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The QEDIT editor is distributed as ShareWare. Use it, copy it, and exchange it with others for non-commercial purposes. If you find this program of value, a small contribution of $20 would be greatly appreciated. This will help to cover costs and support future developments. Also, we will notify you of new versions, which you may upgrade to for only $10. In any case, please share this program with others. SemWare c/o Sammy Mitchell 136 Mark Lane Smyrna, GA 30080 Enclose your name and address, and any comments you may have. Make all checks payable to SemWare. If a profit making organization wishes to distribute this program, it may purchase an unlimited distribution agreement. Customized Versions are available, as are partial and complete source code packages. Contact us for more details (We handle all support!). Please send us any suggestions you may have for enhancements or improvements in QEDIT. QEDIT Copyright (C) 1985 SemWare and Sammy Mitchell - All commercial rights reserved. QEDIT - the 'Quick Editor' by Sammy Mitchell Version 1.00A November, 1985 Reference Manual SemWare 136 Mark Lane Smyrna, Georgia 30080 (C) Copyright 1985 by SemWare. All Rights Reserved. DISCLAIMER SemWare makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties to the suitability of this program for any particular purpose. You must determine that yourself. In addition, you should understand that using a program of this type on an IBM PC or compatible has inherent risks and that you may inadvertently damage or destroy valuable programs or data. SemWare expressly declines to assume liability for any use of this program by you, and your use of this program constitutes your agreement to hold us blameless. SemWare reserves the right to make changes from time to time in the context hereof without obligation to notify any person or persons of such changes. TRADEMARK MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PC-DOS is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. TURBO PASCAL is a registered trademark of Borland International Inc. WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. Table of Contents: Acknowledgements 0 Summary of Changes 1 Introduction 2 Features 3 System Requirements 4 The Program Disk 5 Getting Started - and How to Get Out 6 Quick Reference 7 Editing Multiple Files 8 Command Reference Appendices A) Glossary of Special Terms B) Configuration C) Program Limits D) Command Summary E) Some Frequently Asked Questions F) Permission to Copy G) The User-Supported Concept H) Invoice I) Reader Comment Form Acknowledgments Many months of work went into the development of QEDIT. And we had LOTS of help. Special thanks go to: Steve Watkins and Alan Brown, for their diligent testing and many suggestions. Anthony M. Marcy, who developed the INLINER program, an assembler which translates 8088 assembly language directly into Turbo Pascal INLINE code. If you don't have this program, then get it! 0. Summary of Changes Version 1.00 11/20/85 Initial Release Version Version 1.00A 11/23/85 Maintenance Version Whoops! Somehow a bug sneaked into the video display routines. The result was that QEDIT 'hung' PC'S with color displays. Special thanks to Gerhard Barth, the sysop of the TAMIAMI BBS, who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us track down this bug. 1. Introduction This manual describes the use and operation of QEDIT, a full-screen text editor for the IBM PC and compatible computers. The manual includes installation instructions, overview of some of QEDIT's features, and reference for all of QEDIT's commands. QEDIT is a text editor as opposed to a word processor. QEDIT can be used to write short documents or letters, (this manual was written with QEDIT and then formatted with a formatting program) but most of its features are geared to creating or maintaining program source code. QEDIT's personality is heavily influenced by the goals set in developing QEDIT. These were and are: 1) Fast operation - above all else, QEDIT was designed to operate quickly, especially in these areas: - reading a file from disk to the editing buffer. - screen displaying/updating. - movement through the editing window. - searching for text. - writing text back out to disk. 2) Compact - Every effort was made to keep the code size as small as possible. Even though memory is getting cheaper all the time, we didn't want QEDIT to require any more memory than absolutely necessary. 2. Features Features of QEDIT: - VERY FAST! - Uses all available memory. You can edit files as large as memory allows with QEDIT. - True multi-file editing - number of files edited is limited only by memory. - 36 scratch buffers for cut and paste/templates operations. - Configurable - if you don't like the way we've configured QEDIT, you can easily change it. This includes the meaning of ALL special keys on the keyboard (Ctrl, the function keys, Alt, Home, PgUp, Etc.) 3. System Requirements QEDIT will run on the IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, PC/Jr, and 100% compatible computers including the Compaq computers. Minimum requirements are : 128 KB of memory (although QEDIT will use up to 640 KB if it is available). PC DOS 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, or MS-DOS 2.11. One diskette drive. Either a color or a monochrome monitor with 80 column display. 