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-
-
- Alternative Personal Pascal Manger
-
- Jinfu Chen
- Jan. 1987
-
- 1. What is it for
-
- PASCALM is an alternative manager program for OSS Personal Pascal. It
- combines the useful features in both Personal Pascal v1.x and v2.0 and has some
- more useful features.
-
- Refer to Personal Pascal manual page 2-1(version 2) or page 1-1(version
- 1) for further details about manager program.
-
-
-
- 2. Installation
-
- Copy PASCALM.PRG and PASCALM.RSC to a disk. The file PASCALM.PRG can be
- renamed to whatever name you like, for example, PASCAL.PRG. However, do not
- change the name of PASCALM.RSC to anything else except this name.
-
-
-
- 3. Using the Manager
-
- Double click PASCALM.PRG from DESKTOP, a title box will appear for
- short time and zooming out by itself. The menu has four entries:
-
- Desk File Options Specials
-
- Each entry has more options to be choosed from, see following sections.
-
-
-
- 4. Desk menu
-
- This menu has one entry for the program, Pascal Manager, which is a
- title box shows version, author name, and copyright notice. Other entries may
- exist depending on wether you have any desktop accessory installed.
-
-
-
- 5. File menu
-
- This menu has five entries, same as in Personal Pascal. The only excep-
- tion is when a TTP (TOS Take Paramter) type program is run, a dialog box will
- appear to allow you enter command. Such as running ARC.TTP, one can enter:
-
- vh foo.arc
-
- to view file information in foo.arc.
-
-
-
- 6. Options menu
-
- This menu has four entries:
-
- Compiler Options...
- Linker Options...
- Locate Program...
- Save Options...
-
- 6.1 Compiler Options
-
- In the Compiler Options, a box similar to the one in Personal Pascal
- version 1.x will appear. Most of them are explained in Personal Pascal manual
- (page 2-4 in V2.0, page 3-4). Two options need to be explained here.
-
- No Object Code:
-
- When this option is on, no object file (.O file) is generated. This is
- handy for debugging when compiling a program which may contain errors. This is
- equivalent to the /NOCODE switch in command line (see Personal Pascal version 2
- manual page 8-22).
-
- Note that when this option is on, the 'Chain to linker' option can not
- be selected. You will need to toggle off the 'No object code' option before
- selecting the 'Chain to linker' option.
-
- Auto backup:
-
- When this option is on, the manager will copy the source file to a path
- being defined by the 'Backup Path' box, after the source file being compiled
- successfully.
-
- This is very usefull if you are using a RAM disk or hard drive to
- program. In such environment, very often programmers rush to run a program
- after it is compiled to see if it works, before saving the source file to
- a permanent disk or other pertition of the hard drive. If the program crashes,
- chances are you will lose the source file, even with some 'reset-proof' RAM
- disk. In case of hard drive, if your program trys to write to the disk and mess
- up the pertition you are working on it, you will not able to recover the file
- also.
- The auto backup path has to be in standard TOS path. For example, these
- are legal TOS path:
-
- A:\, A:\SOURCE\, D:\PASCAL\SRC\ARCHIVE\
-
- For users who still using Personal Pascal version 1.x, the temporary
- path is not available in this program. However, since you can place all the
- overlay programs and libraries in different place, this can be overcome. See
- Section 6.3 for information.
-
- 6.2 Linker Options
-
- This is very similar to Personal Pascal's, except you can choose the
- type of program to be generated. You can choose from GEM, ACC, TOS, or TTP.
- Note that the default type is related to the one in Compiler Options so if you
- already select GEM in Compiler Options, you do not need to select the one in
- Linker Options, and vise versa.
-
- Note that the ACC option in both compiler and linker does not work
- under the current version of Personal Pascal compiler (2.00). Consult with OSS
- for further information.
-
- 6.3 Locate Programs
-
- This is exactly the same as the one in Personal Pascal version 2. You
- can tell the manager where is your editor overlay program, or the compiler,
- linker, as well as the PASLIB, GEMLIB libraries. This allows you to place files
- more flexible and use your favor editor. Caustion should be made if you are
- using TOS or TTP type of editor, you will need to name the program extension
- properly so that the manager will handle the cursor correctly. For example, the
- editor program in Personal Pascal version 1.x is actually a TTP program. It has
- to be renamed to EDITOR.TTP and use the 'Locate Programs' option to locate it,
- otherwise, a cursor will remain on the screen. GEM type editor can be used as
- well, such as 1st Word, or the GEM editor comes with Personal Pascal version 2.
-
- It is recommented use 'Locate Programs' option to find all the files
- when first time using the manager and save the options to the .INF file(see
- Section 6.4).
-
- 6.4 Save Options
-
- This option allows you save all the current configurations to a file
- called PASCALM.INF so that when next time the manager program is run, all the
- options will be restored. Note that this .INF file has different format from
- the PASCAL.INF generated by Personal Pascal Manager, do not just rename the
- file.
-
-
-
- 7. Specials menu
-
- This menu has quite a few entries related to disk operations. These
- include:
-
- Copy Files...
- Create Folder...
- Rename File...
- Disk Space...
- Print Listing...
- Delete File...
- Delete Folder...
-
- 7.1 Copy Files
-
- This allows copy file from one disk/folder to anther disk/folder, or
- just duplicate the file with different name. A message box will appear on top
- of the Item Selector to tell you what file you are selecting for. Error may
- occur if you try to copy the file to itself, or disk is write-protected, much
- as same as the DESKTOP.
-
- 7.2 Create Folder
-
- To be completed.
- Create a folder.
-
- 7.3 Rename File
-
- This allows you rename a filename to another. You can even move a file
- from one folder to anther by just renaming it, provided it is performed in the
- same drive. You can not rename a file from drive A to drive E, for example.
-
- 7.4 Disk Space
-
- This allows you check how much free space in a disk drive. A dialog box
- will appear first, asking for a disk drive id. Enter the id in UPPER case and
- click the OK button or just hit return key, the box will appear again with
- information of the disk you request. Error will occur if a non-existent drive
- id is enter.
-
- 7.5 Print Listing
-
- To be completed.
- This allows you to send a source file to printer. You can choose your
- favor printing program to add line numbers or format the file.
-
- 7.6 Delete File
-
- Remove a file from the disk. Use with caustion, once it is gone, it is
- gone for ever.
-
- 7.7 Delete Folder
-
- To be completed.
- Remove a folder from the disk if the folder is empty.
-
-
- 8. Conclusion
-
- The manager program has features to help programmers. New features can
- be added on request. Bug report and suggestions should be sent to:
-
-
- Jinfu Chen
- 445 S. Dobson Rd., #2022 (602)898-5338 (work)
- Mesa, AZ 85202 (602)834-7061 (home)
-
- CompuServe 72327,2434
- GEnie J.Chen
-