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AM-EDIT REFERENCE MANUAL Version 2.00 (September, 1992) Copyright (C) 1991 by Paul L. Clem, Jr., all rights reserved PLC Software 2683 Swiss Lane P.O. Box 26127 Birmingham, AL 35226 Voice: (205) 822-1619 CompuServe: 70751,1322 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- SECTION PAGE ------- ---- 1. Introduction .............................................. 1 1.1 Definition of Shareware ................................. 2 1.2 Installation ............................................ 3 1.3 General Description ..................................... 4 1.4 Selecting the file to edit .............................. 6 1.5 Rules for non-text files ................................ 8 2. Positioning the current line .............................. 9 3. Editing a Line ............................................ 11 4. Function keys ............................................. 13 5. Starting a new file ....................................... 19 6. Commands .................................................. 21 6.1 Delete command .......................................... 22 6.2 Move command ............................................ 24 6.3 Copy command ............................................ 25 6.4 Insert commands ......................................... 27 6.5 Find commands ........................................... 28 6.6 Find command with option to replace ..................... 29 6.7 Find and replace all .................................... 30 6.8 Print commands .......................................... 31 6.9 Trace command ........................................... 32 7. System Information Screen ................................. 33 8. Using the calculator ...................................... 34 9. User ID function .......................................... 36 Appendix A - Messages .......................................... 40 A.1 Informative messages .................................... 40 A.2 Error messages .......................................... 43 1 INTRODUCTION ------------ The author has been a contract programmer for 22 years. During this time, he has had occasion to use numerous text editors on computers of all sizes. His goal has been to provide a low-cost PC editor which combines the best features from the various editors he has used. Some features of the resulting system are listed below. * The entire system is written in assembler, so as to provide the fastest possible response time. * It is extremely fast when loading files, saving files, and when searching for text strings. * It is compact. The program size is under 39K. * It provides extensive on-screen help. * It can store over 3 times the amount of data in real memory as compared to some PC editors. * It contains a built-in decimal/hex/binary calculator, which includes logical functions such as AND, OR, XOR, and NOT as well as the arithmetic functions. * It contains a built-in ascii chart. * It allows the user to trace all lines which have been changed, copied, moved, or added since the edit began. * It allows each user to have his or her own "User ID", identi- fying parameters chosen by that user. Parameters include the screen colors, file backup option, and the number of lines to scroll when paging through the file. * It contains a built-in screen blanker and an automatic save option, and both features can be customized for each user. * It uses commands rather than "pop-up" menus, and the user is never required to enter a line number in a command. * It allows the user to execute commands with a minimal number of keystrokes. For example, after starting an edit, you can delete every line in your file with the following keystrokes: * Type the letter "d" (or "D") * Press Ctrl-Page Down * Press the ENTER key The lines will be deleted in a fraction of a second. You can then restore all lines that you just deleted by simply press- ing function key Shift-F4. -1- The result is a "no-nonsense" full-screen text editor which is both powerful and extremely easy to use. It does not duplicate functions which can be performed by your operating system. It does not contain those complex functions which, in the opinion of the author, are of absolutely no use to most programmers and which cause even the most simple function to be more complicated than it needs to be. Consequently, you are not burdened with hugh manuals which must be consulted at every turn. Instead, you have a brief reference manual which you probably need to read only once. After that, you can use the series of HELP screens within the editor (initiated by pressing function key F1) to answer most of your questions. 1.1 DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE ----------------------- AM-EDIT is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to you for evaluation. Shareware is a method of distribution, not a type of software. Shareware distribution gives you a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program such as AM-EDIT and continue to use it, you are expected to register. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try a product before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee; if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. You can feel free to make copies of the shareware version of AM-EDIT to give to friends and associates, with the understanding that they too are expected to register if they continue to use the system. If you find AM-EDIT useful for your needs and you continue to use it after a reasonable trial period, you are asked to make a registration payment of $40 to PLC Software. The registration payment includes $37 for the system and $3 for shipping. Upon registering, you will receive the following: * A diskette containing the latest version of the system. * A printed and bound reference manual. * A registration number entitling you to free technical support. * Notices of major new releases, detailing all enhancements. * The option to purchase any newer version at low cost. Registration will license one copy of AM-EDIT for use on any one com- puter at any one time. The registered version should NOT be given to any other computer users. Remember that shareware is based on trust. The authors of shareware programs cannot stay in business unless those who use the programs register. -2- The author is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for mem- bers' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. 1.2 INSTALLATION ------------ The following is needed to run AM-EDIT: * An IBM PC, or compatible, with monitor * DOS version 2.0 or any later DOS version * At least 128K of memory * A hard disk drive * A 3.5" or 5.25" floppy drive The AM-EDIT system consists of a single program, called ED.EXE. There are no overlays, external files, or auxiliary programs needed to set screen colors and other parameters. Everything you need is included in program ED.EXE. However, the system does create a file called AMEDIT.DAT in the root directory of your hard disk to store parameters defined by individual users of the program. To install the system, copy ED.EXE onto your hard disk drive. If you create a special directory for AM-EDIT, you may want to change your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the new directory in the PATH command. This will make it easier to execute the system from any directory. To execute AM-EDIT, enter "ed" on the DOS command line and press the ENTER key. If you prefer, you can enter the name of the file that you wish to edit after the command, for example: ed yourfile.bat <enter> If you do not enter a file name, then the first screen to appear will prompt you for the name of the file that you wish to edit (Refer to Section 1.4 - Selecting the file to edit). -3- 1.3 GENERAL DESCRIPTION ------------------- AM-EDIT is a full-screen text editor which allows you to create and update computer programs, batch files, and other text files. AM-EDIT does not pretend to be a word processor. It is first and fore- most a programmers tool. However, it can easily be used to create and maintain document files. The "split line" and "join line" functions, which are initiated by pressing function keys F7 and Shift-F7, were added especially for this purpose. When you first execute AM-EDIT using a color monitor, you will see two different color schemes on the screen. The top two lines (lines 1 and 2) and the bottom line (line 25) of the screen will have a red background and white foreground. This is called the "highlight" color. The remainder of the screen (lines 3-24) is the area in which the text will appear. These lines will have a blue background with an off-white foreground. This is called the "text" color. If you are using a monochrome monitor, the "highlight" scheme will be black on a grey background, and the "text" scheme will be white on a black background. These are the "default" color schemes. As you will see later in this manual, each user can set his or her own color schemes, and there can be up to 30 different users on the same computer. A field which is within the text area (lines 3-24 of the screen) but which has the same color scheme as screen lines 1, 2, and 25 is said to be "highlighted". The top line of the screen contains the name of the file that you are editing and the total number of lines in the file. You will notice that the file name displayed on the top line of the screen will initially be in the highlight color scheme. But once you have made a change to your text, the name is displayed with the text color scheme. This serves to remind you that there are one or more unsaved changes to your file. If you save the file during the edit, the file name reverts to the highlight color scheme. Line 2 of the screen is where you enter commands. When you begin an edit, the cursor is positioned on this line. Whenever the cursor is positioned on a text line (lines 3-24), the word "EDIT" will appear in the first 4 columns of the bottom line of the screen. If the cursor is positioned on a text line and you wish to enter a command, press the ESCAPE key. This will move the cursor to the com- mand line. -4- If the cursor is positioned on the command line and you wish to edit a text line, simply press the ENTER key without entering a command. The cursor will move to the current text line. There are several other ways to get from the command line to a text line, and these will become apparent as you read further. The first 7 columns of the text lines are reserved by the system for line numbers and other information which will be explained later in this manual. Line numbers are automatically maintained by the system in sequential order. These line numbers are NOT a part of your file, and are displayed strictly for your convenience. The system allows you to suppress the display of line numbers if you so desire. This is one of the options which you can specify when you define a User ID (see Section 9). If you suppress line numbers, only the first 2 columns of the text lines are reserved by the system. Except for null files, one of the lines in your file is the "current line". The line number of the current line is always highlighted, and a highlighted left-pointing arrow appears immediately to the right of the line number. If you choose to suppress the display of line numbers, then the cur- rent line is identified by a highlighted left-pointing arrow in the first column of the line. The line number of the current line is displayed on the bottom line of the screen, after the letter "L". When you begin an edit, the current line is the first line of your file. The position of the current line is crucial to most commands and func- ion keys within AM-EDIT. It is up to you to position this line (refer to Section 2 - Positioning the current line). The system also maintains a column number, which is displayed on the bottom line of the screen after the letter "C". The column number is ALWAYS the current (or last) position of the cursor within the current line. Since a