with its own
selection keywords. These selectors are shown in Table 4-5 on page 25. When
used in combination with the following keywords, each controllable feature can
be enabled and disabled easily:
ON, YES, or TRUE to enable the preceding feature,
ENABLE to enable all following listed features,
OFF, NO, or FALSE to disable the preceding feature,
DISABLE to disable all following listed features, and
RESET to set all features to their default values.
The following examples illustrate use of the SETAPLUS command line to control
ANSIPLUS features:
SETAPLUS bright off Disable bright key echo
SETAPLUS enable capsunlock saver Enable screen saver and Caps reset on
Shift-alpha
SETAPLUS reset Reset all features to their default status
25
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table 4-5 |
| SETAPLUS Feature Selection Keywords |
+------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| SETCOLORS | Install default (ANSIPLUS) colors on mode sets |
| DOSSET256 | Load default colors on DOS 256-color mode sets |
| WINSET256 | Load default colors on Windows 256-color mode sets |
| NOBLINK | Enable 16-color text mode background (disable blink) |
| BRIGHT | Highlight echoed keys (bright key echo) |
| LOCKPAL | Prevent palette/DAC color changes by programs |
| MONOCHROME | VGA monochrome monitor emulation |
| SAVER | Enable screen saver (blanker) |
| READ60H | Read key controller scan codes in screen saver |
| MSMOUSE | Use MS mouse Int 33h polling in screen saver |
| PS2MOUSE | Use PS/2 Int 74h mouse event interrupts in saver |
| PSEUDOCURS | Generate pseudo-cursor in VGA/EGA graphics modes |
| CURSOR256 | Generate pseudo-cursor in 256-color graphics modes |
| TTYTRAP | Trap ANSI escape sequences in BIOS Write TTY |
| RETRACE | Wait for retrace before setting palette registers |
| CAPSUNLOCK | Unlock Caps Lock with shift/letter key combination |
| CAPSRELOCK | Relock Caps with carriage return after shift/letter |
| CTRLC | Generate Control-Break when Control-C is entered |
| NDLAST | Read last key in buffer with non-destructive input |
| STACK | Enable key stacking |
| KEYASSIGN | Enable ANSI key reassignment |
| BIOSASSIGN | Apply key reassignment at BIOS Int 16h level |
| NODEFKEY | Prevent ANSI key reassignment redefinition |
| BEEP | Use ANSIPLUS Control-G beep tone generator |
| WINBEEP | Allow ANSIPLUS beep tone under Windows |
| LOCK | Allow Scroll Lock key to freeze screen |
| ALTLOCK | Require Alt-Scroll-Lock when freezing screen |
| SCROLLBACK | Enable scroll-back of lines scrolled off top |
| WINBACK | Allow scroll-back under Windows |
| XMSBACK | Preserve scroll-back data using XMS or HMA memory |
| BIOSBACK | Capture lines scrolled by BIOS call |
| CLSBACK | Capture erased pages never scrolled up |
| PAGEPROTECT| Protect 2nd display page from scroll-back storage |
| SMOOTH | Enable smooth scrolling |
| WINSMOOTH | Allow smooth scrolling under Windows |
| SPEEDUP | Speed up smooth scroll when delaying computer |
| BIOSCROLL | Use BIOS calls for text mode screen scrolling |
+------------+------------------------------------------------------+
26
Other command line options include:
MODE <decimal mode number> to set the video display mode,
HEIGHT <height> to set the text character height,
PAGE <page> to set the video page,
KEYDEF to enter key reassignment definitions from the keyboard,
KEYFILE <file name> to load key reassignment definitions from a file,
LISTKEYS to list all current key reassignments,
KEYSTACK <text> to add keys or delays to the keyboard buffer,
RATE <char/sec> to set the keyboard "typematic" repeat rate,
DELAY <quartersecs> to set the typematic key delay,
BLANKTIME <minutes> to set the screen saver blanking time,
TONE <frequency, duration list> to set the Control-G beep tone,
TEXT or TREATMENT to reset graphics mode text treatments,
SHADOW, BOLD, ITALICS, UNDERLINE or OUTLINE to enable text treatments,
STATUS to report the current video mode, number of colors, etc.,
FEATURES to report the settings of all ANSIPLUS features,
REPORT to show both STATUS and FEATURES, and
HELP to show all keyword options.
