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- !0
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- BOXER(tm) is a full screen text editor designed to run on
- IBM PC compatible computers. BOXER provides the ability to
- create, modify, and store ASCII text files. It has been
- written with programmers in mind, but its powerful
- features will be appreciated by all types of users. BOXER
- has many word processing features, and is suitable for all
- but the most complex word processing tasks.
-
- BOXER supports the editing of multiple files through one
- or more windows. Windows can be any size and may occupy
- any location on screen. Text can be scrolled horizontally
- and vertically using a wide range of cursor movement
- commands. All commands which modify text can be undone
- with the Undo command; Redo can undo Undo. By default, the
- previous 200 changes can be undone - or up to 4,096 if you
- choose. Commands are accessible from either the keyboard
- or from a pull-down menu interface. A mouse can be used to
- access commands by menu, move and resize windows, and mark
- text blocks. An online, context sensitive help system
- provides full information about all of the editor's
- features.
-
- BOXER also features a global search and selective replace
- command with support for wildcard expressions. Keystroke
- macros enable you to create up to 26 macros to play back
- common keystroke sequences. A macro definition file is
- read upon startup to initialize all 26 macro keys. A wide
- variety of commands are provided for manipulating marked
- blocks of text: cut, copy, append, paste, delete, print,
- write, indent, invert, sort, detab, entab, total, average,
- fill and case operations. BOXER has 26 clipboard areas in
- which to store text. A collection of word processing
- commands are provided to allow formatted documents to be
- created without the use of a separate word processing
- package. A status line displays the current time and date,
- cursor column and row, line number, edit mode and keyboard
- shift state at all times. A variety of configuration
- options allow for customization to your needs.
-
- |20
-
- HOW TO USE HELP
-
- Commands are listed in the same order in which they appear
- in the pull-down menus. Each title on the horizontal menu
- is dealt with in a separate section. The key sequence
- which is currently bound to a command is shown in angle
- brackets <> to the right of that command. The key
- assignments will change dynamically if another key
- definition file is loaded.
-
- Note: Keys which are enclosed with square brackets [] must
- be typed from the numeric keypad at the right of the
- keyboard, with Numlock OFF.
-
- NOTE: throughout this manual, "BOXER" will be used to
- refer to BOXER, BOXER/TKO and BOXER/OS2. In those few
- instances where the operation of these products differ, an
- explicit product name will be used. Please see the file
- TKO.DOC for details about BOXER/TKO; see OS2.DOC for
- information about BOXER/OS2.
-
- !35
-
- STARTING THE EDITOR
-
- BOXER is run from the command line by typing 'B' followed
- by the name(s) of the file(s) to be edited (use 'B2' for
- BOXER/OS2; 'TKO' for BOXER/TKO). You can enter wildcard
- specifications, such as '*.H', to edit an entire class of
- files. You may enter the name of an existing file or
- create a new file by specifying a unique name.
-
- If you prefer to select from a menu of files upon startup,
- use the -0 option to specify that the File Menu is to be
- presented on startup. If you find that you always want the
- File Menu to appear on startup, add the -0 option to the
- BOXER environment string as described in Section 19.
-
- Each time an editor session is terminated, BOXER stores
- the filenames and cursor locations of the files being
- edited to a disk file named BOXER.LST. If BOXER is later
- run without naming any files to be edited, BOXER.LST is
- consulted and the files which were most recently edited
- are opened automatically. The current file will be the
- file which was last edited, the current line and column in
- each file will be restored to the location during the
- prior edit session. Search and replace strings from the
- prior edit session are also restored. When an edit session
- is commenced by naming files on the command line, the
- information within BOXER.LST is not consulted.
-
- This feature serves to smooth the edit-compile-test cycle
- by returning you to your previous editing environment in a
- painless fashion. The -l option flag (see Section 19) can
- be used to designate that the BOXER.LST file is to be
- placed in the current directory, allowing you to maintain
- different file sets in different directories. When you
- return to a directory and start BOXER without naming any
- files to edit, the files last edited from that directory
- will be reloaded. The -lx option flag can be used to
- prevent BOXER.LST from being rewritten on exit, allowing
- you to maintain a constant file set despite the addition
- or removal of files during the edit session.
-
- |40
-
- 1. PULL-DOWN MENUS
-
- BOXER provides a pull-down menu system as an alternative
- method of accessing its commands. The menu system provides
- new users with the capability to issue any of BOXER's
- commands without knowing the key sequence associated with
- that command. Experienced users will use the menu system
- to invoke infrequently used commands, as well as those few
- commands which are available only through the menu system.
-
- Once the pull-down menu has been activated, use a "Hot"
- letter to select a title, or the Left and Right arrow keys
- and Enter. From within a menu, use the Up and Down arrow
- keys, the Home and End keys, or the first letter of an
- entry to move the cursor bar to the desired menu item. The
- message line displays further information about the
- current item; F1 accesses online help for the current
- item. Use the Enter key to execute the desired command.
- Each menu records the item last selected so that a future
- visit to that menu begins with that item as the default.
- Use the Start and End of Line commands, or the Page Left
- and Right commands to move quickly to the extreme
- left/right menus.
-
- !42
-
- CUA-Compliant Menus
-
- BOXER's pull-down menus can also be configured to operate
- in a CUA-Compliant style of operation. CUA is an acronym
- for Common User Access, a user interface style which is
- gaining popularity. With this scheme, Alt-letter keys are
- assigned mnemonically to the picks on the Main Menu Bar.
- Within the pull-down menu, items can be selected quickly
- with a single key press. The "hot" letters are displayed
- in an alternate color to highlight their function.
-
- BOXER's default keyboard layout does not use Alt-letter
- keys to access the pull-down menus. Rather, the F10 key
- is used to activate the menus, and a hot letter press will
- drop the corresponding menu. If you prefer to use CUA-
- Compliant menus, you can select the supplied BOXERCUA.KEY
- file as your default layout. Simply issue the following
- command: COPY BOXERCUA.KEY DEFAULT.KEY
-
- Alternately, you can use the RECONFIG utility to change
- your own keyboard file to use CUA-Compliant menus, or to
- modify the BOXERCUA.KEY file supplied. See RECONFIG.DOC
- for details on the use of this utility.
-
- !44
-
- Changing Hot Letters
-
- BOXER also allows you to select which letters will be
- displayed as hot letters within the menus. The hot letters
- are changed from within BOXER, and the process is very
- easy. To begin, simply press the '!' key while the menus
- are active. The cursor bar will change in size to indicate
- that hot letters are being changed. Use the Left and Right
- arrows to change the hot letter within the current menu
- item. The display is updated immediately. Use the Up and
- Down arrow keys to select other menu items to change.
-
- When a pull-down menu is complete, press '!' again to save
- the changes to disk. A check is made to ensure that the
- letters selected are unique. You can then move to other
- menus to change their hot letters. If you prefer that a
- menu item NOT have a hot letter, simply position the hot
- letter to the right of the menu text so that no letters
- appear in the highlighted color.
-
- The hot letters in the Main Menu Bar are changed in the
- same way. Note that you will need to use RECONFIG to
- configure the proper key sequences to match the Main Menu
- Bar display; changing the hot letter displayed will not
- affect a keyboard reassignment.
-
- Lastly, the Set Colors command allows you to select what
- colors are used for hot letters in both the Main Menu Bar
- and in the pull-down menus.
-
- |50
-
- 2. HELP SYSTEM
-
- BOXER provides a sophisticated online help system to
- assist you in using the full power of the editor. The help
- system can be accessed at any point in the program by
- pressing the F1 key. A scrollable pop-up window appears
- displaying information related to the operation you were
- about to perform.
-
- Alternatively, the help system can be accessed using the
- help index provided in the pull-down menu system. A menu
- is provided which will allow you to display a Help window
- for a variety of pre-indexed topics.
-
- The final method of accessing help is perhaps the most
- powerful. As you are navigating within the pull-down
- menus, the F1 key remains active and will provide a help
- window relating to the topic currently highlighted in the
- menu. You do not need to execute the command, simply
- highlight the command of interest in the menu and press
- F1. The help system will jump immediately to the section
- pertaining to the highlighted command and display the
- pop-up window.
-
- The Help System can also be searched for a word or phrase
- of your choosing. You may find this feature convenient to
- locate all references to a particular topic, for example.
- Simply issue the Forward Search command (Alt-F, by
- default) and supply a text string to be found. A search
- will be performed from the current section onward for the
- supplied text. The search is conducted without regard to
- upper and lower case letters, and wildcard characters are
- not significant. To search again for the same text, use
- the Find Next command (Shift Down Arrow, by default).
-
- |55
-
- 3. USING A MOUSE
-
- BOXER supports the use of a Microsoft compatible mouse to
- perform a variety of window manipulations, text cursor
- positioning and text marking. The use of a mouse is
- optional - nearly all mouse actions can be performed with
- an equivalent keyboard command. In all cases the Left
- mouse button is used to select or activate an option,
- while the Right button is used to cancel an option. The
- mouse cursor appears as a reverse video (or colored) text
- block. The mouse cursor disappears when the keyboard is
- being used, but reappears as soon as the mouse is moved.
-
- The window frame style in BOXER is sensitive to whether or
- not the system has a mouse installed. If it does, various
- icons will appear in the corners of the window frame. The
- lower right corner is used to resize the window. The upper
- right corner is used to zoom a window to full screen, or
- to return a zoomed window to its smaller size. The upper
- left corner is used to close the window.
-
- Any point along the left or upper window frames may be
- used to drag a window to a new position. The up and down
- arrow icons on the right frame are used to scroll
- vertically. The left and right arrow icons on the lower
- frame are used to scroll horizontally. By clicking on the
- lower frame in the areas to the left and right of the
- filename, the document can be paged left and right.
-
- Alternatively, the 'elevator' icon can be dragged up or
- down to move quickly within large files. A single click in
- the elevator area jumps the file up or down by a single
- page. More simply, the text cursor may be repositioned
- within a window by clicking on the point desired. When
- multiple windows are in use, a mouse click within an
- inactive window will make that window active.
-
- !56
-
- Block marking can be accomplished by holding down the Left
- mouse button for about 1/2 second and then dragging the
- mouse to define the range of marked text. If the mouse
- button is released, the marked area can be extended by
- simply clicking on a new character.
-
- Column marking is similarly accomplished, except that the
- Ctrl key on the keyboard must be depressed at the time
- marking is initiated. Likewise, Line marking can be
- initiated by holding down the Alt key when marking is
- initiated. These keys may be released once marking has
- commenced. If you have a 3-button mouse, the center button
- can be used to initiate Column marking.
-
- The Right mouse button may be used to cancel marking. Once
- marked, text may be manipulated using any of the marked
- text commands.
-
- The pull-down menu system is also accessible via a mouse.
- By clicking the Left mouse button on the desired title,
- the menu system is activated. You may then use the mouse
- to point at the desired menu item, and click the Left
- mouse button to activate that option.
-
- Note: The mouse cursor character, mouse speed, and sense
- of the mouse buttons can be adjusted with various Option
- Flags. See Section 19 for details.
-
- |60
-
- 4. FILES AND WINDOWS
-
- In order to fully utilize the power of BOXER, it is
- necessary to understand the distinction between files and
- windows, as implemented by the editor. BOXER enables you
- to edit multiple files simultaneously. The editor
- maintains a list of all files which are being edited. This
- list is the FILE LIST. The 'current window' is the window
- with the cursor in it; the 'current file' is the file
- within the current window.
-
- In the simplest case, a single full screen window exists
- and a single file is being edited within that window.
- Other files may be added to the file list with the Edit
- New File command. In this case, a single window is used to
- view several files; other files in the file list are
- brought into the window via the Next File or Previous File
- commands. These commands cycle through all files in the
- file list in the order they were opened. This
- configuration (multiple files, single full screen window)
- is sufficient for many editing jobs.
-
- Additional windows may be created with the Open Window
- command. Windows are treated analogously to files - they
- are maintained in a WINDOW LIST. The Previous Window and
- Next Window commands are used to move through the window
- list. The Next File command is used as before to cycle
- through the file list within the current window. Windows
- may be resized and relocated with the Resize Windows
- command or by mouse to provide maximum visibility. The
- Zoom Window command provides a means to quickly (and
- temporarily) zoom the current window to full size.
-
- |70
-
- 5. MESSAGE LINE EDITOR
-
- The Message Line Editor is activated whenever input is
- expected in the message area located at the bottom of the
- screen. The Message Line Editor provides for
- non-destructive cursor movement within the text being
- entered and horizontal scrolling if the text exceeds the
- width of the message area. In addition, most of the
- horizontal cursor movement commands are available, namely
- Word Left/Right, Start/End of Line, Page Left/Right, and
- Edge Toggle. The Delete and Backspace commands are also
- operative. The Toggle Edit Mode command can be used to
- toggle between Insert and Typeover modes. The Escape
- command is used to clear the editing string. If the edit
- string is already empty, the Escape command serves to
- cancel entry of the string.
-
- Whenever possible, the editor attempts to guess what entry
- you will be making next on the message line. When
- prompting for a file path, for example, the editor
- displays the previous file path entry on the chance that
- it may be easier for you to edit the previous entry than
- to type a new file path. If the default string is to be
- accepted as is, simply press Return. If a new string is to
- be entered, disregard the default string - it will
- disappear after an insertable key is struck. If a cursor
- motion key is struck first, the editor presumes you wish
- to work with the default string and it will remain on the
- line for editing. To add to an entry, press the right
- arrow key before typing the characters to be added.
-
- !71
-
- The Message Line Editor provides a sophisticated feature
- called "Filename Completion". As you are typing an entry
- you may hit the Tab key at any point to complete the file-
- path. Additional Tab presses will cycle through all files
- which match the partial name supplied. This feature can
- greatly speed the process of supplying file paths.
-
- To further speed the process of supplying input on the
- message line, the editor retains the last 30 entries made
- in a history list. Prior entries can be recalled by
- pressing the Up and Down arrow keys. Use the Up arrow to
- review your prior entries until the desired entry is found
- and then press Return. The Home and End keys jump to the
- top and bottom of the history list respectively.
-
- The Message Line Editor provides another sophisticated
- feature to facilitate input. It is possible to paste text
- from the editor's clipboard into the text being edited on
- the message line. First, text is placed in the clipboard
- in the usual way (see Block Text Commands, section 12). As
- you are entering text in the Message Line Editor, use the
- Paste command to insert the first line from the current
- clipboard into the string being edited.
-
- It is also possible to copy text from the Message Line
- Editor to the current clipboard. Just issue the Copy Block
- command while the desired text is displayed on the message
- line. There is no confirmation that the text has been
- copied, as this would disturb the contents of the Message
- Line Editor.
-
- Whenever text is being entered with the Message Line
- Editor, the ASCII Chart (section 13.10) or the Insert
- ASCII Value (section 9.22) commands can be used to select
- a character for insertion in the string being entered.
- This feature makes it easy to include ASCII values which
- are not easily entered from the keyboard. This technique
- will prove especially useful for creating Search and
- Replace strings which must contain such values.
-
- |75
-
- 6. FILE MENU
-
- Whenever the entry of a filename is required, BOXER offers
- the ability to pick from a menu displaying files within
- the current directory. Directory names are also displayed,
- making it possible to travel to other directories while
- within the File Menu. Selections are also displayed for
- all active drive letters, to facilitate travel to other
- disk drives.
-
- The File Menu is activated automatically for all commands
- which require that a filename be specified. A menu will be
- displayed which shows all of the files in the current
- directory with their size, dates, etc. to the right. The
- cursor keys can be used to move within this list, and the
- Enter key will select a file. If you prefer to type a
- filename yourself, the menu will disappear as soon as you
- strike a key. A number of other options are provided from
- the file menu:
-
- !76
-
- Multiple files can be selected by first marking them with
- the SPACE key and then using the ENTER key to select the
- marked files. The SPACE key is also used to unmark a
- marked entry. (The combined length of the marked files
- is limited to 200 characters.)
-
- !77
-
- The DELETE key can be used to delete from disk either the
- current entry or the currently marked files. A
- confirmation is required before the deletions are
- performed. The ESCAPE key can be used to abort the delete
- operation in mid-cycle if a mistake is made in selection.
-
- !78
-
- The TAB key can be used to specify a filter to be used in
- displaying the menu, or to select an alternate drive. If a
- filter such as *.DOC is specified, only files with a .DOC
- extension will appear in the menu. You can enter a full
- path with a filter such as C:\WP\LETTERS\*.DOC if you are
- currently in another directory. You can also specify "D:",
- for example, to display a file list for a directory on
- another drive. The filter can be reset to '*.*' quickly by
- using the BACKSPACE key.
-
- !79
-
- The '/' key serves to toggle between various sort modes.
- When initially displayed, the files are sorted
- alphabetically by name. By pressing the '/' key, the files
- will be sorted alternately by extension, size, date, or
- left unsorted. (Note: BOXER/OS2 does not perform a sort
- by file extension.)
-
- !80
-
- The '+' key will toggle between two search modes. The
- default mode searches the current directory for the
- pattern specified. When the mode is toggled, the search is
- performed across the ENTIRE disk drive. Thus, a 'lost'
- file can be located for editing by toggling the search
- mode to 'search-the-disk' and using 'Tab' to specify the
- filename. Likewise, a class of files can be located for
- selective editing or deletion. This feature can be a very
- powerful tool when used effectively.
-
- !81
-
- The ',' key can be used to return immediately to the
- current directory. As you travel across drives and
- directories with the File Menu, the current directory is
- remembered. You can quickly return the File Menu to this
- directory with this feature.
-
- !82
-
- To help speed file and search string entry, the pop-up
- menu will disappear if you type characters which indicate
- you prefer to type an entry rather than select it from the
- menu. At this point you will be returned to the message
- line editor. If you prefer to have the string you are
- typing completed for you, simply press F10 to jump to the
- nearest match for your string within the menu.
-
- !85
-
- FILE MENU COMMANDS
-
- Use any of the following commands to help select a file
- from the menu - or simply type the name of the file you
- wish to edit on the message line. By holding down the
- Shift key, you can jump among entries by pressing the
- first letter of each.