4. The Program Disk These are the files that come on the QEDIT program diskette: Q.COM - The QEDIT editor. QCONFG.COM - This is the configuration program for QEDIT. QKEY.DEF - This is the default keyboard definition file for QEDIT. WSKEY.DEF - This is a keyboard definition file to make QEDIT behave similar to the TURBO PASCAL editor or WordStar. MYKEY.DEF - This is an undefined keyboard definition file that you can set up anyway you like. QEDIT.DOC - This manual in ASCII text format. Q.HLP - A brief help file that can be loaded into the editor. Unlike many copy-protected programs, the QEDIT program disk may be freely copied. You can move the program, help and manual files onto another floppy, or a hard disk. NOTE: It is your responsibility to make backup copies of the program disk we send you. Never use your program disk without making such a backup copy. NOTE: When we refer to the QEDIT program in this manual, we actually mean the Q.COM file on the distribution diskette. You are free to rename Q.COM to whatever seems right to you. If you use the configuration program, then you must make sure to rename the QEDIT program to Q.COM, as this is what QCONFG expects. 5. Getting Started - and how to Get Out There are two ways to start QEDIT. From the DOS prompt type: 1) Q filespec where filespec is the name of the file you want to edit in the standard format, i.e., d:filename.ext. Using this format, QEDIT will 'read' filespec into memory if it exists, or create it if it does not, and allow you to start editing this file. or: 2) Q If you just type Q, QEDIT will prompt you for the file you wish to edit. Pressing return without entering a filespec will exit QEDIT. There are several commands that will get you out of QEDIT. The most basic are the FILE command and the QUIT command. The FILE command will write the file in memory back to disk and then QUIT the editor. The pre-installed FILE command is activated by pressing ^KX. (This means to press the Ctrl and K keys at the same time, release them, then to press the X key - note that the case of the key is ignored.) The QUIT command will 'quit' the file in memory without changing anything on disk. If the file in memory has been changed, then QEDIT requests confirmation before actually quitting. The pre-installed QUIT command is activated by pressing ^KQ. (This means to press the Ctrl and K keys at the same time, release them, then to press the Q key - note that the case of the key is ignored.) 6. Quick Reference ---- Cursor movement commands ----------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) BottomOfScreen ^End CursorDown down arrow key CursorLeft left arrow key CursorRight right arrow key CursorUp up arrow key EndOfLine End key FirstOfLine Home key NewLine --- Return return key TabLeft shift tab key TabRight tab key TopOfScreen ^Home WordLeft ^left arrow WordRight ^right arrow ---- Scroll (move screen) commands ------------ COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) BottomOffile ^PgDn HalfPgDn --- HalfPgUp --- JumpToLine ^J LastPlace ^P MakeTopOfScreen F5 PgDn PgDn key PgUp PgUp key ScrollDown ^Z ScrollUp ^W TopOfFile ^PgUp ---- Delete and Insert commands --------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) AddLine F2 Align ^A BackSpace BackSpace key DeleteChar Del key DeleteLine ^Y DeleteRightWord ^T DeleteToEOL ^QY DupLine F4 Return return key SplitLine ^N ---- Find and Replace commands ---------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) Find ^QF RepeatLastFindOrRep ^L Replace ^QA ---- File commands ---------------------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) EditFile ^KE Exit ^KD FileidChange ^KF FileToMain --- FileToSystem ^KX KillFile ^KZ NextFile ^KN PQuitToMain ^KQ PQuitToSystem F3 PrevFile ^KP QQuit --- ReadFile ^KR SaveFile ^KS WriteBlock ^KW ---- Block commands --------------------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) CopyBlock Alt-C GroupDelete Alt-G MarkLine Alt-L MoveBlock Alt-M UnMarkBlock Alt-U WriteBlock ^KW ---- Scratch Buffer commands ------------------ COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) LoadScrBuff ^BL StoreScrBuff ^BS ZapScrBuff ^BZ ---- Miscellaneous commands ------------------- COMMAND KEYSTROKE (--- denotes NOT pre-installed) ToggleTabsExpand ^QT ToggleIns Ins key UnDoCursorLine ^QL 7. Editing Multiple Files This editor is a true multi-file editor. By true we mean that multiple files can be kept in memory at the same time. Switching back and forth between files can be done at the touch of a key and is instantaneous. A simple explanation of how the editor handles multiple files will help you in using the multiple file commands. Edited files are kept in a 'ring' in memory. When a new file is edited, that file is inserted in the ring immediately after the currently edited file, and it becomes the new current file. The other file becomes the previous file. When a file is 'Quit', then that file is deleted from the ring and the previous file in the ring becomes the new current file. If there is only one file being edited, then the previous, next and current files are all the same file. Switching between files is accomplished with the NextFile and PrevFile commands. 