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Text File | 2019-04-13 | 15KB | 346 lines

 TEXT EDITOR

 Creating a document

 To start the text editor,use the *t command. Then, from the EDITOR menu,
 clear the text buffer by selecting 1 and pressing RETURN. You will be asked
 to confirm the command (just a safety precaution for those like myself who
 sometimes forget to save things before erasing them).

 Next, set up the margins and page length you want with selection 2. Default
 values are: left margin 5, right 75, lines per page, 55. The current value
 will be displayed under the cursor, giving you a chance to either modify the
 value or leave it intact (just pressing RETURN will use the current value).

 Now enter the edit mode with selection 3 (default menu selection). If you
 ever get a ?FORMAT ERROR message, it will probably be because the text buffer
 was not initialized before entering the edit mode for the first time, or the
 margins were set to illegal values (left > 77 or too close to right or right
 > 80).


 NOTE: You can return to the menu at any time by pressing the STOP key. Also,
 pressing CTRL H (while in edit mode) will return a help screen to assist
 those who don't like to memorize control and function keys.


 The screen will clear and (if you used the default margin values) you will
 see bars at the left and right sides of your screen. These are the margin
 markers, and at the bottom of the screen will be a status line. You will not
 be able to type into the margin markers, as they are there to help you format
 your text and let you know where your lines start and end. All screen lines
 will be combined in pairs as 80 column lines, which will leave you with 12
 lines on the screen at a time. You can identify which page, line and column
 the cursor is on by reading the status line at the bottom of the screen. The
 status line also lists a reminder for the help screen (should you need it).

 Type a line of text. At the end of the line, press RETURN to get to the next
 line, or just keep on typing. Words will not be broken at the right margin
 marker, because of the editor's automatic PARSING feature. If the last letter
 on a line is not a space, the editor will move the entire word to the next
 line for you. There are some safety features built into this routine, too. If
 there is text on the next line, parsing will not take place. This allows you
 to edit a previous line without accidentally dumping text on the next one.
 Also, parsing will not operate on words longer than 10 characters. That was
 done to allow the use of long strings of dashes for borders, etc. Parsing is
 there to allow you to type without having to watch the screen. Be wary of
 shifted spaces...the editor treats them as characters (not spaces), and they
 can cause unexpected results, especially if they are on the next line...the
 editor will not parse, thinking there is text there. This can be used to
 FORCE a word to stay on the previous line, should you want it to. An example
 of this is the word at the end of this line...                            end.
 @
 CURSOR KEYS

 Cursor right and left work as you would expect them to. Cursor up and down
 are a bit different. They move the cursor 2 screen lines at a time (which is
 really ONE 80 column line). The insert and delete keys will work as expected,
 but only on the current line. When holding the delete key down, the cursor
 will make it's way only as far as the left margin. If you want to delete part
 of the previous line, move the cursor there with a cursor left, and then
 continue deleting. The insert key will push all text from the cursor position
 on towards the right margin. Text pushed into the right margin cannot be
 recovered. The home key works normally, but screen clear is not supported.

 SCROLLING THE SCREEN AND THE@TEXT@BUFFER

 Attempting to move the cursor past the bottom of the screen will cause the
 screen to scroll forward. Reverse scrolling will happen at the top of the
 screen. When you move the cursor to the end of available memory, forward
 movement will stop. The same is true for reverse movement at the screen's top.
 @
 If you plan to create or load a big document, you should free up as much
 memory as possible by typing NEW in the command mode prior to entering the
 editor. Be sure to clear text memory too, or you may get a screenful of
 "garbage" or a ?FORMAT ERROR message when you attempt to enter the edit mode.
 481 lines are available with a big buffer like this (8 pages at 60 lines
 per).
                                                                       @
 THE@CTRL KEYS

 CTRL D will delete the current line and draw all forward lines in to close
 the gap. CTRL I will open up a blank line, pushing all lines forward from the
 current line on. Holding CTRL d or CTRL i will allow you to quickly delete or
 insert large portions of text. Even faster inserts and deletes are possible
 with the next set of keys (BLOCK CTRL KEYS).