-
- Space Mark/unmark current file Left ascend dir
- Enter Select current or marked Right descend dir
- Del Delete current or marked Up previous item
- Tab Specify filter (eg *.DOC) Down next item
- or a drive designation Home top of page
- to change to (eg D:) End bottom of page
- Bsp Reset filter to '*.*' ^PgUp top of menu
- / Toggle Sort mode ^PgDn bottom of menu
- - Toggle Sort direction PgUp previous page
- + Toggle Global Search PgDn next page
- , Return to current dir Esc to message line
-
- |95
-
- 7. ELEVATOR SYMBOL
-
- On the right edge of the window frame a marker is
- displayed which illustrates the current cursor position
- relative to the size of the entire file. The elevator
- symbol moves up and down as you move within a document.
- The elevator symbol provides a quick method to gauge your
- location within a file. If the marker appears midway along
- the window frame, the cursor is currently on a line which
- is approximately in the middle of the file. The marker
- will appear to move quickly when scrolling through small
- files, and slowly when scrolling in large files. The file
- position can be changed quickly by clicking with the Left
- mouse button in this area, or by dragging the elevator
- symbol with the mouse.
-
- |100
-
- 8. FILE COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides a variety of commands which operate at the
- file level. Among these are commands to edit, print,
- import, paginate, write, and compile files. Commands are
- also available to move between the files being edited. The
- File commands are described in more detail in the sections
- that follow.
-
- !101,321
-
- 8.1 Edit New File <Alt E>
-
- The Edit New File command enables additional files to be
- added to the file list. The name of the file to be edited
- is typed on the message line or selected from the pop-up
- File Menu. Wildcard expressions can be used; for example:
- specify *.h to edit all files with '.h' extension in the
- current directory. Alternatively, you may specify several
- filenames; for example: 'SALES.TXT OFFERS.DOC REPORT.TXT'.
- BOXER will also recognize relative path names, so you can
- specify names such as '..\SALES\MAY\REPORT.TXT'. The
- file(s) named are added to the file list and the first
- named file becomes the current file in the current window.
-
- NOTES:
-
- If the file being loaded contains lines which exceed
- BOXER's maximum line length of 1,024 characters these
- lines will be split at that point. The over length portion
- will appear on the next line. Truncation is NOT performed,
- so data is never lost.
-
- Files containing the End of File character (ASCII 26) can
- be edited by BOXER without difficulty. If you do use this
- character within a file, note that some other programs may
- not be able to process the file properly. This character
- is used to mark the end of a file, and many programs will
- stop reading a file once it is encountered.
-
- Files which contain NULL (ASCII 0) characters can be
- edited, but the NULLs are discarded as the file is read.
- NULL characters appear most often in executable program
- files, and these files should not be edited with ANY ASCII
- text editor.
-
- BOXER can load text files from both Unix and Macintosh
- systems without difficulty. Unix files are terminated with
- a linefeed (ASCII 10); Macintosh files are terminated with
- a carriage return (ASCII 13). By default, BOXER will write
- text files with a carriage return / linefeed sequence, as
- this is the PC standard. By using option flags, you can
- control how BOXER will write text files: the -U option
- causes BOXER to write files in Unix format; the -M option
- selects Macintosh format.
-
- !105,434
-
- 8.2 Reload File <menu>
-
- The Reload File command will reload the current file from
- disk. You will first be prompted to ensure that this is
- your intention. This provides a simple way to restart an
- edit session with the version of the file on disk. Also,
- this command is used by the Spell Check macro to reload
- from disk after spelling corrections are made.
-
- !110,415
-
- 8.3 Locate File(s) <menu>
-
- The Locate File command enables the entire disk to be
- searched for a file or file pattern. The matching file(s)
- are displayed in a menu from which one or more may be
- selected. This command makes it easy to edit a file whose
- precise location is not known. As many as 125 matching
- files will be presented in the menu.
-
- !115,308
-
- 8.4 Import File <Alt I>
-
- The Import File command enables you to import (merge) a
- file into the current file. The name of the file to be
- imported is typed on the message line or selected from the
- File Menu. The file is inserted at the start of the
- current line. Note: the Import File command is not
- undoable with the UNDO command, since the import of a
- large file would overwrite all other undo information. The
- Block Delete command could be used instead to quickly undo
- the effect of the Import File command.
-
- !120,325
-
- 8.5 New Filename <Alt N>
-
- The New Filename command assigns the current file a new
- name within the editor (it does not do a RENAME). All
- future requests to write the file will be written to the
- newly specified name. The new output name will appear in
- the lower center of the window frame.
-
- !125,361
-
- 8.6 Print File <Alt P>
-
- The Print File command provides for the printing of a file
- to an attached printer. You will first be asked if you
- wish to use printing parameters. The use of printing
- parameters gives you control over the format of the output
- page, allows for page numbering, margins, headers,
- footers, etc. (section 15.1). The Print File command can
- be aborted during printing by using the Escape command.
-
- Because some printers are unable to process Tab
- characters, and because BOXER supports 'tab stop' style
- tabs, Tab characters within the text being printed are
- expanded to Spaces before being sent to the printer. This
- ensures that the file will appear on output exactly as it
- appears within the editor.
-
- !130,303
-
- 8.7 Quit <Alt Q>
-
- The Quit command is used to exit the editor. If there are
- any files which have been modified but not written you
- will be presented with the following prompt: 'Quit with #
- modified files: Yes No Write' The 'Yes' option allows you
- to quit without saving the modified file(s). The 'No'
- option allows you to return to the editor. The 'Write'
- option writes all of the modified files and then exits the
- editor. If you have made changes to the color settings,
- macros, or print parameters which you would like to save
- you should write them before exiting the editor.
-
- In order to allow for the creation of macros which include
- the Quit command, BOXER will record a macro right up until
- exit from the editor is requested. Thus, if a macro is
- being recorded upon exit, you will be offered a chance to
- save that macro before the request to exit is completed.
-
- !135,402
-
- 8.8 Write File <Alt W>
-
- The Write File command writes (saves) the current file to
- disk. If no changes have been made since the session
- began, or since the file was last written, the file will
- not be written.
-
- Before the file is written for the first time, and unless
- file backups are disabled, the old copy on disk is moved
- to the editor's backup directory - usually \BOXER\BACKUP.
- When editing on a drive other than the editor's 'home'
- drive, a file with a .BKP extension will be placed in the
- current directory. Subsequent Write File commands will not
- alter the original backup file. The editor will not allow
- you to write a file whose name ends with .BKP. To write a
- file with a .BKP extension you will need to change the
- output name with the New Filename command (section 8.5).
- Note that this command does not end the editing session,
- it merely writes the current file to disk.
-
- !140,408
-
- 8.9 Write All <menu>
-
- The Write All command automatically writes to disk all
- files which have been modified since they were last saved.
- The names of the files are displayed on the message line
- as they are written to disk. This command does not end the
- editing session.
-
- !141,454
-
- 8.10 Write & Quit <menu>
-
- The Write & Quit command writes all modified files to disk
- and exits the editor. No additional prompts or questions
- are presented. This command provides the quickest means to
- save all your work and exit the editor.
-
- !145,309
-
- 8.11 Paginate File <Shift F7>
-
- The Paginate File command provides the ability to paginate
- a file with output to a disk file, rather than to a
- printer. A disk file will be created which contains the
- file as it would appear after printing parameters are used
- to insert margins, page breaks, header and footer strings,
- etc. The file can then be printed at a later time. This
- feature is especially useful for formatting documentation
- which is to be distributed on diskette, ready for printing
- by the target audience. It also provides an opportunity to
- search for orphan lines which may have occurred during
- pagination.
-
- !150,359
-
- 8.12 Previous File <Alt ->
-
- The Previous File command moves to the previous file in
- the file list. The file is moved into the current window.
- The cursor is returned to the position in the file when it
- was last visited.
-
- !155,322
-
- 8.13 Next File <Alt +>
-
- The Next File command makes the next file in the file list
- the current file. The file is moved into the current
- window. The cursor is returned to the position in the file
- when it was last visited.
-
- !160,304
-
- 8.14 File List <Shift F1>
-
- The File List command displays a list of the files
- currently being edited. A pop-up menu appears in the upper
- right corner of the screen displaying the file list. The
- current file will be highlighted with the menu cursor bar.
- Exclamation marks (!) are used to denote files which have
- been modified but not written. It is possible to close,
- edit, print, and write files directly from the file list
- menu using the current key assignments for these commands.
- The active commands are displayed on the message line. The
- Escape command is used to exit the display.
-
- !165,290
-
- 8.15 Close File <Alt X>
-
- The Close File command removes the current file from the
- file list. If changes have been made to the file since it
- was last written a warning will appear on the message
- line. You may cancel the request or choose to write the
- file before it is closed. The next file in the file list
- becomes the current file and is moved into the current
- window.
-
- If an attempt is made to close the last file being edited,
- an option is provided to close this file and load another
- in its place. This can be useful when a large file is
- being edited, and a second large file needs to be loaded
- in its place. If this option is accepted, but then a file
- is not named to replace the closed file, the editing
- session will end.
-
- !170,297
-
- 8.16 Compile File <Alt Enter>
-
- The Compile File command invokes a compiler or assembler
- (henceforth called compiler) to operate upon the file
- currently being edited. The editor swaps itself and all
- currently edited files to EMS memory or disk to provide
- the compiler with the maximum amount of memory possible.
- The compiler is then invoked with the name of the current
- file as an argument. The output of the compiler is
- interpreted to determine if any errors occurred and, if
- so, the cursor is placed on the line containing the error
- and the error message is displayed on the message line.
- When the Compile command is issued again, an option to
- move to the previous or next error is provided, as is an
- option to compile again.
-
- The name of the compiler to be invoked is selected based
- on the file extension of the file to be compiled. The file
- DEFAULT.CFG contains a list of several popular compilers.
- See the instructions in that file to select an active
- compiler for each language you use. If the compiler you
- use is not listed, the following sections will describe
- how to create a configuration string for your compiler.
-
- !171
-
- The compiler configuration string has six fields separated
- by commas. They are:
-
- 1. compiler name
- 2. compiler flags
- 3. keyword denoting an error line (usu. 'error')
- 4. keyword denoting a warning line (usu. 'warning')
- 5. the field number of the error line number
- 6. the field number of the error message
-
- Examine an error message from your compiler to determine
- the field position within the error message of the line
- number and error message text. Fields are considered to be
- separated by Tabs, Spaces, a '(' or a ')'.
-
- Example Output:
- Error TEST.C 15: Undefined symbol 'i' in function main
- Warning TEST.C 16: Code has no effect in function main
- Error TEST.C 16: Statement missing ; in function main
-
- Example Analysis:
- The error line number appears in field 3, the error
- message begins in field 4. 'Error' is the keyword in an
- error message. 'Warning' is the keyword in a warning
- message. The configuration string might be:
-
- bcc,-ml -K -I\tc\include,Error,Warning,3,4
-
- The output of the compiler is stored in two files in
- BOXER's home directory: BOXER.CC1 (stdout) and BOXER.CC2
- (stderr). If you have difficulty configuring for your
- compiler, you can study the output in these files to help
- devise the proper entries to use for configuration.
-
- !172
-
- NOTE: if the field number of the error message is given as
- "-1", the error message will be fetched from the very next
- line of compiler output.
-
- NOTE: special handling is available for the Mix Power C
- compiler. Use "-2" as the field number of the error
- message to ensure proper handling for this compiler.
-
- NOTE: a "%s" sequence can be placed among the compiler
- flags to dictate the required position of the filename
- among those flags. By default, the filename will be placed
- after the flags. If needed, a "%s" can be placed at the
- start of the compiler flags field to dictate that the
- filename should precede the flags. Clipper is one compiler
- which requires this placement.
-
- |200
-
- 9. EDIT COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides commands for character, word, and line
- deletion, line truncation, character increment and
- decrement, and automatic line copy. Any changes made to
- the text within a file can be undone by using the Undo
- command (section 9.14). The Edit Commands are described in
- the following sections.
-
- !201
-
- 9.1 Character Delete <Delete>
-
- The Character Delete command deletes the character at the
- cursor. If the character deleted is a Newline character,
- the line below the current line will be appended to the
- current line.
-
- !202
-
- 9.2 Backspace <Backspace>
-
- The Backspace command deletes the character to the left of
- the cursor. If the cursor is in the first column of a
- line, the Newline character on the previous line will be
- deleted and the current line appended to the previous
- line. If the cursor is past the end of a line, the
- Backspace command acts as the Cursor Left command.
-
- !203
-
- 9.3 Enter <Enter>
-
- The Enter command inserts a Newline character at the
- current cursor position and moves the cursor to the line
- below the current line. If the cursor is mid-line in a
- line of existing text, the text to the right of the cursor
- is moved to a new line below. If auto indent is selected
- (section 16.3), the cursor will be positioned on the new
- line at the same level of indent as the current line.
-
- While in Typeover mode this command is ordinarily
- non-destructive; the cursor will simply be moved to the
- start of the next line. When at end of file, however, new
- lines will be created. Newline characters can be made
- visible by using the Visible Spaces command (section
- 16.1).
-
- !204,313
-
- 9.4 Insert Line <Ctrl Enter>
-
- The Insert Line command creates a new line below the
- current line and moves the cursor to the beginning of that
- line. If auto indent is selected (section 16.3), the
- cursor will be positioned on the new line at the same
- level of indent as the current line. The effect of this
- command is equivalent to moving the cursor to the end of
- the current line and executing the Enter command while in
- Insert mode.
-
- !205
-
- 9.5 Tab <Tab>
-
- The Tab command inserts a Tab character (ASCII 9) at the
- current cursor position and moves the cursor to the next
- tab stop. Tab width values can be set or changed with the
- Set Tab Width(s) command (section 16.18). Note that BOXER
- inserts real Tab characters, not Space characters, into
- the text file. This behavior can be altered by using the
- Tab/Space Usage command (section 16.6).
-
- In Typeover mode, this command is non-destructive. The
- cursor will simply move to the next Tab Stop. Tab
- characters can be made visible by use of the Visible
- Spaces command (section 16.1).
-
- !206,292
-
- 9.6 Delete Line <Alt D>
-
- The Delete Line command deletes the current line. The
- column position of the cursor within the line being
- deleted is irrelevant. The cursor is moved to the next
- line in the file. If the last line of a file is deleted,
- the cursor will move to the previous line.
-
- !207,293
-
- 9.7 Delete Next Word <Ctrl Delete>
-
- The Delete Next Word command deletes the word to the right
- of the cursor. A word is nominally considered to be a
- group of alphanumeric characters delimited by Space, Tab
- or "non-word" characters. The precise definition of word
- characters can be expanded by use of the "wordchars"
- directive contained in the file DEFAULT.CFG. This command
- will operate across lines.
-
- !208,404
-
- 9.8 Delete Previous Word <Ctrl Backspace>
-
- The Delete Previous Word command deletes the word to the
- left of the cursor. A word is nominally considered to be a
- group of alphanumeric characters delimited by Space, Tab
- or "non-word" characters. The precise definition of word
- characters can be expanded by use of the "wordchars"
- directive contained in the file DEFAULT.CFG. This command
- will operate across lines.
-
- !209,294
-
- 9.9 Kill to Start of Line <Alt K>
-
- The Kill to Start of Line command deletes text from the
- cursor to the start of the current line. If the cursor is
- at the start of line, no deletion occurs. If the cursor is
- at the end of a line, all text on the line will be
- deleted, but the Newline character will remain.
-
- !210,280
-
- 9.10 Clone Line <Alt O>
-
- The Clone Line command copies the current line to a new
- line immediately below the current line. The cursor is
- moved to the new line and its column is maintained. This
- command provides for quick line replication without the
- need to disturb the contents of the clipboard - a line
- copy could also be performed using the block copy and
- paste operations.
-
- !211,324
-
- 9.11 Open Line <menu>
-
- The Open Line command opens a new line at the current
- line. The position of the cursor is unchanged. The effect
- of this command is similar to the Insert Line command,
- except that the new line is created at the current line
- rather than below the current line.
-
- !212,317
-
- 9.12 Line Swap <Alt S>
-
- The Line Swap command provides a quick method to swap the
- text on the current line with that on the line below. It
- is illegal to request a line swap when positioned on the
- last line of a file.
-
- !213,291
-
- 9.13 Truncate to End of Line <Alt T>
-
- The Truncate to End of Line command deletes all text from
- the cursor to the end of line. The Newline character is
- preserved, so the following line is not appended to the
- current line.
-
- !214,393
-
- 9.14 Undo <Alt U>
-
- The Undo command cancels the effect of a previous text
- modification. If a line was modified, inserted, or
- deleted, the Undo command restores the line to its prior
- form. All commands which result in a modification to text
- can be undone (except Import File). Commands which result
- in a change to several lines simultaneously, such as block
- text deletes or global replacements, are undone with a
- single Undo request.
-
- Undo information is maintained separately for all files
- being edited. Undo is limited by default to the previous
- 200 text modifications. If multiple files are being
- edited, a total of 200 prior modifications can be undone.
- Commands which result in a modification to more than 200
- lines (as might a global replacement) cannot be undone in
- their entirety. After 200 modifications are made, the Undo
- information for the oldest change is discarded to make
- room for new changes.
-
- The Undo command does not affect the contents of the
- clipboard. Likewise, the Import File command is not
- Undoable. The Undo limit is set by default to 200. Larger
- or smaller limits can be set with the -u# option flag.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !221,412
-
- 9.15 Undo All <menu>
-
- The Undo All command restores all changes made to the
- current file during the edit session - subject to the
- limitation of the size of the Undo limit. The effect of
- this is the same as manually issuing the Undo command
- repeatedly until all changes have been restored. This
- command should only be used if you know you want ALL
- changes made to a file restored.
-
- !222,413
-
- 9.16 Undo Reset <menu>
-
- The Undo Reset command resets the Undo stack to zero
- without performing any of the Undo operations therein.
