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_______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER ╒═════════════════════╕ │ The DemoMaker v1.55 │ ╘═════════════════════╛ Copyright (C)1993,1994 R.Janorkar Release date 04/02/94 Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The DemoMaker is a software tool that creates presentation demos of any DOS based (text mode) software. It allows software authors to create live color demonstrations of their products that show all the capabilities of their programs, in the form of compact self executing presentations. BBS Sysops can use The DemoMaker to create slide shows of their systems to graphically demonstrate all the features their BBS has to offer. The DemoMaker is a powerful and easy to use tool! Disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~ The DemoMaker is provided with NO warranties, expressed or implied. Use it at your own risk. The author of this software will NOT be liable for any damages, direct or indirect, arising from the ability or disability to use this software package. The use of this program on your computer system indicates your acceptance of these disclaimers. Registration ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 USA, FAX 616-788-2765 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536" The DemoMaker has been released as fully functional shareware. All features are available in the unregistered version to allow you to evaluate all facets of the program completely. The self executable presentations created will, however, display an unregistered message; and a registration reminder screen will appear when The DemoMaker is started. The DemoMaker has been released through First Prince Marketing. To register this software, please mail the enclosed ORDER.FRM along with a registration fee of US $20.00 (US funds only) to: First Prince C.C. Marketing DemoMaker Registration 22 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012 Orders & support (212) 334-1243 FAX (212) 334-1245 Mon-Fri 9-5 (New York State residents must add 8.25% Sales Tax = $21.65) You will receive a registration number that will eliminate the reminder screen, and remove the unregistered message from the presentation programs created with DemoMaker. The registration number will be valid for all future releases of The DemoMaker! The author monitors several electronic echo mail networks for product support such as RIME, Intelec, ILink, FIDONet, WildNet and CatNET (Shareware Conferences). Voice support is also available via the numbers given above. Concepts ~~~~~~~~ The DemoMaker swaps itself out of active memory to allow you to execute the program that you wish to make a demonstration of. Even though the DemoMaker is not active, it is still resident (called Terminate and Stay Resident). As you execute your application, you call the DemoMaker by pressing a Hot key combination. The DemoMaker suspends the application that is running, swaps itself back into memory, and captures the displayed screen image. It then allows you to enter text into a configurable dialog window. You may type in your text and position the dialog box at this time, or edit and reposition the dialog box later. The DemoMaker then swaps itself out of active memory, and restores your application at the exact point where it was interrupted. You can repeat this cycle indefinitely, The DemoMaker keeps track of all your screen captures. Once you have completed capturing all the screens that you require; terminate your application and return to the DOS prompt, then summon The DemoMaker again with the Hot key combination. You can now edit the text and dialog windows, and delete or rearrange the screen captures that you have made. If need be, you can restart your application and add more screen captures at a later time. After you are satisfied with the appearance of all the screens, The DemoMaker will create a self executing demo program that you can distribute freely! The sample presentation program SAMPLE.EXE shows exactly how The DemoMaker can be utilized! Simply run this program to watch the slide show. Using The DemoMaker ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You must run The DemoMaker from the DOS command line ONLY. It is important that you do NOT use any DOS Shell or Menu program such as Windows to load this program! The DemoMaker requires all available memory, and will use EMS/XMS if it is found. No command line arguments are required. The DemoMaker can ONLY work with text mode programs. A batch file called RUN.BAT is included in the archive, it first SETs an environmental variable for The DemoMaker and then executes the program. It is recommended that this batch file be used to start The DemoMaker. Simply type RUN on the DOS command line and the program will be executed. You will see a menu in the center of your display. There are five options in the menu, but the first three options will be shaded out and unavailable until later. The menu options are: View/Edit Demo screens Kill screens & restart Write presentation EXE Execute an application Unload and Quit to DOS View/Edit Demo screens - This option only comes active if you have used The DemoMaker before and have at least one screen saved. A detailed description follows. Kill screens & restart - This option only comes active if you have used The DemoMaker before and have at least one screen saved. It deletes all saved screen information, and starts afresh. Write presentation - This option only comes active if you have used The DemoMaker before and have at least one screen saved. It creates an EXEcutable presentation program using the screens that you have