 THE BLOCK CTRL KEYS

 These keys call routines which operate on a BLOCK of text (a block being one
 or more full lines of text). The first time a BLOCK CTRL key is pressed, the
 start of the block is defined and stored (it will be the line the cursor is
 on), and the cursor fast-flashes to let you know you have invoked a BLOCK
 function. The second time you press the BLOCK CTRL key, you should have
 already moved the cursor to the line you wish to designate as the last line
 in the block. That line will be defined as the end of the block, and the
 function will be executed.


 NOTE: If you accidentally invoke a block function (the cursor will fast-flash
 when one is begun), you can cancel it by pressing the STOP key. This will
 take you to the menu (where all editing functions are cancelled), and from
 there you can return to edit mode by pressing RETURN (selection 3 will be
 under the cursor).


 CTRL A (align a block)

 This command will "repack" a block of text between the margin markers. I
 frequently use it to convert 40-column text captured by my terminal's buffer
 to 80 columns for printing. Blank lines are preserved, but all extra spaces
 between words are eliminated (repacks with one space between words). If extra
 spaces between words are desired, use shifted spaces (they're treated like a
 character by the alignment routine). Here's an alignment demo:


 This is the first line.
 This is the second line.
 This is the third line.


 Now here are the same 3 lines repacked with CTRL A:


 This is the first line. This is the second line. This is the third line.


 Here's the set of lines repacked to be an indented block of text:


               This is the first line.
               This is the second line.
               This is the third line.

 The first repack was done by pressing CTRL A with the cursor on the first
 line. Then, CTRL A on the last line. The block gets copied and repacked in a
 buffer, the original block removed, and the new "repacked" block inserted in
 it's place. The block buffer retains a copy of the last block buffered.

 The second repack was done with the margins reset to 15 left and 40 right. If
 you try this last one yourself, you will notice that the margin markers will
 cover up some of the text when you reenter edit mode (normal). Just go ahead
 and define the block with CTRL A's. Then reset the margins after the repack.

 CTRL C (copy a block)

 This function copies a block of text into the block buffer.

 CTRL M (merge a block)

 Inserts the text from the block buffer into the document at the cursor line.
 Text from the cursor line on is moved forward in the document to make room
 for the merger.

 CTRL R (remove a block)

 Removes a block of text from the document and closes up the gap. The removed
 block is copied into the block buffer. This function can be used to delete
 huge portions of text, or to "pick up" a piece of the document, relocate and
 merge it elsewhere with a subsequent CTRL M.

 CTRL R can also be used to buffer a chunk of your document so that you can
 load another one and merge the buffered text into it. Here's how:

 Gobble up the portion of your document you DON'T want with CTRL R. Last,
 gobble the text you WANT. This will leave you with a blank workspace, and
 the desired text in the block buffer. Now, load the file you want to merge
 the text into, and insert the buffered text with CTRL M.

 Sounds like the long way around, but if you clear your workspace from the
 menu, you also clear the block buffer. So, CTRL R will give you a way to do
 it. You can also merge text with the load routine (see that section).

 CTRL S (set block underlining)

 You can define any text to be underlined by typing it in reverse video (more
 on this later). CTRL S will convert an entire block to a reverse video block.
 When the editor's printing routine comes across this text, it will be sent to
 the printer as underlined text (as long as the printer has that capability).
 This function, and CTRL K, will allow you to define less than a full line of
 text as part of the block. The text does not get copied into the buffer.
 Also, CTRL S will not underline spaces at the end of a line, and will ignore
 blank lines.

 CTRL K (kill block underlining)

 Kills any reverse video in a block of text. Sometimes you may load a file and
 find it full of reverse video text (nulls added to a file by a BBS can cause
 this to happen. More on this later). When that happens, this function will
 allow you to correct it very quickly.

 CTRL V (view the block buffer)

 Allows you to see what's in the block buffer. Will not function if the buffer
 is empty.

 CTRL Z (zero block buffer)

 Allows you to zero the block buffer. You may want to do this if you run out
 of memory (and you have text in the block buffer) and you need to free up
 some extra room for the rest of your document. As you may have guessed, the
 block buffer is allocated from part of the "free" text buffer.


 NOTE: If your document is quite big, and you attempt to align, copy or merge
 a large part of it, nothing may happen. This will occur if the block is too
 big to fit into the buffer (memory for the buffer will be small in a case
 like this). Also, any block function that writes to the block buffer will
 erase the previous contents of the buffer. However, CTRL D and CTRL I don't
 write to the buffer, so they can be used when you want to preserve the
 contents of the buffer, but you would still like to insert and delete lines.