Two keyword options are provided for managing the interrupt vectors used by
ANSIPLUS:
INTERRUPT Displays, to the extent possible, the chain of programs
attached to each following selected interrupt
LINK Relinks ANSIPLUS to the selected interrupt(s)
You may specify interrupt selectors as either hexadecimal numbers or special
keywords:
KEYEVENT Interrupt 09h Key Event
VIDEO Interrupt 10h Video
SYSTEMSERVICE Interrupt 15h System Services
KEYREQUEST Interrupt 16h Keyboard Request
KEYBREAK Interrupt 1Bh Keyboard Break
TIMERTICK Interrupt 1Ch User Timer Tick
DOSTTY Interrupt 29h DOS Fast TTY Output
MULTIPLEX Interrupt 2Fh Multiplex, and
PS2MOUSE Interrupt 74h PS/2 Mouse Event
For example, SETAPLUS INTERRUPT 2F will list the programs attached to the DOS
Int 2Fh Multiplex interrupt.
27
All the features controlled by SETAPLUS are described in Chapter 2 under
Changing the ANSIPLUS Startup Configuration, starting on page 12, except for
three:
* To reassign keys, use the KEYDEF keyword. You will be prompted for the key to
reassign; after that, you type in the corresponding key reassignment, and
terminate it with the End key.
* To add keys to the keyboard buffer, use the keyword KEYSTACK, followed by any
number of quoted strings, key scan and character codes (scan code times 256
plus ASCII character code), or time delay directives (/Wnnn for timer ticks,
or /Dnnn for milliseconds). The following example enters "Dir", waits one
second, then enters " *.*" and a carriage return:
SETAPLUS KEYSTACK "Dir" /W18 " *.*" 13
* To define the beep sound from the command line, use SETAPLUS and follow the
keyword TONE with zero, one or more frequencies in Hertz and durations in
milliseconds. For example,
SETAPLUS TONE installs the default 880hz 385ms tone, and
SETAPLUS TONE 1397,110,1047,165 defines a two-tone Control-G beep.
To define the beep sound from the SETAPLUS main menu, select Tone Definition
and run through the feature options.
28
CREATING APPLICATION BATCH FILES
Almost all DOS applications should run without change when ANSIPLUS is
installed. However, in a few cases it may be desirable to create a batch file
that prepares the system for an application, runs it, and then cleans up
afterward. There are three reasons for creating these application batch files:
* To restore the normal DOS command shell video mode and colors after the
program ends;
* To install a color palette for the program to use when it runs; or
* To enable or disable ANSIPLUS features that conflict with the program.
Many DOS application programs do not completely restore the video state on
completion. The common problems seen (with examples in parentheses) are:
* The program sets the color palette, usually to the OEM default, but doesn't
restore it on completion (DOS 5.0 EDIT.com, DBASE III).
* The program sets the border color, but doesn't restore it, or sets it to
black on completion (DBASE III).
* The program turns blink on, but doesn't restore it on completion (DOS 5.0
EDIT.com, DBASE III).
* The program selects a video mode, but doesn't restore the original one on
completion (DOS 5.0 EDIT.com, DBASE III).
* The program selects a video mode and restores it on completion, but doesn't
restore the text height if it is not standard for the video mode (Quattro Pro
3.0 and others).
There are four simple options for restoring the ANSIPLUS video mode and colors
after running an application that sets its own mode, palette or border color:
* The first option can be used to restore only the border color after an
application has run. Suppose the border color is normally palette code 17,
then the following batch file will set the border after the application (in
this example, DOS EDIT.com) runs:
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\EDIT.com %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
SETCOLOR BORDER 17
* The second option will restore the entire default ANSIPLUS palette and border
color after the application runs:
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\EDIT.com %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
SETCOLOR RESET
29
* The third option requires creating a small .com file that will load an entire
color scheme. This can be done at any time by hitting the letter "S" from the
SETCOLOR.exe palette definition screen, or it can be done from the DOS
command level with a command like:
SETCOLOR SAVEPROGRAM MYCOLORS
This will create a program called MYCOLORS.com, which loads the 16-color
palette and border colors that were in effect when the program was created.
The batch file for the application can then use this program to restore the
color scheme on completion:
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\EDIT.com %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
MYCOLORS
* The fourth option saves and restores the video mode, character height and
foreground/background color selection, and loads the ANSIPLUS default palette
after the application completes. The batch file uses the PUSHVID.com and
POPVID.com programs provided with ANSIPLUS:
@ECHO OFF
PUSHVID
C:\DOS\EDIT.com %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
POPVID
This is the best technique to use when running DOS in a text mode other than
25 lines by 80 columns, because it will restore both the video display mode
and text height.
The options for controlling colors used by applications depend on whether custom
colors are desired for the application and whether the application loads its own
palette:
* If the application ordinarily uses ANSIPLUS's colors when it runs, then it
will use any ANSIPLUS color palette in effect when it begins execution, so a
.com color scheme file saved from the SETCOLOR.exe palette definition screen,
or by a SETCOLOR SAVEPROGRAM APPCOLOR command, can be used to load a custom
color scheme before running the application:
@ECHO OFF
APPCOLOR
<application> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
MYCOLORS
Because most DOS application programs select a video mode when they start up,
be sure that the color scheme saved in APPCOLOR.com is saved as a default
color scheme.
30
* To use the ANSIPLUS palette for an application that installs its own palette,
the palette must be locked before the program starts and unlocked after it
completes:
@ECHO OFF
LOCKPAL
<application> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
UNLOKPAL
Warning: Palette locking should only be used when all other means of control
fail. The feature should never be left enabled all of the time because it
will keep well behaved programs from making any color changes.
* To use custom colors for an application that wants to install its own
palette, the custom colors are loaded before the palette is locked:
@ECHO OFF
APPCOLOR
LOCKPAL
<application> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
UNLOKPAL
MYCOLORS
In the event of a conflict between an ANSIPLUS feature and an application, the
feature can be disabled before running the application and enabled again after
it completes. For example, the following batch file turns off the screen saver
while running an application:
@ECHO OFF
SETAPLUS DISABLE SAVER
<application> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
SETAPLUS ENABLE SAVER
31
EDITING ANSI ESCAPE SEQUENCE PROGRAMS
After using ANSIPLUS for a while, the user will find it desirable to create
short programs for frequently used video modes, color selections or definitions,
key reassignments, etc. The ANSICOM.exe utility program provides this facility:
with it, the user can create and edit small executable ".com" files or small
printable text files that contain ANSI escape sequences. ANSICOM is executed
with the following command:
ANSICOM <filename>
where <filename> is the name of the file to be edited. Your file to edit is
selected using the following rules:
* If no file name is supplied, you will be presented with a menu of ".com"
files to select from.
* If a file name is supplied, and it does not include a file type, a file type
of ".com" is assumed.
* When an existing ".com" file is edited, it is first checked for program code
that outputs the ANSI escape sequences. If this is not found, ANSICOM will
refuse to edit the file.
* If the file to be edited is not a ".com" file, then it is assumed to be a
non-executable printable text file.
* If the named file is not found (including a search of the system PATH),
ANSICOM will ask if a new file is to be created.
Once the file has been properly identified, a full-screen editing display is
presented, and you can go to work. Use the F1 key for context sensitive help.
The ANSICOM full screen editing display automatically parses the user's entries
and identifies the kinds of ANSIPLUS escape sequences entered, including
incomplete escape sequences. ANSICOM will not allow the user to save a file
containing an incomplete escape sequence. Beyond that, it is the user's
responsibility to be sure that the escape sequences entered will do what he
wants.
32
V. ANSIPLUS ESCAPE SEQUENCES
This chapter lists and briefly describes each of the "ANSI" Escape sequences
recognized by ANSIPLUS. They are described in detail in the printed ANSIPLUS
manual. In the table, "#" represents any numeric parameter and "Esc" is the
Escape character (decimal 27, hexadecimal 1Bh):
Control Sequence Description
---------------- -----------
DISPLAY MODE AND CHARACTER SET
Esc [#;#h Set video display mode
Esc [#;#l Reset video display mode
Esc [!#t Select character set height: 8, 14 or 16 scan lines
Esc [!#;...;#e Select graphics mode text treatment options: bold,
underline, slant, shadow, outline, or reverse
Esc [!#v Select video page
CURSOR POSITIONING
Esc [#;#H Set cursor position
Esc [#;#f Set cursor position
Esc [#A Move cursor up
Esc [#B Move cursor down
Esc [#C Move cursor right
Esc [#D Move cursor left
Esc [#s Save cursor position, video mode, video page or colors
Esc [#u Restore cursor position, video mode, page or colors
COLOR SELECTION AND DEFINITION
Esc [#;...;#m Select current color attributes for output characters
Esc [!#;#;#;#;#c Define colors available, select palette, set up color
blinking, restore color definitions or palette
33
Control Sequence Description
---------------- -----------
ERASE, INSERT AND DELETE
Esc [#;#J Clear the screen
Esc [#;#;#K Clear a line
Esc [#;#L Insert lines on the screen or in a line range
Esc [#;#M Delete lines from the screen or a line range
Esc [#;#@ Insert characters on a line or a column range
Esc [#;#P Delete characters from a line or a column range
DRIVER STATUS AND CONTROL
Esc [#;#n Query ANSIPLUS status: cursor position, current color
selection, video mode and number of colors, screen and
character dimensions, color definitions, feature
settings, tone definition, key reassignment, etc.