line may have up to 1024 columns, the column number will always have a value of 1 through 1024. When you begin an edit, column number is 1. Column number applies only to the current TEXT line. If the cursor is positioned on the command line, you will notice that the column number remains unchanged if you type a command. Since a text line can have up to 1024 characters but not all of these characters can appear on the screen at any one time, your text lines may become offset. For example, if the cursor is positioned on a text line and you press the right arrow key while the cursor is positioned at the last column of the screen, you will notice that all text lines (but not line numbers) will shift left one column, with the leftmost character of each line shifting out of view. Whenever your text lines are offset by one or more characters, an as- terisk (*) appears after the column number. -5- The middle part of the screen's bottom line is reserved for error and informative messages. Informative messages result from some action you have taken. For example, after the completion of a delete command, a message will tell you how many lines were deleted. The screen's bottom line also shows whether you are in character in- sert mode as opposed to character overwrite mode. If "INS" appears in columns 61-63 of the line, you are in insert mode. To get into insert mode, press the insert key (marked "Ins" or "Insert"). Pressing the insert key again returns you to overwrite mode. All editing is done in real memory. When you begin an edit, the sys- tem uses only the amount of memory required to store itself and your file. If your file grows in size, the system allocates more memory as needed. The amount of memory that can be allocated depends on the amount of memory on your computer, but cannot exceed 640k. If the size of your file should ever exceed available memory, you will start getting error messages whenever you attempt some action that in- creases the size of your file. If this should occur, you should save your file and end the edit. Then restart the edit. The system can handle up to 60,000 lines. It is highly unlikely that a file would ever grow this large without exceeding available memory, however, the system does provide a saveguard. An error message will appear whenever you attempt some action that would cause the number of lines in your file to exceed 60,000. 1.4 SELECTING THE FILE TO EDIT -------------------------- As mentioned earlier, when you execute AM-EDIT from the DOS command line, you have the option of entering the name of the file that you wish to edit. If you choose not to enter the file name on the DOS command line or if the file name entered was not a valid file name, then the first screen that you see will be the file-to-edit screen. As the title indicates, the purpose of the file-to-edit screen is to prompt you for the name of the file that you wish to edit. If the file that you wish to edit is not in the current directory (the directory you were in when you executed AM-EDIT), you must enter the full path name starting with the letter identifying the disk drive, for example: c:\janet\asmprogs\sorter.asm You also have the option of finding the file that you wish to edit by performing a directory search. To perform a search of the current dir- ectory, press the ENTER key at the file-to-edit prompt without enter- ing a file name. -6- The names of all files and subdirectories from the current directory will be displayed in alphabetical order on the screen. The date and time that each file or subdirectory was created is displayed, along with the size of each file. You can use the PAGE DOWN/PAGE UP keys and the up/down arrows to find the desired file or subdirectory. Once the desired file/subdirectory is highlighted, press the ENTER key to select it. If you selected a subdirectory, then the file and subdirectory names from that subdirectory are displayed. When you do a directory search, you can enter a directory path and/or use the global file name characters (* and ?), for example: c:\janet\ Displays all files and subdirectories in directory C:\JANET. *.doc Displays all files in the current directory having a file suffix of "DOC". c:\larry\*.? Displays all files in directory C:\LARRY having a a 1-character suffix or no suffix at all. During a directory search, you can go directly to the root directory of your hard disk by pressing function key F4. From there, you can get to any file on the disk. You can also press function key F8 to cancel a directory search and return to the file-to-edit screen. When you end an edit, all memory that was allocated is released and you are returned to the file-to-edit screen. From there, you can se- lect another file to edit, re-edit the same file, or return to DOS by pressing function key F8. After returning to the file-to-edit screen from an edit, you can use the repeat key (function key F3) to repeat the name of the file that you just finished editing. You would then press the ENTER key if you wanted to re-edit the same file, or you could change the file name and then press the ENTER key. If you choose to select another file to edit or to re-edit the same file, then all text string search arguments defined in the previous edit will remain in effect. -7- 1.5 RULES FOR NON-TEXT FILES ------------------------ When AM-EDIT detects that the file that you have selected for editing is a non-text file, such as an object module or an executable file, the system handles the file in a different manner. First, the system breaks the file into 72-character lines, with the last line having a length of 1 to 72 characters. This allows you to browse through the file using the up/down arrows and the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys. For obvious reasons, you are not allowed to update a non-text file. If you press a function key such as F4 (delete line) or F6 (add a line), you will get the error message "Invalid for non-text files". The ONLY commands that you can use with non-text files are the string search (find) commands, but you may not use the "replace text" options with these commands. If you attempt to execute any other command, the error message "Invalid for non-text files" will result. You may use functions key F9 to find the next occurrence of a string and Shift-F9 to find the previous occurrence. When you have finished browsing through a non-text file, press func- tion key F8 (save/exit key). This will return you immediately to the file-to-edit screen where you can either select another file to edit or return to DOS. -8- 2. POSITIONING THE CURRENT LINE ---------------------------- The position of the current line is crucial to most of the commands and function keys within AM-EDIT. You may use any of the methods listed below to position the current line. Unless otherwise noted, all keys mentioned below will perform alike regardless of whether the cursor is positioned on the command line or on a text line. * The "up arrow" key moves the current line up 1 line. If the current line is already the first line of your file, the mes- sage "*** Top of data ***" is displayed. * The "down arrow" key moves the current line down 1 line. If the current line is already the last line of your file, the message "*** End of data ***" is displayed. * "PAGE UP" causes the lines on your screen to scroll down by the number of lines set for the current User ID, with the position of the current line decreasing by the number of lines scrolled. If you are already at the top page of the file when you press PAGE UP, then the screen does NOT scroll and the informative message "*** Top of data ***" is displayed. * "PAGE DOWN" causes the lines on your screen to scroll up by the number of lines set for the current User ID, with the position of the current line increasing by the number of lines scrolled. If you are already at the last page of your file when you press PAGE DOWN, then the screen remains as is and the informative message "*** End of data ***" is displayed. * Ctrl-PAGE UP positions the current line at the first line of the file. * Ctrl-PAGE DOWN positions the current line at the last line of the file. * Function key F9 searches for the next occurrence of the string defined in the most recent find command. If the text string is found, the line containing the string becomes the current line with the cursor positioned at the 1st character of the "found" string. Refer to Section 6.5 for more information about the Find command. * Shift-F9 searches for the previous occurrence of the string de- fined by the most recent find command. If the string is found, the line containing the string becomes the current line, with the cursor positioned at the beginning of the "found" string. See Section 6.5 for more information about the Find command. -9- * While the cursor is positioned on the command line, you may set the current line to any line number. To do this, enter the line number on the command line and press ENTER. If you enter zero, the current line becomes the first line of the file. If you en- ter a number which exceeds the number of the last line of your file, then the current line becomes the last line of your file. This feature is especially useful after you compile a program in which one or more errors were found. Since a compile will normally give you the line numbers where the errors occurred, you can use this feature to go directly to the line(s) which caused the errors. * Whenever the cursor is positioned on a text line, you can press ENTER to advance the current line to the next text line, with the cursor positioned at the first non-blank character of that line (or column 1 if the line is blank). If the current line is positioned at the bottom line (line 24) on the screen when you press ENTER, then all lines on the screen will scroll up, with the top line scrolling off the screen and the next text line in order scrolling onto the screen. If you press the ENTER key while the current line is the LAST line of your file, the message "*** End of data ***" will be displayed and the current line remains unchanged. * When the cursor is positioned on a text line, pressing the TAB key advances the cursor to the start of the next field on the screen. If the next field is on another line, that line becomes the current line. If the next field is on a line which is not on the screen, then the text lines on the screen will scroll up until the line containing the next field is reached. * When the cursor is positioned on a text line, pressing Shift- TAB positions the cursor at the start of the previous field on the screen. If the previous field is on another line, then that line becomes the current line. If there is no previous field on the screen, then the text lines on the screen will scroll down until the line containing the previous field is reached. If should be noted that while you are in the process of typing new lines into your file, the TAB and Shift-TAB keys have dif- ferent meanings. See the description of function keys F6 and Shift-F6 in Section 4. Also, when the cursor is positioned on the command line, press- ing the TAB and Shift-TAB keys will not move the cursor to the next or previous field on the command line. -10- 3. EDITING A LINE -------------- The following keys may be used while entering the file-to-edit, while entering a command, or when adding or changing a text line. When the cursor is positioned on a text line, some of the keys may cause lines on your screen (but not line numbers) to shift either left or right. For example, if you press the right arrow key while the cursor is pos- itioned on a text line at the last column of the screen, then the text on all lines will shift left 1 position. Remember that while the cursor is positioned on a text line, the col- umn number displayed at the bottom of the screen shows the position of the cursor on the current line. An asterisk (*) after the column num- ber indicates that the text is offset by one or more characters. * Left arrow moves the cursor left 