saved. The saved screens are retained, allowing you to make changes if necessary and recreate the EXEcutable presentation at a later time. Execute application - This option causes The DemoMaker to Terminate and Stay Resident in system memory. It will return you to the DOS prompt to execute the application that you wish to make the demo of. A detailed description follows. Unload and Quit to DOS - This option unloads The DemoMaker from memory completely, and returns control to DOS. Always exit the program before shutting the power off on your computer system to ensure that all datafiles are updated and closed properly. Making our first demo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Change to the directory in which The DemoMaker has been installed. Start The DemoMaker from the DOS command line, by using the RUN batch file included. When the menu appears, select the option to Execute your application. Use the Up and the Down arrow keys to navigate the menu; or press the first letter for your choice and select with the Enter key. The DemoMaker will swap itself out of active memory, remaining resident and return you to the DOS prompt with a message: "Ready to create a demo of your application." "Execute your application program now, and press the" "Left-Shift and Right-Shift keys simultaneously to activate The DemoMaker." You may now execute your application program. To capture a screen and save it, simply press the Hot keys Left-Shift and Right-Shift simultaneously. Your application will be suspended, and DemoMaker will swap itself back and take control. You will see a dialog box superimposed over the original screen, with a list of available commands on the bottom of the display: "F10 save, Esc cancel, Ctl resize, Ctl move, Ctl +- colors" You can now type your information about the screen displayed in the dialog box. The Control + arrow keys change the size of the dialog box, any text that exists is reformatted to fit in the provided space. You have a limit of 512 characters in the text, any more will be ignored. If your text occupies more lines than are visible, the hidden text will remain hidden, you must resize the dialog box to best fit your text. The number that appears in the upper left corner of the dialog box is the current screen number, this controls the order in which the screens will appear in your final presentation and can be changed with the View/Edit option. The Control + PageUp, PageDown, Insert and Delete keys move the entire dialog box around the screen. Control + PageUp moves the box up, Control + PageDown moves the box down, Control + Insert moves the box left and Control + Delete moves the box right. You can only move the dialog box within the confines of the display dimensions. If you leave the dialog box empty with no text, The DemoMaker will not add a dialog box in the screen when the presentation program is created. This is useful if you wish to display a full screen image. The empty dialog box will remain visible when you View/Edit the screen, to allow you to add text at a later time. You can change the colors of the dialog box and text by pressing the Control + [PLUS] key for the text color, and the Control + [MINUS] key for the background color. Once you have entered your text and positioned the dialog box, save the screen information by pressing the F10 key. To discard the screen press the Escape key. You may edit the text and change the colors or position of the dialog box at a later time by using the View/Edit option. After you save (or discard) the screen, The DemoMaker will swap itself out of memory again, and restore your application to the exact state it was before the interruption. You may now continue to use your application and create more screens using the same process explained above. It may take The DemoMaker a few seconds to swap itself in and out of active memory. If any EMS memory is available, it will be used for faster swapping. Do NOT load any other TSR programs after The DemoMaker is resident! Once you have a collection of screens saved, you can shut down your application and return to the DOS prompt. Now press the Left-Shift and the Right-Shift Hot keys simultaneously. The DemoMaker knows when it is summoned over a DOS prompt, and will offer its menu. Select the View/Edit option. You will see the first screen that you have saved, along with the dialog box and your text. You can now edit the text, or resize, or move, or change the colors of the dialog box. The F10 key saves changes and goes to the next saved screen. If you were at the last screen this will return you to the menu. The Control + BackSpace key takes you to the previous screen. If any changes were made, they will be lost, you MUST save all changes by pressing the F10 key. Pressing the Escape key takes you to the next saved screen. If any changes were made, they will be lost, you must save all changes by pressing the F10 key. If you were at the last screen this will return you to the menu. The Control + J key jumps to a specified screen number. You will be prompted to enter which screen number to jump to. The Control + K key kills the current screen. When a screen is deleted a flashing DEL message is seen in the lower left corner of the dialog box. Pressing Control + K at a deleted screen will revive the screen, making it active again. Deleted screens are ignored when the final presentation is prepared, but they are visible during editing to allow resurrection. The Control-O key changes the order in which the screens will appear in the final presentation. You will be prompted to enter the new order number to assign the screen. If two screens are assigned the