8. Command Reference Cursor Movement Commands: Unless specified otherwise, the Cursor Movement commands act non-destructively, i.e. they do not change any information in the file being edited. COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) BottomOfScreen ^End Moves the cursor to the next to last line of the screen. That line becomes the new CursorLine. CursorDown DownArrow Moves the cursor to the line below. If the cursor is on the next to last line of the screen, then the screen scrolls up one line. CursorLeft LeftArrow Moves the cursor one character to the left. When the cursor reaches the left edge of the screen, it stops, unless the text has been scrolled right, in which case the text scrolls left. CursorRight RightArrow Moves the cursor one character to the right. When the cursor reaches the right end of the screen, the text starts scrolling horizontally until the cursor reaches the maximum line length, in which case the scrolling stops. CursorUp UpArrow Moves the cursor to the line above. If the cursor is on the top line of the screen, then the screen scrolls down one line. EndOfLine END The cursor moves to the position immediately following the last non blank character on the line containing the cursor. If the line is blank, then the cursor moves to column one. FirstOfLine HOME The cursor moves to column one of the line containing the cursor. NewLine not pre-installed Is the equivalent of the following two commands: CursorDown, FirstOfLine. Return Return key The return command behaves differently depending on whether the editor is in Insert or OverWrite mode. In OverWrite mode, the return command behaves as if you executed the following command: NewLine. In Insert mode, the return command behaves as if you executed the following commands: SplitLine, NewLine, Align. TopOfScreen ^Home Moves the cursor to the top of the screen. That line becomes the new CursorLine. WordLeft ^LeftArrow Moves the cursor to the end of the word to the left of the cursor. If there is not a word to the left of the cursor, then the cursor will move to column one. If this command is executed when the cursor is in column one, then the cursor moves to the EndOfLine on the previous line. WordRight ^RightArrow Moves the cursor to the beginning of the word to the right of the cursor. If there is not a word to the right of the cursor, then the cursor will move to the EndOfLine. If this command is executed when the cursor is already at the EndOfLine, then the cursor moves to column one on the following line. Tab commands: In the current version, there are no fixed tab positions. Instead, tab positions are automatically set to the beginning (for the tab right command, or the end for the tab left command) of each blank delimited group of characters on the line immediately above the cursor. If there is not a line immediately above the cursor or the line immediately above the cursor is blank, then there will not be any tab positions for that line. TabRight Tabkey The TabRight command behaves differently depending on whether the editor is in Insert or OverWrite mode. In OverWrite mode, the cursor is moved to the next tab position as defined above. The characters over which the cursor moves are not affected. In Insert mode, the cursor is moved to the next tab position as defined above. The text to the right of and including the cursor, is shifted the number of characters the cursor is moved. TabLeft shift Tab The TabLeft command behaves differently depending on whether the editor is in Insert or OverWrite mode. In OverWrite mode, the cursor is moved to the previous tab position as defined above. The characters over which the cursor moves are not affected. In Insert mode, the cursor is moved to the previous tab position as defined above. The text of the line is shifted left the number of characters that the cursor is moved. Scroll (Move Screen) Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) BottomOffile ^PgDn Positions the cursor on the first character of the last line of the file, which is made the new last line of the screen. HalfPgDn F8 Scrolls the screen toward the end of the file one half page. HalfPgUp F7 Scrolls the screen toward the top of the file one half page. JumpToLine ^J The jump command allows the user to 'jump' to the indicated line number. The user is queried for the line number to jump to. The requested line becomes the new Top Of Screen line. The command can be aborted by pressing the return key without entering a line number. LastPlace ^P Not Implemented in this version. MakeTopOfScreen F5 Scrolls the screen so that the CursorLine becomes the new top of screen line. PgUp PgUp Scrolls the screen toward the top of the file one page minus one. PgDn PgDn Scrolls the screen toward the end of the file one page minus one. ScrollDown ^Z Scrolls down toward the end of the file, one line at a time (the entire screen