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ReadIt text file viewer Version 2.8 Copyright 1990, 1991, 1992 DLJ Software Welcome to ReadIt--the text file viewer designed to be used by both sighted persons, and visually impaired persons who use screen readers and speech synthesizers. We assume that you are using ReadIt to read this documentation. Use the F1 key (HELP) to find out how to move around this file. Help screens are available from almost every part of ReadIt--making this manual almost unnecessary. However, taking a few minutes now to review this file will make ReadIt that much simpler to use. CONTENTS ======== 1. INTRODUCTION What makes up the ReadIt package Sharing the unregistered version What ReadIt is 2. RUNNING READIT 2.1. Loading A File From The DOS Prompt Command line format Command line switches Examples 2.2. The Pick List 2.2.1. Picklist Navigation. 2.2.2. File Management And Picklist Display. Minimal file management Sorting the pick list Last two pick list features 2.3. The Filename Entry Panel 2.4. The Compressed File Picklist 3. VIEWING A FILE 3.1. The Screen Layout 3.2. Display Methods Screen display methods Text file display methods 3.3. Moving Around The Screen 3.4. Moving Around The Text File The regular key commands The alternate key commands The goto command The jump panel 3.5. Continuous Scroll Mode 3.6. Using The Text Search Features 3.7. Setting And Returning To Bookmarks 3.8. Marking Blocks And Writing Them To Disk 3.9. Loading Picklist Files Without Leaving Text Viewing. 4. EXECUTING DOS COMMANDS 5. THE HELP SYSTEM 6. THE READIT CUSTOMIZING PROGRAM (RIC.EXE) 6.1. Changing Colors 6.2. Add/Edit File Extensions 6.3. Resetting to Defaults 6.4. Closing Remarks About RIC 7. SOME LEGAL STUFF 8. REGISTRATION 1. INTRODUCTION ================ ReadIt is a shareware software package. That means that, if you are an unregistered user, you are granted a limited license to use this software for the purpose of evaluating it's usefulness to you. If you continue to use it, you are expected to pay for it. What could be simpler? If you don't use it... don't pay for it. On the other hand, if you find it useful, become a legitimate user by sending in the registration form with your registration fee. What makes up the ReadIt package: Both the unregistered version and the registered version of the ReadIt text file viewing system should contain only the following six files: READIT.EXE -- The executable ReadIt program. RIC.EXE -- The ReadIt Customizer program. READIT28.DOC -- The documentation for ReadIt and RIC. FEATURES.TXT -- A file containing short descriptions of ReadIt's features--both old and new. CFDIR.EXE -- A stand-alone Compressed File DIRectory utility program which ReadIt uses to give you access to compressed files. CFDIR.DOC -- The documentation for CFDIR.EXE. If you have received an unregistered copy of the ReadIt package, whether from a BBS or other electronic information system, a shareware distributor, or a friend, it should include the six (6) files mentioned above. Only the six files above make up the shareware package for ReadIt version 2.8. If you have received an unregistered copy of the ReadIt version 2.7 package containing fewer, or more, than the six (6) files mentioned above, notify the source of the copy you have, and DLJ Software. DLJ Software 182 Maplewood Circle Urbana, Ohio U.S.A. 43078-9255 The registered version of the ReadIt package is stamped with the user's name and may not be shared. Sharing the unregistered version: You may share unregistered copies of ReadIt version 2.7 for others to evaluate as long as you follow the conditions set forth in section 7 "SOME LEGAL STUFF". With all of that said, let's get down to what ReadIt is and what it has to offer you. What ReadIt is: ReadIt is a text file viewing program. It is used to read, search, and clip from ASCII text files. The goal behind the development of ReadIt was to produce a text file viewer that was easy to use for both sighted persons and persons who use speech software and synthesizers. Although, starting with version 2.8, ReadIt will load and display any file, this feature was only added so that ReadIt could display those files that don't use the CR/LF pair as line delimiters. ReadIt remains a text file viewer. Some of ReadIt's features are listed below. A fuller list can be found in the file FEATURES.TXT. Those features that may be especially useful to blind users are followed by an "S" in parentheses (S). - Lets you read large text files even if the entire file cannot be loaded into memory. - Lets you specify the file to be read from the DOS command prompt or from the filename entry window. No need to exit the program to read another file. - Provides a file "pick list" which enables you to traverse your hard drive's directories and select the files you wish to view. - Has a smart line wrap feature which breaks long lines so that all text is displayed on screen. There is no need to scroll the text left or right when reading. Lines are broken between words instead of in the middle of them. (S) - Has a "Long Lines" mode for those times when smart-wrap makes a text file less readable, such as when text must be kept in columnar form as with a spreadsheet. - Has variable speed continuous scroll feature which lets you read "Hands free". - Has switchable display mode. The "slow" display mode is useful to those who use speech. (S) - Enables you to execute DOS commands from within text viewing. - Has pull-down help screens (F1) that can be accessed from almost anywhere within the program. - Lets you set a "bookmark" within the file you are reading and save that bookmark when you leave the file. You are automatically returned to the bookmark the next time you load that file. - Lets you easily search multiple files for occurances of a string which you have specified. - Enables you to easily read files that have been compressed, without your having to first extract them and then delete the extracted copy once you have finished viewing it. Now let's talk about some of the features that were included for those who use speech--some that have already been mentioned and some that have not. For the most part, if your speech program will speak text sent through BIOS and will follow the cursor, ReadIt will be easy to use. - You can set up ReadIt to use slow or fast print for updating the status window. Line number updating, however, will always use fast printing. - Separately from above, you can set up ReadIt to use fast or slow print for the text window, error messages, command prompts, and a few other things. - The pick list uses a combination of fast and slow print routines. Also, the cursor (although hidden) follows the highlight bar. The cursor may also be moved left and right on the highlight bar to check the spelling of filenames. - Some tones have also been added for audible feedback. For example, when you press a key to remove a help screen or error message, or press ESCAPE to cancel a command, a low tone will be sounded to indicate that you have returned to your previous position in the program. Now that you have an idea of the features that ReadIt has to offer, let's talk about how to use them. We will begin with how to start ReadIt and how to load a file from the DOS command line, the filename entry window, or the file pick list. We will then cover the commands available while viewing a file--from navigating the file through searching for text, marking text blocks and writing them to disk, to executing DOS commands. After this, we'll talk about the ReadIt Customizer (RIC.EXE) which lets you change a number of things in ReadIt to suit your needs and preferences. Finally, we will cover some legal stuff and talk about how to register ReadIt and how to get in touch with it's author. 