 CTRL B (clear to beginning of line)

 Clears all text from the cursor to the beginning of the line. Does not write
 to the buffer.

 CTRL E (clear to the end of line)

 Clears all text from the cursor to the end of the line. Does not write to the
 buffer.


 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text in the middle
 of a paragraph. I'll demonstrate with this paragraph.


 What I'll do is insert "(ain't that grand?)" between "text" and "in". First,
 duplicate the first line to be changed with CTRL C and CTRL M:


 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text in the middle
 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text in the middle
 of a paragraph. I'll demonstrate with this paragraph.


 Now, edit the lines like this with CTRL E and CTRL B:


 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text
                                                                 in the middle
 of a paragraph. I'll demonstrate with this paragraph.


 Now, type in the extra text:


 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text
 (ain't that grand?)                                             in the middle
 of a paragraph. I'll demonstrate with this paragraph.


 Finally, align (repack) the block:


 NOTE: CTRL C, M, B, E and A can be used together to insert text (ain't that
 grand?) in the middle of a paragraph. I'll demonstrate with this paragraph.


 This may seem like a lot of steps (and it is), but it's really a lifesaver on
 a LARGE paragraph where the alternative is to retype part of each line.


 CTRL U and CTRL O  (underlining mode and underlining off mode)

 Default is CTRL O (underlining off). Pressing CTRL U will cause any furthur
 text typed to be displayed in reverse video (underlined text). CTRL O cancels
 this mode.


 CTRL P and CTRL N (previous and next screen)

 These functions allow rapid movement through the document. CTRL N will move
 you ahead 11 lines, and CTRL P back 11 lines.


 CTRL F and CTRL L (get first or last page)

 CTRL F will move you immediately to the first page, first line, first
 character. CTRL L sends you to to the last page, last line, last character.


 CTRL W (word search)

 This function will hunt down a word or string for you and take you there
 immediately. The word or string can be up to 80 characters long, and can be
 searched from the beginning of the document or from the last cursor position.
 This will allow you to go to a specific area in your document without having
 to burn your eyes out looking for a key word or phrase.

 The search performed is defaulted to a wild card search. Searching for the
 word "for" will return the first found of any of the following strings:

 for  forward  forcast  fort

 To ensure the routine will only find "for" use this for the string:for *
 (note the space between the asterisk and the word). This is sort of an "anti"
 wild card, but what it really does is ensure that the search routine will
 look for the string "for" with a space after it, eliminating matches with the
 other strings.

 I also use CTRL W to search for labels (and references to them) in my source
 files. Allows me to make changes, and find ALL references to the label. I
 just keep searching until the routine tells me it can't find the string (at
 that point I know I have them all.

 NOTE: If the first occurrance of the word in your document is not the one
 you're looking for, do a cursor right and search again, but this time answer
 no to the first prompt. This will continue the search from the last cursor
 position and find the next occurrance of the word.


 CTRL H (gets the help screen)


 NOTE: When the cursor is in the fast-flash mode, any other editing keys that
 do not fast-flash the cursor can be used. This means you can move from one
 end of the document to the other (with CTRL L, for example) while defining a
 block. Let's say you wanted to repack the entire document. The CTRL KEY
 sequence could be CTRL F (go to beginning) CTRL A (define block beginning)
 CTRL L (go to end) CTRL A (define block end and execute block-align).

 Also, you will probably notice that any of the keys that fast-flash the
 cursor can be used to define the start of a block. It's the LAST key you
 press that defines the function at the same time it defines the end of the
 block. For example, this means that the sequence CTRL A, CTRL C will
 accomplish the same thing as CTRL C, CTRL C.


 FUNCTION KEYS (f1 thru f8)

 f7 moves the cursor to the next tab to the right. The cursor returns to the
 left margin after the last tab is reached.

 f5 moves the cursor to the next tab to the left. The cursor returns to the
 right margin after the last tab is reached.

 f4 set up tabs at every 5th column and erases all other tabs

 f3 sets a tab at the cursor position

 f2 clears all tabs

 f1 clears the tab at the cursor position

 The other function keys are not used