same order number, the screen that was created first will appear before the other. The Control + Q key will return you to the menu immediately. Once you are satisfied with the appearance and order of all the active screens, select the "Write Presentation EXE" option. You will be prompted to enter a filename for the executable program. The default presentation filename is DEMO.EXE, simply press Enter to accept the default name. A file extension of .EXE is assumed if one is not entered. The DemoMaker will now create the presentation EXEcutable program, displaying each screen as it progresses, in the order that you have specified. Deleted screens are not included in the final presentation, and any screens with empty dialog boxes will NOT have a box included in the image. After a few seconds of disk activity, The DemoMaker will display the message: "Presentation file created! Press any key ..." Pressing any key will return you to the menu. You may now Unload and Quit to DOS to view the presentation program that you have created. Once the final presentation program has been completed, you can select the Kill screens & restart option, allowing you to create a new demo for another application. The DemoMaker can also accept an alternate data file name as a command line parameter, which it will load/create instead of the default DISPLAY.DMK file. For example, to retain an existing screen set and create a new data file, call the RUN batch file with the new file name as a command line parameter: RUN SOMEFILE A file extension of .DMK is assumed if one is not entered. If the specified data file does not exist, a new date file will be created. You can use several different data files by using this method, but The DemoMaker must be Unloaded and restarted with the new data file name on the command line. The DemoMaker creates some temporary files while it is running and even while it is memory resident, do NOT delete any of these files! If you attempt to run The DemoMaker while it is already in memory (and suspended), it will remind you that it is already active and will not load itself again. If any errors occur, it will attempt to unload itself from memory and terminate with an error message. Known incompatibilities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The EXEcutable presentation programs created by The DemoMaker may not display on some ancient XT machines (pre-1986) and some ancient IBM AT machines (pre-1986). Since the main impact of the presentations is in full color, their appearance on monochrome systems is unpredictable. The DemoMaker program is a large TSR program, and requires all available conventional, EMS, and XMS memory. It is recommended that no exotic TSRs or device drivers be used to prevent memory conflicts. Do NOT run The DemoMaker under DesqView! The two programs do not get along very well, this problem is being worked on and hopefully will be resolved in a future release. The DemoMaker will NOT work with graphics screens! Only text video modes are supported. Several graphic cards (notably VGA cards) will cause the cursor to appear abnormal while The DemoMaker is being used. The RUN.BAT file that is provided uses an environmental variable called DEMOSET with two possible options, BADCURS to prevent the cursor madness; and E0 to restrict EMS memory usage by The DemoMaker. It is recommended that this RUN.BAT file is used to start The DemoMaker, since it will set the DEMOSET variable automatically each time. The DemoMaker uses EMS memory, XMS memory, or if neither are found, disk space to swap. EMS and XMS memory swapping is much faster than disk swapping. DOS 6 users MUST use the RUN.BATch file to execute The DemoMaker. The SET DEMOSET=E0 switch is critical under DOS 6 to prevent random crashes and lockups! Do not use any TSR programs that remap the keyboard, especially the DOSKEY utility! Where? ~~~~~~ Updates to The DemoMaker can be found at the following Official Distribution Sites arranged by area code: 201-399-4772 201-839-5401 203-834-0490 208-664-2983 212-685-8309 212-737-6192 212-749-3268 212-876-5885 214-235-5288 214-306-8269 214-613-6900 214-964-8726 215-540-0141 215-698-7677 216-992-6930 218-829-6340 301-645-1049 302-529-1650 304-572-2531 305-346-8524 310-676-3534 313-664-0437 315-393-6504 316-788-9913 318-443-1065 401-732-0258 404-921-1186 404-941-0746 408-578-7954 410-643-1479 410-758-4023 410-820-6734 410-827-6725 419-636-8737 502-276-9675 502-762-6963 503-656-9790 503-659-4603 504-347-8152 508-368-7139 508-927-3757 509-926-1686 516-579-7507 518-563-7698 601-735-3201 604-724-6280 606-297-2820 609-435-1663 610-929-2229 612-753-1943 616-456-1845 617-354-3230 619-773-5572 703-898-7205 704-342-2333 706-694-3295 708-731-1017 713-726-0441 714-879-4052 715-345-1327 718-628-6661 718-716-6198 718-793-8548 718-893-2318 718-983-9152 800-542-5921 801-393-0531 801-943-4616 803-592-5208 804-583-0503 805-258-0413 805-272-9792 805-736-7066 805-964-4414 813-960-5169 813-983-1776 814-362-6546 814-825-7905 817-589-1517 818-792-4752 903-465-4022 904-472-5714 908-329-3216 909-860-3728 909-862-5319 910-627-5190 914-964-0419 916-546-2095 918-446-8441 918-534-3759 Thanks go to the ßeta testers: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ron 'Q' Kulick, Harris 'Speedy' Lam, David 'The Man' Kaufman, Rick 'Trekky' Alvey, Tom 'Smurf' Murphy, Rick 'Mega' Burwell, Joe 'Wave' Eversole, Dane 'BABBLE' Beko, Joe '100' Sitko, Mufutau 'Field Marshal' Towobola, Karen '4C' Davis, Vern 'Earnest' Hall, Richard 'Robo' Hsiung, Edwin 'Multi' Million, Joe 'Rock' Johnson, Bob 'Utopia' Glasser for making his Fido site available, and Marcus 'Modem' Byron for his invaluable help.