2. RUNNING READIT ================== Running ReadIt is quite simple--just type READIT and press the ENTER key. In the following three sections we will talk about loading files from the DOS prompt and from within ReadIt and also talk about the "pick list". 2.1. Loading A File From The DOS Prompt Command line format: The format for ReadIt is: READIT [DRIVE][PATH][FILESPEC] [switches] Where the square brackets ([]) mean that the item within is optional. The square brackets, themselves, should never be typed. DRIVE is a legal DOS drive letter followed by a colon ("A:", "B:", etc.). PATH refers to a legal DOS directory path such as "\" (the root directory), "\DOS" (a sub-directory of the root), "EXAMPLES" (a sub-directory of the current directory), etc. FILESPEC is either a specific filename such as "READIT27.DOC" or a group of files specified by using the DOS wild cards "*" and "?". NOTE: as with the square brackets, the quoatation marks should not be typed. In this instance, they are simply used to draw attention to, and set off, that which they enclose. The optional switches are: C -- Cursor wrap on or off. F -- Find the specified string upon loading. G -- Go to the specified line number upon loading. L -- Switch ReadIt into longlines mode. M -- Control display method for pop-up messages. Q -- Put ReadIt into "Quick finish" mode. W -- Control the width of the picklist. These switches begin with either a slash (/) or a dash (-). They may be in upper or lower case and can be anywhere on the command line following "READIT", with the exception of the F switch. These switches will be explaned later. You may include any combination of drive, path, and filespec as long as they are in the order shown in the format above. ReadIt will use a default for any one of these if it is not specified. The defaults are: [drive] -- Default is current drive. [path] -- Default is current directory. [filespec] -- Default is "*.*" (without quotes). If you do not specify any of the three (drive, path, filespec), then the defaults for all will be used. When you specify a filename, ReadIt will attempt to load and display that file. But when you do not specify any filename or you use the DOS wild cards, ReadIt will display a "pick list" from which you may choose a file to load and read. Command line switches: Command line switches are used to temporarily modify certain features of ReadIt, or to instruct ReadIt to invoke certain features as soon as a file is loaded. The temporary modifications last only until you exit ReadIt. Each command line switch must start with either a slash (/) or a dash (-). To reduce the possibility of confusion, we will use the slash in our explanations and examples. The general format for switches is: /switch[modifiers] There should be no spaces between the slash, the switch, or the modifiers unless otherwise noted. As the name implies, modifiers modify the action of the switch. The left and right brackets ([]) signify that modifiers do not have to be specified. Let's now look at each of the optional switches. The features that the switches affect will also be described further, later in this document. There is two groups of switches--two-way and single-throw. We will cover each group separately. The two-way switches are used to turn a feature on or off. The modifier for two-way switches are either a plus (+) for on, or minus (-) for off. You use a two-way switch on the command line only if you want to change the state of the particular feature. The two-way switches are: /C -- Turn cursor wrap on or off. Tells ReadIt whether to let the cursor "wrap" around to the previous or next line when using the cursor left and right movement keys when viewing a text file. "/C+" turns cursorwrap on, "/C-" turns cursorwrap off. /M -- Turn on direct display for all pop-up messages such as "Loading filename..." or "Searching...". "/M+" turns on direct display and "/M-" turns it off. /W -- Turn on wide display for picklist. Tells ReadIt whether or not to use wide display when displaying a picklist of files. "/W+" turns wide display on, "/W-" turns it off. The rest of the command line switches are of the single throw kind. When you use them, they are on. The modifiers for these switches will be discussed with each switch. /F -- The find switch or command. Tells ReadIt to load the specified file or files and perform a search for a specific string. The modifiers for the "find" switch are any of the valid find options. You follow the "/F" and any modifiers with at least one space and the string to be found enclosed within quotation marks. The find switch and the string to be found must be the last items on the command line. IF a group of files, or a compressed file, has been specified, then ReadIt will do a multiple file search for the string. If no search string is specified, then ReadIt simply loads the first file. /G -- Goto line. Tells ReadIt to load the specified file, the first of a group of specified files, or the first file within a compressed file, and goto the specified line number. You directly follow the "/G" with the line number. "/G110" would go to line number 110. If you do not specify a line number, the goto line switch simply loads the first file. /L -- Turns the long lines mode on. The modifier for "/L" is the shift width you want ReadIt to use. The range for the shift width is 1 to 80. If you do not specify the shift width, 20 is used. /Q -- Turns on the quick finish mode. ReadIt will bypass the picklist and filename entry panel when you exit text viewing. There are no modifiers for this switch. So, there are the command line switches. You probably noticed that we mentioned a number of things that have not yet been discussed. Don't worry! ReadIt works fine without using any of the switches mentioned above. You won't find a need to use these switches until you have used ReadIt for a while. At that time, you can come back and refresh your memory. Examples: Below are some examples of loading files from the DOS command prompt. Following each example is a short description. C>READIT READIT27.DOC Run ReadIt and attempt to load READIT27.DOC from the current directory. C>READIT \DOCUMENT\READIT27.DOC Run ReadIt and attempt to load READIT27.DOC from a sub-directory (named DOCUMENT) of the root directory of the currently logged drive. C>READIT *.DOC Show a "pick list" of all files with an extension of "DOC"in the currently logged directory. C>READIT A: Show a "pick list" of all files in the currently logged directory on drive A. The effect is of having typed "READIT A:*.