ARM Club 1/ARM_CLUB_CD.iso/_pipedream/documents/features

Text File | 1989-08-03 | 15.8 KB | 386 lines

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%CO:A,72,72%%H2%Changes between PipeDream 2 and PipeDream 3

The following is a brief introduction to the differences between
versions 2 and 3 of PipeDream.  It is intended as a quick reference for
users of previous versions of PipeDream to see what is available.  It
does not attempt to go into detail over the new facilities - for this
you will need to refer to the PipeDream User Guide.

%H2%Operating Systems

PipeDream version 3 works only under RISC OS and not under Arthur 1.2
or earlier versions.  PipeDream version 2 works under both Arthur 1.2
and RISC OS.

%H2%SpellCheck

PipeDream version 3 incorporates PipeDream SpellCheck whereas
SpellCheck was a separate option for PipeDream version 2.

%H2%Installation

Installation is much easier.  It comprises making a backup of the
PipeDream master disc to a PipeDream working disc from which you will
run PipeDream 3. The first time you run PipeDream 3 you will be asked
to enter your name which will be included in the PipeDream program from
then on.  Your PipeDream 3 disc also has a unique registration number
identifying all working discs as having come from your master.

Having installed PipeDream fill in the registration card and return it
to Colton Software.  You will then be a registered user. Only
registered users are entitled to telephone support and upgrades to new
releases.

Note that the unique registration number on the disc enables us to
trace copies of your master disc.  You are allowed and welcome to make
backup copies of the disc for your own use but you are not allowed to
make copies of the disc for anyone else to use.  If you are unsure of
your rights read the disc envelope carefully or phone Colton Software
for guidance.

Software piracy is theft.  Thieves hurt genuine users just as much as
they hurt software houses through giving upwards pressure on prices.
We don't believe that the best way to stamp out software piracy is to
protect discs because that makes life difficult for genuine users - the
overwhelming majority.  Having unique registration numbers enables us
to trace illegal copies very easily and to prosecute offenders
effectively.

%H2%User Interface

PipeDream has been completely rewritten to take advantage of RISC OS in
as many ways as possible.  A PipeDream document now appears in a window
on the screen.  All of the resizing, scrolling and pointing operations
are available, as are many drag and clicking operations.  The result is
that PipeDream operates very much like Edit, rather than previous
versions of PipeDream which took over the screen and took (almost) all
input from the keyboard.

%H2%Many documents

PipeDream can cope with as many documents all loaded at once as can be
fitted into memory.  Each document appears in its own window.  Note
that it is one copy of PipeDream in the computer that is doing this,
not one PipeDream for each window, so many documents can be loaded even
on a 1Mbyte computer.

To see this in action make a selection of files in a directory viewer
and drag the selection to the PipeDream icon on the icon bar.  Each
file will be loaded into a new PipeDream window.

Blocks of data can be copied and moved between windows by marking a
block in one window, positioning the caret in another and giving the
relevant command.

%H2%Recovering deletions

PipeDream 2 remembered words and phrases that had been deleted and they
could be recovered using the Paste command.  PipeDream 3 can also
recover deleted rows, columns and blocks.  It maintains a list of up to
255 deletions (the default is 50 and is configurable between 0-255)
which can be pasted back into the text and any point by positioning the
caret at the insertion point and giving the Paste command.

A block can be moved between windows by deleting it from one window and
pasting it into another.

A new command Copy Block to Buffer is also provided which copies the
the marked block to the paste list without deleting it from the text.
It can be pasted in at any point, so that a copy of it is made.

%H2%Natural Recalculation

In addition to recalculating by row or column PipeDream 3 has natural
recalculation.  This resolves problems of forward references where the
spreadsheet might have to be recalculated more than once before all of
the values were up-to-date.  With automatic recalculation on, it is
usually significantly faster, as only those slots that change value,
rather than all slots in the spreadsheet, are recalculated.

Natural recalculation requires extra memory to record the information
as to which slots affect which others.  If PipeDream runs out of memory
it will automatically switch to recalculation by column, giving a
message saying it is doing so.

%H2%Background, interruptible recalculation

PipeDream's recalculation is performed in short time-slices in the
background so you can continue with other tasks whilst recalculation is
proceeding.

%H2%Memory Usage

PipeDream 3 employs greater data compaction and more sparse matrix
techniques enabling larger files to be loaded into the same amount of
memory.  The amount of improvement will depend upon the data but, in
general, the sparser the file (ie the more blank slots there are) the
greater the improvement.