scrolls up). The cursor remains on the same text line until it reaches the top of the screen. ScrollUp ^W Scrolls up toward the beginning of the file, one line at a time (the entire screen scrolls down). The cursor remains on the same text line until it reaches the next to last line on the screen. TopOfFile ^PgUp Positions the cursor on the first character of the first line of the file, which is made the new top of screen line. Delete and Insert Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) AddLine F2 A new line, with the current mask value, is added after the CursorLine and becomes the new CursorLine. The default mask value is blank. Align ^A Aligns the text of CursorLine with the text of the line immediately before the CursorLine. The cursor is not moved. If the CursorLine is line one, or the line immediately before is blank, or the CursorLine is blank, then this command does nothing. BackSpace BackSpace key DeleteChar Del Deletes the character the cursor is currently at the cursor. Text to the right of the cursor shifts left one position. Deletes the character to the left of the cursor. If the cursor is in column one, then this command has no affect. DeleteLine ^Y, Alt-D Deletes the CursorLine, making the line after the CursorLine become the new CursorLine. If the CursorLine is the last line of the file when this command is issued, then the line before the CursorLine becomes the new CursorLine. DeleteRightWord ^T Deletes the word to the right of the cursor. DeleteToEOL ^QY Deletes from the cursor position to the End of the line, including the character at the cursor. DupLine F4 The CursorLine is duplicated, with the duplicated line becoming the new CursorLine. Return Return key The return command behaves differently depending on whether the editor is in Insert or OverWrite mode. In OverWrite mode, the return command behaves as if you executed the following command: NewLine. In Insert mode, the return command behaves as if you executed the following commands: SplitLine, NewLine, Align. SplitLine ^N The CursorLine is split at the cursor position. All text following and including the cursor position is placed on a new line, immediately following the CursorLine. The cursor does not move. Find and Replace Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) Find ^QF The find command allows the user to find a simple string within the current file. The user is prompted for a search string and then for options wanted. Pressing just the return key in response to the search string will abort the command. Options available are: Forward search, Backward search, Respect case of search string, Ignore case of search string. The options in affect are shown in uppercase, while the options not in affect are shown in lowercase. [F,b, I,r] - to select an option just enter the appropriate letter. To search Backward and Respect the case of the search string, the user would enter: BR <CR> (NOTE that the default options never have to be entered as they default if not selected.) Replace ^QA The replace command allows the user to globally find and replace simple strings within the current file. The user is prompted for a search string, a replace string, and then for any search options. Pressing just the return key in response to the search string will abort the command. Options available are: Forward search, Backward search, Respect case of search string, Ignore case of search string. The options in affect are shown in uppercase, while the options not in affect are shown in lowercase. [F,b, R,i] - to select an option just enter the appropriate letter. To search and replace Forward, ignoring the case of the search string, the user would enter: FI <CR> (NOTE that the default options never have to be entered as they default if not selected.) RepeatLastFindOrRep ^L This command will re-execute the last Find or Replace command issued. The user is NOT prompted for any information, as the information used in the last find or replace is used. File Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) EditFile ^KE The EditFile command is used to edit multiple files in one session. This command prompts the user for a file to edit. Pressing return without entering a file specification will abort the command. If a valid file specification is entered, then that file will be read into memory and become the current file. The previous file that was being edited is not changed and is still available in memory - see the commands NextFile and PrevFile for information on switching files. See the NextFile and PrevFile commands for information on how to switch between files. Exit ^KD The Exit command can be used to quit the current file, returning control to the opening screen if the ring of files is empty, or making the previous file in the ring the new current file if the ring is not empty. If the file has been changed, the user is given the option of saving it before quitting, or of aborting the command. If the file has not been changed, then the file is purged from memory. FileidChange ^KF The FileidChange command allows the user to change the fileid of the current file. FileToMain not pre-installed The FileToMain