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09 Application Software
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LETTER.DOC
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HOW TO USE LETTER.IMG
First, rename the program LETTERS, as all future reference will be to
that name.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE TO LETTERS
TEXT SCREEN
f1 ---------- insert line
f2 ---------- delete line
f3 ---------- change margin color
f4 ---------- default margin color
f5 ---------- tab
f6 ---------- set or release tab
f7 ---------- go to menu
f8 ---------- restore text
CTRL and 9 -- underlining on
CTRL and 0 -- underlining off
clr --------- screen clear/store text
home -------- home
del --------- delete character
inst -------- insert character
return ------ move to left margin on the next line down
crsr up ----- cursor up 2 screen lines
crsr down --- cursor down 2 screen lines
crsr left --- cursor left 1 character
crsr right -- cursor right 1 character
MENU SCREEN
f1 ---------- change border color
f2 ---------- default border color
f3 ---------- change background color
f4 ---------- default background color
f5 ---------- change character color
f6 ---------- default character color
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS....
LETTERS is not a full-blown word processor, but has many of the
features you will find in one. I wrote it because I got pretty
frustrated with the imbedded commands in the commercial software, and
wanted something easy to use, fast and versatile. For me, it has been
the best compromise between text manipulation power and ease of use.
All of the critical parts of this program are performed by machine
language routines for speed and convenience, including printing, text
creating and editing, loading and saving (disk storage only, no tape).
Load and run the program as you would any other basic program. There
is about 2K of machine language that will be transferred to $C000 and
up when you run the program, and during certain buffer operations all
of $C000 to $CFFF will be used. For this reason you should not use
the DOS WEDGE with this program, as it will be overwritten.
GETTING STARTED
Select "C" from the main menu and answer the next 2 prompts with "N".
You will now be in the CREATE/EDIT mode. You can go back to the menu
with F7 whenever you want to, but let's forge ahead for now. You'll
see reddish bars at the left and right margins. These are the margin
markers, and you will not be able to type into them. Moving the cursor
past these markers will cause the cursor to move to the margin on the
opposite side of the screen (the next line or the previous one).
These markers will aid you in identifying line beginnings and ends,
centering titles, etc. Notice that the left markers are on different
screen lines than the right markers. This is because you are now
dealing with an 80 column line (the screen lines are only 40). Since
your printer deals with 80 column lines, the screen will now follow
that format. You will notice that you can wrap a word around the end
of a screen line as long as there is no marker there. That's because
you will be typing the word in the middle of an 80 column line (as
the printer will see it).
AUTOMATIC PARSING
As you are typing a line and approach the end marker, you need not
worry about breaking a word up at the marker. If the last letter on
the line is not a blank space, LETTERS will move the entire word to
the next line for you. This function is called "parsing" and was
added so that you don't have to watch the screen as you type a new
line. Parsing will not happen, however, if there is text on the next
line (this is an aid for editing. Keeps you from dumping a word onto
text residing on the following line when you are editing). Also,
parsing will only move words less than 10 characters in length.
CURSOR UP, DOWN, LEFT AND RIGHT
Cursor up/down work as they normally do, except that they move the
cursor 2 screen lines at a time (remember, that's only one 80-column
line). Moving the cursor past the top or bottom of the screen will
cause the document to be scrolled, which is how you move through the
document to read or edit it. Cursor left/right work normally.
INSERT AND DELETE KEYS
Use the normal inst/del keys to edit single lines or characters. The
delete key will work as expected, but when it reaches the left marker
it will stop. The insert key also works as expected, but when a
character is pushed into the right marker, it is deleted. This was
done to prevent you from affecting other lines by making minor
changes on one. If you wish to insert or delete entire lines at a
time, use F1 and F2. F1 will push all text from the cursor line down
one line, and place a blank line at the cursor line. F2 will delete
the cursor line and move all text beyond that position back one line.
RETURN AND TAB KEYS
The return key will move the cursor to the beginning of the next
line. The tab key is F5. F6 sets or releases a tab. To set a tab,
move the cursor to where you want the tab to be and press F6. To
release a tab, tab to the tab you wish to release and press F6. To
tab, press F5. The cursor will move to the first tab to the right of
the cursor. If there is no tab set to the right of the cursor, it will
perform a return.
UNDERLINING OR SPECIAL COMMANDS
To underline, press CTRL 9 (rvs on). Underlining off is CTRL 0. The
printing routine in LETTERS will respond to reverse video characters
by sending an escape sequence to the printer before printing the
character. After printing the character, it sends another escape
sequence. I use this feature to enable and disable the underlining
feature of my printer. If your printer does not underline, you can
substitute another escape sequence for this feature (italics, shadow
print, super/subscript, etc.). See program modifications for details.