- This command can be useful when used as a "place marker".
- For example, issue the Undo Reset command when you are
- confident that prior changes will not need to be undone,
- and before a new "trial" editing task is begun. If the
- trial task proves to be unwanted, you can then safely use
- the Undo All command to return to the "place marker".
-
- This command also has the effect of making more memory
- available for editing. If you find that you have exhausted
- memory while editing, this command will release the memory
- used to record Undo information making it available for
- other operations.
-
- !223,453
-
- 9.17 Redo {Alt Backspace}
-
- The Redo command can be used to undo the effect of the
- last Undo command, usually after you realize that you
- "undid too far". For example, assume you've used the Undo
- command repeatedly to restore several lines that were
- deleted in error. But then you go too far, and undo a
- change that you wanted to keep. Redo will undo the undo.
-
- Redo will operate on as many adjacent undo entries as are
- available, up to the size of the Undo stack. Redo cannot
- be used after other changes have been made - it must be
- used immediately after the Undo command has been used.
-
- !215,288
-
- 9.18 Increment <menu>
-
- The Increment command increments the character or decimal
- value at the cursor by one or by a specified amount. If
- the cursor is positioned on a character, the command
- serves to increment that character by one ASCII value. The
- character 'b' becomes a 'c' and so forth. If the cursor is
- positioned on a single or multi-digit value, you will be
- prompted for the amount to increment the value. This
- command is especially useful when used in conjunction with
- the Line Copy command in a macro to perform automatic
- numbering (section 17.5).
-
- !216,286
-
- 9.19 Decrement <menu>
-
- The Decrement command decrements the character or decimal
- value at the cursor by one or by a specified amount. If
- the cursor is positioned on a character, the command will
- serve to decrement that character by one ASCII value. The
- character 'c' becomes a 'b' and so forth. If the cursor is
- positioned on a single or multi-digit value, you will be
- prompted for the amount to decrement the value.
-
- !217,289
-
- 9.20 Multiply <menu>
-
- The Multiply command multiplies a single or multi-digit
- decimal value at the cursor by a specified amount. After
- selecting the command, you will be prompted for the amount
- to multiply by. The arithmetic is performed and the text
- at the cursor is updated to reflect the result.
-
- !218,287
-
- 9.21 Divide <menu>
-
- The Divide command divides a single or multi-digit decimal
- value at the cursor by a specified amount. After selecting
- the command, you will be prompted for the amount to divide
- by. The arithmetic is performed and the text at the cursor
- is updated to reflect the result. Integer arithmetic is
- performed, not floating point.
-
- !219,395
-
- 9.22 Insert ASCII Value <F6>
-
- This command provides a means to insert ASCII characters
- into a text file, or into the text being entered on the
- message line, which are not directly available from the
- keyboard. Since the Control A-Z keys are used for command
- assignments, a method to enter the characters normally
- associated with these keys, as well as those in the range
- 128-255, is needed.
-
- A prompt appears for the value of the character to be
- inserted. Other bases may be used to enter the character
- value as outlined in the Calculator command (section
- 13.4). Values in the range 1-255 are legal. Characters can
- also be selected for insertion directly from the pop-up
- ASCII Chart (section 13.10).
-
- !220,384
-
- 9.23 Toggle Edit Mode <Shift Insert>
-
- The Toggle Edit Mode command toggles between Insert and
- Typeover modes. In Insert mode, characters typed are
- inserted into the text, and characters on the right are
- pushed to the right. In Typeover mode, characters typed
- replace the characters under the cursor. The default is
- Insert mode. When in the Message Line Editor, this command
- will toggle the Line Editor's edit mode between Insert and
- Typeover.
-
- The shape of the text cursor changes from a large block
- (Insert) to an underscore (Typeover) to indicate the
- change in mode. Also, a small/large circle appears in the
- lower right of the screen to indicate the mode.
-
- |300
-
- 10. SEARCH AND REPLACE COMMANDS
-
- The Search and Replace Commands enable you to search for
- and replace textual strings within the current file.
- Pattern matching characters are recognized to enable
- 'wildcard' searches (section 10.1). Search patterns are
- retained after movement from file to file, so it is easy
- to repeat a search in another file.
-
- Both the Search and Search & Replace commands offer the
- opportunity to select from a menu of recently entered
- search and replace strings. A pop-up menu will appear
- offering the chance to select from a list of previous
- strings. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to select from the
- list, and Enter to make your selection. The Delete key can
- be used to remove unwanted entries from the menu. When
- Enter is pressed the selected string will appear on the
- message line, and can be edited if necessary. A second
- Enter key begins the operation. The Search and Replace
- commands are explained in the following sections.
-
- !301
-
- 10.1 Pattern Matching Characters
-
- To provide more powerful search and replace capabilities,
- BOXER recognizes several pattern matching or 'wildcard'
- characters. These characters are punctuation characters
- which are interpreted specially during the search process.
- The characters recognized are:
-
- ? match any single character
- * match zero or more characters
- ^ if at start of string, restrict search
- to start of line
- $ if at end of string, restrict search
- to end of line
- ! if at end of string, perform search
- for string as a distinct token
- (ie, a whole word)
- \ remove significance from a pattern
- matching character
- \nnn match decimal character nnn
- [abc] match named characters a, b, or c
- [^abc] match all except a, b, or c
- [a-e] match a range of characters
-
- The "C" language sequences \b, \f, \n, \r, and \t are also
- recognized within search patterns to represent backspace,
- formfeed, linefeed, carriage return and tab characters,
- respectively.
-
- Consider the following examples:
-
- String: Matches:
- a*e ae OR ale OR arcade
- a*i*e available
- a?t ant OR art OR apt
- ^The The quick brown fox
- (ie, "The" at beginning of line)
- dog$ jumped over the lazy dog
- (ie, "dog" at end of line)
- ^$ an empty line
- a\?b a?b
- a\*b a*b
- a\\b a\b
- p[aeiou]t pat OR pet OR pit OR pot OR put
- p[^io]t pat OR pet OR put, NOT pit OR pot
-
- !320,369
-
- 10.2 Forward Search <Alt F>
-
- The Forward Search command is used to specify and initiate
- a forward search for a string. When the command is issued
- a pop-up menu will appear showing recently entered Search
- and Replace strings. The word beneath the cursor is added
- to the pop-up menu making it easy to search quickly for
- its next occurrence. You may select any string from the
- menu, or begin typing a new string - the menu will
- disappear automatically.
-
- Pattern matching characters may be entered in the search
- string (section 10.1). The Enter key terminates
- specification of the search string and initiates the
- search. The search begins at the cursor position and
- proceeds downward toward the end of file. If text has been
- marked, the search will serve to change the extent of the
- marked area by advancing the cursor to the first
- occurrence of the search string. If the search string is
- found, the cursor will be positioned at the matching
- string. Otherwise, a message will indicate that the string
- was not found. Additional searches for the same pattern
- are accomplished with the Find Previous and Find Next
- commands (section 10.5 and 10.6).
-
- Note: While entering the replace string, the ASCII Chart
- (section 13.10) or the Insert ASCII Value (section 9.22)
- commands can be summoned to select a character for
- insertion in the string being entered. This makes it easy
- to search for strings containing ASCII values which are
- not easily entered from the keyboard.
-
- !330,283
-
- 10.3 Backward Search <Alt B>
-
- The Backward Search command is used to specify and
- initiate a reverse search for a string. Except for
- direction of search, this command is in all ways similar
- to the Forward Search command described above.
-
- !335,380
-
- 10.4 Replace <Alt R>
-
- The Replace command is used to specify strings and
- initiate a search and replace operation. Search and
- replace is performed only in the forward direction, and
- proceeds from the current cursor position downward toward
- the end of file. If text has been marked, the search and
- replace operation will be performed only on the text
- within the marked area.
-
- When the Replace command is issued a pop-up menu will
- appear showing recently entered Search and Replace
- strings. The word beneath the cursor is added to the
- pop-up menu making it easy to select it for replacement.
- You may select any string from the menu, or begin
- typing a new string - the menu will disappear
- automatically.
-
- Next you will be prompted for the replacement string.
- Enter or select the replacement string in a similar
- manner. Pattern matching characters have no special
- significance in the replacement string (i.e. a '*' will
- be interpreted as a '*', not as a wildcard character).
-
- !340
-
- After specification of the search and replace strings, the
- cursor will move to the first occurrence of the search
- string (if found) and a prompt will appear in the message
- area. You can select one of the following options:
-
- Yes yes, replace this one, move to next
- No no, disregard this one, move to next
- Remaining replace all remaining occurrences w/o asking
- Last yes, replace this one, and stop here
- 5 replace five occurrences without asking
- 10 replace ten occurrences without asking
- 20 replace twenty occurrences without asking
-
- If you select the 'Remaining' option the replacements will
- be made without further interaction. Occurrences above the
- cursor are not replaced. The number of replacements made
- will be displayed upon completion. Note that the search
- string specified by the Forward or Backward Search
- commands is not disturbed by the Replace command.
-
- Note: While entering the replace string, the ASCII Chart
- (section 13.10) or the Insert ASCII Value (section 9.22)
- commands can be summoned to select a character for
- insertion in the string being entered. This makes it easy
- to search for strings containing ASCII values which are
- not easily entered from the keyboard.
-
- !345,457
-
- 10.4 Replace Again <Alt H>
-
- The Replace Again command provides a quick means to repeat
- a Search and Replace operation using the same strings as
- were previously used. After selecting this command, the
- first match will be presented, without the need to enter
- the search and replace strings again. If no matches can
- be found, a message will appear to indicate this.
-
- !350,306
-
- 10.5 Find Previous <Alt Gray Up>
-
- The Find Previous command is used to repeat a search for
- the current search string. The search will proceed from
- the cursor upward. If the string is found, the cursor will
- be positioned at the matching string and the string will
- be highlighted. Otherwise, a message will indicate that
- the string was not found.
-
- !355,305
-
- 10.6 Find Next <Alt Gray Down>
-
- The Find Next command is used to repeat a search for the
- current search string. The search will proceed from the
- cursor downward. If the string is found, the cursor will
- be positioned at the matching string and the string will
- be highlighted. Otherwise, a message will indicate that
- the string was not found.
-
- !360,375
-
- 10.7 Find Open <Ctrl [>
-
- The Find Open command locates and displays the mating
- character to the character at the cursor. If the cursor is
- situated on a right parenthesis ')', right square bracket
- ']', right brace '}' or right angle bracket '>', this
- command will locate the mating open character '(', '[',
- '{', or '<', with consideration given to nesting levels.
- If the cursor is on any other character, the first prior
- occurrence of that character will be displayed. This
- command can be of considerable use in locating mating
- parenthesis characters in deeply nested expressions. If a
- mating character cannot be found, the character will be
- reported as unbalanced. NOTE: if situated on an opening
- character, this command behaves as Find Close.
-
- !365,374
-
- 10.8 Find Close <Ctrl ]>
-
- The Find Close command locates and displays the mating
- character to the character at the cursor. If the cursor is
- situated on a left parenthesis '(', left square bracket
- '[', left brace '{' or left angle bracket '<', this
- command will locate the mating close character ')', ']',
- '}', or '>', with consideration given to nesting levels.
- If the cursor is on any other character, the next
- occurrence of that character will be displayed. This
- command can be of considerable use in locating mating
- parenthesis characters in deeply nested expressions. If a
- mating character cannot be found, the character will be
- reported as unbalanced. NOTE: if situated on a closing
- character, this command behaves as Find Open.
-
- !370,406
-
- 10.9 Search All <menu>
-
- The Search All command provides a quick method to search
- across all files currently being edited for a specified
- search string. The string to be found is specified as
- described in the sections above. All files in the file
- list are searched for occurrences of the string and
- matching lines are written with filename and line number
- information to a disk file. The disk file is named
- 'BOXER.FND' and will appear in the current directory. The
- results can be viewed, if needed, by issuing the Edit New
- File command. The filename 'BOXER.FND' will appear as the
- default filename in anticipation of your request.
-
- !375,414
-
- 10.10 Replace All <menu>
-
- The Replace All command provides a means to perform a
- search and replace operation across all files currently
- being edited. The replacements are performed
- automatically, so a prompt will appear to confirm your
- intent. The search string and replace string are specified
- as described in the sections above. All files within the
- file list are searched for occurrences of the string and
- the replacements are performed automatically, without
- additional confirmation. The number of replacements made
- will be displayed upon completion.
-
- !380,407
-
- 10.11 Search and Count <menu>
-
- The Search and Count command counts the number of
- occurrences of a specified string in the current file. The
- string which is to be found is specified as described in
- the sections above. The cursor is not moved to show the
- location of any of the occurrences of the string - the
- number of matches found is simply reported on the message
- line. The entire file is searched regardless of cursor
- position.
-
- On the chance that the resulting count may next be used to
- repeat an operation of some sort, the command multiplier
- is "seeded" with this value.
-
- |400
-
- 11. WINDOW COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides the capability to view several different
- files simultaneously through different windows. A window
- always contains one file, but the same file may appear in
- several different windows. Thus it is possible to view
- different sections of the same file at the same time.
- Despite the power and flexibility of BOXER's windows, only
- a few commands are needed to access them. The window
- commands are explained in the following sections.
-
- !401,399
-
- 11.1 Open Window <F2>
-
- The Open Window command creates an additional window for
- the current file. Options are provided to either split the
- current window horizontally or vertically, or to create a
- new full screen window. The split options make it easy to
- 'tile' the screen with windows. There is virtually no
- limit to the number of windows which may be opened, though
- it is unlikely you will ever need more than four windows
- open simultaneously.
-
- !402,401
-
- 11.2 Resize Windows <F3>
-
- The Resize Windows command allows for the resizing and
- relocation of editor windows by keyboard. Upon invoking
- this command, the editor switches to a mode in which the
- size and location of the current window can be changed.
- The frame of the current window is redrawn in bold to
- indicate the operation being performed. The upper left
- corner of the frame contains a symbol to indicate that
- this corner of the frame will be fixed when the window is
- resized.
-
- During resizing, the arrow keys move the current window
- about the screen. If the window is full size, no movement
- can occur. The Shifted arrow keys serve to resize the
- window. The Shifted Up and Left arrow keys reduce the size
- of the window at the lower and right edges respectively.
- The Shifted Down and Right arrow keys increase the size of
- the window at these same edges. The upper left corner of
- the window remains fixed as the size of the window is
- changed.
-
- !403,400
-
- 11.3 Close Window <F4>
-
- The Close Window command is used to remove the current
- window from the window list. This command has no effect on
- the file contained within the current window. After the
- current window is closed the cursor will be moved to the
- next window and the screen will be adjusted to reflect the
- change. A window cannot be closed if it is the only window
- open.
-
- !406,411
-
- 11.4 Zoom Window <Alt Z>
-
- The Zoom Window command temporarily expands the current
- window to fill the screen. A second invocation of the
- command returns the window to its previous size. Zoom
- information is maintained for one window only - if you
- zoom a window and then move to a new window and zoom it,
- the window first zoomed cannot be returned to its prior
- size via the Zoom command. The Resize Windows command
- could be used instead.
-
- !404,360
-
- 11.5 Previous Window <Shift PgUp>
-
- The Previous Window command makes the previous window in
- the window list the current window. The file contained in
- the new window becomes the current file. The window list
- is circular; if the current window is the first window in
- the list, the new window will be the last window in the
- list.
-
- !405,323
-
- 11.6 Next Window <Shift PgDn>
-
- The Next Window command makes the next window in the
- window list the current window. The file contained in new
- window becomes the current file. The window list is
- circular; if the current window is the last window in the
- list, the new window will be the first window in the list.
-
- !407,468
-
- 11.7 Find Difference <Alt ,>
-
- The Find Difference command can be used to automatically
- locate the differences in two or more similar files. This
- command can be very useful when comparing multiple
- versions of a file to determine what differences exist
- among the files.
-
- Position the files of interest in adjacent windows before
- issuing the Find Difference command. The file comparison
- will start from the top line in each window, so ensure
- that these lines are the same in each window. Once
- invoked, the windows will scroll synchronously as the
- files are compared.
-
- When a difference is found the scrolling will cease and
- the cursor will be positioned on the mismatched line. The
- line will be highlighted in the column in which the first
- difference occurred. If the difference involves just a
- single line, you can issue the command again to search for
- the next difference. If the difference resulted from added
- or deleted lines, you will need to manually synchronize
- the top lines of the windows before the search for
- differences can continue.
-
- The process of manually synchronizing after a difference
- is found can be simplified if you know a few tricks. It
- may be best to use the Find Difference command while
- Synchronized Scrolling is in force. In this way all
- windows will scroll in unison as cursor motion commands
- are issued. To scroll an individual window it is not
- necessary to de-activate Synchronized Scrolling. Instead,
- use the Scroll File Up and Scroll File Down commands
- (section 14.22 and 14.23). These commands are not affected
- by Synchronized Scrolling, making it easier to correct a
- window after a difference is found.
-
- !410,436
-
- 11.8 Synchronized Scrolling <menu>
-
- This command enables all windows on screen to be scrolled
- synchronously with the cursor motion commands. This
- command is useful for visually comparing two or more
- similar files which have been positioned in adjacent
- windows. See the Find Difference command (section 11.7)
- for details on locating differences automatically.
-
- Position the files in adjacent windows so that each file
- starts at the same position in the window. Issue this
- command to "lock" the windows together, and use cursor
- motion commands to scroll the windows in harmony. Issue
- this command again to toggle synchronized scrolling off.
- This command is disabled while marking is in process, and
- will produce unexpected results if used with overlapping
- windows - tiled windows are recommended.
-
- Synchronized Scrolling can also be activated with the
- Scroll Lock key, though the Scroll Lock key cannot be used
- within a macro.
-
- !415,452
-
- 11.9 Automatic Scrolling <menu>
-
- This feature allows BOXER to scroll automatically through
- a text file, up or down, at varying speeds, to make file
- browsing easier. The Up and Down arrow keys are used to
- set the direction of scroll, and the 0-9 keys are used to
- control the speed of scrolling. Zero is the slowest, nine
- is the fastest. The '+' and '-' keys can also be used to
- adjust the speed of scrolling.
-
- |500
-
- 12. BLOCK TEXT COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides commands to cut, copy, append, paste,
- delete, and print marked text blocks. In addition,
- commands for writing marked blocks to disk and for
- performing alphabetic sorts and case operations on marked
- blocks are provided. BOXER provides 26 clipboard areas for
- storage of text. All block commands operate on the current
- clipboard; the Clipboard Manager is used to view and
- select from the available clipboards. The following
- sections describe the Block Text commands.
-
- !516,409
-
- 12.1 Mark Column <Alt C>
-
- The Mark Column command begins the marking of a
- rectangular area of text. A reverse video block is placed
- at the current cursor position. As the cursor is moved
- through the file the rectangle of text between the cursor
- and the start mark is highlighted. Any cursor movement
- command may be used to move the cursor - including the
- Search and Goto commands. Additionally, the mark can be
- advanced by typing characters from the keyboard - a search
- is performed automatically for the key struck and the mark
- is advanced to that character.
-
- Marking can be terminated by invoking the Mark Column
- command again, or by use of the Escape command. All
- commands which alter text are disabled during marking,
- except the Replace command.
-
- !518,429
-
- 12.2 Mark Lines <Alt L>
-
- The Mark Lines command begins the marking of FULL lines of
- text. The current line will be displayed in the marked
- text attribute. As the cursor is moved through the file
- the text between the cursor and the start mark is
- highlighted. Any cursor movement command may be used to
- move the cursor - including the Search and Goto commands.
- Additionally, the mark can be advanced by typing
- characters from the keyboard - a search is performed
- automatically for the key struck and the mark is advanced
- to that character.
-
- Marking can be terminated by invoking the Mark Lines
- command again, or by use of the Escape command. All
- commands which alter text are disabled during marking,
- except the Replace command.
-
- !501,386
-
- 12.3 Mark Block <Alt M>
-
- The Mark Block command begins the marking of a text block.
- A reverse video block is placed at the current cursor
- position. As the cursor is moved through the file the text
- between the cursor and the start mark is highlighted. Any
- cursor movement command may be used to move the cursor -
- including the Search and Goto commands. Additionally, the
- mark can be advanced by typing characters from the
- keyboard - a search is performed automatically for the key
- struck and the mark is advanced to that character. Thus,
- by typing a '.' the mark could be extended quickly to the
- end of a sentence.
-
- Marking can be terminated by invoking the Mark Block
- command again, or by use of the Escape command. All
- commands which alter text are disabled during marking,
- except the Replace command.
-
- !535
-
- 12.4 Quick Marking <Shift-various>
-
- BOXER also provides a "Quick Marking" feature in which
- Shifted keys will initiate marking and extend the marked
- region in a single step. This feature is implemented with
- six different commands, one for each direction: up, down,
- left and right, and beginning and end of line. The Shifted
- Arrows and Shift-Home and Shift-End are used by default.
-
- !530,435
-
- 12.5 Clipboard Manager <F5>
-
- The Clipboard Manager can be used to select, view or clear
- any of the 26 clipboard areas. A pop-up window will appear
- displaying the contents of the current clipboard. The Up
- and Down arrows will scroll the window so that the entire
- contents can be viewed. The Left and Right arrows can be
- used to view other clipboards. The A-Z keys can also be
- used to move quickly to a designated clipboard. The Delete
- key will clear the contents of the currently displayed
- clipboard, making more memory available to the editor for
- other tasks. The Escape command is used to resume editing.
- The last clipboard displayed becomes the active clipboard.
-
- The Clipboard Manager enables you to quickly view and
- select from among the 26 available clipboards. To make
- best use of this command, you should note the following:
- It is not necessary to explicitly exit the Clipboard
- Manager before issuing another editor command. For
- example, to quickly Cut or Copy a marked area to an
- alternate clipboard, do the following: mark the area,
- activate the Clipboard Manager, press the letter of the
- desired clipboard, and then issue the Cut or Copy command.
- The Clipboard Manager is automatically cancelled and the
- selected command is performed on the designated clipboard.
- This "non-modal" approach to handling commands applies to
- other aspects of BOXER as well: to exit from most any
- situation you can simply issue the next desired command.
-
- !502,361
-
- 12.6 Print Block <Alt P>
-
- The Print Block command provides for the printing of
- marked text to a serial or parallel printer. You will
- first be asked if you wish to use printing parameters
- (section 15.1). If the Print Block command is requested
- when there is no text marked, you will be asked if the
- entire file is to be printed. Because some printers are
- unable to process Tab characters, and because BOXER
- supports typewriter style tab stops, Tab characters within
- the text being printed are expanded to Spaces before being
- sent to the printer. The Print Block command can be
- aborted in-process by using the Escape command.
-
- !503,271
-
- 12.7 Write Block <Alt W>
-
- The Write Block command allows a marked area of text to be
- written to a disk file. The current filename with a .BLK
- extension is suggested as the name for the disk file, but
- you may use any name you wish. If the named file already
- exists, an option is offered to either overwrite or append
- to this file. The Write Block command is bound to the same
- key as the Write File command. The editor performs a Write
- Block if text is marked, or a Write File if text is not
- marked.
-
- !504,367
-
- 12.8 Cut Block <[-]>
-
- The Cut Block command removes the currently marked area
- from the file and places it into the current clipboard for
- later use by the Paste Block command. If no text is
- marked, the current line is cut to the clipboard. This
- command is useful for MOVING text from one part of a file
- to another. The content of the current clipboard is
- cleared prior to placing the marked area or current line
- in it.
-
- The Cut Block command can also be accessed by mouse by
- clicking on the Cut icon in the upper right of the window
- frame. It's the '-' symbol.
-
- !505,366
-
- 12.9 Copy Block <[+]>
-
- The Copy Block command copies the currently marked area
- from the file to the current clipboard for later use by
- the Paste Block command. If no text is marked, the current
- line is copied to the clipboard. The original text is not
- disturbed. This command is useful for COPYING text from
- one part of a file to another. The content of the current
- clipboard is cleared prior to copying the marked area or
- current line into it.
-
- The Copy Block command can also be accessed by mouse by
- clicking on the Copy icon in the upper right of the window
- frame. It's the '+' symbol.
-
- !506,379
-
- 12.10 Paste Block <Ins>
-
- The Paste Block command copies text from the current
- clipboard into the current file at the cursor position.
- The clipboard is not altered by this command; subsequent
- Paste Block commands would continue to insert text from
- the clipboard into the file. The Paste Block command can
- also be used to insert text from the FIRST line in the
- current clipboard into the string being entered in the
- Message Line Editor.
-
- When pasting text which was captured using the Mark Column
- command, the behavior of this command is dependent upon
- the current edit mode. If Insert mode is active, the text
- at the cursor is moved right to accommodate the region
- being pasted. If Typeover mode is active, the text at the
- cursor will be overwritten by the text from the clipboard.
- The latter case can alleviate the need to perform an
- additional block delete for certain editing tasks when the
- text beneath the cursor is to be replaced by that in the
- clipboard.
-
- The Paste Block command can also be accessed by mouse by
- clicking on the Paste icon in the upper right of the
- window frame. It's the letter 'P'.
-
- !507,270
-
- 12.11 Delete Block <Delete>
-
- The Delete Block command deletes the currently marked area
- from the file. The block is NOT placed in the clipboard
- and so cannot be restored by the Paste Block command
- (though it could be restored by UNDO). The Delete Block
- command is bound to the same key as the delete character
- command. The editor will perform a Delete Block if text is
- marked, otherwise a Delete Character is performed.
-
- The Delete Block command can also be accessed by mouse by
- clicking on the Delete icon in the upper right of the
- window frame. It's the letter 'D'.
-
- !508,368
-
- 12.12 Cut-Append <Ctrl _>
-
- This command deletes and appends the currently marked
- block to the current clipboard for later use by the Paste
- Block command. If no text is marked, the current line is
- deleted and appended to the clipboard. The content of the
- current clipboard is NOT cleared prior to appending the
- block to it.
-
- !509,376
-
- 12.13 Copy-Append <Ctrl \>
-
- This command appends the currently marked block to the
- current clipboard for later use by the Paste Block
- command. If no text is marked, the current line is
- appended to the clipboard. The marked text (or current
- line) is NOT disturbed. The content of the current
- clipboard is NOT cleared prior to appending the block to
- it.
-
- !510,394
-
- 12.14 Block Utilities <[*]>
-
- The Block Utilities command provides access to the Case,
- Fill, Detab, Entab, Invert, Sort, Total and Blanks
- commands. After marking the area of interest, select the
- Block Utilities command. A prompt will be displayed in the
- message area for selection of the desired utility.
-
- Case:
- The Change Case utility will prompt for 'Upper Lower Swap
- Capitalize'. The options are described below.
-
- Upper - convert marked text to all UPPER case
- Lower - convert marked text to all lower case
- Swap - reverse the case of marked text
- Capitalize - Capitalize the 1st letter of each word
-
- BOXER consults the case conversion map provided by the
- operating system so that accented characters can be
- properly converted, based on the COUNTRY setting in
- CONFIG.SYS.
-
- !516
-
- Fill:
-
- The Fill utility provides the capability to fill the
- currently marked area with a character of your choice.
- After the fill character has been specified the marked
- area will be filled entirely with that character. This
- command is especially useful when used to fill a marked
- column with a specific character.
-
- Note that the Fill feature will not insert new characters
- into the file, it will only change characters already in
- place. If the marked region includes 'virtual space', as
- may occur due to Tabs or short lines within the region,
- the marked block will only be filled in those positions
- where characters already exist.
-
- !511
-
- Detab:
-
- The Detab utility provides a means to automatically
- convert Tabs to Spaces with a marked range of lines. Tabs
- are converted to Spaces intelligently according to their
- column position within the line. All lines within the
- marked range are detabbed, regardless of the column of
- the start or end mark.
-
- Entab:
-
- The Entab utility can be used to convert lines with Spaces
- to lines containing Tabs. The current Tab Widths are used
- to intelligently convert Spaces to Tabs wherever possible.
- All lines within the marked range are entabbed, regardless
- of the column of the start or end mark.
-
- !511
-
- Invert:
-
- Upon selection of the Invert operation the marked lines
- will be inverted and redisplayed. The last marked line
- will become first within the block, and the first marked
- line will become the last.
-
- Example:
- 100 103
- 101 would become 102
- 102 101
- 103 100
-
- !512
-
- Sort:
-
- The Block Sort utility will first prompt for Ascending,
- Descending, or Random. Ascending provides an A-Z sort,
- Descending gives Z-A, and Random provides a shuffled
- ordering. Unless Random is selected, a prompt will next
- appear for Alphabetic or Numeric. Select Numeric if you
- wish for the marked lines to be sorted based on their
- numeric values. (Numeric Sorts are performed on integer
- values, and disregard digits after a decimal point).
- Lastly, a prompt will appear for Sensitive or Insensitive.
- An Insensitive sort will treat upper and lower case
- characters as equivalent. After these prompts have been
- satisfied the currently marked lines will be sorted and
- redisplayed.
-
- The sort performed is sensitive to the column position of
- the starting (upper) mark. If a sort is desired on a
- column other than the first column, move the cursor to
- that column before you begin marking. The column location
- of the end marker is not considered. The end marker is
- used only to determine the last LINE affected by the sort.
-
- !513
-
- Total:
-
- The Block Total utility can be used to numerically total a
- column of integer values. Mark the range of lines to be
- totaled with the start mark positioned in the column where
- the numbers begin. Select the Total option and the total
- and average of the marked lines will be displayed in the
- message area. Note: Tab characters can confuse the total
- utility. You may wish to detab the area prior to totaling
- if you are operating on a column other than column 1.
-
- !515
-
- Blanks:
-
- The Blanks utility removes Spaces and Tabs from the ends
- of lines in the marked range. Mark the range of lines to
- be operated upon and select this option. If trailing
- Spaces or Tabs are found they will be deleted and the
- number removed will be reported.
-
- !520
-
- 12.15 Block Indent <Space, Tab>
-
- While marking text with any of BOXER's marking modes the
- Space and Tab keys can be used to indent the entire range
- of marked lines with either a Space or a Tab character.
- This command is useful to quickly increase the level of
- indent of several lines of a file with just a few
- keystrokes. The Spaces or Tabs are inserted at the current
- cursor column, so sections of text can be indented without
- affecting other text to the left.
-
- !525
-
- 12.16 Block Unindent <Backspace>
-
- While marking text with any of BOXER's marking modes the
- Backspace key serves to reduce the level of indent of the
- entire range of marked lines. The reduction in indent is
- applied at the current cursor column so that sections of
- text to the right of other text can be manipulated without
- affecting the text to the left. As such, this command acts
- as the inverse of the Block Indent command, which also
- acts at the current cursor column.
-
- |600
-
- 13. MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS
-
- There are some editor commands which do not logically
- group in the previous sections. These commands are
- presented in the following sections.
-
- !601
-
- 13.1 Escape <Escape>
-
- The Escape command is used to escape from marking, search
- and replace sessions, printing, help, message line input,
- and other commands. The Escape command is never dangerous,
- so if you find yourself in the middle of a command you
- didn't want to execute, use the Escape command.
-
- !602,311
-
- 13.2 Help <F1>
-
- The Help command displays context sensitive help
- information in a scrollable pop-up window. Whenever
- possible, the information displayed will be pertinent to
- the operation which you are about to perform. If you are
- being prompted for a line number to Goto, for example, the
- Help command will display information which pertains to
- the Go to Line # command. A particularly effective way to
- use the Help command is to use the pull-down menu system
- to locate a topic of interest. When issued from anywhere
- within the pull-down menu system, the Help command will
- display help for the command currently highlighted in the
- menu.
-
- The text in the pop-up help window can be scrolled using
- the Up and Down arrow keys if its length exceeds the
- height of the window. The Page Up and Page Down keys are
- also active for scrolling within a help section. The Left
- and Right arrow keys can be used to move to the previous
- and next Help sections. The Escape command is used to exit
- the Help display.
-
- !603,285
-
- 13.3 Count <menu>
-
- The Count command displays a report of the number of
- characters, words, and lines in the current file. If text
- is marked, the count will be computed on the marked area
- only. A statistic showing what percentage of the file is
- represented by the report is also given.
-
- !604,314
-
- 13.4 Integer Calculator <F7>
-
- The Integer Calculator prompts on the message line for an
- expression to be evaluated. Integers are whole numbers -
- numbers without decimal points. Expressions can be
- arbitrarily complex, conventional rules for operator
- precedence are obeyed. Parentheses can be used to control
- the order of evaluation. The result of the expression is
- reported in four bases and, if appropriate, as an ASCII
- character. Control characters below ASCII 32 are also
- reported with their two or three character mnemonic, such
- as "FF" for the formfeed character (ASCII 12).
-
- The result from the Calculator can be copied to the
- current clipboard by issuing the Copy Block command. There
- is no confirmation that the result has been copied, as
- this would disturb the message line display. After
- pressing Escape to end the Calculator, the result can be
- pasted from the clipboard in the usual way, with the Paste
- command.
-
- !
-
- Entering a number without other operators provides a quick
- way to perform base conversions. Numbers may be entered in
- any of four bases or ASCII, and bases may be mixed within
- the expression. The following prefixes are used to denote
- the bases:
-
- x hexadecimal ex. xFF3D
- d decimal ex. d1234 or 1234
- o octal ex. o37
- b binary ex. b1101011
- a ASCII ex. aG
-
- Operators supported are:
-
- + addition
- - subtraction
- * multiplication
- / integer division
- # exponentiation
- % modulus
- & logical AND
- | logical inclusive OR
- ^ logical exclusive OR
- >> bit shift right
- << bit shift left
-
- To perform arithmetic on floating point numbers, omit the
- decimal points during entry and shift the decimal
- appropriately in the result.
-
- !605,279
-
- 13.5 ASCII Value <menu>
-
- This command reports the ASCII value of the character at
- the cursor, and prompts for a keyboard key to be pressed.
- Once pressed, the ASCII value of that key will be reported
- in four bases: hexadecimal, decimal, octal and binary.
- Control characters below ASCII 32 are also reported with
- their two or three character mnemonic, such as "FF" for
- the formfeed character (ASCII 12). Also displayed are the
- main, auxiliary, and shift status bytes for the key
- pressed. This information is of particular interest to
- programmers. The editor continues to report ASCII values
- for all keys pressed until the Escape key is entered.
-
- !608,320
-
- 13.6 Keystroke Multiply <Alt Y>
-
- The Keystroke Multiply command provides a method for
- multiple execution of the same key. When invoked, a prompt
- will appear on the message line for the multiply value.
- After entering the value, the next key or command entered
- will be executed repetitively. Text keys or command keys
- can be multiplied. The multiplication value is terminated
- after the next keystroke. This command makes it easy, for
- example, to create a long string of identical characters
- without having to count them. The Keystroke Multiply
- command is disallowed during macro recording - however,
- the playback of a macro may be multiplied.
-
- !610,426
-
- 13.7 Ruler <F11>
-
- The Ruler command pops up a floating multi-scale ruler
- beneath the current cursor position which can be used to
- count characters, or to estimate printed output. The ruler
- can display scales for 10, 12, 15 and 17 character/inch
- output in all of the following units: columns, inches,
- centimeters and picas. Many of the cursor motion commands
- are recognized so that different parts of the file beneath
- the ruler can be easily examined.
-
- !612,298
-
- 13.8 Drawing Mode <F12>
-
- The Drawing Mode command provides the ability to do simple
- line drawing within a file. Several modes of drawing are
- available: each combination of single and double ruling
- characters, simple ASCII characters and other solid
- blocks. An option is also provided to draw with a
- character of your own choosing. Once Drawing Mode has
- been entered, the path of the cursor is traced with the
- selected line style. The Escape command is used to exit
- drawing mode.