command will write the current file to disk, and if there are no more files left in the ring, return control to the opening screen. If there are more files in the ring, then the previous one becomes the new current file. See the FileToSystem command. FileToSystem ^KX The FileToSystem command will write the current file to disk, and if there are no more files left in the ring, return control to the operating system. If there are more files in the ring, then the previous one becomes the new current file. See the FileToMain command. KillFile ^KZ This command will erase the current file from disk. The user is given the chance to abort the command before the file is erased. NextFile ^KN The NextFile command will make the next file in the ring become the new current file, with the previous current file becoming the previous file in the ring. See the PrevFile command. PQuitToMain ^KQ The PQuitToMain command will purge the current file from memory and, if the ring of files is empty, return to the opening screen. If the ring of files is not empty, then the previous file in the ring will become the new current file. If the file has been changed, the user is given the choice of continuing or aborting the command. PQuitToSystem F3 The PQuitToSystem command will purge the current file from memory and, if the ring of files is empty, return to the control to the operating system. If the ring of files is not empty, then the previous file in the ring will become the new current file. If the file has been changed, the user is given the choice of continuing or aborting the command. PrevFile ^KP The PrevFile command will make the previous file in the ring become the new current file, with the previous current file becoming the next file in the ring. See the NextFile command. QQuit not pre-installed The QQuit command does an unconditional immediate quit on the current file. The file is abandoned without any warning, regardless of any changes that may have been made to it. Use it with care. ReadFile ^KR The ReadFile command can be used to insert an external disk file into the current file being edited. The external file is inserted into the current file after the CursorLine, and the inserted file becomes 'marked', as if it had been marked with the MarkLine command. The user is prompted for the name of the file to insert. SaveFile ^KS The SaveFile command will write to disk the current file being edited, replacing the previous file on disk, if it already exists. The file remains in memory, ready for additional editing. WriteBlock ^KW See the description of the WriteBlock command in the section titled 'Block Commands:'. Block Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) CopyBlock Alt-C The CopyBlock command will copy a marked block to the position after the CursorLine. The original block is left unchanged. If there is not a marked block, then this command has no affect. GroupDelete Alt-G The GroupDelete command will delete a marked block. If there is not a marked block, then this command has no affect. MarkLine Alt-L Use the MarkLine to mark a line for use by other block commands. The area 'marked' by the MarkLine command is shown in reverse video. MoveBlock Alt-M The MoveBlock command will move a marked block to the position after the CursorLine. The original block is deleted. This command is equivalent to issuing a CopyBlock command, then remarking the original block and then issuing a GroupDelete command. If there is not a marked block, then this command has no affect. UnMarkBlock Alt-U Use this command to 'unmark' a marked block. If there is not a marked block, then this command has no affect. WriteBlock ^KW The WriteBlock command will write the marked block in the current file to disk. The user is prompted for a file specification. If the file already exists, then confirmation is required to replace it. Scratch Buffer Commands: The editor can create up to 36 scratch pad buffers. Each buffer is given a one character name, of your choosing. The name has to be in 'a'..'z' (case is does not matter) or '0'..'9'. Currently supported functions using the buffers are: 1) storing text to a buffer 2) retrieving text from a buffer 3) deleting a buffer COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) LoadScrBuff ^BL This command will insert the contents of the named buffer after the CursorLine. The scratch buffer is left unchanged. The user is prompted for the name of the buffer to load from. StoreScrBuff ^BS This command will store the marked block to a named buffer. The user is prompted for the buffer name to store to. If the buffer does not exist it is created. If the buffer exists, then its current contents are lost. ZapScrBuff ^BZ This command will 'zap' (delete) the named scratch buffer. The user is prompted for the buffer name. Miscellaneous Commands: COMMAND DEFAULT KEY(S) UnDoCursorLine ^QL This command will let you 'undo' changes made to the CursorLine as long as the cursor does not move to a new CursorLine. ToggleIns Ins This command toggles between Insert and OverWrite modes. Initially set to OverWrite mode. ToggleTabsExpand ^QT This command toggles between Dynamic tab expansion