1 column. If the cursor is al- ready positioned at the first column of the line, then the key is ignored (no error message is displayed). * Right arrow moves the cursor right 1 column. If the cursor is already positioned at the last column of the line (column 80 of the command line or column 1024 of a text line), the cursor will not move and the message "End of line" will appear. * The HOME key causes the cursor to be positioned at the first non-blank character of the line. If the line is blank, then the cursor is positioned at the beginning of the line. * The END key positions the cursor at the column to the right of the last non-blank character of the line, or at the last column of the line if that column is not blank. * The BACKSPACE key moves the cursor 1 position to the left and then erases the character at that cursor position. But if the cursor is positioned at the first column of the line, the key is ignored. One of the User ID options (see Section 9) allows you to make the BACKSPACE key identical in function to the left arrow key. If you choose that option, the BACKSPACE key moves the cursor 1 position to the left, but does NOT erase the character. * The DELETE (or DEL) key deletes the character at the current cursor position. Any characters on the line which were to the right of the deleted character will shift left 1 column. * Function key F2 erases the character at the current cursor pos- ition and all characters which are to the right of the cursor. * Function key F3 (the repeat key) may be used to restore an al- tered text line to its original state, to repeat any one of the last 6 string search (find) commands, or to repeat the previous file name if you are entering the file-to-edit. See Section 4 (Function keys) for more information. -11- * When the cursor is positioned on a text line, pressing the TAB key advances the cursor to the start of the next field on the screen. This provides an alternative to using the right arrow key when positioning the cursor. If the next field is on another line, then the cursor advances to the first field on that line, and that line becomes the cur- rent line. This may cause lines on your screen to scroll up. As an example, suppose you press the TAB key while the cursor is positioned at or past the last field of the last line (line 24) of the screen. The following will happen: * All lines on the screen will scroll up 1 line, with the top line scrolling off the screen. * The next line in order will scroll onto the screen. * The cursor is positioned at the start of the first field of the line that scrolled onto the screen. If, in the above example, the next line in order was blank or there were several blank lines before the next non-blank line, then all lines on the screen would have scrolled up until a non-blank line (or end of file) was reached. * While the cursor is positioned on a text line, pressing Shift- TAB moves the cursor to the start of the previous field on the screen. This key provides an alternative to using the left ar- row key when moving the cursor. Like the TAB key, Shift-TAB can alter the position of the current line, and may cause the lines on your screen to scroll down one or more lines. * Ctrl-HOME positions the cursor at the first column of the line. If the cursor is on the command line, then the cursor moves to the beginning of that line. Otherwise, the cursor moves to the first column of the current text line. * Ctrl-END positions the cursor at the last column of the line. If the cursor is on the command line, then the cursor moves to the end of that line. Otherwise, the cursor moves to the last column (column 1024) of the current text line. -12- 4. FUNCTION KEYS ------------- All function keys described in this section may be pressed while the cursor is positioned on the command line or on a text line. Since many of the function keys act as commands, you must make sure that the command line is blank whenever you press one of these keys while the cursor is positioned on the command line. Otherwise, the system does not know whether to process the command or the function key, and the error message "Command conflict" may result. F1 - Help key. Press this key to get on-screen help. F2 - Erases the character at the current cursor position and all characters to the right of the cursor on the line. Remember that since a text line can have up to 1024 characters but not all of these characters can appear on the screen at one time, this key may erase characters which are not seen on the current screen. F3 - This is the repeat key. While entering the file-to-edit, you can press function key F3 to repeat the name of the file (if any) that you last edited. If the cursor is positioned on the command line, you can restore any one of your last six string search (find) commands. To do this, just continue pressing F3 until the desired search command appears on the command line. You can then change the command or leave it as is. Press the ENTER key to reissue the command. If the cursor is positioned on a text line, function key F3 will restore the current line to its original state. This is useful if you make unwanted changes to a line, for example: * You press function key F2 to erase part of a line and then notice that you erased the wrong line. By pressing F3, the line is restored to its original state. * You begin entering a command and suddenly realize that the cursor is positioned on a text line instead of the command line. In this case, press F3 to restore the text line and then press the ESCAPE key to get to the command line. For text lines, function key F3 applies only to the current text line. Once you have moved the cursor away from a line, you can not return to that line and use function key F3 to restore it. -13- F4 - Deletes the current line. If the cursor is positioned on a text line when you press this key and that line is the the only line in your file, the cursor will automatically move to the command line after the line is deleted since you now have a "null file". F5 - Duplicates the current line. F6 - This key, along with Shift-F6, allows you to use the keyboard to type new lines of text into your file. If you press F6 or Shift-F6 while already in the process of typ- ing new lines from the keyboard, then you will return to regular edit mode. Before pressing F6, you must position the current line to the line BEFORE which you wish to type the new line(s). You will note later on in this document that Shift-F6 is ident- ical to F6 except that it allows you to type new lines AFTER the current line. After you press F6, one of the following will happen: * If the current line is the last text line (line 24) on the screen, then all lines above the current line will scroll up leaving a blank line for you to type the new line. * In all other cases, all lines on the screen starting at the current line will scroll down leaving a blank line for you to type the new line. You may now type a new line in the space provided. After typing the new line, press the ENTER key. The lines on the screen will again scroll up or down leaving another blank line for you to type the next line. If you wish to insert a blank line, simply press the ENTER key without typing anything. You may type in as many lines as you wish. While you are in the process of typing new lines, the words "ADD TEXT" are displayed in columns 1-8 of the screen's bottom line. While adding a text line, you can press the TAB key to advance the cursor to a point which is based on the word offsets on the previous 5 non-blank lines. If the cursor is already past the beginning of the last word of text on these lines, pressing the TAB key will have no effect (the cursor does not move). Pressing Shift-TAB does the exact opposite of the TAB key when adding a text line. Also while typing a new line, you can use the right arrow key to duplicate the character which is just above the cursor pos- ition on the previous line. When you do this, the character insert flag is ignored, that is, you will get the same result in character insert mode as in character overwrite mode. -14- If you press any of the keys listed below while typing new text lines, the error "Key not valid while adding text" will appear: * F4 - delete the current line * F5 - duplicate the current line * F7 - split the current line * Shift-F4 - restore deleted line(s) * Shift-F7 - join the current line to the previous line Once you have finished typing new lines, do one of the following: * Press function key F6 (or Shift-F6). * Press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. * Press one of the line positioning keys (up or down arrow, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, Ctrl-PAGE UP, or Ctrl-PAGE DOWN). * Press function key F9 (or Shift-F9) to search for the next (or the previous) occurrence of a string. F7 - Splits the current line at the current cursor position. All characters starting at the cursor position are truncated from the line. A new line made up of the truncated portion is then added to the file after the current line. The new line then be- comes the current line with the cursor positioned at column 1. If the column number is 1 at the time that you press function key F7, then the entire line is moved down leaving a blank line in its place. If you press function key F7 while the current column number is past the last non-blank character of the current line, then the newly formed line will be blank. F8 - Save/exit key. Function key F8 is used to save your file and also to end an edit session. When you press F8 and there are text changes to save, the sys- tem proceeds to save your file. When the save is completed, the message "File saved" is displayed. If you press F8 and there have not been any changes to the file since the last save (or since you began the edit if this is the first save), then the system will NOT perform the save and the message "File unchanged" is displayed. To end an edit, press function key F8 while the message "File saved" or "File unchanged" appears at the bottom of the screen. You may save your file as often as you like during an edit ses- sion without ending the edit. At the time that you perform the first save of your file, your original file will be renamed to filename.BAK if you are using the backup option (see Section 9 - User ID function). F9 - Searches for the next occurrence of a string (see Section 6.5). -15- F10 - Replaces a string (see Section 6.6). Shift-F1 - Displays the System Information screen (see Section 7). Shift-F2 - Initiates the calculator (see Section 8). Shift-F3 - Initiates the User ID function (see Section 9). Shift-F4 - Restores (undeletes) lines that you have deleted from your file by using a delete command or by pressing function key F4. When you press Shift-F4, the line(s) most recently deleted are restored into your file. The system maintains a DELETE TABLE containing information needed to restore deleted lines. Each time that you delete a line or group of lines either by pressing F4 or by using the delete command, an entry is made in this table. The DELETE TABLE is LIFO (last in/first out) and can hold up to 20 entries. If you delete text and the table is al- ready at capacity, then the oldest entry is bumped from the table, for example: 1. You delete 10 lines using function key F4. 2. You then press Shift-F4 5 times to restore the last 5 lines deleted in step 1. 3. You then delete 18 more lines using function key F4. 4. At this point, you can restore the 18 lines that you deleted in step 3 plus the 4th and 5th lines deleted in step 1. But you cannot restore the first 3 lines which were deleted in step 1 since these have been bumped from the DELETE TABLE. When you press Shift-F4, the deleted line(s) will normally be restored into your file with their original line num- ber(s). However, lines inserted into the file may alter the position at which the lines are restored, for example: 1. You use the Delete command to delete lines 300-399. 2. You then insert 10 lines somewhere before line 300. 