-
- The Drawing Mode command can also be used to automatically
- place a frame around a rectangle of text. First mark the
- area to be framed with the Mark Column command (section
- 12.1). Issue the Draw Command and select the desired frame
- style. The marked area will automatically be framed in the
- selected style.
-
- When printing files which contain 8-bit ASCII frame
- characters, remember that you may need to specially
- configure your printer in order for these characters to
- print properly. By default, many printers use an alternate
- character set for ASCII characters 128-255, and must be
- configured specially to print the IBM Extended Character
- set. If you see accented characters on your printer when
- attempting to print frame characters, the printer needs to
- be configured to print the IBM Extended Character set.
- Your printer manual should have details about how to
- accomplish this.
-
- !616,381
-
- 13.9 Status Window <Shift F2>
-
- The Status Window command displays a window which contains
- a report of the editor's current configuration. The state
- of various configuration options is displayed, current
- search pattern, current file, auto indent, and other
- useful information.
-
- In the DOS versions of BOXER, the Status Window also
- displays information about memory usage. The "conventional
- memory" field indicates the number of bytes of memory
- which are available for use, but which have not yet been
- requested by BOXER. This value reflects 'conventional' DOS
- memory, and not Extended or Expanded memory. In BOXER/TKO,
- the "Extended memory" field displays the amount of
- available memory above the 1 MB boundary. The "editor
- memory" field indicates the amount of memory which is held
- by BOXER, but unused. The "total free memory" field is the
- sum of these values.
-
- The "total bytes loaded" field is a sum of the file sizes
- of all currently loaded files.
-
- !618,278
-
- 13.10 ASCII Chart <Shift F3>
-
- This command displays a pop-up window which displays ASCII
- characters 0-255 and their numeric equivalents. The SPACE
- key will toggle between the Decimal, Octal, Hexadecimal,
- Control Equivalents and Control Mnemonics displays. The
- first page of the chart shows characters 0-127, the second
- page shows 128-255. The Page Up and Page Down commands
- will toggle between pages.
-
- The arrow keys can be used to position a pointer to
- characters in the display. The Enter key will then insert
- that character at the current cursor position. The mouse
- can also be used to select a character to be inserted -
- simply point and click. These methods make it easy to
- enter accented characters, and other keys which cannot be
- entered directly from the keyboard.
-
- The display page and base are remembered so that future
- visits to the ASCII Chart will return to the same page and
- base. The Escape command is used to exit the display.
-
- !620,316
-
- 13.11 Keyboard Reconfigure <Shift F6>
-
- The Keyboard Reconfigure command allows you to load a key
- definition file which defines the mapping between editor
- commands and key sequences. BOXER has been supplied with
- ready-made key definition files for several popular
- editors. BOXER also has a standalone utility called
- RECONFIG.EXE which allows you to create key definition
- files of your choosing. Read the file RECONFIG.DOC for
- full information on this utility.
-
- BOXER will automatically adjust the key assignments which
- are displayed while navigating within the pull-down menus
- to reflect the current key assignments. BOXER also adjusts
- the key assignments displayed during online help to
- reflect the reassignment.
-
- NOTE: macros are stored as commands, not keys, so a change
- in keyboard configuration will not affect macro playback.
-
- !622,284
-
- 13.12 Calendar <Shift F4>
-
- The Calendar command displays a window with a calendar for
- the current month and year, as read from the system clock.
- The Left and Right arrow keys move month to month; Up and
- Down arrow keys move year to year. The Enter key can be
- used to return quickly to the current month. The Escape
- command is used to exit the calendar display.
-
- !624,392
-
- 13.13 Typewriter <Shift F8>
-
- The Typewriter command enables a mode in which input is
- taken on the message line and passed to the printer each
- time the Return key is pressed. The printer is selected
- according to the printer port defined in the Printing
- Parameters menu. This mode can be useful when a couple of
- lines of text need to be printed to the printer to label
- output, address an envelope, etc. The Escape command is
- used to exit Typewriter mode.
-
- !626,427
-
- 13.14 Insert Date <Shift F11>
-
- This command causes the current system date to be inserted
- at the current cursor position. The COUNTRY setting in
- CONFIG.SYS is consulted to determine the proper format and
- date separator characters to match local custom. In the
- U.S., this command might yield the following:
-
- Wed 05-13-1992
-
- !628,428
-
- 13.15 Insert Time <Shift F12>
-
- This command causes the current system time to be inserted
- at the current cursor position. The COUNTRY setting in
- CONFIG.SYS is consulted to determine the proper format and
- time separator characters to match local custom. In the
- U.S., this command might yield the following:
-
- 9:54:00 am
-
- !636,296
-
- 13.16 DOS or OS/2 Command/Shell <F9>
-
- The Command/Shell feature provides the capability to
- execute a single command from within the editor or to
- initiate a shell session. The command to be executed is
- entered on the message line and a return to the editor
- occurs immediately following execution of the command. If
- a '%1' sequence appears in the command to be executed,
- that sequence will expanded to the full path name of the
- current file before being executed.
-
- If a shell is desired, accept the "DOS" or "OS2" string
- which will appear on the message line and the editor will
- initiate a shell for executing commands.
-
- The DOS version of BOXER swaps itself and all edited files
- either to EMS memory, if available, or to a disk file, so
- that all but about 8K of conventional DOS memory will be
- available for the shell session. Swapping is also
- performed to make the maximum amount of memory available
- when a single command is run.
-
- BOXER/TKO does not swap itself to disk. It allocates from
- Extended memory first, avoiding the use of conventional
- memory until Extended memory is exhausted. Ordinarily,
- BOXER/TKO has a conventional memory "footprint" of about
- 75K. If very large files are edited which exhaust the
- supply of Extended memory, the DOS Shell command may have
- inadequate memory in which to run.
-
- !638
-
- DOS NOTES: Do not invoke any program from within BOXER
- which installs itself as a memory resident utility. This
- restriction applies to all Terminate and Stay Resident
- (TSR) programs, including the DOS PRINT command. These
- programs should be run initially from the DOS command line
- to ensure they are properly installed. This restriction is
- not due to any limitation of BOXER, and is in fact sound
- advice for any other applications which allow access to
- DOS during their execution.
-
- NETWORKS: Use of the DOS Shell command from within BOXER
- should be used especially carefully on a system attached
- to a network. It is strongly recommended that you save
- your files to disk before issuing this command when
- editing on a networked PC.
-
- !640
-
- If available, and unless disabled with the -9 command
- (section 19), the DOS version of BOXER will swap to EMS
- memory. If a disk swap is needed, the environment variable
- BOXER_SWAPPATH will be consulted to determine where best
- the program can be swapped to for a DOS shell. If a RAM
- disk is available, set this environment variable to it to
- speed the swapping process which occurs before entering
- DOS.
-
- For example:
- set BOXER_SWAPPATH=E:\
-
- might be used if E: designated a RAM disk. If this
- variable is not assigned a temporary swap file will be
- written to the default drive.
-
- !650,470
-
- 13.17 Screen Peek <Alt ;>
-
- The Screen Peek command provides an opportunity to view
- the contents of the screen which was active when BOXER was
- started. This capability can be useful for reviewing
- compiler errors, directory listings and other information
- which was on screen before BOXER was run.
-
- In order to use this command you will need to tell BOXER
- to save the contents of the screen during startup. This is
- done with the -4 option flag (see section 19). Doing so
- will consume 4000 bytes of memory for a standard 25x80
- screen.
-
- |700
-
- 14. CURSOR MOVEMENT
-
- BOXER provides a large number of commands to facilitate
- cursor motion throughout a document. All cursor movement
- commands act on the current file in the current window.
- Cursor commands are by nature non-destructive.
-
- !701,257
-
- 14.1 Cursor Up <Up Arrow>
-
- The Cursor Up command moves the text cursor up one line,
- maintaining the column position. If the cursor is at the
- top edge of a window the file will scroll down to display
- the new line. If the cursor is on the first line of the
- file, no movement occurs.
-
- If two or more windows are open, the files within these
- windows can be scrolled simultaneously with BOXER's
- Synchronized Scrolling feature (section 11.8).
-
- !702,258
-
- 14.2 Cursor Down <Down Arrow>
-
- The Cursor Down command moves the text cursor down one
- line, maintaining the column position. If the cursor is at
- the bottom edge of a window the file will scroll up to
- display the new line. If the cursor is on the last line of
- the file, no movement occurs.
-
- If two or more windows are open, the files within these
- windows can be scrolled simultaneously with BOXER's
- Synchronized Scrolling feature (section 11.8).
-
- !703,259
-
- 14.3 Cursor Left <Left Arrow>
-
- The Cursor Left command moves the text cursor left one
- column. If the cursor is at the left edge of a window, and
- the file is scrolled, the file will scroll right to
- display the new column. If the cursor is at the left edge
- of a window and the file is not scrolled, no movement will
- occur.
-
- The -C2 option will allow the Cursor Left command to move
- from the start of line to the end of the previous line.
-
- !704,260
-
- 14.4 Cursor Right <Right Arrow>
-
- The Cursor Right command moves the text cursor right one
- column. If the cursor is at the right edge of a window the
- file will scroll right to display the new column. Notice
- that the cursor does not advance to the next line when the
- end of a line is crossed. This allows for easier character
- insertion past the end of a line; Tabs and/or Spaces are
- automatically inserted to fill to the cursor position.
-
- The -C3 option will allow the Cursor Right command to move
- from the end of line to the start of the next line.
-
- !705,261
-
- 14.5 Page Up <PgUp>
-
- The Page Up command displays the previous page of the file
- in the window. The number of lines moved depends on the
- height of the current window and the paging overlap value
- (section 16.5). If the first page of the file is currently
- displayed, no movement occurs.
-
- !706,262
-
- 14.6 Page Down <PgDn>
-
- The Page Down command displays the next page of the file
- in the window. The number of lines moved depends on the
- height of the current window and the paging overlap value
- (section 16.5). If the final page of the file is currently
- displayed, no movement occurs.
-
- !707,312
-
- 14.7 Top of Screen <Ctrl Home>
-
- The Top of Screen command positions the text cursor to the
- top line of the current window, maintaining the column
- position.
-
- !708,300
-
- 14.8 Bottom of Screen <Ctrl End>
-
- The Bottom of Screen command positions the text cursor to
- the bottom line of the current window, maintaining the
- column position.
-
- !709,377
-
- 14.9 Top of File <Ctrl PgUp>
-
- The Top of File command positions the cursor to the first
- character in the first line of the file. The screen will
- be repainted, if necessary. When column marking, this
- command will maintain the cursor column so that columnar
- regions can be more easily marked.
-
- !710,302
-
- 14.10 Bottom of File <Ctrl PgDn>
-
- The Bottom of File command positions the cursor to the
- last character on the last line of the file. The screen
- will be repainted, if necessary. When column marking, this
- command will maintain the cursor column so that columnar
- regions can be more easily marked.
-
- !711,397
-
- 14.11 Word Left <Ctrl Left Arrow>
-
- The Word Left command moves the cursor to the beginning of
- the previous word. A word is nominally considered to be a
- group of alphanumeric characters delimited by Space, Tab
- or "non-word" characters. The precise definition of word
- characters can be expanded by use of the "wordchars"
- directive contained in the file DEFAULT.CFG. This command
- will operate across lines.
-
- !712,398
-
- 14.12 Word Right <Ctrl Right Arrow>
-
- The Word Right command moves the cursor to the beginning
- of the next word. A word is nominally considered to be a
- group of alphanumeric characters delimited by Space, Tab
- or "non-word" characters. The precise definition of word
- characters can be expanded by use of the "wordchars"
- directive contained in the file DEFAULT.CFG. This command
- will operate across lines.
-
- !713,282
-
- 14.13 Start of Line <Home>
-
- The Start of Line command moves the cursor to the
- beginning of the current line. If the file was scrolled
- right, a full return to column 1 will occur.
-
- !714,301
-
- 14.14 End of Line <End>
-
- The End of Line command moves the cursor to the end of the
- current line. If the line is longer than can be viewed in
- the window, the file will scroll left as needed to display
- the end of line.
-
- !715,328
-
- 14.15 Page Left <menu>
-
- The Page Left command scrolls the file left by half the
- width of the current window. If the file is not scrolled
- right, no movement will occur.
-
- !716,329
-
- 14.16 Page Right <menu>
-
- The Page Right command scrolls the file right by half the
- width of the current window.
-
- !717,281
-
- 14.17 Back Tab <Shift Tab>
-
- The Back Tab command provides for backward cursor movement
- to a prior tab stop. If necessary, the file will scroll
- right to reach a prior tab stop.
-
- !718,299
-
- 14.18 Edge Toggle <Shift [5]>
-
- The Edge Toggle command moves the cursor alternately
- between the left edge, middle, and the right edge of the
- window. The cursor moves first to the middle, then right,
- then left edge.
-
- !719,310
-
- 14.19 Goto Line or Column <Alt G>
-
- This command provides for direct movement to a specified
- line number or relative movement from the current line. A
- prompt for the line number will appear on the message
- line. If a number without a plus or minus sign is entered,
- the request is taken as absolute and the cursor is moved
- directly to the requested line.
-
- If the number is preceded by a negative sign (-), the
- cursor is moved up by the requested number. If a plus sign
- (+) precedes the number, the cursor is moved down by the
- requested number. Any entries which would cause movement
- past the start or end of file simply move to that extreme.
-
- To position the cursor to a particular column, precede the
- entry with the letter "C". Thus "C55" would move the
- cursor to column 55. This feature can be especially useful
- when used within a macro to move the cursor to a known
- column.
-
- A compound expression can be used to position the cursor
- to a line and column position in one step. For example,
- entering "75 c10" would position to line 75, column 10.
-
- Page positioning is also supported. For example, you can
- enter "P5 L10" to go to Page 5, Line 10. The current
- printing parameters are consulted to determine the
- appropriate page height to use. Top and Bottom margins and
- Headers and Footer are ignored, so that the movement
- provided corresponds to what would appear on the printed
- copy of the document.
-
- !720,307
-
- 14.20 Drop Text Anchor <Alt A>
-
- The Drop Text Anchor command records the cursor position
- in the current file for later return via the Jump to Text
- Anchor command. Up to eight text anchors can be dropped
- for each file being edited. If a line which contains a
- text anchor is deleted, that reference point is lost. A
- Text Anchor can be deleted by jumping to it and issuing
- this command immediately. Text Anchors are used to mark
- several positions of interest within a large file so that
- they can be returned to quickly.
-
- !721,315
-
- 14.21 Jump to Text Anchor <Alt J>
-
- The Jump to Text Anchor command is used to return to a
- previously dropped Text Anchor. The command will jump
- between as many text anchors as have been dropped; up to 8
- anchors can be used. A Text Anchor can be deleted by
- issuing the Drop Text Anchor command immediately after
- issuing this command. Text Anchors are used to mark
- several positions of interest within a large file so that
- they can be returned to quickly.
-
- !725,430
-
- 14.22 Scroll File Up <Ctrl Down Arrow>
-
- The Scroll File Up command will scroll the current file up
- regardless of where the text cursor is positioned within
- the window. The cursor remains on the current line until a
- window edge requires it to be changed. This command is
- useful to scroll a file up without losing your position in
- the file. There must be more than a screen full of lines
- in order for this command to operate. (Note: by default,
- this command is assigned to Ctrl-Down-Arrow, a sequence
- which is available only on Enhanced keyboards.)
-
- !727,431
-
- 14.23 Scroll File Down <Ctrl Up Arrow>
-
- The Scroll File Down command will scroll the current file
- down regardless of where the text cursor is positioned
- within the window. The cursor remains on the current line
- until a window edge requires it to be changed. This
- command is useful to scroll a file down without losing
- your position in the file. There must be more than a
- screen full of lines in order for this command to operate.
- (Note: by default, this command is assigned to
- Ctrl-Up-Arrow, a sequence which is available only on
- Enhanced keyboards.)
-
- !729,432
-
- 14.24 Roll File Up <unassigned>
-
- The Roll File Up command will scroll the current file up
- regardless of where the text cursor is positioned within
- the window. The cursor position within the window is
- maintained. This command is useful to scroll a file while
- maintaining the cursor mid-window, for example. There
- must be more than a screen full of lines in order for this
- command to operate. (Note: by default, this command is
- unassigned; use the RECONFIG utility to assign it to a key
- sequence, if desired.)
-
- !731,433
-
- 14.25 Roll File Down <unassigned>
-
- The Roll File Down command will scroll the current file
- down regardless of where the text cursor is positioned
- within the window. The cursor position within the window
- is maintained. This command is useful to scroll a file
- while maintaining the cursor mid-window, for example.
- There must be more than a screen full of lines in order
- for this command to operate. (Note: by default, this
- command is unassigned; use the RECONFIG utility to assign
- it to a key sequence, if desired.)
-
- |800
-
- 15. WORD PROCESSING COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides some of the more useful features found in
- word processors. These features have been added in an
- effort to enable you to perform most word processing jobs
- without having to use a word processing program, and thus
- sacrifice the power of a text editor. The word processing
- commands have been assigned to the Control-Function Keys
- and are explained in the following sections.
-
- !801,357
-
- 15.1 Set Printing Parameters <Ctrl F1>
-
- The Set Printing Parameters command provides for the
- setting of a group of parameters which control the format
- of the printed page. The following parameters can be set:
-
- printer port select LPT1 through LPT4
- printer init codes ASCII codes for initialization
- printer reset codes ASCII codes for reset
- lines per page (66 for 11" form @ 6 LPI)
- columns per page (80 for 8-1/2" form @ 10 CPI)
- left margin # cols of margin on left side
- right margin # cols of margin on right side
- margin above header # lines above header line
- left header text text for left header
- center header text text for center header
- right header text text for right header
- header underline char character to underline header
- margin below header # lines between header and body
- margin above footer # lines between body and footer
- footer overline char character to overline footer
- left footer text text for left footer
- center footer text text for center footer
- right footer text text for right footer
- margin below footer # lines below footer line
- line spacing 1=single, 2=double, 3=triple...
- start printing at pg # page # to begin printing at
- stop printing at pg # page # to stop printing at
- number first pg as pg # page # on 1st page printed
- print line numbers If YES, line #s will be placed
- at left of each output line
- pause between pages If YES, printing will pause at
- page btm to allow manual feed
- send FF to eject page If YES, a formfeed character
- will be used after the footer
- send FF at end of job If YES, a formfeed character
- will be sent at end of job
- swap H/F for recto/verso If YES, the left H/F string and
- right H/F strings are swapped
- for right facing pages
- skip header on page 1 If YES, the header will not
- appear on page #1
- skip footer on page 1 If YES, the footer will not
- appear on page #1
- printer code filename name of file with control codes
- for the attached printer
-
- !802
-
- Notes:
-
- Users with Serial printers will need to use the DOS 'MODE'
- command to configure their serial port for use as a
- printing port. Refer to your DOS manual for details on how
- this is accomplished.
-
- The printer init and reset codes each consist of a series
- of ASCII values in decimal format. These codes are
- optional, and can be used to initialize or reset the
- printer. The values can be entered with either Spaces or
- commas between them, for example: 27,120,49. Use these
- strings to select font sizes and styles, select line
- spacing, etc.
-
- Alternatively, the init and reset strings can be entered
- directly by placing double quotes around the sequence.
- This method may be required if the codes to be used are
- lengthy. The init and reset strings can each be 64
- characters in length. An example of this method might be:
- "ESC(s1p10V". Entry of the Escape character (ASCII 27)
- requires special effort, as this character cannot be
- entered directly from the keyboard. Instead, summon the
- ASCII Chart or Insert Value command while typing the
- entry. You can then specify the ASCII 27 character for
- inclusion in the text. It will appear on-screen as a left
- arrow.
-
- !802
-
- The actual right margin of a body of text on output is
- determined by the text width within the file being
- printed, the left margin, and the columns per page. The
- right margin parameter provides a means to align headers
- and footers with the right edge of the text body - not to
- automatically reformat existing formatted text. No
- reformatting of text occurs during printing, nor simply
- because a change was made to printing margins. To change
- the width of a paragraph the text width must be changed
- (section 15.4) and the paragraph must be manually
- reformatted (section 15.10).
-
- Header and Footer lines each contribute a single line to
- the overall top and bottom margins even if no text is to
- appear on these lines.
-
- A page break can be forced prematurely by placing a lone
- form feed character (ASCII 12) in column 1 of the text
- being printed. The page break will be handled
- intelligently - blank lines will be sent to the printer
- and the footer line will be printed.
-
- !802
-
- Substitution Sequences
-
- Within the header and footer strings there are several
- substitution sequences which can be used. These sequences
- provide a convenient and flexible method of inserting
- time, date, filename, and page number elements within the
- header and footer strings. The lead character '~' is used
- to 'escape' the sequences so they are not interpreted as
- printable header/footer text.
-
- sequence: expands to:
- ~nn page number
- ~ff current filename
- ~pp current file path
- ~m two digit month, no leading zero
- ~mm two digit month, with leading zero
- ~mmm three character abbreviated month
- ~mmmm full month name
- ~d two digit date, no leading zero
- ~dd two digit date, with leading zero
- ~yy two digit year, with leading zero
- ~yyyy four digit year
- ~HH hour (0-23)
- ~MM minute (leading zero)
- ~SS second (leading zero)
-
- Ex. ~mm/~dd/~yy might yield 04/23/92
- file: ~ff might yield file: manual.doc
-
- After setting the Print Parameters you will be asked to
- supply a filename for the print parameters to be written
- to. The name of the current file with a '.PP' extension is
- suggested for you. A '.PP' file extension will be added
- automatically to the filename entered. The file
- 'DEFAULT.PP' is loaded automatically upon startup.
-
- !803,356
-
- 15.2 Read Print Parameters <Ctrl F2>
-
- The Read Print Parameters command allows for the retrieval
- of previously written printing parameters from a disk
- file. You will be asked to supply a filename to read the
- print parameters from. The name of the current file with a
- '.PP' extension is suggested for you. A file extension of
- '.PP' will be added automatically to the filename entered.
- The file 'DEFAULT.PP' is loaded automatically upon
- startup.
-
- The -L option can be used to load a named Print Parameter
- file on startup. (see Section 19)
-
- !804,391
-
- 15.3 Toggle Printer Codes <Ctrl F3>
-
- The Toggle Printer Codes command toggles on and off the
- recognition of a set of characters (ASCII 240-249) as
- embedded printer codes. When ON, these characters will be
- displayed as underlined or specially colored digits and
- interpreted during printing as special codes to be
- translated according to a printer definition file. When
- OFF, these characters have no special significance and are
- displayed as themselves. See section 18 for a full
- discussion of embedded printer codes.
-
- !805,373
-
- 15.4 Set Text Width <Ctrl F4>
-
- The Set Text Width command allows you to set the number of
- characters on a line for purposes of justification. Enter
- a value when prompted on the message line. By entering "."
- you can set the text width to the current cursor column.
- The text width value will be used by the Line Left, Line
- Center, Line Right and Paragraph Reformat commands when
- justifying text.
-
- !806,388
-
- 15.5 Toggle Wordwrap <Ctrl F5>
-
- The Toggle Wordwrap command toggles on or off a mode in
- which text is automatically justified to the current text
- width (section 15.4) as it is typed. When this mode is
- active, paragraphs are reformatted automatically as they
- are entered from the keyboard. When this mode is off, no
- automatic reformatting will be performed. The default is
- off. Reformatting is performed only when the text width is
- exceeded, so a manual reformat (section 15.10) may be
- required if a formatted paragraph is later edited.
-
- The -w option can be used to enable wordwrap and specify
- the text width. (see Section 19)
-
- !807,370
-
- 15.6 Set Justify <Ctrl F6>
-
- The Set Justify command allows the mode of justification
- used during paragraph reformat to be specified. When
- selected, a prompt appears for one of the four
- justification types:
-
- Ragged Left - text will be justified flush
- against the right edge, the left edge being
- left ragged.
-
- Ragged Center - text will be centered
- within the current text width, the left and
- right edges being ragged.
-
- Ragged Right - text will be justified flush
- against the left edge, with the right edge
- being left ragged.
-
- Smooth - text will be flush against both the
- left and right margins. Spaces are inserted
- alternately in the left, center, and right
- portions of a line to minimize the appearance
- of 'rivers and valleys' in the justified text.
-
- Once selected, the justification mode will be used in all
- future manual or automatic paragraph reformatting
- operations.
-
- !808,363
-
- 15.7 Line Left <Ctrl F7>
-
- The Line Left command moves the line at the cursor flush
- against the left margin. The cursor is moved to the line
- below upon completion. If text is marked, all lines within
- the marked range are affected.
-
- !809,362
-
- 15.8 Line Center <Ctrl F8>
-
- The Line Center command centers the line at the cursor
- within the current text width (section 15.4). The cursor
- is moved to the line below upon completion. If text is
- marked, all lines within the marked range are affected.
-
- !810,364
-
- 15.9 Line Right <Ctrl F9>
-
- The Line Right command moves the line at the cursor flush
- against the right margin. The cursor is moved to the line
- below upon completion. If text is marked, all lines within
- the marked range are affected.
-
- !811,327
-
- 15.10 Paragraph Reformat <Ctrl F10>
-
- The Paragraph Reformat command reformats the current
- paragraph from the current line to the end of the
- paragraph. The paragraph is reformatted according to the
- current text width (section 15.4) and the current
- justification mode (section 15.6). The cursor is placed on
- the first line of the next paragraph upon completion.
-
- BOXER uses the amount of indent on the last line of the
- paragraph to determine the indent level for the whole
- paragraph. A paragraph can be made "fully indented" by
- manually indenting the first and last lines of the
- paragraph and then reformatting.
-
- The indent on the first line of the paragraph is not
- applied to other lines in the paragraph. A "hanging
- indent" can be achieved by placing less indent on the
- first line of the paragraph than on the last. Likewise, if
- the first line of a paragraph has extra indent, it too
- will be preserved.
-
- If you wish to create bulleted paragraphs which can be
- safely reformatted, use one or more Tab characters to
- distance the bullet text from the body of the paragraph.
- If a series of Spaces is used, these will be adjusted
- during reformat; Tabs are maintained.
-
- Ordinarily, BOXER looks for a blank line to locate the end
- of a paragraph. The '<' character can also be used to
- denote the end of a paragraph, as indicated by the SII
- News Editing standard. This technique will allow the
- reformat command to operate properly on paragraphs which
- do not have blank lines between them.
-
- |900
-
- 16. CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
-
- BOXER provides a wide range of configuration options to
- further enhance its flexibility. Some of these options are
- available from within the editor by keystrokes or from the
- pull-down menus. Others are accessible with Option Flags.
- (see section 19)
-
- !901,387
-
- 16.1 Visible Spaces <Alt F1>
-
- The Visible Spaces command toggles on or off a mode in
- which Space, Tab, and Newline characters are displayed as
- visible graphics characters. These characters are often
- called 'whitespace'. This mode is useful for locating
- extraneous Space characters at the ends of lines, or to
- see exactly what characters reside in the file. The
- default is invisible Spaces.
-
- When this option is active, characters in the Message Line
- Editor, Search Menu and Clipboard Manager will also use
- visible characters in their displays.
-
- This option can also be enabled with the -v option.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !902,383
-
- 16.2 Set Search Parameters <Alt F2>
-
- The Set Search Parameters command allows for the
- specification of search case sensitivity and whether
- 'regular expressions' (wildcards) are to be recognized
- during the search. Select case insensitive if you would
- like 'fred' to match 'Fred' or 'FRED'. Select NO regular
- expressions if you would like '******' to match a string
- of asterisks, rather than a string of anything. Case
- sensitive searches are slightly faster than insensitive,
- searches without regular expressions are slightly faster
- than those with.
-
- The -c option can be used to select case insensitive
- searches; the -r option to disable regular expression
- searches. (see Section 19)
-
- !903,385
-
- 16.3 Toggle Indent <Alt F3>
-
- The Toggle Indent command toggles on or off a mode in
- which automatic line indentation is performed. Auto
- indentation is useful for writing source code for
- languages in which indentation is used to indicate
- nesting. When toggled on, auto indent mode causes the
- Enter and Insert Line commands to create a new line which
- has indentation matching that of the current line. The
- default is auto indent on.
-
- The -i option can also be used to disable auto-indent.
- The -st option can be used to enable "sticky" indent.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !904,382
-
- 16.4 Toggle/Set Autosave <Alt F4>
-
- The Toggle/Set Autosave command toggles on or off a
- feature which will automatically write to disk the file
- being edited after a specified number of changes have been
- made to the file. When autosave is toggled on, a message
- will appear showing the current change value and prompting
- for a new value. If you are satisfied with the current
- value, type Enter or Escape. Otherwise, you may enter a
- new value. The default is off - no automatic save.
-
- The -a option can also be used to select this option.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !905,371
-
- 16.5 Set Paging Overlap <Alt F5>
-
- The Set Paging Overlap command allows you to specify the
- number of lines of overlap which will be used for the Page
- Up and Page Down commands. A paging overlap value of 2
- (the default) would cause the bottom two lines to remain
- visible as the top two lines after a Page Down command is
- issued.
-
- The -p option can also be used to control paging overlap.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !906,378
-
- 16.6 Tab/Space Usage <Alt F6>
-
- The Tab/Space Usage command toggles between modes in which
- either Spaces or Tabs are inserted when the Tab key is
- struck. In Spaces mode, an equivalent number of Spaces
- sufficient to advance the cursor to the next Tab Stop are
- inserted when the Tab key is pressed. Additionally, when
- characters are automatically added to pad an under length
- line to the cursor position for insert past end of line,
- these characters will all be Spaces. In Tabs mode, Tab
- characters (ASCII 9) are inserted when the Tab key is
- pressed, and Tabs and Spaces are used to extend under
- length lines when needed.
-
- If you wish to create a file which has no Tab characters
- within it, toggle to Spaces mode before creating the file.
- This command does NOT affect Tabs which are already
- resident within a file. The Detab command can be used to
- Detab a range of marked lines (section 12.14).
-
- The -s option can also be used to force the Tab key to
- insert Spaces. (see Section 19)
-
- !907,405
-
- 16.7 Set/Save Colors <Alt F7>
-
- The Set/Save Colors command allows users with color
- monitors to select the colors to be used for various
- portions of the display screen. In the DOS versions of
- BOXER, you can select from sixteen foreground and
- background colors. BOXER/OS2 permits sixteen foreground
- and eight background colors. Users with monochrome systems
- can make selections from a restricted menu with black,
- white and bright white as the only available colors. A
- menu appears showing the various text types along with a
- miniaturized editor screen.
-
- As colors are selected for each text type, the miniature
- screen changes to show the effect of that change. The
- Escape key is used to exit the option. The screen will be
- repainted to reflect the changes and an option to save the
- color pattern to disk will be provided. You can overwrite
- an existing color file, or simply type a name for a new
- file. The file DEFAULT.CLR is automatically loaded upon
- startup.
-
- !908,358
-
- 16.8 Load Colors <Alt F8>
-
- The Load Colors command provides the opportunity to load a
- previously stored color setup from disk. BOXER is supplied
- with several color setup files from which to choose;
- additional setups can be saved after using the Set/Save
- Colors command described above. The file DEFAULT.CLR is
- automatically loaded upon startup.
-
- !909,372
-
- 16.9 Set Tab Width(s) <Alt F9>
-
- The Set Tab Width(s) command enables you to specify the
- screen width of the Tab character, or to specify a varying
- set of widths. Tab stops every 'n' columns are achieved by
- simply entering the number 'n'. If variable tab widths are
- desired, the values are listed as below:
-
- 4,9,12,18,22,30,43,49
-
- As these values represent tab widths, the tab stop columns
- will be at 5,10,13 etc. The width of the final tab will be
- used for points beyond the range given. Spaces or commas
- may be used to separate the values entered. The screen
- will rewrite to display the effect of the new value(s).
-
- Unless disabled by option (section 16.6), BOXER inserts
- Tab characters, not Spaces into the file. If a file is
- printed from outside BOXER, Tabs will usually be
- interpreted by the printer as having width 8. If you wish
- to print a file with varying tab widths, you must do so
- from within BOXER so that the Tabs are expanded according
- to the widths specified.
-
- The -t option can also be used to control tab widths.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !910,396
-
- 16.10 Toggle File Backups <Alt F10>
-
- The Toggle File Backups command toggles between modes in
- which backup copies of files written to disk are/are not
- made. Ordinarily, when writing a file to disk, the
- original is preserved in a BACKUP subdirectory in BOXER's
- home directory (usually \BOXER). Those who edit files so
- large that both the original and backup cannot reside on
- the same disk will want to disable file backups. NOTE:
- files in the BACKUP directory should be deleted period-
- ically to recover disk space.
-
- The -b command can also be used to disable file backups.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !911,295
-
- 16.11 Toggle RAM/BIOS Video Output <Alt F11>
-
- This command selects whether BOXER writes to the screen
- directly through RAM or via BIOS calls. True PC
- compatibles support output through video memory - which
- provides for faster screen update than BIOS calls.
-
- If your computer cannot support direct RAM video output,
- use this command to select output via BIOS calls. If this
- is the case, it will probably be best to invoke this
- option from the command line with -o option before any RAM
- video output is attempted (section 19).
-
- This command does not apply to BOXER/OS2.
-
- !912,389
-
- 16.12 Toggle Frames/Menus <Alt F12>
-
- This command allows for the toggling ON and OFF of window
- frames and/or the top menu bar. Some users may wish to
- forego one or both of these display elements to gain extra
- screen lines for editing. If the top menu bar is disabled
- the F10 key will cause the menu to reappear on request.
- Toggling window frames to OFF disables the ability to use
- the mouse for window closing, dragging, resizing, etc.
- Likewise, if the top menu bar is turned OFF, the mouse
- cannot be used to access menu commands.
-
- The window frames can also be disabled with the -h option;
- the top menu bar with the -m option. (see Section 19)
-
- !913,326
-
- 16.13 Toggle Passive Edit <Ctrl @>
-
- The Toggle Passive Edit command allows the editor to be
- run in a mode in which modifications to text become
- impossible. When selected, this command permits files to
- be viewed passively without fear of accidental
- modification. All commands which are non-destructive
- remain active.
-
- Passive editing can also be selected with the -x option.
- (see Section 19)
-
- !914,410
-
- 16.14 Video Rows <Alt V>
-
- The Video Rows command allows users with either EGA, VGA
- or MCGA video adapters to exploit the capability of these
- adapters to display more than 25 lines of text on the
- screen. This command will not operate if a Monochrome
- Display Adapter (MDA) is active.
-
- A menu will appear on the message line displaying the
- available screen rows, based on the video adapter. The
- screen will be resized according to the selection made.
- When switching from a large screen to a smaller screen,
- some windows may be reduced in size so they can fit on
- screen.
-
- If UltraVision(tm) by Personics is active, BOXER will
- sense its presence and allow you to switch into all modes
- which are allowed for your video card. A prompt will first
- appear to select the number of rows, and then the number
- of columns. UltraVision offers screen sizes as large as
- 132 columns by 63 rows, depending on your video card.
-
- If a utility program was supplied with your video card to
- switch into alternate screen sizes, BOXER will recognize
- these modes on startup and adjust its screen size
- accordingly. Screen sizes of up to 100 rows by 200 columns
- can be accommodated.
-
- You can also use the -Vr and -Vc options to control the
- screen size used on startup. (see Section 19)
-
- !916,469
-
- 16.15 Option Flags <menu>
-
- Ordinarily, BOXER's option flags are placed in the file
- DEFAULT.CFG, in an environment string, in a batch file or
- alias, or on the command line - see section 19 for further
- information. This command provides yet another method to
- specify option flags: while the edit session is underway.
- This command may be useful to quickly test the effect of
- an option flag, or to gain access to a configuration
- control which is not otherwise available while the editor
- is active.