or no tab expansion. Initially set to no tab expansion. Appendix A) Glossary of Special Terms Terms used: ^ When used in reference to the keyboard, means the Ctrl key. For example, ^X means the Ctrl X key. To execute a command labeled ^X, you would first press the Ctrl key, then, without releasing it press the X key. (the CASE of the character is ignored in Ctrl key commands, so that ^X and ^x are both interpreted as ^X. Sometimes a command is referred to as: ^KD. This means that this particular command requires you to first press the Ctrl key, then without releasing it press the K key then the D key. Note that the Ctrl key can optionally be released before pressing the second key. <CR> Is interpreted as the Return key. If this occurs in a text string, then it means to press the Return Key. Alt- When used in reference to the keyboard, means the Alt key. For example, Alt-L means the Alt L key. To execute a command labeled Alt-L, you would first press the Alt key, then, without releasing it press the L key. (the CASE of the character is ignored in Alt key commands, so that Alt-L and Alt-l are both interpreted as Alt-L. Current File Refers to the file currently being edited. The editor allows multiple files in memory at the same time, and there are commands to switch back and forth between them. CursorLine The line of the current file being edited where the cursor resides. EndOfLine The position immediately following the last non blank character on a line. If the line is blank, then EndOfLine is column one. F1,F2..F10 Refers to the ten function keys. FirstOfLine Column one. Insert One of the available editing modes of the editor. When in Insert mode, existing text to the right of the cursor moves to the right when you enter new text. Modes Settings that generally affect the editors method of operations and particularly affect many editor commands. The two currently supported modes are: Insert and OverWrite. OverWrite is the default. The mode can be toggled (changed) by pressing the Ins key or ^V. OverWrite One of the available editing modes of the editor. When in OverWrite mode, all characters typed 'overlay' any information or text already appearing in the file. OverWrite mode is very similar to typing on a conventional typewriter. TopOfScreen The top line of the screen in the current window, not including the STATUS line, if it is displayed. Word A sequence of one or more characters composed of: 0..9, A..Z, a..z and _. Anything else is considered a delimiter. Appendix B) Configuration QEDITS commands and screen attributes can be configured. This is accomplished with the supplied configuration program, QCONFG. The requirements for running QCONFG are the same as for QEDIT, plus: 1) The QCONFG program needs to be run from the same directory in which QEDIT resides. This must also be the default drive and directory when QCONFG is run. The name of the QEDIT program must be Q.COM. 2) If the keyboard is going to be reconfigured, then the keyboard definition file to be used must also be in the same directory as QCONFG and QEDIT. NOTE that QCONFG and/or the keyboard configuration files are NOT needed to operate QEDIT, only to configure QEDIT. Once configuration is complete, these files can be removed from online storage. NOTE that QCONFG calls the new version of the QEDIT program Q2.COM. This way, if you do not like your changes, you can just erase Q2.COM. If you are satisfied with your changes, then you can erase Q.COM and rename Q2.COM to Q.COM. There are two parts to QEDITS configuration: 1) QEDIT allows you to reconfigure the keyboard command format more to your individual tastes. If you don't like the way QEDIT is supplied, you are free and encouraged to reconfigure it more to your liking. This is done by supplying the configuration program, QCONFG, with the name of a keyboard definition file. QCONFG will process this file and change QEDIT accordingly. Three keyboard definition files are supplied. The first one, QKEY.DEF, is the default configuration file for QEDIT. If you change the configuration and decide you want to go back to the original, then just run QCONFG and specify QKEY.DEF as the keyboard definition file and QEDIT will be reconfigured to the default configuration. The second, WSKEY.DEF, is a keyboard definition file that configures QEDIT to appear similar to the TURBO PASCAL editor or WordStar in non document mode. The third, MYKEY.DEF, is a keyboard definition file that you can change to configure QEDIT the way you think is best. Setting up MYKEY.DEF is fairly simple (At least we hope so! Let us know if you have problems or if you have suggestions about making QCONFG easier to use.) The format of a keyboard definition file is: Key command where -key is the key to be defined. -command is the command to be executed when that key is pressed. Blank lines and lines starting with an asterisk are ignored. NOTE that ALL keys that you want defined MUST be in your keyboard definition file. The QCONFG program initializes the keyboard command translation table to undefined for ALL keys, and only defines those keys that are in your keyboard definition file. MYKEY.DEF contains a list of all the keys that may be used as command keys by QEDIT. To define a key to issue a particular command, just place the desired command to the right of the desired key. If you wish to 'un' define a key, then just leave the command part blank. This is the way MYKEY.DEF comes, so that all command keys are undefined. For an example, suppose that you wanted to define the F6 key to be the delete line command, and you wanted the F3 key to be undefined. A simple way to do this would be to: ( *** DENOTE COMMENTS ) 1) Q QKEY.DEF *** Edit QKEY.DEF 2) *** Find the F3 key definition. 