*" C>READIT DOCS.ARC Show a picklist of all files within the DOCS.ARC compressed file. In short, the format for specifying the drive, directory, and/or files is the same as it is with the DOS dir command. A compressed file is treated as a sub-directory when you specify it on the DOS command line. The following examples focus more on the optional switches. C>READIT READIT28.DOC /C- Load READIT28.DOC and turn cursor wrap off. ReadIt will beep when the cursor gets to the beginning or end of a line when you use the cursor left and cursor right keys in slow mode. C>READIT READIT28.DOC /C+ /F "SLOW MODE" Load READIT28.DOC, turn cursor wrap on, and search for the string "SLOW MODE". C>READIT READIT28.DOC /G300 Load READIT28.DOC and goto line number 300. C>READIT READIT28.DOC /G120 /L10 Load READIT28.DOC, turn long lines mode on, set shift width to 10, and goto line number 120. C>READIT READIT28.DOC /Q /L20 /FCW "Cursor" Turn on "quick finish" mode, turn on long lines mode with shift width set to 20, set find options to case sensitive (c) and words only (w), and find string "Cursor". C>READIT *.DOC /W+ Set picklist to wide display and show picklist of files in current directory which have the extension ".DOC". C>READIT DOCS.ZIP /W- /C- Show a picklist, in narrow format, and turn cursor wrap off. The cursor wrap feature is not affected until you load a file from the picklist. C>READIT /G Since there is no modifier to this /G command, ReadIt will simply load the first file in the directory. C>READIT DOCS.LZH /F Since there is no search string following this find command (/F), ReadIt simply attempts to load the first file contained in the DOCS.LZH compressed file. NOTES: (1) When you specify either the /G or /F switch, ReadIt automatically loads the specified file or the first of a group of specified, or assumed, files. Furthermore, ReadIt ignores any previously saved bookmark. These things occur even if you don't specify the line number for the /G switch, or the search string for the /F switch. (2) Compressed files were mentioned above. CFDIR.EXE supplies, to ReadIt, support for a number of compressed file types. See CFDIR.DOC for further information. (3) Other features mentioned above, but not fully explained, are covered later in this documentation. 2.2. The Pick List If you run ReadIt without specifying a file name, or specify a group of files using the "*" and/or "?" then you will be presented with a file "pick list". The picklist is simply a "list" of the files in the current directory displayed in a single column. You can "pick" a file from this list and have ReadIt display it for you to read. When the pick list is shown the status panel (at the top of the screen) displays the current drive and directory. Pressing the F1 key will display the picklist help screen, and pressing the F10 key enables the user to either enter a DOS command or temporarily "shell" to DOS. Executing DOS commands from within ReadIt will be described later. 2.2.1. Picklist Navigation. You use the following keys to move around the pick list. UP and DOWN arrow keys - Move the highlight bar up and down. PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN keys - Move the highlight bar up and down one page. HOME and END keys - Move the highlight bar to the top or bottom of the list. Pressing any other alpha-numeric key will tell ReadIt to move the highlight bar to the file that begins with the pressed character. Pressing the same again will result in the highlight bar moving to the next matching file name. The ENTER key is used to select a highlighted entry. If the entry is a file, it will be loaded and you will be placed into file viewing. If the entry is a directory, ReadIt will change to that directory and display another pick list. And, if the entry is a compressed file with an extension of .ARC, .LZH, .ZIP, .ZOO, .ARJ, or .PAK ReadIt will attempt to display a picklist of the files within that compressed file. Those who use speech access programs can use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to check the spelling of the highlighted file name. Pressing the ESCAPE key removes the pick list and puts you into the filename entry panel. Pressing ALT-X (eXpress eXit) will take you directly out of ReadIt, bypassing the filename entry panel. 2.2.2. File Management And Picklist Display. Minimal file management: F3 - Delete highlighted file. ReadIt will prompt you to confirm deletion. Files marked as "Read only" will not be deleted. F4 - Rename highlighted file. ReadIt will prompt you for the new file name. Sorting the pick list: ALT-F1 - Sort list by filename. ALT-F2 - Sort list by extension. ALT-F3 - Sort list by size. ALT-F4 - Sort list by date and time. ALT-F5 - Sort list by file name and within filename groups sort by extension. ALT-F6 - Sort list by extension and within extension groups sort by file name. ALT-F8 - Turn off sorting and reread picklist. Entries will be displayed in the order they occur in the directory. ALT-F9 - Switch between ascending and descending order. Last two pick list features: ALT-F10 - Pick list display switch. Switches between names and extensions only and full file information including size, date, time and attributes. All other ALT- function key combinations are reserved for possible future use. CTRL-ENTER - Change to highlighted directory and exit ReadIt. 2.3. The Filename Entry Panel When you exit the pick list or the currently viewed file (if the current file was not loaded from the picklist) by pressing the ESCAPE key ReadIt will put you into the "filename entry panel". You may enter any combination of drive, directory, and file spec as described earlier in section 2.1. You can also press ENTER to use the specification already displayed or use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to display and select previously entered file spec. Pressing the ESCAPE key from the filename entry panel will exit ReadIt. 2.4. The Compressed File Picklist With the addition of the stand-alone utility CFDIR.EXE, ReadIt now has support for viewing compressed files. This can be especially useful for visually impaired persons who receive books on disk from RFB or other sources. Text files can be kept in compressed files, reducing their disk space requirement. ReadIt version 2.8 supports compressed files created by utilities which use the extensions .ARC, .LZH, .ZIP, .ZOO, .ARJ, and .PAK. Read CFDIR.DOC for more information. ReadIt must be able to find CFDIR.EXE either in the current directory or in a directory within the DOS path. When you choose a compressed file by either specifying it's name at the filename entry panel or when you run ReadIt from the DOS command line, or by selecting it from the picklist, another picklist containing the list of files within the compressed file will be displayed. When this picklist is displayed, the status line at the top of the screen will state that you are viewing the contents of a specified file. This "special" picklist works the same as the "regular" picklist and all commands of the regular picklist are available except the file management commands and the DOS commands (F10). You still select a file for viewing by moving the highlight bar and pressing the ENTER key, and you will be returned to this picklist when you exit file viewing by pressing the ESCAPE key. You leave this picklist by pressing the ESCAPE key. If you selected this compressed file from the picklist, then you will be returned to that picklist. Otherwize, you will be taken to the filename entry panel. 