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HISTORY.DOC
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1992-02-02
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Micro-Mapper Version History
3.1 *When I started breaking Micro-Mapper into pieces to fit within the
small memory model(64k) I inadvertantly created a problem. I did
find out about the problem until I installed Micro-Mapper on a machine
used for a class I was taking. It was then that I discovered that
Micro-Mapper was unable to find its files unless the file resided in
the same directory as was being worked in. The pathing problem should
now be solved. Micro-Mapper will now be called via a batch file that
will supply Micro-Mapper with the "home" directory where it can find
all of its files and support programs. If the path that is passed to
Micro-Mapper is null, then the current path is assumed to be the home
directory.
*If Micro-Mapper is unable to find the MAPPER.MNU file on start-up, it
assumes that the path is wrong and stops execution. Make sure that
Micro-Mapper is called with a batch program that passes the directory
name where the Micro-Mapper programs reside.
*When asking to load a new file and the file is not found, perhaps due
to a typo, the original file name was wiped out and the erroneous one
became the default map name. Prior to the impementation of field
definitions, this did not cause a problem. Micro-Mapper would allow
you to define the fields for the map on the screen and place them under
the name of the failed map name. While this was not a fatal error,
it did cause understandable confusion. Micro-Mapper will now reset the
map name to the current map name instead of the fialed name.
*The routine that allowed entry of the Map name to load or save would
not allow numbers. This has been corrected to allow ANY character.
*Block character routine would accept lower case characters and not
display the upper case equivalent. This is now fixed.
*MEM file format display routines sped up 300%. Also, preliminary
testing has shown that screens saved in the MEM format can be
loaded directly by CLIPPER 5.1 programs using the RESTORE SCREEN
command.
*When an area was loaded onto the screen from disk, the map name was
changed to the name of the area just loaded. This has been corrected
to preserve the map name.
*When displaying the directory prior to specify the name of a map, various
uses had reported that it did not display correctly. Subsequent
investigation showed that the display works fine with MSDOS 3.2 or DRDOS
v5.0 or v6.0, but NOT with MSDOS 5.0 or 4.01. After many frustrating
hours of trying to ensure a uniform display in a tight code space, I
gave up. The directory will still be displayed, it will just be in the
normal DOS format instead of the compact one provided Micro-Mapper.
*Format of COLOR1(configuration screen), COLOR2(Change color scree),
and TBL(Character chart scree) have been changed from .COM to .MEM.
This allows faster loading and saves disk space.
*Formated Documentation file in "ready to print" format. Use PRINTDOC.COM
to send file to printer. File is set up for standard IBM printer
command set and should print with page breaks, headers and footers.
*Added PRINTDOC.COM utility to print MAPPER.DOC file.
*Added Edit Screen message to remind user to press the ESC to get the Main
Menu.
*I have noticed that CAPTURE.COM does not seem to work with VGA screens.
It is being worked on but a remedy is not yet available.
3.0 *Added Map Field function to Main Menu.
*Moved all menus to MAPPER.MNU file to provide code space for Map
Field function.
*Modified DMEM.COM to prevent screen overrun when displaying screens
saved by CAPTURE.COM.
2.9 *Added HOT keys to draw mode. This allows you to press a key to
switch between double/single line, change color, select a
repeating character.
*Added U - use character command to draw mode. Place cursor on
character to use(mouse only-if you don't have a mouse use R to
select from character chart) and press U. The character under the
cursor is now used as the repeating character.
*Added A - use Attribute command to draw mode. Place cursor on
attribute(color) and press A(mouse only-if you don't have a
mouse use C and select attribute from color chart).
*Added +- Commands to draw menu. Press + to increment the current
color and - to decrement the color.
*Modified Find/Change Function to allow finding a character and
change its attribute and to find an attribute and change the
character.
*Added */ commands to the draw menu. Press * to increment the color
by 16 steps(increments background by 1). Press / to decrement the
color by 16 steps.
*Added Zap Attribute to Area Function. This allows you to step the
colors in an area and optionally keep the results or restore the
area to original attributes.
*Added ANSI color table to Color Chart.
*Added routine to display 10 occurrences of draw character in color
under cursor when selecting a color from the color chart.
*Added F2 - use attribute to text mode. Place the cursor over the
attribute you wish to copy and press ALT A. The typing color will
change the one at that location.
*Changed status line to show foreground and background color
numbers.
*Changed Edit Options Function on Main Menu to Options Edit to
allow addition of Erase function.
*Changed status line to show ANSI color sequence numbers.
*Added Erase function to main menu. Default erase color is white
on black.
*Re-wrote, Map loading routines to use external loaders, DANSI.COM,
DASCII.COM, DWCAT3.COM and DMEM.COM. This was done to free up
some code space for this release.
*Re-wrote ANSI and Wild Cat 3 screen generator routines to free up
code space for this release.
2.8 *Added Wild Cat 3 BBS format to save and load screen functions.
*Wrote Stand-alone display programs for MEM and Wild Cat 3.
Added feature to allow you to display an area using the
stand-alone display programs without clearing the screen. Handy
for displaying pop-up menus. See documentation under required
files.
*Added G - Get Area function to the Main Menu. This function
allows you to use the hard drive as a scratch pad, saving areas
and later, loading them into a screen that you are developing.
All formats are supported though I strongly recommend that areas
saved for this purpose be in the MEM format.
2.7 *Added G - General ANSI option to the Load screen function to allow
loading of an ANSI screen without having to load the ANSI.SYS
device driver.
