Vectronix 2/VECTRONIX2.iso/FILES_09/RUNNER.ZIP/FILSELCT.HLP

Text File | 1992-05-25 | 11KB | 210 lines

                        Runner -- A Desktop Alternative

                              FILE SELECTOR USAGE

                       Running and Viewing Other Programs


                       Copyright (C) 1993 by Dave Thorson
                       Version 1.61     November 18, 1993


        Runner can use use the standard Atari file selector almost like
        a window from the desktop: you can run programs and view files
        from the file selector.  This only works when you call the file
        selector directly from Runner, not when another program calls
        it, even if the other program is run from within Runner (I'm not
        a magician or a CodeHead, you know!).

        Access to the file selector can be also handy if you want to see
        what's on a disk, since a file selector displays the filenames
        and folders.  This can be even handier if you're using Universal
        Item Selector, since now you have access to Copy, Move, Delete,
        Rename, Format and Print capabilities, among others.


$$      There are several ways to access a file selector:

        * Click on the title line at the top of a menu list.

        * Press the Space Bar to access a file selector box.

        * Hold down the Alternate key and press a letter key.  While
          pressing the space bar starts in the last used drive and
          directory (folder), using an Alt-letter key will start it in
          the last-used directory of the corresponding drive as follows:

          Alt-a  A:     Alt-b  B:      Alt-c  C:     and so on....


$$      Exiting a File Selector

        Click on Cancel, or click OK without selecting a file.  The file
        selector goes away and you're back in Runner.


$$      Running a Program from a File Selector

        Select a program file ending in .PRG, .TTP, .TOS or .APP, and
        Runner will try to run that program.  For .TTP programs, Runner
        asks you for a command line (what you would type into the dialog
        box displayed by the Atari desktop when you run a .TTP program
        from a window).  When you exit the application program, the item
        selector will appear again.

        If you want to run a program using Mini-Run from the file
        selector you have two choices.  Press the Esc key before going
        to the file selector.  "MINI-RUN" will replace the time or date
        displayed in the upper right screen corner (press Esc again to
        turn this off and disable Mini-Run).  Then, the next program
        selected will be run by Mini-Run (even programs loaded into one
        of Runner's menus).  The other method is to hold down Control
        when selecting the program.

        If you want Runner to hold the screen after another program
        exits, press Esc twice before going to the file selector (press
        ing Esc on the menu screen cycles from normal to Mini-Run to
        Hold Screen to both Mini-Run and Hold Screen and then back to
        normal (which is blank or a time/date display).


$$      Running Installed Applications

        If you click on a data file for an installed application
        (described in DIALOG.HLP), that application will load and use
        the file you selected.  For example, clicking on "HI_MOM.DOC" in
        the file selector would load the Word Writer program on my
        computer, and my letter to Mom would be loaded into Word Writer
        for me.


$$      File View

        If you select any other file, Runner will attempt to display it
        on the screen as text, using its built-in File View.

        If the file is too big to fit at one time (the current file
        buffer size is 128K, awfully large for most text files), then
        only the first part of the file will be loaded.  Then, when you
        exit File View, a dialog box asks if you want to load the next
        part or if you really want to exit.  The choice is yours!

        The file view screen displays the name of the file, the percent
        of the file viewed so far (if the screen says 29%, then the text
        line at the bottom of the screen appears 29% of the way through
        the file).  If a very large file had to broken up into sections,
        then the top screen line also tells you which section you are
        viewing and an estimate of how many sections there are
        altogether.  The bottom line shows the most-used commands
        available at that point in the file.  Here's a complete list:

        B - Move back one page:  Press the "B" key, the UP arrow, or
          click the Right mouse button.

        Space - Move forward one page:  Press the Space Bar, the Down
          arrow, or click the Left mouse button.

        Q - Quit File View:  Press the "Q" key, the Undo key, the Return
          key, or click Both mouse buttons at the same time (Runner is
          smart enough to let you hold down either mouse button first,
          then click the other one, and release them both; you don't
          need real precise timing).