3) *** Delete everything to the right of F3. 4) *** Find the F6 key definition. 5) *** Replace or enter anew the command definition, DeleteLine. 6) *** Change the file name to MYKEY1.DEF (or whatever you want to call it) This can be done with the ^KF command. 7) *** Issue the file command, ^KX. Now, to install your configuration, run QCONFG, when asked for the keyboard definition file give the name of the file you created, save the program, and you've reconfigured QEDIT! You can also install two key commands. To do this, you must give the lead in key of your two key sequence the command, TwoKey. On the next line, you must put the number of two key commands defined for this particular lead in key. Then, on following lines you put the keys and commands in the normal way. For examples, see the QKEY.DEF keyboard definition file. 2) Reconfiguring the screen attributes. QCONFG also allows you to change the default attributes for selected portions of the display screen. These are: -the Status Line - this is the top line of QEDITS display where the filename, line number, column, and available memory are displayed. -the Text area - the is the part of the file that you see on the screen. -the Message line - this is the top line of QEDITS display, shared with the Status Line. -Blocked Text - this is text that has been marked with the MarkLine command. -the CursorLine - this is the line that the cursor resides on. QCONFG will show you what the different attributes will look like on your display, by number. Then QCONFG will show you the current values and let you change them if you would like. When you have set the selectable portions of QEDITS screen, you can instruct QCONFG to save these values by responding 'Y' to the 'save these values' prompt. Appendix C) Program Limits QEDIT works ONLY with TRUE ASCII text files. ASCII text files are produced by most editors (for example, the TURBO PASCAL editor). An ASCII text file will end each line in a Carriage Return and Line Feed characters (hex 0D and 0A, respectively). The end of the file is marked by a hex 1A. Maximum line length - 255 characters INCLUDING the CR and LF characters. Minimum RAM memory required................................128K Maximum RAM used...........................................640K Maximum file size - Limited to available memory. Maximum number of files edited in 'multi-file' mode - 255 or available memory - which ever comes first. Minimum Disk Drives required...............................1 Minimum Disk Space required................................36K FileSpecs can include PATH specifications, for a maximum of 64 characters. Appendix D) Command Summaries Alphabetical list of commands ------------------ QEDIT default ------------- WordStar (R) ------------- AddLine F2 --- Align ^A --- BackSpace BackSpace key ^H BottomOffile ^PgDn ^QC BottomOfScreen ^End ^QX CopyBlock Alt-C ^KC CursorDown down arrow key ^X CursorLeft left arrow key ^S CursorRight right arrow key ^D CursorUp up arrow key ^E DeleteChar Del key ^G DeleteLine ^Y ^Y DeleteRightWord ^T ^T DeleteToEOL ^QY ^QY DupLine F4 --- EditFile ^KE --- EndOfLine End key ^QD Exit ^KD --- FileidChange ^KF --- FileToMain --- ^KD FileToSystem ^KX ^KX Find ^QF ^QF FirstOfLine Home key ^QS GroupDelete Alt-G ^KY HalfPgDn --- --- HalfPgUp --- --- JumpToLine ^J --- KillFile ^KZ --- LastPlace ^P ^QP LoadScrBuff ^BL --- MakeTopOfScreen F5 --- MarkLine Alt-L ^KB, ^KK MoveBlock Alt-M ^KV NewLine --- --- NextFile ^KN --- PgDn PgDn key ^C PgUp PgUp key ^R PQuitToMain ^KQ ^KQ PQuitToSystem F3 --- PrevFile ^KP --- QQuit --- --- ReadFile ^KR ^KR RepeatLastFindOrRep ^L ^L Replace ^QA ^QA Return return key --- SaveFile ^KS ^KS ScrollDown ^Z ^Z ScrollUp ^W ^W SplitLine ^N ^N StoreScrBuff ^BS --- TabLeft shift tab key --- TabRight tab key ^I ToggleTabsExpand ^QT --- ToggleIns Ins key ^V TopOfFile ^PgUp ^QR TopOfScreen ^Home ^QE UnDoCursorLine ^QL --- UnMarkBlock Alt-U --- WordLeft ^left arrow ^A WordRight ^right arrow ^F WriteBlock ^KW ^KW ZapScrBuff ^BZ --- Commands by key ----- Function key commands ------------------------ AddLine F2 PQuitToSystem F3 DupLine F4 MakeTopOfScreen F5 ----- Ctrl Key commands ---------------------------- Align ^A LoadScrBuff ^BL StoreScrBuff ^BS ZapScrBuff ^BZ JumpToLine ^J Exit ^KD EditFile ^KE FileidChange ^KF NextFile ^KN PrevFile ^KP PQuitToMain ^KQ ReadFile ^KR SaveFile ^KS WriteBlock ^KW FileToSystem ^KX KillFile ^KZ RepeatLastFindOrRep ^L SplitLine ^N LastPlace ^P Replace ^QA Find ^QF ToggleTabsExpand ^QT UnDoCursorLine ^QL DeleteToEOL ^QY DeleteRightWord ^T ScrollUp ^W DeleteLine ^Y