Esc [!#;...;#d Enable or disable ANSIPLUS driver feature settings
Esc [!#;...;#g Define the Control-G beep tone
Esc [#;...;#p Define key reassignment (accepts quoted strings)
Esc [!#;...;#k Add keys to keyboard buffer (accepts quoted strings)
Besides supporting all the escape sequences accepted by the MS-DOS ANSI.sys
driver, ANSIPLUS accepts additional parameters for many, and includes several
entirely new control functions. See Chapter VI, Technical Notes, for
differences between ANSIPLUS and the ANSI.sys driver.
34
VI. TECHNICAL NOTES
ANSIPLUS AND WINDOWS 3
Users of Windows 3.0 and 3.1 should consider using ANSIPLUS as well. The
ANSIPLUS driver works well with DOS programs under Windows 3, and there are
advantages to using it in Windows 386 Enhanced Mode. Because ANSIPLUS is a CON
driver, local copies of it are included in each Windows 386 Enhanced Mode
virtual 8086. This means that all the ANSIPLUS internal state variables, and
those of its integrated console features, will be local to each virtual 8086, so
there is no way they can interfere with each other.
With DOS 5.0 or later, or with an XMS memory manager such as QEMM (using LOADHI)
or 386MAX, ANSIPLUS can be loaded into upper memory blocks above 640K to provide
a slightly larger program area below 640K. However, if Windows 3.0 will be run
in 386 Enhanced mode, it is strongly recommended that ANSIPLUS (or any other
ANSI driver) not be loaded into high memory using these methods, and that
ANSIPLUS load itself high instead. This is because Windows 3.0 does not localize
the XMS upper memory block area above 640K for its virtual 8086's, and so only
one global copy of ANSIPLUS would be shared among all virtual machines. This can
cause trouble: if, for example, a program in one window selects colors, then
those colors would also be in force for all DOS programs in other windows! This
has been fixed in Windows 3.1.
When the DISPLAY.sys driver is used with Windows 3.0 or 3.1, the colors and
other variables of either ANSIPLUS or the DOS ANSI.sys driver are not localized
to each virtual 8086. This appears to be because Windows only localizes the
first CON driver it finds on the DOS device chain, and this will be the most
recent CON device installed, which is DISPLAY.sys, not ANSIPLUS. Two system
setup changes are required to circumvent the problem:
(1) Enter the following command to change the name of the ANSIPLUS driver in
memory from "CON" to "CONAPLUS":
SETAPLUS LOCALCON
This command is automatically inserted into AUTOEXEC.bat by the ANSIPLUS
INSTALL program when DISPLAY.sys is detected.
(2) Add the following command to the [386Enh] section of the Windows SYSTEM.ini
file:
LOCAL=CONAPLUS
This causes Windows to localize the ANSIPLUS driver to each virtual 8086.
The SYSTEM.ini file is not altered by the ANSIPLUS INSTALL program.
Several ANSIPLUS features are affected by Windows. The ANSIPLUS driver detects
when Windows 3 is running, and automatically disables the screen blanker.
Disabling of four other features under Windows is user-configurable:
35
* On most computers, screen scroll-back should operate correctly when running
full screen under Windows. However, when running DOS applications in a 386
Enhanced Mode window, Windows will not maintain a full 32K of text mode RAM
for the application, and because of this, scroll-back text can be lost. This
is most likely to occur when the focus is switched from task to task, as with
the Alt-Tab key, or when changing display modes.
The ANSIPLUS driver attempts to compensate for lost video memory under
Windows, but the NEWAPLUS and SETAPLUS programs also provide an option to
totally disable scroll-back when Windows is running. This feature should be
disabled only if you don't want to use scroll-back under Windows. If all DOS
applications are run full screen, then it should be enabled.