3. VIEWING A FILE ================== Once you have chosen a file to read--either by typing it's name from the DOS prompt, the filename entry window, or by selecting it from the pick list--ReadIt will place you into text viewing mode. You can leave text viewing by pressing either the ESCAPE key or by holding down the ALT key and pressing the X key. If you loaded the currently displayed file from the picklist, pressing the ESCAPE key will return you to the picklist. Otherwise, pressing the ESCAPE key will take you to the filename entry panel. If you do not want to load another file, you can exit ReadIt, bypassing the picklist and filename entry panel, by pressing the eXpress eXit key (ALT-X). The picklist and filename entry panel will also be bypassed when you exit text viewing, if you used the /Q (quick finish) switch on the DOS command line. Before we explain the features available in text viewing mode we will describe the layout of the screen (the default layout) and the differences between display modes. 3.1. The Screen Layout ReadIt's screen is divided into three (3) panels or windows. The top window is the status panel which displays information about where you are and what switches are set. The status panel is one (1) line high. In text viewing mode, the status line displays the name of the file being viewed, "BOOKMARK SET" if a bookmark is set, the current display mode "SLOW" or "FAST", and the current line number. In "SLOW" mode, the line number reflects the actual line the cursor is on, while in "FAST" mode, the line number refers to the line at the top of the text display window. "SLOW" and "FAST" are explained below in 3.2. Display Methods". The next panel is the text display window. This is where the text files are displayed. The text display is 22 lines high. At the bottom of the screen is the help/command panel. This window is used to display a list of key commands currently available. Also, all prompts and error messages are displayed here. The help/command panel is two (2) lines high. You can change the colors and positions of these panels using the ReadIt Customizer (RIC.EXE) program. Also, once you are familiar with ReadIt, you can use RIC to remove the help panel. 3.2. Display Methods In this section, we will talk about the two ways in which ReadIt sends text to your computer's screen, and the two ways ReadIt presents a text file to you. The previous sentence might, at first glance, seem to be redundant, but read on and things should become more clear. Screen display methods: ReadIt can use either of two display methods to write text to the computer's screen. The "slow" method writes text to the screen using BIOS routines. Most screen reading software depend on this display method in order to "capture" text going to the screen. While this method may be useful for some visually impaired, many people like the computer's screen to be updated more quickly. This is where the direct (fast) display routines come in. While you are viewing a text file you can change between "fast" and "slow" display modes by using the display mode switch (F8) key. This is a toggle--meaning that it is used to switch from either mode to the other. The current display mode is shown on the status line as either "SLOW" or "FAST". Also, when the F8 key is pressed a tone will be sounded to indicate which mode is being switched to. It should be noted, that the line number displayed on the status panel reacts differently depending on the current mode. In "SLOW" mode, the line the cursor is on is displayed. while, in "FAST" mode, the number of the line at the top of the text display window is shown. Text file display methods: ReadIt has two methods for displaying a text file for you to read. The first, "Smart Line Wrap" mode (or simply smart wrap), has been in ReadIt for some time, while the second, "Long Lines" mode, was introduced in version 2.6. Smart wrap makes sure that all text is on the screen in a readable form. If some of the lines in the text file are longer than the screen width, ReadIt breaks them up so that there is no need to scroll or shift the view left or right. Lines that are too long are broken between words, rather than in the middle of them, so that you don't see part of a word on one line and the rest on the next line. The long lines mode was added to ReadIt in version 2.6. This mode is useful for viewing those files which smart wrap makes less readable, such as files containing long lines and columnar, or tabular, data. In long lines mode, ReadIt shows only as much of each line as can be displayed within 80 columns. If the file you are viewing contains lines longer than 80 characters, you will need to shift the view right and left to read those parts of the lines not currently displayed. In some instances, the view will be either scrolled left or right, or automatically shifted. If you wish to shift the view manually, however, you use the shift key plus the left or right arrow key. For example, to shift the view to the right hold down one of the shift keys and press the right arrow (or cursor right) key. We have also provided some alternate keys to shift the view in case the shift and left or right arrow keys do not work for you. See the section "The alternate key commands" for these keys. By default, ReadIt uses smart wrap mode. You can select long lines mode either when you first start ReadIt from the DOS command line, or from within text viewing. As described in "2.1. Loading A File From The DOS Prompt", the format for loading a file into ReadIt and selecting Long Lines mode is: READIT [drive][path][filespec] /Lnn The "nn" following the "/L" refers to the numbers of columns you want ReadIt to use when shifting the view. This is called the shift width. You do not have to specify the shift width. The default is 20 columns. The range of the shift width is 1 to 80 columns. When you are viewing a file, you can switch between smart wrap and Long Lines mode by pressing ALT-F10. This is the same key combination used to change the display of the picklist. After pressing ALT-F10, you will be prompted either to press the ENTER key to change to smart wrap, or to enter the shift width that you want to be used in Long Lines mode. 3.3. Moving Around The Screen When you are in fast mode, your view of the file can be shifted up or down in a number of ways, and even left or right when long lines is on. The same can be done in slow mode. however, in slow mode you can also move a visible cursor around the screen. One use of this is to mark text on the screen to be used with the find command which is