-
- A prompt will appear on the message for the option flags
- to be processed. Enter the desired option flags with a
- Space between each flag. The '-' character may be omitted;
- this is needed only for option flags appearing on the
- command line. After processing, the screen will be updated
- to ensure that the display reflects the options entered.
-
- Note: Not all option flags will be processed by this
- command. Option flags which provide control over startup
- specific events will not be processed during the edit
- session. A few such examples are: screen size, undo
- limits, home directory, save/restore screen and preferred
- file extensions.
-
- |1000
-
- 17. MACRO COMMANDS
-
- BOXER provides a keystroke macro facility which allows for
- the storage of up to 26 macros and a macro which is
- automatically executed upon startup. Macros are created
- 'by example', that is, a series of keystrokes is typed and
- stored for later playback. A utility is also provided to
- create an editable macro file - see BMAC.DOC for full
- details.
-
- The 26 macro assignments can be written to a disk file
- which is automatically loaded upon startup. A 'startup'
- macro is also available which is automatically executed
- each time the editor is invoked. The startup macro can be
- useful for storing configuration commands to initialize
- the editor on startup. (See Sections 19 and 20 for other
- methods of editor configuration).
-
- !1001,390
-
- 17.1 Assign Macro <F8>
-
- The Assign Macro command initiates and terminates the
- storage of a macro. When the command is first issued, a
- prompt appears for which macro is to be recorded (A-Z).
- After pressing a letter, keystrokes will be executed
- normally and saved in a storage area. If a macro already
- exists for the macro selected, you may either Append to or
- Renew the macro. If the selected macro does not have an
- activating key assigned to it, you will not be allowed to
- record keystrokes into it.
-
- If the SPACE key was entered, a startup macro will be
- stored and, after macros have been written to disk
- (section 17.3), executed automatically each time the
- editor is run. Ordinary text may be entered, editor
- commands, or any combination thereof. A wait-for-key
- command can be stored in the macro by issuing the same
- Control sequence (Ctrl A, eg) of the macro being stored.
-
- The storage of a keystroke macro is terminated by issuing
- the Assign Macro command again. Macros can be up to 500
- keystrokes in length. Upon completion of the macro, you
- will be offered a chance to name the macro. This can aid
- in recalling stored macros. Macro names and key
- assignments are displayed in the Macro Chart (section
- 17.6). See Section 17.5 for examples of how to record
- macros.
-
- NOTE: macros are stored as commands, not keys, so a change
- in keyboard configuration will not affect macro playback.
-
- !1002
-
- 17.2 Play Macro <Ctrl A...Ctrl Z>
-
- The Play Macro commands cause keystrokes which have been
- saved as a macro to be replayed. By default, the macros
- are assigned to the Ctrl-A to Ctrl-Z sequences. Macro A
- is activated with Ctrl-A, and so forth. Other activating
- keys can be assigned if desired by using the RECONFIG
- utility. See the file RECONFIG.DOC for details.
-
- It is frequently convenient to create a macro which makes
- a change to a line and then positions to a new line to
- make the change again. Such a macro is then repeated with
- the Multiply command (section 13.6) to automate the change
- being made. In such an instance, BOXER will halt the macro
- when end-of-file is reached, when a Goto Line command
- fails, or when a search fails. This allows you to create
- and multiply macros without concern for precisely how many
- times the macro should be repeated (ie, just pick a
- suitably large multiplier), or what ill effect might occur
- if the macro kept running after all desired changes were
- made.
-
- Note that a Play Macro command cannot be executed during
- macro storage; recursive macros are not permitted. The
- Play Macro commands may be used in conjunction with the
- Multiply command (see section 13.6) to further reduce
- keystrokes (see section 17.5 for Macro Examples).
-
- !1003,403
-
- 17.3 Write Macros <Shift F9>
-
- The Write Macros command writes all macros to a disk file.
- A file extension of .MAC is automatically added by the
- editor to the name you select. Any filename can be used to
- save the macros, but if you wish for the macros to be
- automatically loaded upon startup, you should enter the
- name 'DEFAULT.MAC' as a filename. The Write Macros command
- is disallowed during macro storage.
-
- !1004,365
-
- 17.4 Read Macros <Shift F10>
-
- The Read Macros command is used to read a disk file
- containing the 26 macro definitions. A file extension of
- .MAC is automatically added by the editor to the name you
- select. This command is disallowed during macro storage.
-
- The -z option can be used to load a named macro file on
- startup. (see Section 19)
-
- !1005
-
- 17.5 Macro Examples
-
- The following example shows how to create a macro which
- will perform auto line numbering. (The actual keys used
- will depend on the keyboard layout in use.)
-
- 1<enter><up arrow> create initial number
- <F8> begin saving keystrokes
- A save in macro area A
- <Alt O> clone the line
- <Alt +> select increment cmd
- 1<enter> specify increment value
- <F8> stop saving keystrokes
- <Ctrl A> replay as necessary
-
- To further automate the process, the keystroke multiply
- command could be used after the macro has been defined:
-
- <Alt Y>25<enter> set multiply value to 25
- <Ctrl A> play macro 25 times
-
- The following example shows how to create a macro which
- can be played when needed to reconfigure the editor:
-
- <F8> begin saving keystrokes
- Z save in macro area Z
- <Alt F3> toggle auto-indent
- <Alt F10> toggle file backups
- <Alt F9>8<enter> set tab widths to 8
- <F8> stop saving keystrokes
- <Ctrl Z> replay
-
- The Ctrl Z sequence will now perform the configurations
- above.
-
- !1006,318
-
- 17.6 Macro Chart <Shift F5>
-
- The Macro Chart displays a pop-up window which shows the
- status of each of the 26 macro areas. Each macro is
- labeled with the name which was provided at the time it
- was recorded and the number of keys within the macro. If a
- macro area does not have an activating key assigned it
- will be shown as "(unassigned)".
-
- By pressing the letters A-Z you can review the current key
- assignment for each macro area. A small dot will appear to
- the left of those macros which were recorded in the
- current editing session.
-
- |1100
-
- 18. EMBEDDED PRINTER CODES
-
- BOXER provides the ability to access up to 100 printer
- options by recognizing special 2-digit codes within a text
- file. These codes range from 00-99 and are inserted by
- using the Alt-0 to Alt-9 keys, unless alternate key
- assignments have been made. (Be sure to use the digits
- above the alphabetic portion of the keyboard, not the
- numeric keypad.) The printer codes will appear as
- specially colored or underlined digits to distinguish them
- from ordinary text.
-
- At print-time these codes are translated according to the
- printer definition file named in the Printing Parameters
- menu. By default the Print Parameter menu names the file
- DEFAULT.COD. The printer definition file equates the
- SYMBOLIC printer codes (00-99) with the ACTUAL ASCII
- code(s) which your printer requires to activate a
- particular printing option.
-
- Examples:
-
- The word 18italics19 will be printed in italics.
-
- The word 4bold5 will be printed in bold.
-
- Note that leading zeroes are only required when their
- absence would create an ambiguous code sequence.
-
- BOXER is supplied with an example printer configuration
- file, and may have been supplied with a file for your
- printer. If not, consult the example configuration file
- and your printer manual to construct a configuration file
- for your printer. Be sure to name the file with a ".COD"
- file extension so that it will appear in the printer code
- menu when accessed from within printing parameters. You
- may then either rename this file to DEFAULT.COD or place
- its name in the Printing Parameters menu in place of
- DEFAULT.COD.
-
- NOTE: The recognition and on-screen display of printer
- codes can be disabled with the Toggle Printer Codes
- command (section 15.3). Since BOXER "borrows" characters
- in the range ASCII 240-249 for printer codes, this option
- is needed to properly display files containing those
- characters.
-
- |1200
-
- 19. OPTION FLAGS
-
- BOXER provides a rich collection of option flags which can
- be used to control the editor's configuration.
- Collectively, BOXER's option flags provide a flexible
- means to control almost every aspect of the editor's
- behavior. By using option flags it becomes possible to
- automate configuration of the editor in several different
- ways. You are free to use any or all of the methods that
- follow:
-
- 1) Option flags can be placed in the file DEFAULT.CFG,
- as described therein. This method makes it easy to
- bring your options with you if you need to work on more
- than one computer. You can also designate options by
- file extension, so that your configuration changes
- dynamically based on the file type being edited (see
- Section 20).
-
- 2) The "BOXER" environment string can also be used to
- hold option flags. By placing a "SET" statement in
- your AUTOEXEC.BAT file you can control BOXER's
- configuration:
-
- set BOXER=b dc:\bestapps\boxer h t8 w72
-
- 3) Option flags are also recognized on the command
- line, when preceded with a dash (-).
-
- 4) Option flags can be specified during the edit
- session - see Section 16.15 for details.
-
- 5) Lastly, you can create various batch files with
- option flags suitable for different editing tasks. For
- example, "BWP.BAT" might configure BOXER for word
- processing tasks, while "BB.BAT" might hold options
- suitable for BASIC programming. For example:
-
- B -w72 -t8 -a30 %1
-
- !
-
- If you would like to temporarily override an option which
- is active in the environment string "BOXER" or in the file
- DEFAULT.CFG, you can do so from the command line without
- altering the original option flag. A double dash is used
- to reverse the effect of the option flag. For example, --b
- would re-enable file backups, if these had been disabled
- elsewhere with -b. This feature applies only to option
- flags which are of an 'On/Off' nature.
-
- To view an on-screen display of option flags enter B -?
-
- All options must appear in the case shown; upper and lower
- case IS significant.
-
- !1201
-
- -a# turns autosave ON, sets value to #
- ex: -a20 will cause autosave to occur after
- 20 changes have been made.
- -B enables Blind-friendly mode (BSFI):
- whenever possible, the text cursor is
- positioned to the left of active text for
- easier reading by speech software. Also,
- extra beeps are given for most minor errors.
- (BSFI=Braille and Speech Friendly Interface)
- -b turns OFF the file backup feature; a copy of
- the edited file is not placed in the BACKUP
- directory.
- -C1 cursor through Tabs, not across them
- in this mode, the cursor will pass through
- Tabs, instead of jumping across them.
- -C2 this option allows the cursor to move from
- the start of a line to the end of the prior
- line.
- -C3 this option allows the cursor to move from
- the end of a line to the start of the next
- line.
- -C4 go to top/btm of screen for first PgUp/PgDn;
- subsequent PgUp/PgDn presses function
- predictably.
-
- !1202
-
- -c selects case insensitive searches:
- this option allows "Boxer" to match "BOXER".
- -dPATH sets editor's Home directory:
- ex: -dc:\edit\boxer specifies the directory
- where BOXER is located. This option is only
- needed if you keep the BOXER executable in a
- directory other than its own directory, or
- if a very old DOS version is used. (Note:
- don't place this option in DEFAULT.CFG, as
- that file's location will be unknown. The
- environment string "BOXER" should be used.)
- -E.EXT sets file extension used for backups:
- ex: -E.bak will cause BOXER to use the file
- extension ".BAK" when backup files are
- written to the current directory. See also
- the -f option.
- -e.e1.e2 set preferred file extensions
- ex. -e.DOC.TXT.BAS selects 3 files extensions
- as "preferred". BOXER will use this list when
- opening files to try to match a filename when
- one is supplied without an extension.
- -e turns embedded printer codes OFF:
- normally, BOXER displays ASCII values 240-249
- as specially colored digits which correspond
- to printer codes. This option disables same.
-
- !1203
-
- -Fa# sets active window frame style (#=0-8)
- ex: -Fa2 selects frame style 2 for the
- active window. See table below for values.
- -Fi# sets inactive window frame style (#=0-8)
- ex: -Fi4 selects frame style 4 for the
- inactive windows.
- Frame Style Values:
- 0 single frame
- 1 double frame
- 2 single horizontal, double vertical
- 3 double horizontal, single vertical
- 4 1/4 density block
- 5 1/2 density block
- 6 3/4 density block
- 7 full density block
- 8 full density with 1/2 blocks
- -Fm# set maximum number of files in the File Menu
- this option is used to control the maximum
- number of files which can be displayed in the
- File Menu. BOXER's default value is 200;
- values up to 1700 can be used. Note: using
- larger values will consume memory, so select
- a realistic value.
-
- !1204
-
- -f file backups go in current directory:
- selects a mode where file backups are placed
- in current directory with .BKP extension,
- rather than in \BOXER\BACKUP. See also the
- -E option.
- -g# causes a jump to line '#' on startup
- ex: -g120 causes current line to be 120.
- -H0 disable Syntax Highlighting:
- this option disables the highlighting of
- program code within the editor.
- -h turns OFF window frames:
- this mode provides for a full 80 columns of
- screen width for editing.
- -I hot menu letters await Enter:
- enables a mode in which the Hot letters in
- menus jump to an item, but await the Enter
- key before execution.
- -i turns OFF auto indent:
- the cursor will return to column 1 when Enter
- is pressed, regardless of level of indent.
- -J# sets Justification style:
- 0 Ragged Left
- 1 Ragged Center
- 2 Ragged Right
- 3 Smooth (justified)
- -j juggles Insert/Typeover cursors:
- Insert cursor becomes underscore, Typeover
- becomes full block.
-
- !1205
-
- -kr# sets keyboard rate (0-31) (0=fast)
- ex: -kr0 sets repeat rate to fastest.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -kd# sets keyboard delay (0-3) (0=short)
- ex: -kd0 sets delay to shortest.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -ke forces Enhanced keyboard usage:
- ordinarily, BOXER can auto-sense the type
- of keyboard in use. Use this option if the
- F11/F12 keys are not recognized, eg.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -ks forces Standard keyboard usage:
- use this option if you have trouble with
- your keyboard; often when a new BIOS is
- used with an old (Standard) keyboard.
- Also, for compatibility with some older
- TSRs which hook only interrupt 10.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -kx lets keyboard rate/delay persist on exit:
- by default, BOXER sets the keyboard upon
- startup to the fastest rate/delay allowed
- to speed scrolling. But because programs
- cannot read the keyboard settings, BOXER
- resets the keyboard rate to normal on exit,
- as this is safest. If you prefer that BOXER
- not reset these values, use -kx.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -k0 no keyboard adjustment at all:
- forces BOXER not to make any adjustments to
- the keyboard rate/delay.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -Lname load Print Parameter file "NAME":
- ex: -LLASERJET.PP will automatically load the
- named Print Parameter file on startup.
- -l BOXER.LST files go in current directory:
- this option causes BOXER's "list" file to
- be placed in the current directory, rather
- than in BOXER's home directory. This file
- holds information about the prior edit
- session. By using this option, you can ensure
- that BOXER will resume the edit session which
- last occurred in a given directory.
-
- !1206
-
- -lx BOXER.LST file is not re-written on exit
- this option ensures that the BOXER.LST file
- is not re-written after an edit session. This
- option may be useful to those who wish BOXER
- to always start with the same file set,
- regardless of file activity during the last
- edit session.
-
- -M selects Macintosh style line enders:
- this option causes files to be written with a
- CR (ASCII 13) line ender, rather than the
- CR/LF (ASCII 13/10) sequence used in DOS and
- OS/2.
- -M# set ASCII value of mouse cursor character:
- ex: -M2 would set the mouse cursor to the
- smiling face character.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -Md# set mouse marking delay value
- ex: -Md300 causes BOXER to wait 3/10ths of a
- second before marking begins when a mouse
- button is pressed. Use this option to fine
- tune BOXER's mouse handling. By default,
- BOXER waits 150 milliseconds before mouse
- marking commences.
- -Ml select left-handed mouse:
- this option reverses the actions of the left
- and right mouse buttons. The center button,
- if present, is unaffected.
- -Mm no Left/Right motion by mouse in menus
- this option causes the pull-down menus to
- ignore lateral mouse motion once dropped.
- -Ms# set mouse scrolling speed:
- this option sets the delay used when the
- mouse is used to scroll with the icons on
- the window frame. The value is in milli-
- seconds.
-
- !1208
-
- -Mx# set mouse X travel speed:
- this option controls the horizontal mouse
- speed. 8 is the normal setting; smaller
- values yield faster travel, larger values
- give slower travel.
- -My# set mouse Y travel speed:
- this option controls the vertical mouse
- speed. 16 is the normal setting; smaller
- values yield faster travel, larger values
- give slower travel.
- -m disable top menu bar:
- this option provides an extra screen row for
- editing by causing the top menu bar to be
- hidden until requested by its keystroke.
- -N sets Numlock handling:
- this option causes the gray / * - and + keys
- to behave as command keys when Numlock is
- ON. Ordinarily, these keys become self-
- inserting when Numlock is ON.
- -n force monochrome output:
- this option forces BOXER to use monochrome
- output regardless of the type of video card
- installed. Use this option on some laptops
- when BOXER improperly detects color modes.
-
- !1210
-
- -o output via BIOS calls:
- forces BOXER to route all screen information
- through BIOS calls, rather than writing to
- video RAM. This option will slow screen I/O,
- but may be needed for old, incompatible PCs.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -P pull-down menus drop when activated:
- this option causes the pull-down menus to
- drop when activated, rather than awaiting
- a first-letter keypress.
- -Pm menus operate by mouse motion
- this option causes the pull-down menus to be
- driven by mouse motion (as in earlier
- versions of BOXER) rather than by point &
- click operation.
- -Pr right mouse button drops menus
- this option causes the right mouse button to
- activate the pull-down menus.
- -p# set paging overlap to #
- ex: -p4 will cause 4 lines of text to be
- preserved from a next/previous screen when
- the PgUp/PgDn commands are used.
-
- !1211
-
- -Q display line/page counters
- this option causes Page and Line oriented
- counters to be used on the status line,
- rather than Line/Row/Col indicators
- -qNAME load key file "NAME"
- ex: -qWORDSTAR.KEY will automatically load
- the keyboard file WORDSTAR.KEY on startup.
- Alternate .KEY files can also be loaded from
- within the editor; DEFAULT.KEY is loaded by
- default.
- -R text Remains marked
- this option causes marked blocks to remain
- marked after Copy, Append, Print and Write
- operations are performed. Blocks can be
- unmarked by the Escape command.