*Removed Block character set from program. Micro-Mapper now uses
.MCS files to get the desired character. Option was added to the
configuration editor allowing you to change the name of the
character set file. This change gave back over 10k of code space
and made it possible for user to create and use their own
character sets. If you make a nice one and would like it included
in the next release, please send a floppy(360,1.2,720 or 1.44) to
the registration address. Please specify if it is ok for me to
put your name in the documentation as the contributor of the
character set. The same thing applies to screens. I may rotate
them though to keep the size of the MAPPERxx.ZIP file small. Put
your name on the screens if you want.
*Created the WIRE.MCS and LLET.MCS character sets.
2.6 *Fixed strange error #9 or memory supervisor error. Error occurred
when running Mapper from within another program. Stack was being
corrupted. Sorry about that. Stupid error on my part.
*Fixed case where mouse driver allows mouse to visit 26 or more
lines on screen. Caused cursor to go to first line and lock.
*Added File list display when or saving loading screens. Up to 187
files are displayed. IF there are more than 187, the screen will
scroll, losing the fist lines displayed. Had a lot of requests
for this feature from registered users. Note that all files
having the proper extent are displayed whether they are mapper
screens or not.
*Fixed black hole error that occurred when loading a map over
another map.
2.5 *Added Configuration editor.
2.4 *Fixed various ESC/Select "hole" bugs in new routines.
*Added Load Map error routine to properly detect when map is not
found in current directory. Hard to believe that I did not put
this in from the start.
*Added C as last character on 25th line to indicate current
Text/Draw color.
*Added MAPPER.CFG check to program initialization routine to allow
you to change various program defaults such as window color, mouse
delay times etc. See documentation for details.
*Delete Area changed to use Current Text/Draw color, not the colors
in the area to be deleted.
2.3 *Added ability to hunt through screen or area to change a color to
another color.
*Repeating character, under draw mode, now displays ASCII chart for
character selection.
*Areas may now be saved in MEM format. Such files are named
SA#.MEM.
*Smoothed out mouse interface to remove annoying "back hole" that
occurred when a menu was placed over the cursor. Subsequent
movement of the mouse cursor caused a hole in the menu.
*Updated documentation to reflect use of COLOR and CHARACTER
charts.
2.2 *Changed Area save feature to automatically save area under a new
name if old name exists. IF SA#.ANS(ASC) exists the # is
incremented one step. Six places are reserved, so you can have up
to 999,999 temporary files under ANS, another 999,999 under ASC.
That should be more than enough temporary file name combinations.
*Added Color Change option to Draw sub-menu. Now you can change
draw colors without exiting draw mode.
*Re-wrote X-Chart routine to display Color ASCII chart instead of
scrolling character BOX.
*Re-wrote Color change routines to display Color chart instead of
color box.
*Changed all routines that allowed color/character changes to use
new ASCII character and Color routines.
2.1 *Fixed Bug with ANSI screen load where the 0,0 character was erased.
*Added feature to display draw character when in draw mode.
*Fixed Bug with ANSI screen save that incremented the color of the
foreground character 1 step when the background color was green
(Stupid error that took an hour to find).
*Fixed bug where when the mapper is started with the SAVE option, a
subsequent selection of the New function displays the last saved
screen image(save prior to displaying the menu).
*Wrote companion TSR program to allow you to capture screens from
already developed applications. Saves re-engineering time.
Captured screens are saved as CS#.MEM and can be loaded into the
mapper as memory format files. The screen may subsequently saved
as ANSI, COM or ASCII. Note: the TSR uses about 27,872 bytes of
your memory. This was kept a no-frills program to keep the size
down. Main Frame users: many terminal emulation software packages
trap the keystrokes preventing your favorite TSR from poping up.
Some of the better packages allow you to invoke the emulator and
tell it to allow the keystrokes to pass through. See the manual
that came with the emulator for details. Why doesn't the TSR
create a COM file? See note about keeping it small. To load the
TSR type CAPTURE. To invoke the TSR and capture the screen, press
CNTL(control) Backspace. Note that if CS#.MEM already exists, the
# is incremented and the screen is saved as that. Screens are
saved in the CURRENT directory.
2.0 *Improved COM(Generate) screen loading, faster displays.
*Added Mouse/Cursor positioning routines with mouse mickey column
and row values displayed.
*Interfaced mouse with menus, now you can click on a letter and it
will execute the function. Mouse may also be used for all
sub-menu positioning with the exception of the drawing menu. You
may also place the mouse cursor on and arrow and hold it down to
scroll(ASCII chart and Color select window.
*Added a user program exit(U) on the main menu. This exit may be
used to call MUSER(BAT, EXE or COM).
*Fixed bug with repeating character that disallowed exiting
feature.
*Mapper may now be invoked without clearing the screen by using the
following start up command: "MAPPER SAVE"
*Main Menu option(Z) allows you to clear the screen with a
specified character. Remember that non-keyboard characters may be
entered by 1) ensuring that the num lock is on, 2) hold down the
ALT key, and 3) enter the decimal number of the character using
the number pad.
*Made minor changes to the Block character set.
1.9 Added High Speed Screen Save/Get routines to improve performance
1.8 Added ANSI Screen/Code generation/save/load functions
1.7 Added Line(Box) Drawing Function
1.6 Added DOS Window Function
1.5 Fixed Bug in Save Routine. Added character Find/Change function
1.4 Added ASCII Chart/ALT NUM character entry
1.3 Added Color Capability
1.2 Added Area Commands
1.1 Added COM Generate ability
1.0 Micro Mapper begins, Saves ASCII screens.