described later. To move the cursor around the screen you must first put ReadIt into "Slow" display mode. If the status panel displays the word "FAST" then press the F8 key to put ReadIt into slow mode. Once in slow mode, the following keys can be used to move around the screen. CURSOR UP - Move the cursor up one line. CURSOR DOWN - Move the cursor down one line. If the cursor is at the top or bottom of the text viewing window, the up and down arrow keys cause the text to scroll up or down one line respectively. When in fast mode, ReadIt scrolls the view in the direction of the pressed key as if the cursor was already at the top or bottom boundary. CURSOR LEFT - Move the cursor to the left one column. "wraps" to the previous line if the cursor is at the left edge and "Long Lines" mode, which is discussed later, is off. CURSOR RIGHT - Move the cursor to the right one column. "Wraps" to the next line if there is no more non-blank characters to the right and "Long Lines" mode is off. When in fast mode, the left and right arrow keys cause ReadIt to beep unless long lines mode is on. In which case, they will scroll the view either left or right. When used in conjunction with the CONTROL key, CURSOR LEFT - Move the cursor left one word. "Wraps" to the previous line if there are no more words to the left and "Long Lines" mode is off. CURSOR RIGHT - Move the cursor right one word. "Wraps" to the next line if there are no more words to the right and "Long Lines" mode is off. The two commands described above do not work in fast mode. The cursor wrap, mentioned above, is automatically turned off when in long lines mode. It can also be turned off in "smart wrap" mode either by using RIC.EXE, or by using the command line switch "/C-". Finally, HOME - Move cursor to beginning of line. Has no affect when in fast mode unless long lines is on. In which case the view is shifted left until the first column is at the left edge of the view. END - Move cursor to end of text on line. Has no Affect in fast mode unless long lines is on. In which case, the view is shifted right until the end of the longest of the displayed lines is visible. And in conjunction with the CONTROL key, HOME - Move cursor to top of viewing window. No affect in fast mode. END - Move cursor to bottom of viewing window. No affect in fast mode. 3.4. Moving Around The Text File ReadIt has a number of commands to help you move around the file including regular key commands and, starting with version 2.0, the goto command and jump panel. The regular key commands Use the following key commands to move around the file. CURSOR UP - Move up one line. CURSOR DOWN - Move down one line. As mentioned earlier, these two commands work slightly differently in slow and fast modes. PAGE UP - Move up one page. PAGE DOWN - Move down one page. CTRL-PAGE UP - Move to beginning of file. CTRL-PAGE DOWN - Move to end of file. Alternate key commands Below is a list of some of the regular key commands and their alternates. UP ARROW -- CONTROL-E DOWN ARROW -- CONTROL-X LEFT ARROW -- CONTROL-S RIGHT ARROW -- CONTROL-D HOME -- CONTROL-W END -- CONTROL-Z PAGE UP -- CONTROL-R PAGE DOWN -- CONTROL-C If you have a 101 or 102 key keyboard, you might notice that the pattern for these keys is similar to that of the cursor movement keys on the numeric keypad. You might also recognize that the pattern is similar to that of the cursor control keys of some word processors or text editors. The following are alternate keys for Long Lines mode view shifting keys. Shift view right: SHIFT-RIGHT ARROW -- CONTROL-F -- "R" or "r" Shift view left: SHIFT-LEFT ARROW -- CONTROL-A -- "L" or "l" The goto command You can quickly go to any particular line in the file by using the goto command (F7). Just press F7 and ReadIt will prompt you for the number of the line to go to. Type in the line number and press ENTER and if the line number is in the file, the display will change with the specified line at the top. If, however, you press the ESCAPE key the command will be cancelled and you will be returned to text viewing. Starting with version 2.8, you can tell ReadIt to load a file and goto a particular line from either the DOS command line or a batch file. The format is: C>READIT [DRIVE:][PATH][filespec] /Gnnnn Where nnnn is the line number you wish ReadIt to go to. If you omit nnnn, ReadIt goes to the first line of the file. If you do not specify a file, or specify a compressed file or group of files, ReadIt will load the first file and go to either line 1 or the specified line number. The jump panel The Jump Panel is used to section the text file into pieces according to the number of lines within the file. You can use the Jump Panel to jump to the midway point of the file, the point midway between the beginning and the middle of the file, and so on. Press the "J" key to activate the jump panel. (NOTE: The activate jump panel key ("J") was added in version 2.5 so that the jump keys could not be accidentally pressed.) Look at the numeric keys above the qwerty keys. The numbers 1 through 9 make up the jump panel. The jump panel cuts the file into slices which can be "jumped to" simply by the press of a key. The 1 key will take you to the first line in the file and the 9 key will take you to the last line of the file. Now look at the keys--the 5 key is half way between the 1 and the 9 so it will take you to the middle of the file. The 3 key is half way between the 1 and the 5 so it would take you to the point in the file half way between the first line and the line in the middle of the file. And so on. If the entire file has not been read into memory when you press one of these keys then ReadIt takes a calculated "guess" as to where to jump to. You must "tap" the "J" key before pressing a jump panel key. The "J" key activates the jump panel. You can deactivate the jump panel without pressing a jump key by pressing any other key. 3.5. Continuous Scroll Mode ReadIt has a continuous scroll mode to allow you to read any portion or the whole of a text file "Hands-free". Instead of continuously pressing the DOWN ARROW key or the PAGE DOWN key to read a large file you can tell ReadIt to scroll through the file until you tell it to do something else. The following commands are available in continuous scroll mode. SPACE BAR -- Start or stop scrolling. "S" or "s" -- Scroll slower. Each press slows down scrolling slightly. "F" or "f" -- Scroll faster. Each press makes scrolling slightly faster. Any other key will stop the scrolling and if that key is a valid ReadIt command it will instantly perform it's duty. Because of this, it is NOT a good idea to use the ESCAPE key to leave the continuous scroll mode as the ESCAPE key will take you out of the current text file. You can save the scrolling speed setting by pressing ALT-S. If ReadIt can find "READIT.EXE" in the current directory or in a directory specified in the DOS PATH, the scrolling speed will be saved. 