        T - Go to Top of file:  Press the "T" key.  If the file is split
          into sections, this only takes you to the top of the current
          section of a very large file.

        W - Wide or Narrow text (Low and Medium Res Color only):
          Press the "W" key for wide characters in 40 columns, and press
          it again for narrow characters in 80 columns.  This is handy
          for some files that are formatted for 40 column display, or
          or if you like bigger letters.  It may not always be
          pretty but it's there....

        H - Move down about half a screen, handy for times when the
          stuff you need to see most is split across two screens.

        P - Print current screen:  Press the "P" key to print the text
          from the currently displayed page.  This sends TEXT to your
          printer, not the lengthy series of pixels sent by Atari's
          built-in screen dump.  Handy if you need to grab part of a
          file for a quick listing without printing the whole thing.

        F - Send Form Feed:  Press the "F" key to send a Form Feed
          character to the printer, which on most printers causes the
          current page to be ejected.  Use this to space out screen
          prints across several pages as needed.  Note: a Form Feed is
          issued automatically for every three screens printed (at 19
          lines per screen, three prints about fill a page).  The screen
          print count is reset to zero when you press "F" or when an
          automatic Form Feed is sent.

        S - Search for text:  Press the "S" key to start a text search.
          You will be prompted to enter text, up to 12 characters.  If
          you press Return without entering any text, the search will be
          cancelled.  Searches are normally case-insensitive, that is a
          search for "runner" will find "Runner", "RUNNER", and
          "runneR".  To perform a case-sensitive search, hold down the
          Control key when you press "S".  Then upper and lower case
          characters must match exactly.  Feel free to add a space
          before or after your search string if needed, so that a search
          for " day " does not find "Monday" or "daytime".  The search
          stops at the first page containing the text string.  If the
          string cannot be found, the last displayed page is re-
          displayed.  During the search, the "percent viewed" indicator
          is updated but otherwise the screen is unchanged.

        A - Search Again:  Press the "A" key to search again for the
          same text string.  The search resumes on the next screen or at
          the top of the currently displayed screen if you have moved
          backward, forward, or to the top or bottom of the file.  "A"
          can be used to continue a search across sections of the same
          file.  As with "S", hold down Control when you press "A" to do
          a case-sensitive search, otherwise the search will be case-
          insensitive.  You can mix both types of searches as needed.

        C - Cancel search:  Press the "C" key to cancel a search in
          progress.  The screen from which you started the search will
          be redisplayed as if the search had never happened.

        I - Interrupt search:  Press the "I" key to interrupt a search
          in progress.  The screen being searched when you press the "I"
          key will be displayed.  This is a quick way to get through a
          long file: search for a string that is not in the file, such
          as "XYZZY", and when the "percent viewed" indicator shows a
          number you like, interrupt the search.  If you let an
          unsuccessful search get to the end of a file, the search is
          cancelled and you will see the starting screen again.

        ? or Help: Pressing these keys displays a "key reminder box"
          designed to help you remember which keys to use when viewing a
          file.  The keys to press are shown in upper case (for example,
          you'll see "Top" and "Wide" in the box.



$$      More Control

        To simply view a data file that would otherwise cause an
        installed application to load, hold down Control when selecting
        it.  Since this bypasses use of an installed application there
        is no way to force Mini-Run to run an installed application with
        Control; you'll have to press Esc before entering the file
        selector as mentioned above, or set up that application (with
        the Change command - see MENU_BAR.HLP) to always use Mini-Run.



$$      Additional Complexity for Added Benefit

        Hold down Control when you exit a program run from a file
        selector, or when you exit File View, to skip the return to the
        file selector and instead go straight back to Runner's menu
        screen.  This saves you some keystrokes or mouse presses but
        it's more brain baggage to carry around.   ;-)


        [end of FILSELCT.HLP]