- -Ro read-only file warning OFF
- this option disables the warning which
- normally appears when a file with "read-only"
- attributes is loaded. BOXER can view such
- files, but refuses to write them to disk.
- -r turns regular expressions OFF
- this option disables the use of "wildcard"
- expressions within text searches. In this
- mode, the '*' will match an '*', rather than
- a string of any characters, eg.
-
- !1212
-
- -S strip trailing blanks
- this option causes BOXER to remove Spaces and
- Tabs from the ends of lines when writing a
- file to disk.
- -s causes Tab key to insert Spaces:
- this option forces BOXER to create files
- which contain Spaces, not Tabs. This option
- does NOT cause existing Tabs to be changed.
- -st selects "sticky" auto indent mode
- this option enables an indent style in which
- the indent level is retained even when lines
- containing no text are created.
- -T starts in Typeover mode:
- this option causes BOXER to begin editing
- in Typeover mode; Insert mode is the
- default.
- -t#,#... sets tab widths:
- ex: -t4,10,12 would set the first tab to
- width 4, second to 6, and the third and
- subsequent tabs to width 2. Simple tabs
- of width 8, eg, can be achieved with -t8.
- -U selects Unix style line enders:
- this option causes files to be written with a
- LF (ASCII 10) line ender, rather than the
- CR/LF (ASCII 13/10) sequence used in DOS and
- OS/2.
- -u# sets # changes saved for Undo:
- ex: -u50 sets the number of changes stored
- for undo to 50; the default is 200. Smaller
- values can be used to make a little bit more
- memory available for editing.
-
- !1213
-
- -Vc# sets number of video columns:
- ex: -Vc120 selects 120 column mode. This
- option is valid only when used with the
- UltraVision screen enhancement package.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2)
- -Vr# sets number of video rows:
- ex: -Vr50 selects 50 row mode. The valid row
- quantities depend upon the video adapter
- installed. Use the Video Rows command to
- check the sizes which are supported for your
- adapter. An EGA, VGA or MCGA monitor is
- required.
- -Vx let video mode persist on exit
- this option allows a video mode selected from
- within BOXER to remain active after exiting
- the program. Use this option if you'd like to
- use one of BOXER's video formats outside of
- BOXER.
- -v sets visible Spaces/Tabs/Newlines:
- activates a mode in which "whitespace"
- characters are displayed in a visible form.
- -W no compiler warnings unless errors also occur
- this option dictates that compiler warnings
- NOT be displayed unless errors have also
- occurred.
-
- !1215
-
- -w# sets wordwrap ON, text width to #:
- ex: -w72 turns wordwrap ON and sets the
- column at which wrap occurs to 72.
- -wi# sets text width to #:
- ex: -wi72 sets the column at which wordwrap
- occurs to 72, but does not set wordwrap ON.
- -x turns passive edit mode ON:
- this option enables a mode in which files
- can be viewed without fear of changes being
- made. All commands which alter text are
- disallowed.
- -y1 selects static clock display, no date:
- the clock will appear in the lower right
- corner, without flashing the date.
- -y2 selects static date display, no clock:
- the date will appear in the lower right
- corner, without flashing the clock.
- -Z adds ^Z at EOF for file writes:
- this option causes a ^Z (ASCII 26) character
- to be added to files when written. This is
- the End of File character. Some programs may
- require files which end with an EOF.
-
- !1230
-
- -zNAME load macro file "NAME":
- ex: -zTPASCAL.MAC will automatically load the
- named macro file on startup.
- -0 presents file menu on startup:
- this option can be used to start BOXER
- without naming a file to edit. Instead, a
- menu is presented from which to select.
- -1 ignores the attached mouse:
- this option cause BOXER to behave as though
- a mouse is not installed, regardless of its
- presence.
- -2 file menu pops up on request:
- this option causes the File Menu to be pre-
- sented only on request; the message line
- editor is first activated so that a file
- name can be typed.
- -3 allows menus to wrap around:
- this option causes all menus to wrap from the
- last entry to the first entry and vice versa.
-
- !1235
-
- -4 saves/restores screen on entry/exit:
- this option causes BOXER to save the screen
- on entry and restore it on exit. This feature
- consumes 4000 bytes of memory for a standard
- 25x80 screen, more for larger screens.
- -5 allows Esc to access pull-down menus:
- this option selects the Escape key as the key
- which is used to access the pull-down menus.
- Due to the special nature of the Escape key,
- this assignment had to be handled with an
- option, rather than with the RECONFIG
- utility.
- -6 activates Home-Home-Home style motion:
- this option activates a cursor motion style
- in which the key bound to the Start of Line
- command will cause movement to start of
- line, top of screen, and top of file for each
- successive press. An analogous behavior
- occurs for the End of Line command. NOTE:
- This option does NOT assign the Home/End keys
- to the Start/End of Line commands, it merely
- enables this style of motion. Use RECONFIG
- to reassign commands, if desired.
-
- !1240
-
- -7 disables extra "Quit" confirmation:
- this option prevents the extra confirmation
- which occurs when an edit session is quit
- without saving changes made to the file(s).
- -8 forces no cursor size changes at all:
- this option causes BOXER not to make changes
- to the cursor size to reflect Insert and
- Typeover edit modes.
- -9 selects no EMS swap for DOS shell/compile:
- ordinarily, BOXER will use EMS memory to swap
- itself out of memory for the DOS shell and
- for compilations. This option will force
- swapping to be performed to disk instead.
- (This option does not apply to BOXER/OS2
- or BOXER/TKO)
- -$ selects no "* End of File *" marker:
- this option disables display of the end
- of file marker which appears while editing.
-
- !1245
-
- -@# sets file menu sort style (0-4):
- ex: -@2 sets the file menu to sort by file
- size. The available sort styles are:
- 0 name
- 1 extension
- 2 size
- 3 date
- 4 unsorted
- Note: <ai>BOXER/OS2<xi> does not perform a
- sort by extension.
- -@r sets file menu sort to reverse:
- this option reverses the direction of sort in
- the file menu. Depending on the sort style,
- files will be listed Z to A, large to small,
- or newest to oldest.
- -. reformats one Space after sentence enders:
- this option causes a single Space to be
- placed after sentence enders during paragraph
- reformat.
- -? displays usage and option flags:
- this option displays a multi-screen display
- which lists all of BOXER's command and
- environment options.
- -?p prints the usage display to printer:
- this option prints the option display list to
- the attached printer (PRN)
-
- !1250
-
- Example:
-
- The following command line would invoke BOXER to edit the
- file TEST.DOC, disable auto indent, and enable visible
- spaces.
-
- b -i -v TEST.DOC
-
- |1700
-
- 20. EXTENSION-SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION
-
- BOXER offers a convenient and flexible means to control
- the option flags used based on the extension of the file
- being edited. This feature allows you to configure which
- options are active for a range of file types which you
- frequently edit.
-
- For example, you can configure BOXER to automatically
- begin in wordwrap mode for .DOC files, and select the
- desired justification style. For program code, you might
- set the Tab size based on file extension. Any of BOXER's
- option flags can be used in this way to configure the
- editor based on the type of file being edited.
-
- These extension-specific configurations are achieved by
- placing the desired option flags in the file DEFAULT.CFG.
- The opening lines of this file contain various option
- lines:
-
- Any lines beginning with the word "options" are
- considered startup options, and are processed
- when the editor is first started. You can place
- as many such lines as needed to configure BOXER
- on startup.
-
- Lines of the form "options.ext" are processed
- only when a file is loaded which matches the
- named file extension. For example, the line:
-
- options.doc w72 j3
-
- would activate wordwrap with a text width of 72
- and select smooth justification whenever .DOC
- files are edited. A single configuration line can
- be used for each file type. To designate options
- for files which do not have an extension, use a
- line beginning with "options.".
-
- Finally, the line beginning with "options.*" is
- processed for any files which do not have an
- option line to match their file extension. This
- line must follow the other option lines for
- specifically named file extensions.
-
- The line beginning with "end." signals the end of
- the option configuration section of DEFAULT.CFG.
-
- !1710
-
- If you anticipate editing multiple file types in a single
- edit session, you will need to give extra consideration to
- the option strings you select. BOXER processes the options
- for each file extension whenever a file of that extension
- becomes the current file. In this way BOXER ensures that
- your options are active whenever you switch to a new file
- type.
-
- However, when switching from file to file, the old options
- are not "turned off"; rather the new options are turned
- ON. Therefore, it may be necessary to create an option
- string which turns OFF other options which are undesirable
- for that file type.
-
- As an example, consider the following option strings:
-
- options.bat t8
- options.doc w72 j3
-
- With these options selected, wordwrap will remain active
- when switching from a .DOC file to a .BAT file, which is
- probably undesirable. The solution is to turn OFF wordwrap
- within the .BAT options. Conversely, perhaps a tab size of
- 4 is desired for .DOC files. The following option strings
- remedy the problem:
-
- options.bat t8 --w72
- options.doc w72 j3 t4
-
- Here the negation sequence '--' is used to disable
- wordwrap. This sequence can be used to reverse the sense
- of any option flag which is of an ON/OFF nature. By using
- option negation, you can ensure that options from other
- file types are disabled when editing multiple file types
- in a single edit session.
-
- Note: Not all option flags can be used as extension
- specific options. Some option flags are meant to control
- startup-specific configurations which cannot be performed
- at run-time. A few such examples are: screen size, undo
- limits, home directory, save/restore screen and preferred
- file extensions.
-
- |1800
-
- 21. SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING
-
- BOXER's Syntax Highlighting feature can help speed program
- development and reduce syntax errors. BOXER will display
- source code for most popular programming languages with
- comments, reserved words, constants and symbols
- highlighted for enhanced visibility. You'll find that this
- feature can help both during program development, and in
- editing existing source code.
-
- BOXER comes pre-configured to perform Syntax Highlighting
- for most popular programming languages. BOXER determines
- when to apply highlighting based on the extension of the
- file being edited. You can configure BOXER to highlight
- other languages, or fine-tune its highlighting of the
- pre-configured languages, by changing the highlighting
- parameters within the file DEFAULT.CFG.
-
- The colors used to display various elements of program
- code are also user-configurable via the Set Colors command
- (section 16.7). In the default color configuration, the
- colors used to designate Changed and Written lines will
- override Syntax Highlighting. In other words, when new
- program code is typed, it will appear in the "Changed"
- color, and is not Syntax Highlighted. You can alter this
- behavior by setting the colors for Changed and/or Written
- lines to be the same as for normal text. In this
- configuration, new program code will be Syntax Highlighted
- as it is typed, at the expense of not displaying changed
- lines in an alternate color.
-
- The following sections detail the configuration parameters
- used for Syntax Highlighting:
-
- !1810
-
- EXT=
-
- This parameter details the file extensions for which the
- following block of configuration information will apply.
- The EXT= directive must be the first to appear in a
- configuration block. The file extensions are named with
- commas between them, and there is no theoretical limit to
- the number which can be named. For example:
-
- EXT=.C,.H,.CPP
-
- RESERVED=
-
- This parameter is used to detail the reserved words which
- are to be highlighted. The words can appear on as many
- lines as are required, each beginning with the RESERVED=
- directive. Reserved words can contain alphanumeric
- characters, dash (-) and underscore (_). Up to 512 words
- can be named. To avoid impacting screen update speed, the
- list should not be made any larger than necessary.
-
- The reserved words must be listed in ASCII sort order,
- with the exception that sub-strings must follow words
- which contain the substring. For example, END needs to
- follow ENDIF. Example:
-
- RESERVED=ENDCASE,ENDCLASS,ENDDO,ENDIF,END,EOF,EXIT
-
- SYMBOL=
-
- The SYMBOL parameter is used to designate the characters
- which are considered to be symbols. The characters are
- simply listed in one long string, the order is not
- important. There is no limit to the number of symbols
- which can be designated. Example:
-
- SYMBOL={}[]().=+-*/:;<>|,~!^?
-
- !1820
-
- STRING='"
-
- The STRING parameter designates the character(s) which are
- used to open and close character and string constants.
- Typically, these are the single and/or double quote
- characters, for example:
-
- STRING='"
-
- LITERAL=
-
- This parameter designates the character which is used to
- remove significance from an open/close string character
- while within a string. For example:
-
- LITERAL=\
-
- !1822
-
- OPENCOM=
-
- This parameter is used to designate the sequence(s) used
- to open a traditional comment block. The open comment
- sequences must be listed in ASCII sort order. Up to twelve
- sequences can be designated. The sequences are listed with
- commas between them, for example:
-
- OPENCOM=(*,{
-
-
-
- CLOSECOM=
-
- This parameter is used to designate the sequence(s) used
- to close a traditional comment block. The close comment
- sequences must be listed in ASCII sort order. Up to twelve
- sequences can be designated. The sequences are listed with
- commas between them, for example:
-
- CLOSECOM=*),}
-
- !1823
-
- EOLCOM=
-
- This parameter is used to designate the sequence(s) used
- to initiate an "end-of-line comment" - that is, a comment
- which will persist only until the end of the current line.
- Up to twelve sequences can be designated. The end-of-line
- comment sequences must be listed in ASCII sort order with
- commas between them, for example:
-
- EOLCOM=$$,//
-
- COMCOL=
-
- This parameter can be used to designate the columns in
- which each of the end-of-line comment sequences must
- appear in order to be recognized as comments. The order
- of the column numbers should match the order of the
- end-of-line comment sequences in the EOLCOM directive.
- This parameter is needed for languages such as Cobol and
- Fortran whose comment characters must appear in a
- designated column, for example:
-
- COMCOL=7,7
-
- The values entered should match the order of the EOLCOM
- sequences specified. Use a zero value to indicate that
- the comment sequence should be recognized in all columns.
-
- !1830
-
- SENSITIVE=
-
- This parameter controls whether the list of reserved words
- is case sensitive or not. Some languages require that
- reserved words appear in exact case, others are more
- flexible. A non-zero value indicates that case sensitivity
- is required, for example:
-
- SENSITIVE=1
-
- COMSEARCH=10
-
- In order to properly handle multi-line comment blocks,
- BOXER must, at times, search backward in the file to
- determine if a multi-line comment is in force. This
- parameter designates the number of lines which should be
- searched during this effort. Higher values will result in
- better display accuracy, but can impact screen update
- speed. Select a value based on your style of programming,
- for example,
-
- COMSEARCH=10
-
- |1900
-
- 22. PREFERRED FILE EXTENSIONS
-
- BOXER has a time-saving feature which allows you to
- designate a list of file extensions as "preferred". This
- list will be used by BOXER when opening files to match a
- filename whenever one is supplied without an extension.
- Once configured, this feature can save time by relieving
- you from having to type a file extension for any files
- containing a preferred extension.
-
- This feature is controlled with an option flag. Various
- ways to use option flags are detailed in section 19. As an
- example, assume you frequently edit four types of files:
- .DOC, .TXT, .BAS and .PAS. To configure BOXER to
- automatically add these extensions, use the following
- option flag:
-
- -e.DOC.TXT.BAS.PAS
-
- There is no limit to the number of extensions which can be
- designated. The list is processed from left to right, so
- if both TEST.DOC and TEST.BAS exist, eg, TEST.DOC would be
- selected. If no matches are found, the file is opened as
- named, without an extension. Preferred file extensions
- are consulted when filenames are specified within the
- editor, and when files are named on the command line.
-
- |2000
-
- 23. SIZES AND LIMITS
-
- The following tables summarize the limits which BOXER
- imposes on certain operations:
-
- BOXER
- -----
- # of open files limited by conventional RAM
- # of open windows limited by conventional RAM
- maximum file size (*) limited by conventional RAM
- (typically 250-300K)
- number of files in the 200 by default, 1700 maximum
- Edit-File Menu (see -Fm# in section 19)
-
- BOXER/TKO
- ---------
- # of open files limited only by available RAM
- # of open windows limited only by available RAM
- maximum file size (*) limited only by available RAM
- (usu. ~70% of available RAM)
- number of files in the 200 by default, 1700 maximum
- Edit-File Menu (see -Fm# in section 19)
-
- BOXER/OS2
- ---------
- # of open files limited only by virtual memory
- # of open windows limited only by virtual memory
- maximum file size (*) limited only by virtual memory
- number of files in the 500 by default, 1365 maximum
- Edit-File Menu (see -Fm# in section 19)
-
- !2005
-
- All Versions:
- -------------
- line length 1024 characters
- screen size 100 rows by 200 columns
- undo 4096 changed lines
- macro length 500 keys
- length of search string 40 characters
- search strings in menu 32
- number of lines which 16379
- can be sorted
- number of files reloaded 100
- from a prior session
- text anchors 8
- number of files loaded 100
- from command line
- number of files in the 100
- edited files list
- number of files in the 125
- global locate list
- number of entries saved 30
- in message line history
-
- * BOXER is constrained by available conventional DOS
- memory, which is typically less than 640K. BOXER is able
- to edit file(s) totaling about 250-300K bytes, depending
- on the nature of the edited file(s).
-
- BOXER/TKO is able to make use of up to 16 MB of available
- installed memory, resulting in the capability to edit
- files up to approximately 12 MB in size, depending on the
- nature of the edited file(s).
-
- BOXER/OS2 benefits from the virtual memory supplied by
- OS/2, and is constrained only by the limits thereof.
-
- |9000
-
- 24. USER DEFINED HELP
-
- This section of Help is reserved for any text which the
- user may wish to have quick access to. This may include
- programming related information such as operator
- precedence tables, or more mundane topics such as a
- telephone list.
-
- To place your Help text here, edit the file 'BOXER.DOC' in
- BOXER's home directory. Go to the bottom of the file and
- locate this text. Edit the file to contain the Help text
- you desire. After saving the file and returning to the
- command prompt, type 'MAKEINDX' to update the help index
- file. The text which you added will then be available from
- the User option of the Help menu.
-
- NOTE: the maximum number of lines within a help section is
- 50. You may add new sections by entering a line which
- begins with a '!' and has a section number in column 1
- such as '!9001'. Be careful not to use any numbers lower
- than 9000.
-