3.6. Using The Text Search Features Besides simply being able to read a text file, sometimes we want to find instances of certain words or phrases. You do this in ReadIt by using the FIND commands. The three (3) key commands for searching for text are: f2 -- Text Search. F3 -- Repeat search using previously entered text and options. F4 -- Mark and Search. If you press F2, You will be prompted with "Find:". At this point you type in the characters you wish to search for and press ENTER to continue. You can also press ESCAPE to return to text reading without carrying out a search. After you've typed in text to search for and pressed ENTER ReadIt will prompt you for options to control the search. The options available are: B - Backwards search. The search begins at the current line and proceeds backwards through the file. C - Case sensitive search. The found text must exactly match the case (upper and lower) of the text you have typed in. F - First non-space search. The first character of the found text must be the first non-space character on the line. G - Global search. The search starts from the beginning of the file and proceeds forwards. M - Multiple file search. Search for text in current file and files that follow the current one in the picklist. This option is ignored if the "Backwards search" option has also been selected. You can only specify a multiple search if the current file was selected from the picklist. W - Words only search. A match for the specified string is found only if the found string is not preceded or followed by an alpha-numeric character. For example, if you search for the string "the" and specify W in the options list, ReadIt will not stop on "there", "their", "other", etc. If you want to use any one or any combination of these options, simply type it's letter. The order and case of the letters is not important. If you specify both G (global) and B (backwards), the backwards option will be ignored. Also, if you specify both B (backwards) and M (multi-file), the multi-file option will be ignored. It should be noted that if no options are specified, the search will be a forward search in which the case and placement on a line of the found string is unimportant. Once you have typed in any options you wish to use, a press of the ENTER key will begin the search. ReadIt prints the pop-up message "Searching...".If a match is found, the line will be printed. If no match is found an error message will be printed and you will be prompted to press any key to continue. When you then press a key, a low tone will be sounded--verifying that you have been returned to text viewing. You can halt a search "in progress" by pressing the ESCAPE key. If ReadIt is performing a multi-file search and is loading a file, it may take a second or two for the ESCAPE key to be recognized. Be patient. You do not have to hold down the ESCAPE key. Press the F3 key to repeat a search using previously entered search text and options. The global (G) search option will be ignored when the repeat search key (F3) is pressed. Also, if you press the ESCAPE key to exit text viewing and load another file before pressing F3, the multi-file search option will be ignored. When you press the F3, ReadIt also prints the pop-up message "Searching...". Finally, when you have the display set to "slow", you can mark text on the screen to be used in a search. Below are the steps you take to perform a "mark and search". 1 - Move the cursor to the beginning of the text you wish to mark. 2 - Press F4 to mark the beginning. 3 - Place the cursor to the right of the text you wish to mark and press the ENTER key. After that it is the same as if you had pressed F2 with the exception that you will not have to type any text. Two things to remember when using the "mark and search" feature: 1 - Text to be marked must reside on the same line. 2 - Once the beginning of the text has been marked, only the keys that move the cursor left or right, or the ENTER key should be used. Any other key will unmark the beginning of the text. Starting with version 2.8, you can control how the pop-up message, mentioned above, is printed to the screen. You can use RIC.EXE or the "/C" command line switch to turn direct writing of "Searching..." on or off. "/C+" turns direct writing on, and "/C-" turns it off. This may be useful if you perform a multiple file search and you use speech. The "/C" command line switch is described earlier in this documentation. Also added in version 2.8 is the "/F" (find) command line switch. This switch enables you to tell ReadIt to perform a text search upon loading a file. The format for the find switch is: C>READIT [DRIVE:][PATH][filespec] /F[options] ["search string"] Where the options are any of the valid find options described above. Search string is any text you wish ReadIt to search for. It must be enclosed within quotation marks. The find switch (/F) must be the last switch on the command line. Note that there must not be any spaces between the slash (/), the F, and any options. There must, however, be at least one space before the first quotation mark. A search started from the command line will always begin at the top of a file and precede forward. If you use the find switch, and either do not specify a single file, or you specify a compressed file, the multiple file search option (M) will be automatically set. If you do not specify a search string, ReadIt will load the file, or the first of a group of files, and display it with the first line of the file at the top of the screen. 3.7. Setting And Returning To Bookmarks Sometimes when we are reading a book, we want to temporarily flip to another section or even close the book and later come back to the place we'd left. The same can hold true when we are reading a text file (shareware documentation or computerized book). With the printed book, we use a physical bookmark (a piece of paper, a card, etc) to save our place. In ReadIt, we use an electronic bookmark. While there is only one bookmark available for each file, you can move it to wherever you need, and you can have a bookmark set for a number of files at the same time. To set a bookmark or to move a previously set bookmark, press the F5 key. Instead of automatically setting the bookmark, ReadIt will prompt you to press ENTER to set new bookmark or ESCAPE to exit back to text reading. This was done so that if you accidentally pressed F5 you have an "out". To return to a bookmark press the F6 key. If a bookmark has not been set you will hear an error tone. Otherwise, ReadIt will prompt you to either press ENTER to goto bookmark or ESCAPE to exit back to reading mode. Again, this was done so that you have an "out". When you exit a file and a bookmark has been set, you will be asked if you wish to save the bookmark. If you do, type a "Y" and press the ENTER key. If you enter a "Y", the bookmark will be saved to a "READIT.BMK" file. The number of bookmarks this file can hold is limited only by the available disk space. Remember, although you can have only one bookmark per text file, you are not limited on the number of files with bookmarks. The next time you load a file for which you had previously set a bookmark, ReadIt will automatically take you back to that bookmark. By default, a bookmark