The situation for DOS applications running in a window is improved if the
PIF file for the application (or the file DOSPRMPT.pif for the MS-DOS prompt)
has Video Memory set to High Graphics and Retain Video Memory checked under
Advanced Options (with the PIF Editor). These settings are recommended for
all DOS applications that depend on ANSIPLUS scrolling features under
Windows. A sample PIF file with these settings for the MS-DOS prompt is
included with the ANSIPLUS package in the file APLUS.pif. If these PIF
settings are not used, then the first time that ANSIPLUS needs to access the
scroll-back storage area, Windows will present a message claiming that there
is not enough memory for the application to correctly display information. If
this happens, just click on OK, then hit Alt-Enter to switch to a full screen
display and proceed.
* If smooth scrolling does not perform well under Windows, or if there are
other problems, then smooth scrolling can be disabled in Windows. In general,
if scroll-back doesn't work under Windows, then smooth scrolling won't work
either.
* When Windows is running in 386 Enhanced mode, and a DOS program running in
the background outputs a Control-G, the background program's virtual 8086 may
not be running fast enough to accurately time the tone. Because of this, the
tone can drag out and sound strange. Disabling ANSIPLUS tone generation under
Windows restores the original Windows sound driver, but makes the tone
frequency and duration non-changeable.
* Some 256-color drivers for Windows assume that the OEM 256-color palette has
been loaded when the 256-color mode was selected, and never define the colors
that Windows will use. Because of this, ANSIPLUS normally does not load its
default colors when a 256-color mode is selected under Windows. By enabling
this feature, using such a driver could cause the wrong standard colors to
be displayed by Windows.
36
ANSIPLUS and the 4DOS or NDOS Command Shells
The ANSIPLUS driver is compatible with the 4DOS and NDOS command shells. Two
ANSIPLUS features are specifically adapted to 4DOS/NDOS:
* ANSIPLUS supports key stacking (for 4DOS 4.0+ and NDOS Version 7.0), so the
KSTACK.com TSR does not need to be loaded. Key stacking capacity is limited
to the size of ANSIPLUS's key buffer, which is configurable by INSTALL/
NEWAPLUS up to 512 keys. ANSIPLUS key stacking can be disabled if KSTACK.com
or KEYSTACK.sys is preferred.
* The SETCOLOR.exe utility program can be used as a replacement for the 4DOS
or NDOS internal COLOR command, since SETCOLOR supports the syntax and all
options of COLOR, plus many additional options. To do this, two commands
should be added to AUTOEXEC.bat:
SETDOS /i-COLOR
ALIAS COLOR SETCOLOR
ANSIPLUS EXTENSIONS AND THE ANSI STANDARD
ANSIPLUS uses a number of added control parameters and includes entire new
control functions that are not part of the ANSI X3.64 standard, so do not expect
them to be supported by any other drivers or devices. The following added
ANSIPLUS functions are not standard ANSI:
Esc [!#t Select character set height
Esc [!#;...;#e Select graphics mode text treatment options
Esc [!#v Select video page
Esc [!#;#;#;#;#c Define colors available, select palette, setup blinking
Esc [!#;...;#d Enable or disable ANSIPLUS driver features
Esc [!#;...;#g Define Control-G beep tone
Esc [!#;...;#k Add keys to keyboard buffer
The following ANSIPLUS functions accept standard ANSI parameters, but also
accept added non-standard parameters:
Esc [#;#h Set video mode
Esc [#s Save cursor position, video mode, etc.
Esc [#u Restore cursor position, video mode, etc.
Esc [#;#J Clear the screen
Esc [#;#;#K Clear a line
Esc [#;#L Insert lines on the screen
Esc [#;#M Delete lines from the screen
Esc [#;#@ Insert characters on a line
Esc [#;#P Delete characters from a line
Esc [#;...;#m Select current color attributes for output characters
Esc [#;#n Query ANSIPLUS status: cursor position, colors, etc.
Esc [#;...;#p Define key reassignment
37
ESCAPE SEQUENCE RECOGNIZER ENHANCEMENTS
To simplify program generation of control sequences, the ANSIPLUS escape
sequence recognizer syntax has been relaxed:
* Blanks between parameters in escape sequences are ignored;
* Commas are allowed as separators in addition to semicolons;
* Either single or double quotes may be used around character parameters;
* Parameter values over 255 (i.e., up to 32,767) are accepted for certain
commands. Plus and minus signs are also accepted.
Unrecognized escape sequences are passed through by the driver unaltered. The
Esc character is trapped only when followed by a left bracket ("["), so programs
that write the escape character (a left arrow) to the screen will continue to do
so after the driver is installed.