3. You then press Shift-F4 to restore the lines which were deleted in step 1. The lines will be restored into the file as lines 310-409. After line(s) are restored into your file, the current line is positioned at the first restored line. A message informs you how many lines were restored. Shift-F5 - Writes a printer "forms feed" character into your file. This feature is provided for users writing documents who may wish to include page ejects for printing purposes. This function should not be used when writing programs, since the forms feed character can cause an error during compilation of your program. -16- Shift-F6 - This key allows you to use the keyboard to type new lines into your file. Before pressing Shift-F6, you must position the current line to the line AFTER which you wish to type the new line(s). As described earlier, function key F6 performs the same task as Shift-F6, with the exception that function key F6 allows you to type new lines BEFORE the current line. Shift-F6 is identical in all aspects to F6 other than the original positioning of the screen, which is as follows: * If the current line is the last line (line 24) of the screen, then all lines on the screen will scroll up leaving a blank line for you to type the new line. * In all other cases, all lines on the screen below the current line will scroll down leaving a blank line for you to type the new line. Shift-F7 - Joins the current line to the previous line. The cursor position on the current line is not important at the time that this key is pressed, since the entire line will be joined to the previous line. After the lines have been joined, the joined line becomes the current line, with the cursor positioned at the first "joined" character. If you press Shift-F7 while the current line is the first line of your file, you will get the error message "Shift-F7 not valid here". If you hit Shift-F7 by mistake, press function key F7 im- mediately to split the lines and thus "undo" the join. Shift-F8 - Cancels the edit session without saving your file. If there have not been any changes to your file since the last save (or since you began the edit if there have been no saves), the edit will terminate immediately. If there ARE unsaved changes to your file when you press Shift-F8, then the following message will appear at the bottom of the screen: Press Shift-F10 to verify cancel This message provides a safeguard in the case you press Shift-F8 by mistake. The message serves to warn you that you will lose changes to your file if you verify the can- cel. If you DO intend to cancel the edit, press Shift-F10 and the edit will end with the message "Edit cancelled - changes lost". If you decide to continue with your edit rather than ver- ify the cancel, press any key other than Shift-F10. -17- Shift-F9 - Searches for the previous occurrence of a string. Ctrl-F1 - Displays the ascii chart. This will overlay the right hand portion of your screen. Use the up and down arrows and the PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys to view the entire chart. Pressing the ESCAPE key returns you to the edit. -18- 5. STARTING A NEW FILE ------------------- If you begin an edit and the system is unable to find the file that you specified, it will assume that you are starting a new file. The message "Starting new file" will appear at the bottom of the screen and line 3 of the screen will contain "***** BOTTOM OF DATA *****". This is called a "null-file" condition. Since there are no lines in your file, there is no current line. If you begin an edit of a file that contains no records (the file is empty or contains only an end-of-file byte), then you will also be in a "null-file" condition, but the message "Starting new file" will NOT appear at the bottom of your screen. The only function keys that you may use in a "null-file" situation are: * F1 (Help) * F2 (Erase to end-of-line), but only to erase all or part of the command line. * F6 (Type new lines before the current line) * F8 (Save/Exit) * Shift-F1 (Display the System Information Screen) * Shift-F2 (Initiate the calculator) * Shift-F3 (Initiate the User ID function) * Shift-F6 (Type new lines after the current line) * Shift-F8 (Cancel edit without saving) * Ctrl-F1 (Display ascii chart) The ONLY commands that are valid when you begin an edit of a null file are the Insert commands (see Section 6.4). If you find that you entered the file name incorrectly, cancel the edit by pressing Shift-F8. A new file will NOT be created. Otherwise, do one of the following: * Press function key F6 to begin typing lines from the keyboard. * Insert text lines into your file from another file by using one of the Insert commands. -19- Once your file contains at least one line of text, then all other com- mands and function keys will become available to you. You can also get into a "null file" condition if you delete all of the lines in your file. In this case, the command and function key limita- tions are the same as those described for starting a new file, except that you can use function key Shift-F4 to restore deleted lines into your file. The message "***** BOTTOM OF DATA *****" NEVER appears on your screen unless your file contains less than 22 lines of text (less than a full page). -20- 6. COMMANDS -------- The AM-EDIT commands are listed below. Commands are entered on line 2 of the screen. A command may be entered in upper case, lower case, or a combination of upper and lower case. D - Delete one or more lines M - Move one or more lines C - Copy one or more lines I/IA - Insert lines into your file from another file F/FI - Find a text string [with option to replace it]. FF/FFI - Find the first occurrence of a text string within your file [with option to replace it]. FL/FLI - Find the last occurrence of a text string within your file [with option to replace it]. P1 - Print all or part of your file on printer LPT1. P2 - Print all or part of your file on printer LPT2. P3 - Print all or part of your file on printer LPT3. PF1 - Write a form feed character to printer LPT1. PF2 - Write a form feed character to printer LPT2. PF3 - Write a form feed character to printer LPT3. T - Trace and highlight the lines in your file which have been added, moved, or changed since you began the edit. As discussed earlier, you may use the command line to set the position of the current line. To do this, enter the line number on the command line and press the ENTER key. If the cursor is positioned on the command line and you wish to edit a text line, then press the ESCAPE key to clear the command line (unless already clear) and then press one of the following keys: * ENTER key - This will position the cursor at the current column number of the current text line. * HOME key - This moves the cursor to the first non-blank char- acter of the current text line (or column 1 if the line is blank). * END key - This positions the cursor at the column after the last non-blank character of the current text line. If the last column of the line (column 1024) is not blank, the cursor is positioned at that column. * TAB key - Positions the cursor at the current column number of the current line and then processes the TAB key as if it had been pressed at that point. -21- 6.1 DELETE COMMAND -------------- The Delete command allows you to delete any number of lines from your file. To delete a single line, you would normally use function key F4, since this key can also be used while the cursor is positioned on the text line which is to be deleted. Each time that you delete text, either by using the Delete command or by pressing function key F4, an entry is made into the "Delete Table". This table makes it possible for you to restore deleted line(s) at any later time, should you find it necessary (see function key Shift-F4 - restore lines). Since the "Delete Table" can hold only 20 entries, you are advised to use the Delete command rather than function key F4 when deleting a consecutive string of lines. For example, if you wished to delete the first 25 lines of your file, you could press function key F4 a total of 25 times to accomplish the task. But at that point, you could only restore the last 20 deleted lines by using function key Shift-F4, and you would be unable to re- store any lines that may have been previously deleted. But if you used the Delete command to delete the 25 lines as a group, only a single entry would have been made into the delete table. You could then restore all 25 lines by pressing Shift-F4 just once. To execute the Delete command, do the following: * Position the current line at either the first or the last line that you wish to delete. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to get to the command line. * Enter "d" (or "D") on the command line. * Position the current line to the opposite end of the range of lines to be deleted. Unless line numbers are suppressed, the line number of each line to be deleted will be highlighted. The highlighted letter "d" will appear to the left of each line to be deleted. The word "DELETE" will be displayed in columns 1-6 of line 25 to remind you that a Delete command is in progress. * Once all lines to be deleted are marked, press the ENTER key. The lines will immediately disappear from your screen. You may cancel the Delete command at any time before you press ENTER by pressing the ESCAPE key. After the completion of a Delete command, a message is displayed at the bottom of the screen showing the number of lines deleted. If you deleted all lines in your file, you will be in a "null file" condition (see Section 5). Otherwise, after completion of the Delete command, the current line is positioned as follows: -22- * If the line(s) deleted included the last line of your file, the current line becomes the line which is now the last line of your file. * In all other cases, the current line is positioned at the line which followed the last line that was deleted. You may delete any number of lines with this command. For example, to delete lines 100 through 222 of your file, do the following: * Position the current line at line 100. You can do this by using the up/down arrows, by using the PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys, or by entering "100" on the command line and pressing the ENTER key. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. * Enter "d" on the command line. * Use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key until the current line is line 222. If you go past line 222, use the up arrow and/or PAGE UP key to back up. * Press ENTER to complete the deletion. You could also delete lines 100 through 222 by doing the following: * Position the current line at line 222 of your text. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. * Enter "d" on the command line. * Use the up arrow and/or PAGE UP key until the current line is line 100. If you go past line 100, use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key to back up. * Press ENTER to complete the deletion. Note that you can use function key F9 (find next occurrence of a text string) or Shift-F9 (find previous occurrence of a text string) when positioning the current line during any Delete command. However, you must first establish the text string by using a find command. As an example, suppose you wish to delete a segment called "tempseg" from a program which is written in assembler. Since you know that the first and the last lines of the segment begin with the word "tempseg", you can do the following: * Enter the command "FF tempseg". This will locate the first oc- currence of the string "tempseg" within your file. * Press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. * Enter "d" on the command line. * Press function key F9. The current line will be positioned at the last line of the segment "tempseg", and all of the lines within the segment "tempseg" will be marked for deletion. * Press ENTER to complete the deletion. Whenever you press function key F9 or Shift-F9 while a Move, Copy, or Delete command is in progress, the cursor remains on the command line after the string is found. In all other cases, the cursor is position- ed at the first character of the "found" string on the text line. -23- 6.2 MOVE COMMAND ------------ The Move command allows you to move (relocate) one of more lines of text within your file. To execute the Move command, do the following: * Position the current line to either the first or the last line that you wish to move. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to get to the command line. * Enter "M" (or "m") on the command line. * Position the current line to the opposite end of the range of lines to be moved. Unless line numbers are suppressed, the line number of each line to be moved will be highlighted. The highlighted letter "m" will appear to the left of each line to be moved. The word "MOVE" will be displayed in columns 1-4 of line 25 to remind you that a Move command is in progress. * Once all lines to be moved are marked: * Enter "A" on the command line after the "M" if you are moving the lines after a target line. * Enter "B" on the command line after the "M" if you are moving the lines before a target line. * Position the current line to the target line of the move. * Press ENTER to complete the move. You may cancel the Move command at any time before pressing ENTER by pressing the ESCAPE key (ESC). To move a single line of text, enter "M A" or "M B" on the command line before positioning the current line to the target line of the move. After the completion of a Move command, the current line becomes the first line moved, and the number of lines moved is displayed at the bottom of the screen. You can move any number of lines with this command. For example, to move lines 200 through 345 after line 512, do the following: * Position the current line at line 200 of your file by using the up/down arrows, by using the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys, or by entering "200" on the command line and pressing the ENTER key. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. -24- * Enter "m" on the command line. * Use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key until the current line is line 345. If you go past line 345, use the up arrow and/or PAGE UP key to back up. * Enter "a" on the command line. You will notice that the cursor was already positioned one space away from the "m" on the com- mand line. The command line now contains "m a". * Use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key until the current line is line 512. If you go past line 512, use the up arrow and/or PAGE UP key to back up. * Press ENTER to complete the move. Note that like the Delete command, you can use function keys F9 and Shift-F9 when positioning the current line. In the example above, you could have used F9 or Shift-F9 when positioning to line 200 and/or to line 345 and/or to line 512. 6.3 COPY COMMAND ------------ The Copy command allows you to copy (duplicate) one of more lines of text within your file. You may copy as many lines as you wish. To execute the Copy command, do the following: * Position the current line to either the first or the last line that you wish to copy. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to get to the command line. * Enter "C" (or "c") on the command line. * Position the current line to the opposite end of the range of lines to be copied. Unless line numbers are suppressed, the line number of each line to be copied will be highlighted. The highlighted letter "c" will appear to the left of each line to be copied, and the word "COPY" will be displayed in columns 1-4 of line 25 to remind you that a Copy command is in progress. * Once all lines to be copied are marked: * Enter "A" on the command line after the "C" if you are copying the lines after a target line. * Enter "B" on the command line after the "C" if you are copying the lines before a target line. * Position the current line to the target line of the copy. * Press ENTER to complete the copy. You may cancel the Copy command at any time before you press ENTER by hitting the ESCAPE key (ESC). -25- To copy a single line, enter "C A" or "C B" on the command line be- fore positioning the current line to the target line of the copy. After the completion of a Copy command, the current line becomes the first line added to the file as a result of the command, and the num- ber of lines copied is displayed at the bottom of the screen. You can copy any number of lines with this command. For example, to copy lines 99 through 122 before line 200, do the following: * Position the current line at line 99 of your file by using the up/down arrows, by using the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys, or by entering "99" on the command line and pressing ENTER. * If the cursor is positioned on a text line, press the ESCAPE key to move the cursor to the command line. * Enter "c" on the command line. * Use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key until the current line is line 122. If you go past line 122, use the up arrow and/or PAGE UP key to back up. * Enter "b" on the command line. You will notice that the cursor was already positioned one space away from the "c" on the com- mand line. The command line now contains "c b". * Use the down arrow and/or PAGE DOWN key until the current line is line 200. If you go past line 200, use the up arrow or PAGE UP key to back up. * Press ENTER to complete the copy. Note that like the Delete and Move commands, you can use function keys F9 and Shift-F9 when positioning the current line. In the above exam- ple, you could have used F9 or Shift-F9 when positioning to line 99 and/or line 122 and/or line 200. If you have an extended keyboard (101/102 keys), you can do a "repeat copy", that is, you can more conveniently copy the same line or group of lines to more than one destination within your file. To do this, press the ENTER key on the extreme right hand side of your keyboard to complete a copy instead of the normal ENTER key. You will remain in COPY mode and the lines that were marked for copying will stay marked. You can then set the current line to a new target line and press either one of the ENTER keys again. In addition to the Copy command, you can use function key F5 to copy the current line after itself. Function key F5 can be used while the cursor is positioned on either the command line or a text line. -26- 6.4 INSERT COMMANDS --------------- The Insert commands are used to insert lines into your file from other files. The point at which the lines are inserted is based on the location of the current line. You must therefore position this line before you issue the Insert command. There are two forms of the Insert command; one to insert lines before the current line and the other to insert lines after the current line. To insert lines BEFORE the current line, enter "I" on the command line followed by the name of the file from which the lines of text are to be inserted, for example: I workfile.doc To insert lines AFTER the current line, enter "IA" on the command line followed by the name of the file from which the lines are to be in- serted, for example: ia WORKFILE.Doc If the file from which lines are to be inserted is not in the current directory, you must enter the full path name. The "current directory" is the directory you were in at the time that you executed AM-EDIT. For example, if you were in directory C:\AMEDIT when you executed the editor and you wish to insert the file WORK.TXT which is in directory C:\JACK\UTILS, you would enter: i c:\jack\utils\work.txt OR ia C:\JACK\UTILS\WORK.TXT The file that you specify in an Insert command must be a valid text file which contains at least one line of text. The file that you are inserting from CAN be the same file that you are editing. If you do not know or cannot remember the name of the file that you wish to insert, you can do a directory search by just entering the command "I" or "IA" without an argument and pressing the ENTER key. Or, you can enter a partial directory path and/or use the global file name characters (* and ?) to initiate the directory search as on the file-to-edit screen. After the line(s) have been inserted into your file, a message at the bottom of the screen tells you how many lines were inserted, and the current line becomes the first inserted line. -27- 6.5 FIND COMMANDS ------------- The Find commands allow you to search for a text string within your file. To execute a Find command, do the following: * Enter one of the following commands on the command line: * "F" if you wish to start the search at the column just to the right of the current column position of the current text line. * "FF" if you wish to find the first occurrence of the text string within your file. * "FL" if you wish to find the last occurrence of the text string within your file. * Enter the text string that you wish to search for. Separate the string from the command by at least one space. The search string cannot be a null string ("" or ''). * Press the ENTER key to start the search. To ignore case during a search, use FI, FFI, or FLI as the command. For example, while the command "F ab" will only search for the value "ab", the command "FI ab" will search for "ab", "Ab", "aB", and "AB". The string does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space or if it begins with a quote or double quote. For example: Invalid: f GO TO Valid: f 'GO TO' or f "GO TO" Invalid: FF 'a Valid: FF "'a" Invalid: fli "abcd Valid: fli '"abcd' Once a string is found within your text, the "found" string is high- lighted and the line containing the string becomes the current line. If you are within a Move, Copy, or Delete command, the cursor remains on the command line. Otherwise, the cursor is positioned at the first character of the "found" text string. If the text string is not found, you will get the error message "'string' not found". Function key F9 may be used to find the next occurrence of the string defined in the most recent Find command. When you press F9, the search begins at the column just to the right of the current column position of the current line. If a non-found condition results, you can press F9 again to restart the search at the beginning of the file. Function key Shift-F9 may be used to find the previous occurrence of the string defined in the most recent Find command. When this key is pressed, the search begins at the column to the left of the current column position of the current line. If a not-found condition results, you can press Shift-F9 again to restart the search at the end of the file. -28- 6.6 FIND COMMAND WITH OPTION TO REPLACE ----------------------------------- To use a Find command with the option to replace a text string, enter a second string after the search string. The second string entered is called the "replacement" string. The replacement string must be sepa- rated from the search string by at least one space. The replacement string CAN be identical to the search string. Like the search string, the replacement string does not need to be en- closed in quotes unless it contains a space or it begins with a quote or double quote. Unlike the search string, the replacement string can be a null string, for example, the following is a valid command: F 'word one' '' In the above example, you are replacing the string "word one" with a null string. The Find-and-replace command works the same as the Find command with the exception that each time that the search string is located within your file and the cursor is positioned at that string, the value "F10" will appear in columns 13-15 of the screen's bottom line. The purpose of this is to inform you that function key F10 is now enabled, and you may press F10 at that point to replace the search string with the re- placement string. If you DO wish to replace the search string, press function key F10 immediately. The string will be replaced and the system will search for the NEXT occurrence of the