MOVING TEXT AND THE CLR/HOME KEYS
The home key works normally. The screen clear key writes the text on
the screen into a buffer and clears the screen. You can use this
feature to move from 1 to 12 lines of text at a time, because the
buffer can be recovered with F8. (If you wish to permanently delete a
line or lines, use F2 instead of clr). There are 2 safety features
built into these keys. First, the clr key will work only if the
buffer is empty. This will prevent you from accidentally writing over
the contents of the buffer (the buffer is emptied when you use F8 to
restore the text). The entire screen is affected with these keys, so
here's how to manipulate less than 12 lines at a time:
1.
Scroll the first line to be buffered to the top of the screen and
place the cursor on the line AFTER the last line to be buffered.
Press F1 as many times as necessary to push the unwanted lines off
the screen. Then press clr to buffer the screen. Delete the blank
lines (unless you want them) with F2.
2.
Scroll to where you want the text inserted. Scroll the line that will
be BELOW your inserted text to the top of the screen and home the
cursor. Push all text off the screen with F1. Now restore your
buffered text with F8 and delete any unwanted blank lines by moving
the cursor to them and pressing F2.
MARGIN MARKER COLOR
F3 changes the color of the margin marker bars. F4 sets the default
color.
THE MAIN MENU
The main menu is self-prompting and self-explanitory except for the
screen color options. The "F" keys will have different functions now,
as outlined in the beginning of this document.
STOPPING OR EXITING THE PROGRAM
The program can be stopped from the main menu with the run/stop key.
It can be resumed by re-running the program. Any document in memory
will NOT be lost by doing this, as LETTERS will not clear the memory
unless it's being run for the first time. When run, LETTERS changes
some of the default computer settings, such as the top of basic
memory, all keys repeat, etc. When you want to exit the program and
reset the computer to default conditions, select "E" from the main
menu and the computer will be sent to it's cold start routine. Even
if you exit in this manner, if you should discover you left a
document in memory by accident (you forgot to save it to disk), you
can still recover it by reloading and running LETTERS again. You're
out of luck, though, if you shut off the the computer or load in
another program that overwrites document storage ($4000 to $9FFF) or
LETTERS machine language subroutines ($C000 to $CFFF).
PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS
You can modify the basic part of LETTERS. Those with printers that do
not emulate CBM printers will need to do this. This program works fine
with the VIC printers and the PROWRITER with a +G CARDCO interface. If
you have different escape codes for underlining or bolface, you will
want to change the codes on lines 1210 and up. Don't forget to allow
for ascii conversion when you change the codes.
FORM LETTERS
You can create a form letter, save it to disk and load it back in to
edit it. After all, a form letter is just a document that you edit
and resave (usually under a different name).
DOCUMENTS OVER 5 PAGES IN LENGTH
Once you type in 5 pages of text (plus 7 lines) you're out of memory
and must either stop and print the document or save it to disk. You
can then continue your document by using "C" for create and writing
the next part. Save the next part with a different name (such as
DOCUMENT#2). When you go to print your multiple file document, the
printing routine will be able to accomodate you (if you answer the
prompts correctly). Print the first file, then load the second and
print it, etc. You are only limited by the number of disks you have
to store text on.
ABOUT THE FILES
LETTERS stores it's files in CBM screen codes. The first 48 bytes in
the file contain the variables used to format the text, and the rest
of the file is text, including spaces. The file is sequential.
CONVERTING THE FILES FOR CIS
You can use the file conversion program (also on this XA) to create
another file from a LETTERS file. I use LETTERS to create EMAIL,
bulletin board messages or documentation files such as this. Then I
run The conversion program (FILCON.IMG) to convert the file to a
standard ASCII file or a CBM PETASCII file (you have a choice).
FILCON.IMG discards the 48 variable bytes, performs the coversion and
deletes spaces at the end of the lines. It also adds a CR and LF to
the end of each line for ASCII, or a CR only if PETASCII. Then I can
load the new file into my VIDTEX buffer and send the entire message
at once with META V (ASCII). PETASCII files I use for uploading
documentation. The original LETTERS file is not changed, FILCON.IMG
just creates a modified duplicate file, naming it whatever you choose.
I'll be glad to respond to any questions or comments via EMAIL.
Thank you, Jim Klitzing