DIRECT ACCESS TO VIDEO RAM VS. BIOS CALLS
ANSIPLUS uses direct access to video RAM in all VGA/EGA text and most common
graphics modes. However, BIOS calls will be used to output characters for three
classes of graphics modes:
* Modes with 256 colors;
* Modes that require more than 64K bytes of video RAM (i.e., 16 color graphics
modes exceeding 800x600 resolution); and
* Unrecognized (usually CGA or Hercules) graphics modes.
When BIOS calls are used, output is much slower, and "transparent" mode output,
graphics mode text treatments, and insert/delete characters are also not
supported. Future versions of ANSIPLUS may extend direct video RAM access to
some of these modes.
INSTALLATION CHECKS
ANSIPLUS responds to the Int 2Fh test for ANSI.sys installation. When Int 2Fh is
called with AX=1A00h, ANSIPLUS will return AL=0FFh to indicate that ANSI.sys is
installed.
The Int 2Fh response is expanded if registers BX="AN", CX="SI" and DX="++".
Then, in addition to returning AL=0FFh, ANSIPLUS returns a pointer in ES:BX to
the ANSIPLUS Int 29h entry point. A further installation confirmation can be
made by checking the 8 bytes at ES:[BX-12] for the string "ANSIPLUS". The
ANSIPLUS version number will be a 4 character string at ES:[BX-4], containing,
for example, "3.01".
38
HOOKED INTERRUPTS
To implement all its features, ANSIPLUS attaches itself to nine system
interrupts. Two are replaced (1Bh and 29h), and the remaining 7 are supplemented
(i.e., ANSIPLUS calls the original interrupt but extends its function). If
possible, ANSIPLUS should always be installed after any other drivers that take
over any of these interrupts without passing calls through. The following table
lists the ANSIPLUS hooked interrupts and reasons for each:
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Table 6-1 |
| ANSIPLUS Hooked Interrupts |
+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
|Interrupt Description | Reason |
+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
|1Bh Keyboard Break | Promote Control-Break to front of key buffer |
| | |
|29h DOS Write Char | Faster DOS screen output |
| | |
|09h Key Event | Screen saver; scroll lock; scroll-back; key buffer |
| | extension; smooth scroll toggle; other special key |
| | processing |
| | |
|10h BIOS Video | Palette/DAC control; beep tone generation; screen |
| | saver; smooth scroll; scroll lock; scroll-back; BIOS |
| | Write TTY ANSI trap |
| | |
|15h System Services | Key processing |
| | |
|16h BIOS Get Key | Key buffer management; highlighted key echo; scroll- |
| | lock and scroll-back; key reassignment; repeat rate |
| | |
|1Ch User Timer Tick | Screen saver; smooth scroll; color blinking; beep tone|
| | generation |
| | |
|2Fh Multiplex | Installation checks; special functions; Windows init |
| | and exit processing; 4DOS/NDOS key stacking |
| | |
|74h PS/2 Mouse Event | Screen saver |
+----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
The DOS KEYB program for international keyboard support hooks the Int 09h Key
Event interrupt without passing calls through to whatever was installed before
(ie., to ANSIPLUS). Therefore, if the KEYB program is being used to set up the
keyboard, the following command MUST be executed after loading KEYB, otherwise
most ANSIPLUS keyboard related features will not work:
SETAPLUS LINK KEYEVENT
This command will re-install ANSIPLUS on the key event interrupt. The INSTALL
program will automatically add this command to AUTOEXEC.bat if it finds a
reference in it to KEYB.
If the DISPLAY.sys device driver for code page switching is being used, the
ANSIPLUS.sys device driver must be installed before DISPLAY.sys in CONFIG.sys.
The INSTALL program will also automatically handle this.
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If you suspect that a system interrupt is no longer accessible to ANSIPLUS
because of a TSR or device driver that has been loaded after ANSIPLUS, you can
test this with the command:
SETAPLUS INTERRUPT <intnum>
which displays, to the extent possible, the chain of programs attached to any
selected interrupt. The <intnum> may be either a hexadecimal interrupt number or
one of the following keywords:
KEYEVENT Interrupt 09h Key Event
VIDEO Interrupt 10h Video
SYSTEMSERVICE Interrupt 15h System Services
KEYREQUEST Interrupt 16h Keyboard Request
KEYBREAK Interrupt 1Bh Keyboard Break
TIMERTICK Interrupt 1Ch User Timer Tick
DOSTTY Interrupt 29h DOS Fast TTY Output
MULTIPLEX Interrupt 2Fh Multiplex, and
PS2MOUSE Interrupt 74h PS/2 Mouse Event
If ANSIPLUS is missing from the listing, it can be relinked with the command:
SETAPLUS LINK <intnum>
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