search string. If you do not wish to replace the string, you may press function key F9 to find the next occurrence of the search string or function key Shift-F9 to find the previous occurrence. Note that function key F10 is enabled only under the follow circum- stances: * You are within a find-and-replace command. * The cursor is positioned at the first column of the "found" text string. * The "found" string is highlighted. * The value "F10" appears in columns 13-15 of the bottom line of the screen. If you press function key F10 at any other time, you will get the error message "Key not enabled at this time". -29- 6.7 FIND AND REPLACE ALL -------------------- To replace ALL occurrences of a text string, enter the keyword "A" or "ALL" after the replacement string on the command line. You must separate the keyword from the replacement string by one or more spaces. The system will replace ALL occurrences of the search string in your file with the replacement string. Examples of find-and-replace-all commands are: F PIC PICTURE a or f PIC PICTURE aLL In the above examples, you are replacing all occurrences of the text string "PIC" with the text string "PICTURE". After the completion of a find-and-replace-all command, the position of the current line remains unchanged, and the cursor remains posi- tioned on the command line. A message at the bottom of the screen will tell you how many occurrences of the search string were replaced. It is possible that when you are replacing all occurrences of a text string with a longer text string, one of more lines in your file may exceed the maximum record length of 1024 characters. If this should occur, the lines which exceed the maximum length will be truncated to 1024 characters in length and the message that informs you of the num- ber of string replacements will also give you a count of the number of lines that were truncated. Since the replacement string CAN be the same as the search string, you can use the find-and-replace-all command to determine the number of occurrences of a particular string within your file. For example, the command "f simply simply all" will give you a count of the number of times that the word "simply" appears in your file. -30- 6.8 PRINT COMMANDS -------------- The Print commands provide an alternative to using the DOS print com- mand to get a printer listing of your text file. These commands allow you to produce a more orderly listing, and allow you to print only a portion of your file if you so desire. When you use a Print command, all lines from the current line to the end of the file will be printed. You must therefore position the cur- rent line to the first line that you wish to print before you issue the command. The User ID Function (see Section 9) allows you to set the following parameters for printing: * Whether or not to print the file name at the top of each page of your listing. * Whether or not line numbers are to be included in the listing. * The maximum number of lines to be printed on a page. The valid Print commands are "P1", "P2" and "P3". The command "P1" will route the printed output to the printer desig- nated as LPT1. Use the command "P2" if you wish to route the printed output to the printer designated as LPT2, or "P3" if you wish to route the output to the printer designated as LPT3. You may also use the commands "PF1", "PF2" and "PF3" to issue form feed commands to the printers. The Print commands provide an easy method for you to list any portion of your file, complete with the correct line numbers. For example, to print lines 244-456 of a 900-line file: * Delete lines 457-900 by doing the following: * Enter "457" on the command line and press the ENTER key * Enter "d" on the command line * Press Ctrl-Page Down * Press the ENTER key to completion the deletion * Position the current line at line 244 * Issue the Print command * Press function key Shift-F4 to restore lines 457-900 The ability to print any range of lines is especially useful when you encounter a problem with your printer in the middle of a listing. You should be aware that the first command issued to a printer during an edit will initialize that printer, which will nullify any settings that you may have made. You should thus issue a form feed command to the printer and then make your settings before you issue a print. -31- 6.9 TRACE COMMAND ------------- The Trace command allows you to locate all lines within your file that have been added, moved, copied, or changed since you began the edit. Lines that have been deleted cannot be traced, but can be restored by using function key Shift-F4. To initiate the command, enter "T" on the command line and press the ENTER key. If there are no added or altered lines to display, the mes- sage "End of data" will appear at the bottom of the screen. Otherwise, the cursor will be positioned at the first added or altered line in your file. That line will be highlighted, and one of the fol- lowing messages will appear at the bottom of the screen: * Line changed * Line added by copy/changed * Line moved * Line added by copy/moved * Line moved/changed * Line added by copy/moved/changed * Line added * Line inserted * Line added/changed * Line inserted/changed * Line added/moved * Line inserted/moved * Line added/moved/changed * Line inserted/moved/changed * Line added by copy To find the next added or altered line, press ENTER again. Once all added and altered lines have been located, the message "End of data" will appear. You can cancel the Trace command at any time by pressing the ESCAPE key or by entering a different command. You can use the up/down arrows and the PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keys to skip over lines or to back up while doing a trace. The following rules apply: * The user can change a line by typing over all or a portion of the line, or by inserting new characters into the line. A line can also be changed by a find-and-replace command, by a "split line" command, or by a "join line" command. There is no way to tell how many times a particular line has been changed. * If a line has been both changed and moved, there is no way to tell if the line was changed before it was moved or after it was moved. * If a line is moved and later moved back to it's original posi- tion within the file, it is still marked as "moved". * If a line is changed and is later changed back to its original format, it is still marked as "changed". The one exception is if you use function key F3 to restore a line. * If a line is changed and then copied, the line which was added to the file as a result is marked as "added by copy" but is not marked as "changed". -32- 7. SYSTEM INFORMATION SCREEN ------------------------- The System Information Screen is displayed when you press function key Shift-F1. This screen will overlay your edit screen. You can return to the edit screen by pressing any key. Since the information displayed on this screen required some gathering of information, there may be a short pause before the screen appears. The following information appears on the System Information Screen: * The current date and time. * The amount of memory available on your computer for text storage. * The amount of memory currently being used for storage of text. * The amount of memory unused. * The search string defined in the most recent find or find-and- replace command. This is the value that the system will search for if you press function key F9 or Shift-F9. If you have not yet used a find command, then the value "None" is displayed. * The "replacement" string defined in the most recent find-and- replace command. If you have not yet used a find command with the option to replace, the value "None" is displayed. * The size (length) of the longest record in your file. * The number of records having the length of the longest record. * The line number of the first record in your file which has the length of the longest record. * A file update summary containing the following: * Starting line count. This is the number of lines that were in the file when you began the edit. * The number of lines that you have added to your file either by typing from the keyboard, by copying lines, by splitting lines, or by inserting lines from other files. This does NOT include lines that were added, but have since been deleted. * The number of lines that have been changed one or more times during the edit. This does NOT include lines that were changed but have since been deleted from the file. * The number of lines that have been deleted from the file since the edit began. This does NOT include lines that were deleted and then restored into the file. * Current line count. This is the number of lines that are currently in the file. -33- 8. USING THE CALCULATOR -------------------- The calculator is initiated by pressing Shift-F2. Initiation of the calculator does not interfere in any way with the editing of your text. When initiated, the calculator will occupy a window overlaying the right half of your edit screen. You may press function key F1 at any time while using the calculator to get immediate on-screen help. The calculator total is a 32-bit unsigned integer. You will see the total displayed at the bottom of the calculator window in three dif- ferent formats; decimal, hexadecimal, and binary. If you add an amount to the total which causes the total to overflow (the result exceeds decimal 4,294,967,295), the total becomes the amount of the overflow. For example, if you add 12 to 4294967295, the total becomes 11. If you multiply the total by an amount which causes an overflow of the total, the alarm will sound and the transaction is ignored. The calculator has two input fields; a function and an amount. There are 2 types of functions; those that require an amount and those which do not. The functions that do not require an amount are: B Set base. If the current base is decimal, the base becomes hex and the hex total is highlighted. If the current base is hex, the base becomes binary and the binary total is highlighted. If the current base is binary, the base becomes decimal and the decimal total is highlighted. D Set the number of digits which are allowed to the right of the decimal point. The number may be 0, 1, or 2. This number ap- plies ONLY to the decimal total and decimal input amount. N Perform a Logical NOT on the total. This inverts (forms one's complement of) the total. U Erase (undo) the most recent function/amount transaction, and adjust the totals accordingly. You can not erase any transac- tion other than the most recent. R Repeat the most recent function/amount transaction. C Clear the calculator. The totals are reset and the transaction display area is blanked. If the calculator is already cleared, then you are returned to your edit. Pressing the ESCAPE key performs the same function. The functions that require an amount are: + Add the amount to the total. - Subtract the amount from the total. -34- * Multiply the total by the amount. / Divide the the amount into the total. A Perform a Logical AND (bit logical conjuction) of the amount and the total and return the result to the total. O Perform a Logical OR (bit-logical inclusive disjuction) of the amount and the total and return the result to the total. X Perform a Logical XOR (bit-to-bit logical exclusive disjuction) of the amount and the total returning the result to the total. After entering one of the functions listed above, you are prompted for an amount. If the current base is decimal, the amount must be a numeric number of up to 8 digits. A decimal point may be included in the amount only if the number of digits to the right of the decimal point is non-zero. If the current base is hex, the amount must be a hexadecimal number of up to 8 digits. If the current base is binary, the amount must be a binary number of up to 16 digits. If you press the ENTER key without having entered an amount or the amount entered is zero, the cursor returns to the function field. The system displays the last 15 