file is created in the same directory that contains the files that you read. Since the files that you read may be on crowded floppy diskettes, or in several directories on your hard drive, you can instruct ReadIt to save all bookmarks in the same file by using RIC.EXE. You can remove from the bookmark file a previously set bookmark for the file currently displayed by pressing the ALT-F5. ReadIt will prompt you to press ENTER to discard the bookmark. NOTE: Even though the eXpress eXit key will bypass the picklist and filename entry panel, it will not bypass the "save bookmark" prompt if you've set a new bookmark in the currently displayed file. 3.8. Marking Blocks And Writing Them To Disk Beginning with version 2.0, ReadIt lets you mark blocks of text to be written to disk. To mark a block of text, move the cursor to the first line of the text to be marked and then press the letter T. Next move the cursor to the line that is to be the last line of the marked block and press the letter B. You can expand or contract the marked text simply by moving the cursor and pressing either the letter T or the letter B. Press the letter U to unmark a marked block. You can quickly move to the top or bottom of the marked block by pressing either ALT-T or ALT-B respectively. Once a block of text has been marked, the block may be written to disk by pressing the letter W. ReadIt will prompt you for a filename to write the block to. Enter a filename or press the ESCAPE key to cancel the command. If the file already exists, you will be prompted to enter an A to append the block to the file, O to overwrite the file, or ESCAPE to cancel the command. Once the block has been written, the block will automatically be unmarked. The letters used for the block commands may be in upper or lower case. 3.9. Loading Picklist Files Without Leaving Text Viewing. If you loaded the currently displayed file from the picklist, then you can load files that were in the picklist before or after the current file. ALT-P -- Load previous file. Loads the file that is directly ahead of the current file in the picklist. ALT-N -- Load next file. Loads the file that directly follows the current file in the picklist 4. EXECUTING DOS COMMANDS ========================== You can execute DOS commands from within ReadIt by pressing the F10 key. ReadIt will prompt you to enter a DOS command, press ENTER on a blank line to go to DOS, or press ESCAPE to cancel. If you press ESCAPE, you will be returned to the point in ReadIt from which you had pressed F10 (text viewing, filename entry panel, or the pick list). If you decide to execute a DOS command or go to DOS, ReadIt will check to see if there is enough memory. If so, it will execute your command or take you to DOS. When you go to DOS, you can perform any function or run any program for which there is enough memory. When you are done, type "EXIT" to return to ReadIt. If you tell ReadIt to perform a DOS command and there is enough memory, ReadIt will execute the command, freeze the screen, and prompt you to press any key to continue. After you press a key, you will be returned to the point in ReadIt from which you had pressed F10. 5. THE HELP SYSTEM =================== From anywhere in ReadIt (except error messages) you can pull down a help screen that is relevant to where you are in the program. All help screens are full-width and begin at the first line of your computer's display. The text is printed directly or through Bios depending on how you have the display mode set. When you leave a help screen a short low tone is sounded to signal that the help screen has been removed. 6. THE READIT CUSTOMIZING PROGRAM (RIC.EXE) ============================================ We have included the ReadIt Customizer program (RIC.EXE) to enable you to change some of ReadIt's attributes. Following is a list of the things you can do with RIC.EXE. - Change the colors of status panel, the text display area, and the command/help panel. Also the pick list. - Change the positions of these three panels. - Turn off the two line help panels. This leaves more room for displaying text on the screen. - Change the default display mode for the status window. Default refers to the settings in effect when the program is first run - Change the default display mode for everything else. - Set the length of all of ReadIt's prompts. - Select a drive and path for ReadIt to put the READIT.BMK file. If you do this, all bookmarks will be saved in the same file on the specified drive and path. The default is for ReadIt to save bookmarks to a file in the directory containing the file you are viewing. - Add file extensions for ReadIt to skip when displaying a pick list. ReadIt already skips files with extensions of "EXE", "COM", and "SYS". You can remove any of these, or simply add others. When you run the ReadIt Customizer program (RIC) you will be prompted for the filename (and path if necessary) for ReadIt. RIC doesn't mind if you've renamed READIT.EXE as long as you tell it the new name and where to find it. It should be noted, however, that if you change ReadIt's filename (READIT.EXE) you will not be able to save the scrolling speed since ReadIt will not be able to find itself. After you have entered the name and pressed ENTER, you will be taken to RIC's main menu. NOTE: (1) You only need to type in the drive and directory path if READIT.EXE is not on the drive/path from which you are running RIC.EXE. (2) If you do not enter the extension (.EXE) RIC will automatically append it to the filename. RIC is mostly menu driven. Simply move the highlight bar to your choice and press the ENTER key to select it. RIC tries to anticipate your next menu choice and highlight it for you in an attempt to reduce the number of keystrokes necessary to set up ReadIt to suit your needs and preferences. Consequently, we will restrict our discussion of RIC to a few areas. 6.1. Changing Colors Once you have selected a screen/panel you wish to change the colors of, RIC will display the current colors of that selection in the text display area. The status line will display what color can be changed (foreground/background) and the help panel will tell you what your options are. Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to change the colors and the LEFT, RIGHT arrow keys or the SPACE BAR to switch between foreground and background. Once you've decided on a color combination that pleases you, press the ENTER key to select it. Or press the ESCAPE key to return to the "Change colors" menu without making any changes. Another place in RIC where you don't simply highlight a menu item is the "Add/edit file extensions" choice from the "Changes" menu. 6.2. Add/Edit File Extensions Using RIC, you can add or change the file extensions that ReadIt skips when displaying a file pick list. The extension list already includes "EXE", "COM", and "SYS" because these are file types likely to be on most computer users' hard drives. ReadIt is a "text" file reader so it skips these files. If you wish to add the extensions of non-text files that reside on your hard drive, select this choice from the "Changes" menu. RIC will display a list of any previously entered file extensions. The list will hold up to fifteen (15) extensions. Move the highlight bar to an extension you wish to change or to a blank line to enter a new extension and press ENTER. A small box will pop up and you will be able to: edit a previously entered extension using the BACKSPACE key; delete a previously entered extension by pressing the SPACE BAR followed by the ENTER key; or add a new extension. You can add new extensions one after the other until: 1 - You press ENTER on a blank entry. 