Additionally PipeDream communicates intelligently with RISC OS to use
only the amount of memory it needs at any time, giving memory back to
the system when it is no longer needed.  It is very important for
applications to cooperate in this way in a multi-tasking environment so
that the very most may be made of the available memory (because there
is never enough of it).  Applications cooperating in this manner are
more usable and less frustrating.

%H2%Insert on return

Users of other word processors often prefer the current line to be
split when they press the Return key and for the two lines to be joined
again when a delete backwards is made at the beginning of the line or a
delete forwards at the end of the line.  Others don't.

A new option Insert on return in the Options dialogue box enables users
to set this either way.  Its status can also be saved in the
initialisation file so that it is permanently the way you want it to
be.

%H2%Replicate

There are two new commands which, in most cases, make replication
faster and smoother than the using the Replicate command.  Replicate
Right (Ctrl BRR) copies the left-most column of a marked block to all
of the other columns in the block.  Replicate Down (Ctrl BRD) copies
the top row of a block to all of the other rows in the block.  Since
blocks can be marked very easily by dragging the mouse from one corner
to an opposite corner and the commands can be selected from the menu
with the mouse a replicate can be done very quickly without touching
the keyboard.

The old command Replicate is still present and is the same as before.

%H2%Alt-key sequences

In addition to the selection of commands from menus by using the mouse
the hot-key sequences have been retained and are similar to those on
all other versions of PipeDream.  Unfortunately however it was
necessary for PipeDream to change to use the Ctrl key rather than the
Alt keys as the shifting key.  This is because the specification of the
Alt key was changed by Acorn to be used with foreign character sets,
after PipeDream version 2 was written .  It was not possible within the
rules of RISC OS for PipeDream to use the Alt key as a shifting key.

So on the Z88 the shifting key is <>, on the PC and Archimedes
PipeDream version 2 it is Alt, and on RISC OS PipeDream it is Ctrl.  It
is, of course, usually preferable to select commands from menus with
the mouse.

The changes to the Alt key also mean that it is no longer possible for
Alt + function key to be defined by the user.

%H2%Previous match (Ctrl BPM)

Previous match is the opposite of Next match and moves the caret back
to the previous occurrence of the string given in the Search dialogue
box.  It is most useful when inadvertently giving too many Next match
commands but can be used for searching a file backwards if you so
desire.

%H2%Subgrams (Ctrl SH)

Subgrams are like anagrams without the restriction that all letters of
the original word must be used.  eg a, me, mad, dame and armed are all
subgrams of Dream.  This feature will help you to impress your friends
with your massive vocabulary and win newspaper competitions.

%H2%Carriage return and linefeed

The position with Archimedes software and carriage returns (CR) and
linefeeds (LF) seems to be a little confused.  Some editors use CR as
their line separator (deriving from BBC days), some editors use LF
(deriving from UNIX), some editors use CR,LF (deriving from CP/M and
MS-DOS).  It would be helpful if all editors could automatically load
files of any type (like PipeDream can) but, sadly, this is not the
case.  So PipeDream 3 has an option in the Save dialogue box which
enables to specify what line separator to save the file with.  The
options are CR, LF, CR+LF, LF+CR.

%H2%Negative numbers

Negative numbers in expression slots can be displayed on the screen in
a different colour to the rest of the text.  This can be very striking
when the colour chosen is red.

%H2%Centre window

This new command is provided to position the line containing the caret
in the middle of the window.

%H2%Fixed rows and columns

The status of fixed rows and columns is now saved with the file.

%H2%Sorting

Sorting in PipeDream 3 is several times faster than version 2 (the
exact factor depending on the data file).  PipeDream 3 can now sort
multi-row records. Rows that are blank in the first key field are bound
to the first row above that is not blank in the first key field.  This
enables records containing paragraphs of text, for example, to be
sorted.

%H2%Date format

A textual date format has been provided in addition to displaying dates
in English or American formats.

%H2%File formats

PipeDream can now load and save VIEW files, can load ViewSheet files
and can save Acorn DTP files.

%H2%Thousands

PipeDream 3 can display large numbers in a variety of ways.  Several
separators can be used to separate thousands and millions.  For example

  1234567.89
1 234 567.78
1,234,567.89
1.234.567,89

%H2%Database functions

The syntax of database functions has been improved.  In PipeDream 2 the
$ operator was used to determine both whether the slot reference should
be updated during replication and also whether the slot reference
should be updated during recalculation.  In PipeDream 3 each od these
has its own operator.  $ is still used to determine whether the slot
reference should be updated during replication.  # is used to determine
whether the slot reference should be updated during recalculation.