function/amount transactions entered. Once you exceed 15 transactions, the oldest transaction scrolls off the screen as each new one is entered. The following error messages may appear while you are using the cal- culator. * Must be numeric While entering a decimal amount (the base is decimal), you have typed a non-numeric character other than a decimal point, or you have typed a decimal point where one is not allowed. * Must be binary While entering a binary amount (the base is binary), you have typed a character other than "0" or "1". * Must be hex While entering a hexadecimal amount (the base is hex), you have typed a character other than 0-9 or A-F. -35- 9. USER ID FUNCTION ---------------- The User ID Function is initiated by pressing Shift-F3. The "User ID" concept provides a method by which different users of the same compu- ter may have different parameters, such as screen colors. Initiation of the User ID Function does not interfere in any way with your edit. You may press the help key (function key F1) at any time while you are within the User ID function to get immediate on-screen help. When initiated, the User ID menu screen will overlay your edit screen, with the current User ID displayed at the top of the screen. If there has not yet been a User ID defined on your computer, the current User ID will be "default" and the system will be using default parameters. When you begin an edit, the current User ID will be the same as that in effect when the editor was last terminated. The User ID menu offers 3 options. They are: 1. Define a new User ID 2. Change the Current User ID 3. Update the parameters for the Current User ID To define a new user ID, select option 1. You will be prompted for the new User ID. The User ID may be up to 10 characters in length and must be alphanumeric. Lower case letters are translated to upper case. A newly defined User ID inherits all parameters of the current User ID and also BECOMES the current User ID. If this is the firt User ID de- fined on your computer, then it will inherit the "default" parameters. Once a new User ID has been defined, you should select option 3 to set the parameters. Select option 2 on the User ID menu if you wish to change the current User ID. You will be prompted for the new ID. The ID that you enter must have been previously defined using option 1. Once the ID has been entered and found to be valid, the parameters for that User ID become effective immediately. To change the parameters for the current User ID, select option 3. A new screen will appear which will allow you to change any of the fol- lowing parameters: * Text Background Color * Text Foreground Color * Highlighted Background Color * Highlighted Foreground Color * Border Color -36- * Alarm Length (lets you turn the alarm off if you so desire) * Alarm Tone (set the tone of the alarm to your liking) * Backup file option. The default is NO. If you set this option to YES, the system creates a backup file whenever you update a file. As an example, if you change a file named "SORTDIR.ASM", then after a normal save and exit: SORTDIR.ASM will contain your edited file. SORTDIR.BAK will contain the version of SORTDIR.ASM as it existed before the edit. * The option of having the Backspace key perform exactly like the left arrow key. The default is NO. Normally, when you press the Backspace key, the cursor moves one column to the left and the character in that column is erased. By setting this option to YES, the character is NOT erased when you press Backspace, and the key is thus identical in function to the left arrow key. * Lines to Scroll. This is the number of lines that will scroll up or down on your screen when you press the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN key when paging through a file. The default value is 11 (a half page). You may set the value to any number from 1 to 22. To scroll a full page, set the number to 22. * The option of replacing blanks with TAB characters when writing an edited file back to disk. The default is NO. By setting this option to YES, you can save on the amount of disk space needed to store a file. The system automatically converts tab characters to blanks when it loads a file. * Typematic rate. This is the rate at which a keystroke repeats automatically while you hold down a key. You can set the rate to 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, or 30. The default is 30. The typematic rate is not supported on the IBM PC/XT. Changing the rate on these computers has no effect. * The option of retaining the typematic rate when you exit the editor. The default is NO. By setting this option to YES, you can apply your selected typematic rate to DOS and to other programs. * The option of displaying line numbers during your edit. The de- fault is YES. If you set this option to NO, the sequential line numbers will NOT appear to the left of the text lines on your edit screen. * The option of printing the file name at the top of each page when you print all or part of a file. The default is YES. -37- * The option of including line numbers on a listing when printing all or part of a file. The default is YES. You may include line numbers in a listing even if they are not displayed on the edit screen. * The number of lines to be printed on a page while printing a file. The default is 60. You may set this number to any value from 10 to 100. * The option of displaying hidden files along with other files when you do a directory search while finding the file-to-edit or when inserting lines from another file. The default is NO. Hidden files within a directory listing are identified by an asterisk (*) next to the file name. * The option of having the system blank your screen after a spec- ified time period. The default is NO. The purpose of blanking a screen is to protect the monitor. If you set the option to YES, the screen will be blanked after a specified period of time has passed during which you have not pressed any key. Once a screen is blanked, you may press any key to unblank the screen, however, the key that you press serves only to unblank the screen and is NOT applied to the edit. * The number of minutes to wait before a screen is blanked. The valid range is from 3 to 30 minutes. Unless the screen blanker option described above is set to YES, the number of minutes to wait is immaterial. * The option of having the system save your file after a specific time period in which you have not pressed a key. The default is NO. If you set the option to YES, the system will automatically save your file after the specified period of time has passed, but ONLY if there are unsaved changes to your file. * The number of minutes to wait before a file is automatically saved by the system. The valid range is from 3 to 30 minutes. Unless the automatic save option described above is set to YES, the number of minutes to wait is immaterial. To change a parameter, use the up/down arrows until the parameter that you wish to change is highlighted. Then use the left and right arrows to set the parameter to the desired value. For example, to change the text background color, use the up and down arrows until the field named "Text Background Color" is highlighted. Then use the left/right arrows to set the desired color. Each time you press the left or right arrow, the text background color will change. Any colors that you change will be applied to your edit screen if, and only if, you save your changes. -38- After you have set the parameters to your satisfaction, you may press the letter "S" (or "s") to save the parameters. If you decide NOT to save the parameters, press the ESCAPE key. After you have pressed "S" or the ESCAPE key, you will return to the User ID menu screen. From there, you can press the ESCAPE key to return to your edit screen. Note that if there are no User ID's defined on your computer, you ARE allowed to change the default parameters. However, any changes to the default parameters are not retained once you exit AM-EDIT and return to DOS. In order to make your parameter settings permanent, you must define a User ID using option 1 and then set the parameters using option 3. All User ID's are maintained by the system on the file AMEDIT.DAT in the root directory of your hard disk. This 1204-byte file is created by the system at the time that you define your first User ID. Do NOT attempt to create or update this file yourself! The maximum number of user ID's that can be maintained on AMEDIT.DAT is 30. If you should ever wish to delete all User ID's that have been defined on your computer and start over, simply delete AMEDIT.DAT from your root directory. The following error messages may appear while you are within the User ID function. * User ID must be alphanumeric While entering a User ID, you have entered a character other than a letter or a number. * User ID is not defined You are attempting to change the current User ID, but the ID that you entered has not been defined. * User ID is already defined You are attempting to add a new User ID to the system, but the User ID that you entered has already been defined. * User ID Table is full You are attempting to add a new User ID, but there are already 30 user ID's defined on your computer. This is the maximum. If you wish to delete all user ID's and start over, you must del- ete file AMEDIT.DAT from the root directory of your hard disk. -39- APPENDIX A - MESSAGES --------------------- There are 2 types of messages within AM-EDIT; Informative messages and error messages. All messages are centered on the screen's bottom line. The message will be cleared from the screen as soon as you press the next key. A.1 INFORMATIVE MESSAGES ------------------------- Informative messages inform you of action which has been taken or which cannot be taken as the result of a command that you entered or a function key that was pressed. The alarm does NOT sound when these messages appear. 1. Lines deleted: nnnnn Tells you how many lines were deleted after the completion of a Delete command or after you have pressed function key F4 to delete the current line. 2. Lines restored: nnnnn Tells you how many lines were restored into your file after you pressed function key Shift-F4 to restore deleted line(s). 3. Lines moved: nnnnn Tells you how many lines were moved after the completion of a Move command. 4. Lines copied: nnnnn Tells you how many lines were copied after the completion of a Copy command. 5. Lines inserted: nnnnn [Truncated: nnnnn] Tells you how many lines were added to your file after you use an Insert command to insert lines from another file. If any inserted lines exceeded the maximum record length of 1024 characters, then those lines were truncated and a count of the records truncated is included in the message. 6. Substitutions: nnnnn [Truncated: nnnnn] After a find-and-replace-all command, tells you how many oc- currences of the search string were located and replaced by the replacement string. -40- If you were replacing a text string with a longer string, it is possible that one or more of the lines altered by the com- mand will exceed the maximum record length of 1024 characters. If so, the effected line(s) are truncated to 1024 characters in length, and a count of the truncated lines is included in the message. 7. Saving Informs you that the system is in the process of saving your file. The message appears after you press function key F8 and there have been changes to your file since the last save (or since you began the edit if this is the first save). 8. File saved This message appears after a save is completed. You have the option of terminating the edit at this point by pressing func- tion key F8 again. 9. File unchanged This message will appear after you press function key F8 to save your file and the system finds that there are no changes to save. You have the option of terminating the edit at this point by pressing function key F8 again. 10. Printing Appears after a Print command to inform you that the system is in the process of sending your text to the print queue. 