2 - You press the ESCAPE key. If you press the ESCAPE key after typing an extension and before pressing ENTER that extension will not be added to the list. 3 - You have added the limit. The list will hold up to fifteen extensions. Once you have added and/or changed all the extensions you wanted to, press the ESCAPE key to return to the "Changes" menu. 6.3. Resetting To Defaults By selecting the second item in RIC's main menu ("Reset to default values"), you can set all of ReadIt's customizable features to the way they were set at DLJ Software. This includes everything that can be changed using RIC, and the scrolling speed which is changed and saved from within ReadIt itself. 6.4. Closing Remarks About RIC We have attempted to make RIC quick and easy to use. Because of this we have written very little here about it and have included very little help in RIC (other than the help panels). We believe that once you are familiar enough with ReadIt that you want to make changes in it you will find RIC very easy to use. 7. SOME LEGAL STUFF ==================== ReadIt and RIC are the copyrighted work of DLJ Software. All rights under U.S. copyright law are reserved. DLJ Software hereby grants to the unregistered user of this software a limited license to use the unregistered version of the ReadIt software package for the purpose of evaluating it's usefulness. The evaluation period should not exceed thirty (30) calendar days after the receipt of the software. To continue to use the software legally after the evaluation period, fill out and return the registration form that came with this software. A copy of the registration form is at the end of this file. Registered users do NOT purchase ownership rights to the ReadIt software package. Sole ownership, and the rights accompanying it, remain with DLJ Software and the author of the ReadIt software package. Registered users may not modify the package in any way, except for the renaming of the files for their own use. Registered users also may not copy and resale the registered ReadIt software package. However, the shareware package may be copied and distributed as stated below. DLJ Software grants the right for persons to copy and distribute the shareware version of the ReadIt software package, through personal exchange or uploading to BBS's and other electronic services, under the following conditions. 1 - The programs and accompanying files may not be modified. 2 - The following files must be distributed as a package. READIT.EXE RIC.EXE READIT28.DOC CFDIR.EXE CFDIR.DOC FEATURES.TXT 3 - No other files may be distributed as part of the ReadIt package. 4 - Only fees reflecting the cost of distribution, such as disk copying and mailing or connect time in the case of BBS's and electronic services that cater to SHAREWARE, may be accepted from receivers of this software without the express written permission of DLJ Software. Disclaimer: This program is provided on an "as is" basis. The user assumes all risk as to the performance, quality, or reliability of the product. No warranties, implied or otherwise, are made, including, but not limited to, any "implied" warranties of merchantability, fitness, or suitability for any particular purpose or design. A user waives ALL other claims, and DLJ Software becomes free from responsibility of ALL liabilities or damages, including, but not limited to, lost revenues or profits, unsuitability of performance for a user's particular needs, any other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use this program, even if DLJ Software has been informed of such damages or the potential for damages. Acknowledgements: The bulk of these programs was written using Turbo Pascal. A few routines were written using the Turbo Assembler. Both Turbo Pascal and Turbo Assembler are products of Borland International. ReadIt and it's accompanying files were compressed into a self- extracting archive using LHarc version 1.13c Copyright (c) Haruyasu Yoshizaki, 1988-89 However, the package you received may have been "repackaged" using a different compression utility. 8. REGISTRATION ================ ReadIt is NOT free. It is "SHAREWARE". This means that you are granted a LIMITED license to try it out to make sure that it suits your needs before you pay for it. If you like ReadIt and continue to use it, fill out and send in the registration form along with your registration fee , check or money order, of $15.00 (U.S. currency). Registration is easy. Simply fill out the form below and send it along with your check or money order (payable in U.S. funds and drawn on a U.S. bank or other U.S. financial institution) to: DLJ Software 182 Maplewood Circle Urbana, OH 43078-9255 We strongly discourage sending cash through the mail and will take no responsibility for any cash that might be lost. To be safe, send only a check or money order drawn on a U.S. bank or other U.S. financial institution. We take the democratic approach when deciding what to do with ReadIt. Those changes and features most wanted by our registered users are most likely to find there way into future versions. To ensure that you have a vote, take a few minutes to fill out the comment section of the registration form when you register your copy of ReadIt. If you wish to contact the author of ReadIt and RIC, send letters to the above address with "ATTN: Dave" on the bottom left hand corner of the envelope. Or, send E-mail to Compuserve user number 72277,2760 or GEnie E-mail address D.JUSTICE2. The registration form below can be copied to a separate file by marking it with ReadIt's block commands, and then using the write command. Once you have it in it's own file, you can then fill it out using your favorite text editor. --------------------------------------------------------------------- DLJ Software 182 Maplewood Circle Urbana, OH 43078-9255 ReadIt 2.8 Registration NAME: _______________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ CITY: ________________________________________________________ STATE: _______________________________________________________ ZIP: ________________________________________________________ You will receive the latest version of ReadIt on a 5.25" 360k diskette. If you prefer a 3.5" diskette, add $1.00. If you reside outside the continental U.S. add $2.00. ReadIt (single user) $ 15.00 $__________ 3.5" diskette instead of 5.25" $ 1.00 $__________ Outside the continental U.S. add $ 2.00 $__________ Total Enclosed $__________ COMMENTS: ----------------------------------------------------------------------