This change means that database functions written in files for
PipeDream 2 may produce different results in PipeDream 3 and database
functions written in files for Pipedream 3 may not be accepted in
Pipedream 2.  When converting files from PipeDream 2 to Pipedream 3 it
is usually necessary to either replace $ signs in the condition string
with a # or add a # and retain the $.

%H2%Spreadsheet functions

The following new spreadsheet functions have been provided:

ATN2(x,y)
MONTHDAYS(date)

RAND(n)
ROUND(n,p)
ROW(),COL()

DCOUNTA(range,condition)

%H2%Printing

As well as having its own printer driver system, PipeDream 3 can also
print using the RISC OS printer drivers supplied by Acorn.  Which
method you use is up to you.  The PipeDream drivers will usually be
much faster than the RISC OS drivers because they just sending out
lines of characters, whereas the RISC OS drivers build up pages of
bit-mapped graphics.  Only the RISC OS drivers can print pictures and
fonts.

Extra options have been added to the Print dialogue box to print
multiple copies and two-sided printing.  Two-sided printing is
reversing the order of parameters in headers and footers on even
numbered (left-hand) pages and printing extra characters in the left
margin of odd numbered (right-hand) pages.  Note that it is not the far
more useful ability to print on both sides of the paper without your
turning it over.  (That's a hardware problem.)

%H2%External references

With more than one file loaded it is possible to access slots in files
in other windows, and so you can link several spreadsheets together to
generate grand totals or create 3-dimensional models.

%H2%Save

After saving a file with a new name the file in memory is renamed also.

%H2%Save/Restore/Swap position

Save Position has been assigned to function key Shift F11.  Restore
position has been assigned to function key Ctrl F11.  Swap position and
caret has been assigned to function key F11.  This enables you to set a
position with Shift F11, move somewhere else and toggle between the
positions be pressing F11.

%H2%Macro recorder

PipeDream 3 has a macro recorder which enables you to build macro files
very easily.  The procedure is very similar to using the *Spool
command.  Giving the Record Macro File prompts you for the name of the
file for the macros to be inserted into.  Then all text that
you type and commands that you give, but not mouse movements, are
stored in the file ready for you to use with the Do Macro File command.

Creating macro files in this way is much easier than typing the
commands in yourself.  An additional benefit is that it generates files
which you can load into PipeDream windows to examine, and edit if you
wish.

One point to bear in mind if you have macro files that you have built
for use with PipeDream 2 is that the format has been simplified a
little.  Now only one command is allowed on a line in the macro file -
any text after the |m is treated as comment and ignored.  This enables
macro files to be a lot more understandable but it means that any
existing files that you have will do different things with PipeDream 3
and PipeDream 3 files that you create will not generally work with
PipeDream 2.

%H2%Slot Protection

Arbitrary blocks of slots can be protected in PipeDream 3.  The
protection prevents you from accidentally overwriting or deleting the
slot contents. Protected slots are displayed using a different
background colour than normal to make them stand out; this colour may
be changed using the Colours dialogue box.

%H2%Iteration

Recalculation can be made to iterate which gives the ability to
recalculate a set of formulae until a specified result has been
achieved.

%H2%Pictures

PipeDream 3 can display pictures that have been created by Draw, Paint
or other drawing applications.  These are displayed over blank slots on
screen and can be printed via the RISC OS printer drivers.

%H2%Z88 filing system

PipeDream 2 has the ability to load and save files directly to the Z88.
PipeDream 3 provides a Z88 filing system which makes the process rather
more general and fits in better with the RISC OS philosophy.  The Z88
Filer icon sits on the icon bar with the other filing system icons and
provides a device viewer and directory viewers in a similar way to the
drive icons.  Files can be dragged from directories in the Z88 straight
into PipeDream and can be saved back again in a similar way.  Files can
also be saved to the Z88 by dragging them from other applications.

Note that the A3000 does not come with a complete serial port and needs
to have a simple upgrade before you will be able to plug in the Z88 or
a serial printer.  This upgrade should be available from your dealer.

%H2%Help

PipeDream supports the RISC OS help system and provides useful context
sensitive help, mainly of mouse operations in different areas of the
window.  A useful summary of mouse operations is given at the end of
Section 3, Chapter 1.

%H2%Fonts

PipeDream 3 can use all of the fonts provided with RISC OS.  New
facilities are provided to set the global font for a document, to
insert font changes within documents and to specify font sizes.  Fonts
are printed using the RISC OS printer drivers and cannot be printed
using the PipeDream printer drivers.