11. *** Top of data *** You have pressed the up arrow, PAGE UP, or Shift-TAB key, but the key was ignored because you are already at the top line or top page of your file. 12. *** End of data *** Informs you that a key that you have just pressed (such as down arrow, PAGE DOWN, ENTER, or TAB) was ignored because you are already at the bottom line or bottom page of your file. The message will also appear during a Trace command once there are no more altered lines to display. 13. Press Shift-F10 to verify cancel Can appear after you press the cancel key (Shift-F8) to inform you that there are unsaved changes to your file. Asks you to verify that you wish to cancel the edit despite the fact that you will lose those changes. -41- If you decide that you do NOT wish to cancel the edit, press any other key to continue with the edit. 14. Directory Search cancelled You initiated a directory search from the file-to-edit screen of during an Insert command, but you then cancelled the search by pressing function key F8. 15. Starting new file Informs you that the file that you entered as the file-to-edit does not exist and that a new file will be created as a result of the edit. If you entered the file name incorrectly, you can press Shift-F8 to cancel the edit and thus avoid the creation of a new file. 16. Edit cancelled - changes lost You have cancelled an edit in which there were unsaved changes by pressing Shift-F8 followed by Shift-F10. All of the unsaved changes were therefore lost. This message appears on the file- to-edit screen as the system prompts you for the next file to be edited. 17. Edit cancelled You have cancelled an edit by pressing Shift-F8. There were no unsaved changes to the file at the time that you pressed the key. This message appears on the file-to-edit screen. 18. Loading file This message tells you that the system is in the process of loading a file. The message will appear either on the file- to-edit screen or on the edit screen during execution of an Insert command. 19. End of line You have either pressed the right arrow key or entered a char- acter on a line where the cursor is already positioned at the last column of the line. Normally when you type a character, the cursor moves 1 position to the right to allow you to enter the next character. This message tells you that having reached the end of the line, the cursor is unable to move. You can continue typing characters after this message appears, but each character typed will overwrite the character which is already at the end of the line. 20. No room to insert While in insert mode (as opposed to overwrite mode), you have attempted to type a character into a field or a line in which there is a non-blank character in the last column. -42- A.2 ERROR MESSAGES ------------------- Error messages are displayed when you attempt some action which is not allowed or which cannot be performed by the system. The alarm will normally sound when an error message is displayed. You can use the User ID function (see Section 9) to adjust the length and tone of the alarm for your User ID. The "Alarm Length" parameter controls how long the alarm sounds. To turn the alarm off, use the up and down arrow on the User ID Parameter screen until the field named "Alarm Length" is high- lighted. Then press the left arrow key until the alarm length is zero. 1. Invalid command The system does not recognize your command. 2. Extra character(s) on line You have entered a valid command, but there are one or more extra characters on the command line. For example, you enter "d 1", but the character "1" is unneeded. If you had entered "d1", the error "Invalid command" would have resulted. 3. Incomplete command You have entered a valid command, but the command requires an argument. For example, you entered "F" on the command line, but a Find command requires at least one argument. This error can occur on a Find, Move, or Copy command. 4. Improper Move command You have attempted to move a range of lines to a spot within the range itself, for example, you attempt to move lines 21-28 after line 24. Note that you would get this error message if you attempted to move line 21-28 after line 28 or attempted to move lines 21-28 before line 21, since these commands would not result in the actual movement of any lines. 5. Improper Copy command You have attempted to copy a range of lines to a spot within the range itself. For example, you attempt to copy lines 45-65 after line 55. You can copy lines 45-65 after line 65, but you cannot copy lines 45-65 BEFORE line 65. Conversely, you may copy lines 45-65 before line 45 but not AFTER line 45. -43- 6. Invalid keyword During a Move or Copy command, you entered a keyword other than "a" or "b" on the command line at the point that you are ready to set the current line to the target line of the move or copy. OR You are attempting to execute a find-and-replace-all command, but have entered a keyword other than "a" or "all" after the replacement text string. 7. This key has no meaning You have pressed a key which has no meaning. For example, most Ctrl-function key and Alt-function key combinations have no meaning in this version of AM-EDIT. 8. Null string not valid here You have entered a null string as the search argument within a Find command. A null string is valid in a Find command only if it is the replacement argument. 9. Unmatched quote Within a Find command, you have entered either a search string or a replacement string which begins with a quote or a double quote, but you did not end the string with a matching quote or double quote. 10. "search string" not found You have done one of the following: * Entered a Find or Find-and-replace command. * Pressed function key F9 to find the next occurrence of a text string. * Pressed function key Shift-F9 to find the previous occur- rence of a text string. The message informs you that the text string was not found be- fore the end (or beginning) of your file was reached. You may press function key F9 (or Shift-F9) to restart the search at the first (or last) line of your file. Due to the limited space available for message display, only the first 27 characters of the "search string" will appear in the message should the string exceed 27 characters in length. 11. No search argument You have pressed function key F9 (or Shift-F9) to search for the next (or previous) occurrence of a text string, but you have not yet used a Find command during the edit to define a text string for which to search. -44- 12. Nothing to restore You pressed function key Shift-F4 to restore lines, but there are no lines to restore. This means that you have not yet de- leted any lines during the edit or you have already restored all deleted lines which can be restored. 13. Command conflict You have entered a command on the command line and then, in- stead of pressing the ENTER key to execute the command, you pressed a function key which acts as a command. The system does not know which command to process. The message will appear if you press any of the following keys while the command line is NOT blank. * F4 - delete current line * F5 - duplicate current line * F6 - type new line(s) before the current line * F7 - split the current line * Shift-F4 - restore deleted line(s) * Shift-F6 - type new line(s) after the current line * Shift-F7 - join the current line to the previous line 14. Key not valid while adding text You have pressed an illegal command key while in the process of typing a new text line into your file. These keys are: * F4 - Delete current line * F5 - Duplicate current line * F7 - Split the current line * Shift-F4 - Restore deleted line(s) * Shift-F7 - Join the current line to the previous line 15. Shift-F7 not valid here You pressed Shift-F7 (join current line to the previous line) while the current line is the first line of your file. There is no previous line to which the current line can be joined. 16. Key not enabled at this time You have pressed function key F10 or Shift-F10, but the key was not enabled at the time that it was pressed. Function key F10 is enabled at the point immediately after you have located an occurrence of a search string during a find-and-replace command. Shift-F10 is enabled immediately after you press Shift-F8 to cancel your edit and the message "Press Shift-F10 to verify cancel" appears at the bottom of your screen. -45- 17. Printer not ready You entered a print or form feed command, but the designated printer is turned off, is not on-line, or is out of paper. 18. Printer does not exist You entered a print or form feed command, but the designated printer does not exist. For example, you entered the command "P3", but no printer is assigned to "LPT3" on your computer. 19. Line overflow - key ignored You have pressed Shift-F7 to join a line to the previous line or you pressed function key F10 to replace a string during a find-and-replace operation, but the resulting line would have exceeded the maximum line length of 1024 characters. The key was therefore ignored. 20. This is a null file The file specified in an Insert command is a null file (a file that exists, but which has no records). Therefore, there were no lines inserted into your file as a result of the command. 21. Out of memory - cancel recommended This error can occur ONLY during a find-and-replace-all com- mand in which you are replacing all occurrences of a string with a LONGER string. The message informs you that the system ran out of memory be- fore all strings were replaced. Unless you can correct the problem, it is recommended that you cancel the edit at this point, since the file has been corrupted. 22. Lines truncated: nnnnn This message can appear after the initial loading of your file to inform you that one or more lines in the file exceeded the maximum line length of 1024 characters. Those lines were thus truncated to 1024 characters. 23. This is not a text file The file specified as the argument in an Insert command is not a text file. You can not merge non-text files into text files. 24. Invalid file name The file name that you entered as the "file to edit" or as the argument in an Insert command is not a valid DOS file name. Some examples: c:\aworkfile (File name is over 8 characters in length) c:\work.info (Suffix is over 3 characters in length) a\:work (Should be a:\work) -46- 25. Invalid path The file name that you entered as the "file to edit" or as the argument in an Insert command contains an invalid path. As an example, you entered "C:\DOCM\WORK", but the directory "DOCM" does not exist. 26. File access denied The file that you specified as the "file-to-edit" or as the argument in an Insert command cannot be accessed. This could mean that you entered a directory name as the file name, for example, you typed "C:\DOS" as the file name. 27. File not found The file specified in an Insert command was not found. Remem- ber that you must enter the full path name unless the file is in the current directory (the directory you were in when you executed AM-EDIT). Remember also that you can do a directory search to find the desired file. 28. Out of memory - File truncated During the initial loading of your file, the system ran out of memory before it could load the entire file. 29. Out of memory You attempted to execute a command which would cause a memory overflow condition. The command was ignored. Try restarting the edit after doing a save and exit. 30. Too many lines - File truncated During the initial loading of your file, the system loaded the first 60,000 lines, but could not load the remainder of the file because of the system limitation on the number of lines. 31. Too many lines You attempted to execute a command which would cause the num- ber of text lines to exceed 60,000. The command was ignored. 32. Memory is at capacity The system has used all available memory. You may not execute any command which would increase the size of your file, except for function key Shift-F4 (restore deleted lines). -47-