ScrollDown ^Z BottomOfScreen ^End TopOfScreen ^Home WordLeft ^left arrow TopOfFile ^PgUp BottomOffile ^PgDn WordRight ^right arrow ----- Alt Key commands ---------------------------- CopyBlock Alt-C GroupDelete Alt-G MarkLine Alt-L MoveBlock Alt-M UnMarkBlock Alt-U ----- Dedicated key commands ----------------------- BackSpace BackSpace key DeleteChar Del key CursorDown down arrow key EndOfLine End key FirstOfLine Home key ToggleIns Ins key CursorLeft left arrow key PgDn PgDn key PgUp PgUp key Return return key CursorRight right arrow key TabLeft shift tab key TabRight tab key CursorUp up arrow key Appendix E) Some Frequently Asked Questions 1. "Will it help if I buy more RAM memory for my PC?". ANSWER: Yes. QEDIT uses ALL available memory up to a maximum of 640K. The size of and number of files that you can edit with QEDIT is directly determined by the amount of available memory present. 2. "In what language was QEDIT written?". ANSWER: It was originally written entirely in TURBO PASCAL. This version contains about 3100 lines of TURBO PASCAL and 500 lines of Assembler. We are looking into rewriting QEDIT in Assembler or 'C' or both. We would actually like to rewrite QEDIT in MODULA II, but we have not found a satisfactory implementation (the ones that we've seen produce far too bulky modules for our tastes) and Borland has not released their version yet. 3. "Can I obtain the source code for the program?". ANSWER: Yes. Write for details. 4. "What is your update policy?". ANSWER: We will try to notify all contributing users of new updates. We will usually ask for a minimum amount for the update (about $10). Non-contributing users will not be able to purchase the update. They will have to obtain a copy from a friend. 5. "How do I get files with tabs to display with the tabs expanded?" ANSWER: Use the ToggleTabsExpand command. (^QT) Appendix F) Permission to Copy Clubs and other non-profit organizations are granted permission by the author to freely copy these programs and documentation and share it with their members, so long as: 1. No price is charged for the software or documentation. However, a distribution cost may be charged for the cost of the diskette, so long as it is not more than $12 total. 2. Club members are informed of the user-supported concept and encouraged to support it with their donations. 3. The program or documentation are not modified in any way and are distributed together. Appendix G) The User-Supported Concept User-Supported Software If you are using this program and find it to be of value your contribution will be appreciated. ($20 is suggested) SemWare 136 Mark Lane Smyrna GA 30080 Regardless of whether you make a contribution, you are encouraged to copy and share this program. User-supported software is an experiment in distributing computer programs, based on these beliefs: 1. That the value and utility of software is best assessed by the user on his/her own system. Only after using a program can one really determine whether it serves personal applications, needs, and tastes. 2. That the creation of personal computer software can and should be supported by the computing community. 3. That copying of programs should be encouraged, rather than restricted. The ease with which software can be distributed outside traditional commercial channels reflects the strength of electronic information. Anyone may request a copy of a user-supported program by sending a blank, formatted disk to the author of the program. An addressed, postage-paid return mailer must accompany the disk (no exceptions, please). A copy of the program, with documentation on the disk, will be sent by return mail. The program will carry a notice suggesting a contribution to the program's author. Making a contribution is completely voluntary on the part of each user. Free distribution of software and voluntary payment for its use eliminates costs for advertising and copy protection schemes. Users obtain quality software at reduced cost. They can try it out before buying, and do so at their own pace and in the comfort of their own home or office. The best programs will survive, based purely on their quality and usefulness. Please join the experiment. If you believe in these ideals, your contribution is solicited to help make them work. Appendix H) Invoice The following invoice is provided for those of you who wish an invoice for your tax records. -------------------- INVOICE -------------------- Purchased from: SemWare 136 Mark Lane Smyrna, GA 30080 DATE: / / Invoice No. 851119 -------------------------------------------------------------- PRICE PRICE PRODUCT QTY EACH EXTENDED ------------------------- --- ----- -------- "QEDIT" editor program and documentation 1 $20 $20 SALES TAX 0 -------------------------------------- PLEASE PAY THIS AMOUNT $20 TOTAL -------------------------------------------------------------- Please make check payable to :SemWare You may retain this Invoice for your tax records. Appendix I) Reader Comment Form SemWare 136 Mark Lane Smyrna GA 30080 Product Comment Form QEDIT Your comments assist us in improving our products. We will do our best to satisfy our users. Comments: